Psychology Commons^™

Lateralized Difference In Tympanic Membrane Temperature: Emotion And Hemispheric Activity, Ruth E. Propper, Tad T. Brunyé

Ruth Propper

We review literature examining relationships between tympanic membrane temperature (TMT), affective/motivational orientation, and hemispheric activity. Lateralized differences in TMT might enable real-time monitoring of hemispheric activity in real-world conditions, and could serve as a corroborating marker of mental illnesses associated with specific affective dysregulation. We support the proposal that TMT holds potential for broadly indexing lateralized brain physiology during tasks demanding the processing and representation of emotional and/or motivational states, and for predicting trait-related affective/motivational orientations. The precise nature of the relationship between TMT and brain physiology, however, remains elusive. Indeed the limited extant research has sampled different participant populations …

Measurement Invariance Of The Kidney Disease And Quality Of Life Instrument (Kdqol-Sf) Across Veterans And Non-Veterans, Karen Saban, Fred Bryant, Dominic Reda, Kevin Stroupe, Denise Hynes

Fred B. Bryant

Background Studies have demonstrated that perceived health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients receiving hemodialysis is significantly impaired. Since HRQOL outcome data are often used to compare groups to determine health care effectiveness it is imperative that measures of HRQOL are valid. However, valid HRQOL comparisons between groups can only be made if instrument invariance is demonstrated. The Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF) is a widely used HRQOL measure for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) however, it has not been validated in the Veteran population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the measurement invariance …

Relative Reward Effects On Operant Behavior: Incentive Contrast,Induction And Variety Effects, Howard Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Comparing different rewards automatically produces dynamic relative outcome effects on behavior. Eachnew outcome exposure is to an updated version evaluated relative to alternatives. Relative reward effectsinclude incentive contrast, positive induction and variety effects. The present study utilized a novelbehavioral design to examine relative reward effects on a chain of operant behavior using auditory cues.Incentive contrast is the most often examined effect and focuses on increases or decreases in behavioralperformance after value upshifts (positive) or downshifts (negative) relative to another outcome. Weexamined the impact of comparing two reward outcomes in a repeated measures design with three ses-sions: a single outcome and …

Cetaceans And Primates: Convergence In Intelligence And Self-Awareness, Lori Marino

Lori Marino, PhD

Cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises and whales) have been of greatest interest to the astrobiology community and to those interested in consciousness and selfawareness in animals. This interest has grown primarily from knowledge of the intelligence, language and large complex brains that many cetaceans possess. The study of cetacean and primate brain evolution and cognition can inform us about the contingencies and parameters associated with the evolution of complex intelligence in general, and, the evolution of consciousness. Striking differences in cortical organization in the brains of cetaceans and primates along with shared cognitive capacities such as self-awareness, culture, and symbolic concept comprehension, …

The Effects Of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction On Nurse Stress And Burnout: A Quantitative And Qualitative Study, Part Iii, Joanne Cohen-Katz, Susan Wiley, Terry Capuano, Debra Baker, Lynn Deitrick, Shauna Shapiro

Terry A Capuano MBA, MSN, RN, FACHE, NE-BC

No abstract provided.

An Event-Related Examination Of Neural Activity During Social Interactions, Jason R. Themanson, Stephanie M. Khatcherian, Aaron B. Ball, Peter J. Rosen

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

Social exclusion is known to cause alterations in neural activity and perceptions of social distress. However, previous research is largely limited to examining social interactions as a unitary phenomenon without investigating adjustments in neural and attentional processes that occur during social interactions. To address this limitation, we examined neural activity on a trial-by-trial basis during different social interactions. Our results show conflict monitoring neural alarm activation, indexed by the N2, in response to specific exclusionary events; even during interactions that are inclusionary overall and in the absence of self-reported feelings of social pain. Furthermore, we show enhanced attentional activation to …

Cognitive Versus Technical Debriefing After Simulation Training, William Bond, Lynn Deitrick, Mary Eberhardt, Gavin Barr, Bryan Kane, Charles Worrilow, Pat Croskerry

Bryan G Kane MD

No abstract provided.

