The Association between Inappropriate Weight Control Behaviors and Suicide Ideation and Attempt among Korean Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sang Ah; Jang, Suk Yong; Shin, Jaeyong; Ju, Yeong Jun; Nam, Jin Young; Park, Eun Cheol

2016-10-01

Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents globally, and body weight is also a recognized reason for adolescent suicide. Therefore, we investigated the association between weight control behaviors (WCB) and suicide ideation and attempt, focusing on inappropriate weight control measures. We used data from the 2014 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, representing a total of 35,224 boys and 34,361 girls aged 12 to 18 years. Adolescents were classified into groups based on WCB: appropriate WCB, inappropriate WCB, and no WCB. We performed logistic regression models to examine associations between WCB and suicide ideation and attempt, controlling for covariates. Both boys and girls with inappropriate WCB were more likely to report suicide ideation and attempt. Underweight and normal weight boys with inappropriate WCB were more likely to think or attempt suicide, and underweight girls with inappropriate WCB were also more likely to attempt suicide. Among five common WCB combinations, the combination of "regular exercise, fasting, eating less" was highly associated with suicide ideation and attempt. We confirmed that inappropriate WCB is associated with suicide ideation and attempt among Korean adolescents. Given the high incidence rate of suicide among adolescents and the adverse effect of inappropriate WCB, encouraging adolescents to control their weight in healthy ways is imperative.

Inappropriate prescribing: criteria, detection and prevention.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Connor, Marie N

2012-06-01

Inappropriate prescribing is highly prevalent in older people and is a major healthcare concern because of its association with negative healthcare outcomes including adverse drug events, related morbidity and hospitalization. With changing population demographics resulting in increasing proportions of older people worldwide, improving the quality and safety of prescribing in older people poses a global challenge. To date a number of different strategies have been used to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people. Over the last two decades, a number of criteria have been published to assist prescribers in detecting inappropriate prescribing, the majority of which have been explicit sets of criteria, though some are implicit. The majority of these prescribing indicators pertain to overprescribing and misprescribing, with only a minority focussing on the underprescribing of indicated medicines. Additional interventions to optimize prescribing in older people include comprehensive geriatric assessment, clinical pharmacist review, and education of prescribers as well as computerized prescribing with clinical decision support systems. In this review, we describe the inappropriate prescribing detection tools or criteria most frequently cited in the literature and examine their role in preventing inappropriate prescribing and other related healthcare outcomes. We also discuss other measures commonly used in the detection and prevention of inappropriate prescribing in older people and the evidence supporting their use and their application in everyday clinical practice.

Occlusion edge blur: A cue to relative visual depth

OpenAIRE

Marshall, J.A.; Burbeck, C.A.; Ariely, D.; Rolland, J.P.; Martin, K.E.

1996-01-01

We studied whether the blur/sharpness of an occlusion boundary between a sharply focused surface and a blurred surface is used as a relative depth cue. Observers judged relative depth in pairs of images that differed only in the blurriness of the common boundary between two adjoining texture regions, one blurred and one sharply focused. Two experiments were conducted; in both, observers consistently used the blur of the boundary as a cue to relative depth. However, the strength of the cue, re...

Inappropriate use of urinary catheters in patients admitted to medical wards in a university hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Ruiz, Mario; Calvo, Beatriz; Vara, Rebeca; Villar, Rocío N; Aguado, José María

2013-10-01

The prevalence and predisposing factors were determined for inappropriate urinary catheterization (UC) among inpatients in medical wards. A cross-sectional study was conducted including all patients aged ≥ 18 years admitted to medical wards in a 1300-bed tertiary-care centre, and who had a urinary catheter in place on the day of the survey. Of 380 patients observed, 46 (12.1%) had a urinary catheter in place. Twelve of them (26.1%) were inappropriately catheterized. The most common indication for inappropriate UC was urine output monitoring in a cooperative, non-critically ill patient. Inappropriateness was associated with increased age, poor functional status, urinary incontinence, dementia, and admission from a long-term care facility. Further educational efforts should be focused on improving catheterization prescribing practices by physicians. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Peak provoked craving: an alternative to smoking cue-reactivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sayette, Michael A; Tiffany, Stephen T

2013-06-01

Smoking cue-exposure research has provided a powerful tool for examining cravings in the laboratory. A key attraction of this method is that tightly controlled experimental procedures can model craving experiences that are presumed to relate to addiction. Despite its appeal, key assumptions underlying the clinical relevance of smoking cue-reactivity studies have been questioned recently. For both conceptual and methodological reasons it may be difficult to tease apart cue-based and abstinence-based cravings. Moreover, conventional cue-reactivity procedures typically generate levels of craving with only minimal clinical relevance. We argue here that sometimes it is unfeasible-and in some instances conceptually misguided-to disentangle abstinence-based and cued components of cigarette cravings. In light of the challenges associated with cue-reactivity research, we offer an alternative approach to smoking cue-exposure experimental research focusing on peak provoked craving (PPC) states. The PPC approach uses nicotine-deprived smokers and focuses on urges during smoking cue-exposure without subtracting out urge ratings during control cue or baseline assessments. This design relies on two factors found in many cue-exposure studies-nicotine deprivation and exposure to explicit smoking cues-which, when combined, can create powerful craving states. The PPC approach retains key aspects of the cue-exposure method, and in many circumstances may be a viable design for studies examining robust laboratory-induced cravings. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Global Repetition Influences Contextual Cueing

Science.gov (United States)

Zang, Xuelian; Zinchenko, Artyom; Jia, Lina; Li, Hong

2018-01-01

Our visual system has a striking ability to improve visual search based on the learning of repeated ambient regularities, an effect named contextual cueing. Whereas most of the previous studies investigated contextual cueing effect with the same number of repeated and non-repeated search displays per block, the current study focused on whether a global repetition frequency formed by different presentation ratios between the repeated and non-repeated configurations influence contextual cueing effect. Specifically, the number of repeated and non-repeated displays presented in each block was manipulated: 12:12, 20:4, 4:20, and 4:4 in Experiments 1–4, respectively. The results revealed a significant contextual cueing effect when the global repetition frequency is high (≥1:1 ratio) in Experiments 1, 2, and 4, given that processing of repeated displays was expedited relative to non-repeated displays. Nevertheless, the contextual cueing effect reduced to a non-significant level when the repetition frequency reduced to 4:20 in Experiment 3. These results suggested that the presentation frequency of repeated relative to the non-repeated displays could influence the strength of contextual cueing. In other words, global repetition statistics could be a crucial factor to mediate contextual cueing effect. PMID:29636716

Integration of reward signalling and appetite regulating peptide systems in the control of food-cue responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichelt, A C; Westbrook, R F; Morris, M J

2015-11-01

Understanding the neurobiological substrates that encode learning about food-associated cues and how those signals are modulated is of great clinical importance especially in light of the worldwide obesity problem. Inappropriate or maladaptive responses to food-associated cues can promote over-consumption, leading to excessive energy intake and weight gain. Chronic exposure to foods rich in fat and sugar alters the reinforcing value of foods and weakens inhibitory neural control, triggering learned, but maladaptive, associations between environmental cues and food rewards. Thus, responses to food-associated cues can promote cravings and food-seeking by activating mesocorticolimbic dopamine neurocircuitry, and exert physiological effects including salivation. These responses may be analogous to the cravings experienced by abstaining drug addicts that can trigger relapse into drug self-administration. Preventing cue-triggered eating may therefore reduce the over-consumption seen in obesity and binge-eating disorder. In this review we discuss recent research examining how cues associated with palatable foods can promote reward-based feeding behaviours and the potential involvement of appetite-regulating peptides including leptin, ghrelin, orexin and melanin concentrating hormone. These peptide signals interface with mesolimbic dopaminergic regions including the ventral tegmental area to modulate reactivity to cues associated with palatable foods. Thus, a novel target for anti-obesity therapeutics is to reduce non-homeostatic, reward driven eating behaviour, which can be triggered by environmental cues associated with highly palatable, fat and sugar rich foods. © 2015 The British Pharmacological Society.

Eliciting nicotine craving with virtual smoking cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Gamito, Pedro; Oliveira, Jorge; Baptista, André; Morais, Diogo; Lopes, Paulo; Rosa, Pedro; Santos, Nuno; Brito, Rodrigo

2014-08-01

Craving is a strong desire to consume that emerges in every case of substance addiction. Previous studies have shown that eliciting craving with an exposure cues protocol can be a useful option for the treatment of nicotine dependence. Thus, the main goal of this study was to develop a virtual platform in order to induce craving in smokers. Fifty-five undergraduate students were randomly assigned to two different virtual environments: high arousal contextual cues and low arousal contextual cues scenarios (17 smokers with low nicotine dependency were excluded). An eye-tracker system was used to evaluate attention toward these cues. Eye fixation on smoking-related cues differed between smokers and nonsmokers, indicating that smokers focused more often on smoking-related cues than nonsmokers. Self-reports of craving are in agreement with these results and suggest a significant increase in craving after exposure to smoking cues. In sum, these data support the use of virtual environments for eliciting craving.

Multiperson visual focus of attention from head pose and meeting contextual cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Ba, Sileye O; Odobez, Jean-Marc

2011-01-01

This paper introduces a novel contextual model for the recognition of people's visual focus of attention (VFOA) in meetings from audio-visual perceptual cues. More specifically, instead of independently recognizing the VFOA of each meeting participant from his own head pose, we propose to jointly recognize the participants' visual attention in order to introduce context-dependent interaction models that relate to group activity and the social dynamics of communication. Meeting contextual information is represented by the location of people, conversational events identifying floor holding patterns, and a presentation activity variable. By modeling the interactions between the different contexts and their combined and sometimes contradictory impact on the gazing behavior, our model allows us to handle VFOA recognition in difficult task-based meetings involving artifacts, presentations, and moving people. We validated our model through rigorous evaluation on a publicly available and challenging data set of 12 real meetings (5 hours of data). The results demonstrated that the integration of the presentation and conversation dynamical context using our model can lead to significant performance improvements.

Prevalence of inappropriate prescribing in primary care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bregnhøj, Lisbeth; Thirstrup, Steffen; Kristensen, Mogens Brandt

2007-01-01

to the patients. Topical, dermatological medications and medications not used regularly were excluded. RESULTS: 212 patients were prescribed 1621 medications by their GPs at baseline. In all, 640 (39.5%) of the medications had one or more inappropriate ratings in the 10 criteria making up the MAI. The main part...... is good. However, the majority of patients used one or more medications with inappropriate ratings. The inappropriate prescribing relates to specific therapeutic groups and criteria, which should be targeted in future interventions....

Effects of cue-exposure treatment on neural cue reactivity in alcohol dependence: a randomized trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Loeber, Sabine; Kirsch, Martina; Bach, Patrick; Richter, Anne; Bühler, Mira; von der Goltz, Christoph; Hermann, Derik; Mann, Karl; Kiefer, Falk

2011-06-01

In alcohol-dependent patients, alcohol-associated cues elicit brain activation in mesocorticolimbic networks involved in relapse mechanisms. Cue-exposure based extinction training (CET) has been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of alcoholism; however, it has remained unexplored whether CET mediates its therapeutic effects via changes of activity in mesolimbic networks in response to alcohol cues. In this study, we assessed CET treatment effects on cue-induced responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In a randomized controlled trial, abstinent alcohol-dependent patients were randomly assigned to a CET group (n = 15) or a control group (n = 15). All patients underwent an extended detoxification treatment comprising medically supervised detoxification, health education, and supportive therapy. The CET patients additionally received nine CET sessions over 3 weeks, exposing the patient to his/her preferred alcoholic beverage. Cue-induced fMRI activation to alcohol cues was measured at pretreatment and posttreatment. Compared with pretreatment, fMRI cue-reactivity reduction was greater in the CET relative to the control group, especially in the anterior cingulate gyrus and the insula, as well as limbic and frontal regions. Before treatment, increased cue-induced fMRI activation was found in limbic and reward-related brain regions and in visual areas. After treatment, the CET group showed less activation than the control group in the left ventral striatum. The study provides first evidence that an exposure-based psychotherapeutic intervention in the treatment of alcoholism impacts on brain areas relevant for addiction memory and attentional focus to alcohol-associated cues and affects mesocorticolimbic reward pathways suggested to be pathophysiologically involved in addiction. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A configural dominant account of contextual cueing: Configural cues are stronger than colour cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunar, Melina A; John, Rebecca; Sweetman, Hollie

2014-01-01

Previous work has shown that reaction times to find a target in displays that have been repeated are faster than those for displays that have never been seen before. This learning effect, termed "contextual cueing" (CC), has been shown using contexts such as the configuration of the distractors in the display and the background colour. However, it is not clear how these two contexts interact to facilitate search. We investigated this here by comparing the strengths of these two cues when they appeared together. In Experiment 1, participants searched for a target that was cued by both colour and distractor configural cues, compared with when the target was only predicted by configural information. The results showed that the addition of a colour cue did not increase contextual cueing. In Experiment 2, participants searched for a target that was cued by both colour and distractor configuration compared with when the target was only cued by colour. The results showed that adding a predictive configural cue led to a stronger CC benefit. Experiments 3 and 4 tested the disruptive effects of removing either a learned colour cue or a learned configural cue and whether there was cue competition when colour and configural cues were presented together. Removing the configural cue was more disruptive to CC than removing colour, and configural learning was shown to overshadow the learning of colour cues. The data support a configural dominant account of CC, where configural cues act as the stronger cue in comparison to colour when they are presented together.

An Action Research Study of Intellectual Disabilities, Inappropriate Behaviors and Learned Helplessness

Science.gov (United States)

Luper, Elizabeth P. S.; Lockley, Jeannie

2008-01-01

This study focused on a population of 36 female patients, aged 25 to 65, who were diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, all of whom had long-standing patterns of inappropriate behaviors. In an attempt to increase more appropriate behaviors in these patients, a set of standardized contingency rules were established. These rules were implemented…

Individual differences in using geometric and featural cues to maintain spatial orientation: cue quantity and cue ambiguity are more important than cue type.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Jonathan W; McNamara, Timothy P; Bodenheimer, Bobby; Carr, Thomas H; Rieser, John J

2009-02-01

Two experiments explored the role of environmental cues in maintaining spatial orientation (sense of self-location and direction) during locomotion. Of particular interest was the importance of geometric cues (provided by environmental surfaces) and featural cues (nongeometric properties provided by striped walls) in maintaining spatial orientation. Participants performed a spatial updating task within virtual environments containing geometric or featural cues that were ambiguous or unambiguous indicators of self-location and direction. Cue type (geometric or featural) did not affect performance, but the number and ambiguity of environmental cues did. Gender differences, interpreted as a proxy for individual differences in spatial ability and/or experience, highlight the interaction between cue quantity and ambiguity. When environmental cues were ambiguous, men stayed oriented with either one or two cues, whereas women stayed oriented only with two. When environmental cues were unambiguous, women stayed oriented with one cue.

