Cognitive processing and motor execution in the lexical decision task: a developmental study

We investigated lexical decision making in children and adults by analyzing spatiotemporal characteristics of responses involving a hand movement. Children’s and adults’ movement trajectories were assessed in three tasks: a lexical decision task (LDT), a pointing task that involved minimal cognitive processing, and a symbol task requiring a simple binary decision. Cognitive interference on motor performance was quantified by analyzing movement characteristics in the LDT and symbol task relative to the pointing task. Across age groups, movements in the LDT were less smooth, slower, and more strongly curved to the opposite response option, and these interference effects decreased steadily with age. Older children showed stronger interference effects than did adults, even though their reaction times were similar to adults’ performance. No comparable effects were found in the symbol task, indicating that task characteristics such as response mapping and decision selection alone are not able to explain the developmental differences observed in the LDT. Our results indicate substantial overlap between cognitive processing and motor execution in the LDT in children that is not captured by computational models of visual word recognition and cognitive development.     

Recovering from negative events by boosting implicit positive affect

Upregulation of implicit positive affect (PA) can act as a mechanism to deal with negative affect. Two studies tracked temporal changes in positive and negative affect (NA) assessed by self-report and the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT; Quirin, Kazén, & Kuhl, 2009). Study 1 observed the predicted increases in implicit PA after exposure to a threat-related film clip, which correlated positively with the speed of recognising a happy face among an angry crowd. Study 2 replicated increases in implicit PA after exposition to the same film clip, and showed that such increases were enhanced by priming self-referential stimuli. The findings are discussed against the background of personality systems interaction (PSI) theory (Kuhl, 2000, 2001), which emphasises the role of the implicit self in affect regulation.     

Appraisal of Suicidal Risk Among Adolescents and Young Adults Through the Rorschach Test

The aims of this study are to investigate suicidal behaviors among adolescents and young adults and to test an index composed using Rorschach test responses related to an increased risk of suicide. Using a cross-sectional design, 4 groups were studied (according to criteria of the Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment [Posner, Oquendo, Gould, Stanley, &; Davies, 2007 Rierdan, J. 1978. Suicide and transparency responses on the Rorschach: A replication. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46: 1162–1163.  [Google Scholar]]): A group with suicidal ideation (n = 30), a group with parasuicidal behavior (n = 30), a group with near-lethal suicide attempts (n = 26), and a control group (n = 30). Responses to the Rorschach test yielded 6 potential indicators of suicidal behavior (scored according to Exner's Comprehensive System and the Suicidal Index for Adolescents; Silberg &; Armstrong, 1992 Stengel, E. 1975. Suicide and attempted suicide , 2nd ed., New York, NY: Aronson.  [Google Scholar]). Rorschach scores including at least 4 of these 6 indicators selected 69% of the people who had committed serious suicide attempts. The Rorschach Suicidal Index reached an acceptable reliability and was related to other criteria of suicide risk, such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelsohn, Mock, &; Erbaugh, 1961 Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelsohn, M., Mock, J. and Erbaugh, J. 1961. An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4: 561–571. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Linehan Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL–I; Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen, &; Chiles, 1983 Menninger, K. 1938. Man against himself, New York, NY: Harcourt. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Moreover, the Rorschach Suicidal Index showed incremental validity over the BDI and the RFL–I to predict suicidal behavior. A path analysis additionally showed that low social support was an important mediator between the Rorschach Suicidal Index and the number of suicide attempts committed by participants.     

Emotion in man as Tested by the Delta Index of the Electroencephalogram: II. Simultaneous Records from Cortex and from a Region Near the Hypothalamus

Five male undergraduates could earn 4¢ for every 200 knob-pulls. In addition, they could avoid or terminate an aversive tone by pressing a button with a force of 1.5 lbs (nonaggressive response) or by hitting a cushion with at least 20 lbs force (aggressive response). Rates of aggression tended to be higher during sessions where money was taken from the Ss at the rate of 1¢ per 12 seconds than during sessions when taking was not in effect. Rates of nonaggressive responses were constant across conditions.     

Cerebral perfusion in chronic stroke: implications for lesion-symptom mapping and functional MRI

Lesion-symptom mapping studies are based upon the assumption that behavioral impairments are directly related to structural brain damage. Given what is known about the relationship between perfusion deficits and impairment in acute stroke, attributing specific behavioral impairments to localized brain damage leaves much room for speculation, as impairments could also reflect abnormal neurovascular function in brain regions that appear structurally intact on traditional CT and MRI scans. Compared to acute stroke, the understanding of cerebral perfusion in chronic stroke is far less clear. Utilizing arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI, we examined perfusion in 17 patients with chronic left hemisphere stroke. The results revealed a decrease in left hemisphere perfusion, primarily in peri-infarct tissue. There was also a strong relationship between increased infarct size and decreased perfusion. These findings have implications for lesion-symptom mapping studies as well as research that relies on functional MRI to study chronic stroke.     

Positive Affect and Flexibility: Overcoming the Precedence of Global over Local Processing of Visual Information

Previous findings on the relationship between positive mood and global processing are often based on visual matching tasks that involve a choice between global and local strategies. Preferences for global processing in positive mood, however, do not imply a reduced ability to process locally. The present experiment tested the assumption that positive affect increases flexibility in cognitive processing as indicated by the ability to overcome global precedence, and to respond rapidly to non-dominant (local) features when the task necessitates it. Consistent with expectations, participants responded significantly faster to local targets after positive compared to neutral and negative prime words. The typical precedence of global over local processing observed after neutral and negative prime words was reversed after positive prime words. Findings support the assumption that positive affect increases cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, findings suggest that mood-related preferences in global versus local processing cannot be generalized to processing ability.     

The Truth of Dharma and the Dharma of Truth: Reflections on Hinduism as a Dharmic Faith

International Journal of Hindu Studies - This article discusses what it might mean to characterize traditional Hinduism as a dharmic faith in relation to the concepts of truth (satyam) and its...     

Are sensation seeking and emotion processing related to or distinct from cognitive control in children with ADHD?

This study evaluated the relationship of (a) reactive inhibition and right-lateralized emotion processing to each other and (b) to executive control of response suppression, and (c) with regard to ADHD in 134 children ages 7-12 years. Reactive inhibition was indexed by child ratings of sensation seeking on the Sensation Seeking Scales, executive control by the Stop Signal Task, emotion processing by performance on the Chimeric Faces Test, and ADHD by parent- and teacher-reported symptoms. The results were consistent with a two-process model in which executive control, conceived as a right-hemisphere lateralized function, was distinct from sensation seeking and lateralized emotion processing. Supporting this distinction, ADHD was associated with executive control, but not with sensation seeking/reactive inhibition or lateralized emotion processing. The findings suggest that ADHD cannot be understood as a global right-lateralized neuropsychological weakness, but rather that it involves only particular functions that may be right lateralized. Findings further suggest that risk for comorbid disorders in ADHD (e.g., conduct disorder or mood disorders) may increase as a function of independent factors such as temperament. Mechanisms underlying executive inhibition and emotional processing could be functionally independent yet interact to multiply psychopathological risk in some children (leading, for example, to comorbid disorders).