Attention and prediction in human audition: a lesson from cognitive psychophysiology

Attention is a hypothetical mechanism in the service of perception that facilitates the processing of relevant information and inhibits the processing of irrelevant information. Prediction is a hypothetical mechanism in the service of perception that considers prior information when interpreting the sensorial input. Although both (attention and prediction) aid perception, they are rarely considered together. Auditory attention typically yields enhanced brain activity, whereas auditory prediction often results in attenuated brain responses. However, when strongly predicted sounds are omitted, brain responses to silence resemble those elicited by sounds. Studies jointly investigating attention and prediction revealed that these different mechanisms may interact, e.g. attention may magnify the processing differences between predicted and unpredicted sounds. Following the predictive coding theory, we suggest that prediction relates to predictions sent down from predictive models housed in higher levels of the processing hierarchy to lower levels and attention refers to gain modulation of the prediction error signal sent up to the higher level. As predictions encode contents and confidence in the sensory data, and as gain can be modulated by the intention of the listener and by the predictability of the input, various possibilities for interactions between attention and prediction can be unfolded. From this perspective, the traditional distinction between bottom-up/exogenous and top-down/endogenous driven attention can be revisited and the classic concepts of attentional gain and attentional trace can be integrated.

Flexible ACT & Resource-group ACT: Different Working Procedures Which Can Supplement and Strengthen Each Other. A Response

This article is a response to Nordén and Norlander’s ‘Absence of Positive Results for Flexible Assertive Community Treatment. What is the next approach?’[1], in which they assert that ‘at present [there is] no evidence for Flexible ACT and… that RACT might be able to provide new impulses and new vitality to the treatment mode of ACT’. We question their analyses and conclusions. We clarify Flexible ACT, referring to the Flexible Assertive Community Treatment Manual (van Veldhuizen, 2013) [2] to rectify misconceptions. We discuss Nordén and Norlander’s interpretation of research on Flexible ACT. The fact that too little research has been done and that there are insufficient positive results cannot serve as a reason to propagate RACT. However, the Resource Group method does provide inspiration for working with clients to involve their networks more effectively in Flexible ACT.

On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects

It is often argued that the effects of noise on a “complex ability” (e.g., reading, writing, calculation) can be explained by the impairment noise causes to some ability (e.g., working memory) upon which the complex ability depends. Because of this, tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” (i.e., those abilities upon which complex abilities depend) are often deemed sufficient in cognitive noise studies, even when the primary interest is to understand the effects of noise as they arise in applied settings (e.g., offices and schools). This approach can be called the “sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects.” The present paper discusses two things that are troublesome for this approach: difficulties with interpretation and generalizability. A complete understanding of the effects of noise on complex abilities requires studying the complex ability itself. Cognitive noise researches must, therefore, employ tasks that mimic the tasks that are actually carried out in the applied setting to which the results are intended to be generalized. Tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” may be complementary, but should not be given priority in applied cognitive research.

Examining the Role of Vasopressin in the Modulation of Parental and Sexual Behaviors

Vasopressin (VP) and VP-like neuropeptides are evolutionarily stable peptides found in all vertebrate species. In non-mammalian vertebrates, vasotocin (VT) plays a role similar to mammalian VP, whereas mesotocin and isotocin are functionally similar to mammalian oxytocin (OT). Here, we review the involvement of VP in brain circuits, synaptic plasticity, evolution, and function, highlighting the role of VP in social behavior. In all studied species, VP is encoded on chromosome 20p13, and in mammals, VP is produced in specific hypothalamic nuclei and released by the posterior pituitary. The role of VP is mediated by the stimulation of the V1a, V1b, and V2 receptors as well as the oxytocinergic and purinergic receptors. VT and VP functions are usually related to osmotic and cardiovascular homeostasis when acting peripherally. However, these neuropeptides are also critically involved in the central modulation of social behavior displays, such as pairing recognition, pair-bonding, social memory, sexual behavior, parental care, and maternal and aggressive behavior. Evidence suggests that these effects are primarily mediated by V1a receptor in specific brain circuits that provide important information for the onset and control of social behaviors in normal and pathological conditions.

Mental health literacy and borderline personality disorder (BPD): what do the public "make" of those with BPD?

