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Information processing speed of children with Friedreich's ataxia.

Two children with Friedreich's ataxia and six controls matched for age and Verbal IQ were administered a measure of short-term memory scanning and tests of attention, memory, language and abstraction. The patients demonstrated a deficit in information processing speed, decreased sustained attention and variable memory performance. The findings suggest that a deficit in information processing speed occurs early in the clinical course of Friedreich's ataxia and progresses as neurological status deteriorates.

Attention↗

Visual information processing speed in hypnotized and nonhypnotized subjects.

Using a backward-masking paradigm with a bias-free and ceiling-free psychophysical task, we tested hypnotized and control subjects for speed of visual information processing. Approximately half of each group received visual imagery suggestions in an attempt to influence attention. Imagery produced no significant differential effect. Although an absence of a hypnotizability-performance relationship was in keeping with findings of a previous study, those subjects in the present study who performed under hypnosis were, as a group, significantly superior to the other subjects in speed of information processing.

Humans↗

Speed of information processing as a mediator between age and free-recall performance.

A combined experimental and individual differences approach was used to investigate the mediating role of task-specific and task-independent speed of information processing measures in the relationship between age and free-recall performance. Thirty-six younger adults (mean age = 21 years) and 36 older adults (mean age = 73 years) participated. Participants were required to encode 3 lists of words for immediate recall, by rehearsing the words aloud, twice, and 3 times. Participants' speed of information processing was assessed by 3 measures: rehearsal time, articulation speed, and scores on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST; Wechsler, 1981). Working memory was also assessed by a backward word-span measure. As predicted, younger adults recalled more words after rehearsing words 3 times rather than once, whereas older adults' recall did not increase with increasing numbers of rehearsals. Younger adults were faster on all speed-of-processing measures and had higher backward word span than did older adults. Task-independent speed of processing, measured by DSST scores and articulation speed, mediated the relationship between age and free recall. Scores on the DSST appear to reflect a fundamental difference between younger and older adults that influences recall performance.

Adolescent↗

[EEG-activity patterns in visual information processing: characteristics, variance-analytical deliminiation, discriminance-analytical determination of undispensable variables and scale level].

1. In order to determine the variable distributions of 5 activation dependent EEG activity patterns occurring during visual information processing, mean values and standard deviations of the percental quantities of the frequencies 4, 5, ..., 13 Hz, 14 to 20 Hz and 21 to 30 Hz, as well as the mean amplitudes in the frequency bands 3.5 ... 7.4 Hz, 7.5 ... 13.4 Hz and 13.5 to 30 Hz were determined on corresponding to 10 s samples. It could be demonstrated by regression analysis that an interval scale level can be assumed already on the basis of cethe percental quantities in the three last mentioned frequency bands. 2. On the basis of 18 relevant variables, all the adjacent activity patterns could be separated from each other by means of univariate variance analysis at pairwise mean value comparison by at least two variables. 3. After stepwise reduction of dispensable variables in the framework of a linear discriminance analysis an optimal set of variables was determined, comprising the percental quantities of the frequencies 4, 5, 6, 10, 12 Hz, and 14 to 20 Hz, as well as the mean value of the amplitudes in the frequency band 3.5 to 7.4 Hz. In 4 our of 5 elementary discriminance functions, the mean values calculated for each pattern were significantly distinguishable from each other (analysis of variance, Newman-Keuls test). 4. By linear regression analysis it could be shown that the classification system of the EEG activity patterns at visual information processing can be mapped on an interval scale after the reduction of variables, too. Finally, data about the reliability of the scoring procedure are presented.

Adult↗

Effects of two dosages of chlordesmethyldiazepam on mnestic-information processes in normal subjects.

A double-blind, randomized protocol was used to investigate the activity of a benzodiazepine derivative, chlordesmethyldiazepam, at two different dosages, 1 mg and 2 mg (CDDZ1 and CDDZ2), on mnestic functions and information processing in normal subjects. CDDZ2 significantly impaired short-term shortage of logical and associative memory, without activity on spatial and visual memory, whereas CDDZ1 showed no difference from the placebo. Neither CDDZ1 nor CDDZ2 impaired the level of vigilance and the information processes the morning after use of the drug.