Developmental changes in the balance of disparity, blur and looming/proximity cues to drive ocular alignment and focus

Science.gov (United States)

Horwood, Anna M; Riddell, Patricia M

2015-01-01

Accurate co-ordination of accommodation and convergence is necessary to view near objects and develop fine motor co-ordination. We used a remote haploscopic videorefraction paradigm to measure longitudinal changes in simultaneous ocular accommodation and vergence to targets at different depths, and to all combinations of blur, binocular disparity, and change-in-size (“proximity”) cues. Infants were followed longitudinally and compared to older children and young adults, with the prediction that sensitivity to different cues would change during development. Mean infant responses to the most naturalistic condition were similar to those of adults from 6-7 weeks (accommodation) and 8-9 weeks (vergence). Proximity cues influenced responses most in infants less than 14 weeks of age, but sensitivity declined thereafter. Between 12-28 weeks of age infants were equally responsive to all three cues, while in older children and adults manipulation of disparity resulted in the greatest changes in response. Despite rapid development of visual acuity (thus increasing availability of blur cues), responses to blur were stable throughout development. Our results suggest that during much of infancy, vergence and accommodation responses are not dependent on the development of specific depth cues, but make use of any cues available to drive appropriate changes in response. PMID:24344547

Getting more from visual working memory: Retro-cues enhance retrieval and protect from visual interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, Alessandra S; Rerko, Laura; Oberauer, Klaus

2016-06-01

Visual working memory (VWM) has a limited capacity. This limitation can be mitigated by the use of focused attention: if attention is drawn to the relevant working memory content before test, performance improves (the so-called retro-cue benefit). This study tests 2 explanations of the retro-cue benefit: (a) Focused attention protects memory representations from interference by visual input at test, and (b) focusing attention enhances retrieval. Across 6 experiments using color recognition and color reproduction tasks, we varied the amount of color interference at test, and the delay between a retrieval cue (i.e., the retro-cue) and the memory test. Retro-cue benefits were larger when the memory test introduced interfering visual stimuli, showing that the retro-cue effect is in part because of protection from visual interference. However, when visual interference was held constant, retro-cue benefits were still obtained whenever the retro-cue enabled retrieval of an object from VWM but delayed response selection. Our results show that accessible information in VWM might be lost in the processes of testing memory because of visual interference and incomplete retrieval. This is not an inevitable state of affairs, though: Focused attention can be used to get the most out of VWM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Anemonefishes rely on visual and chemical cues to correctly identify conspecifics

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Nicole K.; Dixson, Danielle L.

2017-09-01

Organisms rely on sensory cues to interpret their environment and make important life-history decisions. Accurate recognition is of particular importance in diverse reef environments. Most evidence on the use of sensory cues focuses on those used in predator avoidance or habitat recognition, with little information on their role in conspecific recognition. Yet conspecific recognition is essential for life-history decisions including settlement, mate choice, and dominance interactions. Using a sensory manipulated tank and a two-chamber choice flume, anemonefish conspecific response was measured in the presence and absence of chemical and/or visual cues. Experiments were then repeated in the presence or absence of two heterospecific species to evaluate whether a heterospecific fish altered the conspecific response. Anemonefishes responded to both the visual and chemical cues of conspecifics, but relied on the combination of the two cues to recognize conspecifics inside the sensory manipulated tank. These results contrast previous studies focusing on predator detection where anemonefishes were found to compensate for the loss of one sensory cue (chemical) by utilizing a second cue (visual). This lack of sensory compensation may impact the ability of anemonefishes to acclimate to changing reef environments in the future.

Role of Speaker Cues in Attention Inference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Joo Lee

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Current state-of-the-art approaches to emotion recognition primarily focus on modeling the nonverbal expressions of the sole individual without reference to contextual elements such as the co-presence of the partner. In this paper, we demonstrate that the accurate inference of listeners’ social-emotional state of attention depends on accounting for the nonverbal behaviors of their storytelling partner, namely their speaker cues. To gain a deeper understanding of the role of speaker cues in attention inference, we conduct investigations into real-world interactions of children (5–6 years old storytelling with their peers. Through in-depth analysis of human–human interaction data, we first identify nonverbal speaker cues (i.e., backchannel-inviting cues and listener responses (i.e., backchannel feedback. We then demonstrate how speaker cues can modify the interpretation of attention-related backchannels as well as serve as a means to regulate the responsiveness of listeners. We discuss the design implications of our findings toward our primary goal of developing attention recognition models for storytelling robots, and we argue that social robots can proactively use speaker cues to form more accurate inferences about the attentive state of their human partners.

A qualitative examination of inappropriate hospital admissions and lengths of stay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hammond Christina L

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Research has shown that a number of patients, with a variety of diagnoses, are admitted to hospital when it is not essential and can remain in hospital unnecessarily. To date, research in this area has been primarily quantitative. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived causes of inappropriate or prolonged lengths of stay and focuses on a specific population (i.e., patients with long term neurological conditions. We also wanted to identify interventions which might avoid admission or expedite discharge as periods of hospitalisation pose particular risks for this group. Methods Two focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of eight primary and secondary care clinicians working in the Derbyshire area. Data were analysed using a thematic content approach. Results The participants identified a number of key causes of inappropriate admissions and lengths of stay, including: the limited capacity of health and social care resources; poor communication between primary and secondary care clinicians and the cautiousness of clinicians who manage patients in community settings. The participants also suggested a number of strategies that may prevent inappropriate admissions or reduce length of stay (LoS, including: the introduction of new sub-acute care facilities; the introduction of auxiliary nurses to support specialist nursing staff and patient held summaries of specialist consultations. Conclusion Clinicians in both the secondary and primary care sectors acknowledged that some admissions were unnecessary and some patients remain in hospital for a prolonged period. These events were attributed to problems with the current capacity or structuring of services. It was noted, for example, that there is a shortage of appropriate therapeutic services and that the distribution of beds between community and sub-acute care should be reviewed.

Role of Speaker Cues in Attention Inference

OpenAIRE

Jin Joo Lee; Cynthia Breazeal; David DeSteno

2017-01-01

Current state-of-the-art approaches to emotion recognition primarily focus on modeling the nonverbal expressions of the sole individual without reference to contextual elements such as the co-presence of the partner. In this paper, we demonstrate that the accurate inference of listeners’ social-emotional state of attention depends on accounting for the nonverbal behaviors of their storytelling partner, namely their speaker cues. To gain a deeper understanding of the role of speaker cues in at...

Cue reactivity towards shopping cues in female participants.

Science.gov (United States)

Starcke, Katrin; Schlereth, Berenike; Domass, Debora; Schöler, Tobias; Brand, Matthias

2013-03-01

Background and aims It is currently under debate whether pathological buying can be considered as a behavioural addiction. Addictions have often been investigated with cue-reactivity paradigms to assess subjective, physiological and neural craving reactions. The current study aims at testing whether cue reactivity towards shopping cues is related to pathological buying tendencies. Methods A sample of 66 non-clinical female participants rated shopping related pictures concerning valence, arousal, and subjective craving. In a subgroup of 26 participants, electrodermal reactions towards those pictures were additionally assessed. Furthermore, all participants were screened concerning pathological buying tendencies and baseline craving for shopping. Results Results indicate a relationship between the subjective ratings of the shopping cues and pathological buying tendencies, even if baseline craving for shopping was controlled for. Electrodermal reactions were partly related to the subjective ratings of the cues. Conclusions Cue reactivity may be a potential correlate of pathological buying tendencies. Thus, pathological buying may be accompanied by craving reactions towards shopping cues. Results support the assumption that pathological buying can be considered as a behavioural addiction. From a methodological point of view, results support the view that the cue-reactivity paradigm is suited for the investigation of craving reactions in pathological buying and future studies should implement this paradigm in clinical samples.

Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1974-06-08

Jun 8, 1974 ... with Addison's disease, diarrhoea or salt-losing nephritis. (asymptomatic hyponatraemia).~ Schwartz et al.3 stud;ed two patients with anaplastic bronchus carcinoma and hyponatraemia in 1957, and they suggested that there was an inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (ADH). It is now well ...

Odors cue memory for odor-associated words

OpenAIRE

Stafford, Lorenzo; Salehi, S.; Waller, Bridget

2009-01-01

The ability of odors to cue vivid and emotionally intense memories is well-known. However, the majority of research has focused on the extent to which odors can act as environmental cues to memory, where odors are presented alongside the stimuli to be remembered, rather than the extent to which pre-existing associations between odor and odor-related stimuli might influence memory. In this study, participants (n = 45 females in each experiment) were presented with words (two groups of odor-ass...

Setting Limits: The Child Who Uses Inappropriate Language

Science.gov (United States)

Greenberg, Polly

2004-01-01

This article discusses how to work with a child who uses inappropriate language. The words inappropriately used by young children are grouped into five categories: (1) names of body parts considered as private, and their nicknames; (2) bathroom words and body products; (3) religion-related words; (4) sexually charged words overheard when adults…

Visual form Cues, Biological Motions, Auditory Cues, and Even Olfactory Cues Interact to Affect Visual Sex Discriminations

OpenAIRE

Rick Van Der Zwan; Anna Brooks; Duncan Blair; Coralia Machatch; Graeme Hacker

2011-01-01

Johnson and Tassinary (2005) proposed that visually perceived sex is signalled by structural or form cues. They suggested also that biological motion cues signal sex, but do so indirectly. We previously have shown that auditory cues can mediate visual sex perceptions (van der Zwan et al., 2009). Here we demonstrate that structural cues to body shape are alone sufficient for visual sex discriminations but that biological motion cues alone are not. Interestingly, biological motions can resolve ...

Oxytocin differentially modulates pavlovian cue and context fear acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavalli, Juliana; Ruttorf, Michaela; Pahi, Mario Rosero; Zidda, Francesca; Flor, Herta; Nees, Frauke

2017-06-01

Fear acquisition and extinction have been demonstrated as core mechanisms for the development and maintenance of mental disorders, with different contributions of processing cues vs contexts. The hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) may have a prominent role in this context, as it has been shown to affect fear learning. However, investigations have focused on cue conditioning, and fear extinction. Its differential role for cue and context fear acquisition is still not known. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo (PLC)-controlled design, we administered an intranasal dose of OXT or PLC before the acquisition of cue and context fear conditioning in healthy individuals (n = 52), and assessed brain responses, skin conductance responses and self-reports (valence/arousal/contingency). OXT compared with PLC significantly induced decreased responses in the nucleus accumbens during early cue and context acquisition, and decreased responses of the anterior cingulate cortex and insula during early as well as increased hippocampal response during late context, but not cue acquisition. The OXT group additionally showed significantly higher arousal in late cue and context acquisition. OXT modulates various aspects of cue and context conditioning, which is relevant from a mechanism-based perspective and might have implications for the treatment of fear and anxiety. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Global cue inconsistency diminishes learning of cue validity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tony Wang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available We present a novel two-stage probabilistic learning task that examines the participants’ ability to learn and utilize valid cues across several levels of probabilistic feedback. In the first stage, participants sample from one of three cues that gives predictive information about the outcome of the second stage. Participants are rewarded for correct prediction of the outcome in stage two. Only one of the three cues gives valid predictive information and thus participants can maximise their reward by learning to sample from the valid cue. The validity of this predictive information, however, is reinforced across several levels of probabilistic feedback. A second manipulation involved changing the consistency of the predictive information in stage one and the outcome in stage two. The results show that participants, with higher probabilistic feedback, learned to utilise the valid cue. In inconsistent task conditions, however, participants were significantly less successful in utilising higher validity cues. We interpret this result as implying that learning in probabilistic categorization is based on developing a representation of the task that allows for goal-directed action.

Task-relevant information is prioritized in spatiotemporal contextual cueing.

Science.gov (United States)

Higuchi, Yoko; Ueda, Yoshiyuki; Ogawa, Hirokazu; Saiki, Jun

2016-11-01

Implicit learning of visual contexts facilitates search performance-a phenomenon known as contextual cueing; however, little is known about contextual cueing under situations in which multidimensional regularities exist simultaneously. In everyday vision, different information, such as object identity and location, appears simultaneously and interacts with each other. We tested the hypothesis that, in contextual cueing, when multiple regularities are present, the regularities that are most relevant to our behavioral goals would be prioritized. Previous studies of contextual cueing have commonly used the visual search paradigm. However, this paradigm is not suitable for directing participants' attention to a particular regularity. Therefore, we developed a new paradigm, the "spatiotemporal contextual cueing paradigm," and manipulated task-relevant and task-irrelevant regularities. In four experiments, we demonstrated that task-relevant regularities were more responsible for search facilitation than task-irrelevant regularities. This finding suggests our visual behavior is focused on regularities that are relevant to our current goal.

Salience of Tactile Cues: An Examination of Tactor Actuator and Tactile Cue Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

2015-08-01

Similarly, tactile alerts can help manage and focus attention in a complex high-tempo multitasked environment. Figure 1, while simple, can serve to...tactile cueing on concurrent performance of military and robotics tasks in a simulated multitasking environment. Ergonomics. 2008;51(8):1137–1152...2007;78(3):338. Moorhead IR, Holmes S, Furnell S. Understanding multisensory integration for pilot spatial orientation. Farnborough (UK): QinetiQ

Counterconditioning reduces cue-induced craving and actual cue-elicited consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Gucht, Dinska; Baeyens, Frank; Vansteenwegen, Debora; Hermans, Dirk; Beckers, Tom

2010-10-01

Cue-induced craving is not easily reduced by an extinction or exposure procedure and may constitute an important route toward relapse in addictive behavior after treatment. In the present study, we investigated the effectiveness of counterconditioning as an alternative procedure to reduce cue-induced craving, in a nonclinical population. We found that a cue, initially paired with chocolate consumption, did not cease to elicit craving for chocolate after extinction (repeated presentation of the cue without chocolate consumption), but did so after counterconditioning (repeated pairing of the cue with consumption of a highly disliked liquid, Polysorbate 20). This effect persisted after 1 week. Counterconditioning moreover was more effective than extinction in disrupting reported expectancy to get to eat chocolate, and also appeared to be more effective in reducing actual cue-elicited chocolate consumption. These results suggest that counterconditioning may be more promising than cue exposure for the prevention of relapse in addictive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Retrieval of bilingual autobiographical memories: effects of cue language and cue imageability.

Science.gov (United States)

Mortensen, Linda; Berntsen, Dorthe; Bohn, Ocke-Schwen

2015-01-01

An important issue in theories of bilingual autobiographical memory is whether linguistically encoded memories are represented in language-specific stores or in a common language-independent store. Previous research has found that autobiographical memory retrieval is facilitated when the language of the cue is the same as the language of encoding, consistent with language-specific memory stores. The present study examined whether this language congruency effect is influenced by cue imageability. Danish-English bilinguals retrieved autobiographical memories in response to Danish and English high- or low-imageability cues. Retrieval latencies were shorter to Danish than English cues and shorter to high- than low-imageability cues. Importantly, the cue language effect was stronger for low-than high-imageability cues. To examine the relationship between cue language and the language of internal retrieval, participants identified the language in which the memories were internally retrieved. More memories were retrieved when the cue language was the same as the internal language than when the cue was in the other language, and more memories were identified as being internally retrieved in Danish than English, regardless of the cue language. These results provide further evidence for language congruency effects in bilingual memory and suggest that this effect is influenced by cue imageability.

