Using Bayes to get the most out of non-significant results

No support for a causal role of primary motor cortex in construing meaning from language: An rTMS study

Embodied cognition theories predict a functional involvement of sensorimotor processes in language understanding. In a preregistered experiment, we tested this idea by investigating whether interfering with primary motor cortex (M1) activation can change how people construe meaning from action language. Participants were presented with sentences describing actions (e.g., "turning off the light") and asked to choose between two interpretations of their meaning, one more concrete (e.g., "flipping a switch") and another more abstract (e.g., "going to sleep"). Prior to this task, participants' M1 was disrupted using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The results yielded strong evidence against the idea that M1-rTMS affects meaning construction (BF01 > 30). Additional analyses and control experiments suggest that the absence of effect cannot be accounted for by failure to inhibit M1, lack of construct validity of the task, or lack of power to detect a small effect. In sum, these results do not support a causal role for primary motor cortex in building meaning from action language.

You do you: susceptibility of temporal binding to self-relevance

The self-prioritization effect suggests that self-relevant information has a processing advantage over information that is not directly associated with the self. In consequence, reaction times are faster and accuracy rates higher when reacting to self-associated stimuli rather than to other-related stimuli (Sui et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 38:1105-1117, 2012). This spurs the assumption that self-associated action-effects should also be perceived earlier than other-related outcomes. One way to measure this is temporal binding. Previous research indeed showed that the perceived temporal interval between actions and self-associated outcomes was reduced compared to friend- and other-associated outcomes. However, the employed method (interval estimations) and several experimental design choices make it impossible to discern whether the perceived shortening of the interval between a keypress and a self-relevant outcome is due to a perceptual shift of the action or of the action-effect or both. Thus, we conducted four experiments to assess whether temporal binding can indeed be modulated by self-relevance and if so where this perceptual bias is located. The results did not support stronger temporal binding for self- vs other-related action-effects. We discuss these results against the backdrop of the attentional basis of self-prioritization and propose directions for future research.

Distinct neural mechanisms for action access and execution in the human brain: insights from an fMRI study

Goal-directed actions are fundamental to human behavior, whereby inner goals are achieved through mapping action representations to motor outputs. The left premotor cortex (BA6) and the posterior portion of Broca's area (BA44) are two modulatory poles of the action system. However, how these regions support the representation-output mapping within the system is not yet understood. To address this, we conducted a finger-tapping functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment using action categories ranging from specific to general. Our study found distinct neural behaviors in BA44 and BA6 during action category processing and motor execution. During access of action categories, activity in a posterior portion of BA44 (pBA44) decreased linearly as action categories became less specific. Conversely, during motor execution, activity in BA6 increased linearly with less specific categories. These findings highlight the differential roles of pBA44 and BA6 in action processing. We suggest that pBA44 facilitates access to action categories by utilizing motor information from the behavioral context while the premotor cortex integrates motor information to execute the selected action. This finding enhances our understanding of the interplay between prefrontal cortical regions and premotor cortex in mapping action representation to motor execution and, more in general, of the cortical mechanisms underlying human behavior.

Valence-Dependent Implicit Action Generalization Among Group Members

People implicitly generalize the actions of known individuals in a social group to unknown members. However, actions have social goals and evaluative valences, and the extent to which actions with different valences (helpful and harmful) are implicitly generalized among group members remains unclear. We used computer animations to simulate social group actions, where helping and hindering actions were represented by aiding and obstructing another's climb up a hill. Study 1 found that helpful actions are implicitly expected to be shared among members of the same group but not among members of different groups, but no such effect was found for harmful actions. This suggests that helpful actions are more likely than harmful actions to be implicitly generalized to group members. This finding was replicated in Study 2 by increasing the group size from three to five. Study 3 found that the null effect for generalizing harmful actions among group members is not due to the difficulty of detecting action generalization, as both helpful and harmful actions are similarly generalized within particular individuals. Moreover, Study 4 demonstrated that weakening social group information resulted in the absence of implicit generalization for helpful actions, suggesting the specificity of group membership. Study 5 revealed that the generalization of helping actions occurred when actions were performed by multiple group members rather than being repeated by one group member, showing group-based inductive generalization. Overall, these findings support valence-dependent implicit action generalization among group members. This implies that people may possess different knowledge regarding valenced actions on category-based generalization.

Comparative analysis of glymphatic system alterations in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder using MRI indices from diffusion tensor imaging

OBJECTIVE

The glymphatic system is a glial-based perivascular network that promotes brain metabolic waste clearance. Glymphatic system dysfunction has been observed in both multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), indicating the role of neuroinflammation in the glymphatic system. However, little is known about how the two diseases differently affect the human glymphatic system. The present study aims to evaluate the diffusion MRI-based measures of the glymphatic system by contrasting MS and NMOSD.

METHODS

This prospective study included 63 patients with NMOSD (n = 21) and MS (n = 42) who underwent DTI. The fractional volume of extracellular-free water (FW) and an index of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) were used as indirect indicators of water diffusivity in the interstitial extracellular and perivenous spaces of white matter, respectively. Age and EDSS scores were adjusted.

RESULTS

Using Bayesian hypothesis testing, we show that the present data substantially favor the null model of no differences between MS and NMOSD for the diffusion MRI-based measures of the glymphatic system. The inclusion Bayes factor (BF10) of model-averaged probabilities of the group (MS, NMOSD) was 0.280 for FW and 0.236 for the ALPS index.

CONCLUSION

Together, these findings suggest that glymphatic alteration associated with MS and NMOSD might be similar and common as an eventual result, albeit the disease etiologies differ.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Previous literature indicates important glymphatic system alteration in MS and NMOSD. We explore the difference between MS and NMOSD using diffusion MRI-based measures of the glymphatic system. We show support for the null hypothesis of no difference between MS and NMOSD. This suggests that glymphatic alteration associated with MS and NMOSD might be similar and common etiology.

Testing the automaticity features of the affect misattribution procedure: The roles of awareness and intentionality

The affect misattribution procedure (AMP) is a measure of implicit evaluations, designed to index the automatic retrieval of evaluative knowledge. The AMP effect consists in participants evaluating neutral target stimuli positively when preceded by positive primes and negatively when preceded by negative primes. After multiple prior tests of intentionality, Hughes et al. (Behav Res Methods 55(4):1558-1586, 2023) examined the role of awareness in the AMP and found that AMP effects were larger when participants indicated that their response was influenced by the prime than when they did not. Here we report seven experiments (six preregistered; N = 2350) in which we vary the methodological features of the AMP to better understand this awareness effect. In Experiments 1-4, we establish variability in the magnitude of the awareness effect in response to variations in the AMP procedure. By introducing further modifications to the AMP procedure, Experiments 5-7 suggest an alternative explanation of the awareness effect, namely that awareness can be the outcome, rather than the cause, of evaluative congruency between primes and responses: Awareness effects emerged even when awareness could not have contributed to AMP effects, including when participants judged influence awareness for third parties or primes were presented post hoc. Finally, increasing the evaluative strength of the primes increased participants' tendency to misattribute AMP effects to the influence of target stimuli. Together, the present findings suggest that AMP effects can create awareness effects rather than vice versa and support the AMP's construct validity as a measure of unintentional evaluations of which participants are also potentially unaware.

