Does response interference depend on the subjective visibility of flanker distractors?

Response interference (or response conflict) refers to the phenomenon whereby response times to a target stimulus are longer in the presence of distractor stimuli that indicate contrary motor responses. Response interference has been observed even when the distractor stimuli cannot be discriminated above chance levels. These results raise the question of whether response interference might be driven automatically by the physical distractor stimuli, independently of one??s subjective perception of the distractors. Using a modified version of the Eriksen flanker task, we applied metacontrast masks to the flanker stimuli and measured their subjective visibility after each trial. We found converging lines of evidence that the subjective perception of flankers contributed to response interference, over and above the contribution of automatic processing of the stimulus itself. A factorial analysis revealed that the objective, physical congruency of target and flankers and the subjective, perceptual congruency of target and flankers make additive, noninteracting contributions to target response interference, suggesting that the two interference effects originate from independent levels or stages of cognitive processing.     

Hand–foot motor priming in the presence of temporary inability to use hands

To verify if the link between observed hand actions and executed foot actions found in aplasics is essentially induced by the constant use of foot substituting the hand, we investigated if the vision of a grasping hand is able to prime a foot response in normals. Participants were required to detect the time-to-contact of a hand grasping an object either with a suitable or a less suitable movement, an experimental paradigm known to induce a priming effect. Participants responded either with the hand or the foot, while having free or bound hands. Results showed that for hand responses motor priming effect was stronger when the hands were free, whereas for foot responses it was stronger when the hands were bound. These data are interpreted as a further evidence that a difficulty to move affects specific cognitive functions and that the vision of a grasping hand may prime a foot response.     

Serum β-Amyloid Correlates with Neuropsychological Impairment

ABSTRACT

Aims: Evidence suggests a relationship between peripheral Aβ and AD. We hypothesized that higher levels of serum Aβ_1–42 would be associated with memory impairment, thought to occur early in the disease, and rises in serum Aβ_1–40, which occur later, would be associated with impairment in non-memory measures. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, we examined the relationship of serum Aβ_1–40, Aβ_1–42, and the ratio of Aβ_{1–42/1–40} to neuropsychological measures in 40 cognitively normal controls, 13 MCI subjects, and 25 AD patients. Results: Serum Aβ_1–42 and the ratio of Aβ_{1–42/1–40} were significantly higher in the MCI group compared to the controls. A significant relationship in the hypothesized direction (poorer scores associated with higher Aβ_1–40 serum levels) was found between Aβ_1–40 and measures of executive functions across the entire cohort of individuals tested and with measures of language and processing speed in the AD group. Regression analysis found that neuropsychological measures accounted for 26% of the variance in serum Aβ_1–40, in the MCI/AD but not the controls. Furthermore that language and executive measures were significant predictors. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary data to partially support our hypotheses and suggest that changes in serum Aβ levels may be attributed to pathological changes within the brain.     

Authoritarianism and arranged marriage in Bangladesh and Korea

The relationships between authoritarianism and attitudes about arranged marriage were studied in Bangladesh and Korea. According to regression analyses (N = 417), authoritarianism was positively related to support for arranged marriages in closed-ended and open-ended responses. Authoritarianism was also negatively related to open-ended discussions about the importance of love in selecting a partner and in the importance of emotional connection in establishing a relationship. Replicating prior results from the US on women, authoritarianism was related to desires to marry individuals who were gender-typed, traditional, and with narrow interests. Despite some differences in patterns of relationships due to gender and country of origin, the findings support the general hypothesis that authoritarians are invested in maintaining the traditions of their culture.     

The psychological well-being of women of Menoufiya,Egypt. Relationships with family planning

Researchers surveyed the psychological well-being of 795 women of reproductive age from Menoufiya, Egypt. Five years earlier, these women had provided data relevant to their family planning behavior. This analysis links these data sets to investigate the impact of family planning on women's sense of well-being, within the context of beliefs about appropriate gender-related behaviors. Well-being measures are derived for trait and state dimensions. Use of family planning and number of children born within the preceding 5 years predicted state ratings of happiness, and number of children predicted anxious pride. Neither are related to any of the trait ratings. Further, 3 different gender-role attitudes are vital to the explanation of how women define and feel good about themselves.     

Tools for remote usability evaluation of Web applications through browser logs and task models

The dissemination of Web applications is extensive and still growing. The great penetration of Web sites raises a number of challenges for usability evaluators. Video-based analysis can be rather expensive and may provide limited results. In this article, we discuss what information can be provided by automatic tools able to process the information contained in browser logs and task models. To this end, we present a tool that can be used to compare log files of user behavior with the task model representing the actual Web site design, in order to identify where users’ interactions deviate from those envisioned by the system design.     

New insights on sensorimotor integration: from hand action to speech perception

In the last two decades the integrative role of the frontal premotor cortex (a mosaic of agranular/disgranular areas lying in front of the primary motor cortex) have been more and more elucidated. Among its various functions, sensorimotor transformation, and action representation storage, also for nonstrictly motor purposes, are the most intriguing properties of this region, as shown by several researches. In this article we will mainly focus on the ventro-rostral part of the monkey premotor cortex (area F5) in which visual information describing objects and others' acting hands are associated with goal-directed motor representations of hand movements. We will describe the main characteristics of F5 premotor neurons and we will provide evidence in favor of a parallelism between monkeys and humans on the basis of new experimental observations. Finally, we will present some data indicating that, both in humans and in monkeys, action-related sensorimotor transformations are not restricted to visual information but concern also acoustic information.