Alternate response preparation in a visuomotor serial task

The preparation of a particular motor pattern is related to the information available that enables the actor to predict the correct response to a forthcoming stimulus. In many situations, however, prediction is not possible. In such cases, the individual can guess the probable parameters of the next stimulus. The authors attempted to establish the bias in the motor intention for movement and its interaction with a possible memory trace of the stimulus-response mapping produced by the preceding stimulus. Two letters were presented bilaterally, and participants (N=21) had to discriminate the target letter and respond with the compatible hand. The present findings support the existence of a memory trace of the previous stimulus-response mapping.     

Individual differences in emotional memory: adult attachment and long-term memory for child sexual abuse

In the present study, attachment-related differences in long-term memory for a highly emotional life event, child sexual abuse (CSA), were investigated. Participants were 102 documented CSA victims whose cases were referred for prosecution approximately 14 years earlier. Consistent with the proposal that avoidant individuals defensively regulate the processing of potentially distressing information (Bowlby, 1980), attachment avoidance was negatively associated with memory for particularly severe CSA incidents. This finding was not mediated by the extent to which participants reported talking about the abuse after it occurred, although post abuse discussion did enhance long-term memory. In addition, accuracy was positively associated with maternal support following the abuse and extent of CSA-related legal involvement. Attachment anxiety was unrelated to memory accuracy, regardless of abuse severity. Implications of the findings for theories of avoidant defensive strategies and emotional memory are discussed.     

Learning processes in matching and oddity: the oddity preference effect and sample reinforcement

Eight pigeons learned either matching (to sample) or oddity (from sample) with or without reward for sample responding. The training stimuli were coarse-white, fine-black, or smooth-mauve gravels in pots with buried grain as the reinforcer. Oddity without sample reward was learned most rapidly, followed by matching with sample reward, oddity with sample reward, and matching without sample reward. Transfer was related to acquisition rate: The oddity group without sample reward showed full (equal to baseline) color and texture transfer; the matching group with sample reward showed partial texture transfer; other groups showed no transfer. Sample reward was shown to determine rate of acquisition of matching and oddity and the oddity preference effect. The results are discussed in terms of item-specific associations operating early in learning prior to any relational learning between sample and comparison stimuli.     

Simultaneous multiple stressors in the environment: physiological stress reactions, performance, and stress evaluation

Interactive effects of two environmental stressors when simultaneous ly present, i.e., noise and crowding, were analyzed. Four experimental conditions with two intensities of stress for each stressor (high versus low) were created. The stressors were concurrently introduced in laboratory conditions and their effects analyzed using several methodological approaches. More intense and negative effects were expected when the two highest intensities of noise and crowding concurred. 40 people (20 men and 20 women) participated in a study with a 2 x 2 factorial design. Analysis showed an increase in the measures of hemodynamic, endocrine, and neuroendocrine values of participants after being exposed simultaneously to noise and crowding. Similarly, their performance on complex tasks decreased, and they reported a subjective increase in stress. Capacity to cope was indicated by a statistically significant lower mean on the Dimension of Stress scale, tolerance of frustration during the multiple stress condition.     

Types of \mathsf{I} -Free Hereditary Right Maximal Terms

The implicational fragment of the relevance logic “ticket entailment” is closely related to the so-called hereditary right maximal terms. I prove that the terms that need to be considered as inhabitants of the types which are theorems of T_→ are in normal form and built in all but one case from and only. As a tool in the proof ordered term rewriting systems are introduced. Based on the main theorem I define FIT_→ – a Fitch-style calculus (related to FT_→) for the implicational fragment of ticket entailment.     

Unsafe Knowledge

Ernest Sosa has argued that if someone knows that p, then his belief that p is “safe”. and Timothy Williamson has agreed. In this paper I argue that safety, as defined by Sosa, is not a necessary condition on knowledge – that we can have unsafe knowledge. I present Sosa’s definition of safety and a counterexample to it as a necessary condition on knowledge. I also argue that Sosa’s most recent refinements to the notion of safety don’t help him to avoid the counterexample. I consider three replies on behalf of the defender of safety, and find them all wanting. Finally, I offer a tentative diagnosis of my counterexample.     

Worry and Pathological Worry in Patients with Psoriasis: Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) in Four Samples of Patients

The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Penn state Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) in patients with psoriasis. A series of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were undertaken to assess the reliability, stability and validity of the measure. Patients with psoriasis from four samples (consecutive attendees, anxious patients, depressed patients, and 6-month follow-up of consecutive attendees) completed the PSWQ and measures assessing related constructs of anxiety and depression (HADS) and coping (COPE). The clinical severity of patients psoriasis was also assessed by dermatologists using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Exploratory factor analysis was undertaken and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to examine the clinical utility of the PSWQ cut-off score for normal and pathological worry. Exploratory factor analysis suggested that the PSWQ is essentially unidimensional in patients with psoriasis. Intraclass correlation demonstrated that, over a 6-month period, the reproducibility of the PSWQ total scale was good in patients with anxiety and moderate in patients with depression. ROC analysis suggested that the optimum cutoff differentiating pathological worry was > 60, which is commensurate with findings in adult mental health more generally. The PSWQ cutoff for pathological worry showed a lower specificity for depression than anxiety. The PSWQ is an appropriate measure of pathological worry in patients with psoriasis. The cutoff on the scale for pathological worry demonstrates appropriate conceptual overlap with subordinate distress categories of anxiety and depression.     

Conceptual expansion and creative imagery as a function of psychoticism

The ability to be creative is often considered a unique characteristic of conscious beings and many efforts have been directed at demonstrating a relationship between creativity and the personality construct of psychoticism. The present study sought to investigate this link explicitly by focusing on discrete facets of creative cognition, namely the originality/novelty dimension and the practicality/usefulness dimension. Based on Eysenck's conceptualisation of psychoticism as being characterised by an overinclusive cognitive style, it was expected that higher levels of psychoticism would accompany a greater degree of conceptual expansion and elevated levels of originality in creative imagery, but would be unrelated to the practicality/usefulness of an idea. These hypotheses were confirmed in 80 healthy participants who were contrasted based on their EPQ psychoticism scale scores. Our findings suggest that the link between psychoticism and creativity is based on associative thinking and broader but weak top-down activation patterns rather than on goal-related thinking.     

Activation of adenosine receptors in the posterior cingulate cortex impairs memory retrieval in the rat

Adenosine A1 and A2A receptor agonists and antagonists have been reported to alter learning and memory. The aim of our study was to investigate the involvement of adenosinergic system in memory retrieval into posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) of Wistar rats. To clarify this question, we tested specifics agonist and antagonists of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors in rats submitted to a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task. The stimulation of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors by CPA and CGS21680, respectively, impaired memory retrieval for inhibitory avoidance task, into PCC. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the role of adenosinergic system in the memory retrieval into PCC.     

Investigating population heterogeneity with factor mixture models

Sources of population heterogeneity may or may not be observed. If the sources of heterogeneity are observed (e.g., gender), the sample can be split into groups and the data analyzed with methods for multiple groups. If the sources of population heterogeneity are unobserved, the data can be analyzed with latent class models. Factor mixture models are a combination of latent class and common factor models and can be used to explore unobserved population heterogeneity. Observed sources of heterogeneity can be included as covariates. The different ways to incorporate covariates correspond to different conceptual interpretations. These are discussed in detail. Characteristics of factor mixture modeling are described in comparison to other methods designed for data stemming from heterogeneous populations. A step-by-step analysis of a subset of data from the Longitudinal Survey of American Youth illustrates how factor mixture models can be applied in an exploratory fashion to data collected at a single time point.