Generalisability of epileptiform patterns across time and patients

The complexity of localising the epileptogenic zone (EZ) contributes to surgical resection failures in achieving seizure freedom. The distinct patterns of epileptiform activity during interictal and ictal phases, varying across patients, often lead to suboptimal localisation using electroencephalography (EEG) features. We posed two key questions: whether neural signals reflecting epileptogenicity generalise from interictal to ictal time windows within each patient, and whether epileptiform patterns generalise across patients. Utilising an intracranial EEG dataset from 55 patients, we extracted a large battery of simple to complex features from stereo-EEG (SEEG) and electrocorticographic (ECoG) neural signals during interictal and ictal windows. Our features (n = 34) quantified many aspects of the signals including statistical moments, complexities, frequency-domain and cross-channel network attributes. Decision tree classifiers were then trained and tested on distinct time windows and patients to evaluate the generalisability of epileptogenic patterns across time and patients, respectively. Evidence strongly supported generalisability from interictal to ictal time windows across patients, particularly in signal power and high-frequency network-based features. Consistent patterns of epileptogenicity were observed across time windows within most patients, and signal features of epileptogenic regions generalised across patients, with higher generalisability in the ictal window. Signal complexity features were particularly contributory in cross-patient generalisation across patients. These findings offer insights into generalisable features of epileptic neural activity across time and patients, with implications for future automated approaches to supplement other EZ localisation methods.

Comparing auditory distance perception in real and virtual environments and the role of the loudness cue: A study based on event-related potentials

The perception of the distance to a sound source is relevant in many everyday situations, not only in real spaces, but also in virtual reality (VR) environments. Where real rooms often reach their limits, VR offers far-reaching possibilities to simulate a wide range of acoustic scenarios. However, in virtual room acoustics a plausible reproduction of distance-related cues can be challenging. In the present study, we compared the detection of changes of the distance to a sound source and its neurocognitive correlates in a real and a virtual reverberant environment, using an active auditory oddball paradigm and EEG measures. The main goal was to test whether the experiments in the virtual and real environments produced equivalent behavioral and EEG results. Three loudspeakers were placed at ego-centric distances of 2 m (near), 4 m (center), and 8 m (far) in front of the participants (N = 20), each 66 cm below their ear level. Sequences of 500 ms noise stimuli were presented either from the center position (standards, 80 % of trials) or from the near or far position (targets, 10 % each). The participants had to indicate a target position via a joystick response ("near" or "far"). Sounds were emitted either by real loudspeakers in the real environment or rendered and played back for the corresponding positions via headphones in the virtual environment. In addition, within both environments, loudness of the auditory stimuli was either unaltered (natural loudness) or the loudness cue was manipulated, so that all three loudspeakers were perceived equally loud at the listener's position (matched loudness). The EEG analysis focused on the mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a, and P3b as correlates of deviance detection, attentional orientation, and context-updating/stimulus evaluation, respectively. Overall, behavioral data showed that detection of the target positions was reduced within the virtual environment, and especially when loudness was matched. Except for slight latency shifts in the virtual environment, EEG analysis indicated comparable patterns within both environments and independent of loudness settings. Thus, while the neurocognitive processing of changes in distance appears to be similar in virtual and real spaces, a proper representation of loudness appears to be crucial to achieve a good task performance in virtual acoustic environments.

Motivated reasoning about climate change and the influence of Numeracy, Need for Cognition, and the Dark Factor of Personality

Human information processing is not always rational but influenced by prior attitudes, a phenomenon commonly known as motivated reasoning. We conducted two studies (N1 = 556, N2 = 1198; UK samples) investigating motivated reasoning in the context of climate change with a focus on individual differences as potential moderating factors. While previous research investigated motivated reasoning regarding the debate whether climate change is anthropogenic, we focused on current discourses about the effectiveness of different countermeasures. To this end, participants evaluated fictitious scientific data on the effectiveness of regulations to reduce CO2 emissions. In both studies, participants exhibited motivated reasoning as indicated by the observation that prior attitudes about CO2 reduction policies predicted evaluation of the scientific data. The degree of motivated reasoning was not related to individual difference variables, namely the ability to understand and reason with numbers (Numeracy), the willingness to show this ability (Need for Cognition), and the tendency to maximize one's individual utility (Dark Factor of Personality). However, numeracy was associated with a less biased interpretation of the presented information. Our research demonstrates that motivated reasoning is a general phenomenon, and points to numerical training as one way to improve reasoning.

Developmental trajectories of picture-based object representations during the first year of life

Experience with an object's photograph changes 9-month-olds' preference for the referent object, confirming they can represent objects from pictures. However, picture-based representations appear weaker than object-based representations. The current study's first objective was to investigate age differences in object recognition memory after familiarization with objects' pictures. The second objective was to test whether age differences in object permanence sensitivity with picture-based representations match those found with object-based representations, whereby 7-month-olds search more for familiar hidden objects but 11-month-olds search more for novel ones. Six- and 11-month-olds were familiarized with an object's photo and tested on their representation of the real object by comparing their reaching for it versus a novel object. Objects were visible under conditions testing recognition memory and hidden under conditions testing object permanence. Like 9-month-olds, 6- and 11-month-olds preferred novelty with visible objects, showing early object recognition after picture familiarization, as well as developmental continuity. Unlike 9-month-olds, who switched to preferring familiarity with hidden objects, 6- and 11-month-olds switched to null preference. This pattern fails to match 7- and 11-month-olds' hidden-object preferences after familiarization with real objects, revealing discontinuity in sensitivity to object permanence after picture familiarization, and suggesting that picture-based representations are weaker than object-based ones.

Intentional binding - Is it just causal binding? A replication study of Suzuki et al. (2019)

Intentional actions produce a temporal compression between the action and its outcome, known as intentional binding. However, Suzuki et al. (2019) recently showed that temporal compression can be observed without intentional actions. However, their results show a clear regression to the mean, which might have confounded the estimates of temporal intervals. To control these effects, we presented temporal intervals block-wise. Indeed, we found systematically greater compression for active than passive trials, in contrast to Suzuki et al. (2019). In our second experiment, our goal was to conceptually replicate the previous study. However, we were unable to reproduce their results and instead found more pronounced temporal compression in active trials compared to passive ones. In a subsequent attempt at a direct replication, we did not observe the same findings as the original study. Our findings reinforce the theory that intentions rather than causality cause temporal binding. During the preparation of this work, the authors used ChatGPT in order to improve the readability of the paper. After using this tool/service, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Modeling alarm detection in noise for normal and hearing-impaired listeners: the effect of elevated thresholds and enlarged auditory filters

A model was developed to assess how elevated absolute thresholds and enlarged auditory filters can impede the ability to detect alarms in a noisy background, such alarms being of paramount importance to ensure the safety of workers. Based on previously measured masked thresholds of 80 listeners in five groups (normal hearing to strongly impaired), the model was derived from signal detection theory (SDT) applied to Glasberg and Moore's excitation pattern model. The model can describe the influence of absolute thresholds and enlarged auditory filters together or separately on the detection ability for normal hearing and hearing-impaired listeners with various hearing profiles. Furthermore, it suggests that enlarged auditory filters alone can explain all of the impairment in this specific alarm detection task. Finally, the possibility of further development of the model into an alarm detection model is discussed.

The positive dimension of schizotypy is associated with self-report measures of autobiographical memory and future thinking but not experimenter-scored indices

ABSTRACTThe ability to remember our past and to imagine the future are critical to our sense of self. Previous research has indicated that they are disrupted in schizophrenia. However, it is unclear (i) whether this is found when examining experimenter-scored indices of content and/or participants' self-report of phenomenological characteristics, and (ii) how these abilities might be related to symptoms. This study sought to address these questions by taking a dimensional approach and measuring positive and negative schizotypal experiences in healthy people (n = 90). Participants were given cue words. For some, they remembered an event from the past and for others they generated an event in the future. No significant relationships were found with any aspect of schizotypy when participants' descriptions were scored by the experimenter according to a standardised episodic content measure. In contrast, several significant positive correlations were observed for past memory and future thinking when examining the positive dimension of schizotypy and participants' ratings, particularly to sensory characteristics of the experience and mental pre- or reliving. These results indicate enhanced subjective experiences of autobiographical memory and future thinking in those who report delusional and hallucinatory-like occurrences, which might be linked to mental imagery or metacognitive alterations.

The stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal attentional spreading are both modulated by audiovisual temporal synchrony

Multisensory integration and attention can interact in a way that attention to the visual constituent of a multisensory object results in an attentional spreading to its ignored auditory constituent, which can be either stimulus-driven or representation-driven depending on whether the object's visual constituent receives extra representation-based selective attention. Previous research using simple unrelated audiovisual combinations has shown that the stimulus-driven attentional spreading is contingent on audiovisual temporal simultaneity. However, little is known about whether this temporal constraint applies also to the representation-driven attentional spreading, and whether it holds for the stimulus-driven process elicited by real-life multisensory objects. The current event-related potential study investigated these questions by systematically manipulating the visual-to-auditory stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: 0/100/300 ms) in an object-selective visual recognition task wherein the representation-driven and stimulus-driven spreading processes, measured as two distinct auditory negative difference (Nd) components, could be isolated independently. Our results showed that both the representation-driven and stimulus-driven Nds decreased as the SOA increased. Interestingly, the representation-driven Nd was completely absent, whereas the stimulus-driven Nd was still robust, when the auditory constituents were delayed by 300 ms. These findings not only indicate that the role of audiovisual simultaneity in the representation-driven attentional spreading has been underestimated, but also suggest that learned associations between the unisensory constituents of real-life objects render the stimulus-driven attentional spreading more tolerant of audiovisual asynchrony.

Slowing gait during turning: how volition of modifying walking speed affects the gait pattern in healthy adults

Background

Turning during walking and volitionally modulating walking speed introduces complexity to gait and has been minimally explored.

Research question

How do the spatiotemporal parameters vary between young adults walking at a normal speed and a slower speed while making 90°, 180°, and 360° turns?

Methods

In a laboratory setting, the spatiotemporal parameters of 10 young adults were documented as they made turns at 90°, 180°, and 360°. A generalized linear model was utilized to determine the effect of both walking speed and turning amplitude.

Results

Young adults volitionally reducing their walking speed while turning at different turning amplitudes significantly decreased their cadence and spatial parameters while increasing their temporal parameters. In conditions of slower movement, the variability of certain spatial parameters decreased, while the variability of some temporal parameters increased.

Significance

This research broadens the understanding of turning biomechanics in relation to volitionally reducing walking speed. Cadence might be a pace gait constant synchronizing the rhythmic integration of several inputs to coordinate an ordered gait pattern output. Volition might up-regulate or down-regulate this pace gait constant (i.e., cadence) which creates the feeling of modulating walking speed.

Distinct but related abilities for visual and haptic object recognition

People vary in their ability to recognize objects visually. Individual differences for matching and recognizing objects visually is supported by a domain-general ability capturing common variance across different tasks (e.g., Richler et al., Psychological Review, 126, 226-251, 2019). Behavioral (e.g., Cooke et al., Neuropsychologia, 45, 484-495, 2007) and neural evidence (e.g., Amedi, Cerebral Cortex, 12, 1202-1212, 2002) suggest overlapping mechanisms in the processing of visual and haptic information in the service of object recognition, but it is unclear whether such group-average results generalize to individual differences. Psychometrically validated measures are required, which have been lacking in the haptic modality. We investigate whether object recognition ability is specific to vision or extends to haptics using psychometric measures we have developed. We use multiple visual and haptic tests with different objects and different formats to measure domain-general visual and haptic abilities and to test for relations across them. We measured object recognition abilities using two visual tests and four haptic tests (two each for two kinds of haptic exploration) in 97 participants. Partial correlation and confirmatory factor analyses converge to support the existence of a domain-general haptic object recognition ability that is moderately correlated with domain-general visual object recognition ability. Visual and haptic abilities share about 25% of their variance, supporting the existence of a multisensory domain-general ability while leaving a substantial amount of residual variance for modality-specific abilities. These results extend our understanding of the structure of object recognition abilities; while there are mechanisms that may generalize across categories, tasks, and modalities, there are still other mechanisms that are distinct between modalities.

Isolating Neural Signatures of Conscious Speech Perception with a No-Report Sine-Wave Speech Paradigm

Identifying neural correlates of conscious perception is a fundamental endeavor of cognitive neuroscience. Most studies so far have focused on visual awareness along with trial-by-trial reports of task-relevant stimuli, which can confound neural measures of perceptual awareness with postperceptual processing. Here, we used a three-phase sine-wave speech paradigm that dissociated between conscious speech perception and task relevance while recording EEG in humans of both sexes. Compared with tokens perceived as noise, physically identical sine-wave speech tokens that were perceived as speech elicited a left-lateralized, near-vertex negativity, which we interpret as a phonological version of a perceptual awareness negativity. This response appeared between 200 and 300 ms after token onset and was not present for frequency-flipped control tokens that were never perceived as speech. In contrast, the P3b elicited by task-irrelevant tokens did not significantly differ when the tokens were perceived as speech versus noise and was only enhanced for tokens that were both perceived as speech and relevant to the task. Our results extend the findings from previous studies on visual awareness and speech perception and suggest that correlates of conscious perception, across types of conscious content, are most likely to be found in midlatency negative-going brain responses in content-specific sensory areas.

Evidence for Multiscale Multiplexed Representation of Visual Features in EEG

Distinct neural processes such as sensory and memory processes are often encoded over distinct timescales of neural activations. Animal studies have shown that this multiscale coding strategy is also implemented for individual components of a single process, such as individual features of a multifeature stimulus in sensory coding. However, the generalizability of this encoding strategy to the human brain has remained unclear. We asked if individual features of visual stimuli were encoded over distinct timescales. We applied a multiscale time-resolved decoding method to electroencephalography (EEG) collected from human subjects presented with grating visual stimuli to estimate the timescale of individual stimulus features. We observed that the orientation and color of the stimuli were encoded in shorter timescales, whereas spatial frequency and the contrast of the same stimuli were encoded in longer timescales. The stimulus features appeared in temporally overlapping windows along the trial supporting a multiplexed coding strategy. These results provide evidence for a multiplexed, multiscale coding strategy in the human visual system.

The generality of the attentional boost effect for famous, unfamiliar, and inverted faces

Familiarity and face inversion not only affect face recognition and memory but also influence attention. Face processing is less attention-demanding for familiar than for unfamiliar faces and for upright than for inverted faces. The automaticity raises the question of how face processing interacts with an increase in attention. Using a dual-task paradigm, we tested the interaction between attention and face familiarity and orientation. Participants encoded a series of faces to memory while simultaneously monitoring a stream of colored squares, pressing the space bar for target-colored squares and making no response to distractor-colored squares. Replicating previous findings of the attentional boost effect (ABE), we found that faces encoded with target squares were better remembered than faces encoded with distractor squares. If the automatic nature of familiar (or upright) face processing makes attention unnecessary, then the attentional boost should be attenuated for familiar relative to unfamiliar faces and for upright relative to inverted faces. Data from three experiments showed, however, that the ABE was the same for all types of faces. These results suggest that target detection did not simply elevate attention in an early encoding phase. Rather, selecting targets and rejecting distractors in the color task may have led to yoked temporal selection of target-concurrent faces for entry into memory.

False memory-guided eye movements: insights from a DRM-Saccade paradigm

The Deese-Roediger and McDermott (DRM) paradigm and visually guided saccade tasks are both prominent research tools in their own right. This study introduces a novel DRM-Saccade paradigm, merging both methodologies. We used rule-based saccadic eye movements whereby participants were presented with items at test and were asked to make a saccade to the left or right of the item to denote a recognition or non-recognition decision. We measured old/new recognition decisions and saccadic latencies. Experiment 1 used a pro/anti saccade task to a single target. We found slower saccadic latencies for correct rejection of critical lures, but no latency difference between correct recognition of studied items and false recognition of critical lures. Experiment 2 used a two-target saccade task and also measured corrective saccades. Findings corroborated those from Experiment 1. Participants adjusted their initial decisions to increase accurate recognition of studied items and rejection of unrelated lures but there were no such corrections for critical lures. We argue that rapid saccades indicate cognitive processing driven by familiarity thresholds. These occur before slower source-monitoring is able to process any conflict. The DRM-Saccade task could effectively track real-time cognitive resource use during recognition decisions.