INTRODUCTION

This study was part of a programmatic series into mental health literacy, specifically lay people's knowledge of causes, manifestations and cures of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The aim was to determine to what extent non-experts understood BDP and to what extent they held erroneous beliefs about specific aspects of the causes and cures for the disorder

METHOD

A convenience sample of 102 participants completed a vignette-identification task that required them to answer open-ended questions about hypothetical people with four psychological problems, one of which was BPD and a 50-item questionnaire divided into three sections about BDP.

RESULTS

Analysis of the vignette identification task revealed very low rates of recognition for BPD, with participants significantly more likely to identify depression, schizophrenia or psychopathy. Participants' generally favoured psychological and sociological treatments, as well as rating early trauma and stress as possible causes of the symptoms of the person described in the BDP vignette. There were logical relationships between perceptions of cause and cure.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that participants hold certain coherent beliefs (psychological, sociological, biological or theological) regarding aetiology and treatments of BPD. Further, the findings suggest the need for greater awareness and educational programmes to inform the general public accurately regarding BPD and to improve mental health literacy.

An investigation into prospective memory in children with developmental dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia hinders reading and writing acquisition of around 5–10% of the children all over the world. However, little is known about role of prospective memory among dyslexics. Prospective memory is realization of delayed intention. Realization of delayed intention requires self initiated process. The present study explored the role of memory (prospective and retrospective memory), meta-memory and attention among dyslexic's children. One hundred and fifteen children (51 dyslexics and 64 normal controls) participated in the study. Prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire, everyday attention questionnaire and meta-memory were administered on children. Analysis of variance was used to analyses the data. All the main effects were significant. Some interactions were also found to be significant. Results suggest that dyslexic's performance on memory (prospective and retrospective memory) was worse than normal control. Meta-memory influences both dyslexics and normal control on prospective and retrospective memory. However, meta-memory affected dyslexics much more than normal control group. Similarly, significant differential effects were observed for simple, difficult and mixed attentional condition among between dyslexics and normal control. Dyslexic's performance was deteriorated as compared to normal control group. The findings of the study are discussed in the light of the existing literature.

How many Assertive Community Treatment Teams are Needed in Japan? Estimate from Need Survey in Sendai City

Despite the increasing ACT teams in Japan, no research exists on the need of ACT within the Japanese mental health system. The aim of this study was to describe the needs and feasibility of ACT teams. Furthermore, we estimated the number of po-tential ACT users and ACT teams needed in Japan. This study consists of two cross-sectional surveys in Sendai city. The primary survey was a self-completed questionnaire on the need and feasibility of ACT. In the secondary survey, the number of patients eligible for ACT was estimated based on primary physicians’ evaluations. In the primary survey, 17 of the 57 in-stitutions responded (response rate 29.8%). All respondents answered that ACT teams are needed in the city of Sendai and “Crisis response” was as the most needed role of ACT. Based on the results of the secondary survey, approximately 900 to 3,600 patients in Sendai are estimated to be eligible for ACT. This finding indicates that the estimated number of ACT teams needed for 100,000 populations is from 0.9 to 3.5 in Japan, a result that is in general agreement with data from other coun-tries.

Factor structure and factorial invariance of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Chinese children and adolescents

As previous research utilizing Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y; STAI-Y) has mostly involved adults or clinical groups, there have been relatively few reports assessing adolescents. This study is the first using data for children and adolescents in mainland China, from a large-scale cross-sectional survey in Beijing (Sample 1) and a longitudinal survey from the Wenchuan 512 earthquake (Sample 2), to clarify the factor structure and factorial invariance of the STAI-Y, Mandarin Chinese version. As a result, only in Sample 1 did a comparison of 11 confirmatory factor analysis models indicate the best goodness-of-fit indices shown by a two-factor structure for both state and trait anxiety, with both models reaching the selected cutoff criteria. These two optimal models were used in a subsequent simultaneous confirmatory factor analysis to test four conditions of factorial invariance, using eight participant groups divided on the basis of sex and school grade (fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh to ninth). The two-factor structure state and trait anxiety models achieved the cutoff criteria for factorial invariance, with the exception of male fourth graders. Further, it was clearly shown that in comparison with the early stage of puberty, as puberty advanced the absence of state and trait anxiety gradually decreased, while scores for the presence of anxiety gradually increased. At the same time, in the case of Sample 2, which had experienced a traumatic event, as the goodness-of-fit indices for none of the 11 models reached the cutoff criteria, the factor scores showed arbitrariness and a lack of objectivity. The authors conclude that cognitive structure with regard to the STAI-Y may change with traumatic experience or the development of secondary sex characteristics at the onset of or in the stage of puberty. Also, computing the scores according to the STAI-Y manual is problematic.