Adult↗

Information processing deficits in children with early and continuously treated phenylketonuria?

Thirty-three patients with early and continuously treated classical phenylketonuria (PKU) and 33 controls matched for age, gender, and educational level of both parents, participated in a chronometric study exploring elementary mechanisms of information processing. Subjects performed speeded performance tasks designed to systematically vary the load on perceptual, central, and output-related mechanisms of information processing. A preliminary analysis of the data indicated that the overall performance of patients with early and continuously treated PKU practically matched that of the controls on all three tasks. Although this finding must be interpreted with caution as it is based on only a preliminary analysis of the data, it suggests that PKU patients who are continuously maintained on a well-controlled phenylalanine-restricted diet are not deficient in the elementary mechanisms of processing. Given the more recent findings indicating that young children with early-treated classical PKU have specific cognitive deficits in the executive function skills, despite relatively strict dietary control, the authors suggest that future studies should focus on these higher-order cognitive processes.

Adolescent↗

[Changes in the rate and accuracy of information processing in the computer training of middle-grade pupils].

The computer enters more and more quickly the new school. Therefore an important problem is the influence of computer training on the velocity and accuracy of information processing. For this purpose were examined 28 school-children from VI-VII class, participating in computer training, computer plays and traditional lesion. This activity was carried out in the computer study of the Pioneer Palace, Sofia. An electronic determinator with test programme, containing preliminary arranged succession of 50 visual stimulants on red, blue, green, yellow and white colours, at vas used at 1,2 s. speed. The changes in the correct, delayed and wrong reactions were traced. The results as a whole point out, that the computer training, on the one hand, has no unfavourable effect on the velocity and accuracy of information processing, and on the other hand--forms positive psychoemotional adjustment to work.

Bulgaria↗

Documenting the efficacy of virtual reality exposure with psychophysiological and information processing measures.

Many outcome studies have been conducted to assess the efficacy of virtual reality in the treatment of specific phobias. However, most studies used self-report data. The addition of objective measures of arousal and information processing mechanisms would be a valuable contribution in order to validate the usefulness of virtual reality in the treatment of anxiety disorders. The goal of this study was to document the impact of virtual reality exposure (VRE) on cardiac response and automatic processing of threatening stimuli. Twenty-eight adults suffering from arachnophobia were assessed and received an exposure-based treatment using virtual reality. General outcome and specific processes measures included a battery of standardized questionnaires, a pictorial emotional Stroop task, a behavioral avoidance test and a measure of participants' inter-beat intervals (IBI) while they were looking at a live tarantula. Assessment was conducted before and after treatment. Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that therapy had a positive impact on questionnaire data, as well as on the behavioral avoidance test. Analyses made on the pictorial Stroop task showed that information processing of spider-related stimuli changed after treatment, which also indicates therapeutic success. Psychophysiological data also showed a positive change after treatment, suggesting a decrease in anxiety. In sum, VRE led to significant therapeutic improvements on objective measures as well as on self-report instruments.

Adult↗

Isolation of a central bottleneck of information processing with time-resolved FMRI.

When humans attempt to perform two tasks at once, execution of the first task usually leads to postponement of the second one. This task delay is thought to result from a bottleneck occurring at a central, amodal stage of information processing that precludes two response selection or decision-making operations from being concurrently executed. Using time-resolved functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), here we present a neural basis for such dual-task limitations, e.g. the inability of the posterior lateral prefrontal cortex, and possibly the superior medial frontal cortex, to process two decision-making operations at once. These results suggest that a neural network of frontal lobe areas acts as a central bottleneck of information processing that severely limits our ability to multitask.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Information-processing speed and assessment of early response latency among stroke patients.

