Central executive function in mild cognitive impairment: a PET activation study

Using positron emission tomography (PET), we explored the neural correlates of an executive function, dual tasking, in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and in elderly controls. The experiment employed simple auditory and visual tasks that were presented both in isolation and simultaneously to create a task condition requiring enhanced attentional control. Behaviorally, both groups performed well, albeit the patients made more errors on the visual task. The PET analysis focused at prefrontal regions where group differences in task-related activation patterns were expected. During dual task performance, the patients showed attenuated activity in the left inferior frontal region when compared to the controls. This suggests abnormalities in the neural processes underlying attentional control in aMCI.     

I. Genotype-environment interaction in the schizophrenia spectrum: genetic liability and global family ratings in the Finnish Adoption Study

In the Finnish Adoption Study, a national sample of adoptees with high versus low genetic liability for schizophrenia spectrum disorders was indexed by DSM-III-R diagnoses of their biological, adopting-away mothers. The rearing-family environments of the adoptees were independently evaluated from global ratings of directly observed adoptive family relationships. The interaction of high genetic liability and dysfunction of the rearing families predicted highly significantly to schizophrenia spectrum disorder of the adoptees at 21-year follow-up. Either low genetic liability or healthy rearing protected against a spectrum outcomes for the adoptees. Initial adoptive parent diagnosis, as a proxy for rearing family dysfunction, predicted to adoptee outcome only as a trend.     

II. Genotype-environment interaction in the schizophrenia spectrum: qualitative observations

Previous reports from the Finnish Adoptive Family Study of Schizophrenia have documented significant interplay between genetics (G) and family rearing (E), leading to adoptee outcomes of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Quantitative evidence for this interplay is significantly enhanced when both high genetic liability and severe environmental dysfunction are present. However, when either genetic liability is low or the rearing environment is healthy, the adoptees appear to be resiliently protected against a pathologic outcome. Nevertheless, exceptions to this pattern do occur. Six qualitative vignettes, together with quantitative measures and categorical diagnoses from the same families, illustrate how multiple methods partially confirm one another and also suggest where further exploration of gene-environment interaction is needed.     

On Irrational Guilt

A person raised in a religious family may have been taught that going to the theater is not allowed, and even if he has rejected this taboo years ago, he still feels guilty when attending theater. These kinds of cases may not be rare, but they are strange. Indeed, one may wonder how they are even possible. This is why an explanation is needed, and in my paper I aim to give such an explanation. In particular, I will first provide a brief review of the explanations of irrational guilt that are compatible with the cognitive theories of emotions, that is, theories that presuppose that there is a causal or a constitutional connection between emotions and cognitive factors, such as judgments, beliefs or thoughts. Following many other reviewers, I found most of the explanations of irrational guilt unsatisfactory, although my reasons for critical conclusions will partly differ from the usual ones. After the review, I will defend a solution according to which it is possible to believe that an act does not have any moral costs and at the same time to have an impression that is has, which explains the guilty feelings.     

Die Religionsfreiheit im Spiegel des Staat-Kirche-Verhältnisses in Finnland

Die Beziehung von Kirche und Staat hemmt seit langem nicht mehr die vollständige Verwirklichung der Religionsfreiheit in Finnland. Für das finnische Modelle ist es Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts kennzeichnend, dass die lutherische Kirche selbst ohne äußeren Druck das Verhältnis zum Staat geklärt hat. Heutzutage gehört Finnland zu den westeuropäischen Ländern, in denen sich der Staat neutral zu den mit der Religion ihrer einzelnen Bürger verknüpften Entscheidungen hält. Dabei gehört zur Religionsfreiheit sowohl das Recht, sich zu einer bestimmten Religion zu bekennen und sie zu praktizieren, als auch ein Recht darauf, sich zu keiner Religion zu bekennen. Die Verwirklichung der Religionsfreiheit des Einzelnen setzt keine einheitliche Verhaltensweise des Staates mit allen in seinem Bereich tätigen Kirchen und religiösen Gemeinschaften voraus. Man geht aber davon aus, dass die Ungleichheit zwischen den religiösen Gemeinschaften nicht die Verwirklichung der Religionsfreiheit aller Bürger aufs Spiel setzen darf. Weil die Entwicklung in Finnland auch in Richtung einer mehr gleichgestellten Stellung religiöser Gemeinschaften führt, so stärkt dies gleichzeitig auch die gesellschaftlichen Voraussetzungen für die Realisierung der Religionsfreiheit des Einzelnen.     

State-dependency in brain stimulation studies of perception and cognition

We address the importance of understanding initial states of neuronal populations and of state-dependent responses in cognitive neuroscience experiments with special emphasis on brain stimulation studies of perception and cognition. The approach we present is based on evidence that behavioural and perceptual effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are determined by initial neural activation state; by systematically manipulating neural activation states before application of TMS, one can selectively target specific, even spatially overlapping neural populations within the affected region. This approach is potentially of great benefit to cognitive neuroscience and remediation programmes as it combines high spatial and functional resolution with the ability to assess causality.