靶子的潜在位置数对辨别任务中返回抑制的影响

摘要在严格控制的条件下,以大学生为被试．采用线索一靶子模式的返回抑制范式．考察了靶子在注视点周边可能出现的位置数与辨别任务中返回抑制的关系。实验结果表明．在辨别任务中靶子的潜在位置数对返回抑制量有影响,随着位置数的增加,返回抑制量减小。该结论为返回抑制的注意性观点提供了新的证据。     

Motion sickness preceded by unstable displacements of the center of pressure

We exposed standing participants to optic flow in a moving room. Motion sickness was induced by motion that simulated the amplitude and frequency of standing sway. We identified instabilities in displacements of the center of pressure among participants who became sick; these instabilities occurred before the onset of subjective motion sickness symptoms. Postural differences between Sick and Well participants were observed before exposure to the nauseogenic stimulus. During exposure to the nauseogenic stimulus, sway increased for participants who became sick but also for those who did not. However, at every point during exposure sway was greater for participants who became motion sick. The results reveal that motion sickness is preceded by instabilities in displacements of the center of pressure.     

Different types of environmental enrichment have discrepant effects on spatial memory and synaptophysin levels in female mice

Environmental enrichment paradigms that incorporate cognitive stimulation, exercise, and motor learning benefit memory and synaptic plasticity across the rodent lifespan. However, the contribution each individual element of the enriched environment makes to enhancing memory and synaptic plasticity has yet to be delineated. Therefore, the current study tested the effects of three of these elements on memory and synaptic protein levels. Young female C57BL/6 mice were given 3h of daily exposure to either rodent toys (cognitive stimulation) or running wheels (exercise), or daily acrobatic training for 6 weeks prior to and throughout behavioral testing. Controls were group housed, but did not receive enrichment. Spatial working and reference memory were tested in a water-escape motivated radial arm maze. Levels of the presynaptic protein synaptophysin were then measured in frontoparietal cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and cerebellum. Exercise, but not cognitive stimulation or acrobat training, improved spatial working memory relative to controls, despite the fact that both exercise and cognitive stimulation increased synaptophysin levels in the neocortex and hippocampus. These data suggest that exercise alone is sufficient to improve working memory, and that enrichment-induced increases in synaptophysin levels may not be sufficient to improve working memory in young females. Spatial reference memory was unaffected by enrichment. Acrobat training had no effect on memory or synaptophysin levels, suggesting a minimal contribution of motor learning to the mnemonic and neuronal benefits of enrichment. These results provide the first evidence that different elements of the enriched environment have markedly distinct effects on spatial memory and synaptic alterations.     

Sensory consciousness explained (better) in terms of ‘corporality’ and ‘alerting capacity’

How could neural processes be associated with phenomenal consciousness? We present a way to answer this question by taking the counterintuitive stance that the sensory feel of an experience is not a thing that happens to us, but a thing we do: a skill we exercise. By additionally noting that sensory systems possess two important, objectively measurable properties, corporality and alerting capacity, we are able to explain why sensory experience possesses a sensory feel, but thinking and other mental processes do not. We are additionally able to explain why different sensory feels differ in the way they do.     

Functional analysis of tardive dyskinesia: implications for assessment and treatment

We conducted an analogue functional analysis contrasting motor tasks with varying types of social consequences for movements associated with tardive dyskinesia (TD) in 2 men who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and TD. Our findings suggest that TD-related movements were not a function of social reinforcement contingencies. However, motor-activation tasks decreased TD-related movements, suggesting a possible novel intervention.     

Effectiveness of Child-Directed Interaction Training for Young Japanese Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

This study examined the efficacy of Child-Directed Interaction Training (CDIT), the first phase of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), for Japanese children with autism spectrum disorders. The participants were 21 mother-child dyads with children aged 4–7 years; participants were assigned to an Immediate Treatment (IT) group or to a Waitlist (WL) control group. Across eight training sessions, mothers learned positive attention skills that were adapted from traditional PCIT training. Results showed CDIT not only improved social cognition skills and decreased disruptive behavior in Japanese children, but also reduced stress/distress among their mothers, particularly in relation to their own parenting skills and their child’s problem behaviors.     

The memory drum theory after twenty years

The difference between the Henry “memory-drum” theory and our version is that ours includes an additional assumption that, after programming has occurred, the resultant representation can be stored in short-term memory. Otherwise, the essential ideas are the same in the two theories. Implications of the presently available data for the distinction between the theories are discussed. Regardless of how one evaluates our added assumption, it is clear that the essential insight of the Henry theory has fared very well in the 20 yr since the theory first appeared in print.     

Terminal Feedback Outperforms Concurrent Visual,Auditory, and Haptic Feedback in Learning a Complex Rowing-Type Task

Augmented feedback, provided by coaches or displays, is a well-established strategy to accelerate motor learning. Frequent terminal feedback and concurrent feedback have been shown to be detrimental for simple motor task learning but supportive for complex motor task learning. However, conclusions on optimal feedback strategies have been mainly drawn from studies on artificial laboratory tasks with visual feedback only. Therefore, the authors compared the effectiveness of learning a complex, 3-dimensional rowing-type task with either concurrent visual, auditory, or haptic feedback to self-controlled terminal visual feedback. Results revealed that terminal visual feedback was most effective because it emphasized the internalization of task-relevant aspects. In contrast, concurrent feedback fostered the correction of task-irrelevant errors, which hindered learning. The concurrent visual and haptic feedback group performed much better during training with the feedback than in nonfeedback trials. Auditory feedback based on sonification of the movement error was not practical for training the 3-dimensional movement for most participants. Concurrent multimodal feedback in combination with terminal feedback may be most effective, especially if the feedback strategy is adapted to individual preferences and skill level.     

The Development of Perceptual Motor Sequencing Ability

The purposes of this study were (a) to investigate the possibility that short-term memory may be a limiting factor in the development of perceptual-motor sequencing ability, (b) to determine whether sex differences exist in sequencing ability, (c) to determine whether organized information facilitates serial recall, and (d) to ascertain whether the recall of serial perceptual-motor responses results in a bow-shaped serial-position curve. A 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design was used to analyze the independent variables of age, sex, and pattern organization. Further, an age × serial position ANOVA was performed to investigate the serial-position curve. Serial recall improved with age; however young children experienced difficulty in recalling a complex task. The poor recall performance of 5-yr.-old children was discussed in terms of the possibility that young children fail to use labeling strategies to facilitate recall. No sex differences were found. A primacy effect was obtained on the complex task.     

Visual Feedback and Positioning Movements

Subjects (n = 60) performed both the reproduction and learning of a linear positioning movement under one of five visual feedback conditions. Results from two experiments indicated that visual cues from the task display augmented information available from visual feedback of the movement per se. Extraneous cues from the task display have clearly confounded the manipulation of visual feedback in previous positioning studies. When these cues are eliminated, visual distance information seems more useful than visual location information.