A Comparison of Constant Time Delay and Simultaneous Prompting Within Embedded Instruction in General Education Classes with Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities

An adapted alternating treatment design was used to measure the effectiveness of constant time delay and simultaneous prompting procedures within an embedded instruction format on the acquisition of academic skills. Four middle school students with moderate to severe disabilities and the paraprofessionals who supported these students in their general education classes participated in the study. The results of the study indicated that both procedures were effective in promoting the acquisition of the target skills. However, the constant time delay procedure was more effective for two of the students and the simultaneous prompting procedure was more effective for the remaining students. Results are discussed in terms of future research and implications for supporting the inclusion of students with moderate and severe disabilities in general education classes.     

前额叶皮层在学习记忆中的作用

为了探讨前额叶皮层的功能,在被试进行联合搜索作业(Conjunction search task)时,使用跨颅磁刺激干扰被试者右侧前额叶皮层的活动,观察被试者在学习前后的反应时间的变化。观察到磁刺激干扰前额叶的活动,明显地延长了被试者在学习前的反应时间,对学习之后的反应时间几乎没有变化。这说明右侧前额叶参与了记忆的编码,对记忆的提取没有作用。     

Reduced cortical voluntary activation during bilateral knee extension

IntroductionReduced neural drive is mainly thought to explain the bilateral deficit phenomenon, i.e. the difference in maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVC) between unilateral and bilateral contractions. The aim of the present study was to further document if bilateral knee extension is associated with changes in voluntary activation level assessed by both peripheral nerve electrical stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation.MethodsFourteen subjects performed unilateral and bilateral knee extensions with both superimposed femoral electrical nerve stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation in order to assess voluntary activation (VA_FNES) and cortical voluntary activation (VA_TMS), respectively.ResultsThere was no difference in MVC force of the tested leg when involved in unilateral and bilateral knee extensions (p = 0.87). However, a significantly reduced VA_FNES (−2.1 ± 2.4%; p = 0.01) and VA_TMS (−1.6 ± 2.7%; p = 0.04) have been evidenced during bilateral knee extension.DiscussionIt is hypothesized that counterbalances could have masked the decrease of voluntary activation during bilateral contraction.     

视网膜离心率影响空间注意梯度分布

采用同步判断(Simultaneous judgment, SJ)的研究范式探讨空间注意梯度是否受到视网膜离心率的影响。实验中给被试呈现两个目标刺激, 调节它们的呈现距离和间隔时间, 让被试进行不限时的同步判断, 计算出各种距离上的主观等同点(Point of Subjective Simultaneous, PSS)变化情况。实验中对比了注视点和注意点重合与分离的两种状态。其中注视点和注意点分离的状态是指使用反向掩蔽后的线索刺激将注意点内隐地引导到外周。通过控制似动等影响因素, 发现在注意点和注视点分离的状态下存在距离效应—— 也就是随着距离的增长主观等同点变化越大, 但是在重合的状态下则没有。结果表明分离状态下存在传统意义上的注意梯度效应, 而重合时, 注意易化梯度受到一个抑制梯度的影响。这说明, 注意梯度分布受到视网膜离心率的影响, 而影响方式符合注意点为中心的易化梯度场和注视点为中心的抑制梯度场的双梯度场理论。     

EMDR: eye movements superior to beeps in taxing working memory and reducing vividness of recollections

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is effectively treated with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) with patients making eye movements during recall of traumatic memories. Many therapists have replaced eye movements with bilateral beeps, but there are no data on the effects of beeps. Experimental studies suggest that eye movements may be beneficial because they tax working memory, especially the central executive component, but the presence/degree of taxation has not been assessed directly. Using discrimination Reaction Time (RT) tasks, we found that eye movements slow down RTs to auditive cues (experiment I), but binaural beeps do not slow down RTs to visual cues (experiment II). In an arguably more sensitive “Random Interval Repetition” task using tactile stimulation, working memory taxation of beeps and eye movements were directly compared. RTs slowed down during beeps, but the effects were much stronger for eye movements (experiment III). The same pattern was observed in a memory experiment with healthy volunteers (experiment IV): vividness of negative memories was reduced after both beeps and eye movements, but effects were larger for eye movements. Findings support a working memory account of EMDR and suggest that effects of beeps on negative memories are inferior to those of eye movements.     

Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation of the right Wernicke's area improves comprehension in subacute stroke patients

Previous studies have shown the appearance of right-sided language-related brain activity in right-handed patients after a stroke. Non-invasive brain stimulation such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) have been shown to modulate excitability in the brain. Moreover, rTMS and tDCS have been found to improve naming in non-fluent post-stroke aphasic patients. Here, we investigated the effect of tDCS on the comprehension of aphasic patients with subacute stroke. We hypothesized that tDCS applied to the left superior temporal gyrus (Wernicke’s area) or the right Wernicke’s area might be associated with recovery of comprehension ability in aphasic patients with subacute stroke. Participants included right-handed subacute stroke patients with global aphasia due to ischemic infarct of the left M1 or M2 middle cerebral artery. Patients were randomly divided into three groups: patients who received anodal tDCS applied to the left superior temporal gyrus, patients who received cathodal tDCS applied to the right superior temporal gyrus, and patients who received sham tDCS. All patients received conventional speech and language therapy during each period of tDCS application. The Korean-Western Aphasia Battery (K-WAB) was used to assess all patients before and after tDCS sessions. After intervention, all patients had significant improvements in aphasia quotients, spontaneous speech, and auditory verbal comprehension. However, auditory verbal comprehension improved significantly more in patients treated with a cathode, as compared to patients in the other groups. These results are consistent with the role of Wernicke’s area in language comprehension and the therapeutic effect that cathodal tDCS has on aphasia patients with subacute stroke, suggesting that tDCS may be an adjuvant treatment approach for aphasia rehabilitation therapy in patients in an early stage of stroke.     

右腹外侧前额叶对高抑郁水平成年人社会情绪调节的作用：一项tDCS研究

已有的经颅直流电刺激(transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS)研究证明, 右腹外侧前额叶(right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, RVLPFC)是社会情绪调节的重要脑区, 激活RVLPFC可显著降低人们对社会性负性情绪体验的强度。社会功能受损是抑郁症患者或抑郁倾向人群的重要特征之一。该群体对社会排斥的敏感性高, 且对负性社会情绪体验的情绪调节能力降低。在本研究中, 我们采用外显的情绪调节任务, 研究了高、低抑郁水平的两组成年人被试在RVLPFC接受阳性tDCS后其情绪调节能力的改变。结果表明, 虽然采用tDCS激活RVLPFC可帮助被试通过情绪调节(认知重评)减弱负性情绪体验, 但高抑郁水平被试的负性情绪强度下降程度明显小于低抑郁水平被试。另外本文还发现, 与源于个人的负性情绪相比, tDCS效应对源于社会的负性情绪(即社会排斥)更强。本研究是采用电或磁刺激提高抑郁人群社会情绪调节能力的首次尝试。实验结果表明, 高抑郁水平成年人的RVLPFC仅通过单次、短时间(34 min)的tDCS激活, 其情绪调节能力并未得到显著提升。这提示对抑郁倾向群体或抑郁症患者的干预或治疗需要多次施加tDCS。     

经颅直流电刺激技术在增强健康个体认知功能中的应用及其影响因素

经颅直流电刺激作为一种无创脑刺激技术,已在临床治疗及康复领域有广泛应用。随着研究的深入和人类对于自身认知需求的提高,近年来也有研究者开始尝试使用该技术增强健康个体的认知功能。本文从感知觉、注意、记忆、学习和复杂任务五个方面对目前经颅直流电刺激技术在健康个体认知增强领域的研究现状进行梳理和总结,讨论了机制和影响因素,以及未来面临的问题和挑战。     

Does Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Affect the Learning of a Fine Sequential Hand Motor Skill with Motor Imagery?

Learning a fine sequential hand motor skill, like playing the piano or learning to type, improves not only due to physical practice, but also due to motor imagery. Previous studies revealed that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and motor imagery independently affect motor learning. In the present study, we investigated whether tDCS combined with motor imagery above the primary motor cortex influences sequence-specific learning. Four groups of participants were involved: an anodal, cathodal, sham stimulation, and a control group (without stimulation). A modified discrete sequence production (DSP) task was employed: the Go/NoGo DSP task. After a sequence of spatial cues, a response sequence had to be either executed, imagined, or withheld. This task allows to estimate both non-specific learning and sequence-specific learning effects by comparing the execution of unfamiliar sequences, familiar imagined, familiar withheld, and familiar executed sequences in a test phase. Results showed that the effects of anodal tDCS were already developing during the practice phase, while no effects of tDCS on sequence-specific learning were visible during the test phase. Results clearly showed that motor imagery itself influences sequence learning, but we also revealed that tDCS does not increase the influence of motor imagery on sequence learning.     

Simultaneous Rigid Sorted Unification for Tableaux

In this paper we integrate a sorted unification calculus into free variable tableau methods for logics with term declarations. The calculus we define is used to close a tableau at once, unifying a set of equations derived from pairs of potentially complementary literals occurring in its branches. Apart from making the deduction system sound and complete, the calculus is terminating and so, it can be used as a decision procedure. In this sense we have separated the complexity of sorts from the undecidability of first order logic.