The Hidden Snake in the Grass: Superior Detection of Snakes in Challenging Attentional Conditions

Snakes have provided a serious threat to primates throughout evolution. Furthermore, bites by venomous snakes still cause significant morbidity and mortality in tropical regions of the world. According to the Snake Detection Theory (SDT Isbell, 2006; 2009), the vital need to detect camouflaged snakes provided strong evolutionary pressure to develop astute perceptual capacity in animals that were potential targets for snake attacks. We performed a series of behavioral tests that assessed snake detection under conditions that may have been critical for survival. We used spiders as the control stimulus because they are also a common object of phobias and rated negatively by the general population, thus commonly lumped together with snakes as “evolutionary fear-relevant”. Across four experiments (N = 205) we demonstrate an advantage in snake detection, which was particularly obvious under visual conditions known to impede detection of a wide array of common stimuli, for example brief stimulus exposures, stimuli presentation in the visual periphery, and stimuli camouflaged in a cluttered environment. Our results demonstrate a striking independence of snake detection from ecological factors that impede the detection of other stimuli, which suggests that, consistent with the SDT, they reflect a specific biological adaptation. Nonetheless, the empirical tests we report are limited to only one aspect of this rich theory, which integrates findings across a wide array of scientific disciplines.

Repeated effects of the neurotensin receptor agonist PD149163 in three animal tests of antipsychotic activity: assessing for tolerance and cross-tolerance to clozapine

Neurotensin is an endogenous neuropeptide closely associated with the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and shown to possess antipsychotic-like effects. In particular, acute neurotensin receptor activation can inhibit conditioned avoidance response (CAR), attenuate phencyclidine (PCP)-induced prepulse inhibition (PPI) disruptions, and reverse PCP-induced hyperlocomotion. However, few studies have examined the long term effects of repeated neurotensin receptor activation and results are inconsistent. Since clinical administration of antipsychotic therapy often requires a prolonged treatment schedule, here we assessed the effects of repeated activation of neurotensin receptors using an NTS1 receptor selective agonist, PD149163, in 3 behavioral tests of antipsychotic activity. We also investigated whether reactivity to the atypical antipsychotic clozapine was altered following prior PD149163 treatment. Using both normal and prenatally immune activated rats generated through maternal immune activation with polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid, we tested PD149163 in CAR, PCP (1.5mg/kg)-induced PPI disruption, and PCP (3.2mg/kg)-induced hyperlocomotion. For each paradigm, rats were first repeatedly tested with vehicle or PD149163 (1.0, 4.0, 8.0mg/kg, sc) along with vehicle or PCP for PPI and hyperlocomotion tests, then challenged with PD149163 after 2 drug-free days. All rats were then challenged with clozapine (5.0mg/kg, sc). During the repeated test period, PD149163 exhibited antipsychotic-like effects in all three models. On the PD149163 challenge day, prior drug treatment only caused a tolerance effect in CAR. This tolerance in CAR was transferrable to clozapine, as it enhanced clozapine tolerance in the same group of animals. Although no tolerance effect was seen in the PD149163 challenge for the PCP-induced hyperlocomotion test, the clozapine challenge showed increased sensitivity in groups previously exposed to repeated PD149163 treatment. Our findings suggest that repeated exposure to NTS1 receptor agonists can induce a dose-dependent tolerance and cross-tolerance to clozapine to some of its behavioral effects but not others.

What we expect is not always what we get: evidence for both the direction-of-change and the specific-stimulus hypotheses of auditory attentional capture

Participants were requested to respond to a sequence of visual targets while listening to a well-known lullaby. One of the notes in the lullaby was occasionally exchanged with a pattern deviant. Experiment 1 found that deviants capture attention as a function of the pitch difference between the deviant and the replaced/expected tone. However, when the pitch difference between the expected tone and the deviant tone is held constant, a violation to the direction-of-pitch change across tones can also capture attention (Experiment 2). Moreover, in more complex auditory environments, wherein it is difficult to build a coherent neural model of the sound environment from which expectations are formed, deviations can capture attention but it appears to matter less whether this is a violation from a specific stimulus or a violation of the current direction-of-change (Experiment 3). The results support the expectation violation account of auditory distraction and suggest that there are at least two different expectations that can be violated: One appears to be bound to a specific stimulus and the other would seem to be bound to a more global cross-stimulus rule such as the direction-of-change based on a sequence of preceding sound events. Factors like base-rate probability of tones within the sound environment might become the driving mechanism of attentional capture—rather than violated expectations—in complex sound environments.

