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At least 667 records · Page 37Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Inhalation of 30% nitrous oxide impairs people's learning without impairing people's judgments of what will be remembered.

Many hypotheses have been proposed to account for the effects of nitrous oxide on memory, with one emerging possibility being that it has a global effect on memory-related functioning. This possibility was explored by examining the effects of nitrous oxide on memory performance and on the accuracy of people's judgments about their memory performance. Participants inhaled 30% nitrous oxide or a placebo gas while items were studied and while judgments were made about the likelihood of recall for each item. Next, all participants inhaled the placebo during paired-associate recall. Although administration of nitrous oxide during study impaired recall, it did not affect the predictive accuracy of the metacognitive judgments. These results provide pharmacological evidence for a distinction between memory and metamemory.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Analyses of multinomial mixture distributions: new tests for stochastic models of cognition and action.

Mixture distributions are formed from a weighted linear combination of 2 or more underlying basis distributions [g(x) = sigma j alpha j fj(x); sigma alpha j = 1]. They arise frequently in stochastic models of perception, cognition, and action in which a finite number of discrete internal states are entered probabilistically over a series of trials. This article reviews various distributional properties that have been examined to test for the presence of mixture distributions. A new multinomial maximum likelihood mixture (MMLM) analysis is discussed for estimating the mixing probabilities alpha j and the basis distributions fj(x) of a hypothesized mixture distribution. The analysis also generates a maximum likelihood goodness-of-fit statistic for testing various mixture hypotheses. Stochastic computer simulations characterize the statistical power of such tests under representative conditions. Two empirical studies of mental processes hypothesized to involve mixture distributions are summarized to illustrate applications of the MMLM analysis.

Arousal↗
PubMed1994

Seven plus or minus two: a commentary on capacity limitations.

Miller's classic 1956 article is best known today for its discussion of capacity limitations in short-term memory, but the bulk of the article dealt with capacity limitations in absolute judgment tasks and the relation of such limitations to information theory. Many of the puzzles of absolute judgment first raised by Miller remain a puzzle today. The authors review some of the literature directed toward this issue and discuss a few models that attempt to elucidate the phenomena. Since 1956 there has been an enormous research effort aimed at understanding the mechanisms and limitations of short-term memory, resulting in considerable progress. The authors briefly discuss some of these advances. The authors conclude, as Miller did, by noting the probable lack of connection between the limitations observed in these 2 areas of inquiry.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

Folk psychology of mental activities.

A central aspect of people's beliefs about the mind is that mental activities--for example, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving-- are interrelated, with some activities being kinds or parts of others. In common-sense psychology, reasoning is a kind of thinking and reasoning is part of problem solving. People's conceptions of these mental kinds and parts can furnish clues to the ordinary meaning of these terms and to the differences between folk and scientific psychology. In this article, we use a new technique for deriving partial orders to analyze subjects' decisions about whether one mental activity is a kind or part of another. The resulting taxonomies and partonomies differ from those of common object categories in exhibiting a converse relation in this domain: One mental activity is a part of another if the second is a kind of the first. The derived taxonomies and partonomies also allow us to predict results from further experiments that examine subjects' memory for these activities, their ratings of the activities' importance, and their judgements about whether there could be "possible minds" that possess some of the activities but not others.

Cognition↗
PubMed2006

Stuck in a rut: perseverative response tendencies and the neuroticism-distress relationship.

Clinical views of neuroticism-linked distress often make reference to the perseverative sorts of mental processes that reinforce such experiences. The goal of the present 7 studies, involving 488 undergraduate participants, was to directly examine such perseverative processes. Individual differences in response perseveration were operationalized in terms of choice reaction time difficulties switching (vs. repeating) responses across consecutive trials. Response perseveration interacted with neuroticism in predicting negative emotion, dissatisfaction with life, and displays of negative emotion (Studies 1-4). Specifically, neuroticism-outcome relations were quite a bit stronger at high levels of perseveration. Additional studies (Studies 5-7) provided support for the convergent and discriminant validity of response perseveration. Overall, the results highlight the manner in which response perseveration reinforces experiences of negative emotion.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Why distinctive information reduces false memories: evidence for both impoverished relational-encoding and distinctiveness heuristic accounts.

