Dopaminergic and cholinergic modulations of visual-spatial attention and working memory: insights from molecular genetic research and implications for adult cognitive development

Attention and working memory are fundamental for selecting and maintaining behaviorally relevant information. Not only do both processes closely intertwine at the cognitive level, but they implicate similar functional brain circuitries, namely the frontoparietal and the frontostriatal networks, which are innervated by cholinergic and dopaminergic pathways. Here we review the literature on cholinergic and dopaminergic modulations of visual-spatial attention and visual working memory processes to gain insights on aging-related changes in these processes. Some extant findings have suggested that the cholinergic system plays a role in the orienting of attention to enable the detection and discrimination of visual information, whereas the dopaminergic system has mainly been associated with working memory processes such as updating and stabilizing representations. However, since visual-spatial attention and working memory processes are not fully dissociable, there is also evidence of interacting cholinergic and dopaminergic modulations of both processes. We further review gene-cognition association studies that have shown that individual differences in visual-spatial attention and visual working memory are associated with acetylcholine- and dopamine-relevant genes. The efficiency of these 2 transmitter systems declines substantially during healthy aging. These declines, in part, contribute to age-related deficits in attention and working memory functions. We report novel data showing an effect of dopamine COMT gene on spatial updating processes in older but not in younger adults, indicating potential magnification of genetic effects in old age.     

Work-related goal appraisals and stress during the transition from education to work

People's personal goals interact with their life situations in many ways. This study examined the appraisals of personal goals during a transition from education to work and their interplay with stress in different domains of life. Finnish young adults (N = 265, 60% female) reported on their goals in the work domain, and related appraisals of importance, attainability, and progress, and the amount of stress they experienced with regard to economic situation, time, and work. The results showed that those individuals who appraised their work goals as important, attainable and progressing well, benefited from their goal striving as evidenced in less stress in all three domains. Moreover, individuals who initially experienced elevated stress levels due to their economic and work situation adapted their work-related goals, such that they later set goals which were more attainable and showed better progress. For these individuals, pursuing work goals remained highly important, whereas for others work goal importance declined.     

Observing preschoolers' social-emotional behavior: structure, foundations, and prediction of early school success

Social-emotional behavior of 352 3- and 4-year-olds attending private child-care and Head Start programs was observed using the Minnesota Preschool Affect Checklist, Revised (MPAC-R). Goals of the investigation included (a) using MPAC-R data to extract a shortened version, MPAC-R/S, comparing structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and stability of both versions; and, using the shortened measure, to examine (b) age, gender, and risk status differences in social-emotional behaviors; (c) contributions of emotion knowledge and executive function to social-emotional behaviors; and (d) contributions of social-emotional behaviors to early school adjustment and kindergarten academic success. Results show that reliability of MPAC-R/S was as good, or better, than the MPAC-R. MPAC-R/S structure, at both times of observation, included emotionally negative/aggressive, emotionally regulated/prosocial, and emotionally positive/productive behaviors; MPAC-R structure was similar but less replicable over time. Age, gender, and risk differences were found. Children's emotion knowledge contributed to later emotionally regulated/prosocial behavior. Finally, preschool emotionally negative/aggressive behaviors were associated with concurrent and kindergarten school success, and there was evidence of social-emotional behavior mediating relations between emotion knowledge or executive function, and school outcomes. The importance of portable, empirically supported observation measures of social-emotional behaviors is discussed along with possible applications, teacher utilization, and implementation barriers.     

Men’s personality and women’s perception of their dance quality

Recent research shows that women judge men who show variability in their body movements as good dancers. Here we report data on women’s perception of dance quality in 48 men, aged 18-42 years, and relate them to men’s self-reported personality traits. Male participants completed a standardised personality inventory (the NEO-FFI) and then danced to a basic rhythm while their body movements were tracked with optical 3D motion-capture technology. Dance movements were applied to a featureless virtual humanoid character and judged on their dance quality by 53 women, aged 17-57 years, who viewed 15 s of the rendered video clips of each male dancer. Conscientiousness and social agreeableness was correlated positively and significantly with women’s perception of men’s dance quality. Extraversion showed a positive correlation and neuroticism and openness were associated negatively with women’s perception of men’s dance quality, though these correlations failed to reach significance. We suggest that male dance movements may convey aspects of their personality, though possible consequences in terms of female mate preferences and selection remain to be explored.     

Awareness is awareness is awareness? Decomposing different aspects of awareness and their role in operant learning of pain sensitivity

Regarding awareness as a consistent concept has contributed to the controversy about implicit learning. The present study emphasized the importance of distinguishing aspects of awareness in order to determine whether learning is implicit. By decomposing awareness into awareness of contingencies, of the procedure being a learning task, and of the reinforcing stimuli, it was demonstrated that implicit operant learning modulated pain sensitivity. All of these aspects of awareness were demonstrated to not be necessary for learning. Additionally, discrimination of contingencies was not necessary on different levels of processing as demonstrated by a verbal and a behavioral method. It was demonstrated that explicit cognitive processes about one's own behavior, impaired learning, even though these cognitions were not immediately related to the learning process. The results of this study are of special interest in the context of pain, since implicit operant learning can explain the gradual development of hypersensitivity in chronic pain.     