Refinement of face representations by exposure reveals different time scales of biases in face processing

Experience modulates face processing abilities so that face discrimination and recognition improve with development, especially for more frequently experienced faces (e.g., own-race faces). Although advanced models describe how experience generally modulates perception, the mechanism by which exposure refines internal perceptual representations of faces is unknown. To address this issue, we investigated the effect of short- and long-term experienced stimulus history on face processing. Participants performed same-different judgments in a serial discrimination task where two consecutive faces were drawn from a distribution of morphed faces. Use of stimulus statistics was measured by testing the gravitation of face representations towards the mean of a range of morphed faces around which they were sampled (regression-to-the-mean). The results demonstrated regression of face representations towards the experienced mean and the retention of stimulus statistics over days. In trials where regression facilitated discrimination, the bias diminished the otherwise disadvantage of other-race over own-races faces. The dynamics of the perceptual bias, probed by trial-by-trial performance, further indicated different timescales of the bias, depending on perceptual expertise: people with weak face-recognition skills showed the use of a stable reference, built on long-term statistics accumulated over many trials, along with an updating of this reference by recent trials. In contrast, the strong face recognizers showed a different pattern where sequential effects mostly contributed to discrimination, with relatively minimal reliance on the long-term average for other-race faces. The findings suggest a mechanism by which exposure refines face representations and reveal, for the first time in adults, associations between levels of specialization of perceptual representations and the extent to which these representations become narrowly tuned.

Two validation studies of a performance validity test for autistic adults

In two studies we examined the potential of a simple emotion recognition task, the Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT), as a performance validity test (PVT) for autism-related cognitive difficulties in adulthood. The aim of a PVT is to indicate non-credible performance, which can aid the interpretation of psychological assessments. There are currently no validated PVTs for autism-related difficulties in adulthood. In Study 1, non-autistic university students (aged 18-46 years) were instructed to simulate that they were autistic during a psychological assessment (simulation condition; n = 26). These students made more errors on the MENT than those instructed to do their best (control condition; n = 26). In Study 2, we tested how well autistic adults performed on the MENT. We found that clinically diagnosed autistic adults and non-autistic adults (both n = 25; 27-57 years; IQ > 80) performed equally well on the MENT. Moreover, autistic adults made significantly fewer errors than the instructed simulators in Study 1. The MENT reached a specificity of ≥98% (identifying 100% of non-simulators as non-simulator in Study 1 and 98% in Study 2) and a sensitivity of 96% (identifying 96% of simulators as simulator). Together these findings provide the first empirical evidence for the validity of the MENT as a potential PVT for autism-related cognitive difficulties.

Assessing the integrity of auditory sensory memory processing in CLN3 disease (Juvenile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (Batten disease)): an auditory evoked potential study of the duration-evoked mismatch negativity (MMN)

BACKGROUND

We interrogated auditory sensory memory capabilities in individuals with CLN3 disease (juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis), specifically for the feature of "duration" processing. Given decrements in auditory processing abilities associated with later-stage CLN3 disease, we hypothesized that the duration-evoked mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event related potential (ERP) would be a marker of progressively atypical cortical processing in this population, with potential applicability as a brain-based biomarker in clinical trials.

METHODS

We employed three stimulation rates (fast: 450 ms, medium: 900 ms, slow: 1800 ms), allowing for assessment of the sustainability of the auditory sensory memory trace. The robustness of MMN directly relates to the rate at which the regularly occurring stimulus stream is presented. As presentation rate slows, robustness of the sensory memory trace diminishes. By manipulating presentation rate, the strength of the sensory memory trace is parametrically varied, providing greater sensitivity to detect auditory cortical dysfunction. A secondary hypothesis was that duration-evoked MMN abnormalities in CLN3 disease would be more severe at slower presentation rates, resulting from greater demand on the sensory memory system.

RESULTS

Data from individuals with CLN3 disease (N = 21; range 6-28 years of age) showed robust MMN responses (i.e., intact auditory sensory memory processes) at the medium stimulation rate. However, at the fastest rate, MMN was significantly reduced, and at the slowest rate, MMN was not detectable in CLN3 disease relative to neurotypical controls (N = 41; ages 6-26 years).

CONCLUSIONS

Results reveal emerging insufficiencies in this critical auditory perceptual system in individuals with CLN3 disease.

Modelling phenomenological differences in aetiologically distinct visual hallucinations using deep neural networks

Visual hallucinations (VHs) are perceptions of objects or events in the absence of the sensory stimulation that would normally support such perceptions. Although all VHs share this core characteristic, there are substantial phenomenological differences between VHs that have different aetiologies, such as those arising from Neurodegenerative conditions, visual loss, or psychedelic compounds. Here, we examine the potential mechanistic basis of these differences by leveraging recent advances in visualising the learned representations of a coupled classifier and generative deep neural network-an approach we call 'computational (neuro)phenomenology'. Examining three aetiologically distinct populations in which VHs occur-Neurodegenerative conditions (Parkinson's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia), visual loss (Charles Bonnet Syndrome, CBS), and psychedelics-we identified three dimensions relevant to distinguishing these classes of VHs: realism (veridicality), dependence on sensory input (spontaneity), and complexity. By selectively tuning the parameters of the visualisation algorithm to reflect influence along each of these phenomenological dimensions we were able to generate 'synthetic VHs' that were characteristic of the VHs experienced by each aetiology. We verified the validity of this approach experimentally in two studies that examined the phenomenology of VHs in Neurodegenerative and CBS patients, and in people with recent psychedelic experience. These studies confirmed the existence of phenomenological differences across these three dimensions between groups, and crucially, found that the appropriate synthetic VHs were rated as being representative of each group's hallucinatory phenomenology. Together, our findings highlight the phenomenological diversity of VHs associated with distinct causal factors and demonstrate how a neural network model of visual phenomenology can successfully capture the distinctive visual characteristics of hallucinatory experience.

Option similarity modulates the link between choice and memory

Choices made in everyday life are highly variable. Sometimes, you may find yourself choosing between two similar options (e.g., breakfast foods to eat) and other times between two dissimilar options (e.g., what to buy with a gift certificate). The goal of the present study was to understand how the similarity of choice options affects our ability to remember what we choose and what we did not choose. We hypothesized that choosing between similar as compared to dissimilar options would evoke a comparison-based strategy (evaluating options with respect to one another), fostering a relational form of encoding and leading to better memory for both the chosen and unchosen options. In Experiment 1, participants reported their strategy when choosing between pairs of similar or dissimilar options, revealing that participants were more likely to use a comparison-based strategy when faced with similar options. In Experiment 2, we tested memory after participants made choices between similar or dissimilar options, finding improved memory for both chosen and unchosen options from the similar compared to dissimilar choice trials. In Experiment 3, we examined strategy use when choosing between pairs of similar or dissimilar options and memory for these options. Replicating and extending the results of the first two experiments, we found that participants were more likely to use a comparison-based strategy when choosing between similar than dissimilar options, and that the positive effect of similarity on memory was stronger for unchosen than chosen options when controlling for strategy use. We interpret our results as evidence that option similarity impacts the mnemonic processes used during choice, altering what we encode and ultimately remember about our choices.

