Is memory for plans unique? a study using common nouns as stimuli

The present study explored the question of whether the U-shape effect, which was observed in previous experiments on memory for fictitious plans is unique to the memory for plans or not, i.e., are plans for the morning and for the evening recalled better than those for the afternoon. To investigate we used a "common noun" as the material to be memorized instead of the "action phrase" as used in Watanabe and Kawaguchi's earlier experiments. Free recall tasks were performed in two experiments: in Exp. 1, a sample of 15 undergraduates memorized "hour" and "common noun" pairs, while in Exp. 2 another 15 undergraduates memorized "number" and "common noun" pairs. The results of these experiments indicated no significant effect for time of day. This suggests that the U-shape effect observed in Watanabe and Kawaguchi's experiments, in which participants were asked to memorize a combination of an "hour" and an "action phrase" is unique to memory for plans.     

Visual grouping by motion precedes the relative localization between moving and flashed stimuli

A flashed stimulus is perceived as spatially lagging behind a moving stimulus when they are spatially aligned. When several elements are perceptually grouped into a unitary moving object, a flash presented at the leading edge of the moving stimulus suffers a larger spatial lag than a flash presented at the trailing edge (K. Watanabe. R. Nijhawan. B. Khurana, & S. Shimojo. 2001). By manipulation of the flash onset relative to the motion onset, the present study investigated the order of perceptual operations of visual motion grouping and relative visual localization. It was found that the asymmetric mislocalization was observed irrespective of physical and/or perceptual temporal order between the motion and flash onsets. Thus, grouping by motion must be completed to define the leading-trailing relation in a moving object before the visual system explicitly represents the relative positions of moving and flashed stimuli.     

Neural mechanisms of spatial working memory: Contributions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been known to play an important role in working memory. Neurophysiological studies have revealed that delay period activity observed in the DLPFC is a neural correlate of the temporary storage mechanism for information and that this activity represents either retrospective or prospective information, although the majority represents retrospective information. However, the DLPFC is not the only brain area related to working memory. The analysis of neural activity in the thalamic mediodorsal (MD) nucleus reveals that the MD also participates in working memory. Although similar task-related activities were observed in the MD, the directional bias of these activities and the proportion of presaccadic activity are different between the MD and the DLPFC. These results indicate that, although the MD participates in working memory, the way it participates in this process is different between these two areas, in that the MD participates more in motor control aspects than the DLPFC does.     

Object-based anisotropies in the flash-lag effect

The relative visual position of a briefly flashed stimulus is systematically modified in the presence of motion signals. We investigated the two-dimensional distortion of the positional representation of a flash relative to a moving stimulus. Analysis of the spatial pattern of mislocalization revealed that the perceived position of a flash was not uniformly displaced, but instead shifted toward a single point of convergence that followed the moving object from behind at a fixed distance. Although the absolute magnitude of mislocalization increased with motion speed, the convergence point remained unaffected. The motion modified the perceived position of a flash, but had little influence on the perceived shape of a spatially extended flash stimulus. These results demonstrate that motion anisotropically distorts positional representation after the shapes of objects are represented. Furthermore, the results imply that the flash-lag effect may be considered a special case of two-dimensional anisotropic distortion.     

Geometrical structures of photographic and stereoscopic spaces

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the geometrical structures of photographic and stereoscopic spaces. In Experiment 1, it was investigated how accurately photographic space reproduces real physical space, and the geometrical structure of photographic space was compared with that of visual space. As a result, the mapping function of distance between photographic and physical spaces (delta = ad(b)) shows that a and b range from 0.96-1.1 and 0.69-0.78. The mapping function of angle between photographic and physical spaces (phi = g phi(h)) shows that g and h range from 2.37-5.29 and 0.74-0.97. Further, photographic space has larger anisotropic property than visual space and photographic space may be hyperbolic. In Experiment 2, the geometrical structure of stereoscopic space was compared with that of visual space. It was found that stereoscopic space was almost the same as visual space.     

Attentional set for axis of symmetry in symmetry-defined visual search

Olivers and van der Helm (1998) showed that symmetry-defined visual search (for both symmetry and asymmetry) requires selective spatial attention. We hypothesize that an attentional set for the orientation of a symmetry axis also is involved in symmetry-defined visual search. We conducted three symmetry-defined visual search experiments with manipulations of the axis of symmetry orientations, and performance was better when the axis orientations within the search array were uniform, rather than a mixture of two orientations, and the attentional set for the axis orientation could be kept. In addition, search performance when the target was defined by the presence of symmetry was equivalent to that when the target was defined by a difference of symmetry axis orientation. These results suggest that attentional set for axis orientation plays a fundamental role in symmetry-defined visual search.     

Differential effect of distractor timing on localizing versus identifying visual changes

When visual changes are accompanied by visual transients, such as in the case of saccades, eye blinks, and brief flickers, they often go unnoticed; this phenomenon is called change blindness (Rensink, R. A. (2002). Change detection. Annual Review of Psychology 53, 245; Simons, D. J., & Levin, D. T. (1997). Change blindness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 1, 261). Change blindness occurs even when the position of visual transients does not cover the location of the change (as in the 'mudsplash' paradigm) (O'Regan, J. K., Rensink, R. A., & Clark, J. J. (1999). Nature 398, 34). By using a simplified mudsplash display, the present study investigated whether change blindness depends on (a). the timing of visual transients, and (b). the task that observers perform. Eight Gabor elements with random orientations were presented. One element (target) was rotated 45 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise without a temporal gap. High contrast visual transients, not overlapping with the elements, appeared at various times with respect to the target change. Observers reported where the change was (change localization), or in which direction the target rotated (change identification). Change localization was impaired primarily when the onset of the transient was at or after the change. In contrast, change identification was impaired mainly when the transient preceded the change. These results suggest that change localization and change identification are mediated in part by different mechanisms.     

Clinical pastoral education: a physician's experience and reflection on the meaning of spiritual care in palliative care

In this article a physician reflects on her experience as a chaplain intern and how this Clinical Pastoral Education experience led to a deeper understanding of spiritual care in the palliative setting.     

Comparison of water- and land-based exercise in the reduction of state anxiety among older adults

This study examined the effect of an acute exercise program of different exercise conditions on state anxiety among older adults. 73 healthy subjects were recruited and randomly assigned to either water exercise group (n = 36) or land exercise group (n = 37). State anxiety was assessed before exercise and following exercise. Subjects in the water exercise performed a 70-min. exercise program consisting of a 10-min. warm-up, a 20-min. brisk walking, a 20-min. rhythmic dancing, a 10-min. resistance training, and a 10-min. cool down exercise. The land exercise program contained a 10-min. warm up and a 30-min. combined endurance and resistance exercise, followed by a 10-min. cool down exercise. Analysis showed that both exercise groups scored significantly (p<.001) lower on anxiety after exercise, but there was no significant interaction for group by trial for scores on state anxiety. The data indicate that elderly persons who participate in these types of exercise report lower state anxiety.