Neuropsychological mediators of the links among age, chronic illness, and everyday problem solving

Reductions in everyday problem solving (EPS) are often reported in older age, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The authors examined the role of 2 variables predicted to mediate (neuropsychological abilities and health status) or moderate (health status) the relationship between age and EPS performance. Toward these ends, they compared EPS and neuropsychological performance in 50 functionally independent adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 64 control participants matched on age and education. Both older age and CKD were associated with worse performance on measures of EPS and memory/executive abilities. Neuropsychological abilities were positively associated with EPS performance. In both the full sample and control participants only, memory/executive functioning mediated the association between presence of chronic illness and EPS. Furthermore, memory/executive functioning partially mediated the link between age and EPS. Findings indicate that relations among age, health status, and EPS are not straightforward. Although performance on neuropsychological measures appeared to underlie EPS declines in chronic illness, increasing age remained independently associated with reduced EPS. The authors discuss implications for models of adult developmental changes in everyday cognition.     

痕迹与遗忘:在抹消的威胁与不可抹消者的持久之间

我需要我的记忆,它们是我的文件……如果你去呼唤记忆它却不中用,你只得等待它不速而至。纽约艺术家路易丝.布儒瓦寻求对于“痕迹”的初步理解:三段轶事古代哲学家认为,三段轶事足以勾画出一种哲学气质。我一接到参与这项三重议题即“痕迹、印记、遗迹”的研究的邀请,三段轶事即刻浮现于我的脑海。我将用这三段轶事来建立一种对痕迹概念的初步理解,随后我们将从一种更为哲学的视角来探究这个概念。*第一段轶事将占据大部分篇幅,它与我学生时代生活的记忆相关,那时我在卢森堡的一座男子公立中学读书。在我上顶级班时,我和我们班同学被邀请去…     

Influence of feedback modality on sensorimotor adaptation: contribution of visual, kinesthetic, and verbal cues

In 4 studies, the authors tested the contributions of visual, kinesthetic, and verbal knowledge of results to the adaptive control of reaching movements toward visual targets. The same apparatus was used in all experiments, but the procedures differed in the sensory modality of the feedback that participants (N s = 5, 5, 6, and 6, respectively, in Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4) received about their performances. Using biased visual, proprioceptive, or verbal feedback, the authors introduced a 5 degrees shift in the visuomanual relationship. Results showed no significant difference in the final amount of adaptation to the mismatch: On average, participants adapted to 79% of the perturbation. That finding is consistent with the view that adaptation is a multisensory, highly flexible process whose efficiency does not depend on the sensory channel conveying the error signal.     

Social exclusion decreases prosocial behavior

In 7 experiments, the authors manipulated social exclusion by telling people that they would end up alone later in life or that other participants had rejected them. Social exclusion caused a substantial reduction in prosocial behavior. Socially excluded people donated less money to a student fund, were unwilling to volunteer for further lab experiments, were less helpful after a mishap, and cooperated less in a mixed-motive game with another student. The results did not vary by cost to the self or by recipient of the help, and results remained significant when the experimenter was unaware of condition. The effect was mediated by feelings of empathy for another person but was not mediated by mood, state self-esteem, belongingness, trust, control, or self-awareness. The implication is that rejection temporarily interferes with emotional responses, thereby impairing the capacity for empathic understanding of others, and as a result, any inclination to help or cooperate with them is undermined.     

The socioecological model of procommunity action: the benefits of residential stability

The authors conducted 3 studies to test a socioecological model of procommunity action. Study 1 showed that residents of stable communities purchased a "critical habitat" license plate to support preservation of the environment in their home state more often than did residents of mobile communities. Study 2 demonstrated that home game baseball attendance was less dependent on the team's record in stable cities than in mobile cities. Study 3, an experiment, showed that residential stability had a causal impact on procommunity behavior. Moreover, the effect of stability was partially mediated by identification with the "community." Together, these studies indicate that residential stability can lead to stronger identification with one's community, which, in turn, leads to more procommunity behaviors.     

The "minimal self" in psychopathology: re-examining the self-disorders in the schizophrenia spectrum

The notion of minimal, basic, pre-reflective or core self is currently debated in the philosophy of mind, cognitive sciences and developmental psychology. However, it is not clear which experiential features such a self is believed to possess. Studying the schizophrenic experience may help exploring the following aspects of the minimal self: the notion of perspective and first person perspective, the 'mineness' of the phenomenal field, the questions of transparency, embodiment of point of view, and the issues of agency and ownership, considered as different and less fundamental than the feeling of mineness. Two clinical vignettes of patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia will be presented: the first one, illustrating early illness stages, and the second case, of chronic schizophrenia, symptomatically marked by persistent hallucinations. Through their analysis, we will discuss the experiential dimensions of minimal self.     

Presence as determined by fractal perceptual-motor dynamics.

This paper presents a tentative model of the role of perceptual-motor dynamics in the emergence of the feeling of presence. A new method allowing the measure of how gaze probes three-dimensional space in immersion is used to support this model. Fractal computations of gaze behavior are shown to be more effective than standard computations of eye movements in predicting presence.     

Orientation in the cuttlefish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sepia officinalis</Emphasis>: response <Emphasis Type="Italic">versus</Emphasis> place learning

Several studies have demonstrated that mammals, birds and fish use comparable spatial learning strategies. Unfortunately, except in insects, few studies have investigated spatial learning mechanisms in invertebrates. Our study aimed to identify the strategies used by cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) to solve a spatial task commonly used with vertebrates. A new spatial learning procedure using a T-maze was designed. In this maze, the cuttlefish learned how to enter a dark and sandy compartment. A preliminary test confirmed that individual cuttlefish showed an untrained side-turning preference (preference for turning right or left) in the T-maze. This preference could be reliably detected in a single probe trial. In the following two experiments, each individual was trained to enter the compartment opposite to its side-turning preference. In Experiment 1, distal visual cues were provided around the maze. In Experiment 2, the T-maze was surrounded by curtains and two proximal visual cues were provided above the apparatus. In both experiments, after acquisition, strategies used by cuttlefish to orient in the T-maze were tested by creating a conflict between the formerly rewarded algorithmic behaviour (turn, response learning) and the visual cues identifying the goal (place learning). Most cuttlefish relied on response learning in Experiment 1; the two strategies were used equally often in Experiment 2. In these experiments, the salience of cues provided during the experiment determined whether cuttlefish used response or place learning to solve this spatial task. Our study demonstrates for the first time the presence of multiple spatial strategies in cuttlefish that appear to closely parallel those described in vertebrates.     

Jobs Commensurate With Their Skills? Selected Workers and Skilled Job Access in Québec

The ability of recent landed immigrants to find employment that is commensurate with their skills is a frequent subject of debate. This article analyses one dimension of this phenomenon: namely, how well does post-landing employment correlate to pre-landing levels of education as measured through the Québec selection grid. The analysis is done through a longitudinal retrospective survey of a probabilistic sample of principal applicants from the economic class admitted to Québec between January 1997 and June 2000. In order to better measure the condition of immigrants at their time of arrival, the results of the survey are analysed along with the administrative data taken from Québec’s selection grid and the confirmation of permanent residence. This article analyses the speed of the requalification that the members of the economic class undertake. This analysis attempts to answer two questions: Is the level attained by the cohort normal? At what speed do these immigrants attain these expected outcomes?