Role of the sympathetic nervous system in cerebrovascular responses to air-jet stress in rats

This study examined the role of sympathetic nerves in the control of cerebral hemodynamics during air-jet stress. In adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, blood flow velocity (pulsed Doppler) was measured in both internal carotid arteries 1 week after excision of one superior cervical ganglion. Blood pressure (BP) and carotid blood flows (CBFs) were simultaneously recorded during exposure to air-jet stress. In 5 out of 13 rats, stress was applied after β(2)-adrenoceptor blockade with ICI 118551 (0.4 mg/kg, then 0.2 mg/kg/h, i.v). Stress evoked an immediate rise in BP, CBFs, and vascular conductances. Vasodilatation was much larger on the denervated side than on the intact side (mean ± SEM: 78 ± 7 versus 19 ± 4%; P < 0.02) and lasted about 10 s. Thereafter, blood flows returned to or near normal and showed parallel variations while BP remained elevated. There was, therefore, a net vasoconstriction on both sides. In ICI 118551-treated rats, the initial vasodilatation was not significantly reduced on the denervated side (64 ± 4%), but the subsequent vasoconstriction was enhanced (P < 0.05) on both sides. In conclusion, air-jet stress evokes an immediate, short-lasting vasodilatation through a mechanism unrelated to β(2)-adrenoceptor stimulation. Sympathetic nerves powerfully limit this phenomenon, and thus contribute to protect the cerebral circulation from stress-induced BP surges.     

Influence of spatial attention on conscious and unconscious word priming

We used a qualitative dissociation procedure to assess semantic priming from spatially attended and unattended masked words. Participants categorized target words that were preceded by parafoveal prime words belonging to either the same (20%) or the opposite (80%) category as the target. Using this paradigm, only non-strategic use of the prime would result in facilitation of the target responses in related trials. Primes were immediately masked or masked with a delay, while spatial attention was allocated to the primes' location or away from the primes' location. Immediate masked, strongly related primes facilitated target responses irrespective of the spatial attention. Delayed masked, related primes led to reversed (strategic) or facilitatory priming depending on whether they were cued or uncued. These findings demonstrate that perceiving a stimulus with or without awareness depends on both stimulus quality and attention orienting and that non-strategic priming can be observed from clear visible but spatially unattended words.     

Attachment anxiety and attentional control predict immediate and delayed emotional Stroop interference

Attachment anxiety has been associated with a hyperactivating response to threat. A modified emotional Stroop task was used to investigate temporal characteristics of the threat response by assessing response latencies to interpersonally threatening words (immediate interference) and two directly subsequent neutral filler words (delayed interference). Greater immediate and delayed interference to threatening words was observed (n = 125), with higher levels of attachment anxiety associated with immediate interference to threatening cues, and lower levels with delayed interference. Thus, attachment anxiety was related to the speed at which moderate perceived threat disrupted ongoing processes under top-down attentional control. Furthermore, top-down attentional control moderated the extent to which immediate or delayed interference was observed. Among participants who demonstrated relatively stronger top-down attentional control, immediate and delayed interference to threatening cues was minimal, suggesting that results involving emotional Stroop interference were primarily attributable to participants with relatively weaker top-down attentional control. The implications of these findings are considered within the broader context of performance-based and neuroimaging research, with suggestions for future applied research.     

Buddhism and Quantum Physics

Rudyard Kipling, the famous English author of The Jungle Book, born in India, wrote one day these words: ‘Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet’. In my paper I show that Kipling was not completely right. I try to show the common ground between Buddhist philosophy and quantum physics. There is a surprising parallelism between the philosophical concept of reality articulated by Nāgārjuna and the physical concept of reality implied by quantum physics. For neither is there a fundamental core to reality; rather, reality consists of systems of interacting objects. Such concepts of reality cannot be reconciled with the substantial, subjective, holistic or instrumentalistic concepts of reality that underlie modern modes of thought.     

Are free testosterone and cortisol concentrations associated with training motivation in elite male athletes?

