Correlations for timing consistency among tapping and drawing tasks: evidence against a single timing process for motor control.

Three experiments were conducted to examine whether timing processes can be shared by continuous tapping and drawing tasks. In all 3 experiments, temporal precision in tapping was not related to temporal precision in continuous drawing. There were modest correlations among the tapping tasks, and there were significant correlations among the drawing tasks. In Experiment 3, the function relating timing variance to the square of the observed movement duration for tapping was different from that for drawing. The conclusions drawn were that timing is not an ability to be shared by a variety of tasks but instead that the temporal qualities of skilled movement are the result of the specific processes necessary to produce a trajectory. These results are consistent with the idea that timing is an emergent property of movement.     

Distractor effect on the latent inhibition of conditioned flavor aversion in rats

Using a conditioned flavor aversion procedure with rats as subjects, the effect of the addition of a distractor stimulus on the magnitude of the latent inhibition effect was examined. Experiment 1 showed that latent inhibition to vinegar was attenuated by the addition of sucrose during preexposure. On the other hand, sucrose added during conditioning to vinegar did not attenuate latent inhibition. It was also found that the degree of latent inhibition to the vinegar-sucrose compound solution was less when vinegar alone was preexposed (i.e., when sucrose was added only during conditioning) than when the compound solution was preexposed (i.e., when sucrose was added both during preexposure and during conditioning). Experiment 2 gave similar results but with sucrose assigned as the target flavor and vinegar as the distractor. These findings are in full agreement with the generalization decrement account of latent inhibition.     

TSUNAMI: Simultaneous Understanding,Answering, and Memory Interaction for Questions

Question processing involves parsing, memory retrieval, question categorization, initiation of appropriate answer-retrieval heuristics, answer formulation, and output. Computational and psychological models have traditionally treated these processes as separate, sequential, independent, and in pursuit of a single answer type at a time. Here this view is challenged and the implications of a theory in which question processes operate simultaneously on multiple question interpretations are explored. A highly interactive model is described in which an expectation-driven parser generates multiple question candidates, including partially-specified candidates. Question candidates act as constraints for a matcher which activates memory items. An answer retrieval process examines question candidates and the active portions of memory in an attempt to generate answer candidates. Answer candidates are examined by an output process that derives the final answer. These processes run simultaneously and interact. Three experiments on human question answering are also described which provide evidence that working memory load during question reading is affected by processes related to answer retrieval.     

Neuropsychological Assessment of HIV-Infected Populations in International Settings

Resource-limited regions of the world represent the areas most affected by the global HIV epidemic. Currently, there are insufficient data on the neurocognitive effects of HIV in these areas and neuropsychological studies that have been carried out thus far are marked by inconsistent methods, test batteries, and rating systems for levels of cognitive impairment. These differences in methods, along with genetic variability of both virus and host, differences in co-infections and other co-morbidities, differences in language and culture, and infrastructural deficiencies in many international settings create challenges to the assessment of neurocognitive functioning and interpretation of neuropsychological data. Identifying neurocognitive impairment directly attributable to HIV, exploring relationships between HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment, disease variables, and everyday functioning, evaluating differences in HIV-1 subtype associated neuropathology, and determining implications for treatment remain complicated and challenging goals. Endeavors to establish a more standardized approach to neurocognitive assessments across international studies in addition to accumulating appropriate normative data that will allow more accurate rating of neuropsychological test performance will be crucial to future efforts attempting to achieve these goals.     

Residential mobility and conditionality of group identification

In three studies, we found that residential mobility accounts for cross-national, regional, and individual differences in the conditionality of identification with a group. In Study 1, participants from a mobile nation (US) showed more conditional identification with other group members than did participants from a stable nation (Japan). In Study 2, we found within-nation, regional variation in this tendency. Specifically, in residentially stable Japanese cities, the attendance to home baseball games was higher when the team was performing well than when it was performing poorly. In contrast, the attendance to the home games was not associated with the team’s performance. Finally, in Study 3 we found individual differences in the conditionality of group identification, such that frequent movers identified with the school more than non-movers did when the school was described favorably, whereas they distanced themselves from the school more than non-movers when their school was described unfavorably. These findings illustrate the role of residential mobility in individual, regional, and cross-national differences in the conditionality of group identification.     

Life satisfaction in chronic pain patients: the stress-buffering role of the centrality of religion

Chronic pain (CP) is a stressful condition that severely impacts individuals' lives. Researchers have begun to explore the role of religion for CP patients, but the literature is scarce, especially for West European populations. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, this study examined the associations between the religious meaning system and the life satisfaction for a group of CP patients who were members of a Flemish patients' association. To take into account the religious landscape of West European countries, the centrality of one's religious meaning system, rather than religious content, was the focus. Results from the questionnaires completed by 207 patients suggest that the centrality of a meaning system is an important factor in the promotion of life satisfaction for this group, above and beyond the influence of several control variables. Furthermore, the centrality of the religious meaning system moderated or buffered the detrimental influence of pain severity on life satisfaction.