Looking at the actor's face: Identity cues and attentional focus in false memories of action performance from observation

Observing another's actions can induce false memories of self-performance. We investigated whether such observation inflation depends on the discriminability between the self and the observed actor. Discriminability was manipulated by presenting actions either with or without a key visual identity cue, i.e., the actor's face. We also examined whether self–other confusions in the face-visible condition depend on attentional focus (directed to the observed action vs. the actor's face). In the action-only condition, observation inflation was significant and greater than in the face-visible conditions, in which the effect was moderated by attentional focus: It persisted under an action focus but was eliminated under a face focus. Findings for correct memories of self-performance suggest that the reduced effect is not merely due to weaker encoding of the actions themselves. We conclude that self–other confusions in action memory are constrained by the availability of distinctive non-self cues during observation, and sustained by a visual focus on observed actions.     

Resolving competition when naming an object in a multiple-object display

Naming an object in the context of other objects requires the selection and processing of the target object at different levels, while the processing of competing representations activated by context objects has to be constrained. At what stage are these competing representations attenuated? To address this question, we presented pairs of target and context objects that were either similar in visual shape (e.g., umbrella–palm tree) or dissimilar in visual shape (e.g., umbrella–ladder), so that the context object would attract various amounts of attention. The activation of the context object at different levels of processing was assessed by means of auditory distractors (semantically related, or phonologically related, or unrelated to the context object). Semantic and phonological distractor effects were observed for shape-related object pairs, but not for unrelated object pairs. This finding suggests that context objects do not activate their associated lexical representations to any substantial amount, unless they capture attention. In that case, they undergo full lexical processing up to a phonological level. Implications for models of word production are discussed.     

Neural correlates of stimulus response and stimulus outcome shifting in healthy participants and MS patients

Introduction

Adaptation to changing situations can be mediated by two strategies: (1) Evaluation of a response and (2) Evaluation of outcome values in relation to objects. Previous studies indicate that response shifting is associated with a network comprising the left frontal cortex and parietal cortex connected by the superior longitudinal fascicle, whereas outcome evaluation is associated with a network consisting of the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala and uncinate fascicle. However, these studies rarely compared both kinds of adaptation directly and existing fMRI studies with healthy subjects are not informative about the role of the two fiber systems.

Methods

We analyzed stimulus response shifting and stimulus outcome shifting in two studies, one fMRI-study on healthy participants and one study on patients with MS involving structural MRI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Voxel Based Morphometry, Ventricular volumetry). Two tasks were used, identical in presentation but different in instruction, controlling for effects of lower level processing. In the SRS task, participants had to perform a “Go” or “NoGo” response depending on a stimulus change: if the stimulus remained the same, they had to continue with the former type of response, if it changed they had to adapt their response pattern. In the SOS task they had to perform a “Go” response only if the presented stimulus corresponded to that of an internal alternating series.

Results

fMRI findings showed that SRS is related to a bilateral parietal-premotor network. In the left hemisphere the prefrontal cortex was also involved. SOS was lateralized to the right hemisphere, particularly to the anterior temporal pole and amygdala, and the inferior parietal cortex. MS patients impaired on this task suffered from lesions in the right uncinate fascicle and showed an enlarged right frontal lateral ventricle.

Conclusion

With physically identical tasks, a functional neuronal segregation can be demonstrated for stimulus response shifting (bilateral activations with a focus in the left prefrontal cortex) and stimulus outcome shifting (right anterior temporal lobe and right supramarginal gyrus).     