Adolescent prosocial behavior: the role of self-processes and contextual cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Wentzel, Kathryn R; Filisetti, Laurence; Looney, Lisa

2007-01-01

Peer- and teacher-reported prosocial behavior of 339 6th-grade (11-12 years) and 8th-grade (13-14 years) students was examined in relation to prosocial goals, self-processes (reasons for behavior, empathy, perspective taking, depressive affect, perceived competence), and contextual cues (expectations of peers and teachers). Goal pursuit significantly predicted prosocial behavior, and goal pursuit provided a pathway by which reasons for behavior were related to behavior. Reasons reflected external, other-focused, self-focused, and internal justifications for behavior; each reason was related to a unique set of self-processes and contextual cues. Associations between prosocial outcomes and sex and race (Caucasian and African American) were mediated in part by self-processes and contextual cues. The implications of studying prosocial behavior from a motivational perspective are discussed.

Correlation analysis between team communication characteristics and frequency of inappropriate communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Park, Jinkyun; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun

2013-01-01

Highlights: • We proposed a method to evaluate team communication characteristics based on social network analysis. • We compare team communication characteristics with the frequency of inappropriate communications. • Frequency of inappropriate communications were decreased when more operators perform the same types of role as others. • Frequency of inappropriate communications were decreased for teams who provide more number of acknowledgment. - Abstract: The characteristics of team communications are important since large process systems such as nuclear power plants, airline, and railways are operated by operating teams. In such situation, inappropriate communications can cause a lack of situational information and lead to serious consequences for the systems. As a result, the communication characteristics of operating teams should be understood in order to extract meaningful insights to address the nature of inappropriate communications. The purpose of this study was to develop a method to evaluate the characteristics of team communications based on social network analysis and compare them with the frequency of inappropriate communications. In order to perform the analysis, verbal protocol data, which were audio-visual recorded under training sessions by operating teams, were used and interfacing system loss of coolant accident scenarios were selected. As a result of the study, it was found that the frequency of inappropriate communications decreased when more operators perform the same types of role as other operators, since they can easily and effectively back up each other. Also, the frequency of inappropriate communication is decreased for teams which provide a relatively large communication content that acknowledge or confirm another communication content

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in an Irish elderly population in primary care.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Ryan, Cristín

2009-12-01

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT: * Potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people is a well-documented problem and has been associated with adverse drug reactions and hospitalization. * Beers\\' criteria, Screening Tool of Older Persons\\' potentially inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) and Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment (START) are screening tools that have been formulated to help physicians and pharmacists identify potentially inappropriate prescribing and potential prescribing omissions. * The prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing and prescribing omissions in the elderly population presenting to hospital with acute illness is high according to STOPP and START criteria.

Potentially inappropriate prescriptions for older patients in long-term care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurin Danielle

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Inappropriate medication use is a major healthcare issue for the elderly population. This study explored the prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs in long-term care in metropolitan Quebec. Methods A cross sectional chart review of 2,633 long-term care older patients of the Quebec City area was performed. An explicit criteria list for PIPs was developed based on the literature and validated by a modified Delphi method. Medication orders were reviewed to describe prescribing patterns and to determine the prevalence of PIPs. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors of PIPs. Results Almost all residents (94.0% were receiving one or more prescribed medication; on average patients had 4.8 prescribed medications. A majority (54.7% of treated patients had a potentially inappropriate prescription (PIP. Most common PIPs were drug interactions (33.9% of treated patients, followed by potentially inappropriate duration (23.6%, potentially inappropriate medication (14.7% and potentially inappropriate dosage (9.6%. PIPs were most frequent for medications of the central nervous system (10.8% of prescribed medication. The likelihood of PIP increased significantly as the number of drugs prescribed increased (odds ratio [OR]: 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.33 – 1.43 and with the length of stay (OR: 1.78, CI: 1.43 – 2.20. On the other hand, the risk of receiving a PIP decreased with age. Conclusion Potentially inappropriate prescribing is a serious problem in the highly medicated long-term care population in metropolitan Quebec. Use of explicit criteria lists may help identify the most critical issues and prioritize interventions to improve quality of care and patient safety.

Decision Utility, Incentive Salience, and Cue-Triggered "Wanting"

Science.gov (United States)

Berridge, Kent C; Aldridge, J Wayne

2009-01-01

This chapter examines brain mechanisms of reward utility operating at particular decision moments in life-moments such as when one encounters an image, sound, scent, or other cue associated in the past with a particular reward or perhaps just when one vividly imagines that cue. Such a cue can often trigger a sudden motivational urge to pursue its reward and sometimes a decision to do so. Drawing on a utility taxonomy that distinguishes among subtypes of reward utility-predicted utility, decision utility, experienced utility, and remembered utility-it is shown how cue-triggered cravings, such as an addict's surrender to relapse, can hang on special transformations by brain mesolimbic systems of one utility subtype, namely, decision utility. The chapter focuses on a particular form of decision utility called incentive salience, a type of "wanting" for rewards that is amplified by brain mesolimbic systems. Sudden peaks of intensity of incentive salience, caused by neurobiological mechanisms, can elevate the decision utility of a particular reward at the moment its cue occurs. An understanding of what happens at such moments leads to a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in decision making in general.

Impact of oncology-related direct-to-consumer advertising: association with appropriate and inappropriate prescriptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Abel, Gregory A; Chen, Kun; Taback, Nathan; Hassett, Michael J; Schrag, Deborah; Weeks, Jane C

2013-03-01

Little is known about the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on appropriate versus inappropriate prescribing. Aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy for breast cancer provides an ideal paradigm for studying this issue, because AIs have been the focus of substantial DTCA, and because they should only be used in postmenopausal women, age can serve as a simple surrogate marker of appropriateness. Data regarding national DTCA spending for the AIs were obtained from TNS Multimedia; hormonal therapy prescription data were obtained from IMS Health. Time series analyses were performed to characterize the association between monthly changes in DTCA spending for the AIs and monthly changes in the proportion of all new hormonal therapy prescriptions represented by the AIs from October 2005 to September 2007. Analyses were stratified by age, considering prescriptions for women ≤ 40 (likely premenopausal) to be inappropriate and those for women > 60 (likely postmenopausal) to be appropriate. Monthly dollars spent on AI-associated DTCA varied considerably ($118,600 to $22,019,660). Time series analysis revealed that for every million dollars spent on DTCA for the AIs, there was an associated increase 3 months later in the new AI prescription proportion of 0.15% for all ages (P 60 years (P < .0001), but no significant change for those ≤ 40 at any time from 0 to 6 months. DTCA for the AIs was associated with increases in appropriate prescriptions with no significant effect on inappropriate prescriptions, suggesting that DTCA may not foster inappropriate medication use for certain drug classes. Copyright © 2012 American Cancer Society.

Sensory modality of smoking cues modulates neural cue reactivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Yalachkov, Yavor; Kaiser, Jochen; Görres, Andreas; Seehaus, Arne; Naumer, Marcus J

2013-01-01

Behavioral experiments have demonstrated that the sensory modality of presentation modulates drug cue reactivity. The present study on nicotine addiction tested whether neural responses to smoking cues are modulated by the sensory modality of stimulus presentation. We measured brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 15 smokers and 15 nonsmokers while they viewed images of smoking paraphernalia and control objects and while they touched the same objects without seeing them. Haptically presented, smoking-related stimuli induced more pronounced neural cue reactivity than visual cues in the left dorsal striatum in smokers compared to nonsmokers. The severity of nicotine dependence correlated positively with the preference for haptically explored smoking cues in the left inferior parietal lobule/somatosensory cortex, right fusiform gyrus/inferior temporal cortex/cerebellum, hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and supplementary motor area. These observations are in line with the hypothesized role of the dorsal striatum for the expression of drug habits and the well-established concept of drug-related automatized schemata, since haptic perception is more closely linked to the corresponding object-specific action pattern than visual perception. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that with the growing severity of nicotine dependence, brain regions involved in object perception, memory, self-processing, and motor control exhibit an increasing preference for haptic over visual smoking cues. This difference was not found for control stimuli. Considering the sensory modality of the presented cues could serve to develop more reliable fMRI-specific biomarkers, more ecologically valid experimental designs, and more effective cue-exposure therapies of addiction.

Reduction in inappropriate hospital use based on analysis of the causes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soria-Aledo Víctor

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To reduce inappropriate admissions and stays with the application of an improvement cycle in patients admitted to a University Hospital. The secondary objective is to analyze the hospital cost saved by reducing inadequacy after the implementation of measures proposed by the group for improvement. Methods Pre- and post-analysis of a sample of clinical histories studied retrospectively, in which the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP was applied to a representative hospital sample of 1350 clinical histories in two phases. In the first phase the AEP was applied retrospectively to 725 admissions and 1350 stays. The factors associated with inappropriateness were analysed together with the causes, and specific measures were implemented in a bid to reduce inappropriateness. In the second phase the AEP was reapplied to a similar group of clinical histories and the results of the two groups were compared. The cost of inappropriate stays was calculated by cost accounting. Setting: General University Hospital with 426 beds serving a population of 320,000 inhabitants in the centre of Murcia, a city in south-eastern Spain. Results Inappropriate admissions were reduced significantly: 7.4% in the control group and 3.2% in the intervention group. Likewise, inappropriate stays decreased significantly from 24.6% to 10.4%. The cost of inappropriateness in the study sample fell from 147,044 euros to 66,642 euros. The causes of inappropriateness for which corrective measures were adopted were those that showed the most significant decrease. Conclusions It is possible to reduce inadequacy by applying measures based on prior analysis of the situation in each hospital.

Emotion Knowledge and Attentional Differences in Preschoolers Showing Context-Inappropriate Anger.

Science.gov (United States)

Locke, Robin L; Lang, Nichole J

2016-08-01

Some children show anger inappropriate for the situation based on the predominant incentives, which is called context-inappropriate anger. Children need to attend to and interpret situational incentives for appropriate emotional responses. We examined associations of context-inappropriate anger with emotion recognition and attention problems in 43 preschoolers (42% male; M age = 55.1 months, SD = 4.1). Parents rated context-inappropriate anger across situations. Teachers rated attention problems using the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form. Emotion recognition was ability to recognize emotional faces using the Emotion Matching Test. Anger perception bias was indicated by anger to non-anger situations using an adapted Affect Knowledge Test. 28% of children showed context-inappropriate anger, which correlated with lower emotion recognition (β = -.28) and higher attention problems (β = .36). Higher attention problems correlated with more anger perception bias (β = .32). This cross-sectional, correlational study provides preliminary findings that children with context-inappropriate anger showed more attention problems, which suggests that both "problems" tend to covary and associate with deficits or biases in emotion knowledge. © The Author(s) 2016.

Characteristics of the overflow pollution of storm drains with inappropriate sewage entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Hailong; Lu, Yi; Xu, Zuxin; Li, Huaizheng; Schwegler, Benedict R

2017-02-01

To probe the overflow pollution of separate storm drains with inappropriate sewage entries, in terms of the relationship between sewage entries and the corresponding dry-weather and wet-weather overflow, the monitoring activities were conducted in a storm drainage system in the Shanghai downtown area (374 ha). In this study site, samples from inappropriately entered dry-weather sewage and the overflow due to storm pumps operation on dry-weather and wet-weather days were collected and then monitored for six water quality constituents. It was found that overflow concentrations of dry-weather period could be higher than those of wet-weather period; under wet-weather period, the overflow concentrations of storm drains were close to or even higher than that of combined sewers. Relatively strong first flush mostly occurred under heavy rain that satisfied critical rainfall amount, maximum rainfall intensity, and maximum pumping discharge, while almost no first flush effect or only weak first flush effect was found for the other rainfall events. Such phenomenon was attributed to lower in-line pipe storage as compared to that of the combined sewers, and serious sediment accumulation within the storm pipes due to sewage entry. For this kind of system, treating a continuous overflow rate is a better strategy than treating the maximum amount of early part of the overflow. Correcting the key inappropriate sewage entries into storm drains should also be focused.

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in older patients admitted to psychiatric hospital

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rongen, S.; Kramers, C.; O'Mahony, D.; Feuth, T.; Olde Rikkert, M.G.M.; Ahmed, A.I.A.

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to determine the prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing including potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and potential prescription omissions (PPOs) and to assess related risk factors in older people with major psychiatric illness.

The neural correlates of competition during memory retrieval are modulated by attention to the cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Danker, Jared F; Fincham, Jon M; Anderson, John R

2011-07-01

As people learn more facts about a concept, those facts become more difficult to remember. This is called the fan effect, where fan refers to the number of facts known about a concept. Increasing fan has been shown to decrease accuracy and increase response time and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activity during retrieval. In this study, participants learned 36 arbitrary person-location pairings and made recognition decisions while we recorded brain activity using fMRI. We separately manipulated the fan of each person and location, as well as the training procedure with which each pair was studied. In the person focus condition, participants studied pairs with a picture of the person's face and used the person as a retrieval cue during training. In the location focus condition, participants studied pairs with a picture of the location and used the location as a retrieval cue during training. We found that the fan of the focused cue had a greater effect on response time, accuracy, and left VLPFC activity during retrieval than the fan of the unfocused cue. We also found that the parahippocampal place area (PPA) was more active during the recognition of pairs studied in the location focus condition, but not when the fan of the location was high. Overall, we found opposite effects of fan on VLPFC and PPA that were modulated by cue focus. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictors of Inappropriate Use of Diagnostic Tests and Management of Bronchiolitis

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmiento, Lorena; Rojas-Soto, Gladys E.

2017-01-01

Background The aim of the present study was to determine predictors of inappropriate use of diagnostic tests and management of bronchiolitis in a population of hospitalized infants. Methods In an analytical cross-sectional study, we determined independent predictors of the inappropriate use of diagnostic tests and management of bronchiolitis in a population of hospitalized infants. We defined a composite outcome score as the main outcome variable. Results Of the 303 included patients, 216 (71.3%) experienced an inappropriate use of diagnostic tests and treatment of bronchiolitis. After controlling for potential confounders, it was found that atopic dermatitis (OR 5.30; CI 95% 1.14–24.79; p = 0.034), length of hospital stay (OR 1.48; CI 95% 1.08–2.03; p = 0.015), and the number of siblings (OR 1.92; CI 95% 1.13–3.26; p = 0.015) were independent predictors of an inappropriate use of diagnostic tests and treatment of the disease. Conclusions Inappropriate use of diagnostic tests and treatment of bronchiolitis was a highly prevalent outcome in our population of study. Participants with atopic dermatitis, a longer hospital stay, and a greater number of siblings were at increased risk for inappropriate use of diagnostic tests and management of the disease. PMID:28758127

Attentional bias in smokers: exposure to dynamic smoking cues in contemporary movies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lochbuehler, Kirsten; Voogd, Hubert; Scholte, Ron H J; Engels, Rutger C M E

2011-04-01

Research has shown that smokers have an attentional bias for pictorial smoking cues. The objective of the present study was to examine whether smokers also have an attentional bias for dynamic smoking cues in contemporary movies and therefore fixate more quickly, more often and for longer periods of time on dynamic smoking cues than non-smokers. By drawing upon established methods for assessing attentional biases for pictorial cues, we aimed to develop a new method for assessing attentional biases for dynamic smoking cues. We examined smokers' and non-smokers' eye movements while watching a movie clip by using eye-tracking technology. The sample consisted of 16 smoking and 17 non-smoking university students. Our results confirm the results of traditional pictorial attentional bias research. Smokers initially directed their gaze more quickly towards smoking-related cues (p = 0.01), focusing on them more often (p = 0.05) and for a longer duration (p = 0.01) compared with non-smokers. Thus, smoking cues in movies directly affect the attention of smokers. These findings indicate that the effects of dynamic smoking cues, in addition to other environmental smoking cues, need to be taken into account in smoking cessation therapies in order to increase successful smoking cessation and to prevent relapses.

