Is the influence of working memory capacity on high-level cognition mediated by complexity or resource-dependent elementary processes?

The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of working memory (WM) in elementary activities and the nature of the mechanisms mediating the influence of WM capacity on high-level cognition. We demonstrate that even elementary activities such as reading digits, subitizing small arrays of dots, or solving simple additions like 3+1 are sensitive to individual differences in WM capacity. Moreover, we demonstrate that a complex task such as counting large arrays of dots involving these elementary activities as processing steps does not induce WM-related differences beyond what can be predicted from the concatenation of differences elicited by the task’s elementary constituents. In line with the time-based resource-sharing model, these results suggest that the influence of WM capacity on high-level cognition is mediated by the impact of a basic general-purpose resource that affects each atomic step of cognition.     

Environmental cue saliency influences the vividness of a remote spatial memory in rats

The Morris water maze is frequently used to evaluate the acquisition and retrieval of spatial memories. Few experiments, however, have investigated the effects of environmental cue saliency on the strength or persistence of such memories after a short vs. long post-acquisition interval. Using a Morris water maze, we therefore tested in rats the effect of the saliency of distal cues on the vividness of a recent (5 days) vs. remote (25 days) memory. Rats trained in a cue-enriched vs. a cue-impoverished context showed a better overall level of performance during acquisition. Furthermore, the probe trials revealed that the rats trained and tested in the cue-impoverished context (1) spent less time in the target quadrant at the 25-day delay, and (2) swam shorter distances in the target area, with fewer crossings at both 5- and 25-day delays, as compared to their counterparts trained and tested in the cue-enriched context. Thus, the memory trace formed in the cue-enriched context shows better resistance to time, suggesting an implication of cue saliency in the vividness of a spatial memory.     

Directed forgetting and aging: the role of retrieval processes, processing speed, and proactive interference

The directed forgetting effect obtained with the item method is supposed to depend on both selective rehearsal of to-be-remembered (TBR) items and attentional inhibition of to-be-forgotten (TBF) items. In this study, we investigated the locus of the directed forgetting deficit in older adults by exploring the influence of recollection and familiarity-based retrieval processes on age-related differences in directed forgetting. Moreover, we explored the influence of processing speed, short-term memory capacity, thought suppression tendencies, and sensitivity to proactive interference on performance. The results indicated that older adults' directed forgetting difficulties are due to decreased recollection of TBR items, associated with increased automatic retrieval of TBF items. Moreover, processing speed and proactive interference appeared to be responsible for the decreased recall of TBR items.     

Personal Respect, Private Property, And Market Economy: What Critical Theory Can Learn From Hegel

The aim of the present paper is to show that Hegel’s concept of personal respect is of great interest to contemporary Critical Theory. The author first analyzes this notion as it appears in the Philosophy of Right and then offers a new interpretation of the conceptual relation between personal respect and the institutions of (private) property and (capitalist) markets. In doing so, he shows why Hegel’s concept of personal respect allows us to understand markets as possible institutionalizations of this kind of recognition, and why it is compatible with a critique of neoliberal capitalism. He argues that due to these features Hegel’s notion of personal respect is of great interest to theoreticians within the tradition of critical theory.

STOP-IT: Windows executable software for the stop-signal paradigm

The stop-signal paradigm is a useful tool for the investigation of response inhibition. In this paradigm, subjects are instructed to respond as fast as possible to a stimulus unless a stop signal is presented after a variable delay. However, programming the stop-signal task is typically considered to be difficult. To overcome this issue, we present software called STOP-IT, for running the stop-signal task, as well as an additional analyzing program called ANALYZE-IT. The main advantage of both programs is that they are a precompiled executable, and for basic use there is no need for additional programming. STOP-IT and ANALYZE-IT are completely based on free software, are distributed under the GNU General Public License, and are available at the personal Web sites of the first two authors or at expsy.ugent.be/tscope/stop.html.     

Facets of the linear ordering polytope: A unification for the fence family through weighted graphs

The binary choice polytope appeared in the investigation of the binary choice problem formulated by Guilbaud and Block and Marschak. It is nowadays known to be the same as the linear ordering polytope from operations research (as studied by Grötschel, Jünger and Reinelt).The central problem is to find facet-defining linear inequalities for the polytope. Fence inequalities constitute a prominent class of such inequalities (Cohen and Falmagne; Grötschel, Jünger and Reinelt). Two different generalizations exist for this class: the reinforced fence inequalities of Leung and Lee, and independently Suck, and the stability-critical fence inequalities of Koppen. Together with the fence inequalities, these inequalities form the fence family. Building on previous work on the biorder polytope by Christophe, Doignon and Fiorini, we provide a new class of inequalities which unifies all inequalities from the fence family. The proof is based on a projection of polytopes. The new class of facet-defining inequalities is related to a specific class of weighted graphs, whose definition relies on a curious extension of the stability number. We investigate this class of weighted graphs which generalize the stability-critical graphs.     

Effect of Perceived Social Support on Self-care Agency and Loneliness Among Elderly Muslim People

Journal of Religion and Health - This study was conducted to investigate the effect of perceived social support on self-care agency and loneliness among elderly Muslim people. This study...     

Perceived differences between chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and human (Homo sapiens) facial expressions are related to emotional interpretation

Human face perception is a finely tuned, specialized process. When comparing faces between species, therefore, it is essential to consider how people make these observational judgments. Comparing facial expressions may be particularly problematic, given that people tend to consider them categorically as emotional signals, which may affect how accurately specific details are processed. The bared-teeth display (BT), observed in most primates, has been proposed as a homologue of the human smile (J. A. R. A. M. van Hooff, 1972). In this study, judgments of similarity between BT displays of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human smiles varied in relation to perceived emotional valence. When a chimpanzee BT was interpreted as fearful, observers tended to underestimate the magnitude of the relationship between certain features (the extent of lip corner raise) and human smiles. These judgments may reflect the combined effects of categorical emotional perception, configural face processing, and perceptual organization in mental imagery and may demonstrate the advantages of using standardized observational methods in comparative facial expression research.     

New Developments in Understanding Emotional Facial Signals in Chimpanzees

ABSTRACT— There has been little research over the past few decades focusing on similarities and differences in the form and function of emotional signals in nonhuman primates, or whether these communication systems are homologous with those of humans. This is, in part, due to the fact that detailed and objective measurement tools to answer such questions have not been systematically developed for nonhuman primate research. Despite this, emotion research in humans has benefited for over 30 years from an objective, anatomically based facial-measurement tool: the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In collaboration with other researchers, we have now developed a similar system for chimpanzees (ChimpFACS) and, in the process, have made exciting new discoveries regarding chimpanzees' perception and categorization of emotional facial expressions and similarities in the facial anatomy of chimpanzees and humans, and we have identified homologous facial movements in the two species. Investigating similarities and differences in primate emotional communication systems is essential if we are to understand unique evolutionary specializations among different species.