Conditional visuo-motor learning and dimension reduction

Conditional visuo-motor learning consists in learning by trial and error to associate visual cues with correct motor responses, that have no direct link. Converging evidence supports the role of a large brain network in this type of learning, including the prefrontal and the premotor cortex, the basal ganglia (BG) and the hippocampus. In this paper we focus on the role of a major structure of the BG, the striatum. We first present behavioral results and electrophysiological data recorded from this structure in monkeys engaged in learning new visuo-motor associations. Visual stimuli were presented on a video screen and the animals had to learn, by trial and error, to select the correct movement of a joystick, in order to receive a liquid reward. Behavioral results revealed that the monkeys used a sequential strategy, whereby they learned the associations one by one although they were presented randomly. Human subjects, tested on the same task, also used a sequential strategy. Neuronal recordings in monkeys revealed learning-related modulations of neural activity in the striatum. We then present a mathematical model inspired by viability theory developed to implement the use of strategies during learning. This model complements existing models of the BG based on reinforcement learning (RL), which do not take into account the use of strategies to reduce the dimension of the learning space.     

A comparative study of the use of visual communicative signals in interactions between dogs (Canis familiaris) and humans and cats (Felis catus) and humans

Dogs' (Canis familiaris) and cats' (Felis catus) interspecific communicative behavior toward humans was investigated. In Experiment 1, the ability of dogs and cats to use human pointing gestures in an object-choice task was compared using 4 types of pointing cues differing in distance between the signaled object and the end of the fingertip and in visibility duration of the given signal. Using these gestures, both dogs and cats were able to find the hidden food; there was no significant difference in their performance. In Experiment 2, the hidden food was made inaccessible to the subjects to determine whether they could indicate the place of the hidden food to a naive owner. Cats lacked some components of attention-getting behavior compared with dogs. The results suggest that individual familiarization with pointing gestures ensures high-level performance in the presence of such gestures; however, species-specific differences could cause differences in signaling toward the human.     

Procedural memory in dissociative identity disorder: when can inter-identity amnesia be truly established?

In a serial reaction time task, procedural memory was examined in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Thirty-one DID patients were tested for inter-identity transfer of procedural learning and their memory performance was compared with 25 normal controls and 25 controls instructed to simulate DID. Results of patients seemed to indicate a pattern of inter-identity amnesia. Simulators, however, were able to mimic a pattern of inter-identity amnesia, rendering the results of patients impossible to interpret as either a pattern of amnesia or a pattern of simulation. It is argued that studies not including DID-simulators or simulation-free memory tasks, should not be taken as evidence for (or against) amnesia in DID.     

Uncovering the problem-solving process: cued retrospective reporting versus concurrent and retrospective reporting

This study investigated the amounts of problem-solving process information ("action," "why," "how," and "metacognitive") elicited by means of concurrent, retrospective, and cued retrospective reporting. In a within-participants design, 26 participants completed electrical circuit troubleshooting tasks under different reporting conditions. The method of cued retrospective reporting used the original computer-based task and a superimposed record of the participant's eye fixations and mouse-keyboard operations as a cue for retrospection. Cued retrospective reporting (with the exception of why information) and concurrent reporting (with the exception of metacognitive information) resulted in a higher number of codes on the different types of information than did retrospective reporting.     

Preference for spatial cues in a non-storing songbird species

Male mammals typically outperform their conspecific females on spatial tasks. A sex difference in cues used to solve the task could underlie this performance difference as spatial ability is reliant on appropriate cue use. Although comparative studies of memory in food-storing and non-storing birds have examined species differences in cue preference, few studies have investigated differences in cue use within a species. In this study, we used a one-trial associative food-finding task to test for sex differences in cue use in the great tit, Parus major. Birds were trained to locate a food reward hidden in a well covered by a coloured cloth. To determine whether the colour of the cloth or the location of the well was learned during training, the birds were presented with three wells in the test phase: one in the original location, but covered by a cloth of a novel colour, a second in a new location covered with the original cloth and a third in a new location covered by a differently coloured cloth. Both sexes preferentially visited the well in the training location rather than either alternative. As great tits prefer colour cues over spatial cues in one-trial associative conditioning tasks, cue preference appears to be related to the task type rather than being species dependent.     

Systems for the Production of Plagiarists? The Implications Arising from the Use of Plagiarism Detection Systems in UK Universities for Asian Learners

This paper argues that the inappropriate framing and implementation of plagiarism detection systems in UK universities can unwittingly construct international students as ‘plagiarists’. It argues that these systems are often implemented with inappropriate assumptions about plagiarism and the way in which new members of a community of practice develop the skills to become full members of that community. Drawing on the literature and some primary data it shows how expectations, norms and practices become translated and negotiated in such a way that legitimate attempts to conform with the expectations of the community of practice often become identified as plagiarism and illegitimate attempts at cheating often become obscured from view. It argues that this inappropriate framing and implementation of plagiarism detection systems may make academic integrity more illusive rather than less. It argues that in its current framing – as systems for ‘detection and discipline’ – plagiarism detection systems may become a new micro-politics of power with devastating consequences for those excluded.     

The role of personality factors in predicting the reported physical health symptoms of Turkish college students

This study investigates the role of optimism, health control beliefs, perceived health competence, and medical help-seeking variables in predicting the frequency of reported physical symptoms. A total of 345 college students (207 male and 138 female) were presented with the Life Orientation Test, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, Perceived Health Competence Scale, and Physical Symptom Checklist. Separate stepwise multiple regression analyses were applied to the data obtained from males, females, and the total group of students. Results showed that optimism, medical help seeking, chance health locus of control, and internal health locus of control predicted the reported physical symptom scores of the total sample. Also revealed were the different patterns for males and females. While optimism and internal health locus of control best predicted physical health for males, optimism and chance health locus of control best predicted the physical health symptoms of females.     

Psychological Types of Male Evangelical Missionary Personnel Training in England: A Role for Thinking Type Men?

A sample of 92 male evangelical missionary personnel completed Form G (Anglicised) of the MBTI. The two predominant types among this group were ESTJ (24%) and ISTJ (15%). In the group as a whole there were clear preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, for thinking over feeling, and for judging over perceiving.     

Visual behavior and perception of trajectories of moving objects with visual occlusion

Experienced athletes in sports with moving objects have shown greater skill when using visual information to anticipate the direction of a moving object than nonexperienced athletes of those sports. Studies have shown that expert athletes are more effective than novices in occlusion situations in the first stages of the sports sequence. In this study, 12 athletes with different competitive experience in sports with moving objects viewed a sequence of tennis ball launches with and without visual occlusion, launched by a ball-shooting machine toward different areas with respect to the participant's position. The relation among visual behavior, occlusion time, and the precision of the task is reviewed. The spot where the balls bounced was analysed by a digital camera and visual behavior by an Eye Tracking System. Analysis showed that the nonexperienced athletes made significantly more errors and were more variable in visual occlusion conditions. Participants had a stable visual search strategy.