Cueing spatial attention through timing and probability.

Science.gov (United States)

Girardi, Giovanna; Antonucci, Gabriella; Nico, Daniele

2013-01-01

Even when focused on an effortful task we retain the ability to detect salient environmental information, and even irrelevant visual stimuli can be automatically detected. However, to which extent unattended information affects attentional control is not fully understood. Here we provide evidences of how the brain spontaneously organizes its cognitive resources by shifting attention between a selective-attending and a stimulus-driven modality within a single task. Using a spatial cueing paradigm we investigated the effect of cue-target asynchronies as a function of their probabilities of occurrence (i.e., relative frequency). Results show that this accessory information modulates attentional shifts. A valid spatial cue improved participants' performance as compared to an invalid one only in trials in which target onset was highly predictable because of its more robust occurrence. Conversely, cuing proved ineffective when spatial cue and target were associated according to a less frequent asynchrony. These patterns of response depended on asynchronies' probability and not on their duration. Our findings clearly demonstrate that through a fine decision-making, performed trial-by-trial, the brain utilizes implicit information to decide whether or not voluntarily shifting spatial attention. As if according to a cost-planning strategy, the cognitive effort of shifting attention depending on the cue is performed only when the expected advantages are higher. In a trade-off competition for cognitive resources, voluntary/automatic attending may thus be a more complex process than expected. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direction of attentional focus in biofeedback treatment for /r/ misarticulation.

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister Byun, Tara; Swartz, Michelle T; Halpin, Peter F; Szeredi, Daniel; Maas, Edwin

2016-07-01

Maintaining an external direction of focus during practice is reported to facilitate acquisition of non-speech motor skills, but it is not known whether these findings also apply to treatment for speech errors. This question has particular relevance for treatment incorporating visual biofeedback, where clinician cueing can direct the learner's attention either internally (i.e., to the movements of the articulators) or externally (i.e., to the visual biofeedback display). This study addressed two objectives. First, it aimed to use single-subject experimental methods to collect additional evidence regarding the efficacy of visual-acoustic biofeedback treatment for children with /r/ misarticulation. Second, it compared the efficacy of this biofeedback intervention under two cueing conditions. In the external focus (EF) condition, participants' attention was directed exclusively to the external biofeedback display. In the internal focus (IF) condition, participants viewed a biofeedback display, but they also received articulatory cues encouraging an internal direction of attentional focus. Nine school-aged children were pseudo-randomly assigned to receive either IF or EF cues during 8 weeks of visual-acoustic biofeedback intervention. Accuracy in /r/ production at the word level was probed in three to five pre-treatment baseline sessions and in three post-treatment maintenance sessions. Outcomes were assessed using visual inspection and calculation of effect sizes for individual treatment trajectories. In addition, a mixed logistic model was used to examine across-subjects effects including phase (pre/post-treatment), /r/ variant (treated/untreated), and focus cue condition (internal/external). Six out of nine participants showed sustained improvement on at least one treated /r/ variant; these six participants were evenly divided across EF and IF treatment groups. Regression results indicated that /r/ productions were significantly more likely to be rated accurate post

Inappropriateness of cardiovascular radiological imaging testing; a tertiary care referral center study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Carpeggiani

Full Text Available AIMS: Radiological inappropriateness in medical imaging leads to loss of resources and accumulation of avoidable population cancer risk. Aim of the study was to audit the appropriateness rate of different cardiac radiological examinations. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: With a retrospective, observational study we reviewed clinical records of 818 consecutive patients (67 ± 12 years, 75% males admitted from January 1-May 31, 2010 to the National Research Council - Tuscany Region Gabriele Monasterio Foundation cardiology division. A total of 940 procedures were audited: 250 chest x-rays (CXR; 240 coronary computed tomographies (CCT; 250 coronary angiographies (CA; 200 percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI. For each test, indications were rated on the basis of guidelines class of recommendation and level of evidence: definitely appropriate (A, including class I, appropriate, and class IIa, probably appropriate, uncertain (U, class IIb, probably inappropriate, or inappropriate (I, class III, definitely inappropriate. Appropriateness was suboptimal for all tests: CXR (A = 48%, U = 10%, I = 42%; CCT (A = 58%, U = 24%, I = 18%; CA (A = 45%, U = 25%, I = 30%; PCI (A = 63%, U = 15%, I = 22%. Top reasons for inappropriateness were: routine on hospital admission (70% of inappropriate CXR; first line application in asymptomatic low-risk patients (42% of CCT or in patients with unchanged clinical status post-revascularization (20% of CA; PCI in patients either asymptomatic or with miscellaneous symptoms and without inducible ischemia on non-invasive testing (36% of inappropriate PCI. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: Public healthcare system--with universal access paid for with public money--is haemorrhaging significant resources and accumulating avoidable long-term cancer risk with inappropriate cardiovascular imaging prevention.

Primary Sjogren's syndrome associated with inappropriate ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A patient in whom primary Sjogren's syndrome and inappropriate antiduretic hormone secretion were associated is reported. This is the first report of such an association. The possible pathophysiological mechanisms are discussed and vasculitis proposed as the underlying pathogenetic mechanism.

Post-cueing deficits with maintained cueing benefits in patients with Parkinson's disease dementia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susanne eGräber

2014-11-01

Full Text Available In Parkinson’s disease (PD internal cueing mechanisms are impaired leading to symptoms such as like hypokinesia. However external cues can improve movement execution by using cortical resources. These cortical processes can be affected by cognitive decline in dementia.It is still unclear how dementia in PD influences external cueing. We investigated a group of 25 PD patients with dementia (PDD and 25 non-demented PD patients (PDnD matched by age, sex and disease duration in a simple reaction time (SRT task using an additional acoustic cue. PDD patients benefited from the additional cue in similar magnitude as did PDnD patients. However, withdrawal of the cue led to a significantly increased reaction time in the PDD group compared to the PDnD patients. Our results indicate that even PDD patients can benefit from strategies using external cue presentation but the process of cognitive worsening can reduce the effect when cues are withdrawn.

Cue-reactors: individual differences in cue-induced craving after food or smoking abstinence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen V Mahler

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Pavlovian conditioning plays a critical role in both drug addiction and binge eating. Recent animal research suggests that certain individuals are highly sensitive to conditioned cues, whether they signal food or drugs. Are certain humans also more reactive to both food and drug cues? METHODS: We examined cue-induced craving for both cigarettes and food, in the same individuals (n = 15 adult smokers. Subjects viewed smoking-related or food-related images after abstaining from either smoking or eating. RESULTS: Certain individuals reported strong cue-induced craving after both smoking and food cues. That is, subjects who reported strong cue-induced craving for cigarettes also rated stronger cue-induced food craving. CONCLUSIONS: In humans, like in nonhumans, there may be a "cue-reactive" phenotype, consisting of individuals who are highly sensitive to conditioned stimuli. This finding extends recent reports from nonhuman studies. Further understanding this subgroup of smokers may allow clinicians to individually tailor therapies for smoking cessation.

Cue-reactors: individual differences in cue-induced craving after food or smoking abstinence.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahler, Stephen V; de Wit, Harriet

2010-11-10

Pavlovian conditioning plays a critical role in both drug addiction and binge eating. Recent animal research suggests that certain individuals are highly sensitive to conditioned cues, whether they signal food or drugs. Are certain humans also more reactive to both food and drug cues? We examined cue-induced craving for both cigarettes and food, in the same individuals (n = 15 adult smokers). Subjects viewed smoking-related or food-related images after abstaining from either smoking or eating. Certain individuals reported strong cue-induced craving after both smoking and food cues. That is, subjects who reported strong cue-induced craving for cigarettes also rated stronger cue-induced food craving. In humans, like in nonhumans, there may be a "cue-reactive" phenotype, consisting of individuals who are highly sensitive to conditioned stimuli. This finding extends recent reports from nonhuman studies. Further understanding this subgroup of smokers may allow clinicians to individually tailor therapies for smoking cessation.

Targeting extinction and reconsolidation mechanisms to combat the impact of drug cues on addiction

OpenAIRE

Taylor, Jane R.; Olausson, Peter; Quinn, Jennifer J.; Torregrossa, Mary M.

2008-01-01

Drug addiction is a progressive and compulsive disorder, where recurrent craving and relapse to drug seeking occur even after long periods of abstinence. A major contributing factor to relapse is drug-associated cues. Here we review behavioral and pharmacological studies outlining novel methods of effective and persistent reductions in cue-induced relapse behavior in animal models. We focus on extinction and reconsolidation of cue-drug associations as the memory processes that are the most li...

Prevalence of inappropriate medication using Beers criteria in Japanese long-term care facilities

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Yamada Yukari

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence and risk factors of potentially inappropriate medication use among the elderly patients have been studied in various countries, but because of the difficulty of obtaining data on patient characteristics and medications they have not been studied in Japan. Methods We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study in 17 Japanese long-term care (LTC facilities by collecting data from the comprehensive MDS assessment forms for 1669 patients aged 65 years and over who were assessed between January and July of 2002. Potentially inappropriate medications were identified on the basis of the 2003 Beers criteria. Results The patients in the sample were similar in terms of demographic characteristics to those in the national survey. Our study revealed that 356 (21.1% of the patients were treated with potentially inappropriate medication independent of disease or condition. The most commonly inappropriately prescribed medication was ticlopidine, which had been prescribed for 107 patients (6.3%. There were 300 (18.0% patients treated with at least 1 inappropriate medication dependent on the disease or condition. The highest prevalence of inappropriate medication use dependent on the disease or condition was found in patients with chronic constipation. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed psychotropic drug use (OR = 1.511, medication cost of per day (OR = 1.173, number of medications (OR = 1.140, and age (OR = 0.981 as factors related to inappropriate medication use independent of disease or condition. Neither patient characteristics nor facility characteristics emerged as predictors of inappropriate prescription. Conclusion The prevalence and predictors of inappropriate medication use in Japanese LTC facilities were similar to those in other countries.

Prevalence and predictors of potentially inappropriate medications among home care elderly patients in Qatar.

Science.gov (United States)

Alhmoud, Eman; Khalifa, Sabah; Bahi, Asma Abdulaziz

2015-10-01

Older patients receiving home health care are particularly at risk of receiving potentially inappropriate medications compared to community-dwelling population. Data on appropriateness of prescribing in these patients is limited. To investigate the prevalence, patterns and determinants of potentially inappropriate medications among elderly patients receiving Home Health Care Services in Qatar. Home Health Care Services department in Hamad Medical Corporation-Qatar. A cross-sectional study, conducted over a 3 months period. Patients 65 years and older, taking at least one medication and receiving home care services were included. Potentially inappropriate medications were identified and classified in accordance with the American Geriatrics Society 2012 Beers Criteria. Prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications using updated Beers criteria. A total of 191 patients (38.2%) had at least one potentially inappropriate medication. As per Beers criteria, 35% of medications were classified as medications to be avoided in older adults regardless of conditions and 9% as potentially inappropriate medications when used with certain diseases or syndromes. The majority of potentially inappropriate medications (56%) were classified as medications to be used with caution. The two leading classes of potentially inappropriate medications were antipsychotics (27.4%) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (16%). Significant predictors of inappropriate prescribing were hypertension [adjusted OR 1.7; 95% CI (1.0, 2.8)], dementia [adjusted OR 2.0; 95% CI (1.2, 3.1)], depression [adjusted OR 21.6; 95% CI (2.8, 168.4)], and taking more than ten prescribed medications [adjusted OR 1.9; 95% CI (1.3, 2.8)]. Prescribing potentially inappropriate medications is common among older adults receiving home health care services in Qatar, a finding that warrants further attention. Polypharmacy, hypertension, depression and dementia were significantly associated with potentially

Negative emotional stimuli reduce contextual cueing but not response times in inefficient search.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunar, Melina A; Watson, Derrick G; Cole, Louise; Cox, Angeline

2014-02-01

In visual search, previous work has shown that negative stimuli narrow the focus of attention and speed reaction times (RTs). This paper investigates these two effects by first asking whether negative emotional stimuli narrow the focus of attention to reduce the learning of a display context in a contextual cueing task and, second, whether exposure to negative stimuli also reduces RTs in inefficient search tasks. In Experiment 1, participants viewed either negative or neutral images (faces or scenes) prior to a contextual cueing task. In a typical contextual cueing experiment, RTs are reduced if displays are repeated across the experiment compared with novel displays that are not repeated. The results showed that a smaller contextual cueing effect was obtained after participants viewed negative stimuli than when they viewed neutral stimuli. However, in contrast to previous work, overall search RTs were not faster after viewing negative stimuli (Experiments 2 to 4). The findings are discussed in terms of the impact of emotional content on visual processing and the ability to use scene context to help facilitate search.

Local spectral anisotropy is a valid cue for figure–ground organization in natural scenes

OpenAIRE

Ramenahalli, Sudarshan; Mihalas, Stefan; Niebur, Ernst

2014-01-01

An important step in the process of understanding visual scenes is its organization in different perceptual objects which requires figure-ground segregation. The determination which side of an occlusion boundary is figure (closer to the observer) and which is ground (further away from the observer) is made through a combination of global cues, like convexity, and local cues, like T-junctions. We here focus on a novel set of local cues in the intensity patterns along occlusion boundaries which...

Retrieval-induced forgetting and interference between cues:Training a cue-outcome association attenuates retrieval by alternative cues

OpenAIRE

Ortega-Castro, Nerea; Vadillo Nistal, Miguel

2013-01-01

Some researchers have attempted to determine whether situations in which a single cue is paired with several outcomes (A-B, A-C interference or interference between outcomes) involve the same learning and retrieval mechanisms as situations in which several cues are paired with a single outcome (A-B, C-B interference or interference between cues). Interestingly, current research on a related effect, which is known as retrieval-induced forgetting, can illuminate this debate. Most retrieval-indu...

Cue-induced craving in patients with cocaine use disorder predicts cognitive control deficits toward cocaine cues.

