What is matched in direct matching? Intention attribution modulates motor priming

Converging evidence has shown that action observation and execution are tightly linked. The observation of an action directly activates an equivalent internal motor representation in the observer (direct matching). However, whether direct matching is primarily driven by basic perceptual features of the observed movement or is influenced by more abstract interpretative processes is an open question. A series of behavioral experiments tested whether direct matching, as measured by motor priming, can be modulated by inferred action goals and attributed intentions. Experiment 1 tested whether observing an unsuccessful attempt to execute an action is sufficient to produce a motor-priming effect. Experiment 2 tested alternative perceptual explanations for the observed findings. Experiment 3 investigated whether the attribution of intention modulates motor priming by comparing motor-priming effects during observation of intended and unintended movements. Experiment 4 tested whether participants' interpretation of the movement as triggered by an external source or the actor's intention modulates the motor-priming effect by a pure instructional manipulation. Our findings support a model in which direct matching can be top-down modulated by the observer's interpretation of the observed movement as intended or not.     

The factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory-II: an evaluation

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) is a frequently used scale for measuring depressive severity. BDI-II data (404 clinical; 695 nonclinical adults) were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis to test whether the factor structure model with a somatic-affective and cognitive component of depression, formulated by Beck and colleagues, has a good fit. We also evaluated 10 alternative models. The fit of Beck's model was not good for all criteria. Three of the alternative models had a better fit in both samples, but none of these met all criteria for good fit. Of the alternatives with a better fit, we selected the only model with unidimensional subscales, which assesses a somatic, affective, and cognitive dimension. For this model, which we recommend, as well as for Beck' original model, a good fitting structure containing 15 and 16 items was developed with an item-deletion algorithm.     

Brazilian version of the Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication (Protocole MEC): normative and reliability data

The lack of standardized instruments to evaluate communication disorders related to the right hemisphere was verified. A new evaluation tool was developed: Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication--Protocole MEC, adapted to Brazilian Portuguese--Bateria Montreal de Avalia??o da Comunica??o--Bateria MAC (Montreal Evaluation of Communication Battery). The purpose was to present stratified normative data by age and educational level, and to verify the reliability parameters of the MEC Battery. 300 individuals, between the ages of 19 and 75 years, and levels of formal education between 2 and 35 years, participated in this study. They were divided equally into six normative groups, according to three age categories (young adults, intermediary age, and seniors) and two educational levels (low and high). Two procedures were used to check reliability: Cronbach alpha and reliability between evaluators, Results were established at the 10th percentile, and an alert point per task for each normative group. Cronbach's alpha was, in general, between .70 and .90 and the average rate of agreement between evaluators varied from .62 to .94. Standards of age and education were established. The reliability of this instrument was verified. The psychometric legitimization of the MEC Battery will contribute to the diagnostic process for communicative disorders.     

Locus of the redundant-signals effect in bimodal divided attention: A neurophysiological analysis

We reanalyzed the data from the study of Lamarre, Busby, and Spidalieri (1983). In that study, the activity of single neurons in area 4 of the motor cortex was recorded during a bimodal detection task in which a monkey (Macaca mulatta)had to respond as quickly as possible to a visual or an auditory signal or to both (redundant trials). Manual responses on redundant trials were speeded by the presence of both signals, as is typically found. The times between signal onsets and the first changes in neuronal activity were also speeded by redundant signals, but there was no difference between redundant-signals and single-signal trials in the time between the change in neuronal activity and movement onset. These results suggest that late motor processes are not speeded by redundant signals in bimodal detection tasks.     

Emotions and false memories: valence or arousal?

The effects of mood on false memories have not been studied systematically until recently. Some results seem to indicate that negative mood may reduce false recall and thus suggest an influence of emotional valence on false memory. The present research tested the effects of both valence and arousal on recall and recognition and indicates that the effect is actually due to arousal. In fact, whether participants' mood is positive, negative, or neutral, false memories are significantly more frequent under conditions of high arousal than under conditions of low arousal.     

Machiavellianism and Economic Opportunism

This study explores the relationship between 2 defecting strategies based on the manipulation of information; namely, Machiavellianism and economic opportunism. There are 3 main hypotheses that were confirmed in questionnaire investigations among samples of 191 and 113 university students in Athens. Machiavellianism was positively correlated with economic opportunism, shown by a statistically highly significant positive correlation between scores on scales measuring these 2 concepts. In situations of asymmetric information where they held the advantage, high Machs adopted more opportunistic strategies, showing the greatest inclination to maximize their own profit. High Machs showed less trust in potential economic partners, whom they regarded as untrustworthy maximizers.     

