(-)-9-Dehydrogalanthaminium bromide,a new cholinesterase inhibitor,enhances place and object recognition memory in young and old rats

In a previous study, we showed that (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide, a synthetic galanthamine derivative, was more potent than galanthamine in inhibiting acetylcholinesterase. We studied here the action of this new compound on recognition memory in young and old rats, using a two-trial recognition task designed to test both place and object recognition. (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide was injected (0.3, 1, and 3 mg/kg, i.p.) in young and old rats before the acquisition phase, immediately after it, or before the retrieval phase of the task, in order to determine the stage of information processing affected by the compound. (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide improved both place and object recognition in young rats, via an enhancement of acquisition (3 mg/kg: place recognition; 1 and 3 mg/kg: object recognition) and consolidation (1 and 3 mg/kg) information processing. In old rats, (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide improved performance by acting on the acquisition processes of place (0.3, 1, and 3 mg/kg) and object (1 and 3 mg/kg) recognition. These results provide information on the profile of activity of (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide on memory processes, and suggest that this new compound could have utility in the treatment of cognitive dysfunction occurring in Alzheimer's disease or in the normal course of aging.     

When something old becomes something new: spatiotemporal object continuity and attentional capture

This article examines the possibility that the visal system treats dynamic cues a instances of new perceptual objects undersome circumstances. Using the contingent capture paradigm (C. L. Folk, R. W. Remington, & J. C. Johnston, 1992), the author compared luminance change cues of different magnitude for their ability to capture attention when participants were set for new objects. Wheras small luminance changes failed to produce attentional capture, large luminance changs indeed captured attention, suggesting that they were treated as compatible with the participants' attentional set for new objects. It is argued that sufficiently large luminance transients led to a disurption of spatiotemporal object continuity and precipitated the emergence of a new perceptual object.     

Neuropragmatism, old and new

Recent work in neurophilosophy has either made reference to the work of John Dewey or independently developed positions similar to it. I review these developments in order first to show that Dewey was indeed doing neurophilosophy well before the Churchlands and others, thereby preceding many other mid-twentieth century European philosophers’ views on cognition to whom many present day philosophers refer (e.g., Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty). I also show that Dewey’s work provides useful tools for evading or overcoming many issues in contemporary neurophilosophy and philosophy of mind. In this introductory review, I distinguish between three waves among neurophilosophers that revolve around the import of evolution and the degree of brain-centrism. Throughout, I emphasize and elaborate upon Dewey’s dynamic view of mind and consciousness. I conclude by introducing the consciousness-as-cooking metaphor as an alternative to both the consciousness-as-digestion and consciousness-as-dancing metaphors. Neurophilosophical pragmatism—or neuropragmatism—recognizes the import of evolutionary and cognitive neurobiology for developing a science of mind and consciousness. However, as the cooking metaphor illustrates, a science of mind and consciousness cannot rely on the brain alone—just as explaining cooking entails more than understanding the gut—and therefore must establish continuity with cultural activities and their respective fields of inquiry. Neuropragmatism advances a new and promising perspective on how to reconcile the scientific and manifest images of humanity as well as how to reconstruct the relationship between science and the humanities.     

Border collie comprehends sentences containing a prepositional object,verb, and direct object

This study tested the ability of a Border Collie, Chaser, to learn the syntax and semantics of sentences consisting of three elements of grammar, a prepositional object, verb, and direct object. Understanding of the syntax of the sentences required that Chaser emit responses consistent with three elements of grammar sentences, such as to ball take Frisbee. Understanding of the semantics of the sentences required that Chaser respond correctly when the meanings of the sentences were changed by reversing positions of the prepositional object and the direct object in the sentence, such as to Frisbee take ball. Chaser's understanding of the sentences was tested in three different scenarios: (a) when multiple and familiar objects were used in the syntax command sentence, (b) when novel objects were used in the syntax command sentence (novel in the sense that objects had not been used during training), and (c) when vision of objects was not possible at the time the syntax command was verbalized. Findings were statistically significant in all three scenarios. Successful findings were attributed to Chaser's intensive training in her first three years of life. Analysis of the data revealed that Chaser's successful understanding of the syntax sentences required the processing and retention of two sound-object mappings (names-objects) into memory, along with simultaneous judgments concerning which object to take to the other – that is, working memory. These two types of cognitive abilities, memory storage and working memory, raise the bar in terms of our expectations of a dog's potential ability to understand verbal communications. We propose that Chaser's understanding of our three elements of grammar sentences represents a giant leap in her referential understanding of language.     

