Right or wrong, familiar or novel in pictorial list discrimination learning

The interaction between nonassociative learning (presentation frequencies) and associative learning (reinforcement rates) in stimulus discrimination performance was investigated. Subjects were taught to discriminate lists of visual pattern pairs. When they chose the stimulus designated as right they were symbolically rewarded and when they chose the stimulus designated as wrong they were symbolically penalised. Subjects first learned one list and then another list. For a "right" group the pairs of the second list consisted of right stimuli from the first list and of novel wrong stimuli. For a "wrong" group it was the other way round. The right group transferred some discriminatory performance from the first to the second list while the control and wrong groups initially only performed near chance with the second list. When the first list involved wrong stimuli presented twice as frequently as right stimuli, the wrong group exhibited a better transfer than the right group. In a final experiment subjects learned lists which consisted of frequent right stimuli paired with scarce wrong stimuli and frequent wrong stimuli paired with scarce right stimuli. In later test trials these stimuli were shown in new combinations and additionally combined with novel stimuli. Subjects preferred to choose the most rewarded stimuli and to avoid the most penalised stimuli when the test pairs included at least one frequent stimulus. With scarce/scarce or scarce/novel stimulus combinations they performed less well or even chose randomly. A simple mathematical model that ascribes stimulus choices to a Cartesian combination of stimulus frequency and stimulus value succeeds in matching all these results with satisfactory precision.     

Flexible conceptual projection of time onto spatial frames of reference

Flexibility in conceptual projection constitutes one of the most challenging issues in the embodiment and conceptual metaphor literatures. We sketch a theoretical proposal that places the burden of the explanation on attentional dynamics in interaction with mental models in working memory that are constrained to be maximally coherent. A test of this theory is provided in the context of the conceptual projection of time onto the domain of space. Participants categorized words presented at different spatial locations (back–front, left–right) as referring to the past or to the future. Responses were faster when the irrelevant word location was congruent with the back–past, front–future metaphoric mapping. Moreover, when a new highly task-relevant spatial frame of reference was introduced, it changed the projection of past and future onto space in a way that was congruent with the new frame (past was now projected to left space and future to right space), as predicted by the theory. This study shows that there is substantial flexibility in conceptual projection and opens a venue to study metaphoric variation across tasks, individuals, and cultures as the result of attentional dynamics.     

Attitude to primary prevention advice of the European Code against cancer in relatives of cancer patients: implications for the development of preventive programmes

Achieving a preventive attitude is the first step in eliminating cancer risk behaviours. This cross-sectional study evaluated the attitude towards the European Code against Cancer, in 3,031 relatives of cancer patients. The study looked for keys to improve attitude by means of educational interventions. Attitude was evaluated using a questionnaire with 63 items and a Likert's scale. Measured from -2 to +2 , the mean score was 0.905 [0.894 - 0.971]. Five per cent had a mean score under 0.38 and another 5% over 1.46. A multivariate analysis found that age, sex and level of education were significantly associated with attitude: young men with a low cultural level were those with the lowest preventive attitude. The family history of cancer was not associated with attitude. Educational interventions should modify the perceived advantages of smoking and drinking, and the disadvantages related to preventive diet and sun and workplace protection.     

Assessing heterogeneity in meta-analysis: Q statistic or I2 index?

In meta-analysis, the usual way of assessing whether a set of single studies is homogeneous is by means of the Q test. However, the Q test only informs meta-analysts about the presence versus the absence of heterogeneity, but it does not report on the extent of such heterogeneity. Recently, the I(2) index has been proposed to quantify the degree of heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. In this article, the performances of the Q test and the confidence interval around the I(2) index are compared by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. The results show the utility of the I(2) index as a complement to the Q test, although it has the same problems of power with a small number of studies.     

Is there any relationship between sexual attraction and gender typology?

People can be classified as attracted to both sexes, to men, to women, or to neither sex, and also as instrumental-expressive, instrumental, expressive, or non-instrumental-expressive. The two hypotheses tested herein are, on the one hand, the relative independence between these two typologies and, on the other, the close relation between sexual dimorphism and sexual attraction, in contrast to the relative independence between sexual dimorphism and the instrumental and expressive domains. A total of 503 university students (284 women and 219 men) completed two assessment instruments: The Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI, 12 items). Analysis of contingency tables was performed. The results provide empirical support for the hypothesis of independence of the two typologies, solid support for the relation between sexual dimorphism and sexual attraction, and clear support for the independence between the gender domains and sexual dimorphism. The implications of these data for the different outlooks concerning the relations between sex and gender are established.     

Is sexual attraction independent of the instrumental and expressive traits?

