Inhibitory sensory preconditioning.

In two experiments rats were preexposed to neutral stimuli. Both experiments used a between-subjects design in which a paired group was preexposed to intermixed presentations of A --> Band AX, and an unpaired control group was preexposed to intermixed presentations of A, B, and AX. After the conditioning of B, in Experiment 1, conditioned responding to X was acquired more slowly in the paired than in the unpaired group. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, X reduced conditioned responding to a separately trained excitor in a summation test but only in the paired group. Together, these results provide evidence of an inhibitory form of sensory preconditioning.     

How different spatial representations interact in virtual environments: the role of mental frame syncing

This experiment is aimed at understanding how egocentric experiences, allocentric viewpoint-dependent representations, and allocentric viewpoint-independent representations interact when encoding and retrieving a spatial environment. Although several cognitive theories have highlighted the interaction between reference frames, it is less clear about the role of a real-time presentation of allocentric viewpoint-dependent representation on the spatial organization of information. Sixty participants were asked to navigate in two virtual cities to memorize the position of one hidden object. Half of the participants had the possibility to visualize the virtual city with an interactive aerial view. Then, they were required to find the position of the object in three different experimental conditions (“retrieval with an interactive aerial view” vs. “retrieval on a map” vs. “retrieval without an interactive aerial view”). Results revealed that participants were significantly more precise in retrieving the position of the object when immersed in an egocentric experience with the interactive aerial view. The retrieval of spatial information is facilitated by the presence of the interactive aerial view of the city, since it provides a real-time allocentric viewpoint-dependent representation. More participants with high preference for using cardinal points tend to be more accurate when they were asked to retrieve the position of the object on the map. As suggested by the mental frame syncing hypothesis, the presence of an allocentric viewpoint-dependent representation during the retrieval seems to ease the imposition on a specific viewpoint on the stored abstract allocentric viewpoint-independent representation. Our findings represent another significant step toward the comprehension of the organization of spatial representations of our environment.     

Neuropsychological tools to predict conversion from amnestic mild cognitive impairment to dementia. The TREDEM Registry

Most of the studies about conversion from Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia have focused on amnestic MCI (aMCI) which is considered a preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease. The aim of the present study was to identify neuropsychological tools that would best predict conversion from aMCI to dementia. Fifty-five aMCI subjects on the Treviso Dementia Registry were investigated. They underwent a neuropsychological evaluation during their first assessment and again at follow-up. Cox proportional-hazard regression models were created to measure the association between the dependent variable (dementia diagnosis or MCI status maintenance) and the neuropsychological test scores at baseline. The sample (28 women and 27 men; mean age 76.82 ± 5.88 years; education 7.62 ± 3.99 years) was observed for an average time of 2.17 ± 1.25 years. A Cox backward stepwise regression showed that the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Delayed Recall (p = .041) and Semantic Verbal Fluency tests (p = .031) appear to be useful in predicting conversion to dementia.     

Subjective Wellbeing Between Organizational Bonds and Cultural Contaminations

Positive Psychology has recently attempted at “enlarging the paradigm,” explaining the understanding of the human experience of the world. By contrast, for Critical Psychology, “enlarging the paradigm” means moving away from an individualist conceptualization of the psychological. The present article aims at “redistributing the Psychological” toward directions already marked by cultural and discursive conceptions of human experience. Within a transdisciplinary frame, labeled as Psycho-semiotics, Diatextual Analysis has been adopted to investigate the rhetorical modes used by socially excluded enunciators (drug users, immigrants, atypical workers, elderly people, and some categories of churchgoer) to elaborate their own experience of well-being through affective labor and self care.     