Relationship between skill training and skill transfer through the example of bimanual motor learning

Skill training aims to improve the performance of the task at hand and aims to transfer the acquired skill to related tasks. Both skill training and skill transfer are part of our everyday lives, and essential for survival, and their importance is reflected in years of research. Despite these enormous efforts, however, the complex relationship between skill training and skill transfer is not yet portrayed completely. Building upon two theories, we probed this relationship through the example of bimanual learning with a large cross-sectional design (N = 450) using an online framework. We designed five training tasks which differed in the variance of the training material (schema theory) and three transfer tasks differing in their similarity to the training task (identical elements theory). Theoretically, the five training tasks and the three transfer tasks varied approximately linearly from each other. Empirical data, however, suggested merely the presence of three statistically different training tasks and two significantly different transfer tasks, indicating a nonlinear relationship. Against our expectation, Bayesian statistics suggested that the type of skill training was not related to the type of skill transfer. However, the amount of skill training was positively related to the amount of skill transfer. Together, we showed that motor learning studies can be conducted online. Further, our results shed light on the complex relationship between skill training and skill transfer. Understanding this relationship has wide-ranging practical implications for the general population, particularly for musicians, athletes and patients recovering from injury.

Joint action with human and robotic co-actors: Self-other integration is immune to the perceived humanness of the interacting partner

When performing a joint action task, we automatically represent the action and/or task constraints of the co-actor with whom we are interacting. Current models suggest that, not only physical similarity, but also abstract, conceptual features shared between self and the interacting partner play a key role in the emergence of joint action effects. Across two experiments, we investigated the influence of the perceived humanness of a robotic agent on the extent to which we integrate the action of that agent into our own action/task representation, as indexed by the Joint Simon Effect (JSE). The presence (vs. absence) of a prior verbal interaction was used to manipulate robot's perceived humanness. In Experiment 1, using a within-participant design, we had participants perform the joint Go/No-go Simon task with two different robots. Before performing the joint task, one robot engaged in a verbal interaction with the participant and the other robot did not. In Experiment 2, we employed a between-participants design to contrast these two robot conditions as well as a human partner condition. In both experiments, a significant Simon effect emerged during joint action and its amplitude was not modulated by the humanness of the interacting partner. Experiment 2 further showed that the JSE obtained in robot conditions did not differ from that measured in the human partner condition. These findings contradict current theories of joint action mechanisms according to which perceived self-other similarity is a crucial determinant of self-other integration in shared task settings.

Child-Adult Contract for Prevention of Tobacco Use: "As-Treated" Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (the TOPAS Study) at 3-Year Follow-Up

To estimate the effect of a 3-year commitment to remain tobacco free on tobacco uptake among high school students in Sweden. The commitment is developed in the form of a contract between a child and a significant adult, constituting the core component of Tobacco-free Duo (T-Duo), a Swedish school-based tobacco prevention program. Secondary analysis of data from a cluster randomized controlled trial. Participants were 586 students in high schools assigned to the intervention arm of T-Duo. At inception, participants attended grade 7 (i.e., age 12-13). Only students who were tobacco naïve at baseline for the respective outcome and participated in all follow-ups were included. The exposure was defined as signing a 3-year contract with a significant adult, categorized as "stable contract" (3 years contract with the same contract partner), "unstable" (signed a contract sometime during follow-up but this was not sustained over time and/or with the same partner), and "no contract" at all during the intervention period. The primary outcome was having never tried cigarette smoking at the end of grade 9. Exposure and outcomes were self-reported in yearly questionnaires. Of 586 students, 321 (55%) held a stable contract, 204 (35%) an unstable contract, and 61 (10%) did not sign a contract at all. At the end of grade 9 (age 15-16), the relative risk (RR) to remain cigarette free was 1.11 (95% CI 1.00-1.22) (Number Needed to Treat = 10) among students in any type of contract compared to students that did not write a contract at all. The RRs for remaining tobacco free (secondary outcomes) ranged from 1.07 (0.98-1.16) for regular snus use to 1.16 (1.00-1.35) for any type of tobacco use. A commitment to remain tobacco free through a child-adult contract seems to exert a preventive effect on the uptake of tobacco use among Swedish adolescents over 3 school years. The current findings apply to a selected sample of both schools and students. Registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN52858080 Date: January 4, 2019, retrospectively registered.

People underestimate the influence of repetition on truth judgments (and more so for themselves than for others)

People judge repeated statements as more truthful than new statements: a truth effect. In three pre-registered experiments (N = 463), we examined whether people expect repetition to influence truth judgments more for others than for themselves: a bias blind spot in the truth effect. In Experiments 1 and 2, using moderately plausible and implausible statements, respectively, the test for the bias blind spot did not pass the significance threshold set for a two-step sequential analysis. Experiment 3 considered moderately plausible statements but with a larger sample of participants. Additionally, it compared actual performance after a two-day delay with participants' predictions for themselves and others. This time, we found clear evidence for a bias blind spot in the truth effect. Experiment 3 also showed that participants underestimated the magnitude of the truth effect, especially so for themselves, and that predictions and actual truth effect scores were not significantly related. Finally, an integrative analysis focusing on a more conservative between-participant approach found clear frequentist and Bayesian evidence for a bias blind spot. Overall, the results indicate that people (1) hold beliefs about the effect of repetition on truth judgments, (2) believe that this effect is larger for others than for themselves, (3) and underestimate the effect's magnitude, and (4) particularly so for themselves.

Changes in postictal cerebral perfusion are related to the duration of electroconvulsive therapy-induced seizures

OBJECTIVE

Postictal symptoms may result from cerebral hypoperfusion, which is possibly a consequence of seizure-induced vasoconstriction. Longer seizures have previously been shown to cause more severe postictal hypoperfusion in rats and epilepsy patients. We studied cerebral perfusion after generalized seizures elicited by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and its relation to seizure duration.

METHODS

Patients with a major depressive episode who underwent ECT were included. During treatment, 21-channel continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired before the ECT course (baseline) and approximately 1 h after an ECT-induced seizure (postictal) to quantify global and regional gray matter cerebral blood flow (CBF). Seizure duration was assessed from the period of epileptiform discharges on the EEG. Healthy controls were scanned twice to assess test-retest variability. We performed hypothesis-driven Bayesian analyses to study the relation between global and regional perfusion changes and seizure duration.

RESULTS

Twenty-four patients and 27 healthy controls were included. Changes in postictal global and regional CBF were correlated with seizure duration. In patients with longer seizure durations, global decrease in CBF reached values up to 28 mL/100 g/min. Regional reductions in CBF were most prominent in the inferior frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, and insula (up to 35 mL/100 g/min). In patients with shorter seizures, global and regional perfusion increased (up to 20 mL/100 g/min). These perfusion changes were larger than changes observed in healthy controls, with a maximum median global CBF increase of 12 mL/100 g/min and a maximum median global CBF decrease of 20 mL/100 g/min.

SIGNIFICANCE

Seizure duration is a key factor determining postictal perfusion changes. In future studies, seizure duration needs to be considered as a confounding factor due to its opposite effect on postictal perfusion.

Exploring cerebral laterality of writing and the relationship to handedness: a functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound investigation

Cerebral lateralization of oral language has been investigated in a plethora of studies and it is well established that the left hemisphere is dominant for production tasks in the majority of individuals. However, few studies have focused on written language and even fewer have sampled left-handers. Writing comprises language and motor components, both of which contribute to cerebral activation, yet previous research has not disentangled. The aim of this study was to disentangle the language and motor components of writing lateralization. This was achieved through the comparison of cerebral activation during (i) written word generation and (ii) letter copying, as assessed by functional Transcranial Doppler (fTCD) ultrasound. We further assessed cerebral laterality of oral language. The sample was balanced for handedness. We preregistered the hypotheses that (i) cerebral lateralization of the linguistic component of writing would be weaker in left-handers compared to right-handers and (ii) oral language and the linguistic component of written language would not be correlated in terms of cerebral lateralization. No compelling evidence for either of our hypotheses was found. Findings highlight the complexity of the processes subserving written and oral language as well as the methodological challenges to isolate the linguistic component of writing.

