Functional Mobility in a Divided Attention Task in Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment

ABSTRACT. Motor disorders may occur in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and at early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), particularly under divided attention conditions. We examined functional mobility in 104 older adults (42 with MCI, 26 with mild AD, and 36 cognitively healthy) using the Timed Up and Go test (TUG) under 4 experimental conditions: TUG single task, TUG plus a cognitive task, TUG plus a manual task, and TUG plus a cognitive and a manual task. Statistically significant differences in mean time of execution were found in all four experimental conditions when comparing MCI and controls (p < .001), and when comparing MCI and AD patients (p < .05). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses showed that all four testing conditions could differentiate the three groups (area under the curve > .8, p < .001 for MCI vs. controls; area under the curve > .7, p < .001 for MCI vs. AD). The authors conclude that functional motor deficits occurring in MCI can be assessed by the TUG test, in single or dual task modality.     

Bacterial Melanin Improves Cognitive Impairment Induced by Cerebral Hypoperfusion in Rats

The effect of bacterial melanin (BM) solution on learning and memory impairment induced by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in rats was studied. Male rats were injected intramuscularly with BM solution on the second day after bilateral permanent occlusion of the common carotid artery. Rats received 6 mg/ml (170 mg/kg) BM and performed significantly better in cognition tests compared with controls. The present findings demonstrate that the beneficial effects of BM injection on cognitive functions may be due to preventing neuropathological alterations, suppressing the inflammation process, stimulating vascularization and inhibiting oxidative damage. Obtained data suggest that BM has therapeutic potential for the treatment of neurodegeneration caused by ischemia.     

Pointing and the interference effect in obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD)

The interference effect in obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) was investigated in order to analyze cognitive aspects of motor stereotypy in OCD‐related compulsions. So far, the domain of cognitive control in compulsive behavior has been under‐investigated. Twelve participants (OCD patients and healthy controls) completed a newly created computer‐based pointing task as well as standard clinical and psychological background measures. Findings showed that the patients displayed a larger visual interference effect compared to the controls and pointing paths were longer in time as well as distance when a distractor stimulus was present. It is concluded that, for compensation, patients would need to generate excessive amounts of attentional resources not available to overcome motor rigidity on the one side and visual distraction on the other side.     

The Religious Function of Jaina Philosophy:AnekāntavādaReconsidered

This paper considers the socio-religious rationale for the Jaina theory of the non-one-sided nature of reality (anekāntavāda). In doing so it rejects the received view thatanekāntavāda's exclusive function is to promote non-violence at the intellectual level. Instead it advances a model which emphasizes the way in whichanekāntavādasustains a real connection between karmic matter and the soul (jīva) and so maintains the rationale for identity defining ascetic practice. The social and religious dangers of one-sided (ekānta) views for the Jaina tradition are demonstrated by a consideration of the Digambara teacher Kundakunda's idiosyncratic use of the two truths model of reality.     

Differential outcomes of skill training,group counseling,and individual cognitive therapy for persons with acquired visual impairment

As part of the Living Skills Training Program, group counseling and individual cognitive therapy were implemented to decrease psychological distress for adults with acquired visual impairment. This quasi‐experimental design study compared the outcomes of a 6‐month skill training program combined with a group counseling program (n = 37), with (n = 9) or without (n = 10) individual cognitive therapy, and with a control group (n = 42). The outcome measures were the Profile of Mood States and the Nottingham Adjustment Scale Japanese Version. The results showed that participants with low psychological distress decreased anxiety and increased acceptance of disability, even when they did not participate in group counseling. However, among the participants with high distress, they did not show any improvement without group counseling or individual therapy. The participants with high distress who engaged in group counseling showed an improving trend in attitudes toward others. Moreover, the participants who chose to engage in individual therapy in addition to group counseling showed decreased tension‐anxiety, depression, and fatigue, and significantly improved acceptance of disability. These results suggest that group counseling, combined with individual cognitive therapy, can be an effective part of rehabilitation treatment for clients who have high psychological distress.     

