Motor planning in Parkinson’s disease patients experiencing freezing of gait: The influence of cognitive load when approaching obstacles

Freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is typically assumed to be a pure motor deficit, although it is important to consider how an abrupt loss of gait automaticity might be associated with an overloaded central resource capacity. If resource capacity limits are a factor underlying FOG, then obstacle crossing may be particularly sensitive to dual task effects in eliciting FOG. Participants performed a dual task (auditory digit monitoring) in order to increase cognitive load during obstacle crossing. Forty-two non-demented participants (14 PD patients with FOG, 13 PD who do not freeze, and 14 age-matched healthy control participants) were required to walk and step over a horizontal obstacle set at 15% of the participants’ height. Kinematic data were split into two phases of their approach: early (farthest away from the obstacle), and late (just prior to the obstacle). Interestingly, step length variability and step time variability increased when PD patients with FOG performed the dual task, but only in the late phase prior to the obstacle (i.e. when closest to the obstacle). Additionally, immediately after crossing, freezers landed the lead foot abnormally close to the obstacle regardless of dual task condition, and also contacted the obstacle more frequently (planning errors). Strength of the dual task effect was associated with low general cognitive status, declined executive function, and inappropriate spatial planning, but only in the PD-FOG group. This study is the first to demonstrate that cognitive load differentially impacts planning of the final steps needed to avoid an obstacle in PD patients with freezing, but not non-freezers or healthy controls, suggesting specific neural networks associated with FOG behaviours.     

Nonconceptual content: A reply to Toribio's “Nonconceptualism and the cognitive impenetrability of early vision”

Toribio argues against my thesis that the cognitive penetrability (CP) of the content of early vision is a necessary and sufficient condition for this content to be nonconceptual content (NCC)–the MET (mutually entailing thesis). Her main point is that MET presupposes a non-standard, causal interpretation of NCC that either trivializes NCC or fails to engage with the contemporary literature on NCC, in which the property of being nonconceptual is not construed in empirical but in constitutive terms. I argue that Toribio's arguments presuppose views of NCC that clash with important themes in the nonconceptualist literature, and that constitutive considerations concerning NCC are inextricably linked with causal considerations since the latter are required to address the concerns that led philosophers to postulate NCC.     

The influence of social instructions on the effectiveness of a cognitive interview used with very young child witnesses

IntroductionThe modified cognitive interview (MCI) is an investigative interview method used to help child eyewitnesses to enhance the quality of their testimonies (Memon et al., 2010). Composed of cognitive (mnemonics) and social instructions, it indeed supports young witnesses to retrieve and to accurately report all their memories. If the benefits of the mnemonics on the MCI efficiency have been now established (e.g., Holliday & Albon, 2004; Verkampt & Ginet, 2010), the contribution of its social components has however not been deeply explored to date. This is notably the case of two main social instructions presented at the right beginning of an interview: the “Child can say ‘I don’t know”’ and the “Interviewer knows nothing about the facts” instructions.ObjectiveThis study aimed at evaluating the influence of these two social instructions on the effectiveness of MCI mnemonics, designed to be used by police officers to gather very young children's testimonies.MethodTo this end, 59 children aged 4 to 5.9 participated in a painting session and were interviewed two days later with a full modified cognitive interview (MCI), a MCI minus the “Child can say I don’t know” instruction, a MCI minus the “Interviewer knows nothing about the event” instruction, or a structured (control) interview that was solely composed of social instructions.ResultsThe results indicated an increase of 42% more correct information recollected with a full MCI relative to a structured interview during the free recall phase. However, the withdrawal of the “Interviewer knows nothing about the event” instruction from the MCI led the children to report 21% less information. This drop reached 3% with the MCI minus the “Child can say I don’t know” instruction.ConclusionChildren testimonies are therefore more informative when the mnemonics of the MCI are presented to the children along with social instructions.     

The association of physical activity to occipito-temporal processing during face recognition

ObjectivesThis study examined the association between physical activity level and primitive cognitive processing during a face recognition task in young adults, a topic that has received little attention.DesignCross-sectional.MethodsThe face recognition task required participants to respond to famous faces but not respond to unfamiliar faces. Task performance and several occipito-temporal event-related brain potentials reflecting the various stages of face processing, from perceptual encoding (N170) to recognition (N250 and face-N400), were assessed during the face recognition task.ResultsAlthough analyses revealed no significant group differences in behavioral performance measures, neuroelectric data showed different time courses of face recognition processes between groups. Active individuals exhibited larger N250 amplitude, reflecting an early stage of facial recognition, for famous relative to unfamiliar faces, whereas inactive individuals did not exhibit such a difference.ConclusionsThese findings are suggestive of a possible association between physical activity and relatively early, primitive cognitive processes.     

