Cerebellar patients demonstrate preserved implicit knowledge of association strengths in musical sequences

Recent findings suggest the involvement of the cerebellum in perceptual and cognitive tasks. Our study investigated whether cerebellar patients show musical priming based on implicit knowledge of tonal-harmonic music. Participants performed speeded phoneme identification on sung target chords, which were either related or less-related to prime contexts in terms of the tonal-harmonic system. As groups, both cerebellar patients and age-matched controls showed facilitated processing for related targets, as previously observed for healthy young adults. The outcome suggests that an intact cerebellum is not mandatory for accessing implicit knowledge stored in long-term memory and for its influence on perception. One patient showed facilitated processing for less-related targets (suggesting sensory priming). The findings suggest directions for future research on auditory perception in cerebellar patients to further our understanding of cerebellar functions.     

Individual strategy preferences and decisional fit

The present research introduces the concept of decisional fit. A decision maker experiences decisional fit when the individually preferred decision strategy fits the actually applied strategy. In accordance to other fit‐concepts in psychology (e.g., person–environment fit), we expected positive effects of decisional fit. Five studies examine the effects of a fit between the individual preference for intuition and deliberation (PID) and the actually used decision strategy (intuition or deliberation). A comparison of extreme types (according to participants' values on the PID scale) revealed that decisional fit enhances the perceived value of the chosen or evaluated object (Studies 1–3). In Studies 4 and 5, participants experienced less regret after decisional fit. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences when comparing intuitive and deliberate decision making, because strategy preferences interact with applied strategies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Naturalization and employment integration of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands

This article deals with immigrants’ naturalization decisions and their effects on socioeconomic integration. The research questions are the following: Is cultural integration of immigrants positively related to naturalization? Does naturalization exert a positive influence on the employment integration of immigrants in the Netherlands? Using data from the ‘Social position and Use of Public Facilities by Migrants’ (SPVA) survey for the year 2002, we concentrate our analysis on Turks and Moroccans. The results of multivariate analyses indicate that naturalization of Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands is not positively related to cultural integration nor to employment integration. These unexpected findings can be explained by the Dutch rules on naturalization.     

γ-Hydroxybuttersäure (GHB) als K.O.-Mittel und sexuelle Delinquenz

Especially γ- Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB, ?Liquid Ecstasy“) and its precursors γ-Butyrolakton (GBL) and 1,4-Butandiol (BDO) which are transformed to GHB in humans, have been observed as knock-out substances with sexual offences. A low single dose GHB (adults about 1–2 g per os) to a person that is not used to take GHB can have a mild exhilarating, euphoric, anxiolytic, and relaxing effect. With increasing dosage (from 2,5 g) drowsiness, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, agitation, myoclonia, and bradycardia will arouse. A dosage of 3–4 g per os (adults) results in consciousness and respiratory depression within minutes. A dosage of 4–5 g can cause a comatous state. In 2008 22 sexual offence cases with hints for the use of narcotics were examined in our toxicological laboratory: blood and urine samples in 11 cases, blood only in 7 cases, urine samples only in 4 cases. The average time interval between the offence and blood taking was 6.2 hrs, and between offence and giving an urine sample 14.6 hrs. A GHB concentration higher than the physiological level could not be detected in any of the cases. In 12 cases cannabinoides (n?=?7), amphetamine (n?=?2), cocaine (n?=?1), diazepam (n?=?3) as well as fluoxetin, citalopram, and dihydrocodein (n?=?1 each) could be detected. With a very short half life of GHB and its precursors a fast collecting of blood and urine is essential, when it is believed that GHB had been used. In these cases also a good and proper interview of the victim is of significant importance, especially concerning the phase of the intoxication as well as the recovery phase.     

Modularity in musical processing: the automaticity of harmonic priming

Three experiments investigated the modularity of harmonic expectations that are based on cultural schemata despite the availability of more predictive veridical information. Participants were presented with prime-target chord pairs and made an intonation judgment about each target. Schematic expectation was manipulated by the combination of prime and target, with some transitions being schematically more probable than others. Veridical information in the form of prime-target previews, local transition probabilities, or valid versus invalid previews was also provided. Processing was facilitated when a schematically probable target chord followed the prime. Furthermore, this effect was independent of all manipulations of veridical expectation. A solution to L. B. Meyer's (1967b) query "On Rehearing Music" is suggested, in which schematic knowledge contributes to harmonic expectation in a modular manner regardless of whether any veridical knowledge exists.