Block‐wise conflict adaptation of visual selectivity: Role of hemisphere‐dependent and location‐specific mechanisms

Three experiments investigated views on modulation of visual selectivity that involve hemisphere‐dependence and conflict frequency based views for a whole display. In each experiment, 16 participants completed a flanker task with compatible/incompatible stimulus arrays presented in the left, center, or right visual fields. The relative frequency of the compatible stimulus‐arrays within a trial block was varied as a function of the visual field. In Experiment 1, the relative compatibility frequency in the lateral visual fields was varied (75% / 25%) but not in the center visual field (50%). The results showed that in the lateral visual fields, the performance between the compatible and incompatible trials differed more in conditions with few (vs. many) compatibility trials. Experiments 2 and 3 validated these findings. In Experiment 2, the compatibility frequency varied in the center visual field but not in the lateral fields, resulting in performance effects in all three visual fields. Experiment 3 varied the magnitude of the differences between the compatibility and incompatibility frequencies. Together, the findings showed that participants adjusted to the frequencies of compatible stimuli in all visual fields, indicating conflict adaptation that depends on the relative frequencies of compatible stimuli. The results also suggest that this adaptation is associated with hemisphere‐dependent and location‐specific mechanisms.     

Age‐related change of location‐based visual selectivity depending on conflict frequency

Age‐related change in cognitive control for visual selectivity was examined using a conflict adaptation effect (CAE). The CAE reflects an increased stimulus compatibility effect for low levels of conflict frequency within blocks of trials. Younger (n = 20) and elderly (n = 20) adults received an Eriksen‐type flanker task involving compatible (e.g., “44444”) or incompatible (e.g., “44644”) arrays presented to either the left or right visual field (VF). The participants identified the central digit of an array. Relative frequency of conflict (incompatible) trials varied as a function of the VF. Also manipulated was the presentation order of more‐conflict VF and less‐conflict VF conditions over trial blocks. The results showed that a location‐based CAE appeared for both age groups in the first set of trial blocks, whereas in the final set of trial blocks the location‐based CAE appeared only for the younger adults. These results suggested that cognitive flexibility related to context‐dependent cognitive control diminishes with age.     

What does being initiated severely into a group do? The role of rewards

Undergoing an admission process (an initiation) can induce exaggerated feelings about a group, but there is little research about the role of rewards. This study replicated Aronson and Mills’ (1959) experiment. Seventy participants underwent either a severe initiation or a mild initiation. After the initiation, about half the sample received an extrinsic reward for merely completing the task. The remaining half did not receive an extrinsic reward. This was to vary the amount of dissonance. Initiation severity and reward condition had significant, noncrossing interactions. A reward led to higher group identity than no reward, supporting Levine and Moreland's (1994) group socialization model. A severe initiation did not lead to more group identity than a mild initiation; therefore, Aronson and Mills’ findings were not replicated. Interestingly, a mild initiation followed by a reward led to more group identity than a severe initiation followed by a reward. Another unexpected finding was that the extrinsic reward made no difference to group identity if the initiation was severe. Effects on ratings of the discussion were nonsignificant. Future research needs to establish how new group members ponder the severity of the admission process during the cost–benefit calculation preceding their identification with a group.     

Cognitive aesthetics of alchemical imagery

Jung's contribution to the understanding of the relevance of psychology to alchemy has become increasingly invalidated by the ahistorical nature of his approach, just as his tendency to ignore the importance of cognitive aesthetics for an improved comprehension of the functions of alchemical images has prevented Jungians from further extending Jung's insight of the importance of alchemy for psychology. This paper explores the history of the development of alchemical illustrations in Western Europe from the 14^th to the 16^th century, tracing the emergent processes over time. It is only when we take into consideration the historical dimension and the aesthetics of alchemical imagery that it becomes possible to demonstrate how the increasing use of certain aesthetic techniques such as the disjunction and recombination of separate metaphorical elements of previous illustrations, the use of compressive combinations and the use of framing devices worked to gradually increase the cognitive function and the symbolical power of the images. If alchemy is still relevant to psychotherapy it is exactly because it helps us to understand the importance of cognitive aesthetics in our approach to the images, metaphors and narratives of our patients.