Cognitive analysis of a case of pure dysgraphia

An Italian patient with a pure dysgraphia who incorrectly spelled words and nonwords is described. The spelling errors made by the patient were not affected by lexical factors (e.g., frequency, form class) and were qualitatively the same for words and nonwords. The pattern of writing performance is discussed in relation to current models of writing and, specifically, in relation to the role of the Output Grapheme Buffer and Phoneme-Grapheme Conversion in writing.     

Dynamic brain imaging: Event-related optical signal (EROS) measures of the time course and localization of cognitive-related activity

This paper describes the concept of dynamic brain imaging and introduces a new methodology, the event-related optical signal, or EROS. Dynamic brain imaging allows one to study noninvasively the time course of activity in specific brain areas. Brain imaging data can contribute to the analysis of the subcomponents of the human information processing system and of their interactions. Several brain imaging methods provide data that possess spatial and temporal resolution at various degrees and can be used for this purpose. In this paper, we focus on the EROS method, which yields data with millisecond temporal resolution and subcentimeter spatial resolution. We describe the fundamentals of this method and report several examples of the types of data that can be obtained with it. Finally, we discuss the possibility of combining different imaging methods, as well as the advantages and limitations that can be expected in this process.     

Benefits of Blocked Over Serial Feedback on Complex Motor Skill Learning

The effects of blocked versus serial feedback (FB) on the learning of a complex motor skill-the production of slalom-type movements on a ski-simulator-were examined. FB was given about force onset, which is considered to be a measure of movement efficiency; relatively late force onsets characterize expert performance. One group of participants (blocked FB; n = 10) received FB about 1 foot per day; for example, for the right foot on Days 1 and 3 and for the left foot on Days 2 and 4. For another group (serial FB; n = 10), the foot about which FB was received was switched on consecutive trials on each of 4 days of practice. Learning was assessed on no-FB trials at the beginning of Days 2, 3, and 4, and on Day 5. Even though there were no differences between groups in force onset, the blocked FB group produced significantly larger movement amplitudes and higher movement frequencies than the serial FB group on the retention test on Day 5. Thus, contrary to the learning of more simple skills (e.g., T. D. Lee & H. Carnahan, 1990), constantly changing the movement component that FB is provided about did not seem to be beneficial for the learning of more complex skills. The findings add to the increasing evidence showing that practice variables that have been shown to enhance the learning of simple skills can actually be detrimental to the learning of complex skills.     

Fetal Programming: Prenatal Origins of Health and Illness

ABSTRACT— Research on young animals and humans has demonstrated the critical importance of the fetal stage as a formative period in normal development. However, the significance of these findings has not always been incorporated into our thinking when trying to elucidate the origins of health and disease. It is not only that babies react to the state of the mother and to salient environmental events while still in the uterus. This stimulation and priming seems to be essential for guiding the optimal maturation of the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Experiences during prenatal life also program the regulatory set points that will govern physiology in adulthood. During this malleable maturational phase, these biological processes should be viewed as flexible "learning systems" that guide the developmental trajectory toward health or derail it toward pathology. Our studies on infant primates have shown that the competence of their immune responses and the structure and activity of certain brain regions, as well as many aspects of behavior and emotional reactivity, are strongly affected by the pregnancy conditions of their mothers.     

D-Cycloserine enhances memory consolidation of hippocampus-dependent latent extinction

Adult male Long-Evans rats were trained to run in a straight-alley maze for food reward and subsequently received hippocampus-dependent latent extinction training. Immediately following latent extinction, rats received peripheral injections of the NMDA receptor partial agonist D-cycloserine (DCS, 15 mg/kg), or saline. Twenty-four hours later, rats received four extinction "probe" trials. Relative to saline controls, latencies to reach the goal box on probe trials were significantly higher in rats that had received DCS. These findings indicate that memory consolidation underlying hippocampus-dependent latent extinction, a cognitive form of learning in which the previously rewarded response is not made during extinction training, can be enhanced by NMDA-receptor agonism.     

Social Value Orientation Moderates the Effects of Intuition versus Reflection on Responses to Unfair Ultimatum Offers

We investigated whether social value orientation (SVO) moderates the effects of intuitive versus reflective information processing on responses to unfair offers. We measured SVO one week prior to an ultimatum game experiment in which participants had to accept or reject a series of 10 ultimatum offers including very low (unfair) ones. Before making these decisions, participants mentally contrasted their individual goals with the obstacle of pondering at length or acting in a hasty way; then they made the plan to adopt an intuitive or a reflective mode of processing (intuitive and reflective condition, respectively), or made no such plans (control condition). Participants with rather high (prosocial) SVO scores were more likely to accept unfair offers in the reflective than the intuitive condition. This effect also evinced for a subset of selfish individuals; however, the majority with rather low (selfish) scores made similar decisions in both conditions. This pattern of results suggests that SVO moderates the effects of intuitive versus reflective modes of processing on responses to low ultimatum offers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Increasing the distance of an external focus of attention enhances learning

Previous studies (e.g., Wulf, H?ss, & Prinz, 1998) have shown that motor learning can be enhanced by directing performers' attention to the effects of their movements ("external focus"), rather than to the body movements producing the effect ("internal focus"). The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that increasing the distance between the body and the action effects might further enhance the learning advantages associated with an external focus of attention. The distance of the external effect was manipulated by instructing three groups of participants learning to balance on a stabilometer to focus on markers attached to the platform located at different distances from their feet. Specifically, two groups were to focus on distant markers on the outside ("far-outside") or inside ("far-inside") of the platform, respectively, whereas another group was instructed to focus on markers close to their feet ("near"). In a retention test administered after two days of practice, all three external-focus groups showed generally more effective balance learning than an internal-focus control group. In addition, the far-outside and far-inside groups demonstrated similar performances, and both were more effective than the near group. Furthermore, the far-outside and far-inside groups showed higher-frequency movement adjustments than the near group. These results suggest that focusing on more distant effects results in enhanced learning by promoting the utilization of more natural control mechanisms. The findings are in line with a "constrained action" hypothesis that accounts for the relatively poorer learning associated with an attentional focus directed towards effects in close proximity to the body, or towards the body itself.     

Schema theory: a critical appraisal and reevaluation

The authors critically review a number of the constructs and associated predictions proposed in schema theory (R. A. Schmidt, 1975). The authors propose that new control and learning theories should include a reformulated (a) notion of a generalized motor program that is not based on motor program but still accounts for the strong tendency for responses to maintain their relative characteristics; (b) mechanism or processes whereby an abstract movement structure based on proportional principles (e.g., relative timing, relative force) is developed through practice; and (c) explanation for parameter learning that accounts for the benefits of parameter variability but also considers how variability is scheduled. Furthermore, they also propose that new theories of motor learning must be able to account for the consistent findings spawned as a result of the schema theory proposal and must not be simply discounted because of some disfavor with the motor program notion, in general, or schema theory, more specifically.