Age differences in priming as a function of processing at encoding

It is unclear whether implicit memory (priming) is affected by aging. Some studies have reported no difference between young and older adults, while others have uncovered reliable reductions. An important factor that may explain these discrepancies is the manner of encoding. Processing requirements (perceptual/conceptual) have varied considerably between studies, yet processing abilities are not equally affected by aging. This study examined whether processing during encoding moderates age effects on priming. Young and older participants studied object-word pairs and made natural/manufactured (conceptual) and left/right rotation (perceptual) judgements in relation to the word or object. Objects served as targets on a subsequent continuous identification with recognition task to assess priming and recognition. Priming and recognition were greater in young than older adults for attended items, with a larger effect size in the conceptual than the perceptual condition. Findings suggest that age differences in priming may be a function of processing at encoding.

Reduced neural encoding of utility prediction errors in cocaine addiction

Influential accounts of addiction posit alterations in adaptive behavior driven by deficient dopaminergic prediction errors (PEs), signaling the discrepancy between actual and expected reward. Dopamine neurons encode these error signals in subjective terms, calibrated by individual risk preferences, as "utility" PEs. It remains unclear, however, whether people with drug addiction have PE deficits or their computational source. Here, using an analogous task to prior single-unit studies with known expectancies, we show that fMRI-measured PEs similarly reflect utility PEs. Relative to control participants, people with chronic cocaine addiction demonstrate reduced utility PEs in the dopaminoceptive ventral striatum, with similar trends in orbitofrontal cortex. Dissecting this PE signal into its subcomponent terms attributed these reductions to weaker striatal responses to received reward/utility, whereas suppression of activity with reward expectation was unchanged. These findings support that addiction may fundamentally disrupt PE signaling and reveal an underappreciated role for perceived reward value in this mechanism.

Mother knows best: Mothers are more egocentric towards their own child's bodily feelings

Our emotional state can influence how we understand other people's emotions, leading to biases in social understanding. Yet emotional egocentric biases in specific relationships such as parent-child dyads, where not only understanding but also emotional and bodily regulation is key, remain relatively unexplored. To investigate these biases and control for sensory priors, we first conducted two experiments in dyads of adult strangers (total N=75) using a bodily Emotional Egocentricity Task that enables simultaneous affective tactile stimulation within a dyad. We showed its effectiveness in eliciting both classical and sensory-controlled egocentric biases. We then recruited 68 mother-child dyads and found that mothers exhibit higher classical and sensory-controlled emotional egocentric biases towards their own child compared to an unfamiliar child. Results suggest that mothers tend to rely on their bodily feelings more when judging the states of their own child than those of other children, possibly consistent with their regulatory parental role.

The dissociation of semantically congruent and incongruent cross-modal effects on the visual attentional blink

Introduction

Recent studies have found that the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink, a well-known phenomenon exemplifying the beneficial influence of multisensory integration on time-based attention, was larger when that sound was semantically congruent relative to incongruent with the second visual target (T2). Although such an audiovisual congruency effect has been attributed mainly to the semantic conflict carried by the incongruent sound restraining that sound from facilitating T2 processing, it is still unclear whether the integrated semantic information carried by the congruent sound benefits T2 processing.

Methods

To dissociate the congruence-induced benefit and incongruence-induced reduction in the alleviation of visual attentional blink at the behavioral and neural levels, the present study combined behavioral measures and event-related potential (ERP) recordings in a visual attentional blink task wherein the T2-accompanying sound, when delivered, could be semantically neutral in addition to congruent or incongruent with respect to T2.

Results

The behavioral data clearly showed that compared to the neutral sound, the congruent sound improved T2 discrimination during the blink to a higher degree while the incongruent sound improved it to a lesser degree. The T2-locked ERP data revealed that the early occipital cross-modal N195 component (192-228 ms after T2 onset) was uniquely larger in the congruent-sound condition than in the neutral-sound and incongruent-sound conditions, whereas the late parietal cross-modal N440 component (400-500 ms) was prominent only in the incongruent-sound condition.

Discussion

These findings provide strong evidence that the modulating effect of audiovisual semantic congruency on the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink contains not only a late incongruence-induced cost but also an early congruence-induced benefit, thereby demonstrating for the first time an unequivocal congruent-sound-induced benefit in alleviating the limitation of time-based visual attention.

Establishing the Roles of the Dorsal and Ventral Striatum in Humor Comprehension and Appreciation with fMRI

Humor comprehension (i.e., getting a joke) and humor appreciation (i.e., enjoying a joke) are distinct, cognitively complex processes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations have identified several key cortical regions but have overlooked subcortical structures that have theoretical importance in humor processing. The dorsal striatum (DS) contributes to working memory, ambiguity processing, and cognitive flexibility, cognitive functions that are required to accurately recognize humorous stimuli. The ventral striatum (VS) is critical in reward processing and enjoyment. We hypothesized that the DS and VS play important roles in humor comprehension and appreciation, respectively. We investigated the engagement of these regions in these distinct processes using fMRI. Twenty-six healthy young male and female human adults completed two humor-elicitation tasks during a 3 tesla fMRI scan consisting of a traditional behavior-based joke task and a naturalistic audiovisual sitcom paradigm (i.e., Seinfeld viewing task). Across both humor-elicitation methods, whole-brain analyses revealed cortical activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, and the middle temporal gyrus for humor comprehension, and the temporal cortex for humor appreciation. Additionally, with region of interest analyses, we specifically examined whether DS and VS activation correlated with these processes. Across both tasks, we demonstrated that humor comprehension implicates both the DS and the VS, whereas humor appreciation only engages the VS. These results establish the role of the DS in humor comprehension, which has been previously overlooked, and emphasize the role of the VS in humor processing more generally.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humorous stimuli are processed by the brain in at least two distinct stages. First, humor comprehension involves understanding humorous intent through cognitive and problem-solving mechanisms. Second, humor appreciation involves enjoyment, mirth, and laughter in response to a joke. The roles of smaller subcortical brain regions in humor processing, such as the DS and VS, have been overlooked in previous investigations. However, these regions are involved in functions that support humor comprehension (e.g., working memory ambiguity resolution, and cognitive flexibility) and humor appreciation (e.g., reward processing, pleasure, and enjoyment). In this study, we used neuroimaging to demonstrate that the DS and VS play important roles in humor comprehension and appreciation, respectively, across two different humor-elicitation tasks.

"I cannot see your fear!" Altered recognition of fearful facial expressions in anorexia nervosa

Background

The evidence about facial emotion recognition in anorexia nervosa as the role of alexithymic traits on this emotional ability is conflicting and heterogeneous.

Objective

We assessed the capability of recognizing facial expressions of two primary emotions, fear, and anger, in the context of anorexia nervosa.

Methods

Women affected by anorexia nervosa were compared with healthy weight women in a well-established implicit facial emotion recognition task. Both reaction time and level of accuracy were computed. Moreover, the individual levels of alexithymia were assessed through a standard self-report questionnaire.

Results

Participants with anorexia nervosa reported a significantly lower performance in terms of reaction time and accuracy when the emotion of fear-but not anger-was the target. Notably, such an alteration was linked to the levels of alexithymia reported in the self-report questionnaire.

Conclusion

In anorexia nervosa, difficulties in processing facial fearful (but not angry) expressions may be observed as linked to higher expressions of alexithymic traits. We suggested future research in which emotional processing will be investigated taking into account the role of the bodily dimensions of emotional awareness.