Selective Breeding For 50 Khz Ultrasonic Vocalization Emission Produces, Howard Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are emitted by rodents and can signal either negative or positive affective states in social and nonsocial contexts. Our recent work has utilized selective breeding based upon the emission of 50 kHz USVs in response to standard cross species hand play—namely experimenters ‘tickling’ rats. Previous work has shown that high-tickle responsive animals (i.e., rats emitting abundant 50 kHz USVs) are gregarious and express enhanced positive emotional behaviors relative to animals exhibiting low 50 kHz USVs. The present study extends this work by examining the developmental profile of play behavior and the suppression of play behavior by predator …

Alterations In Error-Related Brain Activity And Post-Error Behavior Over Time, Jason R. Themanson, Matthew B. Pontifex, Charles H. Hillman, Peter J. Rosen, Edward Mcauley

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

This study examines the relation between the error-related negativity (ERN) and post-error behavior over time in healthy young adults (N = 61). Event-related brain potentials were collected during two sessions of an identical flanker task. Results indicated changes in ERN and post-error accuracy were related across task sessions, with more negative ERN associated with greater improvements in post-error Accuracy. This relationship was independent of any cross-sectional relationships between overall task performance, individual difference factors, including personality and self-efficacy, and indices of self-regulatory action monitoring. These results indicate that the relation between ERN and post-error accuracy remains intact and consistent regardless …

Neural Correlates Of The Implicit Association Test: Evidence For Semantic And Emotional Processing, Jason R. Themanson, John K. Williams

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

The Relation Of Self-Efficacy And Error-Related Self-Regulation, Jason Themanson, Matthew Pontifex, Charles Hillman, Edward Mcauley

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

Relations between a modifiable psychosocial factor, self-efficacy (SE), and behavioral and neural indices of self-regulation, including post-error behavior, the error-related negativity (ERN), and error positivity (Pe) were examined in young adults during a flanker task emphasizing either accuracy or speed. SE was predicted to be associated with larger ERN and Pe amplitudes, as well as greater post-error behavioral performance during task conditions emphasizing accuracy, but not speed. Results showed that higher SE was associated with greater post-error response accuracy during the accuracy condition, but not the speed condition, and higher SE was related with greater ERN amplitudes across instruction conditions. …

Asymmetries In Motor Attention During A Cued Bimanual Reaching Task: Left And Right Handers Compared, Gavin Buckingham, Julie Main, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

Several studies have indicated that right handers have attention biased toward their right hand during bimanual coordination (Buckingham and Carey, 2009; Peters, 1981). To determine if this behavioral asymmetry was linked to cerebral lateralization, we examined this bias in left and right handers by combining a discontinuous double-step reaching task with a Posner-style hand cueing paradigm. Left and right handed participants received a tactile cue (valid on 80% of trials) prior to a bimanual reach to target pairs. Right handers took longer to inhibit their right hand and made more right hand errors, suggesting that their dominant hand was more …

The Role Of Vision In Detecting And Correcting Fingertip Force Errors During Object Lifting, Gavin Buckingham

Gavin Buckingham

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Thecognitiverevolutionfromaneuralperspective:How, Howard Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Words such as cognition, motivation and emotion powerfully guide theory development and the overall aims and goals of behavioral neuroscience research. Once such concepts are accepted generally as natural aspects of the brain, their influence can be pervasive and long lasting. Importantly, the choice of conceptual terms used to describe and study mental/neural functions can also constrain research by forcing the results into seemingly useful ‘conceptual’ categories that have no discrete reality in the brain. Since the popularly named ‘cognitive revolution’ in psychological science came to fruition in the early 1970s, the term cognitive or cognition has been perhaps the …

The Role Of Vision In Detecting And Correcting Fingertip Force Errors During Object Lifting, Gavin Buckingham, Nathalie Ranger, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

Vision provides many reliable cues about the likely weight of an object, allowing individuals to predict how heavy it will be. The forces used to lift an object for the first time reflect these predictions. This, however, leads to inevitable errors during lifts of objects that weigh unexpected amounts. Fortunately, these errors are rarely made twice in a row-lifters have the impressive ability to detect and correct large or small misapplications of fingertip forces, even while experiencing weight illusions. Although it has been assumed that we detect and correct these errors exclusively with our sense of touch, recent evidence has …

The Faculty For Undergraduate Neuroscience: Learning Lessons Since 1991, Eric P. Wiertelak, Julio J. Ramirez, Jennifer R. Yates

Eric Wiertelak

No abstract provided.

