The effect of repetition on the perception of single letters)

Single letters were presented for from one to five flashes, with S required to report what he saw after each f1ash. The clarity of the letter increased sharply with repetition. Since the letters were no larger than one-third of a degree in size, clarity could not have .been increased by S making different fixations from f1ash to f1ash and combining them into a total percept. Nor was S guessing, since this could be ruled out by other indicators. Thus, it was concluded that repetition of the stimulus can have a direct effect on the clarity of a S’s percept of that stimulus.     

Priming across modalities and priming across category levels: extending the domain of preserved function in amnesia

Amnesia is considered to reflect the effects of damage to a specific brain system required for elaboration, consolidation, and conscious recollection. The study of amnesia is therefore a useful approach for establishing dissociations of function and for understanding the normal organization of memory functions. Amnesic patients and two control groups were tested in two studies of priming. In the first experiment, as measured by a word completion test, all groups exhibited significant priming effects that were greater within a modality than across modalities. The amnesic patients exhibited normal priming effects both within and across modalities, despite severe impairment in recall. In the second experiment, all groups exhibited significant and equivalent priming of category exemplars when category labels were presented and subjects were asked to produce the first exemplars that came to mind. The results extend the domain in which preserved priming effects can be observed in amnesia and they suggest that features of priming observed in normal subjects describe a capacity that is independent of the brain system damaged in amnesia.     

Selective inactivation of adenosine A(2A) receptors in striatal neurons enhances working memory and reversal learning

The adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) is highly enriched in the striatum where it is uniquely positioned to integrate dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and other signals to modulate cognition. Although previous studies support the hypothesis that A(2A)R inactivation can be pro-cognitive, analyses of A(2A)R's effects on cognitive functions have been restricted to a small subset of cognitive domains. Furthermore, the relative contribution of A(2A)Rs in distinct brain regions remains largely unknown. Here, we studied the regulation of multiple memory processes by brain region-specific populations of A(2A)Rs. Specifically, we evaluated the cognitive impacts of conditional A(2A)R deletion restricted to either the entire forebrain (i.e., cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, fb-A(2A)R KO) or to striatum alone (st-A(2A)R KO) in recognition memory, working memory, reference memory, and reversal learning. This comprehensive, comparative analysis showed for the first time that depletion of A(2A)R-dependent signaling in either the entire forebrain or striatum alone is associated with two specific phenotypes indicative of cognitive flexibility-enhanced working memory and enhanced reversal learning. These selective pro-cognitive phenotypes seemed largely attributed to inactivation of striatal A(2A)Rs as they were captured by A(2A)R deletion restricted to striatal neurons. Neither spatial reference memory acquisition nor spatial recognition memory were grossly affected, and no evidence for compensatory changes in striatal or cortical D(1), D(2), or A(1) receptor expression was found. This study provides the first direct demonstration that targeting striatal A(2A)Rs may be an effective, novel strategy to facilitate cognitive flexibility under normal and pathologic conditions.     

An aphasia database on the internet: a model for computer-assisted analysis in aphasiology

A web-based software model was developed as an example for data mining in aphasiology. It is used for educating medical and engineering students. It is based upon a database of 254 aphasic patients which contains the diagnosis of the aphasia type, profiles of an aphasia test battery (Aachen Aphasia Test), and some further clinical information. In addition, the cerebral lesion profiles of 147 of these cases were standardized by transferring the coordinates of the lesions to a 3D reference brain based upon the ACPC coordinate system. Two artificial neural networks were used to perform a classification of the aphasia type. First, a coarse classification was achieved by using an assessment of spontaneous speech of the patient which produced correct results in 87% of the test cases. Data analysis tools were used to select four features of the 30 available test features to yield a more accurate diagnosis. This classifier produced correct results in 92% of the test cases. The neural network approach is similar to grouping performed in group studies, while the nearest-neighbor method shows a design more similar to case studies. It finds the neurolinguistic and the lesion data of patients whose AAT profiles are most similar to the user's input. This way lesion profiles can be compared to each other interindividually. The Aphasia Diagnoser is available on the Web address http://fuzzy.iau.dtu.dk/aphasia.nsf and thus should facilitate a discussion about the reliability and possibilities of data-mining techniques in aphasiology.     

Family of origin as a supervisory consultative resource

This article describes the rationale and methodology of a supervisory approach that recruits family-of-origin members as resources to help resolve professional dilemmas. We have found that professional impasses resonate with family-of-origin themes. As supervisory consultants, family-of-origin members have access to family stories, rules, myths, and resources that can provide new messages for a more differentiated use of self in the clinical setting. The standard format of this family supervisory consultation is separated in three phases. First, the supervisor discusses and explores the nature of the supervisee's professional dilemma (i.e., difficulty with angry clients). Second, the supervisor explores the evolution of this same theme through the historical and personal stories of the family-of-origin members. Third, the supervisee anonymously presents a specific case that exemplifies this theme. The supervisor, along with consultation from the family, focuses on the development of a more flexible use of self in the therapeutic system. Thus, the session begins and ends with the professional development of the supervisee. However, there is personal sharing during the second phase, so there are sections that address developmental, supervisory, and ethical considerations. Even though the goal of this meeting is to promote professional growth, personal and family changes are common by-products. Four supervisory anecdotes illustrate this approach to supervision.     

Competition between automatic and controlled processes

We investigated the competition between automatic and controlled processes in a word stem completion task. Prime-display duration and the prime-target interval were manipulated. On each trial a masked prime was displayed briefly, followed either immediately or after a delay by a word stem. The subjects were required to complete each stem with the first word that came to mind, to report any prime they could identify, and not to give as completion any identified prime. By the assumption that automatic processes require less stimulus input and can be completed faster than consciously controlled processes we expected a stronger performance contribution from automatic processes with the shorter prime-display durations and in the immediate stems condition. The results confirmed this expectation. The findings highlight that consciously controlled processes require more time to run their course than unconscious automatic processes.     

Gender-Related Jokes in the Workplace: Sexual Humor or Sexual Harassment?1

When does a joke become sexual harassment? In a partial test of an integrative model of gender-related humor in the workplace, the role of personal and situational variables in perceptions of sexual harassment was examined. Other implications of sexual humor in the office were also studied.     

UTILIZATION OF METACOGNITIVE JUDGMENTS IN THE ALLOCATION OF STUDY DURING MULTITRIAL LEARNING

Abstract— We contrasted several ways that an individual's judgments of learning (JOLs) can be utilized when allocating additional study ("restudy") during the learning of Swahilt-English translation equivalents The findings demonstrate how metacognitive monitoring can be utilized to benefit multitrial learning Computer-controlled allocation of restudy based on people's JOLs was equivalent to most people's own allocation of restudy (indicating that the computer algorithm can provide a sufficient account of people's allocation of restudy) and was more effective than a computer-controlled allocation based on normative performance (indicating that people's metacognitive monitoring of idiosyncratic knowledge has functional utility in causal chains for learning)