Modification of EEG power spectra and EEG connectivity in autobiographical memory: a sLORETA study

The aim of the present study was to explore the modifications of scalp EEG power spectra and EEG connectivity during the autobiographical memory test (AM-T) and during the retrieval of an autobiographical event (the high school final examination, Task 2). Seventeen healthy volunteers were enrolled (9 women and 8 men, mean age 23.4 ± 2.8 years, range 19–30). EEG was recorded at baseline and while performing the autobiographical memory (AM) tasks, by means of 19 surface electrodes and a nasopharyngeal electrode. EEG analysis was conducted by means of the standardized LOw Resolution Electric Tomography (sLORETA) software. Power spectra and lagged EEG coherence were compared between EEG acquired during the memory tasks and baseline recording. The frequency bands considered were as follows: delta (0.5–4 Hz); theta (4.5–7.5 Hz); alpha (8–12.5 Hz); beta1 (13–17.5 Hz); beta2 (18–30 Hz); gamma (30.5–60 Hz). During AM-T, we observed a significant delta power increase in left frontal and midline cortices (T = 3.554; p < 0.05) and increased EEG connectivity in delta band in prefrontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital areas, and for gamma bands in the left temporo-parietal regions (T = 4.154; p < 0.05). In Task 2, we measured an increased power in the gamma band located in the left posterior midline areas (T = 3.960; p < 0.05) and a significant increase in delta band connectivity in the prefrontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital areas, and in the gamma band involving right temporo-parietal areas (T = 4.579; p < 0.05). These results indicate that AM retrieval engages in a complex network which is mediated by both low- (delta) and high-frequency (gamma) EEG bands.     

How does our search engine “see” the world? The case of amodal completion

This article illustrates a dissociation between the perceived attributes of an object and the ability of those attributes to guide the deployment of attention in visual search. Orientation is an attribute that guides search. Thus, a vertical line will “pop out” amid horizontal distractors. Amodal completion can create perceptually convincing oriented stimuli when two elements appear to form a complete object partially hidden behind an occluder. Previous work (e.g., Rensink &; Enns, Vision Research, 38, 2489–2505, 1998) has shown a preattentive role for amodal completion in search tasks. Here, we show that orientation based on perceptually compelling amodal completion may fail to guide attention. The broader conclusion is that introspection is a poor guide to the capabilities of our internal search engine.     

PRIMITIVE MENTAL STATES AND THE BODY: A PERSONAL VIEW OF ARMANDO B. FERRARI'S CONCRETE ORIGINAL OBJECT

The author explores some psychoanalytic hypotheses about primitive mental states and their implications for a direct focus on body experience in clinical work. Some aspects of current clinical research about the patient's difficulty in achieving awareness of his emotional life as it emerges from object relations are presented, and this problem is viewed in connection with the relation of the analysand to his own body and to his capacity to pass through the different levels of mental elaboration, from motor discharge to abstraction. Ferrari's theories on the body—mind relationship are discussed and compared with the work of other authors. Ferrari calls the body the Concrete Original Object to indicate that it is the first source, differing from person to person, from which mental phenomena are generated and against which they are constantly measured. A clinical case serves as an illustration of the importance of the perception of the body for the birth of genuine, non-imitative mental activity.     

Maternal attitudes and attachment styles in mothers of obese children

This study evaluated categories of attachment style and the maternal attitude toward educational role in a sample of 30 mothers of obese children and a control group of 80 mothers of children of normal weight. All mothers completed the 1994 Attachment Style Questionnaire and the 1958 Parental Attitude Research Instrument. 30 mothers (M age 37.4 yr., range 31 to 54 years; M yr. of education 11.6, range 5 to 18 years) of obese children (range 30 to 60% above normal weight) and a control group of 80 mothers (M age 37.1 yr., range 29 to 52 years; M yr. of schooling 11.4, range 5 to 18 years) of children with normal weight were contacted at the primary school attended by their children and joined the project voluntarily. Age and number of years of education were not significantly different between the two groups of women. There was a significant prevalence of the Insecure Attachment Style in the group of mothers with obese children (66.6%) as compared to the control group of mothers of children of normal weight (38.5%) and significantly higher scores on 6 subscales of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument of Obese compared to Nonobese children. These data indicate that obese children's mothers tend to make the family their exclusive centre of interest. They also tend to dedicate themselves to their children with possessiveness and hyperprotection. They seem to have an insistent requirement of idealisation of their own role as parent and reward expectations that confirm the efficiency of the care they provide their children. Consequently, these findings suggest that in addition to dietetic treatment, it may be important to include a psychological intervention, which involves the mother and aims to modify the relational dynamics between the mother and her obese child.     

