Rats' sensitivity to their direction of movement and spontaneous alternation behaviour.
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
W N Dember
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Metacontrast with black and white stimuli.
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Color Perception↗
Backward enhancement?
Presentation of a masking stimulus enhances, rather than detracts from, detectability of certain multisegment targets. Present theories of backward masking cannot account for this "backward enhancement" effect, which resembles another puzzling phenomenon, previously reported as target recovery or disinhibition. An explanation in terms of interaction between retinal excitatory and inhibitory fields is offered.
Adult↗
Recovery of masked visual targets by inhibition of the masking stimulus.
Theories of visual backward masking all assume that a masked target is eliminated from the visual system. Experiments on reaction time to masked signals suggest otherwise, as does a recent demonstration that a masked target can be restored to phenomenal awareness by backward masking of the target's mask. Two experiments are reported here that substantiate the possibility of recovering a masked target, by using different stimulus materials and a more elaborate design than was employed in the first demonstration of this effect.
Humans↗
Recent advances in the neuropsychology of human olfaction and anosmia.
Patients' olfactory functioning is rarely considered by rehabilitation specialists because this capacity is seen as unnecessary for most vocational and academic purposes. However, several recent studies have shown that intermittent exposure to fragrances can help subjects sustain attention more efficiently. As this effect is especially pronounced when subjects report attention-maintenance difficulties, accessory olfactory stimulation may enhance the sustained attention capacities of head-injured subjects. Another study is cited in which subjects who lost their sense of smell following head injuries were found to experience more difficulty in maintaining employment. This effect is probably related to orbital lobe damage, which usually accompanies post-traumatic anosmia. The implications of these studies for rehabilitation professionals are discussed.
Arousal↗