Preserved and impaired task-switching abilities in non-demented patients with Parkinson's disease

Existing studies on task switching in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have led to somewhat different results. In particular, it is unclear whether PD patients have a deficit in attentional control. In this study, we assessed task-switching abilities in samples of non-demented PD patients and elderly controls. We used a paradigm in which there was a random task sequence and the task was cued in every trial. This allowed the investigation of both task-set reconfiguration and task-set dissipation. In terms of the proportion of errors made, the patients showed increased switch cost and congruency effects. For reaction times, PD patients showed enlarged congruency effects on switch trials, specifically in the condition in which we used a short constant response-cue interval (RCI). Nevertheless, in a similar fashion to older controls, the patients showed reductions in reaction time switch cost from a short to a long cue-target interval (CTI) and from a short to a long RCI. While these latter findings, respectively, suggest unimpaired task preparation and task dissipation on correct trials in the PD patients, the overall results show that they have a deficit in biasing and selecting currently relevant task sets and more generally argue in favour of a failure of attentional control in PD.     

Ethics Code Awareness,Perceived Ethical Values,and Organizational Commitment

This study examines the relationships among ethics code awareness, perceived corporate ethical values, and organizational commitment. Three key findings emerged. First, those aware of the existence of an ethics code in their organizations perceived their organizations as having more ethical values than those not aware of an ethics code in their organizations. Second, respondents exhibited higher levels of organizational commitment when they were aware of an ethics code in their companies. Finally, the relationship between ethics code awareness and organizational commitment was fully mediated by perceptions of an organization’s ethical values. The results suggest that ethics codes may lead to higher levels of organizational commitment by increasing the belief that their organizations have strong ethical values, as long as the existence of ethics codes are adequately communicated.     

Development and preliminary validation of the body satisfaction scale (BSS)

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a simple paper-and-pencil test designed to measure satisfaction/dissatisfaction with 16 body parts. It is based on the body-cathexis scale of Secord and Jourard (1953) but takes only 2–3 minutes to complete. The factorial structure of the scale is described together with the three summative scales (“general,” “head parts” and “body parts” dissatisfaction) which are derived. The internal consistency of the scales was found to be acceptable. Significant positive correlations are also reported with the Body Shape Questionnaire (Cooper et al., 1987). The paper reports data for female comparison groups (college students, nursing students and female volunteers) and for samples of eating disorder patients and overweight subjects. The latter two groups report significantly higher body dissatisfaction than the comparison groups. Finally, it is argued that the scale is useful for work in health related fields and some current applications are briefly described.     

On Some Aristotelian Sources of Modern Argumentation Theory

Although he does not provide a general analysis of argumentation, Aristotle is a highly influential source of modern argumentation theory. In his treatises the Topics, the Sophistical Refutations and the Rhetoric, Aristotle presents complementary aspects of a theory of sound arguments that are seen as the most effective means of persuasion. Aristotle’s central notion of a deductive argument (sullogismos) does not include references to an addressee, the situative context or non-verbal aspects of communication, and thus differs from some modern views on argumentation. A deductive argument in the Aristotelian sense is a sequence of intellectual steps where the conclusion follows of necessity from the premises. Aristotle does not relativize or relax this notion but takes other factors into account by providing supplementary theoretical elements. For example, he reflects on acceptable premises (endoxa), the adjustment of rhetorical arguments to the horizon of the audience, methods of finding premises on the basis of argumentative schemes (topoi), the use of non-argumentative means of persuasion, and a framework of implicit discourse rules. Many of these themes are, albeit under a different name, still discussed in modern argumentation theory.     

Sensations as Representations in Kant

This paper defends an interpretation of the representational function of sensation in Kant's theory of empirical cognition. Against those who argue that sensations are ‘subjective representations’ and hence can only represent the sensory state of the subject, I argue that Kant appeals to different notions of subjectivity, and that the subjectivity of sensations is consistent with sensations representing external, spatial objects. Against those who claim that sensations cannot be representational at all, because sensations are not cognitively sophisticated enough to possess intentionality, I argue that Kant does not use the term ‘Vorstellung’ to refer to intentional mental states exclusively. Sensations do not possess their own intentionality, but they nevertheless perform a representational function in virtue of their role as the matter of empirical intuition. In empirical intuition, the sensory qualities given in sensation are combined with the representation of space to constitute the intuited appearance. The representational function of sensation consists in sensation being the medium out of which intuited appearances are constituted: the qualities of sensations stand in for what the understanding will judge (conceptualize) as material substance.     

