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PubMed2007

Triggering the intentional stance.

While humans possess a ready capacity to view a target (biological or otherwise) as an intentional agent (i.e. the 'intentional stance'), the conditions necessary for spontaneously eliciting these mentalizing processes are less well understood. Although research examining people's tendency to construe the motion of geometric shapes as intentional has done much to illuminate this issue, due to methodological limitations (a reliance on subjective self-report) this work has not fully addressed the potentially automatic and obligatory nature of mentalizing. Acknowledging this problem, recent research using prelinguistic infants, neuroimaging technology and methods that avoid explicit self-report all provide unique paths to circumvent this shortcoming. While work of this kind has generally corroborated the results of previous investigations, it has also raised a number of new issues. One such issue is whether spontaneous mentalizing processes for abstract non-biological stimuli are instantiated in the same neural architecture as those for realistic representations of intentional biological agents. This question is considered in the current chapter.

Emotions↗
PubMed2005

Mapping knowledge to boolean dynamic systems in Bateson's epistemology.

Gregory Bateson (1972, 1979) established an epistemology that integrates mind and nature as a necessary unity, a unity in which learning and evolution share fundamental principles and in which criteria for mental process are explicitly specified. E42 is a suite of freely available Java applets that constitute an online research lab for creating and interacting with simulations of the Boolean systems developed by Kauffman (1993) in his study of evolution where he proposed that self-organization and natural selection are co-principles "weaving the tapestry of life." This paper maps Boolean systems, developed in the study of evolution, onto Bateson's epistemology in general and onto his criteria of mental process in particular.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Adenotonsillectomy improves neurocognitive function in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate neurocognitive functions of children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), before and after adenotonsillectomy, compared with healthy controls. DESIGN: Prospective study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-nine children with OSAS aged 5 to 9 years (mean age, 6.8 +/- 0.2 years) and 20 healthy children (mean age, 7.4 +/- 1.4 years) who served as controls, underwent a battery of neurocognitive tests containing process-oriented intelligence scales. Twenty-seven children in the OSAS group underwent follow-up neurocognitive testing 6 to 10 months after adenotonsillectomy. Fourteen children in the control group were also reevaluated 6 to 10 months after the first evaluation. RESULTS: Children with OSAS had lower scores compared with healthy children in some Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) subtests and in the general scale Mental Processing Composite, indicating impaired neurocognitive function. No correlation was found between neurocognitive performance and OSAS severity. Six to 10 months after adenotonsillectomy, the children with OSAS demonstrated significant improvement in sleep characteristics, as well as in daytime behavior. Their neurocognitive performance improved considerably, reaching the level of the control group in the subtests Gestalt Closure, Triangles, Word Order, and the Matrix analogies, as well as in the K-ABC general scales, Sequential and Simultaneous Processing scales, and the Mental Processing Composite scale. The magnitude of the change expressed as effect sizes showed medium and large improvements in all 3 general scales of the K-ABC tests. CONCLUSIONS: Neurocognitive function is impaired in otherwise healthy children with OSAS. Most functions improve to the level of the control group, indicating that the impaired neurocognitive functions are mostly reversible, at least 3 to 10 months following adenotonsillectomy.

Adenoidectomy↗
PubMed2006

[Cognitive development and attention performances at school age of "normal" prematurely born children].

OBJECTIVE: A preterm birth can exert an influence on cognitive development. The aim of this study was to determine whether preterm birth may impact on attention executive processes, at school age, in children without neurological sequelae. DESIGN AND METHODS: Prematurely born children admitted in the level III NICU of the Maternité régionale of Nancy between 1992 and 1994, underwent at 8 to 10 years 8 subtests of the mental processing scales of the K-ABC, which assess process categories involved in learning. The children were also submitted to 3 tests that evaluate attention mechanisms efficiency (category fluency task, backward digits span, Tower of London). The controls were children born at term recruted in schools of the same area. RESULTS: The 124 children were born with birth weight appropriate for gestational age, and were in the school grades expected for their ages, in 3rd, 4rth, and 5fth grades. Fifty-three children were born at term, 29 were prematurely born (33-36 w), and 42 were very prematurely born (28-32 w). Birth term was significantly correlated (P < 0.001) with scores at sequential processing scale, at simultaneous processing scale and at the mental processing composite scale. At this scale, the children born at term obtained a median score of 112, the children prematurely born of 101, and the children very prematurely born of 98.5. For 40 third grade children (18 born at term, 10 prematurely born, and 12 very prematurely born), birth term was significantly correlated with performances at the 3 tests of attention. In all cases, preterm was inversely correlated with performances. CONCLUSION: The results are consistent with a lower efficiency in attention executive processes which may be related to the higher frequency of learning disabilities associated with prematurity.

