Inter-hemispheric remapping between arm proprioception and vision of the hand is disrupted by single pulse TMS on the left parietal cortex

Parietal cortical areas are involved in sensori-motor transformations for their respective contralateral hemifield/body. When arms of the subjects are crossed while their gaze is fixed straight ahead, vision of the hand is processed by the hemisphere ipsilateral to the arm position and proprioception of the arm by the contralateral hemisphere. It induces interhemispheric transfer and remapping. Our objective was to investigate whether a single pulse TMS applied to the left parietal cortical area would disturb interhemispheric remapping in a similar case, and would increase a simple reaction time (RT) with respect to a control single pulse TMS applied to the frontal cortical area. Two LED were superimposed and located in front of the subjects on the saggital axis. Subjects were asked to carefully fixate on these LED during each trial. The lighting of the red LED was used as a warning signal. Following the green one was illuminated after a variable delay and served as a go-signal. The hand for the response was determined before the start of each trial. TMS was applied to the left parietal, the left frontal cortical areas, or not applied to the subject. Results revealed that: (1) Irrespective of its location, single pulse TMS induced a non-specific effect similar to a startle reflex and reduced RT substantially (15 ms on average) with respect to a control condition without TMS (mean value = 153 ms). (2) Irrespective of TMS, RT were shorter when the right or the left hand was positioned in the right visual hemi-field (i.e. normal and crossed positions respectively). (3) Finally, RT increased when single pulse TMS was applied to the left parietal area and when hands were crossed irrespective of which hand was used. We concluded that interhemispheric sensori-motor remapping was disrupted by a single pulse TMS that was applied to the left parietal cortex. This effect was also combined with some visual attention directed towards the hand located on the right visual hemi-field.     

Prospective and retrospective time perception are related to mental time travel: Evidence from Alzheimer’s disease

Unlike prospective time perception paradigms, in which participants are aware that they have to estimate forthcoming time, little is known about retrospective time perception in normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Our paper addresses this shortcoming by comparing prospective and retrospective time estimation in younger adults, older adults, and AD patients. In four prospective tasks (lasting 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, or 120 s) participants were asked to read a series of numbers and to provide a verbal estimation of the reading time. In four other retrospective tasks, they were not informed about time judgment until they were asked to provide a verbal estimation of four elapsed time intervals (lasting 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, or 120 s). AD participants gave shorter verbal time estimations than older adults and younger participants did, suggesting that time is perceived to pass quickly in these patients. For all participants, the duration of the retrospective tasks was underestimated as compared to the prospective tasks and both estimations were shorter than the real time interval. Prospective time estimation was further correlated with mental time travel, as measured with the Remember/Know paradigm. Mental time travel was even higher correlated with retrospective time estimation. Our findings shed light on the relationship between time perception and the ability to mentally project oneself into time, two skills contributing to human memory functioning. Finally, time perception deficits, as observed in AD patients, can be interpreted in terms of dramatic changes occurring in frontal lobes and hippocampus.     

ERNAN MCMULLIN ON CONTINGENCY,COSMIC PURPOSE,AND THE ATEMPORALITY OF THE CREATOR

This article reviews, and offers supportive reflections on, the main points of Ernan McMullin's provocative 1998 article, “Cosmic Purpose and the Contingency of Human Evolution,’’ reprinted in this issue of Zygon. In it he addresses the important science‐theology issue of how the Creator's purpose and intention to assure the emergence of human beings is consonant with the radical contingency of the evolutionary process. After discussing cosmic and biological evolution and critically summarizing recent solutions to this question by Keith Ward, John Polkinghorne, Arthur Peacocke, Alvin Plantinga, and others, who presuppose in different ways that God is subject to time, McMullin compellingly argues for the traditional position, that God is unconditioned by time, and this enables God to work purposefully through contingency, randomness, and chance just as easily as through law‐like regularity.     

Busy lifestyles and mammography screening: Time pressure and women’s reattendance likelihood

Time pressure is often cited as a reason for non-attendance at mammography screening, although evidence from other areas of psychology suggests that time pressure can improve performance when barriers such as time pressure provide a challenge. We predicted that time pressure would negatively predict attendance in women whose self-efficacy for overcoming time pressure is low, but positively predict attendance when self-efficacy is high. Time pressure was operationalised as the self-reported number of dependent children and others, and average number of working hours per week. Australian women were surveyed after being invited to attend second or subsequent screenings at a free public screening service, and subsequent attendance monitored until six months after screening was due. The majority (87.5%) attended screening. Women with more dependent children and higher self-efficacy showed greater attendance likelihood, and women with fewer non-child dependants and lower self-efficacy were less likely to attend. Working hours did not predict attendance. Findings provide partial support for the idea that time pressure acts as a challenge for women with high self-efficacy.     

