Relevance override: on the reduced impact of "cues" under high-motivation conditions of persuasion studies

This research addressed the reduced impact of cues under high processing motivation of persuasion experiments. The results of 3 studies suggested that such reduced impact is due to a relevance override whereby any more subjectively relevant information swamps the effects of any less subjectively relevant information, given the recipient's sufficient motivation to process both. Because, in much persuasion research, cues may have been perceived as less relevant to the attitudinal judgments than message arguments, the relevance override hypothesis provides a general explanation of the reduced cue effect.     

Use of the ten-point clock test to compare executive functioning across 24 months in patients with subcortical vascular dementia

The Ten-point Clock Test can be used to identify early forms of Alzheimer's disease because it is reliable, well accepted, and easily administered at the bedside. Nevertheless, its clinical role in the detection of early dementia and its correlations with other cognitive processes is still under investigation. Vascular dementia is an uncertain nosological entity, in which unevenly distributed patterns of cognitive deficits comprising slowing of cognitive processing and impairment of executive function occur. The present study assessed how the Clock Test scores correlated with a number of other neuropsychological and functional tests in a sample of 144 patients with vascular dementia, who were followed for a period of 24 mo. At baseline, at 12 mo. and at 24 mo. subjects were administered a battery of tests, including the Mini-Mental State Examination, word fluency, visuospatial skills, an evaluation of hetero- and autotopognosia (knowledge of self), the Proverbs Test, and the Ten-point Clock Test. For these patients scores on the Clock Test correlated significantly with semantic abilities, with abstract reasoning capacities, visuospatial perception, and with right and left recognition.     

Frames and MV-algebras

We describe a class of MV-algebras which is a natural generalization of the class of “algebras of continuous functions”. More specifically, we're interested in the algebra of frame maps Hom (Ω(A), K) in the category T of frames, where A is a topological MV-algebra, Ω(A) the lattice of open sets of A, and K an arbitrary frame. Given a topological space X and a topological MV-algebra A, we have the algebra C (X, A) of continuous functions from X to A. We can look at this from a frame point of view. Among others we have the result: if K is spatial, then C(pt(K), A), pt(K) the points of K, embeds into Hom (Ω(A), K) analogous to the case of C (X, A) embedding into Hom (Ω(A), Ω (X)). 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 06F20, 06F25, 06D30 Presented by Ewa Orlowska     

Perceptions of and satisfaction with retirement: a comparison of six European union countries

The main aim of this study was to assess perceptions of and satisfaction with retirement among 1,686 recently retired people from 6 European Union countries. The authors compared their responses to a set of questions taken from the Retirement Satisfaction Inventory (F. J. Floyd et al., 1992). The first significant result was that Belgian, British, Finnish, French, and Spanish retirees all expressed very similar assessments of life satisfaction, whereas Portuguese retirees expressed a lower level of satisfaction. The 2nd result was that the major determinants of overall satisfaction in the 6 countries were (a) health and resources and (b) anticipated satisfaction. Finally, the data revealed that cultural background only accounted for a limited amount of variance in overall satisfaction with retirement.     

Suicide among animals: clues from folklore that may prevent suicidal behaviour in human beings

Knowing the most likely reasons for suicide might increase the chances to identify the early signs of suicide. Folkloric tales on suicide among animals are a possible source of such information, since people probably explain animal suicide using the same reasons they would apply to their kin. Modern naturalistic studies ave found little evidence of self-harming conduct among nonhuman species. Nevertheless, mythological accounts often report suicidal behaviour among animals. Claudius Aelian's De natura animalium, a classic in its genre, written in the 2nd century AD, reports 21 cases of suicide among animals. In Aelian's tales, the severing of social ties emerges as an important motive for suicide, together with incest and rage caused by adultery. Paying attention to the mechanisms leading to suicide described in ancient mythology may help us understand unusual and uncommon motives for suicide and the reasons people feel suicidal.     

Some Lessons I Have Learned From 25 Years in Clinical Neuropsychology: A Letter to My Grandchildren

The practice and study of clinical neuropsychology is considered an empirical enterprise. However, such an approach may result in missing the more humanistic or phenomenological side of the experience of brain dysfunction. This addresses a personal journey rather than a professional and scientific one. In doing so, the limits of the discipline and the suffering and value of the experience of the illness are presented. An earlier version of this article was presented as the Presidential Address for the Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association in August of 2003.     

