Elaborative processing in the Korsakoff syndrome: context versus habit

Using a procedure of Hay and Jacoby [Hay, J. F., & Jacoby, L. L. (1999). Separating habit and recollection in young and older adults: Effects of elaborative processing and distinctiveness. Psychology and Aging, 14, 122–134], Korsakoff patients’ capacity to encode and retrieve elaborative, semantic information was investigated. Habits were created during initial training, whereupon cued-recall memory performance was examined, with habit opposing as well as facilitating recollection of earlier studied words. A first group of patients was instructed and tested in the same way as healthy controls and showed poor test performance. Nevertheless, when given more processing and response time, additional explanation, and explicit encouragement, a second group of patients performed similarly to healthy controls. The results suggest that, when given adequate support, Korsakoff patients are able to encode and make use of semantic, contextual, and sequential information. Word distinctiveness, however, only influenced performance of controls.     

情绪干扰听觉反应冲突的ERP研究

采用ERP技术研究13例正常青年人在声音诱发的不同情绪条件下,对反应抑制加工过程的影响,并试图阐明其潜在脑机制。实验中选择正、中、负三种声音各50种,作为诱发情绪的刺激材料。结果发现Go条件下的反应时在负性、中性、正性条件下依次减短;Go与Nogo刺激均诱发出显著的N1成分,中性条件下波幅显著大于正负性情绪条件。此外,三种情绪背景下, Nogo刺激诱发出显著的N2与P3成分。Nogo-N2主要分布在头皮前中部,在Fz点波幅最大。Nogo-P3主要分布在头皮中部,Pz点波幅最大。中性条件下Nogo-N2波幅显著大于负性与正性条件,而正性和负性之间差异不显著。行为结果表明,听觉负性情绪诱发对反应执行有干扰作用;ERP结果表明声音诱发的情绪对早期听觉选择性注意具有调节作用。听觉情绪诱发对反应抑制加工过程有显著影响,且该影响在早期反应冲突监控阶段最为明显。     

Inattentional blindness for ignored words: Comparison of explicit and implicit memory tasks

Inattentional blindness is described as the failure to perceive a supra-threshold stimulus when attention is directed away from that stimulus. Based on performance on an explicit recognition memory test and concurrent functional imaging data Rees, Russell, Frith, and Driver [Rees, G., Russell, C., Frith, C. D., & Driver, J. (1999). Inattentional blindness versus inattentional amnesia for fixated but ignored words. Science, 286, 2504–2507] reported inattentional blindness for word stimuli that were fixated but ignored. The present study examined both explicit and implicit memory for fixated but ignored words using a selective-attention task in which overlapping picture/word stimuli were presented at fixation. No explicit awareness of the unattended words was apparent on a recognition memory test. Analysis of an implicit memory task, however, indicated that unattended words were perceived at a perceptual level. Thus, the selective-attention task did not result in perfect filtering as suggested by Rees et al. While there was no evidence of conscious perception, subjects were not blind to the implicit perceptual properties of fixated but ignored words.     

An Investigation of Sound-Symbolism in the Context of Tactile Feeling

Sound symbolism suggests a non-arbitrary relationship between speech sounds and the concepts to which those sounds refer (Hinton, Nichols, &; Ohala, 2006 Hinton, L., Nichols, J., &; Ohala, J. J. (2006). Sound symbolism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]). Supporting evidence comes primarily from studies investigating how speech sounds relate to semantically compatible visual concepts. The present study therefore attempted to examine sound symbolism in the context of tactile perception. Contrary to the propositions of sound symbolism, participants in Experiment 1 did not consistently assign names with plosive consonant to objects with curved frames. Experiment 2, however, found that names with fricative consonants were more likely to be applied to materials with rough surfaces. The results suggested the existence of a direct relationship between speech sounds and their referent concepts that could be crucial in revealing the phenomenon of sound symbolism. A future study was also proposed to study the contributions of mouth shape and airflow to associations between speech sounds and tactile feelings. (161 words)     

Improving left spatial neglect through music scale playing

The study assessed whether the auditory reference provided by a music scale could improve spatial exploration of a standard musical instrument keyboard in right‐brain‐damaged patients with left spatial neglect. As performing music scales involves the production of predictable successive pitches, the expectation of the subsequent note may facilitate patients to explore a larger extension of space in the left affected side, during the production of music scales from right to left. Eleven right‐brain‐damaged stroke patients with left spatial neglect, 12 patients without neglect, and 12 age‐matched healthy participants played descending scales on a music keyboard. In a counterbalanced design, the participants' exploratory performance was assessed while producing scales in three feedback conditions: With congruent sound, no‐sound, or random sound feedback provided by the keyboard. The number of keys played and the timing of key press were recorded. Spatial exploration by patients with left neglect was superior with congruent sound feedback, compared to both Silence and Random sound conditions. Both the congruent and incongruent sound conditions were associated with a greater deceleration in all groups. The frame provided by the music scale improves exploration of the left side of space, contralateral to the right hemisphere, damaged in patients with left neglect. Performing a scale with congruent sounds may trigger at some extent preserved auditory and spatial multisensory representations of successive sounds, thus influencing the time course of space scanning, and ultimately resulting in a more extensive spatial exploration. These findings offer new perspectives also for the rehabilitation of the disorder.     