The development of assessment methods for estimating and predicting amount of functional impairment among stroke patients is important for planning rehabilitation. This study explored the contribution of speed of information processing and response latency in the assessment of 39 stroke patients. Functional impairment was assessed among these patients using the Functional Independence Measure, administered within 72 hours of admission to a rehabilitation center. The correlations between the scores on this measure and on a computerized measure of speed of information processing, Cognitive Performance Test, were examined. The Functional Independence Measure can be used with an acute stroke population. Scores are correlated with cognitive indicators of functional impairment, and scores discriminate between severity of functional impairment. These results are discussed with regard to their implication in monitoring stroke patients throughout rehabilitation.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Auditory-evoked potentials and selective attention: different ways of information processing in cannabis users and controls.

The present study tested the hypothesis that chronic cannabis use leads to persistent attentional dysfunctions and that age of onset of cannabis use is a potential predictor of impaired test performance and information processing. Brain event-related potentials (ERPs) during a complex auditory selective attention task were recorded from 21 cannabis users divided into two groups according to age of onset and from 13 controls comparable with respect to age, IQ and educational background. Participants were instructed to detect target tones of a particular location, pitch and duration from a total sample of random frequencies. The study reveals that the latency of the greatest negative peak of ERPs (200 and 300 ms) to target tones was shorter in controls, while there was no clear difference between target and non-target within cannabis users. In addition, users displayed a reduced P3 to target tones. This was more pronounced in early-onset cannabis users. These data suggest that chronic cannabis use relates to different types of information processing under conditions of selective attention. There is some evidence that users employed different strategies of attention allocation. The results are discussed with respect to possible underlying mechanisms and clinical implications.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

The effect of mental retardation and schizophrenia on information processing.

Research Diagnostic Criteria-diagnosed schizophrenic persons with average intelligence and dual diagnosis mentally retarded schizophrenic persons were tested in a forced-choice letter discrimination task in order to examine the relationship between schizophrenia and retardation from the standpoint of information-processing theory. The subjects consisted of eight schizophrenic persons of average or better intelligence, eight mentally retarded schizophrenic persons, and a control group of eight Research Diagnostic Criteria-diagnosed minor depressive individuals who were matched with the nonretarded schizophrenic group for intelligence. The groups did not differ significantly on the minimum exposure duration needed to identify an unmasked target stimulus at criterion levels of accuracy. When masked stimuli were employed, however, the depressive group obtained significantly more correct detections than both schizophrenic groups. More importantly, the performance of the two schizophrenic groups did not differ significantly. Our data indicated that schizophrenic deficits in information processing are independent of intellectual factors. Thus, vulnerability to a masking stimulus in schizophrenic persons can be attributed to the pathology of schizophrenia. This vulnerability indicates that schizophrenic patients are slow information processors.

Adult↗

Modulatory role of serotonin in neural information processing: implications for human psychopathology.

Investigation of the role of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HT), which functions as a modulator in the central nervous system, across behavioral contexts suggests that a general principle of transmitter function may be derived that is independent of specific behaviors and specific neural loci. A functional principle of 5-HT action in neural information processing in the central nervous system is proposed. Extremes deviations in 5-HT activity result in biases in information processing that may have direct effects on behavior. Such biases may predispose to pathological conditions such as violent suicide and aggression.

Aggression↗

Media richness and social information processing: rationale for multifocal continuing medical education activities.

Academic business communication has studied the results of media selection in organizations. Little of this work has been discussed in the context of continuing medical education (CME); however, it may apply to improving the design of educational activities. This article reviews literature on media richness and social information processing theories. The concept of media richness suggests that media choice results from a match between the objective characteristics of the medium and the content requirements of a message. In this context, media include face-to-face conversation and print and electronic media. Social information processing theory suggests that media selection is also based on participants' social norms for how information is communicated in their environment and the participants' familiarity with specific media types. Appraisal of CME with respect to these theories suggests that the complex relationship of CME content and CME participant environments invites the most effective strategies of multiple media experienced over time in what might be called multifocal continuing medical education.

Communication↗

The disruption of the 'sense of self' in schizophrenia: potential links with disturbances of information processing.