Attention↗
PubMed2006

Restoring theta-like rhythmicity in rats restores initial learning in the Morris water maze.

Neural activity often becomes rhythmic during mental processing. But there has been no direct proof that rhythmicity, per se, is important for mental function. We assessed this issue in relation to the contribution of hippocampal theta-frequency rhythmicity to learning in the Morris water maze by blocking theta (and other septal inputs to the hippocampus) and then using electrical stimulation to restore rhythmicity. We injected tetracaine into the medial septal area, and so blocked septal input to the hippocampus in rats throughout 16 consecutive trials in a Morris water maze. Rats with no hippocampal theta also showed no initial learning in the maze. Theta rhythmicity in the supramammillary area remained after septal blockade, and we used this to trigger electrical stimulation of the fornix superior. This substantially restored hippocampal theta-like rhythmicity throughout training at a normal frequency but with abnormal wave forms. This treatment applied throughout training substantially restored initial learning. Fixed frequency (7.7 Hz) stimulation produced rhythmic activity and a brief improvement in learning. Irregular stimulation with an average frequency of 7.7 Hz produced little rhythmicity and little improvement in learning. These results demonstrate that brain rhythmicity, per se, can be important for mental processing even when the detailed information originally carried by neurons is lost and when the reinstated pattern of population firing is not normal. The results suggest that the precise frequency of rhythmicity may be important for hippocampal function. Functional rhythmicity needs, therefore, to be included in neural models of cognitive processing. The success of our procedure also suggests that simple alterations of rhythmicity could be used to ameliorate deficits in learning and memory. (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2000

Number processing and mental calculation in school children aged 7 to 10 years: a transcultural comparison.

Neuropsychological studies of dyscalculic patients show that arithmetical development is not a unidimensional process. In transcultural investigations, cultural, educational and linguistic factors might affect differently the various components of mathematical development. Four hundred and sixty schoolchildren aged 7 to 10 years from Brasilia, Brazil (n = 141), Paris, France (n = 160) and Zurich, Switzerland (n = 159) were asked to perform eleven number processing and calculation tasks. Chronological age, which was almost confounded in this study to educational level, had a strong effect on some tasks (knowledge of the written code of numbers, number comparison, mental calculation, problem solving), but only a slight effect on other tasks (counting dots, counting backwards, estimation). Also, linguistic factors and factors related to the socio-economic level of the family had different effects on the various components of calculation and number processing. Evidence from developmental studies has to be integrated into theoretical models of calculation and number processsing, which are presently based mainly on results from neuropsychological studies of dyscalculic patients.

Brazil↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of maternal employment and prematurity on child outcomes in single parent families.

BACKGROUND: Effects of maternal employment for preschool children vary based on specific characteristics of the mother's employment, the family's economic status, and the mother's attitudes about employment. However, there is limited research on a growing group of children at developmental risk-those born prematurely and living in a single-parent family. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of maternal employment and prematurity on child cognition and behavior in single-parent families. METHODS: Sixty preterm and 61 full-term preschool children were recruited through NICU admission records and birth records. Data were collected with the Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Child Behavior Checklist, Parenting Stress Index, and the Life History Calendar. RESULTS: Greater hours employed was related to higher achievement and mental processing scores only. Less discrepancy between actual and desired employment was related to higher achievement, mental processing, and language scores and lower behavior scores. Prematurity was not related to child cognitive and behavioral performance. Only the relationship between discrepancy and language remained after statistical control. CONCLUSIONS: The concerns about negative effects of maternal employment on young children may be overstated, especially in low-income, single-mother families. These findings are especially important in the context of welfare reform.

Achievement↗
PubMed1992

Gall's psychophysiological concept of function: the rise and decline of "internal essence".

Gall did not employ the term "function" to refer to adaptive mental processes or to observable behavior. To the contrary, he and the phrenologists took a traditional concept of function regarding the contribution or duties of a part within the overall "animal economy" and argued that the "faculties" of the soul are among the functions of the nervous system. In particular, he brought this psychophysiological use of the term into his Enlightenment perspective when he aligned it with internal essence, juxtaposed it to its external sign, and argued that the cerebral organs are the material instruments through which the internal faculties manifest themselves in behavior and in the shape of the skull. Gall did not believe that the faculties are a product of the organs but that the organs, being material incarnations of the internal functions, contain the power to express the faculties externally. Purely psychological uses of function are infrequent among the works of Gall and his followers. It was not until the functionalists at the turn of the century that the word was applied to the adaptive utility of mental processes in relation to the environment and not until the advent of behaviorism that it was employed to refer to the end or adaptive utility of a particular behavior.