The role of athletes' pain-related anxiety in pain-related attentional processes

Numerous researchers have highlighted the social determinants of athletes' attitude toward pain, yet little is known about the role of cognitive processes and emotions that are related to pain in sport endeavors. There is evidence, in a dot probe paradigm, that individuals with chronic pain selectively orient their attention toward pain-related stimuli, but no studies have differentiated between the two attentional processes of hypervigilance that are evident in athletes: facilitated detection of threat and difficulty in disengaging attention from threatening stimuli. In the present study using a dot probe paradigm, we examined whether professional rugby players (N=58) with high pain-related anxiety (HPA) would show an attentional bias for pain-related threat, and whether this hypervigilance would reflect difficulty disengaging from threat or facilitated detection of threat. Rugby players with HPA oriented their attention toward pain-related threat with a concomitant difficulty disengaging from threat. Difficulty disengaging from painful stimuli may increase anxiety, and thus be maladaptive in sport. This is the first study to identify pain-related anxiety as a vulnerability marker in athletes' attentional biases.     

Saccades predict and synchronize to visual rhythms irrespective of musical beats

ABSTRACT

Music has been shown to entrain movement. One of the body’s most frequent movements, saccades, are arguably subject to a timer that may also be susceptible to musical entrainment. We developed a continuous and highly-controlled visual search task and varied the timing of the search target presentation, it was either gaze-contingent, tap-contingent, or visually-timed. We found: (1) explicit control of saccadic timing is limited to gross duration variations and imprecisely synchronized; (2) saccadic timing does not implicitly entrain to musical beats, even when closely aligned in phase; (3) eye movements predict visual onsets produced by motor-movements (finger-taps) and externally-timed sequences, beginning fixation prior to visual onset; (4) eye movement timing can be rhythmic, synchronizing to both motor-produced and externally timed visual sequences; each unaffected by musical beats. These results provide evidence that saccadic timing is sensitive to the temporal demands of visual tasks and impervious to influence from musical beats.     

Integrating Spiritual Modeling Into Education: A College Course for Stress Management and Spiritual Growth

The article explores the relationship between mysticism and creativity from a psychoanalytic perspective. First, it first surveys prominent psychoanalytic perspectives on mysticism and creativity, situating British psychoanalyst Marion Milner among them. Milner suggests that the same psychological processes are involved in both creative expression and mystical experiences. A state of paradox, affirming both I and not-I, self and no-self, is at the core of mysticism. Similarly, for Milner the paradox of creativity is to break down the barrier of space between self and other while maintaining it. Second, the idea that mystics and artists share a common basic experience is investigated. In both mystical and creative states one finds elements of joy, union, ecstasy, absorption, loss of self-consciousness, and loss of sense of time. Milner's discussion in turn revolves around the I-not-I distinction. She posits that mysticism is one dimension of the creative process-in contrast to the pure oceanic feeling of the mystic, the creative process is constituted by the oceanic state in cyclic oscillation with the surface mind, actively used with the intent to produce something. Third, the relevance of mysticism and creativity for mental health is explored. For Milner, both creativity and mystical experiences are psychologically beneficial in that they undo the overfixed separation self and other caused by the tyranny of the conscious mind. Yet neither mysticism nor creative expression alone, in her view, can heal an underlying lack of sense of self.     

Athletes' inclination to play through pain: a coping perspective

Previous studies have shown how social networks lead athletes to accept pain as a “part of the game,” which generates pressure on athletes to continue competing despite being in pain. Little is known, however, about the potential coping strategies that are related to pain behavior in sport. This study of 205 combat athletes examined whether pain coping strategies, including distraction from pain, praying, reinterpreting pain sensations, ignoring pain, and pain catastrophizing, are related to athletes’ inclination to play through pain. Results revealed that pain catastrophizing led athletes to reduce their physical involvement in their sport activity. Of particular interest was the moderating effect of ignoring pain such that ignoring pain significantly attenuated the negative effect of pain intensity on athletes’ inclination to play through pain. Few studies have tested and supported the contribution of pain coping to the prediction of behavior in real sport situations. By identifying which coping strategies athletes could use to maintain their physical involvement despite being in (sometimes intense) pain, the current study makes an important contribution for tailoring pain management programs for this at-risk population.