Errorless Learning in the Rehabilitation of Memory Impairment: A Critical Review

This review considers the origins of the errorless learning (EL) concept, its application in memory rehabilitation, the evidence for its effectiveness, and the theoretical basis for the observed findings. The evidence suggests that EL offers valuable benefits for at least some people with memory impairments when teaching certain types of tasks. However, the benefits are not evident for all groups, some findings are equivocal, and there are some limitations associated with this approach. We discuss methodological issues impacting on these mixed findings, consider which theoretical explanations might account for the findings regarding benefits and limitations of EL, and comment on the implications for rehabilitation practitioners of the current state of evidence in this area.     

身体活动对老年认知功能的影响

如何促进老年人的认知功能, 延缓认知老化, 是老年心理学的关键课题之一。大量研究表明不同的身体活动类型、活动强度、活动量以及生命早期的身体活动可能对老年人认知功能的各个方面有积极的影响, 包括执行功能、注意力、认知速度、记忆力等。此外, 选择性提高假说、心血管功能假说以及认知-锻炼模型用来解释这一影响机制。这些发现对维护老年人认知功能, 提高老年人的生命质量, 有效延缓衰老有着重要的意义。     

The Limbic System and the Soul: Evolution and the Neuroanatomy of Religious Experience

The evolutionary neurological foundations of religious experience are detailed. Human beings have been burying and preparing their dead for the Hereafter for more than 100,000 years. These behaviors and beliefs are related to activation of the amygdala, hippocampus, and temporal lobe, which are responsible for religious, spiritual, and mystical trancelike states, dreaming, astral projection, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and the hallucination of ghosts, demons, angels, and gods. Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, and Jesus Christ, and others who have communed with angels or gods display limbic system hyperactivity, whereas patients report religious hallucinations or out-of-body experiences when limbic structures are stimulated or excessively activated. It is postulated that limbic and temporal lobe structures account for the sexual and violent aspects of religious behavior and also serve as a "transmitter to God," and that the evolution of these structures made spiritual experience possible.     

对语言神经机制的新认识

本文针对语言神经机制的研究现状,分析了失语症和裂脑人研究的成果,并且较为详细地介绍了最近十年脑功能成像得到的有关语言神经活动的新成就,在此基础上,提出了一种动态分布式竞争的解释理论,用来解释语言神经活动现象和规律,并进一步借以说明言语意识的产生机制。     

Heart rate variability during sympatho-excitatory challenges: Comparison between spontaneous and metronomic breathing

Respiration influences heart rate variability, leading to the suggestion that respiration should be controlled to assess autonomic function by using heart rate variability. Clearly, control of respiration is advantageous or even essential in several experimental circumstances. However, control of respiration, by itself, produces a small, but significant, increase in mean heart rate and a decrease in respiratory synchronous variation in heart rate. We tested whether, in some experimental situations, it may be possible to arrive at similar interpretation about autonomic function with and without using control of respiratory rate. heart rate spectral powers from nine subjects were compared between spontaneous and metronomic breathing during two sympatho-excitatory stresses, lower body negative pressure (LBNP) and head up tilt (HUT). The normalized spectral powers in supine and HUT during spontaneous breathing were: 0.43 and 0.75 in very low (VLF) and 0.28 and 0.09 in high frequency (HF) regions. The powers during metronomic breathing were: 0.36 and 0.82 (VLF) and 0.36 and 0.09 (HF). The powers in supine and LBNP during spontaneous breathing were: 0.43 and 0.81 (VLF) and 0.28 and 0.06 (HF). The powers during metronomic breathing were: 0.36 and 0.80 (VLF) and 0.36 and 0.07 (HF). All p values were <0.05. Therefore, changes in heart rate spectral powers during HUT and LBNP were similar during metronomic breathing and spontaneous breathing. These results suggest that in experimental designs such as in our study, using metronomic breathing may not provide any additional insight into autonomic function than that can be obtained during spontaneous breathing.     

Quantum mechanics and violations of the sure-thing principle: The use of probability interference and other concepts

The use of quantum mechanical concepts in social science is a fairly new phenomenon. This paper uses one of quantum mechanics’ most basic concepts, probability interference, to explain the violation of an important decision theory principle (the ‘sure-thing principle’). We also attempt to introduce other quantum mechanical concepts in relation to the sure-thing principle violation.     

Violation of the transitivity axiom may explain why, in empirical studies, a significant number of subjects violate GARP

Most papers using experimental data find that a significant number of agents are not utility function maximizers. Using three experimental datasets, we provide empirical evidence that these violations of utility function maximizing behavior are simply generated by a violation of the preference transitivity axiom. Moreover, we find that 97% of agents’ behavior is consistent with maximization of a generalized utility function called a variable intervals function (which corresponds to a numerical representation of complete-acyclic preferences).     

OPTIMIZING LINKED PERCEPTUAL CLASS FORMATION AND TRANSFER OF FUNCTION

A linked perceptual class consists of two distinct perceptual classes, A′ and B′, the members of which have become related to each other. For example, a linked perceptual class might be composed of many pictures of a woman (one perceptual class) and the sounds of that woman's voice (the other perceptual class). In this case, any sound of the woman's voice would occasion the selection of any picture of the woman and vice versa. In addition, after learning to name the woman in the presence of one picture, that name would be uttered when presented with all of the images of the woman's face and all of the sounds of her voice. This study involved 15 participants and sought to (a) maximize the percentage of participants who formed linked perceptual classes, and (b) determine whether those classes acted as transfer networks, that is, whether the discriminative function of one class member would generalize to other members of the class and not to members of a different class. The rate of emergence of each linked perceptual class was maximized by establishing a single class‐linking conditional relation between the clearest member of one class used as a sample stimulus and the most ambiguous member of the other class used as a comparison stimulus. Class formation was demonstrated using the serial and programmed presentation of A′–B′ probes that consisted of untrained pairs of stimuli drawn from the A′ and B′ classes. Most participants showed immediate emergence of the two linked perceptual classes. The remaining participants showed delayed emergence following a second exposure to each originally error‐producing probes. Once the linked perceptual classes had emerged, a differential response to a specific member of one perceptual class generalized mostly or completely to the other members of that linked class and rarely, if ever, to members of the other linked class. Thus, generalization did not depend on the specific class members that had been used for discrimination training.     

TRANSFER OF AVERSIVE RESPONDENT ELICITATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH EQUIVALENCE RELATIONS

The present study investigates the transfer of aversively conditioned respondent elicitation through equivalence classes, using skin conductance as the measure of conditioning. The first experiment is an attempt to replicate Experiment 1 in Dougher, Augustson, Markham, Greenway, and Wulfert (1994), with different temporal parameters in the aversive conditioning procedure employed. Match‐to‐sample procedures were used to teach 17 participants two 4‐member equivalence classes. Then, one member of one class was paired with electric shock and one member of the other class was presented without shock. The remaining stimuli from each class were presented in transfer tests. Unlike the findings in the original study, transfer of conditioning was not achieved. In Experiment 2, similar procedures were used with 30 participants, although several modifications were introduced (formation of five‐member classes, direct conditioning with several elements of each class, random sequences of stimulus presentation in transfer tests, reversal in aversive conditioning contingencies). More than 80% of participants who had shown differential conditioning also showed the transfer of function effect. Moreover, this effect was replicated within subjects for 3 participants. This is the first demonstration of the transfer of aversive respondent elicitation through stimulus equivalence classes with the presentation of transfer test trials in random order. The latter prevents the possibility that transfer effects are an artefact of transfer test presentation order.