Stroke damages attentional maintenance in working memory

Stroke is the main cause of acquired disability in adults, and specific deficits in working memory (WM) are among the most common cognitive consequences. In neuropsychological routine, WM is most of the time investigated in the framework of the multicomponent model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974, The psychology of learning and motivation, 47). Using a more recent theoretical WM model, the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model (Barrouillet et al., 2011, Psychol. Rev., 118, 175), the aim of the present study was to investigate in young post-stroke patients to which extent attentional maintenance is impaired in WM. To address this question, we discarded other factors known to directly influence WM performance, that is processing speed and short-term memory span. We proposed to 53 post-stroke patients and to 63 healthy controls a complex span paradigm in which participants were asked to alternate between the memorization of a series of images and a concurrent parity judgement task of a series of digits. To investigate the attentional maintenance processes, we manipulated the cognitive load (CL) of the concurrent task. CL effect is typically interpreted as the involvement of attentional maintenance processes. The task was adapted to each participant according to their processing speed and memory span. As expected, the results showed higher recall performance in healthy controls compared with post-stroke patients. Consistent with the literature, we also observed higher performance when the CL was low compared with high. However, the improvement in recall at low CL was smaller for post-stroke patients compared with controls, suggesting that post-stroke WM deficit could be in part due to a deficit of the attentional maintenance processes.     

Liberalism in Poland: What Is Left?

Studies in East European Thought -     

“Doing Good” versus “Being Good”: The interplay between pride appeals and regulatory-focused messages in green advertising

Many consumers feel proud of making green choices, which is of crucial relevance to explaining environmentally responsible behaviors. However, compared to other self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, little research attention has been paid to the role of pride in green consumerism. Through conducting two online experimental surveys, this research examined what features of a message induce the two facets of the emotion pride—authentic and hubristic—and how pride appeals interact with message frames having different regulatory foci. In Study 1, participants revealed more favorable eco-friendly attitudes and intentions when hubristic pride appeals were combined with promotion-focused messages (detailing the positive benefits of using the green product), and when authentic pride appeals were matched with prevention-focused messages (emphasizing the negative consequences averted by using the green product). Study 2 replicated and supported the proposed matching hypotheses while including a control condition. Findings of this research will add to a growing body of literature on pride as a discrete emotion and its carryover effects on persuasion while providing guidelines to help practitioners design green advertising campaigns.     

儿童期虐待与青少年网络欺负行为的关系：自尊的中介作用和友谊质量的调节作用

本研究采用问卷法对2407名青少年进行调查,探究儿童期虐待对青少年网络欺负行为的影响,以及自尊的中介作用和友谊质量的调节作用。结果表明：（1）儿童期虐待显著正向预测青少年网络欺负行为。（2）自尊在儿童期虐待与青少年网络欺负行为之间起部分中介作用。（3）儿童期虐待对青少年网络欺负行为的间接效应的前半段路径受到友谊质量的调节。友谊质量高、低水平下儿童期虐待对自尊的预测作用均显著,但友谊质量较高的青少年群体中儿童期虐待对自尊的预测作用更强。     

特质感恩与状态感恩对初中生合作水平的影响

为探究感恩对初中生合作水平的影响,本研究采用追踪调查与实验相结合的方法,通过两个研究分别探究了特质感恩与内在的合作倾向,状态感恩与外在的合作行为之间的关系。结果发现：（1）初中女生的特质感恩、人物取向感恩显著高于男生;初一下的合作倾向显著低于初一上、初二上时期;（2）初中生的特质感恩水平能显著正向预测合作倾向,状态感恩的唤起会增加公共物品困境中的合作行为。     