Science.gov (United States)

DiGirolamo, Gregory J; Smelson, David; Guevremont, Nathan

2015-08-01

Cue-induced craving is a clinically important aspect of cocaine addiction influencing ongoing use and sobriety. However, little is known about the relationship between cue-induced craving and cognitive control toward cocaine cues. While studies suggest that cocaine users have an attentional bias toward cocaine cues, the present study extends this research by testing if cocaine use disorder patients (CDPs) can control their eye movements toward cocaine cues and whether their response varied by cue-induced craving intensity. Thirty CDPs underwent a cue exposure procedure to dichotomize them into high and low craving groups followed by a modified antisaccade task in which subjects were asked to control their eye movements toward either a cocaine or neutral drug cue by looking away from the suddenly presented cue. The relationship between breakdowns in cognitive control (as measured by eye errors) and cue-induced craving (changes in self-reported craving following cocaine cue exposure) was investigated. CDPs overall made significantly more errors toward cocaine cues compared to neutral cues, with higher cravers making significantly more errors than lower cravers even though they did not differ significantly in addiction severity, impulsivity, anxiety, or depression levels. Cue-induced craving was the only specific and significant predictor of subsequent errors toward cocaine cues. Cue-induced craving directly and specifically relates to breakdowns of cognitive control toward cocaine cues in CDPs, with higher cravers being more susceptible. Hence, it may be useful identifying high cravers and target treatment toward curbing craving to decrease the likelihood of a subsequent breakdown in control. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Functional Analysis of Inappropriate Social Interactions in Students with Asperger's Syndrome

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Roantree, Christina F.; Kennedy, Craig H.

2012-01-01

We analyzed the inappropriate social interactions of 3 students with Asperger's syndrome whose behavior was maintained by social positive reinforcement. We tested whether inappropriate social behavior was sensitive to social positive reinforcement contingencies and whether such contingencies could be reversed to increase the probability of…

Heavy drinking, impulsivity and attentional narrowing following alcohol cue exposure.

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Hicks, Joshua A; Fields, Sherecce; Davis, William E; Gable, Philip A

2015-08-01

Research shows that alcohol-related stimuli have the propensity to capture attention among individuals motivated to consume alcohol. Research has further demonstrated that impulsive individuals are especially prone to this type of attentional bias. Recently, it is suggested that alcohol cue exposure can also produce a general narrowing of attention consistent with the activation of approach motivational states. Based on previous models of addiction and recent research on the activation of approach motivational states, we predicted that impulsive individuals would demonstrate a constriction of attentional focus in response to alcohol cue exposure. Participants (n = 392) completed a task assessing attentional breadth in response to alcohol and non-alcohol cues, followed by measures of alcohol use and impulsivity. The findings revealed that impulsivity scores predicted narrowing of attentional scope following the presentation of alcohol cues for heavier drinkers but not for light drinkers. These results suggest that impulsive individuals who drink more heavily demonstrate a narrowing of attention in the presence of alcohol-related incentive cues. Implications for how these findings might account for the link between impulsivity and alcohol use and misuse are discussed.

[Inappropriate prescription in older patients: the STOPP/START criteria].

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Delgado Silveira, Eva

2009-09-01

Older people are a heterogeneous group of patients, often with multiple comorbidities for which they are prescribed a large number of drugs, leading to an increased risk of adverse drug reactions (ADR) and drug interactions. This risk is compounded by physiological age-related changes in physiology, changes in drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, as well as by disease-related, functional and social issues. Inappropriate prescription of drugs is common in the older individuals and contributes to the increased risk of ADR. Several tools have been developed to detect potentially inappropriate prescription, the most frequently used in Spain being Beers\\' criteria. However, the value of these criteria is limited, especially as they were developed in a different healthcare system. In this article, the Spanish version of a new tool to detect potentially inappropriate prescriptions-STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Person\\'s Prescriptions) and START (Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right i.e. appropriate, indicated Treatment) criteria-is presented. The creation, development, reliability, and use of these criteria in routine practice is described and discussed. These criteria have shown better sensitivity than Beers\\' criteria in detecting prescription problems and have the added value of being able to detect not only inappropriate prescription of some drugs, but also the omission of well indicated drugs. The STOPP\\/START criteria could become a useful screening tool to improve prescription in older people.

Cue-induced craving among inhalant users: Development and preliminary validation of a visual cue paradigm.

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Jain, Shobhit; Dhawan, Anju; Kumaran, S Senthil; Pattanayak, Raman Deep; Jain, Raka

2017-12-01

Cue-induced craving is known to be associated with a higher risk of relapse, wherein drug-specific cues become conditioned stimuli, eliciting conditioned responses. Cue-reactivity paradigm are important tools to study psychological responses and functional neuroimaging changes. However, till date, there has been no specific study or a validated paradigm for inhalant cue-induced craving research. The study aimed to develop and validate visual cue stimulus for inhalant cue-associated craving. The first step (picture selection) involved screening and careful selection of 30 cue- and 30 neutral-pictures based on their relevance for naturalistic settings. In the second step (time optimization), a random selection of ten cue-pictures each was presented for 4s, 6s, and 8s to seven adolescent male inhalant users, and pre-post craving response was compared using a Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) for each of the picture and time. In the third step (validation), craving response for each of 30 cue- and 30 neutral-pictures were analysed among 20 adolescent inhalant users. Findings revealed a significant difference in before and after craving response for the cue-pictures, but not neutral-pictures. Using ROC-curve, pictures were arranged in order of craving intensity. Finally, 20 best cue- and 20 neutral-pictures were used for the development of a 480s visual cue paradigm. This is the first study to systematically develop an inhalant cue picture paradigm which can be used as a tool to examine cue induced craving in neurobiological studies. Further research, including its further validation in larger study and diverse samples, is required. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inappropriate gestational weight gain among teenage pregnancies: prevalence and pregnancy outcomes.

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Vivatkusol, Yada; Thavaramara, Thaovalai; Phaloprakarn, Chadakarn

2017-01-01

To study the prevalence and pregnancy outcomes of inappropriate gestational weight gain (GWG) among teenage pregnant women. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on 2,165 teenage pregnant women who attended our antenatal clinic between January 2007 and August 2015. Adverse pregnancy outcomes, including maternal and neonatal outcomes of women with inappropriate GWG, including underweight and overweight, were studied and compared with those of women with appropriate GWG. Complete data of 1,943 women were obtained. Among these women, the mean age was 17.4±1.4 years and mean body mass index at first visit was 19.1±3.0 kg/m 2 . The prevalence of inappropriate GWG was 61.7%. Underweight women were more likely to experience anemia and preterm delivery, whereas overweight women required more cesarean sections because of cephalopelvic disproportion and preeclampsia, compared to women with appropriate weight gain (all P teenage pregnancies showed inappropriate GWG. GWG had a significant impact on pregnancy outcomes.

Potentially inappropriate medication prescribed to elderly outpatients at a general medicine unit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine Grützmann Faustino

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: To establish the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications prescribed for elderly patients, to identify the most commonly involved drugs, and to investigate whether age, sex and number of medications were related with the prescription of these drugs. Methods: Prescriptions for 1,800 elderly patients (≥ 60 years were gathered from a database. These prescriptions were written by general physicians at a tertiary level university hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, from February to May 2008. Only one prescription per patient was considered. The prescriptions were classified according to sex and age (60-69, 70-79 and ≥ 80. The Beers criteria (2003 version were used to evaluate potentially inappropriate medications. Results: Most of the sample comprised women (66.6% with a mean age of 71.3 years. The mean prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication prescriptions was 37.6%. The 60-69 age group presented the highest prevalence (49.9%. The most frequently prescribed potentially inappropriate medications to women were carisoprodol, amitriptyline, and fluoxetine; amitriptyline, carisoprodol, fluoxetine and clonidine were prescribed more often to men. The female sex (p<0.001; OR=2.0 and number of medications prescribed (p<0.001 were associated with prescription of potentially inappropriate medications. The chance of having a prescription of these drugs was lower among patients aged over 80 years (OR=0.7. The mean number of prescribed medications for both sexes and all age groups was 7.1. The mean number of medications per patient was higher among females (p<0.001; this result was not age-dependent (p=0.285. Conclusion: The prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications was similar to previously reported values in the literature and was correlated with the female sex. The chance of having a potentially inappropriate medication prescription was lower among patients aged over 80 years. The chance of having a

Extracellular matrix elasticity and topography: material-based cues that affect cell function via conserved mechanisms

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Janson, Isaac A.; Putnam, Andrew J.

2014-01-01

Chemical, mechanical, and topographic extracellular matrix (ECM) cues have been extensively studied for their influence on cell behavior. These ECM cues alter cell adhesion, cell shape, and cell migration, and activate signal transduction pathways to influence gene expression, proliferation, and differentiation. ECM elasticity and topography, in particular, have emerged as material properties of intense focus based on strong evidence these physical cue can partially dictate stem cell differentiation. Cells generate forces to pull on their adhesive contacts, and these tractional forces appear to be a common element of cells’ responses to both elasticity and topography. This review focuses on recently published work that links ECM topography and mechanics and their influence on differentiation and other cell behaviors, We also highlight signaling pathways typically implicated in mechanotransduction that are (or may be) shared by cells subjected to topographic cues. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of the potential implications of these commonalities for cell based therapies and biomaterial design. PMID:24910444

Salience in Second Language Acquisition:Physical form, learner attention, and instructional focus

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Myrna C Cintrón-Valentín

2016-08-01

Full Text Available We consider the role of physical form, prior experience, and form focused instruction (FFI in adult language learning. (1 When presented with competing cues to interpretation, learners are more likely to attend to physically more salient cues in the input. (2 Learned attention is an associative learning phenomenon where prior-learned cues block those that are experienced later. (3 The low salience of morphosyntactic cues can be overcome by FFI, which leads learners to attend cues which might otherwise be ignored. Experiment 1 used eye-tracking to investigate how language background influences learners’ attention to morphological cues, as well as the attentional processes whereby different types of FFI overcome low cue salience, learned attention and blocking. Chinese native speakers (no L1 verb-tense morphology viewed Latin utterances combining lexical and morphological cues to temporality under control conditions (CC and three types of explicit FFI: grammar instruction (VG, verb salience with textual enhancement (VS, and verb pretraining (VP, and their use of these cues was assessed in a comprehension test. CC participants were significantly more sensitive to the adverbs than verb morphology. Instructed participants showed greater sensitivity to the verbs. These results reveal attentional processes whereby learners’ prior linguistic experience can shape their attention toward cues in the input, and whereby FFI helps learners overcome the long-term blocking of verb-tense morphology. Experiment 2 examined the role of modality of input presentation – aural or visual – in L1 English learners’ attentional focus on morphological cues and the effectiveness of different FFI manipulations. CC participants showed greater sensitivity toward the adverb cue. FFI was effective in increasing attention to verb-tense morphology, however, the processing of morphological cues was considerably more difficult under aural presentation. From visual exposure

Credit cues and impression management: a preliminary attempt to explain the credit card effect.

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McCall, Michael; Trombetta, Jessica; Gipe, Aimee

2004-08-01

Prior research had suggested that individuals would estimate higher product values and even tip more in the presence of credit cues. In the absence of a clear theoretical interpretation of this credit card effect we propose that this tendency is an impression management strategy such that credit cue exposure influences perceptions of the self and focuses attention on individual wealth. Thus, in the presence of others, credit cues serve to enhance images of the self. Preliminary data in support of this alternative theoretical perspective are presented.

Individual and hospital-related determinants of potentially inappropriate admissions emerging from administrative records.

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Fusco, Marco; Buja, Alessandra; Piergentili, Paolo; Golfetto, Maria Teresa; Serafin, Gianni; Gallo, Silvia; Dalla Barba, Livio; Baldo, Vincenzo

2016-11-01

The appropriate use of health care is an important issue in developed countries. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the extent of potentially inappropriate hospital admissions and their individual, clinical and hospital-related determinants. Medical records were analyzed for the year 2014 held by the Local Heath Unit n. 13 in the Veneto Region of north-east Italy (19,000 records). The outcomes calculated were: admissions for conditions amenable to day hospital care; brief medical admissions; outlier lengths of stay for elderly patients' medical admissions; and medical admissions to surgical wards. Univariate analyses and logistic regression models were used to test associations with demographic, clinical and hospital ward covariates, including organizational indicators. Inappropriate reliance on acute care beds ranged from 6% to 28%, depending on the type of quality indicator analyzed. Some individual features, and wards' specific characteristics were associated with at least one of the phenomena of inappropriate hospital resource usage. In particular, male gender, younger age and transferals seemed to affect inappropriate admissions to surgical wards. Potentially avoidable admissions featuring inpatients amenable to day hospital care were associated with subjects with fewer comorbidities and lower case-mix wards, while inappropriately short medical stays were influenced by patients' higher functional status and local residency and by lower bed occupancy rates. In conclusion, inappropriately long hospital stays for elderly cases were associated with patients with multiple pathologies in wards with a low bed-occupancy. Education level and citizenship did not seem to influence inappropriate admissions. Some individual, clinical ad structural characteristics of patients and wards emerging from administrative records could be associated with inappropriate reliance on acute hospital beds. Analyzing the indicators considered in this study could generate

Inappropriate gestational weight gain among teenage pregnancies: prevalence and pregnancy outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivatkusol Y

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Yada Vivatkusol, Thaovalai Thavaramara, Chadakarn Phaloprakarn Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital, Navamindradhiraj University, Bangkok, Thailand Objective: To study the prevalence and pregnancy outcomes of inappropriate gestational weight gain (GWG among teenage pregnant women.Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on 2,165 teenage pregnant women who attended our antenatal clinic between January 2007 and August 2015. Adverse pregnancy outcomes, including maternal and neonatal outcomes of women with inappropriate GWG, including underweight and overweight, were studied and compared with those of women with appropriate GWG.Results: Complete data of 1,943 women were obtained. Among these women, the mean age was 17.4±1.4 years and mean body mass index at first visit was 19.1±3.0 kg/m2. The prevalence of inappropriate GWG was 61.7%. Underweight women were more likely to experience anemia and preterm delivery, whereas overweight women required more cesarean sections because of cephalopelvic disproportion and preeclampsia, compared to women with appropriate weight gain (all P<0.001. The rates of gestational diabetes mellitus among women who were underweight, overweight, or appropriate weight were not significantly different.Conclusion: More than 60% of teenage pregnancies showed inappropriate GWG. GWG had a significant impact on pregnancy outcomes. Keywords: prevalence, pregnancy outcome, inappropriate gestational weight gain, teenage pregnancy

Gender and Impulsivity: Effects on Cue-Induced Alcohol Craving.

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Yarmush, Devorah E; Manchery, Linda; Luehring-Jones, Peter; Erblich, Joel

2016-05-01

Numerous studies have demonstrated that trait impulsivity is linked to increased risk of developing alcohol-use disorders and other substance abuse. Impulsivity has also been shown in some studies to potentiate cue-induced drug cravings. Despite considerable evidence of gender differences in impulsivity and drug craving among individuals suffering from alcohol dependence and other drug use, little research has focused on these processes in healthy young men and women who may be at risk for developing alcohol-use disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between impulsivity and cue-induced craving, as well as possible gender differences in these effects among healthy young adults. To that end, female (n = 22) and male (n = 14) social drinkers aged 18 to 25, recruited from an urban university campus, completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and reported their alcohol cravings immediately before and after laboratory exposure to alcohol cues. Findings indicated that exposure to cues elicited increased alcohol cravings, but these effects did not differ by gender. Interestingly, a significant interaction of impulsivity and gender revealed that impulsivity predicted significantly higher cue-induced cravings in women, but not men. Findings underscore the importance of better understanding the interaction of situational factors (e.g., exposure to alcohol cues) and dispositional factors (e.g., impulsivity) as potential contributors to drinking motivation. Future prospective research is needed to identify gender-specific risk factors for the development of problem drinking. Copyright © 2016 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Categorization and Willingness to Pay for New Products : The Role of Category Cues as Value Anchors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuijken, B.; Gemser, G.; Wijnberg, N.M.

