French normative data and naming times for action pictures

The aim of the present study was to provide French normative data for 112 action line drawings. The set of action pictures consisted of 71 drawings taken from Masterson and Druks (1998) and 41 additional drawings. It was standardized on six psycholinguistic variables—that is, name agreement, image agreement, image variability, visual complexity, conceptual familiarity, and age of acquisition (AoA). Naming latencies to the action pictures were collected, and a regression analysis was performed on the naming latencies, with the standardized variables, as well as with word frequency and length, taken as predictors. A reliable influence of AoA, name agreement, and image agreement on the naming latencies was observed. The findings are consistent with previous published studies in other languages. The full set of these norms may be downloaded fromwww.psychonomic.org/archive/.     

Maintenance of item and order information in verbal working memory

Although verbal recall of item and order information is well-researched in short-term memory paradigms, there is relatively little research concerning item and order recall from working memory. The following study examined whether manipulating the opportunity for attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal in a complex span task differently affected the recall of item- and order-specific information of the memoranda. Five experiments varied the opportunity for articulatory rehearsal and attentional refreshing in a complex span task, but the type of recall was manipulated between experiments (item and order, order only, and item only recall). The results showed that impairing attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal similarly affected recall regardless of whether the scoring procedure (Experiments 1 and 4) or recall requirements (Experiments 2, 3, and 5) reflected item- or order-specific recall. This implies that both mechanisms sustain the maintenance of item and order information, and suggests that the common cumulative functioning of these two mechanisms to maintain items could be at the root of order maintenance.     

The neural cell adhesion molecule-derived peptide FGL facilitates long-term plasticity in the dentate gyrus in vivo

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is known to play a role in developmental and structural processes but also in synaptic plasticity and memory of the adult animal. Recently, FGL, a NCAM mimetic peptide that binds to the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1 (FGFR-1), has been shown to have a beneficial impact on normal memory functioning, as well as to rescue some pathological cognitive impairments. Whether its facilitating impact may be mediated through promoting neuronal plasticity is not known. The present study was therefore designed to test whether FGL modulates the induction and maintenance of synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus (DG) in vivo. For this, we first assessed the effect of the FGL peptide on synaptic functions at perforant path-dentate gyrus synapses in the anesthetized rat. FGL, or its control inactive peptide, was injected locally 60 min before applying high-frequency stimulation (HFS) to the medial perforant path. The results suggest that although FGL did not alter basal synaptic transmission, it facilitated both the induction and maintenance of LTP. Interestingly, FGL also modified the heterosynaptic plasticity observed at the neighboring lateral perforant path synapses. The second series of experiments, using FGL intracerebroventricular infusion in the awake animal, confirmed its facilitating effect on LTP for up to 24 h. Our data also suggest that FGL could alter neurogenesis associated with LTP. In sum, these results show for the first time that enhancing NCAM functions by mimicking its heterophilic interaction with FGFR facilitates hippocampal synaptic plasticity in the awake, freely moving animal.     

Video tracking in the extreme: a new possibility for tracking nocturnal underwater transparent animals with fluorescent elastomer tags

Initially developed so that an individual could be recognized in mark-recapture studies of aquatic animals, fluorescent visible implant elastomer (VIE) tags are used here for a new application in ethometry: the study of the behavior of transparent animals in dim light or in darkness using automatic tracking technology. The application and validation of this multitracking method is tested in the context of research on the estuarine migratory behavior of the glass eel (Anguilla anguilla), a crucial point to better understand the dynamics of this endangered species. The method makes it possible to measure the activity (notably the distance and speed) of four individuals as a function of tidal and nycthemeral rhythms in the same flume (a circular aquarium simulating river or estuarine conditions) across a wide time scale (from seconds to weeks).     

Handwriting in patients with Parkinson disease: effect of L-dopa and stimulation of the sub-thalamic nucleus on motor anticipation

The present research focused on how patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) produce handwriting sequences. PD patients who were on/off medication or deep brain stimulation treatments had to write lll and lln trigrams. We evaluated their ability to anticipate on-line the last letter in the trigram. The results revealed that in PD patients, contrary to healthy participants, the percentage of time taken by the down-stroke of the second l did not vary as a function of the spatial constraints of the following letter (l or n). In other words, the handwriting of the PD patients did not exhibit any sign of motor anticipation. However, under treatment, PD patients exhibited similar results to healthy participants despite no improvement in movement variability. Taken together these results do not seem consistent with the hypothesis that PD patients do not anticipate future movements because of their movement variability. They are more in agreement with theories that postulate that PD patients have a general deficit in the parallel processing of the components of a motor sequence.     

Consumers who avoid relationships: social anxiety in commercial contexts

This article focuses on the study of consumers with social anxiety who avoid relationships in commercial settings. While relationship marketing recommends fostering personal relationships with customers, our research shows that too much closeness can be a problem for people with social anxiety who are apprehensive about interacting with strangers. A qualitative study based on 17 in‐depth interviews with individuals with social anxiety allows us to specify the contexts that give rise to social anxiety—physical closeness between consumer and salesperson, when the interaction is relatively long, in new situations, or in situations designed to be repeated. Our study shows that social anxiety has psychological, economic, and time costs for the consumer. Additionally, the study sets out the relational preferences of people with social anxiety, showing that they prefer neutral, distant or anonymous relationships, that they do not like or benefit from special treatment, nor do they like to be surprised by novelty. The conventional recommendations of relational marketing (e.g., creating a close relationship with customers) are partly called into question by this study, which shows that not all individuals necessarily want such relationships in a commercial context. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.