How the brain responds to any: an MEG study

The word any may appear in some sentences, but not in others. For example, any is permitted in sentences that contain the word nobody, as in Nobody ate any fruit. However, in a minimally different context any seems strikingly anomalous: ^*Everybody ate any fruit. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the brain responds to the word any in such minimally different contexts - where it is permitted (licensed) and where it is not permitted (unlicensed). Brain responses were measured from adult readers using magnetoencephalography (MEG). The results showed significantly larger responses to permissible contexts in the left posterior temporal areas between 400-500 ms and 590-660 ms. These results clarify the anatomy and timing of brain processes that contribute to our judgment that a word such as any is or is not permitted in a given context.     

The development and classification accuracy of the life assessment questionnaire in the detection of pain-related malingering

This paper describes three phases of the development and validation of the Life Assessment Questionnaire (LAQ), a multi-scale inventory for assessing potential malingering in adults reporting chronic pain. Study 1 involved scale construction and item analysis. Discriminant validity was investigated in Study 2 by comparing scores for the clinical reference group with participants instructed to simulate chronic pain. Study 3 examined the convergent validity of the LAQ with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and Behavioral Assessment of Pain (BAP). Results revealed that the simulation groups scored significantly higher than the clinical reference group across all scales. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed sensitivity and specificity scores ranging from 0.44 to 0.57 and 0.88 to 0.93, respectively. Positive predictive power values ranged between 0.79 and 0.88. Strong convergent validity was found for the LAQ. These studies demonstrated the effectiveness of the LAQ in classifying individuals who feign pain complaints, supporting the utility of the LAQ for reaching conclusions about the presence of malingering. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Evolution and Treatment of Korsakoff's Syndrome

Wernicke's Encephalopathy is an acute neuro-psychiatric condition caused by an insufficient supply of thiamine (Vitamin B1) to the brain. If undiagnosed or inadequately treated, it is likely to proceed to Korsakoff's Syndrome. Wernicke's Encephalopathy can result from dietary deficiency alone and this form is usually successfully treated, with little chance of Korsakoff's Syndrome supervening. On the other hand, thiamine deficiency associated with alcohol misuse/dependence may require up to 1 gram of thiamine IV in the first 24 hours to be treated successfully. The reasons for this difference in treatment will be discussed. Thiamine diphosphate acts as a co-factor for a number of thiamine-dependent enzymes. Thiamine deficiency leads to a reduction in the activity of these enzymes, and this leads to alterations in mitochondrial activity, impairment of oxidative metabolism, decreased energy status and eventually selective neuronal death. The damage caused by the combination of thiamine deficiency and alcohol metabolism probably interferes with adequate thiamine transport at a number of sites in the body, including the blood-brain barrier, as well as causing damage to the apoenzymes which then require higher concentrations of thiamine to work normally. The accumulated damage is likely to render the use of oral thiamine therapeutically inadequate since the body is unable to produce high enough concentrations of thiamine in the blood to traverse the blood-brain barrier. Some individuals are probably genetically predisposed to develop Wernicke's. Long before individuals with alcohol misuse or dependence develop Wernicke's Encephalopathy the neurons and other cells of the body are functioning sub-optimally because of the inadequate supply of thiamine and the neurotoxic effect of alcohol. This relative deficiency initiates a series of pathological changes which accumulate and further interfere with the supply of thiamine and its utilisation at a time when the requirements are increased. The best treatment for Korsakoff's Syndrome is timely recognition of Wernicke's Encephalopathy and appropriate intervention and prevention.     

A 10-day developmental voyage: converging evidence from three studies showing that self-esteem may be elevated and maintained without negative outcomes

Empirical evidence shows that educational experiences in the context of the outdoors lead to elevated self-esteem. Although elevated self-esteem is widely assumed to promote beneficial outcomes, recent evidence suggests that elevated self-esteem may also facilitate a variety of negative outcomes (i.e., increased prejudice, aggression, drug and alcohol abuse). The current research was conducted in order to examine whether one type of outdoor educational experience—a 10-day developmental voyage—could elevate adolescents’ self-esteem without also elevating negative outcomes. The data from three separate studies are reported. Study one revealed that adolescents who undertook the voyage manifested elevated self-esteem and decreased gender prejudice (i.e., less negative ratings of opposite sex outgroup members). Study two replicated these findings and further demonstrated that these effects were maintained 4–5 months following the voyage. In study three, in addition to self-esteem, risky attitudes (i.e., towards drug and alcohol use), physical aggression, verbal aggression, racial and gender bias were also examined. Adolescents again showed elevated self-esteem that was maintained 4–5 months following the voyage. There were no changes in risky attitudes, aggression, or racial and gender bias. Taken together these results indicate that taking part in a 10-day developmental voyage—can lead to an elevation in self-esteem, that is maintained over time and which does not facilitate a variety of negative outcomes.     

