Ethical and Social Aspects of Neurorobotics

Science and Engineering Ethics - The interdisciplinary field of neurorobotics looks to neuroscience to overcome the limitations of modern robotics technology, to robotics to advance our...     

How Polysemy Affects Concreteness Ratings: The Case of Metaphor

Concreteness ratings are frequently used in a variety of disciplines to operationalize differences between concrete and abstract words and concepts. However, most ratings studies present items in isolation, thereby overlooking the potential polysemy of words. Consequently, ratings for polysemous words may be conflated, causing a threat to the validity of concreteness‐ratings studies. This is particularly relevant to metaphorical words, which typically describe something abstract in terms of something more concrete. To investigate whether perceived concreteness ratings differ for metaphorical versus non‐metaphorical word meanings, we obtained concreteness ratings for 96 English nouns from 230 participants. Results show that nouns are perceived as less concrete when a metaphorical (versus non‐metaphorical) meaning is triggered. We thus recommend taking metaphoricity into account in future concreteness‐ratings studies to further improve the quality and reliability of such studies, as well as the consistency of the empirical studies that rely on these ratings.     

Dimensional Latent Structure of Early Disruptive Behavior Disorders: A Taxometric Analysis in Preschoolers

Although disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) are used as a distinct categorical diagnosis in clinical practice, they have repeatedly been described as having a dimensional structure in taxometric analyses. In the current study the authors analyzed the latent status of disruptive behaviors (DB) in a large sample (N?=?2,808) of German preschool children (2–6 years old, mean age 53.7 months, SD?=?13.5, 48.4% girls). The Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) as well as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were used to compile indicators of the DB core dimensions (Temper Loss, Aggression, Noncompliance, and Low Concern for others). Three widely used taxometric methods (a) MAXEIG, (b) MAMBAC, and (c) L-Mode were applied. Simulation data were created to evaluate the Comparison Curve Fit Index values (CCFIs), which were below 0.45, supporting a dimensional solution. Hence, in the current study the latent structure of DB in preschoolers encompassed differences in degree rather than kind. Researchers and practitioners should be mindful of the dimensional latent status of DB in theory building, assessment, classification, and labeling.     

Sensitivity to spacing changes in faces and nonface objects in preschool-aged children and adults

Sensitivity to variations in the spacing of features in faces and a class of nonface objects (i.e., frontal images of cars) was tested in 3- and 4-year-old children and adults using a delayed or simultaneous two-alternative forced choice matching-to-sample task. In the adults, detection of spacing information was robust against exemplar differences for faces but varied across exemplars for cars (Experiment 1A). The 4-year-olds performed above chance in both face and car discrimination even when differences in spacing were very small (within ±1.6 standard deviations [SDs]) and the task involved memory components (Experiment 1B), and the same was true for the 3-year-olds when tested with larger spacing changes (within ±2.5 SDs) in a task that posed no memory demands (Experiment 2). An advantage in the discrimination of faces over cars was found at 4 years of age, but only when spacing cues were made more readily available (within ±2.5 SDs). Results demonstrate that the ability to discriminate objects based on feature spacing (i.e., sensitivity to second-order information) is present at 3 years of age and becomes more pronounced for faces than cars by 4 years of age.     

Lüdecke C,Sachsse U,Faure H (2010) Sucht – Bindung – Trauma: Psychotherapie von Sucht und Traumafolgen im neurobiologischen Kontext

Buchbesprechungen

Lüdecke C, Sachsse U, Faure H (2010) Sucht – Bindung – Trauma: Psychotherapie von Sucht und Traumafolgen im neurobiologischen Kontext Schattauer, Stuttgart, 364 S., ISBN-13: 978-3794527465, EUR 49,95     

Cognitive Differences Between Patients with Left-sided and Right-sided Parkinson’s Disease. A Review

At disease onset, patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) typically report one side of the body to be more affected than the other. Previous studies have reported that this motor symptom asymmetry is associated with asymmetric dopaminergic degeneration in the brain. Research on the cognitive repercussions of this asymmetric degeneration has yielded inconsistent results. Here, we review studies that reported on the cognitive performance of patients with left-sided (LPD) or right-sided (RPD) motor symptom predominance. We present evidence that patients with RPD typically experience problems with language-related tasks and verbal memory, whereas patients with LPD more often perform worse on tasks of spatial attention, visuospatial orienting and memory and mental imagery. In general, no differences were found between both groups on tasks measuring attention and executive function. The association between motor asymmetry and cognitive performance indicates that PD does not lead to one typical cognitive profile. The effect of symptom laterality on the cognitive complaints should be considered in the assessment and treatment of each individual patient.     

Association Learning with Own‐ and Other‐race Faces in three‐ and six‐month old infants – A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study assessed 133 Caucasian German infants at 3 and 6 months of age to investigate the influence of own‐race and other‐race faces as visual stimuli on association learning in the visual expectation paradigm (VExP). The study is related to the findings on the other‐race‐effect (ORE) which is said to emerge at 6 months of age. Caucasian faces were used as stimuli of a familiar ethnic category, whereas African faces were used as stimuli of an unfamiliar ethnic category. There was no significant difference between the two stimulus classes in infants' reaction time (RT) to stimulus shifts at 3 months. At 6 months of age, infants' RT decreased significantly in the Caucasian faces condition but not in the African faces condition. These results indicate that the processing of other‐race versus own‐race faces by the age of 6 months, which is also the relevant age for the onset of the ORE, has an important influence on the performance on the VExP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infant Contingency Learning in Different Cultural Contexts

Three‐month‐old Cameroonian Nso farmer and German middle‐class infants were compared regarding learning and retention in a computerized mobile task. Infants achieving a preset learning criterion during reinforcement were tested for immediate and long‐term retention measured in terms of an increased response rate after reinforcement and after a 24‐h delay compared with baseline. It was hypothesized that infants from both cultural communities would acquire the contingency between own motion and mobile movement, as they similarly experience contingent responses in social interactions. Nso infants were assumed to show a higher learning rate related to their advanced gross motor development, whereas German infants were expected to show a higher baseline because of culture‐typical motor handling promoting a high level of activity (i.e. lying supine). Results showed immediate and long‐term retention in infants from both cultural contexts, as well as a higher baseline for German infants. Although the learning rate was higher for Cameroonian infants, logistic regression revealed that learning was not related to gross motor development but depended on the level of baseline response. Thus, contingency learning was shown in different cultural environments, and the level of baseline activity coined by culture‐specific motor handling turned out to influence learning within the mobile task. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body image trends among Icelandic adolescents: a cross-sectional national study from 1997 to 2010

The aim of this study was to evaluate trends in body image among Icelandic adolescents from 1997 to 2010. Data from five cross-sectional surveys conducted among national samples of 9th and 10th graders in Iceland using five time points (1997, 2000, 2006, 2009, and 2010) were compared to examine changes in body image. In total, 32,397 adolescents participated in the study. Body image among 14-15-year-old adolescents in Iceland improved significantly over the 13-year period. Girls reported more negative body image than boys at all time points. However, the positive change in body image from 1997 to 2010 was more pronounced for girls than boys, resulting in a narrower gap between the genders. The current results are encouraging and indicate that in an age of increased overweight and obesity, the body image of Icelandic adolescents is becoming more positive.