Implicit processing of tactile information: evidence from the tactile change detection paradigm

People can maintain accurate representations of visual changes without necessarily being aware of them. Here, we investigate whether a similar phenomenon (implicit change detection) also exists in touch. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants detected the presence of a change between two consecutively-presented tactile displays. Tactile change blindness was observed, with participants failing to report the presence of tactile change. Critically, however, when participants had to make a forced choice response regarding the number of stimuli presented in the two displays, their performance was significantly better than chance (i.e., implicit change detection was observed). Experiment 3 demonstrated that tactile change detection does not necessarily involve a shift of spatial attention toward the location of change, regardless of whether the change is explicitly detected. We conclude that tactile change detection likely results from comparing representations of the two displays, rather than by directing spatial attention to the location of the change.     

Cognitive and neural determinants of response strategy in the dual-solution plus-maze task

Response strategy in the dual-solution plus maze is regarded as a form of stimulus-response learning. In this study, by using an outcome devaluation procedure, we show that it can be based on both action-outcome and stimulus-response habit learning, depending on the amount of training that the animals receive. Furthermore, we show that deactivation of the dorso-medial and the dorso-lateral striatum with Botulinum neurotoxin A, mimicked or abolished, respectively, the effects of practice on the sensitivity of the response strategy to outcome devaluation. These findings have relevant implications for the understanding of the learning mechanisms underlying different overt behaviors in this widely used maze task.     

Effects of chronic cocaine administration on spatial learning and hippocampal spine density in two genetically different strains of rats

Lewis and Fischer-344 rats have been proposed as an addiction model because of their differences in addiction behaviour. It has been suggested that drug addiction is related to learning and memory processes and depends on individual genetic background. We have evaluated learning performance using the eight-arm radial maze (RAM) in Lewis and Fischer-344 adult rats undergoing a chronic treatment with cocaine. In order to study whether morphological alterations were involved in the possible changes in learning after chronic cocaine treatment, we counted the spine density in hippocampal CA1 neurons from animals after the RAM protocol. Our results showed that Fischer-344 rats significantly took more time to carry out test acquisition and made a greater number of errors than Lewis animals. Nevertheless, cocaine treatment did not induce changes in learning and memory processes in both strains of rats. These facts indicate that there are genetic differences in spatial learning and memory that are not modified by the chronic treatment with cocaine. Moreover, hippocampal spine density is cocaine-modulated in both strains of rats. In conclusion, cocaine induces similar changes in hippocampal neurons morphology that are not related to genetic differences in spatial learning in the RAM protocol used here.     

Affective mediators of intergroup contact: a three-wave longitudinal study in South Africa

Intergroup contact (especially cross-group friendship) is firmly established as a powerful strategy for combating group-based prejudice (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Great advances have been made in understanding how contact reduces prejudice (Brown & Hewstone, 2005), highlighting the importance of affective mediators (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). The present study, a 3-wave longitudinal study undertaken among minority-status Colored high school children in South Africa (N = 465), explored the full mediation of the effects of cross-group friendships on positive outgroup attitudes, perceived outgroup variability, and negative action tendencies via positive (affective empathy) and negative (intergroup anxiety) affective mediators simultaneously. The target group was the majority-status White South African outgroup. As predicted, a bidirectional model described the relationship between contact, mediators, and prejudice significantly better over time than either autoregressive or unidirectional longitudinal models. However, full longitudinal mediation was only found in the direction from Time 1 contact to Time 3 prejudice (via Time 2 mediators), supporting the underlying tenet of the contact hypothesis. Specifically, cross-group friendships were positively associated with positive outgroup attitudes (via affective empathy) and perceived outgroup variability (via intergroup anxiety and affective empathy) and were negatively associated with negative action tendencies (via affective empathy). Following Pettigrew and Tropp (2008), we compared two alternative hypotheses regarding the relationship between intergroup anxiety and affective empathy over time. Time 1 intergroup anxiety was indirectly negatively associated with Time 3 affective empathy, via Time 2 cross-group friendships. We discuss the theoretical and empirical contributions of this study and make suggestions for future research.     

How Many Mechanisms Are Needed to Analyze Speech? A Connectionist Simulation of Structural Rule Learning in Artificial Language Acquisition

Some empirical evidence in the artificial language acquisition literature has been taken to suggest that statistical learning mechanisms are insufficient for extracting structural information from an artificial language. According to the more than one mechanism (MOM) hypothesis, at least two mechanisms are required in order to acquire language from speech: (a) a statistical mechanism for speech segmentation; and (b) an additional rule-following mechanism in order to induce grammatical regularities. In this article, we present a set of neural network studies demonstrating that a single statistical mechanism can mimic the apparent discovery of structural regularities, beyond the segmentation of speech. We argue that our results undermine one argument for the MOM hypothesis.     

Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty on the Internet

Purpose  

Although the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty has been the focus of a good deal of research, the complex nature of that relationship continues to pose a good many unanswered questions. The present study proposes a four-way classification of the perspectives that tend to be taken by researchers on the said relationship. By theoretically and empirically reviewing these four approximations in an on-line context, the study aims to clarify the nature and strength of the relationship between these two variables.     

Mutuality: Clinical and Metapsychological Potentials of a Failed Experiment

Ferenczi's experiments with mutual analysis are often dismissed, without acknowledging the results obtained from them and his own cautionary remarks about their limits. Though ultimately failed, Ferenczi's experiments with mutual analysis were a source of clinical and metapsychological knowledge, despite the fact that he was unable to elaborate them in his lifetime. In this paper I connect mutuality to the development of the psyche, especially to the constitutive core of the intrapsychic. To understand the latter, it is necessary to take into account, among others, issues such as the common attribute, the mutual flux between the unconsciouses, the dialogue of unconsciouses, the maternal profundity, the primal relationship with the mother, and, above all, the primal unity between mother and child, which are fundamental for the emergence and development of the primary psychic forces. Incidences of rupture, distortion of the core of mutuality in the psychic life, its loss and disadjustment, by means of external traumatizing forces, and some clinical implications are described.     

Comparative Study Between the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value–Belief–Norm Model Regarding the Environment,on Spanish Housewives' Recycling Behavior

Environmental behaviors have been analyzed from different theoretical models. The theory of planned behavior emphasizes the attitudinal aspects associated with behavior, while the value–belief–norm model regarding the environment focuses on the importance of moral components when setting environmental behaviors in motion. The objective of this study was to analyze both models, comparing both their degree of fit and their predictive power regarding recycling behavior. To do so, we used a sample made up of 154 Spanish housewives. The results indicated that despite the fact that the theory of planned behavior is a general model for predicting and explaining behavior, it has a greater degree of fit and greater capacity to predict recycling behavior than the value–belief–norm model regarding the environment.