急性应激损伤错误监控与错误后调整

生活中, 个体会时时关注自己的行为结果并及时做出调整以适应环境的变化。但在应激下个体能否有效地监控行为并做出适应性调整依然未知。本研究招募了52名男性大学生被试, 将其随机分入应激组与控制组, 采用特里尔社会应激测试(Trier Social Stress Test, TSST)诱发个体的应激反应, 并结合错误意识任务(Error Awareness Task, EAT)探索个体急性应激下的错误监控与错误后调整过程。应激指标的结果显示应激组个体在应激任务后唾液皮质醇、心率、应激感知自我报告和负性情绪均显著高于控制组, 表明急性应激的诱发是成功的。行为结果显示应激组的错误意识正确率显著低于控制组, 错误意识反应时显著短于控制组; 进一步地, 应激组个体在意识到错误之后的试次上正确率显著低于未意识到错误之后的试次, 并且应激组个体在意识到错误之后的试次上正确率低于控制组。结果表明急性应激降低了个体对错误反应的监控水平, 即便在辨别出错误反应的情况下, 个体的行为监控与调节也更差。本研究说明急性应激会损伤行为监控系统, 导致个体的行为适应性下降。     

Relationship between environmental factors and burnout of psychotherapists: Meta‐analytic approach

The present study aims to extend the scope of understanding on the relationships between environmental factors and burnout symptoms by targeting and including more extensive occupational demanding variables related to therapist burnout. The present study includes not only common occupational stressors (e.g., working hours, role overload and role conflict) but also variables reflecting the quality of relationship with clients (e.g., case load and negative clientele) that have not been dealt with before in meta‐analytic studies. A meta‐analysis was conducted on 27 original studies published from the year 2006 to 2018. The findings showed that, among environmental factors, role overload had the most significant positive correlations with exhaustion. In addition, negative clientele had the most significant positive correlations with depersonalisation and reduced accomplishment. Furthermore, caseload and low income had relatively weak relations with therapist burnout. Based on these results, implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Drug discrimination under concurrent variable-ratio variable-ratio schedules

Pigeons were trained to discriminate 5 mg/kg pentobarbital from saline under concurrent variable-ratio (VR) VR schedules, in which responses on the pentobarbital-biased lever were reinforced under the VR schedule with the smaller response requirements when pentobarbital was given before the session, and responses on the saline-biased key were reinforced under the VR schedule with the larger response requirements. When saline was administered before the session, the reinforcement contingencies associated with the two response keys were reversed. When responding stabilized under concurrent VR 20 VR 30, concurrent VR 10 VR 40, or concurrent VR 5 VR 50 schedules, pigeons responded almost exclusively on the key on which fewer responses were required to produce the reinforcer. When other doses of pentobarbital and other drugs were substituted for the training dose, low doses of all drugs produced responding on the saline-biased key. Higher doses of pentobarbital and chlordiazepoxide produced responding only on the pentobarbital-biased key, whereas higher doses of ethanol and phencyclidine produced responding only on this key less often. d-Amphetamine produced responding primarily on the saline-biased key. When drugs generalized to pentobarbital, the shape of the generalization curve under concurrent VR VR schedules was more often graded than quantal in shape. Thus, drug discrimination can be established under concurrent VR VR schedules, but the shapes of drug-discrimination dose-response curves under concurrent VR VR schedules more closely resemble those seen under interval schedules than those seen under fixed-ratio schedules. Graded dose-response curves under concurrent VR VR schedules may relate to probability matching and difficulty in discriminating differences in reinforcement frequency.     

Decursin from Angelica gigas mitigates amnesia induced by scopolamine in mice

We previously reported that a total methanolic extract of the underground part of Angelica gigas Nakai (Umbelliferae) (here-in-after abbreviated AG) significantly inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. We characterized 12 coumarin derivatives including both decursin and decursinol from extracts of AG. In this study, we evaluated the anti-amnestic activity of decursin, a major coumarin constituent isolated from AG, in vivo using ICR mice with amnesia induced by scopolamine (1 mg/kg body weight, s.c.). Decursin, when administered to mice at 1 and 5 mg/kg body weight i.p., significantly ameliorated scopolamine-induced amnesia as measured in both the passive avoidance test and the Morris water maze test. Moreover, decursin significantly inhibited AChE activity by 34% in the hippocampus of treated mice. These results indicate that decursin may exert anti-amnestic activity in vivo through inhibition of AChE activity in the hippocampus.