Eyeblink conditioning and systems consolidation: an ironic yet powerful pairing

Systems consolidation involves a prolonged process of memory reorganization that appears to be distinctly related to declarative memory. Declarative memory can be sharply contrasted with simple delay eyeblink classical conditioning, a prototypical example of nondeclarative memory. Yet inserting a trace interval between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli endows eyeblink (trace) conditioning with many features of declarative memory. Work in humans has established that trace conditioning requires declarative memory. Recently trace eyeblink conditioning in animals has become one of the most powerful methods to study systems consolidation. Thus, it is ironic that a substantially nondeclarative form of memory has been so instructive concerning the organization of declarative memory.     

Why Do Men Benefit More from Marriage Than Do Women? Thinking More Broadly About Interpersonal Processes That Occur Within and Outside of Marriage

In this commentary we return to the original question of Wanic and Kulik??s paper, ??Why do men benefit more from marriage than do women??? We suggest that trying to understand why women suffer more than men in marriage (from conflict or for any other reason) will not, by itself, answer the question. The answers are certainly multifaceted and complex, and there is little reason to pit one possible answer against another. We highlight that when examining gender differences in health in marriage it is important to (a) consider the helpful processes in combination with hurtful ones, b) take a broad view on this question including many types of social processes, and c) consider processes that occur outside of marriage as well as those that occur inside of marriage.     

Accuracy of and confidence in mock jailhouse informants' recall of criminal accounts

While much research has explored how well earwitnesses can identify perpetrators' voices, little published research has examined how well they can recall criminal admissions. This exploratory study examined the effects of two variables relevant to criminal investigations—rehearsal and length of retention interval between witnessing and reporting an event—on the recall of details and strength of the accuracy–confidence (AC) relationship for such details from a perpetrator's criminal admission. Results suggest that confidence can be a reasonable predictor of accuracy, depending on whether the admission is rehearsed, the length of retention interval, and the centrality of details to the crime recounted. Substantial variance was found in how the above factors affected recall accuracy and confidence of individual details as well. While much research is still needed, our findings provide preliminary support for practical suggestions that may assist in credibility assessments of earwitnesses to criminal accounts, such as jailhouse informants. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced change detection performance reveals improved strategy use in avid action video game players

Recent research has shown that avid action video game players (VGPs) outperform non-video game players (NVGPs) on a variety of attentional and perceptual tasks. However, it remains unknown exactly why and how such differences arise; while some prior research has demonstrated that VGPs' improvements stem from enhanced basic perceptual processes, other work indicates that they can stem from enhanced attentional control. The current experiment used a change-detection task to explore whether top-down strategies can contribute to VGPs' improved abilities. Participants viewed alternating presentations of an image and a modified version of the image and were tasked with detecting and localizing the changed element. Consistent with prior claims of enhanced perceptual abilities, VGPs were able to detect the changes while requiring less exposure to the change than NVGPs. Further analyses revealed this improved change detection performance may result from altered strategy use; VGPs employed broader search patterns when scanning scenes for potential changes. These results complement prior demonstrations of VGPs' enhanced bottom-up perceptual benefits by providing new evidence of VGPs' potentially enhanced top-down strategic benefits.     

Influence of motivation,self-beliefs,and instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents in Canada

This study examined the effects of motivation to learn science, science self-beliefs, and science instructional practices on science achievement of 13,985 15-year-old students from 431 schools across Canada. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses, while controlling for student- and school-level demographic characteristics, revealed the substantial predictive effects of motivation to learn science, science self-beliefs, and science instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents. Motivational beliefs—self-efficacy and self-concept—and enjoyment of science had substantial positive predictive effects on science achievement. In contrast, general interest in science had a negative predictive effect on science achievement in the context of other variables. Whereas science teaching using hands-on activities had a substantial positive predictive effect on science achievement, science teaching using student investigations had a substantial negative predictive effect in the context of other variables. The final HLM model indicated that only 8% of the variance in science achievement was between schools and 92% of the variance involved students within schools.     

Intake of high-intensity sweeteners alters the ability of sweet taste to signal caloric consequences: implications for the learned control of energy and body weight regulation

Recent results from both human epidemiological and experimental studies with animals suggest that intake of noncaloric sweeteners may promote, rather than protect against, weight gain and other disturbances of energy regulation. However, without a viable mechanism to explain how consumption of noncaloric sweeteners can increase energy intake and body weight, the persuasiveness of such results has been limited. Using a rat model, the present research showed that intake of noncaloric sweeteners reduces the effectiveness of learned associations between sweet tastes and postingestive caloric outcomes (Experiment 1) and that interfering with this association may impair the ability of rats to regulate their intake of sweet, but not nonsweet, high-fat and high-calorie food (Experiment 2). The results support the hypothesis that consuming noncaloric sweeteners may promote excessive intake and body weight gain by weakening a predictive relationship between sweet taste and the caloric consequences of eating.     

A hidden markov model-based analysis framework using eye-tracking data to characterise re-orientation strategies in minimally invasive surgery

Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) represents a new paradigm in minimally invasive surgery whereby an operator uses a flexible instrument to navigate within an anatomical space. The flexible instrument is introduced via a natural body orifice such as the mouth to perform an operative intervention controlled by the surgeon without making incisions in the anterior abdominal wall. It differs from laparoscopic (traditional keyhole) surgery in two main ways: (1) the instruments used in NOTES are not rigid as in laparoscopic surgery and not specifically designed for this application; and (2) there are no incisions in the anterior abdominal wall. Disorientation during NOTES is a significant problem because as in laparoscopic surgery the operator typically uses a 2D camera-monitor interface for visualisation by the camera at the site of the operation. Furthermore, the positional cue offered by the external component (outside the body) of the camera is absent, and camera navigation is more cumbersome. When the operator is disorientated, it is important to be able to re-orientate quickly to minimise potential surgical errors. It is hypothesised that when surgeons become disorientated, there exist discrete patterns in psychophysical behaviour which are associated with effective re-orientation, and that these patterns are recognisable. In this study, we examine visual re-orientation behaviour in 18 subjects using eye-tracker data in a model comprised of selective image manipulation of everyday objects in a box trainer. We characterise effective behaviour using a fixation sequence similarity-based hidden Markov model. We show that the output of this algorithm is reliable in differentiating visual behavioural sequences, and that there are specific behavioural patterns and strategies associated with successful re-orientation in this model. Good re-orientation strategy appears to rely on identification and focus on a central object within the scene and judging position of its surrounding peripheral objects, suggesting integration of both geometric and feature information in a systematic way. Using selective, inconsistent feature cues for re-orientation were associated with less effective performance.     

Introducing couples to group therapy: pursuing passion through the neo-cortex

Revolutionary developments in the study of neurobiology and relationships have led to new approaches in the treatment of couples. This paper describes a program of couples groups that utilizes a neurobiological perspective in combining education with group experience. The educational part of the program integrates findings from neurobiology, a biological view of affect dysregulation and attachment theory, and helps partners learn to slow down their physiological intensity before taking risks and exploring attachment to one another.