Learning From Mistakes: Improving Initial Fingertip Force Scaling By Observing Lifting Errors, Gavin Buckingham, Minnie Tang, Paul Gribble, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

• When lifting objects that are lighter or heaver than we expect them to be, individuals typically misapply forces in a way that reflects their prior expectations of heaviness.

• Because we lift in this predictive way, large and small cubes elicit these characteristic errors even when they are adjusted to have equal mass. Lifters will apply too much force to a large cube and substantially less force to a small cube – errors that are rapidly corrected with repeated lifts (Flanagan & Beltzner, 2000).

• When watching others lift objects, an observer’s motor system automatically reacts in a way …

The Material-Weight Illusion Induced By Expectations Alone, Gavin Buckingham, Nathalie Ranger, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

In the material-weight illusion (MWI), equally weighted objects that appear to be made from different materials are incorrectly perceived as having different weights when they are lifted one after the other. Here, we show that continuous visual experience of the lift is not a prerequisite for this compelling misperception of weight; merely priming the lifters' expectations of heaviness is sufficient for them to experience a robust MWI. Furthermore, these expectations continued to influence the load force used to lift MWI-inducing stimuli trial after trial, supporting the notion that vision plays an important role in the skillful lifting of objects.

Bimanual Reaching Across The Hemispace: Which Hand Is Yoked To Which?, Gavin Buckingham, Gordon Binsted, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

When both hands perform concurrent goal-directed reaches, they become yoked to one another. To investigate the direction of this coupling (i.e., which hand is yoked to which), the temporal dynamics of bimanual reaches were compared with equivalent-amplitude unimanual reaches. These reaches were to target pairs located on either the left or right sides of space; meaning that in the bimanual condition, one hand's contralateral (more difficult) reach accompanied by the other hand's ipsilateral (easier) reach. By comparing which hand's difficult reach was improved more by the presence of the other hand's easier ipsilateral reach, we were able to demonstrate asymmetries …

The Influence Of Competing Perceptual And Motor Priors In The Context Of The Size-Weight Illusion, Gavin Buckingham, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

When lifting objects of identical mass but different sizes, people perceive the smaller objects as weighing more than the larger ones (the 'size-weight' illusion, SWI). While individual's grip and load force rates are rapidly scaled to the objects' actual mass, the magnitude of the force used to lift these SWI-inducing objects is rarely discussed. Here, we show that participants continue to apply a greater loading force to a large SWI-inducing cube than to a small SWI cube, lift after lift. These differences in load force persisted long after initial errors in grip and load force rates had been corrected. Interestingly, …

On The Number Of Trials Necessary For Stabilization Of Error-Related Brain Activity Across The Life Span, Jason Themanson, Matthew Pontifex, Mark Scudder, Michael Brown, Kevin O'Leary, Chien-Ting Wu, Charles Hillman

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

The minimum number of trials necessary to accurately characterize the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe) across the life span was investigated using samples of preadolescent children, college-age young adults, and older adults. Event-related potentials and task performance were subsequently measured during a modified flanker task. Response-locked averages were created using sequentially increasing errors of commission in blocks of two. Findings indicated that across all age cohorts ERN and Pe were not significantly different relative to the within-participants grand average after six trials. Further, results indicated that the ERN and Pe exhibited excellent internal reliability in preadolescent children …

Gating Of Vibrotactile Detection During Visually Guided Bimanual Reaches, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey, Francisco Colino, John Degrosbois, Gordon Binsted

Gavin Buckingham

It is far more difficult to detect a small tactile stimulation on a finger that is moving compared to when it is static. This suppression of tactile information during motion, known as tactile gating, has been examined in some detail during single-joint movements. However, the existence and time course of this gating has yet to be examined during visually guided multi-joint reaches, where sensory feedback may be paramount. The current study demonstrated that neurologically intact humans are unable to detect a small vibratory stimulus on one of their index fingers during a bimanual reach toward visual targets. By parametrically altering …

The Biology Of Reality Testing - Implications For Cognitive Education, Neil Greenberg