Word length and articulatory suppression affect short-term and long-term recall tasks

In six experiments, subjects were required to recall (either serially or freely) lists of short and long words either immediately or after a study-test filled delay ranging from 30 to 60 sec. In three of these experiments, we investigated the effect that articulatory suppression had in modulating the word length effect in both immediate and delayed free recall. The results suggested that the effects of word length and articulatory suppression were comparable in the immediate and delayed recall tasks. The theoretical relevance of these findings is discussed.     

On the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory

In this article, we report two experiments that provide further evidence concerning the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory. In Experiment 1, subjects first undertook a sentenceverification task. While carrying out this task, half of the subjects were also required to carry out a secondary processing task involving tone monitoring. Twenty-four hours later, the subjects’ memory for target items in the sentence-verification task was tested explicitly by means of a recognition task and implicitly by examining the extent to which the items primed fragment completion. Recognition performance was significantly impaired by the imposition of secondary processing demands during the original learning phase. In contrast, fragment completion was completely unaffected by this additional processing, even though substantial priming was observed. In Experiment 2, we examined whether priming in fragment completion is influenced by the nature of repetition during initial learning. Subjects studied a list of target items that were each repeated twice. Halfthe items were repeatedimmediately (lag 0) and halfwere repeated after six intervening items (lag 6). Memory for the itemswas assessed by recognition and by priming in fragment completion. Recognition was affected by lag, with lag 6 items being recognized better than lag 0 items. However, although significant priming was obtained, the extent of this priming was uninfluenced by lag. These data indicate two additional dimensions along which implicit and explicit memory differ and, furthermore, they support recent conceptualizations of processing differences underlying these two forms of memory.     

Investigating Conversational Dynamics: Interactive Alignment,Interpersonal Synergy,and Collective Task Performance

This study investigates interpersonal processes underlying dialog by comparing two approaches, interactive alignment and interpersonal synergy, and assesses how they predict collective performance in a joint task. While the interactive alignment approach highlights imitative patterns between interlocutors, the synergy approach points to structural organization at the level of the interaction—such as complementary patterns straddling speech turns and interlocutors. We develop a general, quantitative method to assess lexical, prosodic, and speech/pause patterns related to the two approaches and their impact on collective performance in a corpus of task‐oriented conversations. The results show statistical presence of patterns relevant for both approaches. However, synergetic aspects of dialog provide the best statistical predictors of collective performance and adding aspects of the alignment approach does not improve the model. This suggests that structural organization at the level of the interaction plays a crucial role in task‐oriented conversations, possibly constraining and integrating processes related to alignment.     

Cross-modal and intra-modal binding between identity and location in spatial working memory: The identity of objects does not help recalling their locations

In this study we tested incidental feature-to-location binding in a spatial task, both in unimodal and cross-modal conditions. In Experiment 1 we administered a computerised version of the Corsi Block-Tapping Task (CBTT) in three different conditions: the first one analogous to the original CBTT test; the second one in which locations were associated with unfamiliar images; the third one in which locations were associated with non-verbal sounds. Results showed no effect on performance by the addition of identity information. In Experiment 2, locations on the screen were associated with pitched sounds in two different conditions: one in which different pitches were randomly associated with locations and the other in which pitches were assigned to match the vertical position of the CBTT squares congruently with their frequencies. In Experiment 2 we found marginal evidence of a pitch facilitation effect in the spatial memory task. We ran a third experiment to test the same conditions of Experiment 2 with a within-subject design. Results of Experiment 3 did not confirm the pitch–location facilitation effect. We concluded that the identity of objects does not affect recalling their locations. We discuss our results within the framework of the debate about the mechanisms of “what” and “where” feature binding in working memory.     

Internationalization,multinationalization and globalization of R&D: Toward a new division of labor in science and technology?

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the current processes of internationalization, multinationalization, and globalization of R&D activities with the aim of identifying new forms, if any, of the global organization of science and technology. Special attention will be paid to interfirm behavior, the role of the state, and global scientific and technological cooperation. The main thesis is that current processes are characterized by

? a new phase of reconcentration and recentralization of R&D activities within the context of an increasingly conflicting interpenetration and integration at the technical and economic level among the most developed countries; and

? the growing influence and power of the private sector and, conversely, the relative decline of state influence over the definition of the priorities, content, and organization of R&D activities at national, international, and global levels.