Minocycline modulates neuropathic pain behaviour and cortical M1-M2 microglial gene expression in a rat model of depression

There is a paucity of data on the role of microglia and neuroinflammatory processes in the association between chronic pain and depression. The current study examined the effect of the microglial inhibitor minocycline on depressive-like behaviour, spinal nerve ligation (SNL)-induced mechanical and cold allodynia and associated changes in the expression of genes encoding microglial markers (M1 vs. M2 polarisation) and inflammatory mediators in the prefrontal cortex in the olfactory bulbectomised (OB) rat model of depression. Acute minocycline administration did not alter OB-induced depressive-like behaviour but prevented SNL-induced mechanical allodynia in both OB and sham rats. In comparison, chronic minocycline attenuated OB-induced depressive-like behaviour and prevented the development of SNL-induced mechanical allodynia in OB, but not sham, rats. Further analysis revealed that SNL-induced mechanical allodynia in OB rats was attenuated by chronic minocycline at almost all time-points over a 2week testing period, an effect observed only from day 10 post-SNL in sham rats. Chronic administration of minocycline reduced the expression of CD11b, a marker of microglial activation, and the M1 pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β, in the prefrontal cortex of sham-SNL animals. In comparison, the expression of the M2 microglia marker (MRC2) and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was increased, as were IL-1β, IL-6 and SOCS3, in the prefrontal cortex of OB-SNL animals following chronic minocycline. Thus, chronic minocycline attenuates neuropathic pain behaviour and modulates microglial activation and the central expression of inflammatory mediators in a manner dependent on the presence or absence of a depressive-like phenotype.

On interpretation and task selection in studies on the effects of noise on cognitive performance

THIS PAPER DISCUSSES TWO THINGS RESEARCHERS SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN SELECTING TASKS FOR COGNITIVE NOISE STUDIES AND INTERPRETING THEIR FINDINGS: (a) The "process impurity" problem and (b) the propensity of sound to capture attention. Theoretical and methodological problems arise when the effects of noise on complex tasks (e.g., reading comprehension) are interpreted as reflecting an impairment of a specific cognitive process/system/skill. One reason for this is that complex tasks are, by definition, process impure (i.e., they involve several, distinct cognitive processes/systems/skills). Another reason is that sound can capture attention. When sound captures attention, the impairment to task scores is caused by an interruption, not by malfunctioning cognitive processes/systems/skills. Selecting more "process pure" tasks (e.g., the Stroop task) is not a solution to these problems. On the contrary, it introduces further problems with generalizability and representativeness. It is argued that cognitive noise researchers should employ representative noise, representative tasks (which are necessarily complex/process impure), and interpret the results on a behavioral level of analysis rather than on a cognitive level of analysis.

Updating working memory in aircraft noise and speech noise causes different fMRI activations

The present study used fMRI/BOLD neuroimaging to investigate how visual-verbal working memory is updated when exposed to three different background-noise conditions: speech noise, aircraft noise and silence. The number-updating task that was used can distinguish between "substitution processes," which involve adding new items to the working memory representation and suppressing old items, and "exclusion processes," which involve rejecting new items and maintaining an intact memory set. The current findings supported the findings of a previous study by showing that substitution activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior medial frontal cortex and the parietal lobes, whereas exclusion activated the anterior medial frontal cortex. Moreover, the prefrontal cortex was activated more by substitution processes when exposed to background speech than when exposed to aircraft noise. These results indicate that (a) the prefrontal cortex plays a special role when task-irrelevant materials should be denied access to working memory and (b) that, when compensating for different types of noise, either different cognitive mechanisms are involved or those cognitive mechanisms that are involved are involved to different degrees.

Exploring salivary cortisol and recurrent pain in mid-adolescents living in two homes

BACKGROUND

Each year, around 50.000 children in Sweden experience a separation between their parents. Joint physical custody (JPC), where the child alternates homes between the parents for about equal amount of time, has become a common living arrangement after parental separation. Children in two homes could benefit from everyday contact with both parents and access to both parents' financial resources. However, children could experience stress from being constantly moving and potentially exposed to parental conflicts. Still, studies on JPC and biological functioning related to stress, are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate how living arrangements (intact family/JPC) relate to HPA-axis activity and recurrent pain in mid-adolescents.

