Differential roles of the frontal and parietal cortices in the control of saccades

Although externally as well as internally-guided eye movements allow us to flexibly explore the visual environment, their differential neural mechanisms remain elusive. A better understanding of these neural mechanisms will help us to understand the control of action and to elucidate the nature of cognitive deficits in certain psychiatric populations (e.g. schizophrenia) that show increased latencies in volitional but not visually-guided saccades. Both the superior precentral sulcus (sPCS) and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) are implicated in the control of eye movements. However, it remains unknown what differential contributions the two areas make to the programming of visually-guided and internally-guided saccades. In this study we tested the hypotheses that sPCS and IPS distinctly encode internally-guided saccades and visually-guided saccades. We scanned subjects with fMRI while they generated visually-guided and internally-guided delayed saccades. We used multi-voxel pattern analysis to test whether patterns of cue related, preparatory and saccade related activation could be used to predict the direction of the planned eye movement. Results indicate that patterns in the human sPCS predicted internally-guided saccades but not visually-guided saccades in all trial periods and patterns in the IPS predicted internally-guided saccades and visually-guided saccades equally well. The results support the hypothesis that the human sPCS and IPS make distinct contributions to the control of volitional eye movements.     

Cortisol reactivity in the laboratory predicts ineffectual attentional control in daily life

Objective: The objective was to examine an executive control difficulty perspective on individual differences in cortisol reactivity using a daily protocol.

Design: Fifty participants competed a laboratory stressor task and individualdifferences in cortisol reactivity were quantified.

Main outcome measures: Daily attentional control, conflicting thoughts, error reactivity, worry and mindfulness were assessed.

Results: The findings support the idea that as cortisol responses to stress get larger (as an individual difference), attentional control ceases to function as it should in terms of variables that should predict (mindfulness) and follow from (e.g. worry) it.

Conclusion: The findings support the idea that individual differences in cortisol reactivity can be conceptualised in terms of ineffectual attentional control.     

Inequity aversion in human adults: testing behavioural criteria from comparative cognition

Inequity aversion refers to an attempt to reduce a perceived discrepancy between one’s own input and output ratio (i.e. ratio between work invested and rewards obtained) and that of others. It has been proposed that inequity aversion might also play a role in the decision-making process of other animals. One issue, however, is that while studies in comparative cognition define clear behavioural criteria for an inequity aversion effect in animals, studies conducted on humans rely on an implicit definition of the concept involving assumptions for which there is yet no experimental evidence. In particular, the basis of inequity aversion is assumed to be a social comparison process that is further motivated by fairness concerns. Based on the studies on non-human animals, we tested whether inequity aversion in adult humans will satisfy the behavioural criteria for these assumptions. Although humans showed a decrease in working for a lower-value reward when working alone (non-social effect), this effect was enhanced when a partner was present (social effect) suggesting that their inequity aversion might be based on a social comparison process. Additionally, our tests ruled out the possibility that selfish motives underlie the subjects’ decisions, which raises the possibility that fairness concerns might have been the primary motive. Our results thus show that human behaviour satisfies two criteria imposed by the definition of inequity aversion. A similar pattern is shown in other species, suggesting that the same or similar processes might influence economic decision-making in both humans and non-human animals.     

The effect of career education on career maturity

According to Hoyt (1974), career education efforts are underway in almost one-third of all school districts in the United States. Indications are that this trend will continue. However, the question of the effects of career education programs remains essentially unanswered. This study was designed to assess the effects of a career education program on students' career maturity as measured by the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI). A pretest/ posttest design was used. The sample consisted of 480 sixth and eighth grade students, one-half of whom participated in a career education program (experimental), with the remaining one-half in a regular school program (control). The career education students consistently displayed higher posttest career maturity levels, four scores being significantly higher. Significant differences were found in occupational knowledge of sixth graders, occupational planning for both the sixth and eighth graders and in the attitude scale score for the eighth graders. It was concluded that the career education program had a positive effect in increasing students' levels of career maturity.     

Higher body mass index is associated with episodic memory deficits in young adults

Obesity has become an international health crisis. There is accumulating evidence that excess bodyweight is associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and with a number of cognitive deficits. In particular, research suggests that obesity is associated with hippocampal and frontal lobe dysfunction, which would be predicted to impact memory. However, evidence for such memory impairment is currently limited. We hypothesised that higher body mass index (BMI) would be associated with reduced performance on a test of episodic memory that assesses not only content, but also context and feature integration. A total of 50 participants aged 18–35 years, with BMIs ranging from 18 to 51, were tested on a novel what–where–when style episodic memory test: the “Treasure-Hunt Task”. This test requires recollection of object, location, and temporal order information within the same paradigm, as well as testing the ability to integrate these features into a single event recollection. Higher BMI was associated with significantly lower performance on the what–where–when (WWW) memory task and all individual elements: object identification, location memory, and temporal order memory. After controlling for age, sex, and years in education, the effect of BMI on the individual what, where, and when tasks remained, while the WWW dropped below significance. This finding of episodic memory deficits in obesity is of concern given the emerging evidence for a role for episodic cognition in appetite regulation.     

The Challenge of Postmodernism and the Health of Theology

This article addresses the situation of contemporary theological thinking in relation to postmodernism, or contemporary Continental philosophy. Using a criterion of health from Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, it argues that theology should avoid either simpleminded assimilation of postmodernism or closeminded rejection. After critically surveying some current theological movements and figures, such as Radical Orthodoxy, I turn away from a paradigm of theology based on Barth to one based on Paul Tillich. Finally, an alternative notion of health is elaborated which leads to a deep and transformative encounter between postmodernism and theology.