An investigation of brain processes supporting meditation

Meditation is an ancient spiritual practice, which aims to still the fluctuations of the mind. We investigated meditation with fMRI in order to identify and characterise both the “neural switch” mechanism used in the voluntary shift from normal consciousness to meditation and the “threshold regulation mechanism” sustaining the meditative state. Thirty-one individuals with 1.5–25 years experience in meditation were scanned using a blocked on–off design with 45 s alternating epochs during the onset of respectively meditation and normal relaxation. Additionally, 21 subjects were scanned during 14.5 min of sustained meditation. The data were analysed with SPM and ICA. During the onset of meditation, activations were found bilaterally in the putamen and the supplementary motor cortex, while deactivations were found predominately in the right hemisphere, the precuneus, the posterior cingulum and the parieto–temporal area. During sustained meditation, SPM analysis revealed activation in the head of nucleus caudatus. Extensive deactivations were observed in white matter in the right hemisphere, i.e. mainly in the posterior occipito–parieto–temporal area and in the frontal lobes. ICA identified 38 components including known baseline-resting state components, one of which not only overlaps with the activated area revealed in the SPM analysis but extends further into frontal, temporal, parietal and limbic areas, and might presumably constitute a combination of frontoparietal and cinguloopercular task control systems. The identified component processes display varying degrees of correlation. We hypothesise that a proper characterisation of brain processes during meditation will require an operational definition of brain dynamics matching a stable state of mind.     

The Effects of Experience and Disuse on Crossword Solving

At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, participants filled out a questionnaire about their experience with crossword solving and related activities for every year since they began solving crossword puzzles. This study focused on the role of crossword‐solving disruptions in influencing objective performance at the tournament. The number of breaks (a period of at least a year without crossword solving) predicted decreases in current performance, and the more time since the last break predicted increased performance. The effects of different types of experience on crossword performance are discussed with respect to their influence on performance, such as regular leisure engagement in crossword solving and more focused efforts to improve particular aspects of performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Facilitating particularization of repeated similar events with context‐specific cues

Ninety‐five dental care patients participated in a quasi‐experiment in which they were interviewed twice about dental visits they had made during the past ten years. Objective truth was established by analysing their dental records. The main purpose of the study was to investigate to what extent context‐specific cues could facilitate particularization (i.e., recollection of events and details) of repeated and similar events. A mixed design was employed and the effects of three types of cues were explored: two types of context‐specific cues vs. cues commonly used in police practise when interviewing plaintiffs. In line with our hypothesis, context‐specific cues tended to be more effective for recollection of individual events than the comparison cues. In addition, context‐specific cues generated more details than the comparison cues and the difference was marginally significant. Rehearsal of the memories by telling them to others was associated with an increased number of recollected events and details. The results are discussed from a legal psychology perspective with focus on recollection of repeated abuse.     

Family-of-Origin Factors and Physical Teen Dating Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Meta-Analysis

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The purpose of this meta-analysis is to explore the relationship between family-of-origin factors (i.e., attachment, witnessing inter-parental violence,...     

Nest size matters: common cuckoos prefer to parasitize larger nests of Oriental reed warblers

Animal Cognition - Avian brood parasites leave parental care of their offspring to foster parents. Theory predicts that parasites should select for large host nests when they have sufficient...     

Visuospatial counter‐interrogation strategies by liars familiar with the alibi setting

This study examines counter‐interrogation strategies employed by liars giving false alibis. Participants (N = 144) visited a restaurant to buy a sandwich (truth‐tellers) or to use it as a false alibi (liars). Half of the liars were informed they might be asked for a drawing of the alibi setting if interviewed (informed liars). Participants spent either 10 min (high familiarity condition) or 30 s (low familiarity condition) in the restaurant. All participants were asked to provide two visuospatial statements, which were assessed for salient details, nonsalient details, between‐statement consistency, and statement‐alibi setting consistency. Informed liars provided significantly more salient and nonsalient details than uninformed liars and truth‐tellers, particularly in the high familiarity condition. No differences emerged for statement consistency types. The results suggest that liars are more concerned than truth‐tellers about making a positive impression on the interviewer, and they fail to accurately reflect on truth‐tellers' visuospatial statements.     

Cooperation in Asymmetric Social Dilemmas When Equality Is Perceived as Unfair1

Three experiments examined the hypothesis that in an asymmetric social dilemma, perceived fairness of the distribution promotes cooperation. In support of the hypothesis, Studies 1 and 2 showed that willingness to voluntarily and anonymously pay for child care was related to ratings of perceived fairness of equal and equitable distributions of the quality of child care when it was a public good (provided by the municipality) or a market good (provided by a private business). Study 1 also showed that an equal distribution of the public good was perceived to be fairer than an equal distribution of the market good, whereas the reverse was true for an equitable distribution. Study 2 showed that when quality differences were explicit, an equitable distribution was perceived as fairer than an equal distribution. Study 3 showed that an equitable distribution of quantity of child care was perceived to be fairer and increased willingness to pay as compared to an equal distribution.