METHODS

Mid-adolescents (106 girls and 51 boys) provided demographic details, self-reports of recurrent pain (headache, stomachache, neck/shoulder and back pain) and salivary samples. Salivary cortisol samples were collected: 1) immediately at awakening, 2) +30 minutes, 3) +60 minutes, and 4) at 8 p.m. The cortisol awakening response (CAR) was computed using an established formula. Additionally, the diurnal decline between the waking and 8 p.m. samples was computed.

RESULTS

Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that living arrangements (intact family/JPC) was not associated with morning cortisol (CAR), the diurnal cortisol decline or with recurrent pain. However, sex was a significant predictor of both cortisol measures and recurrent pain with girls exhibiting a higher cortisol awakening response and a greater diurnal decline value as well as reporting more recurrent pain than did boys.

CONCLUSIONS

Living arrangements were not associated with HPA-axis activity or recurrent pain in this group of well-functioning mid-adolescents. Although this study is the first to investigate how living arrangements relate to HPA-axis functioning and additional studies are needed, the tentative findings suggest that these mid-adolescents have adapted to their living arrangements and that other factors play a more pertinent role for HPA-functioning and subjective health.

Differential effects of intermittent versus continuous haloperidol treatment throughout adolescence on haloperidol sensitization and social behavior in adulthood

Animal work on the behavioral effects of antipsychotic treatment suggests that different dosing regimens could affect drug sensitivity differently, with an intermittent treatment regimen tending to cause a sensitization effect, while a continuous treatment causing a tolerance. In this study, we explored how haloperidol (HAL) sensitization induced throughout adolescence and tested in adulthood was differentially impacted by these two dosing regimens in the conditioned avoidance response (CAR) test. We also examined how these two dosing regiments affected social interaction and social memory in adulthood. Male adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with HAL via either osmotic minipump (HAL-0.25 CONT; 0.25 mgkg(-1)day(-1), n = 14) or daily injection (HAL-0.05 INT; 0.05 mgkg(-1)day(-1) injection, sc, n = 14), or sterile water (n = 14) from postnatal days (PND) 44 to 71. HAL sensitization was assessed in a challenge test in which all rats were injected with HAL (0.025 and 0.05 mg/kg, sc) on PND 80 and PND 82. Two days later, half of the rats from each group (n = 7/group) were assayed in two 4-trial social interaction tests in which a subject rat was given four 5-min social encounters with a familiar or novel juvenile rat (PND 35-40) at 10 min intervals. Another half were tested in a quinpirole-induced hyperlocomotion assay to assess the potential HAL-induced change in D2-mediated function. Results show that only the intermittent dosing group under the HAL 0.05 mg/kg challenge showed a robust sensitization effect as rats in this group made significantly fewer avoidance responses than those in the vehicle and HAL-0.25 CONT groups. Adolescent HAL treatment did not affect social behavior and social memory, as rats from all 3 groups exhibited a similar level of social interaction and showed a similar level of sensitivity to the change of social stimuli. Similarly, adolescent HAL treatment also did not produce a long-lasting change in D2 function, as all 3 groups exhibited a similar level of increase in motor activity under quinpirole challenge. These findings suggest that HAL sensitization is a dosing-specific phenomenon. It is more likely to be seen under an intermittent dosing regimen than under a continuous dosing one. The findings that the intermittent HAL treatment did not impair social functioning and did not alter D2 function suggest a dissociation between drug-induced alterations in drug sensitivity and those in social function and neuroreceptors.

Absence of Positive Results for Flexible Assertive Community Treatment. What is the next Approach?

Aims were to review results of the five psychiatric studies on Flexible Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) published during 2007-2013, and to compare FACT with Resource-group Assertive Community Treatment (RACT) which specifically focuses on empowerment and rehabilitation of clients in the stable phase. During 2007 articles appeared in scientific journals arguing in favor of the need for the development of the treatment method Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). A particularly notable article was one that featured a Dutch version of ACT, namely FACT. The initiative received great sympathy given that clinical practice and research showed that both American and British versions of ACT were in need of new impulses to be able to maintain an optimal level of care. Seven years have passed since the Dutch model was international presented and five empirical studies about FACT have been published and therefore a first critical examination of FACT was conducted. The review indicated that the five empirical studies failed to show that FACT involves improvement of the clients in terms of symptoms, functioning, or well-being. The conclusions were that at present there is no evidence for FACT and that RACT with its small, flexible ACT teams, where the client him/herself is included and decides on the treatment goals, might be able to provide new impulses and a new vitality to the treatment mode of an assertive community treatment.

