Event-related potential practice effects on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)

Practice can change the nature and quality of a stimulus-response relationship. The current study observed the effects of repeated administration of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) in 12 healthy individuals, in an effort to establish distinct profiles associated with novel and practiced processing. Over four training sessions the mean number of correct responses on this demanding test of attention significantly improved and was approaching ceiling for most task conditions. Behavioural improvements were associated with significantly reduced amplitude of late Processing Negativity, a frontally distributed component of the event-related potential waveform associated with voluntary, limited-capacity activity within higher-order attentional systems. These results suggest that PASAT performance became more efficient as practice seemingly eased the strategic planning and coordination requirements the task places on frontally-mediated executive attention resources. The findings of the current study extend our understanding of the functional and behavioural mechanisms underlying the effects of practice.     

Perceptual Effect on Motor Learning in the Serial Reaction-Time Task

Although the Serial Reaction-Time Task has been an effective tool in studying procedural learning, there is still a debate as to whether learning in the task is effector-based, stimulus-based, or response-based. In this article, the authors contribute to this debate by contrasting response- and stimulus-based learning by manipulating them selectively and simultaneously. Results show that (a) participants learned response sequences in the absence of stimulus-specific perceptual sequence information but (b) not stimulus sequences without corresponding response information. In a third condition, response sequence and stimulus frequency information were in conflict, and each effect decreased learning in the other domain. Overall, our findings show that learning in these tasks is primarily motor-based, but it is also constrained by relatively salient perceptual information. Together with earlier findings in the literature, the findings also suggest a task and stimulus-arrangement-specific interaction between motor and perceptual learning, where relevance and salience of the specific information plays a crucial role.     

Investigating Individual Differences in a Serial Choice Reaction Time Task: Use of Auditory Feedback and Analysis of Responses Surrounding Errors

Subjects (N = 78) performed a visual four-choice reaction time (RT) task, either with or without immediate trial-by-trial feedback, in which RT (but not accuracy) was indicated by the pitch of an auditory tone. For each feedback condition, half of the subjects (the high AH4 group) scored more than 50% on the AH4 test of fluid intelligence (Heim, 1968), whereas the remaining half (the low AH4 group) scored less than 50%. It was predicted that if low AH4 subjects were slow because they were poor at monitoring RT, they would benefit more from feedback than high AH4 subjects would. This was not supported by the data: There was some beneficial effect of feedback on RT, but only for the high AH4 group. A second possibility was that individual differences would be apparent in processes such as detecting errors and controlling RT from trial to trial. From analyses of error rates, RT distributions, and particularly sequences of responses before and after errors, there was no evidence of qualitative differences in performance between the high and low AH4 groups. It is concluded that individual differences in this task are largely determined by information-processing rate rather than by factors such as the ability to detect errors or to monitor and control RT.     

Joint Influence of Visual and Auditory Words in the Stroop Task

We conducted four Stroop color–word experiments to examine how multiple stimuli influence interference. Experiments 1a and 1b showed that interference was strong when the word and color were integrated, and that visual and auditory words made independent contributions to interference when these words had different meanings. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed this pattern when the word information and color information were not integrated, and hence when overall interference was substantially less. Auditory and visual interference effects are comparable except when the visual distracter is integrated with the color, in which case interference is substantially enhanced. Overall, these results are interpreted as being most consistent with a joint influence account of interference as opposed to a capture account.     

Auditory spatial responses of young guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) during and after ear blocking

Newborn guinea pigs were tested to determine their ability to approach an auditory stimulus early in development. Observations of the behavior of 1-4-day-old animals in a circular eight-choice maze revealed a pronounced tendency to orient toward and approach a tape-recorded signal of guinea pig vocalizations. The occurrence of approach responses was reduced to chance in animals tested with one ear occluded by wax ear plugs which attenuated but did not totally eliminate sound. The effect of monaural ear blocks was more severe than binaural blocks, which reflects the importance of binaural cues in the maintenance of approach responses to sound. In a second study, the ability of older animals, 11-31 days of age, was examined. Directional approach responses to sound were also evident at this age, and ear plugs disrupted performance only under monaural conditions. Furthermore, in animals raised from birth with monaural ear blocks but tested without ear plugs, there was a subsequent disruption of performance for at least 21 days. These results indicate the importance of binaural cues in the development of early auditory spatial responses and suggest the need for appropriate binaural experience for subsequent localization of sounds.     

Task utility and norms for the Preschool Executive Task Assessment (PETA)

Earlier identification of executive deficits in preschool children using an ecological approach would give more scope for intervention. The Preschool Executive Task Assessment (PETA) was developed to resemble an everyday age-appropriate task in order to examine the self-direction and integration of executive functions during a multistep task. It was designed so that performance can be evaluated in a microanalytic way and so individualized feedback and support can be easily communicated. The utility of the PETA was assessed with 166 three-to five-year olds. Results showed improved performance with increasing age and verbal intellectual quotient as well as good task reliability and utility. Evidence for influence of socioeconomic status, gender, and use of self-talk was also observed. Clinical applications and future directions of this novel measure are discussed.     