The meaning of the h-index

The h-index originates from the assumption that the number of citations received by a scientist is a better indicator of the relevance of his or her work than the number of papers he or she publishes or the journals where they are published. It takes into account the number of papers published and the citations to those papers in a balanced way, and thus is useful to make comparisons between scientists. The present paper addresses the most frequent questions about the h-index. Specifically, it explains its origin, its advantages compared to other indices, the factors that can influence it (e.g. age, field of knowledge, topic of research and language of publication), its variants, and the injustices it may lead to. In short, this paper provides a clear exposition of the hoped-for role of the h-index in the evaluation of scientists: that it serves as a useful complement to other indicators that are more subjective, and that it contributes to the progress of science by aiding decision-making on allocation of research resources in a more effective way, and on rewarding researchers who contribute to scientific progress in a more fair way.     

Comparing neurocognitive impairment in schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder using the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry Scale

The purpose of this study was to compare the psychometric properties of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP) when applied to patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (n = 126) or bipolar I disorder (n = 76), and also to compare the cognitive impairment in both samples of patients and a control group (n = 83) using the SCIP and a complete neuropsychological battery. The SCIP is a scale intended to quickly and easily assess cognitive impairment in patients with severe psychiatric disorders. The results showed firstly that, in terms of internal consistency, temporal stability, dimensional structure, and criterion-referenced validity, the SCIP provides reliable and valid scores at an equivalent level in both schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder samples. Secondly, it showed that differential cognitive impairment between the two patient groups occurs only in verbal memory, although the effect size of the difference is small. Finally, compared with the control group, cognitive impairment was present at all levels in both groups of patients using both the SCIP and the neuropsychological battery, which indicates that the SCIP is a good screening tool for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and bipolar and useful in clinical practice for healthcare professionals.     

Validation of an interpretation bias assessment for body dissatisfaction

Currently, research on interpretation bias and body dissatisfaction is limited. The few experimental paradigms that have been used to explore this phenomenon utilized a method that may not accurately capture the nature of interpretation bias as explained by cognitive theory. The present study investigated the reliability and validity of a novel computerized assessment of interpretation bias (WSAP) for body dissatisfaction, which may more accurately reflect the cognitive processing involved in such bias by implementing the Word Sentence Association Paradigm (WSAP), a previously established method of measuring interpretation bias in other clinical populations. Undergraduate females (n = 214) completed the WSAP and other measures. Results indicate initial support for the WSAP as a valid, reliable measure of interpretation bias for body dissatisfaction. Although preliminary, this study contributes to the minimal research in this area and serves as the first psychometric investigation of the WSAP to measure such interpretation bias for body dissatisfaction.     

Specificity of parental bonding and rumination in depressive and anxious emotional distress

We examined how different dimensions of rumination may mediate the impact of parental bonding (lack of care and overprotectiveness) on negative emotional symptomatology (anxiety and depression). Survey data from participants were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that brooding rumination fully mediated the relationship between maternal care and depressive and anxious symptomatology. These findings suggest that to the extent that maternal caregivers are low in warmth and support, offspring are more likely to develop a brooding style of ruminative thinking associated with heightened emotional distress. This research supports the growing body of evidence suggesting that cognitive variables form a pathway between troublesome parent/child interactions and psychopathology.     

THE MODERN STUDY OF MYTH AND ITS RELATION TO SCIENCE

The history of the modern study of myth can be divided into two main categories: that which sees myth as the primitive counterpart to natural science, itself considered overwhelmingly modern, and that which sees myth as almost anything but the primitive counterpart to natural science. The first category constitutes the nineteenth‐century approach to myth. The second category constitutes the twentieth‐century approach. Tylor and Frazer epitomize the nineteenth‐century view. Malinowski, Eliade, Bultmann, Jonas, Camus, Freud, and Jung epitomize the twentieth‐century approach. The question for the twenty‐first century is whether myth can be brought back to the physical world, but in a way compatible with science. The case of the myth of Gaia will be considered as a possible way of doing so.