Two accounts explain why studying pictures reduces false memories within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (J. Deese, 1959; H. L. Roediger & K. B. McDermott, 1995). The impoverished relational-encoding account suggests that studying pictures interferes with the encoding of relational information, which is the primary basis for false memories in this paradigm. Alternatively, the distinctiveness heuristic assumes that critical lures are actively withheld by the use of a retrieval strategy. When participants were given inclusion recall instructions to report studied items as well as related items, they still reported critical lures less often after picture encoding than they did after word encoding. As the impoverished relational-encoding account suggests, critical lures appear less likely to come to mind after picture encoding than they do after word encoding. However, the results from a postrecall recognition test provide evidence in favor of the distinctiveness heuristic.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

The metrics of spatial distance traversed during mental imagery.

The authors conducted 2 experiments to study the metrics of spatial distance in a mental imagery task. In both experiments, participants first memorized the layout of a building containing 10 rooms with 24 objects. Participants then received mental imagery instructions and imagined how they walked through the building from one room to another. The authors manipulated Euclidean distance involved in these imaginary motions: Spatial distance measured in centimeters on the layout was either short or long. Independently, they varied categorical distance: The motions led through one room or two rooms. The time needed to imagine motions and response times to test probes indicated that both Euclidean distance and categorical distance affected mental imagery. The authors discuss the new finding of categorical distance effects in mental imagery and relate the results to earlier failures to find Euclidean distance effects in formally equivalent studies of narrative comprehension.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

Proactive and retroactive effects of negative suggestion.

The negative effects of false information presented either prior to (proactive interference; PI) or following (retroactive interference; RI) true information was examined with word definitions (Experiment 1) and trivia facts (Experiment 2). Participants were explicitly aware of which information was true and false when shown, and true-false discrimination was evaluated via multiple-choice tests. Negative suggestion, defined as poorer performance on interference items than noninterference (control) items, consistently occurred when the wrong information followed the correct information (RI) but not when it preceded the correct information (PI). These effects did not change as a function of retention interval (immediate, 1 week, or 3 weeks) or number of incorrect alternatives (1 or 3). Implications of this outcome for experiencing incorrect information in both academic and nonacademic situations are considered.

Attention↗
PubMed2005

Anoxic versus traumatic brain injury: amount of tissue loss, not etiology, alters cognitive and emotional function.

Research in neuropsychology suggests that the etiology of a neurologic injury determines the neuropathological and neuropsychological changes. This study compared neuropsychological outcome in subjects who had traumatic brain injury (TBI) with subjects who had anoxic brain injury (ABI), who were matched for age, gender, and ventricle-to-brain ratio. There were no group differences for morphologic or neuropsychological measures. Both groups exhibited impaired memory, attention, and executive function, as well as slowed mental processing speed. Intelligence correlated with whole brain volume, and measures of memory correlated with hippocampal atrophy. There was no unique contribution of hippocampal atrophy on neuropsychological outcome between the groups. In the absence of localized lesions, the amount of neural tissue loss, rather than etiology, may be the critical factor in neuropsychological outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

John Dewey and early Chicago functionalism.

John Dewey and James Angell are regarded respectively as the founder and systematizer of the Chicago school of functional psychology. The early Chicago school traditionally has been portrayed as a unified theoretical approach based primarily on William James's naturalist theory of mental processes. It is argued in this article that although the psychology systematized by Angell bore a close affinity to James's naturalism, Dewey's own psychology was based primarily on the neo-Hegelian philosophy of Thomas Hill Green. Through a review of a number of Dewey's major writings, Green's neo-Hegelian philosophy is shown to have influenced Dewey's views on psychological concepts such as reaction, emotion, and perception during the formative period of the Chicago school. The interpretation of Dewey's psychology developed in this article leads to the conclusion that early Chicago functionalism should not be regarded as a unified theoretical approach.

Chicago↗
PubMed1993

Cognitive effects of beta-adrenergic antagonists after single doses: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of propranolol, atenolol, lorazepam, and placebo.

The behavioral effects of two beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists, selected to represent differing lipophilicity, were evaluated in a double-blind, single-dose, parallel-group study. A group of 55 healthy volunteers (mean age, 28 years) received single oral doses of placebo, atenolol (50 mg), propranolol (40 mg), or lorazepam (2 mg). Plasma drug concentrations, self-ratings of sedation and mood, observer ratings of sedation, and performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) were assessed at multiple times during 24 hours after drug administration. Information acquisition and recall were tested at 3 and 24 hours after drug administration. Lorazepam significantly increased sedation and fatigue, impaired DSST performance, and impaired memory. The time course of these changes was highly consistent with plasma lorazepam concentrations. In contrast, atenolol and propranolol produced at most small changes in self-ratings and observer ratings and did not alter DSST performance or memory. Under experimental conditions that are sensitive to the depressant effects of a typical benzodiazepine, single doses of atenolol and propranolol produced no meaningful changes, compared with placebo.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1988

Sex differences in regional cerebral blood flow.