How do people with cognitive functional limitations post-stroke manage the use of buses in local public transport?

People with cognitive functional limitations (CFLs) have rarely been the focus of research dealing with road users and their needs. The aim of the present study was to describe how people with CFL post-stroke manage in their use of buses in the framework of their outdoor mobility, and to find out what difficulties, but also what opportunities, they experienced when moving from origin to destination using buses in public transport. Semi-structured interviews combined with participant observations during bus trips with eight persons were performed. Several barriers that have the potential to restrict autonomous outdoor mobility were identified. These barriers were not only represented by well-known infrastructure problems (high pavement curbs, etc.) or ergonomic shortcomings in the buses but, even more so, by specific issues relevant for persons with CFL, e.g. having to cross a road on their way to the bus stop, which poses problems of interaction with fast-moving car traffic. Obtaining all the necessary information prior to and during the trip is difficult and produces insecurity. Often, communication with the bus drivers, not least in connection with the search for information, causes extra stress. Lack of self-confidence and feelings of inferiority add to these problems. Measures to control vehicle speeds, to optimise the communication style of bus drivers with their customers, and to improve customers’ access to information are recommended. Training measures to reassure persons with CFL in connection with their use of the public space are suggested.     

Sport psychology group consultation using social networking web sites

A social networking Web site, Facebook, was used to deliver long-term sport psychology consultation services to student-athletes (i.e., soccer players) in 30- to 60-min weekly sessions. Additional short-term team building, group cohesion, communication, anger management, injury rehabilitation, mental toughness, commitment, and leadership workshops were provided. Cohesion and overall relationships between both the student-athletes and the sport psychology consultants benefited from this process. Social networking Web sites offer a practical way of providing sport psychology consulting services that does not require use of major resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

EEG source imaging during two Qigong meditations

Experienced Qigong meditators who regularly perform the exercises "Thinking of Nothing" and "Qigong" were studied with multichannel EEG source imaging during their meditations. The intracerebral localization of brain electric activity during the two meditation conditions was compared using sLORETA functional EEG tomography. Differences between conditions were assessed using t statistics (corrected for multiple testing) on the normalized and log-transformed current density values of the sLORETA images. In the EEG alpha-2 frequency, 125 voxels differed significantly; all were more active during "Qigong" than "Thinking of Nothing," forming a single cluster in parietal Brodmann areas 5, 7, 31, and 40, all in the right hemisphere. In the EEG beta-1 frequency, 37 voxels differed significantly; all were more active during "Thinking of Nothing" than "Qigong," forming a single cluster in prefrontal Brodmann areas 6, 8, and 9, all in the left hemisphere. Compared to combined initial-final no-task resting, "Qigong" showed activation in posterior areas whereas "Thinking of Nothing" showed activation in anterior areas. The stronger activity of posterior (right) parietal areas during "Qigong" and anterior (left) prefrontal areas during "Thinking of Nothing" may reflect a predominance of self-reference, attention and input-centered processing in the "Qigong" meditation, and of control-centered processing in the "Thinking of Nothing" meditation.     

Motivational states influence effort-based decision making in rats: The role of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens

Decision-making policies are subject to modulation by changing motivational states. However, so far, little is known about the neurochemical mechanisms that bridge motivational states with decision making. Here we examined whether dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens core (AcbC) modulates the effects of motivational states on effort-based decision making. Using a cost–benefit T-maze task in rats, we examined the effects of AcbC DA depletions on effort-based decision making, in particular on the sensitivity of effort-based decision making to a shift from a hungry to a sated state. The results demonstrated that, relative to sham controls, rats with AcbC DA depletion in a hungry as well as in a sated state had a reduced preference for effortful but large-reward action. This finding provides further support for the notion that AcbC DA regulates how much effort to invest for rewards. Importantly, our results further revealed that effort-based decision making in lesioned rats, as in sham controls, was still sensitive to a shift from a hungry to a sated state; that is, their preferences for effortful large-reward actions became lower after a shift from a restricted to a free-feeding regimen. These finding indicate that AcbC DA is not necessarily involved in mediating the effects of a shift in motivational state on decision-making policies.     

Measuring the Outcome of Structured Spousal Violence Risk Assessments Using the B-SAFER: Risk in Relation to Recidivism and Intervention

In this study, 216 risk assessments conducted by law enforcement officers in a suburb of Stockholm using the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) were followed up and correlated to both recidivism and type of protective actions implemented by the police. The results showed high recidivism rates across all risk categories, except in the highest risk group, where the recidivism rate was significantly lower. This finding suggests a poor, and even negative, predictive power of the police risk assessments: the higher the police-assessed risk, the lower the recidivism rate. However, it was clear that the police did very little, or nothing, in cases not assessed as high risk. All resources appear to have been directed to the high-risk cases, which seems to have had a preventive effect. Our results point to the importance of studying the nature and extent of protective actions taken in response to risk assessment, before drawing conclusions about the predictive validity of risk assessment instruments. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.