Developmental coordination disorder pertains to a deficit in perceptuo-motor synchronization independent of attentional capacities

We investigated from a dynamic pattern perspective to motor coordination whether the deficiency in motor coordination characterizing Developmental Coordination Disorder children pertains to a general disorder in synchronization leading to a lower stability of the performed coordination pattern, and the extent to which the trouble is linked to attentional capacities. Twenty-four DCD children without ADHD aged eight to thirteen and 60 control children were asked (1) to perform a Continuous Performance Test assessing sustained attention; (2) to flex one finger either in synchrony or in syncopation with a visual periodic signal whose frequency was increased stepwise, assessing synchronization abilities. For the attentional task, percentage of exact responses, number of errors and reaction time were recorded. For the synchronization task, we measured relative phase (i.e., the ratio between the stimulus and the response onset and the time separating two successive stimuli). DCD children were significantly more variable than controls in both conditions and the difficulty in synchronization was unrelated to attentional disorders (ANCOVA). These findings support the idea of a general synchronization disorder in DCD children underlying their poor motor coordination. Moreover, this synchronization disorder does not appear to be strictly dependent on the level of sustained attentional capacities.     

Pointing with the left and right hands in congenitally blind children

Congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted children at ages of 6, 8, 10 and 12 years performed a pointing task with their left and right index fingers at an array of three targets on a touch screen to immediate (0 s) and delayed (4 s) instructions. Accuracy was greater for immediate than delayed pointing and there was an effect of delay for the orientation of the main axis of the pointing distribution in both groups, indicating distinct spatial representations with development such as ego- and allocentric frames of reference, respectively. The pointing responses of the blind covered less surface area indicating better overall accuracy as compared to the sighted blindfolded. The hands differed for four of the six precision and accuracy parameters. The right hand performed better and seemed relatively contextually oriented, whereas the responses of the left hand were closer to the body and egocentrically oriented. The elongation of the scatter of the pointing responses was greater for the boys and more allocentrically oriented, indicating gender differences in spatial representation. The study provides a first evidence of ego- and allocentric spatial frames of reference in congenitally blind children and an ability to point at targets with the left and right hands in the total absence of vision.     

Reproducibility of distance and direction errors associated with forward, backward, and sideway walking in the context of blind navigation

The ability to navigate without vision towards a previously seen target has been extensively studied, but its reliability over time has yet to be established. Our aims were to determine distance and direction errors made during blind navigation across four different directions involving three different gait patterns (stepping forward, stepping sideway, and stepping backward), and to establish the test-retest reproducibility of these errors. Twenty young healthy adults participated in two testing sessions separated by 7 days. They were shown targets located, respectively, 8 m ahead, 8 m behind, and 8 m to their right and left. With vision occluded by opaque goggles, they walked forward (target ahead), backward (target behind), and sideway (right and left targets) until they perceived to be on the target. Subjects were not provided with feedback about their performance. Walked distance, angular deviation, and body rotation were measured. The mean estimated distance error was similar across the four walking directions and ranged from 16 to 80 cm with respect to the 8 m target. In contrast, direction errors were significantly larger during sideway navigation (walking in the frontal plane: leftward, 10 degrees +/- 15 degrees deviation; rightward, 18 degrees +/- 13 degrees) than during forward and backward navigation (walking in the sagittal plane). In general, distance and direction errors were only moderately reproducible between the two sessions [intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ranging from 0.682 to 0.705]. Among the four directions, rightward navigation showed the best reproducibility with ICCs ranging from 0.607 to 0.726, and backward navigation had the worst reliability with ICCs ranging from 0.094 to 0.554. These findings indicate that errors associated with blind navigation across different walking directions and involving different gait patterns are only moderately to poorly reproducible on repeated testing, especially for walking backward. The biomechanical constraints and increased cognitive loading imposed by changing the walking pattern to backward stepping may underlie the poor performance in this direction.     

Close to me: multisensory space representations for action and pre-reflexive consciousness of oneself-in-the-world

Philosophical considerations as well as several recent studies from neurophysiology, neuropsychology, and psychophysics converged in showing that the peripersonal space (i.e. closely surrounding the body-parts) is structured in a body-centred manner and represented through integrated sensory inputs. Multisensory representations may deserve the function of coding peripersonal space for avoiding or interacting with objects. Neuropsychological evidence is reviewed for dynamic interactions between space representations and action execution, as revealed by the behavioural effects that the use of a tool, as a physical extension of the reachable space, produces on visual-tactile extinction. In particular, tool-use transiently modifies action space representation in a functionally effective way. The possibility is discussed that the investigation of multisensory space representations for action provides an empirical way to consider in its specificity pre-reflexive self-consciousness by considering the intertwining of self-relatedness and object-directness of spatial experience shaped by multisensory and sensorimotor integrations.