Europe↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The continuous improvement process in mental health services management].

The basic tenet of continuous quality improvement is that there is always room for additional improvement in the clinical care provided to patients. The opportunities for this improvement come from the analysis of information collected during the ongoing monitoring of important elements of care. The provision of clinical psychiatric care is seen as a complex process that is dependent on the effective functioning of all of the health and mental health care organization. The concept of continuous quality improvement is the most recent stage in a long process of defining and redefining the basic goals and tenants of medical and psychiatric quality assurance. The determination of the actual improvement of psychiatric and mental health care due to quality assurance is a substantial and important technical problem. The determination of the value of this improvement in mental health care is an even greater ethical and social problem.

Humans↗
PubMed1985

[The effect of a new antiparkinson agent, Selegilin, on psychomotor performance in humans].

A combination of tests consisting of a compensation task with differential value indication, a tachystoscopic arrangement with verbal identification of characteristic features and an arrangement for a visually induced motor reaction was carried out on 12 healthy volunteers aged from 20-30 to determine psychomotor efficiency under the influence of the new antiparkinson drug selegiline (Eldepryl). The results were compared with the effects of the psychostimulant fenetylline and the depressant-antihistamine chlorphenoxamine, and with a placebo. While fenetylline and chlorphenoxamine produced the anticipated effects with regard to an improvement or deterioration in performance in all parameters, selegiline resulted in a slightly longer motor reaction time and an increase in control errors, and in a significantly longer mental processing time. In comparison with the placebo, selegiline increased the motor reaction time by 0.8 +/- 1.95% and mental processing time by 4.1 +/- 1.7%. This depressant effect of selegiline, however, only attained 1/8 and 2/3, resp., of the sedative effect of the normal dose of the antihistamine chlorophenoxamine. Under the influence of chlorphenoxamine, performance becomes less regular and under fenetylline more regular. Selegiline does not differ significantly from the placebo. In spite of selegiline metabolites 1-metamphetamine and 1-amphetamine, which act as mild stimulants, the slightly depressant effect of selegiline detected can be explained by the increased effect of dopamine inhibitory neurons, particularly in the inhibitory system of the formatio reticularis and the cortex frontalis as a result of a concentration of dopamine.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Review of neuropsychological functioning in treated phenylketonuria: an information processing approach.

Phenylketonuria is no longer associated with mental retardation and other devastating neurological effects. Nonetheless, learning disabilities and IQ loss are common, even in early-treated individuals. Until recently, IQ was used as the sole measure of mental functioning in this population. As specific academic deficits were recognized and as a greater variety of tests became available, evaluation of children with phenylketonuria has included neuropsychological testing. A review of the 21 published reports highlights the areas of consensus and the need for additional well designed studies in the future. Problem solving, particularly abstract reasoning and executive functions, appears to be impaired in children with phenylketonuria. Reaction time, or speed of mental processing, appears to be the other important area affected in PKU. An information processing model is presented as a paradigm for further research and development of remedial strategies for children with phenylketonuria.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

Depth of processing by mentally retarded and MA-matched nonretarded individuals.

Mildly mentally retarded and MA-matched nonretarded individuals were tested for speed and accuracy in responding to questions requiring different processing depth in the Craik and Tulving paradigm and then given an unexpected recognition task. Retarded individuals required progressively more encoding time relative to nonretarded individuals as processing depth increased. Both encoding and recognition accuracy, however, was equivalent for both groups; greater elaboration improved recognition in both groups. Implications for the study of retardation were presented.

Child↗
PubMed2006

Nurse-client processes in mental health: recipients' perspectives.

An ethnonursing method was selected to explore and describe nursing support relationships, from the perspectives of recipients, within the mental health subculture. Data sources consisted of three semi-structured client interviews (n = 14) and field notes. When nurses were described as nice and friendly, and validated the client as a person by listening, three overlapping phases of development emerged from the data. These included: a glimmer of help, exploring and problem solving, and saying goodbye. When clients had negative experiences with nurses, they felt a lack of trust towards nurses and felt that their feelings were left unexplored. As a result, the relationships deteriorated. Deterioration began immediately in the first phase called withholding, and continued through the phases of avoiding and ignoring, and struggling with and making sense of. These findings raise healthcare providers' awareness about developing and deteriorating nurse-client relationships, and support the value of the therapeutic relationship as an instrument to restore and promote clients' health.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed2004

Self-knowledge: its limits, value, and potential for improvement.

