Illusory figures based on local kinematics.

A new type of motion-induced illusory figure determined by local kinematic information is investigated. The new figure is induced by radial line patterns subjected to either figure motion (the lines change as if they were stationary and a triangle was rotating in front of them) or background motion (the lines change as if they were being rotated behind a stationary triangle). Although the two kinds of motion are equivalent from the viewpoint of relative displacements, perceptually they yield very different results. With background motion, observers tend to perceive rigid figures that have a triangular shape. With figure motion, observers report seeing deforming figures with shapes that vary depending on the number of lines in the display. We consider two alternative accounts for this asymmetry which we term the background superiority effect (BSE). The first account proposes that the effect is due to retinal persistence and to figure stability. Against this line of explanation, we demonstrate that observers also see rigid triangular shapes in displays where both the figure and the radial lines rotate (double motion displays). The second account proposes that the effect depends on the availability of local kinematic information constraining contour orientation. This second line of explanation is consistent with observers' reports of bowed edges in double motion displays rotating in phase or in counterphase. Candidate mechanisms for extracting local kinematic information are discussed.     

Exploring mechanisms that affect retrograde memory for public events in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: A longitudinal update

Here, we examined mechanisms that affect retrograde memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI) as a function of longitudinal clinical outcome. 8 a-MCI who converted to Alzheimer's dementia (AD) during the subsequent 3-year follow-up (converter a-MCI) and 10 a-MCI who remained clinically stable during the same period (stable a-MCI) were compared at the baseline evaluation (i.e., when they were diagnosed as a-MCI) using a remote memory questionnaire for public events that allows disentangling the differential contribution of storage and retrieval mechanisms to performance accuracy. Results suggest that deficits in remote memory are primarily explained by impaired retrieval abilities in stable a-MCI and by impaired storage in converter-to-AD a-MCI. This distinction between retrograde amnesia due to defective trace utilisation in stable a-MCI and trace storage in converter a-MCI is consistent with the temporal unfolding of declining anterograde memory over the course of disease progression to AD.     

Social cognition and real-life functioning in patient samples with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome with or without psychosis,compared to a large sample of patients with schizophrenia only and healthy controls

Patients with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) show an increased risk of developing a psychotic illness lifetime. 22q11.2DS may represent a reliable model for studying the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia. The study of social inference abilities in a genetic condition at high risk for psychosis, like 22q11.2DS, may shed light on the relationships between neurocognitive processes and patients' daily general functioning. The study sample consisted of 1736 participants, divided into four groups: 22q11.2DS patients with diagnosis of psychotic disorder (DEL SCZ, N = 20); 22q11.2DS subjects with no diagnosis of psychosis (DEL, N = 43); patients diagnosed with schizophrenia without 22q11.2DS (SCZ, N = 893); and healthy controls (HC, N = 780). Social cognition was assessed through The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) and general functioning through the Specific Levels of Functioning (SLoF) scale. We analysed data through regression analysis. The SCZ and DEL groups had similar levels of global functioning; they both had significantly lower SLoF Total scores than HC (p < .001); the DEL SCZ group showed significantly lower scores compared to the other groups (SCZ, p = .004; DEL, p = .003; HC, p < .001). A significant deficit in social cognition was observed in the three clinical groups. In the DEL SCZ and SCZ groups, TASIT scores significantly predicted global functioning (p < .05). Our findings of social cognition deficit in psychosis-prone patients point to the possible future adoption of rehabilitation programmes, like Social Skills Training and Cognitive Remediation, during premorbid stages of psychosis.     

The construct of the ‘mana personality’ in Jung’s works: a historic-hermeneutic perspective. Part II

This is the second part of an article that tries to provide a framework of understanding of, and a seminal reflection on, a highly interesting yet little explored psychological construct of Jung’s analytical psychology, namely the ‘mana personality’. Here I take into consideration some issues around the ‘saviour complex’, discussed in Jung’s seminar on Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, concerning both the psychological analysis of the individual and the socio-political level related to the collective horizon of the 1930s. Moreover, I consider the continuity of Jung’s analysis of such issues in other works such as ‘Psychology and national problems’ (1936), Symbols of Transformation (1952), and Aion (1950). I finally make some suggestions concerning Jung’s apparent hermeneutic tendency to apply the construct of the mana personality to collective historical phenomena.     

The construct of the ‘mana personality’ in Jung’s works: a historic-hermeneutic perspective. Part I

According to Jung, the ‘mana personality’ represents an archetypal phase of the individuation process of remarkable interest in psychological, hermeneutic and theoretical terms. This figure is characterized by a high initiatic potential that fosters the approximation of the consciousness of the Self. At the same time, it entails a risk of psychic inflation or of ‘similarity to God’. In this article, divided in two parts, I deal with those aspects through a reconstruction of the development of this notion within Jung’s published works, adopting a primarily chronological and, secondarily, thematic approach moving from a textual analysis of relevant passages. In this first part, I consider some passages which deal mainly with the risks of the assimilation of the unconscious in ‘La structure de l’inconscient’ (1916) that preceded the successive proper treatment of the mana personality’s notion presented, and here examined, in ‘The relations between the ego and the unconscious’ (1928). Successively, I take into consideration some further issues related to it discussed by Jung in ‘The structure of the psyche’ (1928/1931), ‘Archaic man’ (1931), and ‘Nietzsche’s Zarathustra’.     

Spatial representation of pitch height: the SMARC effect

Through the preferential pairing of response positions to pitch, here we show that the internal representation of pitch height is spatial in nature and affects performance, especially in musically trained participants, when response alternatives are either vertically or horizontally aligned. The finding that our cognitive system maps pitch height onto an internal representation of space, which in turn affects motor performance even when this perceptual attribute is irrelevant to the task, extends previous studies on auditory perception and suggests an interesting analogy between music perception and mathematical cognition. Both the basic elements of mathematical cognition (i.e. numbers) and the basic elements of musical cognition (i.e. pitches), appear to be mapped onto a mental spatial representation in a way that affects motor performance.     

Perception of timing is more context sensitive than sensorimotor synchronization

In three experiments, the effects of contextual temporal variation on the perception of timing and on sensorimotor synchronization were examined. Experiment 1 showed that exposure to a variably timed auditory precursor sequence reduces the detectability of deviations from isochrony in a musical test sequence. By contrast, in Experiment 2 there was only a small and transient effect of identical precursor sequences on the variability of finger taps that were synchronized with a similar test sequence. Moreover, the precursor did not impede phase error correction following deviations from isochrony in the test sequence. Experiment 3 employed a within-subjects design that required simultaneous detection of irregularities in and synchronization with nonmusical auditory sequences. Precursor variability impaired only detection, not synchronization performance. These results suggest that perception of deviations from regularity engages context-sensitive tining processes, probably related to conscious awareness, that are not involved in sensorimotor synchronization.     

Dissociating perception and action in Kanizsa's compression illusion

When a horizontally elongated surface is occluded in the middle by a larger surface, it appears narrower than its true width (Kanizsa’s compression illusion). We report that a similar compression effect occurs for closed-loop visuomotor matches of size, but not for otherwise comparable open-loop “mimed” reaching or size-matching visuomotor responses. Our study is the first in which a comparison of size perception in personal space with bilateral actions performed with both hands (instead of precision grips employing the thumb and the index finger) is used to investigate motor responses to Kanizsa’s compression illusion. Implications for the current debate on the existence of dissociations between spatial perception and visually controlled actions in personal space are discussed.