With the future behind them: convergent evidence from aymara language and gesture in the crosslinguistic comparison of spatial construals of time

Cognitive research on metaphoric concepts of time has focused on differences between moving Ego and moving time models, but even more basic is the contrast between Ego‐ and temporal‐reference‐point models. Dynamic models appear to be quasi‐universal cross‐culturally, as does the generalization that in Ego‐reference‐point models, FUTURE IS IN FRONT OF EGO and PAST IS IN BACK OF EGO. The Aymara language instead has a major static model of time wherein FUTURE IS BEHIND EGO and PAST IS IN FRONT OF EGO; linguistic and gestural data give strong confirmation of this unusual culture‐specific cognitive pattern. Gestural data provide crucial information unavailable to purely linguistic analysis, suggesting that when investigating conceptual systems both forms of expression should be analyzed complementarily. Important issues in embodied cognition are raised: how fully shared are bodily grounded motivations for universal cognitive patterns, what makes a rare pattern emerge, and what are the cultural entailments of such patterns?     

Neuroprotection and stroke rehabilitation: modulation and enhancement of recovery

Recent advances in research are modifying our view of recovery after nervous system damage. New findings are changing previously held concepts and providing promising avenues for treatment of patients after stroke. This review discusses mechanisms of neuronal injury after brain ischemia and the attempts to study neuroprotection options based on such mechanisms. It also considers measures available at present to improve outcome after stroke and presents new areas of research, particularly stimulation techniques, neurogenesis and trophic factors to enhance recovery. In order to improve outcomes, medications that may be detrimental to recovery should be avoided, while symptomatic therapy of problems such as depression, pain syndromes and spasticity may contribute to better results. Continued surveillance and early treatment of complications associated with acute stroke, along with supportive care remain the mainstay of treatment for stroke patients in the recovery phase. Present research on limiting brain damage and improving recovery and plasticity enhance the prospects for better clinical treatments to improve recovery after stroke.     

The Effects of Eight-Month Physical Activity Intervention on Vigilance Performance in Adult Obese Population

We aim to analyze the effects of an 8-month physical activity intervention on cardiorespiratory fitness, body mass index (BMI), and vigilance performance in an adult obese population. We conducted an 8-month physical activity intervention based on dance and rhythmic activities. The weekly frequency was 2 sessions of 1 hr per day. Training sessions were divided into 3 phases: a 10-min warm-up, 40 min of dance and rhythmic activities, and 10 min to cool-down. To assess cardiorespiratory fitness, participants performed a modified version of the 6-min walk test from the Senior Fitness Test battery (Larsson & Mattsson, 2001; Rikli & Jones, 1999). Vigilance performance was measured by means of the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT). Two measurements were performed immediately before and after the intervention. The results revealed that participants improved their cardiorespiratory fitness, BMI, and vigilance performance after the intervention. All in all, findings contribute new empirical evidence to the field that investigates the benefits of physical activity intervention on cognitive processes in obese population.     

Adolescents and Microcomputers: Sex Differences,Proxemics, Task and Stimulus Variables

Questionnaires concerning attitudes toward use of microcomputers at home, in school, and at video arcades were administered to 879 high school students. Direct observations of adolescent proxemics and sex differences, and of various parameters of video games in 18 video arcades were made. A thorough and representative content analysis of sex bias of microcomputer software advertising brochures was carried out. Results supported previous findings of overrepresentation of masculine culture in the adolescent world of microcomputers, particularly regarding video games. Various types of computer-related activity were not related to socioeconomic class of the parents or to academic grades except for use of home microcomputers, which was mildly positively related to socioeconomic class (r = .124, p < .001). Nearly half the activity in the arcades was strictly solitary. None of the arcade video games allowed for cooperative play. Most allowed only for sequential competition (86%) or simultaneous competition (7%); as many as 7% did not provide a display of the scores for a second player.     

Aspectos metodológicos de la investigación experimental sobre la adquisición de la lectura

RESUMEN

En este trabajo se revisan algunos aspectos de la metodología de la investigación experimental cognitiva. Tras un breve análisis de ciertas cuestiones acerca de los sujetos, aparatos y estímulos, se propone una taxonomía de veinte tareas experimentales, incluyendo procedimientos relacionados con las primeras etapas del procesamiento y otros implicados en las propiedades del procesador central. Estas tareas están especialmente dedicadas a evaluar tres dimensiones cognitivas en el aprendizaje de la lectura: las subhabilidades de los procesos de codificación, el estado de las rutas de acceso al léxico y las propiedades del sistema cognitivo (tales como la velocidad y la precisión de las estrategias de procesamiento).     

Religious upbringing and current religiosity in Spanish nursing and medicine students

The influence of religious education in the family upon current spiritual and religious tendencies was assessed in a sample of 599 Spanish nurse and medicine students using a religiosity scale and answers to a series of belief/disbelief statements. Results showed that nursing and medicine students were equally low-religious, with no differences in religiosity total scores between participants coming from religious families; however, medical students coming from nonreligious families showed higher religiousness than the corresponding nursing trainees. This distinction appeared both across religiosity items and in a variety of responses to belief/disbelief of Christian/secular assertions. Regression analysis showed that religious family background was a consistent predictor of religious beliefs at young adulthood, and its influence was higher for medical students. In addition to establish religious upbringing as an important factor modulating enduring religiosity, these findings provide distinctions between nurse and medical trainees, and reproduce, in a Spanish mainly catholic sample, the structure of religiosity factors previously found on North American mainline protestants.     

The topography of high-order human object areas

Cortical topography is one of the most fundamental organizing principles of cortical areas. One such topography - eccentricity mapping - is present even in high-order, ventral stream visual areas. Within these areas, different object categories have specific eccentricity biases. In particular, faces, letters and words appear to be associated with central visual-field bias, whereas buildings are associated with a peripheral one. We propose that resolution needs are an important factor in organizing object representations: objects whose recognition depends on analysis of fine detail will be associated with central-biased representations, whereas objects whose recognition entails large-scale integration will be more peripherally biased.