Consensus scoring, correct responses and reliability of the MSCEIT V2

The scoring protocol adopted by the MSCEIT V2 has been criticised since its development. The present study raises questions regarding the value of consensus scoring by analysing responses within the categorical subscales of Changes and Blends using the Optimal Scaling technique within the Categorical Principal Components Analysis (CATPCA) via Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), (n = 206). On a number of occasions, there was no clear agreement as to the “correct” response to items within these categorical subscales. Such an issue seems integral to the application of the MSCEIT V2 and one which deserves more attention. On a more positive note, improvements were made to the reliabilities of the subscales of Changes and Blends, using Optimal Scaling, but less so for Changes. Nevertheless, this raises the possibility of improving the reliabilities of other subscales in the MSCEIT V2 and in turn improving the power of subsequent statistical tests.     

Auditory frequency generalization in the goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Auditory frequency generalization in the goldfish was studied at five points within the best hearing range through the use of classical respiratory conditioning. Each experimental group received single-stimulus conditioning sessions at one of five stimulus frequencies (100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 Hz), and were subsequently tested for generalization at eight neighboring frequencies. All stimuli were presented 30 db above absolute threshold. Significant generalization decrements were found for all subjects. For the subjects conditioned in the range between 100 and 800 Hz, a nearly complete failure to generalize was found at one octave above and below the training frequency. The subjects conditioned at 1600 Hz produced relatively more flat gradients between 900 and 2000 Hz. The widths of the generalization gradients, expressed in Hz, increased as a power function of frequency with a slope greater than one.     

序列反应时任务中内隐和外显学习表征方式的实验研究

采用改进的序列反应时任务,探讨内隐和外显学习的知识表征方式,发现内隐组和外显组被试都习得了一定的序列规则.内隐组对标准字母的反应显著快于知觉偏差,而后者则又显著快于对动觉偏差字母的反应;外显组对标准字母的反应显著快于知觉偏差和动觉偏差,而后两者之间则没有区别.以上结果表明外显和内隐学习中知觉表征和动觉表征都起作用,不过在内隐学习中动觉表征起的作用更大.     

中国人人际情感的差序格局关系:来自EAST的证据

本研究采用外部情感西蒙任务(EAST),以36名大学生为被试对自我词及亲人、熟人、陌生人三种人际关系词与积极情感和消极情感的关系进行探究,从而检验个体对自我和不同人际关系对象的情感是否存在差序格局的表现形式。结果显示,在EAST中,对自我词和亲人词作积极反应比作消极反应时间更短;对陌生人词作消极反应比作积极反应时间更短;对熟人词作积极反应和消极反应的时间差异不明显。并且,自我词的EAST效应值最大,接着依次是亲人词和熟人词;陌生人词的EAST效应值为负值。表明了在个体的认知图式中,对自我、亲人持有积极的情感,而对陌生人持有消极的情感,对熟人情感偏向不明显;且不同人际关系在情感的联结强度上表现出差序格局的形式。     

Effects of Auditory/Visual and Lexical/Non-lexical Comparisons on Event-related Potentials in a Memory-scanning Task

A late parietal positivity (P3) and behavioural measures were studied during performance of a two-item memory-scanning task. Stimuli were digits presented as memorised items in one modality (auditory or visual) while the following probe, also a digit, was presented in the same or the other modality. In a separate set of experiments, P3 and behaviour were similarly studied using only visual stimuli that were either lexical (digits) or non-lexical (novel fonts with the same contours as the digits) to which subjects assigned numerical values. Reaction times (RTs) and P3 latencies were prolonged to non-lexical compared to lexical stimuli. Although RTs were longer to auditory than to visual stimuli, P3 latencies to memorised items were prolonged in response to visually compared to auditorily presented memorised items, and were further prolonged when preceding visual probes. P3 amplitudes were smaller to auditory than to visual stimuli, and were smaller for the second memorised item when lexical/non-lexical comparisons were involved. The most striking finding was scalp distribution variations indicating changes in relative contributions of brain structures involved in processing memorised items, according to the probes that followed. These findings are compatible, in general, with a phonological memorisation, but they suggest that the process is modified by memorising the item in the same terms as the expected probe that follows.     

A developmental study of the Prelinguistic Auditory Store (PAS)

Lists of digits 5 and 7 items in length were presented to second graders, sixth graders, and low-IQ sixth graders in either the visual or auditory modality. Half the auditory lists were followed by the redundant nonrecalled, auditorily presented word “recall” which served as a list suffix. The second graders had the most errors in the ordered recall task followed by the low-IQ sixth- and normal sixth-graders in that order. The size of the modality and suffix effects for the various groups seemed to indicate that, for the younger subjects, a larger proportion of the recall after auditory presentation comes from the Prelinguistic Auditory Store than for the older subjects.     