Empathy: gender effects in brain and behavior

Evidence suggests that there are differences in the capacity for empathy between males and females. However, how deep do these differences go? Stereotypically, females are portrayed as more nurturing and empathetic, while males are portrayed as less emotional and more cognitive. Some authors suggest that observed gender differences might be largely due to cultural expectations about gender roles. However, empathy has both evolutionary and developmental precursors, and can be studied using implicit measures, aspects that can help elucidate the respective roles of culture and biology. This article reviews evidence from ethology, social psychology, economics, and neuroscience to show that there are fundamental differences in implicit measures of empathy, with parallels in development and evolution. Studies in nonhuman animals and younger human populations (infants/children) offer converging evidence that sex differences in empathy have phylogenetic and ontogenetic roots in biology and are not merely cultural byproducts driven by socialization. We review how these differences may have arisen in response to males' and females' different roles throughout evolution. Examinations of the neurobiological underpinnings of empathy reveal important quantitative gender differences in the basic networks involved in affective and cognitive forms of empathy, as well as a qualitative divergence between the sexes in how emotional information is integrated to support decision making processes. Finally, the study of gender differences in empathy can be improved by designing studies with greater statistical power and considering variables implicit in gender (e.g., sexual preference, prenatal hormone exposure). These improvements may also help uncover the nature of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in which one sex is more vulnerable to compromised social competence associated with impaired empathy.

Chinese deaf readers have early access to parafoveal semantics

In the present study, we manipulated different types of information available in the parafovea during the reading of Chinese sentences and examined how deaf readers make use of the parafoveal information. Results clearly indicate that although the reading-level matched hearing readers make greater use of orthographic information in the parafovea, parafoveal semantic information is obtained earlier among the deaf readers. In addition, a phonological preview benefit effect was found for the better deaf readers (relative to less-skilled deaf readers), although we also provide an alternative explanation for this effect. Providing evidence that Chinese deaf readers have higher efficiency when processing parafoveal semantics, the study indicates flexibility across individuals in the mechanisms underlying word recognition adapting to the inputs available in the linguistic environment.

High-dose corticosterone after fear conditioning selectively suppresses fear renewal by reducing anxiety-like response

Exposure therapy is widely used to treat anxiety disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, preventing the return of fear is still a major challenge after this behavioral treatment. An increasing number of studies suggest that high-dose glucocorticoid treatment immediately after trauma can alleviate the symptoms of PTSD in humans. Unknown is whether high-dose glucocorticoid treatment following fear conditioning suppresses the return of fear. In the present study, a typical fear renewal paradigm (AAB) was used, in which the fear response to an auditory cue can be restored in a novel context (context B) when both training and extinction occur in the same context (context A). We trained rats for auditory fear conditioning and administered corticosterone (CORT; 5 and 25mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle with different delays (1 and 24h). Forty-eight hours after drug injection, extinction was conducted with no drug in the training context, followed by a test of tone-induced freezing behavior in the same (AAA) or a shifted (AAB) context. Both immediate and delayed administration of high-dose CORT after fear conditioning reduced fear renewal. To examine the anxiolytic effect of CORT, independent rats were trained for cued or contextual fear conditioning, followed by an injection of CORT (5 and 25mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle at a 1 or 24h delay. One week later, anxiety-like behavior was assessed in the elevated plus maze (EPM) before and after fear expression. We found that high-dose CORT decreased anxiety-like behavior without changing tone- or context-induced freezing. These findings indicate that a single high-dose CORT administration given after fear conditioning may selectively suppress fear renewal by reducing anxiety-like behavior and not by altering the consolidation, retrieval, or extinction of fear memory.

In support of a hot hand in professional basketball and baseball

Recent studies have found little empirical evidence to suggest that National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB) players have hot streaks. This has led some to suggest that hot hands do not exist and that offensive and defensive strategies adjusting to perceived hot hands are suboptimal. We study the MLB's Home Run Derby and the NBA's 3-point Shootout. When there is no defense, extended time between shots has been removed, and shot or swing selection is constant, we find evidence that player performance is nonstationary. Our results are consistent with beliefs long held by players, coaches, and fans, research on the importance of self-efficacy in sports, and studies that support the existence of hot streaks in sports with no or limited defense.

