The brain's hemispheres and controlled search of the lexicon: evidence from fixated words and pseudowords

Difference between the brain's hemispheres in efficiency of intentional search of the mental lexicon with phonological, orthographic, and semantic strategies was investigated. Letter strings for lexical decision were presented at fixation, with a lateralized distractor to the LVF or RVF. Word results revealed that both hemispheres were capable of using each of the three strategies, but the right hemisphere had better baseline processing of orthography and was better at processing semantics. Pseudoword results supported the right hemisphere advantage for orthography and showed a left hemisphere advantage for phonology and assessment of possible semantic relationships. Taken together, the data support the idea that the right hemisphere uses orthography to make efficient decisions about novelty of an item, while the left engages in grapheme-to-phoneme conversion to test hypotheses about unfamiliar items. The convergence of data with previous research reveals that the procedure, as well as analyses of pseudowords, inform laterality research.     

Need fulfillment and motivation in physical education predict trajectories of change in leisure-time physical activity in early adolescence

ObjectivesWe examined (1) how psychological need fulfillment and motivation in physical education and leisure-time physical activity change during early adolescence, and (2) the degree to which need fulfillment and motivation predict trajectories of change in physical activity.DesignLongitudinal survey.MethodsStudents (N = 134, ages 10–13 years) completed surveys assessing perceived competence, autonomy, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, and identified, introjected, and external regulations in physical education, and leisure time physical activity each semester in school for 3 years.ResultsUnconditional growth models showed an average increase in physical activity. Competence also increased, while autonomy and relatedness, and identified and introjected regulation decreased. Conditional models showed that students with higher levels of autonomy, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, and identified regulation had higher levels of physical activity at baseline and throughout the study. Students with lower levels of autonomy, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, and identified regulation experienced significantly greater increases in physical activity, but these effects were very small.ConclusionsNeed fulfillment and motivation variables positively predict physical activity. While youth with lower levels of need fulfillment and motivation have lower levels of physical activity, they also tend to increase physical activity levels more across early adolescence. These associations highlight how physical education experiences in early adolescence may influence change in physical activity, and suggest efforts to foster need fulfillment and autonomous regulation in physical education may promote physical activity.     

“Seeing Rain”: Integrating phenomenological and Bayesian predictive coding approaches to visual hallucinations and self-disturbances (Ichstörungen) in schizophrenia

We present a schizophrenia patient who reports “seeing rain” with attendant somatosensory features which separate him from his surroundings. Because visual/multimodal hallucinations are understudied in schizophrenia, we examine a case history to determine the role of these hallucinations in self-disturbances (Ichstörungen). Developed by the early Heidelberg School, self-disturbances comprise two components: 1. The self experiences its own automatic processing as alien to self in a split-off, “doubled-I.” 2. In “I-paralysis,” the disruption to automatic processing is now outside the self in omnipotent agents. Self-disturbances (as indicated by visual/multimodal hallucinations) involve impairment in the ability to predict moment-to-moment experiences in the ongoing perception-action cycle. The phenomenological approach to subjective experience of self-disturbances complements efforts to model psychosis using the computational framework of hierarchical predictive coding. We conclude that self-disturbances play an adaptive, compensatory role following the uncoupling of perception and action, and possibly, other low-level perceptual anomalies.     

Is control a viable goal in the treatment of pathological gambling?

According to a report of National Gambling Impact Study Commission (National Gambling Impact Study Commission (1999). Final report. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.), 97% of problem gamblers in the United States do not seek treatment. Within the small proportion of problem gamblers who enter into treatment, a high percentage drops out. Despite the fact that some researchers argue against abstinence as the only acceptable treatment goal and that regaining control over gambling behaviour appears to be possible for some pathological gamblers (PG), abstinence has been the only gambling intervention treatment goal. The primary goal of this study was to verify whether controlled gambling is a viable goal for pathological gamblers. The second goal was to identify the characteristics that predicted a successful outcome for treatment with a controlled gambling goal. Eighty-nine PGs were enrolled in cognitive-behavioural treatment aimed at controlled gambling. Six and twelve month follow-ups were conducted in order to evaluate the maintenance of therapeutic gains and to identify significant predictors of successful controlled gambling. Results showed that using the intent-to-treat procedure, 63% had a score of 4 or less on the DSM-IV at the end of treatment. That proportion was 56% and 51% at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups. If we retain only those who completed the treatment, these proportions increased to 92%, 80% and 71% at post-treatment, 6- and 12-month follow-ups, respectively. On the majority of the measures, significant improvements were found at post-treatment and the therapeutic gains were maintained at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups. However, few variables were identified to predict who would benefit from control rather than abstinence. The clinical and philosophical implications of these results are discussed in this paper.     