Sexual attraction is an essential part of sex, just as the instrumental and expressive traits are the mainstay of gender. Various hypotheses concerning the dimensionality and independence versus dependence/overlapping of these core entities were tested. A group of 423 university students completed the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ; Fernández, Quiroga, and Rodríguez, 2006) and the 12-item Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). Internal consistency and factor analyses (PAF) were conducted. The results support the dimensionality established for the SAQ and reveal some psychometric and conceptual weaknesses of the 12-item BSRI. The results also support the independence of the two cores: sexual attraction and the instrumental and expressive traits. The logical implications for the different viewpoints of the relations between sex and gender are discussed.     

The relationship between seriously considering, planning, and attempting suicide in the youth risk behavior survey

The assumed ordinal relationship between seriously considering, planning, and attempting suicide in the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey was examined by constructing a trajectory that identified all possible response patterns among the four questions measuring suicidal activity. Statistical analysis tested for differences in frequency of risk behaviors across levels of the trajectory. Overall, the trajectory provided insight to the progression of adolescent suicidal activity and demonstrated usefulness as a measure of suicidal intent. Significant differences between means of dependent variables at each level of the normative trajectory supported the hypothesis that frequency of risk behaviors increases monotonically with successive suicidal thought and behavior.     

Stimulant-induced adaptations in neostriatal matrix and striosome systems: transiting from instrumental responding to habitual behavior in drug addiction

Converging evidence indicates that repeated exposure to motor stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamine produces marked alterations in network responsiveness of striatal neurons to subsequent challenge with the same stimulant drug. Such alterations, which correlate with persistent patterns of repetitive behavior, associate with distinct compartmental changes in the neostriatum. Striatal matrix system neurons undergo "silencing" following repeated drug challenges, allowing striosome system neurons to exhibit preferential activation. Matrix neurons are innervated by sensory and motor areas of neocortex and are activated in the course of on-going, adaptive behavior. Inactivation of matrix neurons by chronic stimulant exposure may therefore constrain sensorimotor and cognitive processing. In turn, the striosomes are anatomically connected through re-entrant loops with limbic prefrontal and allocortical structures, such as anterior cingulate cortex, orbital frontal cortex, and basolateral amygdala, all of which play a part in stimulant-induced reinforcement and relapse to drug-taking. Moreover, functional evidence links striosome system neurons, which are responsible for providing inhibitory regulatory feedback to midbrain dopamine neurons, with reinforcement-based processes. In considering such evidence, we postulate that recurrent matrix inactivation and recruitment of striosome-based pathways by chronic stimulant exposure represent neural end-points of the transit from action-outcome associative behavior to conditioned habitual responding. Within this theoretical framework, habitual behavior can be elicited by both interoceptive cues and exteroceptive conditioned stimuli to promote the automatic execution of learned responses.     

Brain potentials to native and non-native speech contrasts in 7- and 11-month-old American infants

Abstract Behavioral data establish a dramatic change in infants' phonetic perception between 6 and 12 months of age. Foreign-language phonetic discrimination significantly declines with increasing age. Using a longitudinal design, we examined the electrophysiological responses of 7- and 11-month-old American infants to native and non-native consonant contrasts. Analyses of the event-related potentials (ERP) of the group data at 7 and at 11 months of age demonstrated that infants' discriminatory ERP responses to the non-native contrast are present at 7 months of age but disappear by 11 months of age, consistent with the behavioral data reported in the literature. However, when the same infants were divided into subgroups based on individual ERP components, we found evidence that the infant brain remains sensitive to the non-native contrast at 11 months of age, showing differences in either the P150-250 or the N250-550 time window, depending upon the subgroup. Moreover, we observed an increase in infants' responsiveness to native language consonant contrasts over time. We describe distinct neural patterns in two groups of infants and suggest that their developmental differences may have an impact on language development.     

Visual behavior and perception of trajectories of moving objects with visual occlusion

Experienced athletes in sports with moving objects have shown greater skill when using visual information to anticipate the direction of a moving object than nonexperienced athletes of those sports. Studies have shown that expert athletes are more effective than novices in occlusion situations in the first stages of the sports sequence. In this study, 12 athletes with different competitive experience in sports with moving objects viewed a sequence of tennis ball launches with and without visual occlusion, launched by a ball-shooting machine toward different areas with respect to the participant's position. The relation among visual behavior, occlusion time, and the precision of the task is reviewed. The spot where the balls bounced was analysed by a digital camera and visual behavior by an Eye Tracking System. Analysis showed that the nonexperienced athletes made significantly more errors and were more variable in visual occlusion conditions. Participants had a stable visual search strategy.