Motor coordination uses external spatial coordinates independent of developmental vision

The constraints that guide bimanual movement coordination are informative about the processing principles underlying movement planning in humans. For example, symmetry relative to the body midline benefits finger and hand movements independent of hand posture. This symmetry constraint has been interpreted to indicate that movement coordination is guided by a perceptual code. Although it has been assumed implicitly that the perceptual system at the heart of this constraint is vision, this relationship has not been tested. Here, congenitally blind and sighted participants made symmetrical and non-symmetrical (that is, parallel) bimanual tapping and finger oscillation movements. For both groups, symmetrical movements were executed more correctly than parallel movements, independent of anatomical constraints like finger homology and hand posture. For the blind, the reliance on external spatial factors in movement coordination stands in stark contrast to their use of an anatomical reference frame in perceptual processing. Thus, the externally coded symmetry constraint evident in bimanual coordination can develop in the absence of the visual system, suggesting that the visual system is not critical for the establishment of an external-spatial reference frame in movement coordination.     

An accumulator model for responses and response times in tests based on the proportional hazards model

Latent trait models for responses and response times in tests often lack a substantial interpretation in terms of a cognitive process model. This is a drawback because process models are helpful in clarifying the meaning of the latent traits. In the present paper, a new model for responses and response times in tests is presented. The model is based on the proportional hazards model for competing risks. Two processes are assumed, one reflecting the increase in knowledge and the second the tendency to discontinue. The processes can be characterized by two proportional hazards models whose baseline hazard functions correspond to the temporary increase in knowledge and discouragement. The model can be calibrated with marginal maximum likelihood estimation and an application of the ECM algorithm. Two tests of model fit are proposed. The amenability of the proposed approaches to model calibration and model evaluation is demonstrated in a simulation study. Finally, the model is used for the analysis of two empirical data sets.     

The Others Will Help: The Presence of Multiple Video Game Characters Reduces Helping After the Game Is Over

The bystander effect refers to the phenomenon that individuals are less likely to help if there are potential other helpers present. For instance, past research revealed that participants were less likely to help computer-controlled characters if there were other computer-controlled characters present. Research has also shown that the bystander effect occurs if the presence of others is merely imagined. The present research examined the idea that the presence of multiple characters within a video game reduces the player's helping behavior even after the video game is over. In fact, participants who played a video game with multiple characters present were less likely to devote time to assisting in a future study than participants who had played the same video game with only a single character present.     

Noncompetitive retrieval practice causes retrieval-induced forgetting in cued recall but not in recognition

Retrieving a subset of learned items can lead to the forgetting of related items. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) can be explained by the inhibition of irrelevant items in order to overcome retrieval competition when the target item is retrieved. According to the retrieval inhibition account, such retrieval competition is a necessary condition for RIF. However, research has indicated that noncompetitive retrieval practice can also cause RIF by strengthening cue–item associations. According to the strength-dependent competition account, the strengthened items interfere with the retrieval of weaker items, resulting in impaired recall of weaker items in the final memory test. The aim of this study was to replicate RIF caused by noncompetitive retrieval practice and to determine whether this forgetting is also observed in recognition tests. In the context of RIF, it has been assumed that recognition tests circumvent interference and, therefore, should not be sensitive to forgetting due to strength-dependent competition. However, this has not been empirically tested, and it has been suggested that participants may reinstate learned cues as retrieval aids during the final test. In the present experiments, competitive practice or noncompetitive practice was followed by either final cued-recall tests or recognition tests. In cued-recall tests, RIF was observed in both competitive and noncompetitive conditions. However, in recognition tests, RIF was observed only in the competitive condition and was absent in the noncompetitive condition. The result underscores the contribution of strength-dependent competition to RIF. However, recognition tests seem to be a reliable way of distinguishing between RIF due to retrieval inhibition or strength-dependent competition.     

Bindungsrepräsentation bei stationär behandelten chronisch-depressiven Patientinnen

Background

Studies on the association between attachment and chronic depression are scarce.

Aim

This study was carried out to investigate attachment representations in chronically depressed female inpatients.

Material and methods

A total of 20 female inpatients with major depression were assessed with the adult attachment interview. Attachment representations were assessed following the method of Main et al. Furthermore, a dimensional evaluation of attachment representations according to Waters was compiled and related to symptom severity.

Results

The analysis of attachment resulted in a distribution of 5?% securely attached patients, 30?% with insecure-avoidant attachment, 15?% insecure-preoccupied attachment and 50?% disorganised attachment representation. For the dimensional approach along the secure-insecure dimension, attachment security was correlated with global assessment of functioning (GAF) and reflective functioning and insecurity was correlated with unresolved loss. For the dimension avoidance-preoccupation a relationship was found between avoidance and GAF.