Statistical learning of target and distractor spatial probability shape a common attentional priority computation

Converging evidence recently put forward the notion that dedicated neurocognitive mechanisms do exist for the suppression of salient, but irrelevant distractors. Along this line, it is plausible to hypothesize that, in appropriate contexts, experience-dependent forms of attentional learning might selectively induce plastic changes within this dedicated circuitry, thus allowing an independent shaping of priorities at the service of attentional filtering. Conversely, previous work suggested that statistical learning (SL) of both target and distractor spatial probability distributions converge in adjusting only the overall attentional priority of locations: in fact, in the presence of an independent manipulation, either related to the target or to the distractor only, SL induces indirect effects (e.g., changes in filtering efficiency due to an uneven distribution of targets), suggesting that SL-induced plastic changes affect a shared neural substrate. Here we tested whether, when (conflicting) target- and distractor-related manipulations are concurrently applied to the very same locations, dedicated mechanisms might support the selective encoding of spatial priority in relation to the specific attentional operation involved. In three related experiments, human healthy participants discriminated the direction of a target arrow, while ignoring a salient distractor, if present; both target and distractor spatial probability distributions were concurrently manipulated in relation to each single location. Critically, the selection bias produced by the target-related SL was marginally reduced by an adverse distractor contingency, and the suppression bias generated by the distractor-related SL was erased, or even reversed, by an adverse target contingency. Our results suggest that even conflicting target- and distractor-related SL manipulations result in the adjustment of a unique spatial priority computation, likely because the process directly relies on direct plastic alterations of shared spatial priority map(s).

A mild impairment in reversal learning in a bowl-digging substrate deterministic task but not other cognitive tests in the Dlg2+/- rat model of genetic risk for psychiatric disorder

Variations in the Dlg2 gene have been linked to increased risk for psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disability, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and pubertal disorders. Recent studies have reported disrupted brain circuit function and behaviour in models of Dlg2 knockout and haploinsufficiency. Specifically, deficits in hippocampal synaptic plasticity were found in heterozygous Dlg2+/- rats suggesting impacts on hippocampal dependent learning and cognitive flexibility. Here, we tested these predicted effects with a behavioural characterisation of the heterozygous Dlg2+/- rat model. Dlg2+/- rats exhibited a specific, mild impairment in reversal learning in a substrate deterministic bowl-digging reversal learning task. The performance of Dlg2+/- rats in other bowl digging task, visual discrimination and reversal, novel object preference, novel location preference, spontaneous alternation, modified progressive ratio, and novelty-suppressed feeding test were not impaired. These findings suggest that despite altered brain circuit function, behaviour across different domains is relatively intact in Dlg2+/- rats, with the deficits being specific to only one test of cognitive flexibility. The specific behavioural phenotype seen in this Dlg2+/- model may capture features of the clinical presentation associated with variation in the Dlg2 gene.

Positive emotion up-regulation is resistant to working memory load: An electrocortical investigation of reappraisal and savoring

Studies of emotion regulation to-date have mostly focused on negative emotion down-regulation, leaving positive emotion up-regulation poorly understood, particularly regarding factors that may modulate its success. While reappraisal and savoring have been shown to be effective at increasing electrocortical and subjective response to pictures in controlled laboratory settings, it remains unclear whether individuals can effectively enact these techniques to willfully increase positive emotions in everyday life when faced with other concurrent distractions/demands. Here, we used the late positive potential (LPP), an electrocortical measure that is larger for emotional compared to neutral stimuli, to assess the effect of working memory (WM) load on individuals' ability to reappraise or savor positive pictures. Seventy-six participants were randomly assigned to use either reappraisal or savoring to up-regulate positive emotion to pictures. Following training, participants engaged in a positive emotion up-regulation task interspersed with high and low WM load trials, while EEG was recorded. Frequentist and Bayesian statistics showed that although high WM load seemed to consume resources and reduced picture processing overall, it did not interfere with the enhancement of the LPP via positive emotion up-regulation. Nonetheless, WM performance (especially on high-load trials) was worse when participants were engaged in positive emotion up-regulation. Therefore, while both techniques appear to be effective under concurrent WM load, positive emotion up-regulation may interfere with other ongoing tasks.

Purpose maintained: Adverse childhood experiences and meaning in life

OBJECTIVE

Three studies examined the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and meaning in life, focusing on the facets of meaning-coherence, significance, and purpose.

METHOD

In Study 1 (N = 1804), college students rated adverse childhood experiences, global meaning in life, and its facets. In Study 2 (N = 822), noncollege adults rated childhood trauma, meaning in life facets, attachment style, mood, and neuroticism. In Study 3 (N = 380) college students wrote about a positive and negative childhood memory, rating the facets of meaning immediately after each writing task.

RESULTS

In Studies 1-2, at the level of zero-order correlations, adverse childhood experiences related negatively to coherence, significance, and purpose. Controlling for the other facets, adverse childhood experiences remained negatively related to coherence and significance but were unrelated to purpose. Negative relationships between adverse childhood experiences and coherence and significance maintained controlling for covariates (Study 2). In Study 3, the predicted 3-way interaction showed that after recalling a negative childhood memory, adverse childhood experiences predicted lower significance and coherence but higher purpose.

CONCLUSIONS

Adverse childhood experiences consistently predict lower feelings of coherence and significance but, accounting for these associations, are unrelated to purpose. Purpose may represent a motivational strength emerging out of childhood adversity.

Quantifying spatial acuity of frequency resolved midair ultrasound vibrotactile stimuli

Spatial acuity is a fundamental property of any sensory system. In the case of the somatosensory system, the two-point discrimination (2PD) test has long been used to investigate tactile spatial resolution. However, the somatosensory system comprises three main mechanoreceptive channels: the slowly adapting channel (SA) responds to steady pressure, the rapidly adapting channel (RA) responds to low-frequency vibration, and the Pacinian channel (PC) responds to high-frequency vibration. The use of mechanical stimuli in the classical 2PD test means that previous studies on tactile acuity have primarily focussed on the pressure-sensitive channel alone, while neglecting other submodalities. Here, we used a novel ultrasound stimulation to systematically investigate the spatial resolution of the two main vibrotactile channels. Contrary to the textbook view of poor spatial resolution for PC-like stimuli, across four experiments we found that high-frequency vibration produced surprisingly good spatial acuity. This effect remained after controlling for interchannel differences in stimulus detectability and perceived intensity. Laser doppler vibrometry experiments confirmed that the acuity of the PC channel was not simply an artifact of the skin's resonance to high-frequency mechanical stimulation. Thus, PC receptors may transmit substantial spatial information, despite their sparse distribution, deep location, and large receptive fields.

To see or not to see: the parallel processing of self-relevance and facial expressions

The self, like the concept of central "gravity", facilitates the processing of information that is directly relevant to the self. This phenomenon is known as the self-prioritization effect. However, it remains unclear whether the self-prioritization effect extends to the processing of emotional facial expressions. To fill this gap, we used a self-association paradigm to investigate the impact of self-relevance on the recognition of emotional facial expressions while controlling for confounding factors such as familiarity and overlearning. Using a large and diverse sample, we replicated the effect of self-relevance on face processing but found no evidence for a modulation of self-relevance on facial emotion recognition. We propose two potential theoretical explanations to account for these findings and emphasize that further research with different experimental designs and a multitasks measurement approach is needed to understand this mechanism fully. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on the parallel cognitive processing of self-relevance and facial emotion recognition, with implications for both social and cognitive psychology.

Top-Down Modulation of Motor Priming by Belief About Animacy

Research has shown that people automatically imitate others and that this tendency is stronger when the other person is a human compared with a nonhuman agent. However, a controversial question is whether automatic imitation is also modulated by whether people believe the other person is a human. Although early research supported this hypothesis, not all studies reached the same conclusion and a recent meta-analysis found that there is currently neither evidence in favor nor against an influence of animacy beliefs on automatic imitation. One of the most prominent studies supporting such an influence is the study by Liepelt and Brass (2010), who found that automatic imitation was stronger when participants believed an ambiguous, gloved hand to be human, as opposed to wooden. In this registered report, we provide a high-powered replication of this study (N = 199). In contrast to Liepelt and Brass (2010), we did not find an effect of animacy beliefs on automatic imitation. However, we did find a correlation between automatic imitation and perceived self-other similarity. Together, these results suggest that the gloved hand procedure does not reliably influence automatic imitation, but interindividual differences in perceived similarity do.

