Functional lateralization of the human premotor cortex during sequential movements

A neurological truism is that each side of the brain controls movements on the opposite side of the body. Yet some left hemisphere brain lesions cause bilateral impairment of complex motor function and/or ideomotor apraxia. We report that the left dorsal premotor cortex of normal right-handed people plays a fundamental role in sequential movement of both right and left hands. Subjects performed sequential finger movements during functional magnetic resonance imaging of the motor cortices. In right-handed subjects, the volume of activated dorsal premotor cortex showed a left hemispheric predominance during hand movements. We suggest that the observed left premotor dominance contributes to the lateralization found in lesion studies.     

Monadic Fuzzy Predicate Logics

Two variants of monadic fuzzy predicate logic are analyzed and compared with the full fuzzy predicate logic with respect to finite model property (properties) and arithmetical complexity of sets of tautologies, satisfiable formulas and of analogous notion restricted to finite models.     

Fuzzy Logic and Arithmetical Hierarchy III

Fuzzy logic is understood as a logic with a comparative and truth-functional notion of truth. Arithmetical complexity of sets of tautologies (identically true sentences) and satisfiable sentences (sentences true in at least one interpretation) as well of sets of provable formulas of the most important systems of fuzzy predicate logic is determined or at least estimated.     

Characterization of music-evoked autobiographical memories

Despite music's prominence in Western society and its importance to individuals in their daily lives, very little is known about the memories and emotions that are often evoked when hearing a piece of music from one's past. We examined the content of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) using a novel approach for selecting stimuli from a large corpus of popular music, in both laboratory and online settings. A set of questionnaires probed the cognitive and affective properties of the evoked memories. On average, 30% of the song presentations evoked autobiographical memories, and the majority of songs also evoked various emotions, primarily positive, that were felt strongly. The third most common emotion was nostalgia. Analyses of written memory reports found both general and specific levels of autobiographical knowledge to be represented, and several social and situational contexts for memory formation were common across many memories. The findings indicate that excerpts of popular music serve as potent stimuli for studying the structure of autobiographical memories.     

Experimental Assessment of Cheating Prevalence in the Czech Republic as an Example of a Post-Communist Country

Dishonest behavior presents a serious problem in many countries’ institutions and was found to be relatively widespread in post-communist countries. We focus on the prevalence of cheating in a sample from such country, the Czech Republic, and individual characteristics influencing dishonest behavior. We used a die rolling task where participants can cheat on their reward to determine whether anonymity conditions increase the frequency of cheating. Participants playing alone did not cheat significantly more than the control group throwing dice publicly. We did not find that gender, cognitive abilities, risk and social preferences robustly predicted the rate of cheating.     

Deformation mechanism transitions in nanoscale fcc metals

We consider possible mechanisms that lead to transitions in the mechanisms of deformation in fcc metals and alloys. In particular, we propose that, when grain sizes are below a critical size (i.e. below 100?nm), deformation can occur via the emission of stacking faults from grain boundaries into the intragranular space. A model is developed that accounts for observed experimental data and which, in turn, shows how stacking-fault energy together with shear modulus determines achievable strength. A mechanism is proposed based on this model for transitions at both high and quasistatic strain rates, including grain-boundary sliding.     

Characterisation of music-evoked autobiographical memories

Despite music's prominence in Western society and its importance to individuals in their daily lives, very little is known about the memories and emotions that are often evoked when hearing a piece of music from one's past. We examined the content of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) using a novel approach for selecting stimuli from a large corpus of popular music, in both laboratory and online settings. A set of questionnaires probed the cognitive and affective properties of the evoked memories. On average, 30% of the song presentations evoked autobiographical memories, and the majority of songs also evoked various emotions, primarily positive, that were often felt strongly. The third most common emotion was nostalgia. Analyses of written memory reports found both general and specific levels of autobiographical knowledge to be represented, and several social and situational contexts for memory formation were common across many memories. The findings indicate that excerpts of popular music serve as potent stimuli for studying the structure of autobiographical memories.     

Listening to polyphonic music recruits domain-general attention and working memory circuits

Polyphonic music combines multiple auditory streams to create complex auditory scenes, thus providing a tool for investigating the neural mechanisms that orient attention in natural auditory contexts. Across two fMRI experiments, we varied stimuli and task demands in order to identify the cortical areas that are activated during attentive listening to real music. In individual experiments and in a conjunction analysis of the two experiments, we found bilateral blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal increases in temporal (the superior temporal gyrus), parietal (the intraparietal sulcus), and frontal (the precentral sulcus, the inferior frontal sulcus and gyrus, and the frontal operculum) areas during selective and global listening, as compared with passive rest without musical stimulation. Direct comparisons of the listening conditions showed significant differences between attending to single timbres (instruments) and attending across multiple instruments, although the patterns that were observed depended on the relative demands of the tasks being compared. The overall pattern of BOLD signal increases indicated that attentive listening to music recruits neural circuits underlying multiple forms of working memory, attention, semantic processing, target detection, and motor imagery. Thus, attentive listening to music appears to be enabled by areas that serve general functions, rather than by music-specific cortical modules.