Behavioral orientations and peer-contact patterns of relationally aggressive girls

The present study was designed to assess the behavioral orientations and peer-contact patterns of relationally aggressive girls. Based on teachers' assessments of relational aggression, 16 preschool girls were assigned to either a relationally aggressive group or a nonaggressive group and then observed in a free play setting. Several aspects of their interactive behaviors, e.g., cooperative play and social conversation, and noninteractive behaviors, e.g., solitary play and transition, were observed. Analysis indicated the relationally aggressive group spent more time engaged in social conversation and transition and less time in cooperative play than did the nonaggressive group. Further, findings indicated that the relationally aggressive group spent more time with one particular peer than did the nonaggressive group.     

The effect of exogenous spatial attention on auditory information processing

This study investigated the effect of exogenous spatial attention on auditory information processing. In Experiments 1, 2 and 3, temporal order judgment tasks were performed to examine the effect. In Experiment 1 and 2, a cue tone was presented to either the left or right ear, followed by sequential presentation of two target tones. The subjects judged the order of presentation of the target tones. The results showed that subjects heard both tones simultaneously when the target tone, which was presented on the same side as the cue tone, was presented after the target tone on the opposite side. This indicates that spatial exogenous attention was aroused by the cue tone, and facilitated subsequent auditory information processing. Experiment 3 examined whether both cue position and frequency influence the resulting information processing. The same effect of spatial attention was observed, but the effect of attention to a certain frequency was only partially observed. In Experiment 4, a tone fusion judgment task was performed to examine whether the effect of spatial attention occurred in the initial stages of hearing. The result suggests that the effect occurred in the later stages of hearing.     

The Effect of Cane Use on Attentional Demands During Walking

We investigated the effects of cane use, lateral walking stability, and cane use practice on attentional demands during walking. Attentional demands were assessed using dual-task methodology with a reaction time (RT) task. Sixteen healthy young subjects performed the RT task during walking, before and after cane use practice under four conditions: with/without cane use while wearing normal/unstable shoes. Among normal shoe conditions, cane use resulted in longer RTs. In contrast, RTs were similar regardless of cane use in the unstable shoe conditions. Among conditions without cane use, unstable shoes resulted in longer RTs. In contrast, RTs were similar regardless of shoe type in the cane use conditions. This study suggests that using a cane during walking requires additional attention; however, the resulting attentional demands depend on walking stability.     

A link between stress and depression: shifts in the balance between the kynurenine and serotonin pathways of tryptophan metabolism and the etiology and pathophysiology of depression

Alteration of tryptophan (TRP) metabolism elicited by proinflammatory cytokines has gained attention as a new concept to explain the etiological and pathophysiological mechanisms of major depression. The kynurenine (KYN) pathway, which is initiated by indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), is the main TRP metabolic pathway. It shares TRP with the serotonin (5-HT) pathway. Proinflammatory cytokines induce IDO under stress, promote the KYN pathway, deprive the 5-HT pathway of TRP, and reduce 5-HT synthesis. The resultant decrease in 5-HT production may relate to the monoamine hypothesis of major depression. Furthermore, metabolites of the KYN pathway have neurotoxic/neuroprotective activities; 3-hydroxykynurenine and quinolinic acid are neurotoxic, whereas kynurenic acid is neuroprotective. The hippocampal atrophy that appears in chronic depression may be associated with imbalances in neurotoxic/neuroprotective activities. Because proinflammatory cytokines also activate the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, these imbalances may inhibit the hippocampal negative feedback system. Thus, changes in the TRP metabolism may also relate to the HPA axis-hyperactivity hypothesis of major depression. In this article, we review the changes in TRP metabolism by proinflammatory cytokines under stress, which is assumed to be a risk factor for major depression, and the relationship between physiological risk factors for major depression and proinflammatory cytokines.     

Sleep-dependent learning and motor-skill complexity

Learning of a procedural motor-skill task is known to progress through a series of unique memory stages. Performance initially improves during training, and continues to improve, without further rehearsal, across subsequent periods of sleep. Here, we investigate how this delayed sleep-dependent learning is affected when the task characteristics are varied across several degrees of difficulty, and whether this improvement differentially enhances individual transitions of the motor-sequence pattern being learned. We report that subjects show similar overnight improvements in speed whether learning a five-element unimanual sequence (17.7% improvement), a nine-element unimanual sequence (20.2%), or a five-element bimanual sequence (17.5%), but show markedly increased overnight improvement (28.9%) with a nine-element bimanual sequence. In addition, individual transitions within the motor-sequence pattern that appeared most difficult at the end of training showed a significant 17.8% increase in speed overnight, whereas those transitions that were performed most rapidly at the end of training showed only a non-significant 1.4% improvement. Together, these findings suggest that the sleep-dependent learning process selectively provides maximum benefit to motor-skill procedures that proved to be most difficult prior to sleep.     

