The update of semantic memories in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

It is still controversial to what extent neocortical consolidated memories are susceptible of change by processes of reconsolidation and transformation throughout experience, and whether the medial temporal lobes are necessary for this update of semantic consolidated memories, as they are for episodic remembering. We hypothesize that patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) who have deficits in episodic memory may also have difficulties in updating information on added new features of objects. Sixteen participants with aMCI and 20 healthy control participants performed a semantic word-to-picture task, in which they were asked to identify as belonging to a given semantic category NEW objects, that have incorporated novel features, as well as OLD items, semantically and visually SIMILAR items and UNRELATED items. Patients with aMCI made a greater percentage of errors than healthy controls. Participants globally made greater percentages of errors in difficult types of items, namely NEW and SIMILAR, as compared to easier ones, OLD and UNRELATED. Importantly, an item by diagnostic group interaction effect was observed, and post hoc analysis showed that patients with aMCI made a higher percentage of errors than controls in NEW items only. In conclusion, patients with aMCI had a particular difficulty in identifying the NEW items of the word-to-picture task as compared to the control participants, supporting the concept of a flexible and dynamic conceptual knowledge system, involving the update of semantic memories and the integration of new attributes in a constant transformation process, which is impaired in these patients.     

Is it dangerous? The role of an emotional visual search strategy and threat-relevant training in the detection of guns and knives

Counter-terrorism strategies rely on the assumption that it is possible to increase threat detection by providing explicit verbal instructions to orient people's attention to dangerous objects and hostile behaviours in their environment. Nevertheless, whether verbal cues can be used to enhance threat detection performance under laboratory conditions is currently unclear. In Experiment 1, student participants were required to detect a picture of a dangerous or neutral object embedded within a visual search display on the basis of an emotional strategy ‘is it dangerous?’ or a semantic strategy ‘is it an object?’. The results showed a threat superiority effect that was enhanced by the emotional visual search strategy. In Experiment 2, whilst trainee police officers displayed a greater threat superiority effect than student controls, both groups benefitted from performing the task under the emotional than semantic visual search strategy. Manipulating situational threat levels (high vs. low) in the experimental instructions had no effect on visual search performance. The current findings provide new support for the language-as-context hypothesis. They are also consistent with a dual-processing account of threat detection involving a verbally mediated route in working memory and the deployment of a visual template developed as a function of training.     

Perception of Candomble Practitioners About Herbal Medicine and Health Promotion in Ceará, Brazil

Candomble, a Brazilian religion of African origin that worships Orishas, promotes “healing” assistance during its worship rituals using therapy with plants and beliefs. From its ancestry tradition, the respect and beware with nature are expressed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the perception of ethnoecology and health promotion among Candomble practitioners from a Candomble temple in the state of Ceará, Brazil. The ethnography was designed to allow greater immersion into the current mystique. This immersion results in the breaking of existing prejudices and admiration for their worldview. Thus, it can be observed that people seek Candomble to get rid of “bad” health difficulties, such as insomnia, depression, eyesight problems among others, which are commonly treated with herbal preparations, baths, and teas, using plants native to the region; however, their indications are not always in accordance with scientific evidence. In parallel with biomedicine, their hospitable and healthcare practices are considered by most as the equivalent to traditional healthcare actions, but greater recognition of biomedicine is necessary. Based on this perspective, the use of native plants in Candomble is examples of memory, hospitality, and humanization for the community wellness.     

Sources of evaluation of parental behaviors as predictors of achievement outcomes

Parents contribute to their children’s academic achievements by supporting their basic psychological needs. Parents’ need supporting behaviors (NSB) were expected to predict positive academic outcomes such as students’ academic performance and persistence intentions. The present study tested the contribution of parental NSB by distinguishing which of the source of evaluation (parent or adolescent) or specific NSB (autonomy support, involvement, structure) was a better predictor of youths’ academic performance and persistence intentions. This prospective study used a sample of 435 mother–adolescent dyads and 246 father–adolescent dyads, who completed two questionnaires a year apart. Results suggested that poor agreement between sources precluded the adoption of a multitrait-multimethod model. Using distinct factors for mothers, fathers, and adolescents to evaluate each NSB, different predictions were found for each outcome. Our results showed stronger contributions for paternal behaviors than for maternal ones, from the perspective of both students and their parents. These findings are examined in light of theories and research on parenting and education.     

A new model of sportive cooperation and its evaluation by means a questionnaire

We present in this paper the sportive cooperation as a theoretical framework for the teams' dynamics, and as an alternative to others theories, specially the sportive cohesion. This theory has a double basis: 1) The rational and utilitarist decision taking upon the personal cooperation or not, with the team's goal, based on the internal teammates interaction, and the environmental stimuli; and 2) A personal, and more stable, disposition to cooperate, despite the possibility of obtain any counterparts for this behavior. From this framework, we have build--in a three phase process--a questionnaire addressed to evaluate the sportive cooperation. The final version--composed of 15 items with standard psychometric propierties--shows two kinds of factors. First, we have two dispositional, traitlike, factors: The Conditional cooperation, and the Unconditional cooperation. Second, we have three situational factors: the Cooperation with the Coach, with the teammates, and the Cooperation outside the game and the training. Lastly, we discuss the maining of this theory respect to the sportive team's dynamics, and its relevance for the applied psychology, both for the evaluation and the interventions on the teams.     

Effect of a kickboxing match on salivary cortisol and immunoglobulin A

The hypothesis that salivary cortisol would increase and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) decrease after a kickboxing match was tested among 20 male athletes. Saliva samples collected before and after the match were analyzed. Salivary cortisol and salivary IgA concentrations (absolute concentration, salivary IgAabs) and the secretion rate of IgA (salivary IgArate) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A Wilcoxon test for paired samples showed significant increases in salivary cortisol from pre- to postmatch. No significant changes were observed in salivary IgAabs or secretory IgArate and saliva flow rate. This study indicates that a kickboxing match might increase salivary concentration and thereafter it could be considered a significant source of exercise-related stress. On the other hand, the effect of a kickboxing match on mucosal immunity seems not to be relevant.     

The kinds of information that support novel associative object priming and how these differ from those that support item priming

We investigated how the information that supports novel associative and item object priming differs under identical study/test conditions. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants rated the meaningfulness of sentences linking two object pictures at study. At test, they performed either a size judgement or an associative recognition memory task on intact, recombined and novel picture (Experiment 1) or word (Experiment 2) associations. Associative priming was modulated by subjective meaningfulness of the encoded links, and depended on study/test perceptual overlap. In contrast, item priming was neither affected by the meaningfulness of the sentences nor by study/test changes in the stimulus presentation format. Associative priming and recognition were behaviourally dissociated, and associative recognition was probably too slow to have seriously contaminated associative priming. In Experiment 3, participants performed a perceptually oriented task during both experimental phases, and both associative and item priming were observed. These results suggest that associative priming depends on stored associative semantic and perceptual information when the test task requires flexible retrieval of associative information. Under the same conditions, item priming may only require activation of items' semantic properties. When both study and test tasks stress perceptual processing, retrieval of perceptual information is sufficient to support both kinds of priming.     

Construct Validity of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale in a French Adolescent Sample

The present study explored the validity of constriction as an indicator of depression. Twenty-five patients displaying constriction in their Bender records and 25 patients not showing this indicator were compared with regard to MMPI Depression scores. A significant difference was found between D scores of these two groups (p<.05), supporting the validity of the indicator as an index of depression. Constriction was found to be infrequent, occurring in only 5.5% of the patient records. Although the indicator seems to be of some value as an indicator of depression its utility is lessened due its low rate of occurrence.