Because of personal motives and the architecture of the mind, it may be difficult for people to know themselves. People often attempt to block out unwanted thoughts and feelings through conscious suppression and perhaps through unconscious repression, though whether such attempts are successful is controversial. A more common source of self-knowledge failure is the inaccessibility of much of the mind to consciousness, including mental processes involved in perception, motor learning, personality, attitudes, and self-esteem. Introspection cannot provide a direct pipeline to these mental processes, though some types of introspection may help people construct beneficial personal narratives. Other ways of increasing self-knowledge include looking at ourselves through the eyes of others and observing our own behavior. These approaches can potentially promote self-knowledge, although major obstacles exist. It is not always advantageous to hold self-perceptions that correspond perfectly with reality, but increasing awareness of nonconscious motives and personality is generally beneficial.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

Information processing speed in patients with multiple sclerosis.

We have recently proposed that the cognitive deficits of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) share numerous characteristics associated with the syndrome of subcortical dementia. One such characteristic, slowness of mental processing, was evaluated in the present study. Thirty-six MS patients were compared to 26 normal controls of equivalent age, education, and verbal intelligence on the Sternberg memory scanning test. As anticipated, the motor-involved MS patients had an overall slower reaction time than did controls. Their scanning rate, a measure of pure cognitive speed, was also significantly slower than controls. These results suggest that MS patients exhibit a slowing of mental processing independent of motor involvement.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

A theoretical framework for understanding self-report and observational measures of pain: a communications model.

Self-report and observational measures of pain are examined from the perspective of a model of human communication. This model examines the experience of pain as affected by intrapersonal and contextual factors, the process whereby it is encoded into expressive behaviour, and the process of decoding by observers prior to their engaging in action. Self-report measures primarily capture expressive pain behaviour that is under the control of higher mental processes, whereas observational measures capture behaviour that is less subject to voluntary control and more automatic. Automatic expressive behaviours are subject to less purposeful distortion than are behaviours dependent upon higher mental processes. Consequently, observational measures can be used and have clinical utility as indices of pain when self-report is not available, for example, in infants, young children, people with intellectual disabilities or brain damage, and seniors with dementia. These measures are also useful when the credibility of self-report is questioned and even when credible self-report is available. However, automatic behaviours may be more difficult for observers to decode. The model outlined herein takes into account the role of various human developmental stages in pain experience and expression and in understanding the utility of self-report and observational measures. We conclude that both observational and self-report measures are essential in the assessment of pain because of the unique information that each type contributes.

Humans↗
PubMed2004

Auditory event-related potentials and psychological changes during sleep deprivation.

This study investigated the psychophysiological effects of sleep deprivation on auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) and their relationship with psychological parameters. Twenty-four subjects remained awake for 37 h under continuous surveillance. In the mornings and the evenings of 2 consecutive study days, AERPs were recorded and 4 self-rated scales (sleepiness, fatigue, anxiety, and mood) were quantified. The latencies of P300 and N200 were significantly prolonged (p < 0.001) and their amplitudes decreased (p < 0.05) as a consequence of sleep deprivation. However, the only significant change in N100 and P200 was an increase in the P200 amplitude (p < 0.05). The increase in the latencies of P300 and N200 were correlated with increased sleepiness (p < 0.05), and the increase in P200 amplitude was correlated with negative mood, anxiety, and fatigue (p < 0.05). Although the changes in P300 and N200 induced by sleep deprivation are due to sleepiness, which may slow cognitive processing and decrease the efficiency of mental processing, the increase in P200 may be related with increased anxiety, negative mood, and fatigue.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Basal ganglia volumes following CO poisoning: A prospective longitudinal study.

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning may result in focal and diffuse neuropathological changes, including basal ganglia lesions. The effect of CO poisoning on basal ganglia volumes over time is unclear. We assessed basal ganglia volumes longitudinally following CO poisoning. We prospectively enrolled 73 CO poisoned patients who underwent brain MR imaging on day 1 (baseline), 2 weeks, and 6 months post-CO poisoning. Basal ganglia volumes were obtained. One patient had bilateral globus pallidus lesions at two weeks and 6 months. Of the CO-poisoned patients 28% had volume reduction in at least one basal ganglia structure by 6 months, of which 21% had putamen, 15% had caudate, 15% had globus pallidus, and 16% had total basal ganglia volume reduction. Putamen volumes were significantly smaller from baseline to six months (p = 0.02). Verbal memory and mental processing speed correlated with smaller putamen and globus pallidus volumes. Carbon monoxide poisoning results in basal ganglia volume reduction 6 months post CO poisoning. Slow mental processing speed and impaired memory correlated with smaller putamen and globus pallidus volumes. Clinicians need to be aware of basal ganglia neuropathologic changes in the absence of observable lesions following CO poisoning.

Adolescent↗