ObjectivesTo examine correlative associations between salivary free testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) concentrations and training motivation in elite male athletes.DesignSingle group, longitudinal design with repeated measures.MethodsParticipants (n = 15) completed a 5-week progressive resistance training programme. Across 2 weekly workouts, pre and post measures of salivary free T and C concentrations were taken along with voluntary chosen workload, as a proxy for training motivation. Strength and body mass were assessed pre and post training.ResultsIndividual changes in pre-workout free T concentrations correlated strongly to voluntary workloads (pooled r = 0.81, p < 0.001). Pre-workout free C concentrations was weakly correlated to voluntary workload (pooled r = 0.35). Pre-workout hormones (r = 0.57–0.89) and the strength gains were also related.ConclusionsThe salivary free T concentrations of male athletes presented before training were strongly associated with subsequent voluntary workloads, indicating a potential link to training motivation.     

Altruistic Discourse in the Informed Consent Process for Childhood Cancer Clinical Trials

Scholars have debated the role that altruistic considerations play—and should play—in recruitment and decision-making processes for clinical trials. Little empirical data are available to support their various perspectives. We analyzed 140 audiotaped pediatric informed consent sessions, of which 95 (68%) included at least one discussion of how participation in a cancer clinical trial might benefit: 1) the pursuit of scientific knowledge generally; 2) other children with cancer specifically; and 3) “the future” and other vaguely defined recipients. Clinicians initiated most (80%) of these discussions of altruism. The enrollment rate of children in the clinical trial was high (83%) overall, but not higher among children whose parents were involved in an altruism-oriented discussion. These findings suggest that: (1) clinicians invoke a spectrum of altruistic considerations rather than a single monothematic notion of altruism, and (2) the effect of altruistic considerations on subsequent enrollment decisions is marginal. While further research on this topic is warranted, bioethical debate should strive to reflect the diversity of altruistic discourse in clinical research encounters and to place this discourse in the context of other, including nonaltruistic, considerations.     

The shape of things to come: Exploring goal-directed prospection

Through the ability to preview the future (i.e., prospection), people can anticipate how best to think, feel and act in just about any setting. But exactly what factors determine the contents of prospection? Extending research on action identification and temporal construal, here we explored how action goals and temporal distance modulate the characteristics of future previews. Participants were required to imagine travelling to Egypt (in the near or distant future) to climb or photograph a pyramid. Afterwards, to probe the contents of prospection, participants provided a sketch of their imaginary experience. Results elucidated the impact of goal type and temporal distance on mental imagery. While a climbing goal prompted participants to draw a larger pyramid in the near than distant future, a photographic goal influenced only the compositional complexity of the sketches. These findings reveal how action goals and temporal distance shape the contents of future simulations.     

Pro‐Diversity Beliefs and Everyday Ethnic Discrimination on Grounds of Foreign Names

The paper examined the effect of positive beliefs about the value of ethnic diversity (i.e. diversity beliefs) on discrimination due to foreign sounding names. It was hypothesized that pro‐diversity beliefs reduce discrimination. Results from two studies (N = 29 and N = 104) confirmed this hypothesis. Practical implications of our results are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrating spatial context learning over contradictory signals: Recency effects in contextual cueing

Contextual cueing is a visual search phenomenon in which memory of global visual context guides spatial attention towards task-relevant portions of the search display. Recent work has shown that the learning processes underlying contextual cueing exhibit primacy effects; they are more sensitive to early experience than to later experience. These results appear to pose difficulties for associative accounts which typically predict recency effects; behaviour being most strongly influenced by recent experience. The current study utilizes trial sequences that consist of two contradictory sets of regularities. In contrast to previous results, robust recency effects were observed. In a second study it is demonstrated that this recency effect can be minimized, but not reversed by systematically manipulating task-irrelevant features of the search display. These results provide additional support for an associative account of contextual cueing and suggest that contextual cueing may, under some circumstances, be more sensitive to recent experience.