Beziehungsgewalt

The objective of our questionnaire study was to investigate posttraumatic stress disorders of abused women and to analyze differences between affected women suffering from high versus low symptom strain with respect to the duration and intensity of the abuse and to victimization incidences in their childhood. We collected data on characteristics of the abuse relationship, kind and frequency of experienced violence, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, PCL-C according to DSM-IV), and comorbid complaints (SCL-90-R). Participants were 71 women with a mean age of 43 years. On average, they had lived in an abusive relationship for 11 years. Two thirds had experience with psychotherapy. All provided information on abuse that may be considered traumatic. 62% suffered from injuries necessitating medical treatment at least once, and half sustained lasting physical damage. With respect to all SCL-90-R scales, the research participants were under significantly higher strain than the normed female sample. PTSD was diagnosed in 58%. Compared to women without PTSD, women with PTSD reported very serious assault, comorbid symptoms as well as physical and sexual victimization in their childhood significantly more often.     

Role of grammatical gender and semantics in German word production

Semantic substitution errors (e.g., saying "arm" when "leg" is intended) are among the most common types of errors occurring during spontaneous speech. It has been shown that grammatical gender of German target nouns is preserved in the errors (E. Mane, 1999). In 3 experiments, the authors explored different accounts of the grammatical gender preservation effect in German. In all experiments, semantic substitution errors were induced using a continuous naming paradigm. In Experiment 1, it was found that gender preservation disappeared when speakers produced bare nouns. Gender preservation was found when speakers produced phrases with determiners marked for gender (Experiment 2) but not when the produced determiners were not marked for gender (Experiment 3). These results are discussed in the context of models of lexical retrieval during production.     

Psychotherapie der Posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung

Zusammenfassung Die Posttraumatische Belastungsst?rung (PTBS) ist ein h?ufiges Krankheitsbild und mit einer Standardtherapie, die die spezifische Problematik der St?rung unberücksichtigt l?sst, nur eingeschr?nkt behandelbar. Der Beitrag geht auf aktuelle diagnostische Kriterien sowie spezifische Risikofaktoren für die Ausbildung chronischer und komplexer PTBS-Symptome ein. Verschiedene Behandlungsans?tze – Konfrontationstherapie, Kognitive Restrukturierung, EMDR, psychodynamische Therapie, angeleitetes Schreiben – werden auf der Basis validierter Therapiestudien vorgestellt. Ausführlicher berücksichtigt werden Behandlungsm?glichkeiten für sexuell traumatisierte Frauen mit chronischer PTBS und komorbiden Beschwerden.      

Can we predict mathematical learning disabilities from symbolic and non‐symbolic comparison tasks in kindergarten? Findings from a longitudinal study

Background. The ability to compare numbers, as the most basic form of number sense, has been related to arithmetical achievement. Aims. The current study addressed the predictive value of non‐symbolic and symbolic (number word (NW) and Arabic number (AN)) comparison for arithmetics by means of a longitudinal design. Sample. Sixteen children with mathematical disabilities (MD), 64 low achievers (LA), and 315 typical achieving (TA) children were followed from kindergarten till grade 2. Method. The association of comparison skills with arithmetical skills in grades l and 2 was studied. The performances of MD, LA and TA children were compared. Results. Regression analyses showed that non‐symbolic skills in kindergarten were predictively related to arithmetical achievement 1 year later and fact retrieval 2 years later. AN comparison was predictively related to procedural calculation 2 years later. In grade 2, there was an association between both symbolic tasks and arithmetical achievement. Children with MD already had deficits in non‐symbolic and symbolic AN comparison in kindergarten, whereas in grade 2 the deficits in processing symbolic information remained. Conclusions. The combination of non‐symbolic and symbolic deficits represents a risk of developing MD.     

Impulse control disorders in obese patients

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of impulse control disorders (ICDs) in morbidly obese individuals. One hundred bariatric surgery candidates were examined using a module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV that has been developed for ICDs. Nineteen per cent suffered from at least one current ICD and 27% met the criteria for any lifetime ICD, most frequently skin picking (current, 8%; lifetime, 9%), compulsive buying (current 6%, lifetime 8%), and intermittent explosive disorder (current, 5%; lifetime, 10%). Patients with regular binge eating (N?=?25) reported significantly more often a history of at least one ICD compared with those without binge eating. The results indicate a high prevalence of ICDs among morbidly obese prebariatric surgery patients that are related to regular binge eating.