It is argued in this paper that the disruption of one aspect of the 'sense of self' in schizophrenia, that relating to the continuity of conscious experience and the organization of action, may be linked to current models of the information-processing disturbance prominent in the disorder. The 'sense of self' in normal persons in part results from the consistent manner in which contextually appropriate stored material operates of sensory input. If, as has been proposed, there is in schizophrenia a disruption in the moment-by-moment integration of these sources of information, then a disturbance in the 'sense of self' is implicit in the cognitive model. A consideration of action identification theory (Vallacher & Wegner, 1987) permits further links to be made, since higher-level action identities are viewed as being practically synonymous with self-defining significance. It is suggested that the information-processing disturbance results in a tendency to low-level action identification and a gradually developing instability in the sense of personal identity.

Attention↗

Going beyond exposure to local news media: an information-processing examination of public perceptions of food safety.

The relationship between local news media and public perceptions of food safety was examined in a statewide telephone survey (n = 524). The theoretical framework of the study was based on a review of the social and psychological factors that affect public concerns about food safety, the relationship between mass communication and risk perception, and the thesis of information-processing strategies and its impact on learning from the news. The results show that information-processing strategies substantially mediated the relationship between local news media and public perceptions of food safety, with elaborative processing being more influential than active reflection in people's learning from the news media. Attention to local television had an independent effect, after demographics, awareness of food safety problems, and perceived safety of local food supply were statistically controlled. Other important predictors included gender, education, ethnicity, and perceived safety of local food supply.

Adult↗

Dismissing-avoidant pattern of attachment and mimicry reactions at different levels of information processing.

Individuals with a dismissing-avoidant pattern of attachment are assumed to repress anxiety-related signals, a disposition hypothesized to interfere with facial mimicry and emotional contagion. Further, they are assumed to have one internal working model associated with anxiety, operating out of awareness at early, automatic stages of information processing, and another positive model operating at later, cognitively controlled stages of processing. The main aim of the present investigation was to compare facial mimicry in dismissing-avoidant and non-dismissing subjects at different levels of information processing. Pictures of happy and angry faces were exposed to 61 subjects at three different exposure times (17, 56, and 2,350 ms) in order to elicit facial muscle reactions, first at automatic levels and then at a more controlled levels. Corrugator activity ("frowning muscles") represented negative emotions and zygomaticus activity ("smiling muscles") positive emotions. The dismissing-avoidant subjects scored significantly lower on emotional empathy than the non-dismissing subjects. At the automatic level the dismissing-avoidant subjects showed "normal" corrugator responses (negative emotions) upon exposure to angry faces. At the cognitively controlled level of processing (2,350 ms) a significant interaction effect was shown between Faces x Muscles x Attachment pattern. The dismissing-avoidant subjects showed no corrugator response and an increased zygomaticus response ("smiling reaction") to the angry face, whereas the non-dismissing subjects reacted with a significant mimicking reaction. The dismissing-avoidant subjects' tendency to "smiling" in response to the angry face at the controlled level (2,350 ms) may be interpreted as a repression of their earlier, automatically evoked (56 ms) negative emotional reaction.

Adult↗

Exposure to disgust-evoking imagery and information processing biases in blood-injection-injury phobia.

Biased processing of threat-relevant information is a central construct among contemporary theories of anxiety. However, biases in attentional and memory processes have not been systematically investigated in blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia. Theory has suggested that disgust rather than fear characterizes BII phobia and may mediate processing biases differently. We investigated the effects of a disgust mood induction on attention and memory in BII phobic and nonphobic participants. The Stroop task failed to demonstrate an attentional bias toward medical and disgust words, even under conditions of disgust provocation. However, an implicit memory task showed that BII phobics completed more medical and disgust word stems than nonphobics. These results suggest that BII phobia may be characterized by a similar implicit memory, but not an attentional, bias found in other anxiety disorders. As such, information processing in BII phobia may be qualitatively different from other anxiety disorders. Implications for further research regarding information processing biases in BII phobia are discussed.

Adolescent↗