Mental fatigue disturbs local processing more than global processing

Focusing of attention is influenced by external features such as the presence of global or local target stimuli, but also by motivation and mood states. In the current study, we examined whether working on cognitively demanding tasks for 2 h, which induces mental fatigue, subsequently had a differential effect on global and local processing. The results showed that, compared to non-fatigued participants, fatigued participants particularly displayed compromised local processing. This indicates that mental fatigue may also manifest itself as effects on attentional focusing. The findings of this study are in line with recent ideas about the nature of fatigue-related cognitive deficits, implying disturbances in the control over attention and behaviour.     

Controlled and automatic uses of memory in depressed patients: effect of retention interval lengths

The present study examines controlled and automatic uses of memory in clinically depressed patients by applying the Process Dissociation Procedure developed by Jacoby (1991) to a stem completion memory task with short and long retention intervals. The results show that the contribution of controlled processes is lower in depressed patients than in controls, especially for the longest retention interval, whereas the contribution of automatic processes is equivalent in both groups and unaffected by the length of the retention interval. These findings are discussed in a cognitive control framework.     

Using automation to combat the replication crisis: A case study from controlled-rearing studies of newborn chicks

The accuracy of science depends on the precision of its methods. When fields produce precise measurements, the scientific method can generate remarkable gains in knowledge. When fields produce noisy measurements, however, the scientific method is not guaranteed to work – in fact, noisy measurements are now regarded as a leading cause of the replication crisis in psychology. Scientists should therefore strive to improve the precision of their methods, especially in fields with noisy measurements. Here, we show that automation can reduce measurement error by ∼60% in one domain of developmental psychology: controlled-rearing studies of newborn chicks. Automated studies produce measurements that are 3–4 times more precise than non-automated studies and produce effect sizes that are 3–4 times larger than non-automated studies. Automation also eliminates experimenter bias and allows replications to be performed quickly and easily. We suggest that automation can be a powerful tool for improving measurement precision, producing high powered experiments, and combating the replication crisis.     

Integrating the Automatic and the Controlled: Strategies in Semantic Priming in an Attractor Network With Latching Dynamics

Semantic priming has long been recognized to reflect, along with automatic semantic mechanisms, the contribution of controlled strategies. However, previous theories of controlled priming were mostly qualitative, lacking common grounds with modern mathematical models of automatic priming based on neural networks. Recently, we introduced a novel attractor network model of automatic semantic priming with latching dynamics. Here, we extend this work to show how the same model can also account for important findings regarding controlled processes. Assuming the rate of semantic transitions in the network can be adapted using simple reinforcement learning, we show how basic findings attributed to controlled processes in priming can be achieved, including their dependency on stimulus onset asynchrony and relatedness proportion and their unique effect on associative, category‐exemplar, mediated and backward prime‐target relations. We discuss how our mechanism relates to the classic expectancy theory and how it can be further extended in future developments of the model.     

The effect of autonomous and controlled motives on eating dysregulation: Implications for individuals classified as underweight,overweight or obese

IntroductionControlled and autonomous motivational factors from self-determination theory have previously been highlighted as key factors in eating regulation. The present study examined controlled motives as an overarching motivational factor in eating dysregulation and examined its effects on dieting behaviour for those who are underweight, overweight or obese.ObjectiveTo examine whether the influence of controlled motives on dieting behaviour would be moderated by body mass index (BMI). Specifically, it was hypothesised that controlled motives would be associated with high levels of dieting behaviour in underweight individuals and low levels of dieting behaviour in individuals classified as overweight or obese.MethodOne hundred and thirty-seven participants completed the measures of height, weight, and motivation and intentions towards watching their diet and subsequently completed a measure of dieting behaviour two weeks later.ResultsModerated regression and simple slopes analyses provided support for the hypothesised effects at underweight, overweight, and obese range BMIs.ConclusionThe effect of controlled motives on dieting behaviour is dependent upon BMI and therefore varies across underweight, overweight, and obese individuals. The implications of controlled motives and external pressures to watch one's diet are discussed.     

Distorting Face Representations in Newborn Brains

What role does experience play in the development of face recognition? A growing body of evidence indicates that newborn brains need slowly changing visual experiences to develop accurate visual recognition abilities. All of the work supporting this “slowness constraint” on visual development comes from studies testing basic-level object recognition. Here, we present the results of controlled-rearing experiments that provide evidence for a slowness constraint on the development of face recognition, a prototypical subordinate-level object recognition task. We found that (1) newborn chicks can rapidly develop view-invariant face recognition and (2) the development of this ability relies on experience with slowly moving faces. When chicks were reared with quickly moving faces, they built distorted face representations that largely lacked invariance to viewpoint changes, effectively “breaking” their face recognition abilities. These results provide causal evidence that slowly changing visual experiences play a critical role in the development of face recognition, akin to basic-level object recognition. Thus, face recognition is not a hardwired property of vision but is learned rapidly as the visual system adapts to the temporal structure of the animal's visual environment.