2017-01-01

This study focuses on textual category cues and their influence on consumers' willingness to pay for new products. It examines whether an anchoring effect occurs when consumers are provided with textual category cues that refer consumers toward a particular product category. This article argues that

Proust nose best: odors are better cues of autobiographical memory.

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Chu, Simon; Downes, John J

2002-06-01

The Proust phenomenon is an enduring piece of folk wisdom that asserts that odors are particularly powerful autobiographical memory cues. We provide a more formal exposition of this phenomenon and test it in two experiments, using a novel double-cuing methodology designed to negate less interesting explanations. In both studies, recall of an autobiographical event was initially cued by a verbal label (an odor name) for a fixed period, following which a second, extended recall attempt was cued by the same verbal label, the relevant odor, an irrelevant odor, or a visual cue. The focus of Experiment 1 was participants' ratings of the emotional quality of their autobiographical memories. In Experiment 2, content analysis was employed to determine the quantity of information in participants' recollections. Results revealed that odor-cued autobiographical memories were reliably different in terms of qualitative ratings and reliably superior in the amount of detail yielded. Moreover, visual cues and incongruent olfactory cues appeared to have a detrimental effect on the amount of detail recalled. These results support the proposal that odors are especially effective as reminders of past experience.

Discontinuing Inappropriate Medication in Nursing Home Residents (DIM-NHR study): A cluster randomized controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouters, H.; Scheper, J.; Koning, H.; Brouwer, C.; Twisk, J.; Van Der Meer, H.; Boersma, F.; Zuidema, S.; Taxis, K.

2017-01-01

Introduction: Inappropriate prescribing is a prevalent problem in nursing home residents that is associated with cognitive and physical impairment. Few interventions have been shown to reduce inappropriate prescribing. The aim was therefore to examine successful discontinuation of inappropriate

Prevalence and Predictors of Inappropriate Medications Prescribing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Data analysis involved use of World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators, Updated 2002 Beer's criteria and DRUG-REAX® system software package of MICROMEDEX (R) Healthcare Series to assess the prescribing pattern, identify potentially inappropriate medications and potential drug-drug interactions, ...

Attention and memory protection: Interactions between retrospective attention cueing and interference.

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Makovski, Tal; Pertzov, Yoni

2015-01-01

Visual working memory (VWM) and attention have a number of features in common, but despite extensive research it is still unclear how the two interact. Can focused attention improve VWM precision? Can it protect VWM from interference? Here we used a partial-report, continuous-response orientation memory task to examine how attention and interference affect different aspects of VWM and how they interact with one another. Both attention and interference were orthogonally manipulated during the retention interval. Attention was manipulated by presenting informative retro-cues, whereas interference was manipulated by introducing a secondary interfering task. Mixture-model analyses revealed that retro-cues, compared to uninformative cues, improved all aspects of performance: Attention increased recall precision and decreased guessing rate and swap-errors (reporting a wrong item in memory). Similarly, performing a secondary task impaired all aspects of the VWM task. In particular, an interaction between retro-cue and secondary task interference was found primarily for swap-errors. Together these results suggest that both the quantity and quality of VWM representations are sensitive to attention cueing and interference modulations, and they highlight the role of attention in protecting the feature-location associations needed to access the correct items in memory.

Meals and snacks: Children's characterizations of food and eating cues.

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Marx, Jenna M; Hoffmann, Debra A; Musher-Eizenman, Dara R

2016-02-01

This study examined preschoolers' and their parents' categorizations of eating episodes based on cues used for defining these occasions (i.e., time, portion size, preparation, content, and emotion) as a meal or snack. Thirty-four children aged 4 to 6 saw pictorial representations of each cue, along with a short verbal description, and were asked to place the picture in one of three boxes: "meal", "snack", or "either meal or snack". One parent per child (85% mothers, Mean age = 35.1 years) separately categorized the same items in an online survey. Results illustrated which cues play a role in how parents and children categorize eating occasions as meals or snacks. Parents used 24 of the 32 cue-related items to distinguish between eating occasions as a meal or a snack, while children used only four. Parents and preschoolers were consistent in using cartoon character packaging to indicate a snack, and also used several of the same content cues. The current study highlights the various cues used to categorize an eating occasion, and the unhealthy character of snacks, as participants associated some unhealthy foods and very few healthy foods with snacks. Future research should focus on the role of parents, the home environment, and advertising media in shaping children's characterizations of eating occasions towards development of healthy eating habits and away from problematic eating behaviors that may persist later in life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using spatial uncertainty to manipulate the size of the attention focus.

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Huang, Dan; Xue, Linyan; Wang, Xin; Chen, Yao

2016-09-01

Preferentially processing behaviorally relevant information is vital for primate survival. In visuospatial attention studies, manipulating the spatial extent of attention focus is an important question. Although many studies have claimed to successfully adjust attention field size by either varying the uncertainty about the target location (spatial uncertainty) or adjusting the size of the cue orienting the attention focus, no systematic studies have assessed and compared the effectiveness of these methods. We used a multiple cue paradigm with 2.5° and 7.5° rings centered around a target position to measure the cue size effect, while the spatial uncertainty levels were manipulated by changing the number of cueing positions. We found that spatial uncertainty had a significant impact on reaction time during target detection, while the cue size effect was less robust. We also carefully varied the spatial scope of potential target locations within a small or large region and found that this amount of variation in spatial uncertainty can also significantly influence target detection speed. Our results indicate that adjusting spatial uncertainty is more effective than varying cue size when manipulating attention field size.

Emergency readmissions to paediatric surgery and urology: The impact of inappropriate coding.

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Peeraully, R; Henderson, K; Davies, B

2016-04-01

Introduction In England, emergency readmissions within 30 days of hospital discharge after an elective admission are not reimbursed if they do not meet Payment by Results (PbR) exclusion criteria. However, coding errors could inappropriately penalise hospitals. We aimed to assess the accuracy of coding for emergency readmissions. Methods Emergency readmissions attributed to paediatric surgery and urology between September 2012 and August 2014 to our tertiary referral centre were retrospectively reviewed. Payment by Results (PbR) coding data were obtained from the hospital's Family Health Directorate. Clinical details were obtained from contemporaneous records. All readmissions were categorised as appropriately coded (postoperative or nonoperative) or inappropriately coded (planned surgical readmission, unrelated surgical admission, unrelated medical admission or coding error). Results Over the 24-month period, 241 patients were coded as 30-day readmissions, with 143 (59%) meeting the PbR exclusion criteria. Of the remaining 98 (41%) patients, 24 (25%) were inappropriately coded as emergency readmissions. These readmissions resulted in 352 extra bed days, of which 117 (33%) were attributable to inappropriately coded cases. Conclusions One-quarter of non-excluded emergency readmissions were inappropriately coded, accounting for one-third of additional bed days. As a stay on a paediatric ward costs up to £500 a day, the potential cost to our institution due to inappropriate readmission coding was over £50,000. Diagnoses and the reason for admission for each care episode should be accurately documented and coded, and readmission data should be reviewed at a senior clinician level.

Material recognition based on thermal cues: Mechanisms and applications.

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Ho, Hsin-Ni

2018-01-01

Some materials feel colder to the touch than others, and we can use this difference in perceived coldness for material recognition. This review focuses on the mechanisms underlying material recognition based on thermal cues. It provides an overview of the physical, perceptual, and cognitive processes involved in material recognition. It also describes engineering domains in which material recognition based on thermal cues have been applied. This includes haptic interfaces that seek to reproduce the sensations associated with contact in virtual environments and tactile sensors aim for automatic material recognition. The review concludes by considering the contributions of this line of research in both science and engineering.

What is inappropriate hospital use for elderly people near the end of life?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cardona-Morrell, Magnolia; Kim, James C H; Brabrand, Mikkel

2017-01-01

: English language publications in Medline, EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane library, and the grey literature (January 1995-December 2016) covering community and nursing home residents aged ≥60years admitted to hospital. OUTCOMES: measurements of inappropriateness. A 17-item quality score was estimated...... estimation of clinical inappropriateness. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical inappropriateness and system factors that preclude alternative community care must be measured separately. They are two very different justifications for hospital admissions, requiring different solutions. Society has a duty to ensure...

Effects of self-relevant cues and cue valence on autobiographical memory specificity in dysphoria.

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Matsumoto, Noboru; Mochizuki, Satoshi

2017-04-01

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (rAMS) is a characteristic memory bias observed in depression. To corroborate the capture hypothesis in the CaRFAX (capture and rumination, functional avoidance, executive capacity and control) model, we investigated the effects of self-relevant cues and cue valence on rAMS using an adapted Autobiographical Memory Test conducted with a nonclinical population. Hierarchical linear modelling indicated that the main effects of depression and self-relevant cues elicited rAMS. Moreover, the three-way interaction among valence, self-relevance, and depression scores was significant. A simple slope test revealed that dysphoric participants experienced rAMS in response to highly self-relevant positive cues and low self-relevant negative cues. These results partially supported the capture hypothesis in nonclinical dysphoria. It is important to consider cue valence in future studies examining the capture hypothesis.

Frequent Home Monitoring of ICD Is Effective to Prevent Inappropriate Defibrillator Shock Delivery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paolo Bifulco

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, in the context of telemedicine, telemonitoring services are gaining attention. They are offered, for example, to patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs. A major problem associated with ICD therapy is the occurrence of inappropriate shocks which impair patients’ quality of life and may also be arrhythmogenic. The telemonitoring can provide a valid support to intensify followup visits, in order to improve the prevention of inappropriate defibrillator shock, thus enhancing patient safety. Inappropriate shock generally depends on atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, and abnormal sensing (such as those caused by electromagnetic interferences. As a practical example, an unusual case of an ICD patient who risked an inappropriate shock while taking a shower is reported. Continuous remote telemonitoring was able to timely warn cardiologist via GSM-SMS, who were able to detect improper sensing examining the intracardiac electrogram via Web. Patient was promptly contacted and warned to not further come in contact with the hydraulic system and any electrical appliance to prevent an inappropriate defibrillator shock. This demonstrates the effectiveness and usefulness of continuous remote telemonitoring in supporting ICD patients.

Risk factors for inappropriate blood requisition among hospitals in Tanzania.

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Mauka, Wilhellmuss I; Mtuy, Tara B; Mahande, Michael J; Msuya, Sia E; Mboya, Innocent B; Juma, Abdul; Philemon, Rune N

2018-01-01

Blood is a critical aspect of treatment in life saving situations, increasing demand. Blood requisition practices greatly effect sufficient supply in blood banks. This study aimed to determine the risk factors for inappropriate blood requisition in Tanzania. This was a cross sectional study using secondary data of 14,460 patients' blood requests from 42 transfusion hospitals. Primary data were obtained by using cluster-sampling design. Data were analysed using a two-level mixed-effects Poisson regression to determine fixed-effects of individual-level factors and hospital level factors associated with inappropriate blood requests. P-value Factors significantly associated with inappropriate requisition were; reporting pulse rate and capillary refill decrease the risk (RR 0.74; 95% CI 0.64, 0.84) and (RR 0.73; 95% CI 0.63, 0.85) respectively and the following increased the risk; having surgery during hospital stay (RR 1.22; 95% CI 1.06, 1.4); being in general surgical ward (RR 3.3; 95% CI 2.7, 4.2), paediatric ward (RR 1.8; 95% CI 1.2, 2.7), obstetric ward (RR 2.5; 95% CI 2.0, 3.1), gynaecological ward (RR 2.1; 95% CI 1.5, 2.9), orthopaedics ward (RR 3.8; 95% CI 2.2, 6.7). Age of the patient, pallor and confirmation of pre-transfusion haemoglobin level were also significantly associated with inappropriate requisition. Majority of appropriate requisitions within the wards were marked in internal medicine (91.7%) and gynaecological wards (77.8%). The proportion of inappropriate blood requests was high. Blood requisition was determined by clinical and laboratory findings and the ward patients were admitted to. Adherence to transfusion guidelines is recommended to assure the best use of limited blood supply.

Feature bindings are maintained in visual short-term memory without sustained focused attention.

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Delvenne, Jean-François; Cleeremans, Axel; Laloyaux, Cédric

2010-01-01

Does the maintenance of feature bindings in visual short-term memory (VSTM) require sustained focused attention? This issue was investigated in three experiments, in which memory for single features (i.e., colors or shapes) was compared with memory for feature bindings (i.e., the link between the color and shape of an object). Attention was manipulated during the memory retention interval with a retro-cue, which allows attention to be directed and focused on a subset of memory items. The retro-cue was presented 700 ms after the offset of the memory display and 700 ms before the onset of the test display. If the maintenance of feature bindings - but not of individual features - in memory requires sustained focused attention, the retro-cue should not affect memory performance. Contrary to this prediction, we found that both memory for feature bindings and memory for individual features were equally improved by the retro-cue. Therefore, this finding does not support the view that the sustained focused attention is needed to properly maintain feature bindings in VSTM.

Cue quality and criterion setting in recognition memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Christopher; Lamberts, Koen; Patton, Richard

2018-02-02

Previous studies on how people set and modify decision criteria in old-new recognition tasks (in which they have to decide whether or not a stimulus was seen in a study phase) have almost exclusively focused on properties of the study items, such as presentation frequency or study list length. In contrast, in the three studies reported here, we manipulated the quality of the test cues in a scene-recognition task, either by degrading through Gaussian blurring (Experiment 1) or by limiting presentation duration (Experiment 2 and 3). In Experiments 1 and 2, degradation of the test cue led to worse old-new discrimination. Most importantly, however, participants were more liberal in their responses to degraded cues (i.e., more likely to call the cue "old"), demonstrating strong within-list, item-by-item, criterion shifts. This liberal response bias toward degraded stimuli came at the cost of increasing the false alarm rate while maintaining a constant hit rate. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 with additional stimulus types (words and faces) but did not provide accuracy feedback to participants. The criterion shifts in Experiment 3 were smaller in magnitude than Experiments 1 and 2 and varied in consistency across stimulus type, suggesting, in line with previous studies, that feedback is important for participants to shift their criteria.