The hot hand belief as an inference of local temporal instability

The correspondence article (Shea, 2013, "In support of a hot hand…") examines MLB's Home Run Derby and the NBA's 3-point Shootout data, and reveals nonstationarity as empirical evidence supporting the hot hand belief. This result, together with recent understanding on human probabilistic reasoning with sparse data, suggests that the hot hand belief may have been driven by local and temporal instability in the task environment. We argue that computational models of the hot hand belief should take into consideration not only top-down cognitive biases but also the statistical structures of the task environment, where global structures evolve from intrinsically local properties centered on temporal instability.

Auditory attentional capture: implicit and explicit approaches

The extent to which distracting items capture attention despite being irrelevant to the task at hand can be measured either implicitly or explicitly (e.g., Simons, Trends Cogn Sci 4:147-155, 2000). Implicit approaches include the standard attentional capture paradigm in which distraction is measured in terms of reaction time and/or accuracy costs within a focal task in the presence (vs. absence) of a task-irrelevant distractor. Explicit measures include the inattention paradigm in which people are asked directly about their noticing of an unexpected task-irrelevant item. Although the processes of attentional capture have been studied extensively using both approaches in the visual domain, there is much less research on similar processes as they may operate within audition, and the research that does exist in the auditory domain has tended to focus exclusively on either an explicit or an implicit approach. This paper provides an overview of recent research on auditory attentional capture, integrating the key conclusions that may be drawn from both methodological approaches.

Individual differences in distractibility: An update and a model

This paper reviews the current literature on individual differences in susceptibility to the effects of background sound on visual-verbal task performance. A large body of evidence suggests that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) underpin individual differences in susceptibility to auditory distraction in most tasks and contexts. Specifically, high WMC is associated with a more steadfast locus of attention (thus overruling the call for attention that background noise may evoke) and a more constrained auditory-sensory gating (i.e., less processing of the background sound). The relation between WMC and distractibility is a general framework that may also explain distractibility differences between populations that differ along variables that covary with WMC (such as age, developmental disorders, and personality traits). A neurocognitive task-engagement/distraction trade-off (TEDTOFF) model that summarizes current knowledge is outlined and directions for future research are proposed.

Preventing Future Crimes

This review paper examines the growing body of research on the psycho-legal study of true and false intentions – a typically neglected area within the field of deception detection. The extant studies are thematically grouped into four main topics: (i) physiological measures; (ii) implicit measures; (iii) strategic interviewing; and (iv) studies examining episodic future thought (EFT) and mental images. The benefits and limitations, and underlying theory of the respective approaches are discussed. The paper also provides a note on relevant theory, specific for intention research, and recommendations for future research directions. Findings from experimental research are related to the applied context.

Stochastic computations in cortical microcircuit models

Experimental data from neuroscience suggest that a substantial amount of knowledge is stored in the brain in the form of probability distributions over network states and trajectories of network states. We provide a theoretical foundation for this hypothesis by showing that even very detailed models for cortical microcircuits, with data-based diverse nonlinear neurons and synapses, have a stationary distribution of network states and trajectories of network states to which they converge exponentially fast from any initial state. We demonstrate that this convergence holds in spite of the non-reversibility of the stochastic dynamics of cortical microcircuits. We further show that, in the presence of background network oscillations, separate stationary distributions emerge for different phases of the oscillation, in accordance with experimentally reported phase-specific codes. We complement these theoretical results by computer simulations that investigate resulting computation times for typical probabilistic inference tasks on these internally stored distributions, such as marginalization or marginal maximum-a-posteriori estimation. Furthermore, we show that the inherent stochastic dynamics of generic cortical microcircuits enables them to quickly generate approximate solutions to difficult constraint satisfaction problems, where stored knowledge and current inputs jointly constrain possible solutions. This provides a powerful new computing paradigm for networks of spiking neurons, that also throws new light on how networks of neurons in the brain could carry out complex computational tasks such as prediction, imagination, memory recall and problem solving.