行为表征水平与心理距离间不具自动化联接特性：来自图片-词汇Stroop范式的实验证据

基于建构水平理论基本假设的推论, 采用图片-词汇Stroop范式, 通过两组实验, 探讨了行为表征水平与心理距离间是否具有自动化联接特性的问题。实验结果一致表明：(1)无论是以词性判断速度为指标(实验1), 还是以词汇判断速度为指标(实验2), 对不同建构水平行为评价词汇的加工均不受词汇所在空间距离位置的影响, 说明行为表征水平的心理距离效应不具有自动化加工的特性, 而可能是意识性控制加工的产物; (2)无论是对于特质性词汇, 还是对于行动性词汇, 相对于近距离位置, 当其呈现于远距离位置时, 被试对其词性(实验1)和词汇(实验2)加工的速度均更快, 说明空间距离的延伸可促进对行为评价性词汇的加工绩效。     

Ethical Challenges Arising in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview from the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD) Task Force

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a host of ethical challenges, but key among these has been the possibility that health care systems might need to ration scarce critical care resources. Rationing policies for pandemics differ by institution, health system, and applicable law. Most seem to agree that a patient’s ability to benefit from treatment and to survive are first-order considerations. However, there is debate about what clinical measures should be used to make that determination and about other factors that might be ethically appropriate to consider. In this paper, we discuss resource allocation and several related ethical challenges to the healthcare system and society, including how to define benefit, how to handle informed consent, the special needs of pediatric patients, how to engage communities in these difficult decisions, and how to mitigate concerns of discrimination and the effects of structural inequities.     

Auditory verbal hallucinations: Dialoguing between the cognitive sciences and phenomenology

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are a highly complex and rich phenomena, and this has a number of important clinical, theoretical and methodological implications. However, until recently, this fact has not always been incorporated into the experimental designs and theoretical paradigms used by researchers within the cognitive sciences. In this paper, we will briefly outline two recent examples of phenomenologically informed approaches to the study of AVHs taken from a cognitive science perspective. In the first example, based on Larøi and Woodward (Harv Rev Psychiatry 15:109–117, 2007), it is argued that reality monitoring studies examining the cognitive underpinnings of hallucinations have not reflected the phenomenological complexity of AVHs in their experimental designs and theoretical framework. The second example, based on Jones (Schizophr Bull, in press, 2010), involves a critical examination of the phenomenology of AVHs in the context of two other prominent cognitive models: inner speech and intrusions from memory. It will be shown that, for both examples, the integration of a phenomenological analysis provides important improvements both on a methodological, theoretical and clinical level. This will be followed by insights and critiques from philosophy and clinical psychiatry—both of which offer a phenomenological alternative to the empiricist–rationalist conceptualisation of AVHs inherent to the cognitive sciences approach. Finally, the paper will conclude with ideas as to how the cognitive sciences may integrate these latter perspectives into their methodological and theoretical programmes.     

Learning correct responses and errors in the Hebb repetition effect: two faces of the same coin

In a serial recall task, the Hebb repetition effect occurs when recall performance improves for a sequence repeated throughout the experimental session. This phenomenon has been replicated many times. Nevertheless, such cumulative learning seldom leads to perfect recall of the whole sequence, and errors persist. Here the authors report evidence that there is another side to the Hebb repetition effect that involves learning errors produced in a repeated sequence. A learning measure based on past recalls (correct or incorrect) shows that the probability of a given response increases with the number of prior occurrences of that response. The pattern of results reveals another manifestation of the Hebb repetition effect and speaks to the nature of implicit learning.     

A multiple-observations model for response latency and the latencies of correct and incorrect responses in recognition memory

A model for response latency in recognition memory is described which is a strength model incorporating the notion of multiple observations and with the additional assumptions that the variance of the strength distributions increase with set size and that the observer attempts to keep his error rate at a constant level over set size. It is shown that the model can, without recourse to particular parameter values, predict a near linear RT set-size function and, since it is a (TSD) model in its decision aspects, can account for errors and hence error latencies in the recognition task. After the model is described, two experiments are performed which test the prediction that correct mean latency is generally shorter than incorrect mean latency. The prediction is confirmed and this feature is discussed in general, the model being compared with that of Juola, Fischler, Wood, and Atkinson (1971) in this respect. Some possible modifications to the latter model are also considered.     

Task coordination between and within sensory modalities: effects on distraction

Load theory predictions for the effects of task coordination between and within sensory modalities (vision and hearing or vision only) on the level of distraction were tested. Response competition effects in a visual flanker task when it was coordinated with an auditory discrimination task (between-modality conditions) or a visual discrimination task (within-modality conditions) were compared with single-task conditions. In the between-modality conditions, response competition effects were greater in the two- (vs. single-) task conditions irrespective of the level of discrimination task difficulty. In the within-modality conditions, response competition effects were greater in the two-task (vs. single-task) conditions only when these involved a more difficult visual discrimination task. The results provided support for the load theory prediction that executive control load leads to greater distractor interference while highlighting the effects of task modality.