Language proficiency does not modulate executive control in older bilinguals

ABSTRACT

We examined if language proficiency modulates performance in tasks that measure executive control in older Telugu-English bilinguals (n = 50, mean age = 57.15 years). We administered numerical Stroop task, Attention Network Task, Dimensional Change Card Sorting task, and stop-signal task that are known to tap into different aspects of executive functioning on healthy aging Telugu-English bilinguals. Second language (English) proficiency was calculated as a cumulative score that considered both subjective and objective measures of L2 fluency and use. Bilinguals were divided into two groups based on the cumulative score and compared on each task. We did not find any effect of language proficiency on any of the executive control measures. The additional Bayesian analysis also supported these findings. Therefore, the results do not support the claim that bilingual language proficiency modulates executive control, at least in the elderly population. We discuss the results with regard to the issue of bilingual advantage in executive control and the role of age and language use.     

整合临床医学的必要性、可行性及途径——以睡眠呼吸暂停防控为例

长期以来以专科划分为主的医疗发展方式确实促进了现代医学的进步.然而,人是一个整体不应该被割裂对待.所以,这种医学发展趋势应该加以控制,否则必然会阻碍医学事业的健康发展.另外,如果只关注局部治疗想要取得突破已经越来越难.因此,整合临床医学势在必行.本文分别从阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的病因、临床表现(包括合并症)及诊断和治疗三个方面阐述了只有全面进行医学整合才能提高阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的整体防控水平.     

外伤性脑梗死的病因分析与防治策略

外伤性脑梗死是颅脑外伤患者比较常见且严重的一种并发症.其病因主要是脑血管壁损伤、血管受机械牵拉挤压、脑血管痉挛及低灌注、氧自由基及其他血管活性物质的改变.随着影像技术的发展进步,外伤性脑梗死的早期诊断已基本能做到,了解其主要发病机制以后,针对性地给予扩容,保证脑灌注压.通过提早预防、早期手术和内科药物、物理治疗方法,改善预后.     

医疗服务成本控制过程伦理范式的选择

不同伦理范式对医疗服务成本控制过程会产生不同的影响.运用经济伦理学及管理伦理学的原理和方法,结合医疗卫生服务机构的行业性质及特点,选择出现实可行的医疗服务成本控制过程的伦理范式.使医疗卫生服务机构在医疗服务成本控制过程中,从成本控制标准的确定、成本控制方法及途径的选择到成本控制结果的分析及考评等环节融入相关伦理内涵.使医疗服务成本控制更好地遵循恰当的伦理范式,更好地履行医疗卫生服务机构的宗旨和职责.     

Effective regulation of affect: An action control perspective on emotion regulation

The present review adopts an action control perspective on emotion regulation, contextualising the gap between emotion control goals (e.g., I want to remain calm) and emotional outcomes (e.g., anger, anxiety, and aggression) in terms of the broader literature on goal pursuit. We propose that failure to effectively regulate emotions can result from difficulties with the self-regulatory tasks of (i) identifying the need to regulate, (ii) deciding whether and how to regulate, and (iii) enacting a regulation strategy. Next we review evidence that a technique traditionally associated with regulating behavioural goals (forming implementation intentions or “if-then” planning) can help to overcome these difficulties. Meta-analysis indicated that forming implementation intentions is effective in modifying emotional outcomes, with a large effect relative to no regulation instructions (k = 21, N = 1306 d ₊ = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.61 to 1.20) and a medium-sized effect relative to goal intention instructions (k = 29, N = 1208, d ₊ = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.42 to 0.65). Our conclusion is that research on emotion regulation might benefit from an action control perspective and the interventions that this perspective offers.     