Design and methods of the Echo WISELY (Will Inappropriate Scenarios for Echocardiography Lessen SignificantlY) study: An investigator-blinded randomized controlled trial of education and feedback intervention to reduce inappropriate echocardiograms.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatia, R Sacha; Ivers, Noah; Yin, Cindy X; Myers, Dorothy; Nesbitt, Gillian; Edwards, Jeremy; Yared, Kibar; Wadhera, Rishi; Wu, Justina C; Wong, Brian; Hansen, Mark; Weinerman, Adina; Shadowitz, Steven; Johri, Amer; Farkouh, Michael; Thavendiranathan, Paaladinesh; Udell, Jacob A; Rambihar, Sherryn; Chow, Chi-Ming; Hall, Judith; Thorpe, Kevin E; Rakowski, Harry; Weiner, Rory B

2015-08-01

Appropriate use criteria (AUC) for transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) were developed to address concerns regarding inappropriate use of TTE. A previous pilot study suggests that an educational and feedback intervention can reduce inappropriate TTEs ordered by physicians in training. It is unknown if this type of intervention will be effective when targeted at attending level physicians in a variety of clinical settings. The aim of this international, multicenter study is to evaluate the hypothesis that an AUC-based educational and feedback intervention will reduce the proportion of inappropriate echocardiograms ordered by attending physicians in the ambulatory environment. In an ongoing multicentered, investigator-blinded, randomized controlled trial across Canada and the United States, cardiologists and primary care physicians practicing in the ambulatory setting will be enrolled. The intervention arm will receive (1) a lecture outlining the AUC and most recent available evidence highlighting appropriate use of TTE, (2) access to the American Society of Echocardiography mobile phone app, and (3) individualized feedback reports e-mailed monthly summarizing TTE ordering behavior including information on inappropriate TTEs and brief explanations of the inappropriate designation. The control group will receive no education on TTE appropriate use and order TTEs as usual practice. The Echo WISELY (Will Inappropriate Scenarios for Echocardiography Lessen Significantly in an education RCT) study is the first multicenter randomized trial of an AUC-based educational intervention. The study will examine whether an education and feedback intervention will reduce the rate of outpatient inappropriate TTEs ordered by attending level cardiologists and primary care physicians (www.clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02038101). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multiple reward-cue contingencies favor expectancy over uncertainty in shaping the reward-cue attentional salience.

Science.gov (United States)

De Tommaso, Matteo; Mastropasqua, Tommaso; Turatto, Massimo

2018-01-25

Reward-predicting cues attract attention because of their motivational value. A debated question regards the conditions under which the cue's attentional salience is governed more by reward expectancy rather than by reward uncertainty. To help shedding light on this relevant issue, here, we manipulated expectancy and uncertainty using three levels of reward-cue contingency, so that, for example, a high level of reward expectancy (p = .8) was compared with the highest level of reward uncertainty (p = .5). In Experiment 1, the best reward-cue during conditioning was preferentially attended in a subsequent visual search task. This result was replicated in Experiment 2, in which the cues were matched in terms of response history. In Experiment 3, we implemented a hybrid procedure consisting of two phases: an omission contingency procedure during conditioning, followed by a visual search task as in the previous experiments. Crucially, during both phases, the reward-cues were never task relevant. Results confirmed that, when multiple reward-cue contingencies are explored by a human observer, expectancy is the major factor controlling both the attentional and the oculomotor salience of the reward-cue.

Development of new taxonomy of inappropriate communication and its application to operating teams in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Jang, In Seok; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2012-01-01

Inappropriate communications can cause a lack of necessary information exchange between operators and lead to serious consequences in large process systems such as nuclear power plants (NPPs). In this regard, various kinds of taxonomies of inappropriate communications have been developed to prevent inappropriate communications. However, there seems to be difficult to identify inappropriate communications from verbal protocol data between operators. Because the existing taxonomies were developed for use in report analysis, there is a problem of 'uncertainty'. In consequence, this paper proposes a new taxonomy of inappropriate communications and provides some insights to prevent inappropriate communications. In order to develop the taxonomy, existing taxonomies for four industries from 1980 to 2010 were collected and a new taxonomy is developed based on the simplified one-way communication model. In addition, the ratio of inappropriate communications from 8 samples of audio-visual format verbal protocol data recorded during emergency training sessions by operating teams is compared with performance scores calculated based on the task analysis. As a result, inappropriate communications can be easily identified from the verbal protocol data using the suggested taxonomy, and teams with a higher ratio of inappropriate communications tend to have a lower performance score.

Development of new taxonomy of inappropriate communication and its application to operating teams in nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Jang, In Seok; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun [Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jin Kyun [Integrated Safety Assessment Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-12-15

Inappropriate communications can cause a lack of necessary information exchange between operators and lead to serious consequences in large process systems such as nuclear power plants (NPPs). In this regard, various kinds of taxonomies of inappropriate communications have been developed to prevent inappropriate communications. However, there seems to be difficult to identify inappropriate communications from verbal protocol data between operators. Because the existing taxonomies were developed for use in report analysis, there is a problem of 'uncertainty'. In consequence, this paper proposes a new taxonomy of inappropriate communications and provides some insights to prevent inappropriate communications. In order to develop the taxonomy, existing taxonomies for four industries from 1980 to 2010 were collected and a new taxonomy is developed based on the simplified one-way communication model. In addition, the ratio of inappropriate communications from 8 samples of audio-visual format verbal protocol data recorded during emergency training sessions by operating teams is compared with performance scores calculated based on the task analysis. As a result, inappropriate communications can be easily identified from the verbal protocol data using the suggested taxonomy, and teams with a higher ratio of inappropriate communications tend to have a lower performance score.

[Impact of potentially inappropriate drug usage on health insurance business results].

Science.gov (United States)

Kirschke, Malin; Böhme, Jacqueline

2014-09-01

In Germany a list was drawn up that included 83 potentially inappropriate drugs. The PRISCUS list published in 2010 was intended to highlight certain problems in the pharmakotherapy of elderly patients and serve as a support for improved medicine safety. Almost a third of the insurance portfolio of the HALLESCHE Krankenversicherung aged over 75 years takes drugs that are on the PRISCUS list. Benzodiazepine and Z-drugs are taken most frequently. The costs per insurant with potentially inappropriate medication are on average higher than for policyholders who do not take drugs on the PRISCUS list. The costs per insurant are rising, with an increase in the number of PRISCUS agents being taken as well. However, there is still no scientific proof that potentially inappropriate drugs lead to adverse drug events.

Missed opportunities and inappropriately given vaccines reduce ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objectives: To quantify missed opportunities for immunisation, document reasons for their occurrence and evaluate the extent of inappropriately given vaccine doses. Design: A cross sectional study of children under two years of age attending health facilities. Setting: Six health facilities predominantly serving the slums of ...

Cross-modal cueing in audiovisual spatial attention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blurton, Steven Paul; Greenlee, Mark W.; Gondan, Matthias

2015-01-01

effects have been reported for endogenous visual cues while exogenous cues seem to be mostly ineffective. In three experiments, we investigated cueing effects on the processing of audiovisual signals. In Experiment 1 we used endogenous cues to investigate their effect on the detection of auditory, visual......, and audiovisual targets presented with onset asynchrony. Consistent cueing effects were found in all target conditions. In Experiment 2 we used exogenous cues and found cueing effects only for visual target detection, but not auditory target detection. In Experiment 3 we used predictive exogenous cues to examine...

Effect of pictorial depth cues, binocular disparity cues and motion parallax depth cues on lightness perception in three-dimensional virtual scenes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michiteru Kitazaki

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Surface lightness perception is affected by scene interpretation. There is some experimental evidence that perceived lightness under bi-ocular viewing conditions is different from perceived lightness in actual scenes but there are also reports that viewing conditions have little or no effect on perceived color. We investigated how mixes of depth cues affect perception of lightness in three-dimensional rendered scenes containing strong gradients of illumination in depth.Observers viewed a virtual room (4 m width x 5 m height x 17.5 m depth with checkerboard walls and floor. In four conditions, the room was presented with or without binocular disparity (BD depth cues and with or without motion parallax (MP depth cues. In all conditions, observers were asked to adjust the luminance of a comparison surface to match the lightness of test surfaces placed at seven different depths (8.5-17.5 m in the scene. We estimated lightness versus depth profiles in all four depth cue conditions. Even when observers had only pictorial depth cues (no MP, no BD, they partially but significantly discounted the illumination gradient in judging lightness. Adding either MP or BD led to significantly greater discounting and both cues together produced the greatest discounting. The effects of MP and BD were approximately additive. BD had greater influence at near distances than far.These results suggest the surface lightness perception is modulated by three-dimensional perception/interpretation using pictorial, binocular-disparity, and motion-parallax cues additively. We propose a two-stage (2D and 3D processing model for lightness perception.

Inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone treated with frusemide.

Science.gov (United States)

Decaux, G; Waterlot, Y; Genette, F; Hallemans, R; Demanet, J C

1982-07-10

Seven out of nine patients with chronic inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone were successfully treated with 40 mg frusemide daily. One patient needed 80 mg, and the remaining patient achieved only a small increase in diuresis after 40 mg frusemide; this was probably related to his low creatinine clearance. In order to maintain a salt intake high enough to compensate for the loss of urine electrolytes 3 to 6 g sodium chloride was added as tablets to the sodium-free diet in six patients. Hypokalaemia occurred in five patients but was easily corrected with either supplements of potassium chloride or a potassium-sparing diuretic. These findings add further weight to evidence that Frusemide is a good alternative for the treatment of patients with inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone who cannot tolerate water restriction.

Children's Context Inappropriate Anger and Salivary Cortisol

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Locke, Robin L.; Davidson, Richard J.; Kalin, Ned H.; Goldsmith, H. Hill

2009-01-01

Some children show emotion that is not consistent with normative appraisal of the context and can therefore be defined as context inappropriate (CI). The authors used individual growth curve modeling and hierarchical multiple regression analyses to examine whether CI anger predicts differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, as…

Preconditioning of Spatial and Auditory Cues: Roles of the Hippocampus, Frontal Cortex, and Cue-Directed Attention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew C. Talk

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Loss of function of the hippocampus or frontal cortex is associated with reduced performance on memory tasks, in which subjects are incidentally exposed to cues at specific places in the environment and are subsequently asked to recollect the location at which the cue was experienced. Here, we examined the roles of the rodent hippocampus and frontal cortex in cue-directed attention during encoding of memory for the location of a single incidentally experienced cue. During a spatial sensory preconditioning task, rats explored an elevated platform while an auditory cue was incidentally presented at one corner. The opposite corner acted as an unpaired control location. The rats demonstrated recollection of location by avoiding the paired corner after the auditory cue was in turn paired with shock. Damage to either the dorsal hippocampus or the frontal cortex impaired this memory ability. However, we also found that hippocampal lesions enhanced attention directed towards the cue during the encoding phase, while frontal cortical lesions reduced cue-directed attention. These results suggest that the deficit in spatial sensory preconditioning caused by frontal cortical damage may be mediated by inattention to the location of cues during the latent encoding phase, while deficits following hippocampal damage must be related to other mechanisms such as generation of neural plasticity.

Preconditioning of Spatial and Auditory Cues: Roles of the Hippocampus, Frontal Cortex, and Cue-Directed Attention

Science.gov (United States)

Talk, Andrew C.; Grasby, Katrina L.; Rawson, Tim; Ebejer, Jane L.

2016-01-01

Loss of function of the hippocampus or frontal cortex is associated with reduced performance on memory tasks, in which subjects are incidentally exposed to cues at specific places in the environment and are subsequently asked to recollect the location at which the cue was experienced. Here, we examined the roles of the rodent hippocampus and frontal cortex in cue-directed attention during encoding of memory for the location of a single incidentally experienced cue. During a spatial sensory preconditioning task, rats explored an elevated platform while an auditory cue was incidentally presented at one corner. The opposite corner acted as an unpaired control location. The rats demonstrated recollection of location by avoiding the paired corner after the auditory cue was in turn paired with shock. Damage to either the dorsal hippocampus or the frontal cortex impaired this memory ability. However, we also found that hippocampal lesions enhanced attention directed towards the cue during the encoding phase, while frontal cortical lesions reduced cue-directed attention. These results suggest that the deficit in spatial sensory preconditioning caused by frontal cortical damage may be mediated by inattention to the location of cues during the latent encoding phase, while deficits following hippocampal damage must be related to other mechanisms such as generation of neural plasticity. PMID:27999366

Potentially inappropriate medication use: the Beers' Criteria used among older adults with depressive symptoms

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Lee D

2013-09-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: The ageing population means prescribing for chronic illnesses in older people is expected to rise. Comorbidities and compromised organ function may complicate prescribing and increase medication-related risks. Comorbid depression in older people is highly prevalent and complicates medication prescribing decisions. AIM: To determine the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use in a community-dwelling population of older adults with depressive symptoms. METHODS: The medications of 191 community-dwelling older people selected because of depressive symptoms for a randomised trial were reviewed and assessed using the modified version of the Beers' Criteria. The association between inappropriate medication use and various population characteristics was assessed using Chi-square statistics and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The mean age was 81 (±4.3 years and 59% were women. The median number of medications used was 6 (range 1-21 medications. The most commonly prescribed potentially inappropriate medications were amitriptyline, dextropropoxyphene, quinine and benzodiazepines. Almost half (49% of the participants were prescribed at least one potentially inappropriate medication; 29% were considered to suffer significant depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale ≥5 and no differences were found in the number of inappropriate medications used between those with and without significant depressive symptoms (Chi-square 0.005 p=0.54. DISCUSSION: Potentially inappropriate medication use, as per the modified Beers' Criteria, is very common among community-dwelling older people with depressive symptoms. However, the utility of the Beers' Criteria is lessened by lack of clinical correlation. Ongoing research to examine outcomes related to apparent inappropriate medication use is needed.

Grasp cueing and joint attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Tschentscher, Nadja; Fischer, Martin H

2008-10-01

We studied how two different hand posture cues affect joint attention in normal observers. Visual targets appeared over lateralized objects, with different delays after centrally presented hand postures. Attention was cued by either hand direction or the congruency between hand aperture and object size. Participants pressed a button when they detected a target. Direction cues alone facilitated target detection following short delays but aperture cues alone were ineffective. In contrast, when hand postures combined direction and aperture cues, aperture congruency effects without directional congruency effects emerged and persisted, but only for power grips. These results suggest that parallel parameter specification makes joint attention mechanisms exquisitely sensitive to the timing and content of contextual cues.

Targeting extinction and reconsolidation mechanisms to combat the impact of drug cues on addiction.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jane R; Olausson, Peter; Quinn, Jennifer J; Torregrossa, Mary M

2009-01-01

Drug addiction is a progressive and compulsive disorder, where recurrent craving and relapse to drug-seeking occur even after long periods of abstinence. A major contributing factor to relapse is drug-associated cues. Here we review behavioral and pharmacological studies outlining novel methods of effective and persistent reductions in cue-induced relapse behavior in animal models. We focus on extinction and reconsolidation of cue-drug associations as the memory processes that are the most likely targets for interventions. Extinction involves the formation of new inhibitory memories rather than memory erasure; thus, it should be possible to facilitate the extinction of cue-drug memories to reduce relapse. We propose that context-dependency of extinction might be altered by mnemonic agents, thereby enhancing the efficacy of cue-exposure therapy as treatment strategy. In contrast, interfering with memory reconsolidation processes can disrupt the integrity or strength of specific cue-drug memories. Reconsolidation is argued to be a distinct process that occurs over a brief time period after memory is reactivated/retrieved - when the memory becomes labile and vulnerable to disruption. Reconsolidation is thought to be an independent, perhaps opposing, process to extinction and disruption of reconsolidation has recently been shown to directly affect subsequent cue-drug memory retrieval in an animal model of relapse. We hypothesize that a combined approach aimed at both enhancing the consolidation of cue-drug extinction and interfering with the reconsolidation of cue-drug memories will have a greater potential for persistently inhibiting cue-induced relapse than either treatment alone.