Conscience in childhood: old questions, new answers

Although conscience has been the focus of reflection for centuries, fundamental questions regarding its organization have not been fully answered. To address those questions, the authors applied structural equation modeling techniques to longitudinal data comprising multiple behavioral measures of children's conscience, obtained in parallel fashion at 33 and 45 months. The measures encompassed moral emotion (guilt and empathic distress) and rule-compatible conduct (internalization of maternal prohibitions and requests and of another adult's rules). Confirmatory factor analyses supported a differentiated view of conscience with 2 latent factors at both ages: Moral Emotion and Rule-Compatible Conduct. The structure of conscience was remarkably stable over time. The coherence between Moral Emotion and Rule-Compatible Conduct factors increased as children grew older.     

The old and thee, uh, new: disfluency and reference resolution

Most research on the rapid mental processes of on-line language processing has been limited to the study of idealized, fluent utterances. Yet speakers are often disfluent, for example, saying "thee, uh, candle" instead of "the candle." By monitoring listeners' eye movements to objects in a display, we demonstrated that the fluency of an article ("thee uh" vs. "the") affects how listeners interpret the following noun. With a fluent article, listeners were biased toward an object that had been mentioned previously, but with a disfluent article, they were biased toward an object that had not been mentioned. These biases were apparent as early as lexical information became available, showing that disfluency affects the basic processes of decoding linguistic input.     

Some old and new directions in Rorschach testing

The perennial dispute between clinicians and researchers as to the validity of the Rorschach is discussed. It is suggested both groups are correct in that the Rorschach provides both poor psychometric data as seen by the researcher and rich idiographic data as seen by the clinician. The freedom of the Rorschach response process is viewed as largely responsible for both these situations. Some possible new directions for Rorschach usage and research are discussed which may improve on the quality of the idiographic information provided by the Rorschach test.     

Predicting juvenile recidivism: new method, old problems

This prediction study compared three statistical procedures for accuracy using two assessment methods. The criterion is return to a juvenile prison after the first release, and the models tested are logit analysis, predictive attribute analysis, and a Burgess procedure. No significant differences are found between statistics in prediction.     

Category theory,logic and formal linguistics: Some connections,old and new

We seize the opportunity of the publication of selected papers from the Logic, categories, semantics workshop to survey some current trends in logic, namely intuitionistic and linear type theories, that interweave categorical, geometrical and computational considerations. We thereafter present how these rich logical frameworks can model the way language conveys meaning.     

Gender, object, and humor

Male and female respondents rated jokes with either a female initiator/male target of joke or vice versa. For male respondents, the gender of the joke target made no difference. For female respondents, however, jokes with males as the target received significantly higher ratings than jokes with females as the target.     

Gender, object, and humor

Male and female respondents rated jokes with either a female initiator/male target of joke or vice versa. For male respondents, the gender of the joke target made no difference. For female respondents, however, jokes with males as the target received significantly higher ratings than jokes with females as the target.     

Object categorisation, object naming, and viewpoint independence in visual remembering: evidence from young children's drawings of a novel object

A simple object-drawing task confirms a three-way association between object categorisation, viewpoint independence, and longer-term visual remembering. Young children (5- to 7-year-olds) drew a familiar object or a novel object, immediately after it had been hidden from view or on the following day. Both objects were shown from a full range of viewpoints or from just two viewpoints, from neither of which would either object normally be drawn after unrestricted viewing. When drawing from short-term memory after restricted viewing, both objects were most likely to be depicted from a seen viewpoint. When drawing from longer-term memory after restricted viewing, the novel object continued to be drawn from a seen viewpoint, but the mug was now most likely to be drawn from a preferred viewpoint from which it had not been seen. Naming the novel object with a novel count noun ("Look at this. This is a dax"), to signal that it belonged to an object category, resulted in it being drawn in the same way as the familiar object. The results concur with other evidence indicating that short-term and longer-term visual remembering are differentially associated with viewpoint-dependent representations of individual objects and viewpoint independent representations of object categories, respectively.