Conclusion

In comparison to non-clinical samples the results demonstrate a high proportion of insecure and disorganised attachment in this sample of severely depressed female inpatients with high chronicity (mean course of illness 11.7?±?7.6 years) and high symptom load (Beck depression inventory BDI =?36.6?±?8.7 points). This result underlines the importance of psychotherapeutic interventions for depressed patients with unresolved loss experiences.     

Transdiagnostische Fertigkeiten in Abhängigkeit vom Behandlungssetting

Transdiagnostic skills (e.g. skills such as emotion regulation or social competence) are an important part of psychotherapy in outpatient as well as inpatient settings. To date there are no studies that answer the question whether both patient groups are comparable regarding several skills or if they differ. In the present study 102 outpatients were compared to 183 inpatients in 7 different skills. The difference between the two groups was smaller than a priori assumed. At the beginning of treatment inpatients had a lower ability to manage stress (mainly in the management of exhaustion). This could be interpreted as an indication that inpatients have more difficulties in coping with daily hassles which leads to greater exhaustion. To conclude, the improvement of skills should attract interest in both settings. Furthermore, a special focus on interventions to decrease deficits in stress management should be considered for in-patient treatment.     

Stereotype threat,test anxiety,and mathematics performance

We investigated the combined effects of stereotype threat and trait test anxiety on mathematics test performance. Stereotype threat and test anxiety interacted with each other in affecting performance. Trait test anxiety predicted performance only in a diagnostic condition that prevented stereotype threat by stereotype denial. A state measure of fear of the test mediated this influence. However, stereotype threat reduced the performance of low test-anxious participants to the level of high test-anxious participants. Thus, stereotype threat affected persons low in test anxiety but not persons high in test anxiety. Both phenomena apparently share common mechanisms through which they impair performance.     

Trauma exposure is associated with increased context-dependent adjustments of cognitive control in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder and healthy controls

Recent evidence has suggested that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with alterations in prefrontal-cortex-dependent cognitive processes (e.g., working memory, cognitive control). However, it remains unclear whether these cognitive dysfunctions are related to PTSD symptomatology or trauma exposure. Furthermore, regarding cognitive control, research has only focused on the integrity of selected control functions, but not their dynamic regulation in response to changing environmental demands. Therefore, the present study investigated dynamic variations in interference control, in addition to overall interference susceptibility and working memory (WM) performance in matched groups of 24 PTSD patients and 26 traumatized and 30 nontraumatized healthy controls. The Simon task was used to measure overall interference susceptibility and the flexible adjustment of cognitive control, on the basis of the occurrence of response conflicts (conflict adaptation effect). WM performance was assessed with the forward and backward digit span tasks. Since we have previously shown that trauma exposure per se is associated with reduced hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), we further explored whether PTSD/trauma-related cognitive alterations are related to HCC in proximal 3-cm hair segments. The results revealed that PTSD patients and traumatized controls showed significantly more pronounced conflict adaptation effects than nontraumatized controls. Moreover, the conflict adaptation effect was positively related to the number of lifetime traumatic events and the frequency of traumatization. The groups did not differ in overall interference susceptibility or WM performance. Exploratory analyses revealed no association between HCC and the observed cognitive differences. These results suggest that context-driven control adjustments constitute a sensitive correlate of trauma exposure, irrespective of PTSD.     

Processing load impairs coordinate integration for the localization of touch

To perform an action toward a touch, the tactile spatial representation must be transformed from a skin-based, anatomical reference frame into an external reference frame. Evidence suggests that, after transformation, both anatomical and external coordinates are integrated for the location estimate. The present study investigated whether the calculation and integration of external coordinates are automatic processes. Participants made temporal order judgments (TOJs) of two tactile stimuli, one applied to each hand, in crossed and uncrossed postures. The influence of the external coordinates of touch was indicated by the performance difference between crossed and uncrossed postures, referred to as the crossing effect. To assess automaticity, the TOJ task was combined with a working memory task that varied in difficulty (size of the working memory set) and quality (verbal vs. spatial). In two studies, the crossing effect was consistently reduced under processing load. When the load level was adaptively adjusted to individual performance (Study 2), the crossing effect additionally varied as a function of the difficulty of the secondary task. These modulatory effects of processing load on the crossing effect were independent of the type of working memory. The sensitivity of the crossing effect to processing load suggests that coordinate integration for touch localization is not fully automatic. To reconcile the present results with previous findings, we suggest that the genuine remapping process—that is, the transformation of anatomical into external coordinates—proceeds automatically, whereas their integration in service of a combined location estimate is subject to top-down control.