Regional cerebral blood flow was measured by the 133-xenon inhalation method during resting in 38 healthy men and 38 healthy women matched pairwise for age in the range 18-72 years. The results showed 11% higher global flow level in the women in all ages. A similar and significant regression of flow by age was seen for both sexes. The regional flow distribution also showed some sex-related differences. Frontal regions showed an asymmetry in the men with higher values on the right side. The female flows were more symmetric. As a hypothesis, it is suggested that the higher flow level in women may be a systemic phenomenon. In fact, other authors have found a higher cardiac index in females. The sex differences in regional flow pattern might be due to differences in the functional organization of the cortex and/or to differences in the mental processes of the "resting" state.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Neurocognitive function in chronic hemodialysis patients.

We administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery, including measures of intelligence, immediate and delayed memory, attention and mental processing speed, language abilities, complex problem solving, motor skills, and depression, to 16 well-dialyzed (Kt/Vurea = 1.46 +/- 0.24) patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and 12 age- and education-matched medical controls. We observed no clear neuropsychological deficits in these ESRD patients who had low average intelligence and limited educational achievement, and hypothesize that previously observed apparent deficits resulted either from very low dialysis delivery or comparison with poorly-matched historical controls. There were significant deficits in language ability and intelligence in ESRD patients with higher than median scores on the Beck Depression Inventory compared with less-depressed ESRD patients. However, this effect of depression did not result in differences between dialysis and non-ESRD patient groups.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex encode economic value.

Economic choice is the behaviour observed when individuals select one among many available options. There is no intrinsically 'correct' answer: economic choice depends on subjective preferences. This behaviour is traditionally the object of economic analysis and is also of primary interest in psychology. However, the underlying mental processes and neuronal mechanisms are not well understood. Theories of human and animal choice have a cornerstone in the concept of 'value'. Consider, for example, a monkey offered one raisin versus one piece of apple: behavioural evidence suggests that the animal chooses by assigning values to the two options. But where and how values are represented in the brain is unclear. Here we show that, during economic choice, neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encode the value of offered and chosen goods. Notably, OFC neurons encode value independently of visuospatial factors and motor responses. If a monkey chooses between A and B, neurons in the OFC encode the value of the two goods independently of whether A is presented on the right and B on the left, or vice versa. This trait distinguishes the OFC from other brain areas in which value modulates activity related to sensory or motor processes. Our results have broad implications for possible psychological models, suggesting that economic choice is essentially choice between goods rather than choice between actions. In this framework, neurons in the OFC seem to be a good candidate network for value assignment underlying economic choice.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Left temporoparietal junction is necessary for representing someone else's belief.

A standard view in the neuroscience literature is that the frontal lobes sustain our ability to process others' mental states such as beliefs, intentions and desires (this ability is often referred to as having 'theory of mind'). Here we report evidence from brain-damaged patients showing that, in addition to involvement of the frontal lobes, the left temporoparietal junction is necessary for reasoning about the beliefs of others.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Craniofacial morphology in children with Angle Class II-1 malocclusion with and without deepbite.

The craniofacial morphology of children with Class II-1 malocclusion with and without deepbite was studied and compared with that of a control group of children with normal occlusion. Common for the Class II-1 children was a short mandibular corpus, which was probably the main reason these children had a distal basal jaw relationship. The Class II children with deepbite differed from the control group in ways. They had: 1) a distal relationship between points A and B; 2) a distal relationship between points A and pogonion; and 3) a discrepancy in length between the corpora of the two jaws. These deviations discriminated nearly 95% correct between the deepbite group and the controls. The most characteristic deviations in the Class II children without deepbite, in relation to the controls, were: 1) a distal relationship between points A and B; 2) a small angle between the nasal plane and the anterior cranial base; and 3) a long mental process. These deviations discriminated about 95% correct between the experimental group and the controls. Many of the craniofacial differences between the Class II groups could, theoretically, be explained by the MP-SN angle being, on average, 9 degrees larger in the children without deepbite. Most typical was that this group has 1) a larger lower anterior face height, 2) larger maxillary and mandibular incisal heights, and 3) a more obvious distal relationship between points A and pogonion. In combination, these differences discriminated correctly between the Class II groups in 90% and 97% of the cases.

Adolescent↗