Effect of pretesting on intentions and behaviour: A pedometer and walking intervention

This study addressed the influence of pedometers and a pretest on walking intentions and behaviour. Using a Solomon four-group design, 63 female university students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: pedometer and pretest (n = 16), pedometer and no pretest (n = 16), no pedometer and pretest (n = 15), no pedometer and no pretest (n = 16). The pretest conditions included questions on walking, intentions to walk 12,500 steps per day, and self-efficacy for walking 12,500 steps per day. In the pedometer conditions a Yamax Digi-Walker SW-650 pedometer was worn for one week. All participants completed posttest questions. While significant pretest x pedometer interactions would have indicated the presence of pretest sensitisation, no such interactions were observed for either intention or self-reported walking. Wearing pedometers reduced intentions for future walking and coping self-efficacy. However, after controlling for pretest self-reported walking, pedometer use resulted in more self-reported walking. We conclude that wearing a pedometer increased self-reported walking behaviour but that a pretest did not differentially influence walking intentions, behaviour, or self-efficacy.     

Temporal dimensions of the self-concept: Entrapped and possible selves in chronic pain

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore temporal aspects of chronic pain patients' conceptions of their selves; what they were in the past, how they were functioning at the present and what they thought about their potential and future. In-depth interviews with 21 chronic pain patients were performed and analysed. The main results of the analysis included four higher-order conceptual patterns: “the body and I”, “maintaining the consistency of past self”, the “entrapped self”, and “projected selves, defined by others”. These results are presented in a systems-oriented model illustrating the temporal dynamic between the perceived functioning self, the body and others, such as health care personnel and significant others. The mechanisms of the process of how selves are developing in the chronisation or healing process of pain are finally discussed. A clinical implication of these findings might be that with an enlarged insight of the temporal dynamic and the importance of interactive and social factors in shaping positive possible selves, health care personnel can contribute more effectively in stew-arding the chronic pain patient toward health-promotive ends and a concomitantly higher quality of life.     

Intra-Individual Variability Among Children with ADHD on a Working Memory Task: An Ex-Gaussian Approach

Intra-individual variability on a computer-based working memory task was examined among 25 children/adolescents with ADHD and 24 typically developing peers. Participants completed the Visual Serial Addition Task (VSAT) and reaction time data were fit to an ex-Gaussian distribution. ADHD participants demonstrated significantly more variable performance than controls, and effects of working memory load were observed. Event rate, however, had no influence on group differences in performance. Follow-up correlations revealed associations between VSAT performance and ADHD symptomatology. This study supports intra-individual variability as a hallmark feature of ADHD beyond the domain of response inhibition and reinforces the need to consider variability in ADHD more broadly.     

The Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA): Internal Consistency (Q1 vs. Q2 and Q3 vs. Q4) in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The internal consistency of the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) was examined in a cohort of 6- to 12-year-old children (N = 63) strictly diagnosed with ADHD. The internal consistency of errors of omission (OMM), errors of commission (COM), response time (RT), and response time variability (RTV) of different test conditions (stimulus infrequent condition [Q₁ vs. Q₂] and stimulus frequent condition [Q₃ vs. Q₄]) was assessed via correlation analyses. All TOVA index scores under investigation assessing its internal consistency exhibited statistically significant correlations. All correlations fell in the moderate-high range.     

Perceiving vocal age and gender: An adaptation approach

Aftereffects of adaptation have revealed both independent and interactive coding of facial signals including identity and expression or gender and age. By contrast, interactive processing of non-linguistic features in voices has rarely been investigated. Here we studied bidirectional cross-categorical aftereffects of adaptation to vocal age and gender. Prolonged exposure to young (~ 20 yrs) or old (~ 70 yrs) male or female voices biased perception of subsequent test voices away from the adapting age (Exp. 1) and the adapting gender (Exp. 2). Relative to gender-congruent adaptor-test pairings, vocal age aftereffects (VAAEs) were reduced but remained significant when voice gender changed between adaptation and test. This suggests that the VAAE relies on both gender-specific and gender-independent age representations for male and female voices. By contrast, voice gender aftereffects (VGAEs) were not modulated by age-congruency of adaptor and test voices (Exp. 2). Instead, young voice adaptors generally induced larger VGAEs than old voice adaptors. This suggests that young voices are particularly efficient gender adaptors, likely reflecting more pronounced sexual dimorphism in these voices. In sum, our findings demonstrate how high-level processing of vocal age and gender is partially intertwined.     

Robert Burns in the counsellor's chair: A socio-cultural analysis of the Burns myth

To illustrate how difficult endings are, this paper first cites an Italian therapist's experience of the use of time with university students in Naples and then associates to contrasting examples in the novel, art, music and the cinema. It uses a dialogue about ending in the film Brief Encounter as a possible paradigm for what is needed in brief therapy. It then refers to the work of James Mann on different experiences of time which underlie the resistance to brief work. How can brief therapy contain the paradox between finite and infinite time? Incorporating another model of therapeutic intervention with the use of Milton Erickson's attitude to time and the unconscious, the paper then moves on to a clinical example, where treatment consisted of an assessment and five sessions. Here the practice of not interpreting the transference is challenged, along with an exploration of the concept of transference to the organization and the use of pre-treatment ‘maternal reverie’ associations. Using the combination of informal trance-like states with a clear focus on the ‘here and now’, the process of the therapeutic relationship is then worked with in the case material.