Is predictive coding falsifiable?

Predictive-coding has justifiably become a highly influential theory in Neuroscience. However, the possibility of its unfalsifiability has been raised. We argue that if predictive-coding were unfalsifiable, it would be a problem, but there are patterns of behavioural and neuroimaging data that would stand against predictive-coding. Contra (vanilla) predictive patterns are those in which the more expected stimulus generates the largest evoked-response. However, basic formulations of predictive-coding mandate that an expected stimulus should generate little, if any, prediction error and thus little, if any, evoked-response. It has, though, been argued that contra (vanilla) predictive patterns can be obtained if precision is higher for expected stimuli. Certainly, using precision, one can increase the amplitude of an evoked-response, turning a predictive into a contra (vanilla) predictive pattern. We demonstrate that, while this is true, it does not present an absolute barrier to falsification. This is because increasing precision also reduces latency and increases the frequency of the response. These properties can be used to determine whether precision-weighting in predictive-coding justifiably explains a contra (vanilla) predictive pattern, ensuring that predictive-coding is falsifiable.

Attenuated maladaptive emotion processing as a potential mediator of the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and mental health

The emotion processing and regulation mechanisms by which dispositional (personality trait) mindfulness exerts its positive effects on mental health remain unclear. Here, we tested, using structural equation modeling, whether the relationship between higher dispositional mindfulness and better mental health is mediated by reduced maladaptive processing of emotional information (e.g., expressive suppression, impoverished emotional experiences, unprocessed emotions, avoidance, externalizing strategies) and associated lower negative affect, enhanced adaptive processing of emotional information (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) and associated higher positive affect, or a combination of these two emotion processing styles. Dispositional mindfulness, mental health, diverse emotional constructs with adaptive and maladaptive dimensions (including range and differentiation of emotional experiences, use of specific emotion regulation strategies, emotion processing deficits, negative affect repair strategies, negative mood regulation expectancies), and positive and negative affect were assessed using self-report measures in a non-clinical sample of 256 adults. The relationship between higher dispositional mindfulness and better mental health was found to be best explained by reduced maladaptive emotion processing styles and associated lower negative affect, rather than by enhanced adaptive emotion processing and higher positive affect. Further research should investigate whether the same mechanisms explain psychological benefits of cultivated mindfulness in people with low dispositional mindfulness and/or with mental health disorders following mindfulness skills training.

Effects of Aging on Successful Object Encoding: Enhanced Semantic Representations Compensate for Impaired Visual Representations

Although episodic memory and visual processing decline substantially with healthy aging, semantic knowledge is generally spared. There is evidence that older adults' spared semantic knowledge can support episodic memory. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) combined with representational similarity analyses (RSAs) to examine how novel visual and preexisting semantic representations at encoding predict subjective memory vividness at retrieval. Eighteen young and seventeen older adults (female and male participants) encoded images of objects during fMRI scanning and recalled these images while rating the vividness of their memories. After scanning, participants discriminated between studied images and similar lures. RSA based on a deep convolutional neural network and normative concept feature data were used to link patterns of neural activity during encoding to visual and semantic representations. Relative to young adults, the specificity of activation patterns for visual features was reduced in older adults, consistent with dedifferentiation. However, the specificity of activation patterns for semantic features was enhanced in older adults, consistent with hyperdifferentiation. Despite dedifferentiation, visual representations in early visual cortex (EVC) predicted high memory vividness in both age groups. In contrast, semantic representations in lingual gyrus (LG) and fusiform gyrus (FG) were associated with high memory vividness only in the older adults. Intriguingly, data suggests that older adults with lower specificity of visual representations in combination with higher specificity of semantic representations tended to rate their memories as more vivid. Our findings suggest that memory vividness in aging relies more on semantic representations over anterior regions, potentially compensating for age-related dedifferentiation of visual information in posterior regions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Normal aging is associated with impaired memory for events while semantic knowledge might even improve. We investigated the effects of aging on the specificity of visual and semantic information in the brain when viewing common objects and how this information enables subsequent memory vividness for these objects. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) combined with modeling of the stimuli we found that visual information was represented with less specificity in older than young adults while still supporting memory vividness. In contrast semantic information supported memory vividness only in older adults and especially in those individuals that had the lowest specificity of visual information. These findings provide evidence for a spared semantic memory system increasingly recruited to compensate for degraded visual representations in older age.

The transposed-word effect provides no unequivocal evidence for parallel processing

Studies using a grammaticality decision task have revealed surprising flexibility in the processing of word order during sentence reading in both alphabetic and non-alphabetic scripts. Participants in these studies typically exhibit a transposed-word effect, in which they make more errors and slower correct responses for stimuli that contain a word transposition and are derived from grammatical as compared to ungrammatical base sentences. Some researchers have used this finding to argue that words are encoded in parallel during reading, such that multiple words can be processed simultaneously and might be recognised out of order. This contrasts with an alternative account of the reading process, which argues that words must be encoded serially, one at a time. We examined, in English, whether the transposed-word effect provides evidence for a parallel-processing account, employing the same grammaticality decision task used in previous research and display procedures that either allowed for parallel word encoding or permitted only the serial encoding of words. Our results replicate and extend recent findings by showing that relative word order can be processed flexibly even when parallel processing is not possible (i.e., within displays requiring serial word encoding). Accordingly, while the present findings provide further evidence for flexibility in the processing of relative word order during reading, they add to converging evidence that the transposed-word effect does not provide unequivocal evidence for a parallel-processing account of reading. We consider how the present findings may be accounted for by both serial and parallel accounts of word recognition in reading.

Creativity in Scientific Research: Multidisciplinarity Fosters Depth of Ideas Among Scientists in Electronic "Brainwriting" Groups

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the potential benefits of multidisciplinarity among agri-food researchers working in small groups to generate ideas to stimulate innovation in the context of a laboratory project.

BACKGROUND

Research on the role of multidisciplinarity in scientific research teams remains limited, particularly regarding the generation of ideas to innovate in a real laboratory project, and on a task with a real challenge for innovation.

METHOD

Researchers and agri-food research staff were assigned to small groups of either multidisciplinary or unidisciplinary composition to produce ideas on a cross-cutting theme for an innovative laboratory project using an electronic "brainwriting" application.

RESULTS

A greater depth in idea generation (number of ideas per category) was observed in the multidisciplinary condition than in the unidisciplinary condition.

CONCLUSION

The main benefits of this study were to experimentally examine the effects of multidisciplinarity in small scientific research groups on the production of ideas in a field study conducted on the premises of an agri-food laboratory.

APPLICATION

This study provides advice on how to promote innovative projects by stimulating ideation processes, which includes constructing small multidisciplinary groups and using an electronic "brainwriting" technique.

Learning emotional dialects: A British population study of cross-cultural communication

The aim of the current research was to explore whether we can improve the recognition of cross-cultural freely-expressed emotional faces in British participants. We tested several methods for improving the recognition of freely-expressed emotional faces, such as different methods for presenting other-culture expressions of emotion from individuals from Chile, New Zealand and Singapore in two experimental stages. In the first experimental stage, in phase one, participants were asked to identify the emotion of cross-cultural freely-expressed faces. In the second phase, different cohorts were presented with interactive side-by-side, back-to-back and dynamic morphing of cross-cultural freely-expressed emotional faces, and control conditions. In the final phase, we repeated phase one using novel stimuli. We found that all non-control conditions led to recognition improvements. Morphing was the most effective condition for improving the recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces. In the second experimental stage, we presented morphing to different cohorts including own-to-other and other-to-own freely-expressed cross-cultural emotional faces and neutral-to-emotional and emotional-to-neutral other-culture freely-expressed emotional faces. All conditions led to recognition improvements and the presentation of freely-expressed own-to-other cultural-emotional faces provided the most effective learning. These findings suggest that training can improve the recognition of cross-cultural freely-expressed emotional expressions.