The self in action: lessons from delusions of control

Patients with delusions of control are abnormally aware of the sensory consequences of their actions and have difficulty with on-line corrections of movement. As a result they do not feel in control of their movements. At the same time they are strongly aware of the action being intentional. This leads them to believe that their actions are being controlled by an external agent. In contrast, the normal mark of the self in action is that we have very little experience of it. Most of the time we are not aware of the sensory consequences of our actions or of the various subtle corrections that we make during the course of goal-directed actions. We know that we are agents and that we are successfully causing the world to change. But as actors we move through the world like shadows glimpsed only occasional from the corner of an eye.     

Performance-related activity in medial rostral prefrontal cortex (area 10) during low-demand tasks

Neuroimaging studies have frequently observed relatively high activity in medial rostral prefrontal cortex (PFC) during rest or baseline conditions. Some accounts have attributed this high activity to the occurrence of unconstrained stimulus-independent and task-unrelated thought processes during baseline conditions. Here, the authors investigated the alternative possibility that medial rostral PFC supports attention toward the external environment during low-demand conditions. Participants performed a baseline simple reaction time (RT) task, along with 3 other tasks that differed in the requirement to attend to external stimuli versus stimulus-independent thought. Medial rostral PFC activation was observed in the baseline task and in a condition requiring strong engagement with external stimuli, relative to 2 conditions with a greater requirement for stimulus-independent thought. An important finding was that activity in this region was associated with faster RTs in the baseline task, ruling out an explanation in terms of task-unrelated thought processes during this condition. Thus, at least under certain circumstances, medial rostral PFC appears to support attention toward the external environment, facilitating performance in situations that do not require extensive processing of experimental stimuli.     

The effects of sound on pupil size and the pupil light reflex

The effects of auditory stimulation on pupil size and the pupil light reflex were investigated in 33 male volunteers. A 95dB tone caused pupillary dilation and a reduction in the amplitude of the light reflex. Although the light reflex amplitude was positively correlated with pupil size in the resting state the effects of noise on the two measures were independent since the pupillary dilation response showed a marked habituation after two presentations of the tone whereas the effect on the light reflex remained the same. People showing high impulsivity scores on the EPQ tended to have smaller pupils (i.e. low arousal). There was also a relationship between impulsivity and light reflex amplitude, but this was probably a secondary consequence of the relationship between the latter measure and pupil size in the resting state.     

Learning and reminiscence in the pursuit rotor performance of normal and depressed subjects

Ten depressed in-patients were compared, after careful age- and sex-matching, with 12 normal controls on a pursuit tracking task which was performed for two 5-min periods, separated by a 10-min rest. The depressives performed significantly worse than the controls, but both groups showed within and between session improvements. This suggests that the depressive state adversely affects the performance but not the learning of a motor skill. Analysis of performance into high and low frequency components showed that the patients had specific difficulty in following high frequency target movements. This inability to follow high frequency movements was significantly correlated with tapping rate for the patient group, implying that both these measures reflect slowed motor responsivity. The result suggests that factors which interfere with the execution of a motor skill (i.e. motor retardation) do not necessarily interfere with the learning of that skill.     

Experimental approaches to developmental dyslexia: An introduction

Summary The nine papers on reading processes and problems collected together in this issue are discussed and related to each other. The studies all share a theoretical framework which is based on models of cognitive psychology and experimental methods developed in this area. A single major hypothesis emerges from these studies on the nature of developmental dyslexia. In its weak form the hypothesis suggests a phonological deficit, in its strong form a specific deficit in speech-motor programming. While other determinants of reading failure are not ruled out, the evidence from the various independent experiments allows the surprisingly parsimonious interpretation of developmental dyslexia as a type of speech problem.     

Choking on the Money: Reward-Based Performance Decrements Are Associated With Midbrain Activity

ABSTRACT— A pernicious paradox in human motivation is the occasional reduced performance associated with tasks and situations that involve larger-than-average rewards. Three broad explanations that might account for such performance decrements are attentional competition (distraction theories), inhibition by conscious processes (explicit-monitoring theories), and excessive drive and arousal (overmotivation theories). Here, we report incentive-dependent performance decrements in humans in a reward-pursuit task; subjects were less successful in capturing a more valuable reward in a computerized maze. Concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that increased activity in ventral midbrain, a brain area associated with incentive motivation and basic reward responding, correlated with both reduced number of captures and increased number of near-misses associated with imminent high rewards. These data cast light on the neurobiological basis of choking under pressure and are consistent with overmotivation accounts.     

Memory coding for binary sequences in children

Some differences in the efficiency of coding were found between 4- and 6-year-olds. However, it appeared that the coding strategies were similar at lower and higher levels of memory capacity and development.     

Operationalizing the Reciprocal Engagement Model of Genetic Counseling Practice: a Framework for the Scalable Delivery of Genomic Counseling and Testing

With the advent of widespread genomic testing for diagnostic indications and disease risk assessment, there is increased need to optimize genetic counseling services to support the scalable delivery of precision medicine. Here, we describe how we operationalized the reciprocal engagement model of genetic counseling practice to develop a framework of counseling components and strategies for the delivery of genomic results. This framework was constructed based upon qualitative research with patients receiving genomic counseling following online receipt of potentially actionable complex disease and pharmacogenomics reports. Consultation with a transdisciplinary group of investigators, including practicing genetic counselors, was sought to ensure broad scope and applicability of these strategies for use with any large-scale genomic testing effort. We preserve the provision of pre-test education and informed consent as established in Mendelian/single-gene disease genetic counseling practice. Following receipt of genomic results, patients are afforded the opportunity to tailor the counseling agenda by selecting the specific test results they wish to discuss, specifying questions for discussion, and indicating their preference for counseling modality. The genetic counselor uses these patient preferences to set the genomic counseling session and to personalize result communication and risk reduction recommendations. Tailored visual aids and result summary reports divide areas of risk (genetic variant, family history, lifestyle) for each disease to facilitate discussion of multiple disease risks. Post-counseling, session summary reports are actively routed to both the patient and their physician team to encourage review and follow-up. Given the breadth of genomic information potentially resulting from genomic testing, this framework is put forth as a starting point to meet the need for scalable genetic counseling services in the delivery of precision medicine.