Hypnotic susceptibility, baseline attentional functioning, and the Stroop task

According to the theoretical framework relating hypnosis to attention, baseline attentional functioning in highly hypnotizable individuals should be more efficient than in low hypnotizable individuals. However, previous studies did not find differences in Stroop-like tasks in which the measure indicative of the Stroop interference effect was based on response latencies. This study was designed to determine whether subjects with different levels of hypnotic susceptibility show differences in baseline attentional functioning. To assess this hypothesis, high, medium, and low hypnotizable subjects performed a Stroop task designed to evaluate accuracy performance, before being subjected to hypnotic induction. Results showed that the Stroop interference effect was smaller in high hypnotizable subjects than in low hypnotizable subjects, whereas it was not different between high, and medium hypnotizable subjects. This outcome supports the notion that baseline attentional functioning is related to hypnotic susceptibility.     

Circadian preference and perceived quality of the sleep/wake cycle in Italian high school students

We explored the relationship between circadian preference and perceived quality of the sleep/wake cycle in Italian high school students aged between 14 and 18 years. Three hundred and forty-five participants (299 females, 46 males) were administered the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (MEQ-CA) and the Mini Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ) to determine circadian preference and subjective quality of the sleep/wake cycle, respectively. The MSQ includes two main factors: sleep and wake; lower scores on these two factors correspond to a poorer quality of sleep and wake. Evening-type adolescents scored significantly lower than morning types on the wake factor. No significant effect of circadian preference was observed regarding the sleep factor. Our results suggest that Eveningness preference is significantly and negatively related to the perceived quality of the wake factor of Italian high school students.     

Phenomenological Metaphysics as a Speculative Realism

The debate between speculative realism and phenomenology has become quite heated over the past years. The matter of contention is the possibility of a metaphysics that can provide knowledge of reality as it is in itself. The speculative realists accuse phenomenology of denying this possibility, confining knowledge to the sphere of subjectivity. What has been overlooked in this debate is the similarity between the speculative project of Quentin Meillassoux and a Husserlian metaphysics. This article looks at these positions from a reconciliatory point of view. After outlining the debate, conceding the problematic nature of realism for phenomenology to the speculative realists, it will be shown that there is a place for a realist metaphysics within phenomenology. After showing the similarities between Meillassoux’s philosophy and a phenomenological metaphysics, and the legitimacy of qualifying the latter as a speculative realism, the conclusion will reflect on the modal notions at play in them.     

EEG correlates of postural audio-biofeedback

The control of postural sway depends on the dynamic integration of multi-sensory information in the central nervous system. Augmentation of sensory information, such as during auditory biofeedback (ABF) of the trunk acceleration, has been shown to improve postural control. By means of quantitative electroencephalography (EEG), we examined the basic processes in the brain that are involved in the perception and cognition of auditory signals used for ABF. ABF and Fake ABF (FAKE) auditory stimulations were delivered to 10 healthy naive participants during quiet standing postural tasks, with eyes-open and closed. Trunk acceleration and 19-channels EEG were recorded at the same time. Advanced, state-of-the-art EEG analysis and modeling methods were employed to assess the possibly differential, functional activation, and localization of EEG spectral features (power in α, β, and γ bands) between the FAKE and the ABF conditions, for both the eyes-open and the eyes-closed tasks. Participants gained advantage by ABF in reducing their postural sway, as measured by a reduction of the root mean square of trunk acceleration during the ABF compared to the FAKE condition. Population-wise localization analysis performed on the comparison FAKE - ABF revealed: (i) a significant decrease of α power in the right inferior parietal cortex for the eyes-open task; (ii) a significant increase of γ power in left temporo-parietal areas for the eyes-closed task; (iii) a significant increase of γ power in the left temporo-occipital areas in the eyes-open task. EEG outcomes supported the idea that ABF for postural control heavily modulates (increases) the cortical activation in healthy participants. The sites showing the higher ABF-related modulation are among the known cortical areas associated with multi-sensory, perceptual integration, and sensorimotor integration, showing a differential activation between the eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions.     

Understanding Motor Awareness Through Normal and Pathological Behavior

ABSTRACT— Data on patients with localized brain damage and on neurologically intact subjects show that normal motor control depends on the functionality of a chain of neurobiological events. These events, through the activation of internal representations of the desired, predicted, and actual condition of one's body with respect to the external world, contribute to the construction of conscious knowledge of voluntary actions and to self-awareness.     

The Grounding of Identities

Philosophia - A popular stance amongst philosophers is one according to which, in Lewis’ words, “identity is utterly simple and unproblematic”. Building from Lewis’ famous...     

Circadian typology and the Alternative Five‐Factor Model of personality

Two studies were carried out to explore the relationship between circadian typology and the Alternative Five‐Factor Model of personality. In the first study, 379 participants (232 females) were administered the reduced version of the Morningness‐Eveningness Questionnaire and the Zuckerman–Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire. Evening types reported higher impulsive sensation‐seeking scores than morning and intermediate types, whereas morning types scored higher than evening types on activity factor. In the second study, the association between morningness and activity personality factor was verified through the objective‐actigraphic monitoring of the rest‐activity cycle. Actigraphy allowed us to operationalise both circadian typology, through the computing of midpoint of sleep (early values, expressed in hours and minutes, correspond to an advanced phase of the sleep/wake cycle), and activity factor by the means of motor activity recording. Fifty‐one individuals (30 females) wore an actigraph on the nondominant wrist continuously for 1 week. A negative correlation was observed between midpoint of sleep and mean diurnal motor activity, demonstrating that an early phase of the sleep/wake cycle (i.e. morningness preference) was related to higher diurnal motor activity. Assessed both subjectively and objectively, the results of both studies highlight a significant relationship between morningness and activity personality factor.