Calling and Life Satisfaction Among Undergraduate Students: Investigating Mediators and Moderators

The present study examined the relation of calling and life satisfaction among a diverse group of undergraduate students. In line with previous research, the presence of a calling weakly correlated with life satisfaction and moderately correlated with meaning in life. Three potential moderators of the calling-life satisfaction relation were tested: religiousness, living one??s calling, and core self-evaluations. The relation of calling and life satisfaction was not different based on levels of religiousness or experiences of living one??s calling. However, the relation of calling to life satisfaction was stronger for students with low core self-evaluations. Additionally, using a multiple mediation model, academic satisfaction and life meaning were found to fully mediate the calling-life satisfaction relation. Participants more likely to view their career as a calling were more satisfied in life because of attaining greater life meaning and satisfaction within the academic domain. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Context-specific control and the Stroop negative priming effect

The present study highlights the utility of context-specific learning for different probe types in accounting for the commonly observed dependence of negative priming on probe selection. Using a Stroop priming procedure, Experiments 1a and 1b offered a demonstration that Stroop priming effects can differ qualitatively for selection and no-selection probes when probe selection is manipulated between subjects, but not when it is manipulated randomly from trial to trial within subject (see also Moore, 1994). In Experiments 2 and 3, selection and no-selection probes served as two contexts that varied randomly from trial to trial, but for which proportion repeated was manipulated separately. A context-specific proportion repeated effect was observed in Experiment 2, characterized by modest quantitative shifts in the repetition effects as a function of the context-specific proportion repeated manipulation. However, with a longer intertrial interval in Experiment 3, a context-specific proportion repeated manipulation that focused on the no-selection probes changed the repetition effect qualitatively, from negative priming when the proportion repeated was .25 to positive priming when the proportion repeated was .75. The results are discussed with reference to the role of rapid, context-specific learning processes in the integration of prior experiences with current perception and action.     

The Influence of Expertise on Maritime Driving Behaviour

We compared expert and novice behaviour in a group of participants as they engaged in a simulated maritime driving task. We varied the difficulty of the driving task by controllling the severity of the sea state in which they were driving their craft. Increases in sea severity increased the size of the upcoming waves while also increasing the length of the waves. Expert participants drove their craft at a higher speed than novices and decreased their fixation durations as wave severity increased. Furthermore, the expert participants increased the horizontal spread of their fixation positions as wave severity increased to a greater degree than novices. Conversely, novice participants showed evidence of a greater vertical spread of fixations than experts. By connecting our findings with previous research investigating eye movement behaviour and road driving, we suggest that novice or inexperienced drivers show inflexibility in adaptation to changing driving conditions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reverse Subtyping: The Effects of Prejudice Level on the Subtyping of Counterstereotypic Outgroup Members

Although many anti-bias interventions try to overcome stereotypes by presenting positive and/or counterstereotypic members of the outgroup, people often subtype these members and refuse to see them as typical of the outgroup. Although subtyping has been shown to be a common phenomenon, it is unclear if preexisting attitudes moderate this process. The current study examined whether preexisting prejudice levels would moderate the subtyping process. Specifically, it was found that although high-prejudiced individuals subtyped a positive racial outgroup member, low-prejudiced individuals demonstrated the opposite pattern and subtyped negative outgroup members as being atypical. This suggests that although the subtyping phenomenon may be universal, its expression is moderated by preexisting intergroup attitudes.     

Revisiting the time course of inter-trial feature priming in singleton search

Current theories of the locus of inter-trial priming effects in efficient visual search posit an early perceptual component that reflects the short-term influence of a memory trace for low-level stimulus attributes. Despite the fact that this memory trace is hypothesized to be short term, and should therefore have a diminishing influence on performance over time, there has been relatively little study of the effect of time alone on singleton priming effects. The present series of experiments addresses this issue by systematically examining the effect of time on the priming of pop-out (PoP) effect. In Experiment 1, we show that the PoP effect does indeed diminish with increases in the RSI between trials, and does so in accord with a power-law function. In Experiment 2, we show that temporal discriminability of trial n ? 1 from the trial that precedes it does not contribute to PoP effects. The results of Experiment 3 revealed two key results: (1) the PoP effect survives an equivalent number of intervening trials across very different RSI conditions; and (2) the cumulative target repetition benefit does depend on the RSI between trials. Together, the results favor neither a simple passive decay nor a strong episodic retrieval account of the PoP effect.     

Taking personality selection bias seriously in animal cognition research: a case study in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella)

In most experimental work on animal cognition, researchers attempt to control for multiple interacting variables by training subjects prior to testing, allowing subjects to participate voluntarily, and providing subjects with food rewards. However, do such methods encourage selection bias from subjects’ personalities? In this study, we trained eighteen zoo-housed capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) for two experiments, under conditions of positive reinforcement (i.e. food rewards) and free-choice participation. Using a combination of behavioral and rater-based methods, we identified and validated five personality dimensions in these capuchins (Assertiveness, Openness, Neuroticism, Sociability, and Attentiveness). Scores on Openness were positively related to individual differences in monkey task participation, reflecting previous work showing that such individuals are often more active, curious, and willing to engage in testing. We also found a negative relationship between scores on Assertiveness and performance on tasks, which may reflect the trade-offs between speed and accuracy in these animals’ decision-making. Highly Assertive individuals (the most sociable within monkey groups) may also prioritize social interactions over engaging in research. Lastly, monkeys that consistently participated and performed well on both tasks showed significantly higher Openness and lower Assertiveness compared to others, mirroring relationships found between personality, participation, and performance among all participants. Participation and performance during training was clearly biased toward individuals with particular personalities (i.e. high Openness, low Assertiveness). Results are discussed in light of the need for careful interpretation of comparative data on animal cognition and the need for researchers to take personality selection bias more seriously.