The role of spatial configuration in tests of working memory explored with functional neuroimaging

While the importance of the prefrontal cortex for "higher-order" cognitive functions is largely undisputed, no consensus has been reached regarding the fractionation of functions within this region. Several recent functional neuroimaging studies have suggested that the mid-ventrolateral frontal cortex may play an important role in various aspects of human memory. Thus, similar patterns of activation have been observed in this region during analogous spatial, verbal and visual span tasks. In the present study, however, activation was observed in a more dorsolateral region of the lateral frontal cortex during a modified version of the spatial span task, which differed only in the spatial configuration of the array employed. The results of a supplementary behavioral study, designed to investigate this effect further, suggest that in spatial memory tasks certain stimulus configurations may encourage subjects to adopt mnemonic strategies, which may depend upon dorsolateral, rather than ventrolateral, regions of the frontal cortex. These findings shed further light on the functional relationship between dorsal and ventral regions of the lateral frontal cortex and, more specifically, how the "executive" processes assumed to be dependent upon these regions might contribute to aspects of human memory.     

The Turkish Version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the Measurement Invariance Across Turkish and American Adult Samples

The purpose of this study was to adapt the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Steger, Frazier, Oishi, and Kaler (2006) into Turkish and examine the measurement and structural invariance of this scale across Turkish (N = 815) and U.S. (N = 207) samples. Our findings indicated that the hypothesized 2-factor model of the MLQ fit the data well for both Turkish and U.S. samples. Results also provided support for the full metric invariance, partial scalar invariance, and partial invariance of residual variances of the MLQ across the 2 samples (i.e., Turkish and U.S.). Supporting the structural invariance, we found that factor variances and covariances were equivalent across the 2 groups. Internal consistency reliability analyses revealed a Cronbach's alpha value of .88 for the MLQ Presence scale and .90 for the Search scale. Our findings also provided preliminary support for the convergent validity of the Turkish version of the MLQ (MLQ–TR). Contrary to findings in other collectivist cultures, the relationship between Search and Presence was negative in Turkish culture. These results support the psychometric properties of the MLQ–TR and its partial equivalence to the original U.S. version.     

Factor-analytic structures in the English and Japanese versions of the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (OMEIS)

This research describes an exploratory factor analysis for the purposes of factorial validation for both the English and Japanese versions of the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (OMEIS)—Ideological version (Adams, Bennion, & Huh, 1989). The Japanese OMEIS is a direct translation of the English OMEIS (Ohnishi, 1998). The study reports the factor structure of the OMEIS—Ideological version in English and Japanese. A principal factor analysis (PFA) with both oblique and orthogonal solutions was performed. Alpha reliabilities for the factors are presented. The present research compares and contrasts the factor structures of OMEIS—Ideological version, derived from a U.S. sample and a Japanese sample, comprising women from late adulthood to middle age. Cultural differences between the two sample populations are explored.     

Contributions of the human pulvinar to linking vision and action

In 3 patients with unilateral pulvinar lesions, we tested the pulvinar’s role in selective attention processing. Each patient completed four variants of a flanker interference task in which they reported the color of a square of a specified size while ignoring an irrelevant flanker that appeared either contralesionally or ipsilesionally to the target. The main finding was that when target location was not known and target and flanker were associated with competing responses, reaction times to contralesional targets were longer than those to ipsilesional targets. Our findings suggest that pulvinar damage produces a contralesional deficit in response competition.     

Reinflating Logical Consequence

Shapiro (Philos Q 61:320–342, 2011) argues that, if we are deflationists about truth, we should be deflationists about logical consequence. Like the truth predicate, he claims, the logical consequence predicate is merely a device of generalisation and more substantial characterisation, e.g. proof- or model-theoretic, is mistaken. I reject his analogy between truth and logical consequence and argue that, by appreciating how the logical consequence predicate is used as well as the goals of proof theory and model theory, we can be deflationists about truth but not logical consequence.     

Preventing Vascular Effects on Brain Injury and Cognition Late in Life: Knowns and Unknowns

For some researchers, the relationship between prevalent cardiovascular risk factors and late-life cognitive decline is not worthy of further study. It is already known that effective treatment of vascular risk factors lowers risk of such major outcomes as stroke and heart attack, the argument goes; thus, any new information about the relationship between vascular risk factors and another major outcome - late-life cognitive decline-- is unlikely to have an impact on clinical practice. The purpose of this review is to probe the logic of this argument by focusing on what is known, and what is not known, about the relationship between vascular risk factors and late-life cognitive decline. The unknowns are substantial: in particular, there is relatively little evidence that current vascular risk factor treatment protocols are adequate to prevent late-life cognitive decline or the clinically silent brain injury that precedes it. In addition, there is relatively little understanding of which factors lead to differential vulnerability or resilience to the effects of vascular risk factors on silent brain injury. Differential effects of different classes of treatments are similarly unclear. Finally, there is limited understanding of the impact of clinically-silent neurodegenerative disease processes on cerebrovascular processes. Further study of the relationships among vascular risk factors, brain injury, and late-life cognitive decline could have a major impact on development of new vascular therapies and on clinical management of vascular risk factors, and there are promising avenues for future research in this direction.     

The role of the left hemisphere in motor control of touch: a functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis

Previous research using a simple finger-touching task has shown greater blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation volume in the motor cortex of the right hemisphere for contralateral finger touching compared to ipsilateral finger touching, but no significant contralateral advantage for the left hemisphere. Such equal involvement of the left hemisphere for both contralateral and ipsilateral finger touching suggests a special role of the left hemisphere for finger touching. In contrast, we found a contralateral advantage in the motor cortex of both hemispheres in a majority of participants (14/16) when consistently activated BOLD volumes were examined. However, participants who did not show a clear contralateral advantage for the left hemisphere did show activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; Broca's Area) and in the left insular cortex, which suggests that verbally mediated sequencing of finger movements can account for our less frequent result.     

BUDDHISM AND THE SCIENTIFIC IMAGE: REPLY TO CRITICS

I provide a précis of The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized ( 2011 ), and then respond to three critics, Christian Coseru, Charles Goodman, and Bronwyn Finnigan.