Development of a cognitive function test using virtual reality technology: examination in healthy participants

We developed a virtual reality test to assess the cognitive function of Japanese people in near-daily-life environment, namely, a virtual shopping test (VST). In this test, participants were asked to execute shopping tasks using touch panel operations in a “virtual shopping mall.” We examined differences in VST performances among healthy participants of different ages and correlations between VST and screening tests, such as the Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Everyday Memory Checklist (EMC). We included 285 healthy participants between 20 and 86 years of age in seven age groups. Therefore, each VST index tended to decrease with advancing age; differences among age groups were significant. Most VST indices had a significantly negative correlation with MMSE and significantly positive correlation with EMC. VST may be useful for assessing general cognitive decline; effects of age must be considered for proper interpretation of the VST scores.     

Set-size effects in simple visual search for contour curvature

In a visual-search paradigm, both perception and decision processes contribute to the set-size effects. Using yes - no search tasks in set sizes from 2 to 8 for contour curvature, we examined whether the set-size effects are predicted by either the limited-capacity model or the decision-noise model. There are limitations in perception and decision-making in the limited-capacity model, but only in decision-making in the decision-noise model. The results of four experiments showed that the slopes of the logarithm of threshold plotted against the logarithm of set size ranged from 0.24 to 0.32, when the curvature was high or low, contour convexity was upward or downward, and stimulus was masked or unmasked. These slopes were closer to the prediction of 0.23 by the decision-noise model than that of 0.73 by the limited-capacity model. We interpret this that in simple visual search for contour curvature, the decision noise mainly affects the set-size effects and perceptual capacity is not limited.     

广松版《德意志意识形态》在《资本论》形成史上的意义

《德意志意识形态》是马克思恩格斯阐发唯物史观的重要文本。这种历史观主要体现在共同体论、对比论、原始积累理论,这三者在逻辑上是相互联系的。然而涩谷版和陶伯特版都完全无视了的这种关联,割断了这三者之间的内在联系,因而,在编辑原则上都是不合理的。而广松版则把这三者有机统一在一起,真正呈现了马克思历史唯物主义的真实内涵,这恰恰证明了广松版的编辑原则的合理性。另一方面,在广松看来,马克思哲学的发展在本质上就是从异化理论到物象化理论的范式转化,而《德意志意识形态》恰恰就为这种物象化理论奠定了基础。从这种意义上来讲,《德意志意识形态》在马克思的《资本论》形成史上具有的决定性意义。     

Predictive and postdictive mechanisms jointly contribute to visual awareness

One of the fundamental issues in visual awareness is how we are able to perceive the scene in front of our eyes on time despite the delay in processing visual information. The prediction theory postulates that our visual system predicts the future to compensate for such delays. On the other hand, the postdiction theory postulates that our visual awareness is inevitably a delayed product. In the present study we used flash-lag paradigms in motion and color domains and examined how the perception of visual information at the time of flash is influenced by prior and subsequent visual events. We found that both types of event additively influence the perception of the present visual image, suggesting that our visual awareness results from joint contribution of predictive and postdictive mechanisms.     

Erratum: Computer‐based teaching of Kanji construction and writing in a student with developmental disabilities. By Hiroshi Sugasawara and Jun‐ichi Yamamoto

The above article (DOI: 10.1002/bin.271 ) was published online in Early View on 3 December 2008. A printing error was subsequently identified in the article. Page 1: Incorrect author affiliation. ‘Keio Advanced Research Center (KARC)’ should be ‘Department of Psychology’     

Priming effects on musical chord identification: Facilitation or disruption?

The present study examined whether priming effects on chord identification are facilitative or disruptive, by employing a control (no‐prime) condition in addition to a related‐prime condition and an unrelated‐prime condition. According to the activation hypothesis, which predicts a facilitative effect of musically related chords, responses are expected to be faster in the related‐prime condition than in the control condition. In contrast, according to the schema hypothesis, which supposes a disruptive effect of musically unrelated chords, responses are expected to be slower in the unrelated‐prime condition than in the control condition. No facilitative effect was found in the related‐prime condition, whereas a marked disruptive effect was found in the unrelated‐prime condition. The disruptive effect was more pronounced in the major‐chord condition than in the minor‐chord condition, and more salient at an interonset interval of 1 s than at 3 s or 7 s. These results are interpreted in terms of the schema hypothesis.     

Effects of angularity of the figures with sharp and round corners on visual evoked potentials

Following a study in which equilateral triangles elicited larger visual evoked potentials (VEPs) than either squares or circles, we examined the effect of single-line angular figures with a sharp or a round corner at angles of 45°, 90°, 135° or 180°. VEPs were recorded monopolarly at four locations on the midline of scalp for 10 subjects, while the figure was tachiscopically presented to the lower visual field. Subtracted waves were obtained between figure and control (blank) conditions. N1 (peak latency 135–142 ms) and P2 (235–237 ms) waves were identifiable. N1 amplitude tended to decrease as a function of angularity, irrespective of orientation (angle pointing up or down). The effect of the sharpness/roundness of the corner was much smaller than that of its angularity. These findings suggest that the greater VEP response with triangles than with squares and circles may be attributable to the acute angularity of triangles. Related cortical processes and VEP components are also discussed.     

Effects of study time and meaningfulness on environmental context-dependent recognition

In two experiments, we examined whether the size of place-context-dependent recognition decreased with study time and with the meaningfulness of the to-be-remembered materials. A group of 80 undergraduates intentionally studied a list of words in a short (1.5?s per item) or a long (4.0?s per item) study-time condition (Exp. 1). Another 40 undergraduates studied lists consisting of words and nonwords in the long-study-time condition (Exp. 2). After a short retention interval, recognition for the targets was tested in the same or in a different context. Context was manipulated by means of the combination of place, subsidiary task, and experimenter. Significant context-dependent recognition discrimination was found for words in the short-study-time condition (Exp. 1), but not in the long-study-time condition (Exps. 1 and 2). Significant effects were found as well for nonwords, even in the long-study-time condition (Exp. 2). These results are explained well by an outshining account: that is, by principles of outshining and encoding specificity.