Relations among self-efficacy, goal setting, and metacognitive experiences in problem-solving

This study examined the roles of metacognitive experiences in the self-regulation process before problem-solving. 260 Japanese undergraduate students participated. To investigate the role of metacognitive experiences, a structural equation model was constructed to examine the relations among Self-efficacy, Goal Setting, Metacognitive Experiences, and Performance. Analysis showed that Metacognitive Experiences mediated the influence of Self-efficacy on Goal Setting and Performance. In addition, these experiences were related to Performance to some extent. Finally, these results are discussed in relation to those obtained in previous studies.     

Facilitation of motor evoked potentials and H-reflexes of flexor carpi radialis muscle induced by voluntary teeth clenching

In order to examine the effects of remote facilitation on cortical and spinal sites, we recorded motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and H-reflexes from the flexor carpi radialis muscle of 13 healthy subjects. The H-reflex was used to assess excitability changes at the spinal level, while the MEP following transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to study excitability changes at the cortical level. We induced remote facilitation by means of voluntary teeth clenching (VTC), the so-called Jendrassik maneuver, because this procedure is known to be effective and reliable. Although the facilitation induced by VTC was observed in both evoked potentials (i.e., H-reflex and MEP), which is consistent with previous reports, MEP onset latencies were shortened by VTC in proportion to an increased MEP amplitude, whereas the latencies of the H-reflex were not. Furthermore, statistically significant relationships between MEP latencies and amplitudes were observed in all subjects, whereas no such relationships were observed for the H-reflex. On the basis of these results, two neural pathways are presumed: one involving a release of pre-synaptic inhibition at the spinal level and the other involving an unmasking of lateral excitatory projections at the cortical level.     

Recognition of notated melodies by possessors and nonpossessors of absolute pitch

Musically trained listeners compared a notated melody presented visually and a comparison melody presented auditorily, and judged whether they were exactly the same or not, with respect to relative pitch. Listeners who had absolute pitch showed the poorest performance for melodies transposed to different pitch levels from the notated melodies, whereas they exhibited the highest performance for untransposed melodies. By comparison, the performance of melody recognition by listeners who did not have absolute pitch was not influenced by the actual pitch level at which melodies were played. These results suggest that absolute-pitch listeners tend to rely on absolute pitch even in recognizing transposed melodies, for which the absolute-pitch strategy is not useful.     

The Factor Structure of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in Thirteen Distinct Populations

There is considerable evidence that self-criticism plays a major role in the vulnerability to and recovery from psychopathology. Methods to measure this process, and its change over time, are therefore important for research in psychopathology and well-being. This study examined the factor structure of a widely used measure, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen nonclinical samples (N?=?7510) from twelve different countries: Australia (N?= 319), Canada (N?= 383), Switzerland (N?= 230), Israel (N?=?476), Italy (N?=?389), Japan (N?=?264), the Netherlands (N?=?360), Portugal (N?=?764), Slovakia (N?=?1326), Taiwan (N?=?417), the United Kingdom 1 (N?=?1570), the United Kingdom 2 (N?=?883), and USA (N?=?331). This study used more advanced analyses than prior reports: a bifactor item-response theory model, a two-tier item-response theory model, and a non-parametric item-response theory (Mokken) scale analysis. Although the original three-factor solution for the FSCRS (distinguishing between Inadequate-Self, Hated-Self, and Reassured-Self) had an acceptable fit, two-tier models, with two general factors (Self-criticism and Self-reassurance) demonstrated the best fit across all samples. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that this two-factor structure can be used in a range of nonclinical contexts across countries and cultures. Inadequate-Self and Hated-Self might not by distinct factors in nonclinical samples. Future work may benefit from distinguishing between self-correction versus shame-based self-criticism.     

Functional imaging of working memory and peripheral endothelial function in middle-aged adults

The current study examined the relationship between a prognostic indicator of vascular health, flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and working memory-related brain activation in healthy middle-aged adults. Forty-two participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a 2-Back working memory task. Brachial artery endothelial-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was assessed using B-mode ultrasound. The relationship between FMD and task-related brain activation in a priori regions of interest was modeled using hierarchical linear regression. Brachial FMD, was significantly related to reduced working memory-related activation in the right superior parietal lobule (β = 0.338, p = 0.027), independent of age, sex, systolic blood pressure, and full scale IQ (F(5, 36) = 2.66, p = 0.038). These data provide preliminary support for the association between a preclinical marker of endothelial dysfunction and cerebral hemodynamic alterations in healthy middle-aged adults. Considering the modifiable nature of endothelial function, additional investigations on the prognostic significance of FMD on future cognitive impairment are warranted.