Segmenting two-phoneme syllables: developmental differences in relation with early reading skills

This study explored developmental differences in children's segmentation skills of VC and CV syllables (e.g., /af/ and /fa/) in relation to their early reading abilities. To this end, we followed a subgroup of Dutch speaking prereaders who participated in, and replicated the segmentation task in first grade, at the outset of phonics reading instruction. Reading abilities were assessed after 6 and 9 months. First, we confirmed that VCs offer an easier context to isolate phonemes than CVs. Second, matching analyses showed that this development from VC to CV segmentation posed comparatively increasing difficulties for poor segmenters. Third, this qualitatively different development was reflected in early reading performance. Our data emphasize the importance of phonetic factors and instruction-based experiences in phonological development.     

From single to multiple deficit models of developmental disorders

The emerging etiological model for developmental disorders, like dyslexia, is probabilistic and multifactorial while the prevailing cognitive model has been deterministic and often focused on a single cognitive cause, such as a phonological deficit as the cause of dyslexia. So there is a potential contradiction in our explanatory frameworks for understanding developmental disorders. This paper attempts to resolve this contradiction by presenting a multiple cognitive deficit model of developmental disorders. It describes how this model evolved out of our attempts to understand two comorbidities, those between dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and between dyslexia and speech sound disorder (SSD).     

The power of prospection: mental contrasting and behavior change

People often immerse themselves in dreams and fantasies about a desired future. Though such future fantasies are pleasant, they do not necessarily lead to the effort required to attain the desired future. Indeed, the more positively people fantasize about their desired futures, the less effort they invest and the less successful they are in realizing these futures. However, when fantasies about a desired future are complemented with a clear sense of reality, people find the direction and energy needed to realize their fantasies. We review Fantasy Realization Theory, which explicates these ideas and led to the discovery of mental contrasting future and reality, a self‐regulation strategy of behavior change. Mental contrasting helps people figure out what they really want and wisely select, commit to, and actively pursue prioritized wishes while constructively dealing with setbacks. It helps them live a rewarding life through work, play, health, and relationships.     

Taxonomy of moderators that govern explicit memory in individuals with intellectual disability: Integrative research review

This integrative research review aims to discover moderators that influence explicit memory performance of individuals with intellectual disability (ID). We reviewed 47 explicit memory studies (since 1990) that were conducted in populations with ID. We suggest a taxonomy of moderators related to the participants, encoding and retrieval stages, where only an interrelation between the three dictates memory performance. We found that individuals with nonspecific ID can achieve the same level of recognition as individuals with typical development (TD) with the same chronological age when all encoding moderators are favorable. Recognition tests facilitate recollection more than free recall in all etiologies. The performance of individuals with ID was poorer than that of individuals with TD in all auditory memory tasks. Spatial location memory varied with task demands, practice, intention, age and intelligence. We conclude with suggestions for further research and educational implications.     

The role of activation charge in an emotional categorisation task for words: insight from the perspective of a dual process theory of the activation mechanisms

The role of activation (arousal and subjective significance) was investigated for word processing in an explicit emotional judgement task using a 3?×?3 manipulation. We expected to find dissociative effects for both factors. The behavioural results showed that the fraction of words perceived as emotional increases with increasing arousal or subjective significance. The electrophysiological (EEG) results showed that both factors influence ERP amplitudes. General effects of subjective significance were found for early (60–120?ms and 120–250?ms, low subjective significant stimuli evoked higher amplitude than other conditions) and late (350–490?ms, high subjective significant stimuli evoked higher amplitude than other conditions) time ranges. Localised arousal effects were found in 250–350?ms and 350–490?ms time ranges at posterior (amplitude for high arousing stimuli was less positive than for other conditions) and left frontal ROIs (diverse pattern). Localised subjective significance effects were found for the 350–490?ms time range at the posterior ROIs (amplitude for high subjective significant stimuli was more positive than for other conditions). The results of this study suggest that the effects of arousal reported in earlier studies might account for a more complex form of activation that was recently postulated, namely subjective significance.