Effects of inactivating the agranular or granular insular cortex on the acquisition of the morphine-induced conditioned place preference and naloxone-precipitated conditioned place aversion in rats

Recent studies have indicated that the insula underlies affective learning. Although affective learning is well-established in the development of opiate addiction, the role of insula in this context remains unclear. To elucidate the organization of opiate-related affective learning within the insular cortex, we reversibly inactivated each of two major subdivisions of the insula in rats and tested the effects of this inactivation on the acquisition of morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and conditioned place aversion (CPA) induced by naloxone-precipitated acute morphine withdrawal. Results showed that inactivation of the primary interoceptive posterior granular insula (GI), but not that of the high-order anterior agranular insula (AI), disrupted the acquisition of CPP and that both GI and AI inactivation impaired the acquisition of CPA. These data suggest that the insular cortex is involved in positive and negative affective learning related to opiate addiction. In particular, the GI appears to be critical for both forms of affective learning, whereas the AI is crucial for learning associated with negative affects induced by opiate withdrawal.

Resource Group Assertive Community Treatment (RACT) as a Tool of Empowerment for Clients with Severe Mental Illness: A Meta-Analysis

The aim of the current meta-analysis was to explore the effectiveness of the method here labeled Resource Group Assertive Community Treatment (RACT) for clients with psychiatric diagnoses as compared to standard care during the period 2001 - 2011. Included in the meta-analysis were 17 studies comprising a total of 2263 clients, 1291 men and 972 women, with a weighted mean age of 45.44 years. The diagnoses of 86 % of the clients were within the psychotic spectrum while 14 % had other psychiatric diagnoses. There were six randomized controlled trials and eleven observational studies. The studies spanned between 12 and 60 months, and 10 of them lasted 24 months. The results indicated a large effect-size for the "grand total measure" (Cohen´s d = 0.80). The study comprised three outcome variables: Symptoms, Functioning, and Well-being. With regard to Symptoms, a medium effect for both randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies was found, whereas Functioning showed large effects for both types of design. Concerning Well-being both large and medium effects were evident. The conclusions of the meta-analysis were that the treatment of clients with Resource Group Assertive Community Treatment yields positive effects for clients with psychoses and that the method may be of use for clients within the entire psychiatric spectrum.

Objective Measures of Behavior Manifestations in Adult ADHD and Differentiation from Participants with Bipolar II Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Participants with Disconfirmed ADHD as Well as Normative Participants

Background:

The present study evaluated two psychometric instruments derived from the objective measurement of adult ADHD using the Quantified Behavior Test Plus. The instruments were examined in ADHD versus a clinical group with overlapping symptoms including borderline personality disorder and bipolar II disorder, and another clinical group with participants assessed for but disconfirmed a diagnosis of ADHD as well as adult normative participants.

Methods:

The Quantified Behavior Test Plus includes Continuous Performance Testing and a Motion Tracking System with parameters related to attention and activity operationalized as the cardinal symptoms of ADHD and then summarized into a Weighed Core Symptoms scale with ten cut-points ranging from 0 to 100. A categorical predictor variable called Prediction of ADHD was used to examine the levels of sensitivity and specificity for the Quantified Behavior Test Plus with regard to ADHD.

Results:

The Weighed Core Symptoms scale separated ADHD and normative participants from each other as well as from the two clinical reference groups. The scale reported highest levels of core symptoms in the ADHD group and the lowest level of core symptoms in the normative group. Analyses with Prediction of ADHD yielded 85 % specificity for the normative group, 87 % sensitivity for the ADHD group, 36 % sensitivity for the bipolar II and borderline group and 41 % sensitivity for the group with a disconfirmed diagnosis of ADHD.

Conclusions:

The Weighed Core Symptoms scale facilitated objective assessment of adult ADHD insofar that the ADHD group presented more core symptoms than the other two clinical groups and the normative group. Sensitivity for the Quantified Behavior Test Plus was lower in complex clinical groups with Bipolar II disorder, Borderline disorder and in patients with a disconfirmed diagnosis of ADHD. The psychometric instruments may be further evaluated with regard to well-documented and effective treatment programs for ADHD core symptoms.

Parafoveal semantic information extraction in traditional Chinese reading

Semantic information extraction from the parafovea has been reported only in simplified Chinese for a special subset of characters and its generalizability has been questioned. This study uses traditional Chinese, which differs from simplified Chinese in visual complexity and in mapping semantic forms, to demonstrate access to parafoveal semantic information during reading of this script. Preview duration modulates various types (identical, phonological, and unrelated) of parafoveal information extraction. Parafoveal semantic extraction is more elusive in English; therefore, we conclude that such effects in Chinese are presumably caused by substantial cross-language differences from alphabetic scripts. The property of Chinese characters carrying rich lexical information in a small region provides the possibility of semantic extraction in the parafovea.