Exploring task-set reconfiguration with random task sequences

Switching between two different tasks normally results in an impairment in people's performance known as a switch cost, typically measured as an increase in reaction time (RT) and errors compared to a situation in which no task switch is required. Researchers in task switching have suggested that this switch cost is the behavioural manifestation of the task set reconfiguration processes that are necessary to perform the upcoming task. However, an examination of the literature in task switching reveals apparently contradictory results about the nature of task set reconfiguration processes. In Experiment 1, we addressed this issue by comparing participants' performance in two different experimental conditions: predictable task switching and random task switching. In the predictable switch condition the switch cost completely vanished after the first repetition of the new task. However, in the random switch condition, while the difference between switch and repetition trials was not significant, we observed a significant reduction in RT between the first and second repetition of the new task. In Experiment 2, we further investigated the pattern of task set reconfiguration in the random switch situation. The results showed a progressive reduction of participants' response latencies across repetitions of the same task. The present study demonstrates that, whereas the results in predictable switching conditions are compatible with an exogenous-reconfiguration hypothesis, random task switching produces a more gradual, decay-like switch cost reduction with task repetition.     

Preserved fronto-striatal plasticity and enhanced procedural learning in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease overexpressing mutant hAPPswe

Mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene inducing abnormal processing and deposition of beta-amyloid protein in the brain have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although Tg2576 mice with the Swedish mutation (hAPPswe) exhibit age-related Abeta-plaque formation in brain regions like the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the cortex, these mice show a rather specific deficit in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory tasks. In view of recent findings showing that neural systems subserving different forms of learning are not simply independent but that depressing or enhancing one system affects learning in another system, we decided to investigate fronto-striatal synaptic plasticity and related procedural learning in these mutants. Fronto-striatal long-term depression (LTD) induced by tetanic stimulation of the cortico-striatal input was similar in Tg2576 and wild-type control mice. Behavioral data, however, pointed to an enhancement of procedural learning in the mutants that showed robust motor-based learning in the cross maze and higher active avoidance scores. Thus, in this mouse model of AD, an intact striatal function associated with an impaired hippocampal function seems to provide neural conditions favorable to procedural learning. Our results suggest that focusing on preserved or enhanced forms of learning in AD patients might be of interest to describe the functional reorganization of the brain when one memory system is selectively compromised by neurological disease.     

Coordinate high-frequency pattern of stimulation and calcium levels control the induction of LTP in striatal cholinergic interneurons

Current evidence appoints a central role to cholinergic interneurons in modulating striatal function. Recently, a long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission has been reported to occur in these neurons. The relationship between the pattern of cortico/thalamostriatal fibers stimulation, the consequent changes in the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i), and the induction of synaptic plasticity was investigated in striatal cholinergic interneurons from a rat corticostriatal slice preparation by means of combined electrophysiological intracellular recordings and microfluorometric techniques. Different protocols of stimulation were considered, varying both the frequency and the duration of the train of stimuli. High-frequency stimulation (HFS) (three trains at 100 Hz for 3 sec, 20-sec interval) induced a rise in [Ca2+]i, exceeding by fivefold the resting level, and caused a LTP of synaptic transmission. Tetanic stimulation delivered at lower frequencies (5-30 Hz) failed to induce long-term changes of synaptic efficacy. The observed elevation in [Ca2+]i during HFS was primarily mediated by L-type high-voltage activated (HVA)-Ca2+ channels, as it was fully prevented by nifedipine. Conversely, blockade of NMDA and AMPA glutamate receptor did not affect either LTP or the magnitude of the [Ca2+]i rise. Interestingly, the pharmacological analysis of the post-tetanic depolarizing postsynaptic potential (DPSP) revealed that LTP was attributable, to a large extent, to the potentiation of the GABA(A)-mediated component. In conclusion, the expression of LTP in striatal cholinergic interneurons is a selective response to a precise stimulation pattern of induction requiring a critical rise in [Ca2+]i.