Unconscious task set priming with phonological and semantic tasks

Whether unconscious stimuli can modulate the preparation of a cognitive task is still controversial. Using a backward masking paradigm, we investigated whether the modulation could be observed even if the prime was made unconscious in 100% of the trials. In two behavioral experiments, subjects were instructed to initiate a phonological or semantic task on an upcoming word, following an explicit instruction and an unconscious prime. When the SOA between prime and instruction was sufficiently long (84 ms), primes congruent with the task set instruction led to speedier responses than incongruent primes. In the other condition (36 ms), no task set priming was observed. Repetition priming had the opposite tendency, suggesting the observed task set facilitation cannot be ascribed solely to perceptual repetition priming. Our results therefore confirm that unconscious information can modulate cognitive control for currently active task sets, providing sufficient time is available before the conscious decision.     

Alcohol increases hypnotic susceptibility

One approach to hypnosis suggests that for hypnotic experience to occur frontal lobe activity must be attenuated. For example, cold control theory posits that a lack of awareness of intentions is responsible for the experience of involuntariness and/or the subjective reality of hypnotic suggestions. The mid-dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex and the ACC are candidate regions for such awareness. Alcohol impairs frontal lobe executive function. This study examined whether alcohol affects hypnotisability. We administered 0.8 mg/kg of alcohol or a placebo to 32 medium susceptible participants. They were subsequently hypnotised and given hypnotic suggestions. All participants believed they had received some alcohol. Participants in the alcohol condition were more susceptible to hypnotic suggestions than participants in the placebo condition. Impaired frontal lobe activity facilitates hypnotic responding, which supports theories postulating that attenuation of executive function facilitates hypnotic response, and contradicts theories postulating that hypnotic response involves enhanced inhibitory, attentional or other executive function.     

Event-related potentials as brain correlates of item specific proportion congruent effects

The item-specific proportion congruency (ISPC) effect is consistent with the idea that control processes can be applied rapidly in accord with previously experienced conflict for a particular category. An alternative account of this effect is that it reflects item-specific learning processes unrelated to control at the level of the category. The accounts predict the same behaviour but differ in terms of electrophysiological predictions. Two experiments examined the ISPC effect with a particular focus on neural correlates that might reveal whether, and how early in processing, high and low proportion congruent items are treated as distinct classes of stimuli. For both tasks, the proportion congruency category was distinguished prior to the congruence of the specific stimulus, as early as 100 ms post-stimulus onset for the global/local identification task (Experiment 1) and 150 ms for the Stroop task (Experiment 2). The results support an on-line control account of ISPC effects.     

Effects of Backpack Carriage on Dual-Task Performance in Children During Standing and Walking

Primary school children perform parts of their everyday activities while carrying school supplies and being involved in attention-demanding situations. Twenty-eight children (8–10 years old) performed a 1-legged stance and a 10 m walking test under single- and dual-task situations in unloaded (i.e., no backpack) and loaded conditions (i.e., backpack with 20% of body mass). Results showed that load carriage did not significantly influence children's standing and walking performance (all p > .05), while divided attention affected all proxies of walking (all p < .001). Last, no significant load by attention interactions was detected. The single application of attentional but not load demand negatively affects children's walking performance. A combined application of both did not further deteriorate their gait behavior.     

The Impact of Strategic Trajectory Optimization on Illusory Target Biases During Goal-Directed Aiming

During rapid aiming, movements are planned and executed to avoid worst-case outcomes that require time and energy to correct. As such, downward movements initially undershoot the target to avoid corrections against gravity. Illusory target context can also impact aiming bias. Here, the authors sought to determine how strategic biases mediate illusory biases. Participants aimed to Müller-Lyer figures in different directions (forward, backward, up, down). Downward biases emerged late in the movement and illusory biases emerged from peak velocity. The illusory effects were greater for downward movements at terminal endpoint. These results indicate that strategic biases interact with the limb-target control processes associated with illusory biases. Thus, multiple control processes during rapid aiming may combine and later affect endpoint accuracy (D. Elliott et al., 2010 Elliott, D., Hansen, S., Grierson, L. E. M., Lyons, J., Bennett, S. J., &; Hayes, S. J. (2010). Goal-directed aiming: two components but multiple processes. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 1023–1044.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).