Autoestima en adolescentes. Estudios sobre su estabilidad y sus determinantes

Resumen

En el marco teórico de un concepto de la autoestima como conjunto global de esquemas evaluativos que el sujeto tiene acerca de sí mismo, se han investigado diferentes relaciones, causales y de asociación, entre la autoestima y otras variables. La investigación se ha desarrollado en trece estudios distintos, con sendos grupos de sujetos adolescentes, en cinco diseños diferentes, unos correlaciónales y otros de naturaleza cuasi-experimental. Principalmente en estos últimos ha aparecido que la autoestima es dependiente de ciertos acontecimientos significativos introducidos o controlados por el investigador. Pese a ello, sin embargo, la autoestima se ha mostrado como relativamente estable a través del tiempo, a la vez que internamente consistente, habiéndose hallado correlaciones significativas entre las mediciones de la misma con distintos instrumentos y en distintos momentos.     

An experiment on Prisoner’s Dilemma with confirmed proposals

We suggest an alternating proposals protocol with a confirmation stage as a way of solving a Prisoner’s Dilemma game. We interpret players’ proposals and (no) confirmation of outcomes of the game as a tacit communication device. The protocol leads to unprecedented high levels of cooperation in the laboratory. Assigning the power of confirmation to one of the two players alone, rather than alternating the role of a leader significantly increases the probability of cooperation in the first bargaining period. We interpret pre-agreement strategies as tacit messages on players’ willingness to cooperate and as signals pursuing individualistic objectives like publicizing one’s bargaining abilities or eliciting those of the opponent.     

Internal consistency and construct validity of two versions of the Revised Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire

The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Marks, 1973) is the questionnaire most extensively used to measure imagery vividness, but two newer versions have been developed. In this study, the reliability and construct validity of these two measures were assessed: the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VVIQ-2) and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-Revised Version (VVIQ-RV). A total of 206 undergraduate psychology students completed both questionnaires, and to assess construct validity, they also completed the Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ), Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery (Betts' QMI), and the Measure of Ability to Form Spatial Mental Imagery (MASMI). Internal consistency reliability for both was high, with the VVIQ-RV having a Cronbach's alpha of .96, and the VVIQ-2 an alpha of .91. The construct validity of the VVIQ-RV and the VVIQ-2 was supported by the high correlations they had with the other three measures of imagery, which were all close to .50, and the very small correlations (.06-.07) they had with the Verbal scale of the OSIVQ, indicating that they validly measured the imagery construct. Thus, the findings support the two versions as equally valid psychometric instruments for measuring image vividness.     

Some psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Clarity of Auditory Imagery Scale

Few tests have been designed to measure auditory imagery. This study assessed the factor structure and internal consistency of the Spanish version of the Clarity of Auditory Imagery Scale (CAIS). Participants were 234 undergraduate students (M age = 19.6 yr.). Internal consistency reliability estimated by Cronbach's alpha was .82. In a principal components analysis followed by varimax orthogonal rotation, five factors were identified. Scores correlated moderately and positively with ratings on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-2 and negatively on the auditory scale of Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, but weakly and negatively with scores on the Measure of the Ability to Form Spatial Mental Imagery.     

"Binaural rivalry": dichotic listening as a tool for the investigation of the neural correlate of consciousness

Since about two decades neuroscientists have systematically faced the problem of consciousness: the aim is to discover the neural activity specifically related to conscious perceptions, i.e. the biological properties of what philosophers call qualia. In this view, a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) is a precise pattern of brain activity that specifically accompanies a particular conscious experience. Almost all studies aimed at investigating the NCC have been carried out in the visual system. One of the most promising paradigms is based on sensory stimuli which elicit bistable percepts, as they allow to decouple subjective perception from the characteristics of the physical stimulation. Such kind of perception can be produced in the visual modality by using particular images (e.g. Rubin's vase/face figure) or by presenting two dissimilar stimuli separately to the two eyes (binocular rivalry). The stimuli compete for perceptual dominance and each image is visible in turn for a few seconds, while the other is suppressed. The use of this methodology has led to important findings concerning visual consciousness, which are briefly discussed. For the investigation of auditory consciousness, a similar stimulation paradigm can be achieved by using dichotic listening, consisting in two different stimuli presented each to one ear, which compete for perception (binaural rivalry). The principal aim of the present mini-review is to discuss the few contributes facing the issue of auditory consciousness and to advance the use of dichotic listening and binaural rivalry as valid tools for its investigation.