Neil Greenberg

• This report explores the proposition that teaching effectiveness can be enhanced by accommodating the key differences between two complementary and deeply engrained modes of reality testing, each predominantly centered in different hemispheres of the brain. • (1) Correspondence involves “reality-testing” of a percept, the cerebral representation of an experience in the world. • (2) Coherence involves “textualizing”, that is, reality-testing of a percept by how easily it relates to previous and ongoing parallel and collateral experiences. • Confidence in the validity of any percept throughout development is related to the interplay of these key processes. • As organisms develop, …

Lifting Without Seeing: The Role Of Vision In Perceiving And Acting Upon The Size Weight Illusion, Gavin Buckingham, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

BACKGROUND: Our expectations of an object's heaviness not only drive our fingertip forces, but also our perception of heaviness. This effect is highlighted by the classic size-weight illusion (SWI), where different-sized objects of identical mass feel different weights. Here, we examined whether these expectations are sufficient to induce the SWI in a single wooden cube when lifted without visual feedback, by varying the size of the object seen prior to the lift.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants, who believed that they were lifting the same object that they had just seen, reported that the weight of the single, standard-sized cube that they …

The Relation Of Aerobic Fitness To Neuroelectric Indices Of Cognitive And Motor Task Preparation, Jason Themanson, Keita Kamijo, Kevin O'Leary, Matthew Pontifex, Charles Hillman

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

The relation of aerobic fitness to task preparation was examined in a sample of young adults separated into higher- and lower-fit groups according to their maximal oxygen consumption. Participants performed a modified Sternberg working memory task under speed and accuracy instructions while measures of task performance and contingent negative variation (CNV) were collected. Analyses revealed no significant fitness differences between groups on task performance measures. However, frontal CNVamplitude was significantly larger for lower-fit participants compared to higher-fit participants during the speed instructions, an effect not found for the accuracy instructions. These results suggest that lower-fit individuals may rely to a …

Lifting Without Seeing: The Role Of Vision In Perceiving And Acting Upon The Size‐Weight Illusion, Gavin Buckingham, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

Our expectations of an object’s heaviness not only drive our fingertip forces, but also our perception of heaviness. This effect is highlighted by the classic size-weight illusion (SWI), where different‐sized objects of identical mass feel different weights (Charpentier, 1891) long after any initial errors in the application of fingertip forces have been corrected (Flanagan & Beltzner, 2000).

Here, we examined whether our expectations about the weight of an upcoming lift are sufficient to induce the SWI in a single wooden cube when lifted without visual feedback, by varying the size of the object seen prior to the lift during a …

Laterality, Perception, And Action During The Size-Weight Illusion, Gavin Buckingham, Nathalie Ranger, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

In the classic size-weight illusion (SWI), a small object will feel heavier than an larger object of equal weight (Charpentier, 1891). Individuals continue to perceive this illusory difference in weight long after their gripping and lifting forces have scaled to the actual, identical, mass of the illusion-inducing stimuli (Flanagan & Beltzner, 2000).

The independence of our weight perception and fingertip force application has only been quantified in the right hand of right-handers. The immunity to this perceptual illusion may be affected by manual asymmetries (e.g., Gonzalez, Ganel & Goodale, 2006).

We examined perception of heaviness and fingertip force scaling in …

Living In A Material World: How Visual Cues To Material Properties Affect The Way That We Lift Objects And Perceive Their Weight, Gavin Buckingham, Jonathan Cant, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

The visual properties of an object provide many cues as to the tensile strength, compliance, and density of the material from which it is made. However, it is not well understood how these implicit associations affect our perceptions of these properties and how they determine the initial forces that are applied when an object is picked up. Here we examine the effects of these cues on such forces by using the classic "material-weight illusion" (MWI). Grip and load forces were measured in three experiments as participants lifted cubes made from metal, wood, and expanded polystyrene. These cubes were adjusted to …

Physical Activity And Neurocognitive Function Across The Lifespan, Jason Themanson, Charles Hillman, Sarah Buck

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

No abstract provided.

Acute Aerobic Exercise Effects On Event-Related Brain Potentials, Jason Themanson, Charles Hillman, Matthew Pontifex

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

No abstract provided.