Potentially inappropriate medication use among institutionalized elderly individuals in southeastern Brazil

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Mauro Cunha Xavier Pinto

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, the elderly population in Brazil has grown rapidly, as has concern for the health of this population. Institutionalization in nursing homes has appeared as an alternative form of health care for frail elderly that live alone. The present study evaluated the pharmacotherapy and inappropriate drug prescriptions for institutionalized elderly patients living in long-term institutions in southeastern Brazil. This research was conducted at five institutions with a total sample of 151 individuals aged at least 60 years. Databases were used to identify drug interactions, defined daily dose and inappropriate prescriptions. The prevalence of drug intake among the elderly was 95.36%, and there were an average of 3.31 ± 1.80 drug prescriptions per individual. Based on Beers criteria, the prevalence of inappropriate prescriptions was 25.83%. In addition, 70.2% of prescriptions were prescribed at a higher dosage than the defined daily dose (ATC/WHO. Potential drug interactions were identified for 54.11% of prescriptions; 81.42% of these were of moderate severity. The main inappropriate drugs were prescribed for cardiovascular and nervous system problems. Institutionalized elderly individuals presented a high consumption and misuse of medications, requiring professional intervention to monitor prescriptions and improve the quality of service for this population.

Electromagnetic Interference from Swimming Pool Generator Current Causing Inappropriate ICD Discharges

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Edward Samuel Roberto

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Electromagnetic interference (EMI includes any electromagnetic field signal that can be detected by device circuitry, with potentially serious consequences: incorrect sensing, pacing, device mode switching, and defibrillation. This is a unique case of extracardiac EMI by alternating current leakage from a submerged motor used to recycle chlorinated water, resulting in false rhythm detection and inappropriate ICD discharge. A 31-year-old female with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and Medtronic dual-chamber ICD placement presented after several inappropriate ICD shocks at the public swimming pool. Patient had never received prior shocks and device was appropriate at all regular follow-ups. Intracardiac electrograms revealed unique, high-frequency signals at exactly 120 msec suggestive of EMI from a strong external source of alternating current. Electrical artifact was incorrectly sensed as a ventricular arrhythmia which resulted in discharge. ICD parameters including sensing, pacing thresholds, and impedance were all normal suggesting against device malfunction. With device failure and intracardiac sources excluded, EMI was therefore strongly suspected. Avoidance of EMI source brought complete resolution with no further inappropriate shocks. After exclusion of intracardiac interference, device malfunction, and abnormal settings, extracardiac etiologies such as EMI must be thoughtfully considered and excluded. Elimination of inappropriate shocks is to “first, do no harm.”

Impact of DCS-facilitated cue exposure therapy on brain activation to cocaine cues in cocaine dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Prisciandaro, James J; Myrick, Hugh; Henderson, Scott; McRae-Clark, Aimee L; Santa Ana, Elizabeth J; Saladin, Michael E; Brady, Kathleen T

2013-09-01

The development of addiction is marked by a pathological associative learning process that imbues incentive salience to stimuli associated with drug use. Recent efforts to treat addiction have targeted this learning process using cue exposure therapy augmented with d-cycloserine (DCS), a glutamatergic agent hypothesized to enhance extinction learning. To better understand the impact of DCS-facilitated extinction on neural reactivity to drug cues, the present study reports fMRI findings from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of DCS-facilitated cue exposure for cocaine dependence. Twenty-five participants completed two MRI sessions (before and after intervention), with a cocaine-cue reactivity fMRI task. The intervention consisted of 50mg of DCS or placebo, combined with two sessions of cocaine cue exposure and skills training. Participants demonstrated cocaine cue activation in a variety of brain regions at baseline. From the pre- to post-study scan, participants experienced decreased activation to cues in a number of regions (e.g., accumbens, caudate, frontal poles). Unexpectedly, placebo participants experienced decreases in activation to cues in the left angular and middle temporal gyri and the lateral occipital cortex, while DCS participants did not. Three trials of DCS-facilitated cue exposure therapy for cocaine dependence have found that DCS either increases or does not significantly impact response to cocaine cues. The present study adds to this literature by demonstrating that DCS may prevent extinction to cocaine cues in temporal and occipital brain regions. Although consistent with past research, results from the present study should be considered preliminary until replicated in larger samples. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Functional Analysis and Reduction of Inappropriate Spitting

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Stacy L.; Wheeler, John J.

2007-01-01

Functional analysis was used to determine the possible function of inappropriate spitting behavior of an adult woman who had been diagnosed with profound mental retardation. Results of an initial descriptive assessment indicated a possible attention function and led to an attention-based intervention, which was deemed ineffective at reducing the…

Visual Attention in Flies-Dopamine in the Mushroom Bodies Mediates the After-Effect of Cueing.

Science.gov (United States)

Koenig, Sebastian; Wolf, Reinhard; Heisenberg, Martin

2016-01-01

Visual environments may simultaneously comprise stimuli of different significance. Often such stimuli require incompatible responses. Selective visual attention allows an animal to respond exclusively to the stimuli at a certain location in the visual field. In the process of establishing its focus of attention the animal can be influenced by external cues. Here we characterize the behavioral properties and neural mechanism of cueing in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. A cue can be attractive, repulsive or ineffective depending upon (e.g.) its visual properties and location in the visual field. Dopamine signaling in the brain is required to maintain the effect of cueing once the cue has disappeared. Raising or lowering dopamine at the synapse abolishes this after-effect. Specifically, dopamine is necessary and sufficient in the αβ-lobes of the mushroom bodies. Evidence is provided for an involvement of the αβposterior Kenyon cells.

Inappropriate self-medication among adolescents and its association with lower medication literacy and substance use.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-Hsien Lee

Full Text Available While self-medication is common, inappropriate self-medication has potential risks. This study assesses inappropriate self-medication among adolescents and examines the relationships among medication literacy, substance use, and inappropriate self-medication.In 2016, a national representative sample of 6,226 students from 99 primary, middle, and high schools completed an online self-administered questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors related to inappropriate self-medication.The prevalence of self-medication in the past year among the adolescents surveyed was 45.8%, and the most frequently reported drugs for self-medication included nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or pain relievers (prevalence = 31.1%, cold or cough medicines (prevalence = 21.6%, analgesics (prevalence = 19.3%, and antacids (prevalence = 17.3%. Of the participants who practiced self-medication, the prevalence of inappropriate self-medication behaviors included not reading drug labels or instructions (10.1%, using excessive dosages (21.6%, and using prescription and nonprescription medicine simultaneously without advice from a health provider (polypharmacy (30.3%. The results of multiple logistic regression analysis showed that after controlling for school level, gender, and chronic diseases, the participants with lower medication knowledge, lower self-efficacy, lower medication literacy, and who consumed tobacco or alcohol were more likely to engage in inappropriate self-medication.Lower medication literacy and substance use were associated with inappropriate self-medication among adolescents.

Cue integration vs. exemplar-based reasoning in multi-attribute decisions from memory: A matter of cue representation

OpenAIRE

Arndt Broeder; Ben R. Newell; Christine Platzer

2010-01-01

Inferences about target variables can be achieved by deliberate integration of probabilistic cues or by retrieving similar cue-patterns (exemplars) from memory. In tasks with cue information presented in on-screen displays, rule-based strategies tend to dominate unless the abstraction of cue-target relations is unfeasible. This dominance has also been demonstrated --- surprisingly --- in experiments that demanded the retrieval of cue values from memory (M. Persson \\& J. Rieskamp, 2009). In th...

The inappropriate use of lumbar magnetic resonance imaging in a health service area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez Recio, F. J.; Sanz, J. C.; Vera, S.; Peiro, S.

1999-01-01

To identify the percentage of inappropriate lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging in the Soria Health Service, to quantify the costs and the possible association between inadequate use, the characteristics of the patient and the services requested. A descriptive study of the inappropriate use of MRI of the lumbar spine, taken from the retrospective examination, carried out by a radiologist, of the 233 MRI's requested between 1995 and 1998. For the valuation, the criteria of the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Basque Agency for the Evaluation of Technologies (OSTEBA) were used. All the MRI's were carried out at an approved centre, the costs were calculated taken form the expenses paid by the Insalud, including the transport costs, calculated at prices applicable for the year in question. 11.7% of the studies were values as inappropriate, 2.1% debatable and the remainder adequate according to the ACR criteria, concentrating the inadequacy on studies for lumbago, that reached 80% of the inappropriate requests. The ACR and OSTEBA criteria coincided to a high degree (kappa statistics: 0.87). The expense related to the unnecessary studies was a litter higher than a million pesetas. No differences were found in the proportion of inappropriate studies according to the characteristics of the patient or the service requested, except the one already mentioned for the supposition diagnosis. Although the results of the study cannot be generalised to other environments, they suggest the possibility of a significant proportion of inappropriate use of lumbar spine MRI that could have an important repercussion on health care expenses. (Author) 11 refs

Heart failure severity, inappropriate ICD therapy, and novel ICD programming: a MADIT-RIT substudy.

Science.gov (United States)

Daimee, Usama A; Vermilye, Katherine; Rosero, Spencer; Schuger, Claudio D; Daubert, James P; Zareba, Wojciech; McNitt, Scott; Polonsky, Bronislava; Moss, Arthur J; Kutyifa, Valentina

2017-12-01

The effects of heart failure (HF) severity on risk of inappropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy have not been thoroughly investigated. We aimed to study the association between HF severity and inappropriate ICD therapy in MADIT-RIT. MADIT-RIT randomized 1,500 patients to three ICD programming arms: conventional (Arm A), high-rate cut-off (Arm B: ≥200 beats/min), and delayed therapy (Arm C: 60-second delay for ≥170 beats/min). We evaluated the association between New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III (n = 256) versus class I-II (n = 251) and inappropriate ICD therapy in Arm A patients with ICD-only and cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D). We additionally assessed benefit of novel ICD programming in Arms B and C versus Arm A by NYHA classification. In Arm A, the risk of inappropriate therapy was significantly higher in those with NYHA III versus NYHA I-II for both ICD (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.55, confidence interval [CI]: 1.51-4.30, P programming significantly reduced inappropriate therapy in patients with both NYHA III (Arm B vs Arm A: HR = 0.08, P programming with high-rate cut-off or delayed detection reduces inappropriate ICD therapies in both mild and moderate HF. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An Eye Tracking Comparison of External Pointing Cues and Internal Continuous Cues in Learning with Complex Animations

Science.gov (United States)

Boucheix, Jean-Michel; Lowe, Richard K.

2010-01-01

Two experiments used eye tracking to investigate a novel cueing approach for directing learner attention to low salience, high relevance aspects of a complex animation. In the first experiment, comprehension of a piano mechanism animation containing spreading-colour cues was compared with comprehension obtained with arrow cues or no cues. Eye…

Introspective responses to cues and motivation to reduce cigarette smoking influence state and behavioral responses to cue exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Veilleux, Jennifer C; Skinner, Kayla D

2016-09-01

In the current study, we aimed to extend smoking cue-reactivity research by evaluating delay discounting as an outcome of cigarette cue exposure. We also separated introspection in response to cues (e.g., self-reporting craving and affect) from cue exposure alone, to determine if introspection changes behavioral responses to cigarette cues. Finally, we included measures of quit motivation and resistance to smoking to assess motivational influences on cue exposure. Smokers were invited to participate in an online cue-reactivity study. Participants were randomly assigned to view smoking images or neutral images, and were randomized to respond to cues with either craving and affect questions (e.g., introspection) or filler questions. Following cue exposure, participants completed a delay discounting task and then reported state affect, craving, and resistance to smoking, as well as an assessment of quit motivation. We found that after controlling for trait impulsivity, participants who introspected on craving and affect showed higher delay discounting, irrespective of cue type, but we found no effect of response condition on subsequent craving (e.g., craving reactivity). We also found that motivation to quit interacted with experimental conditions to predict state craving and state resistance to smoking. Although asking about craving during cue exposure did not increase later craving, it resulted in greater delaying of discounted rewards. Overall, our findings suggest the need to further assess the implications of introspection and motivation on behavioral outcomes of cue exposure. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cost analysis of inappropriate treatments for suspected dermatomycoses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emanuela Fiammenghi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Superficial mycoses are estimated to affect more than 20-25% of the world’s population with a consistent increase over the years. Most patients referred to our clinic for suspected dermatomycoses have already been treated with pharmacotherapy, without a previous mycological examination and many show changes in the clinical manifestations. Indeed, some medications, such as steroids, antiviral, antibiotics and antihistamines are not able to erase a fungal infection, but also they can cause atypical clinical manifestations. The consequences of inappropriate treatment include delayed diagnosis, prolonged healing time, and additional costs. The aims of this study were (1 to evaluate the incidence of increased costs attributable to inappropriate therapy sustained by the National Health Service and patients and (2 to highlight the importance of mycological evaluation before starting treatment, in order to improve diagnostic accuracy. An observational retrospective and prospective study was performed from September 2013 to February 2014, in 765 patients referred to our center (University Hospital “ Federico II” in Naples, Italy, for suspected mycological infection. The following treatments (alone or in combination were defined as inappropriate: (1 cortisone in a patient with at least one positive site; (2 antifungals in (a patients with all negative sites or (b ineffective antifungal treatment (in terms of drug chosen, dose or duration in those with all positive sites; or (3 antibiotics; (4 antivirals or (5 antihistamines, in patients with ≥ 1 positive site. Five hundred and fifty patients were using medications before the assessment visit. The total amount of avoidable costs related to inappropriate previous treatments was € 121,417, representing 74% of the total treatment costs. 253/550 patients received drugs also after the visit. For these patients, the cost of treatment prescribed after mycological testing was € 42,952, with a decrease

Interactive effects in transfer-appropriate processing for event-based prospective memory: the roles of effort, ongoing task, and PM cue properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Abney, Drew H; McBride, Dawn M; Petrella, Samantha N

2013-10-01

Past studies (e.g., Marsh, Hicks, & Cook Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31:68-75, 2005; Meiser & Schult European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 20:290-311, 2008) have shown that transfer-appropriate processing (TAP) effects in event-based prospective memory (PM) depend on the effort directed toward the ongoing task. In the present study, we addressed mixed findings from these studies and examined monitoring in TAP and transfer-inappropriate processing (TIP) conditions. In two experiments, a semantic or orthographic ongoing task was paired with a PM cue that either was matched in processing (TAP) or did not match in processing (TIP). Within each condition, effort was varied across trials. The results indicated that PM accuracy was higher in TAP than in TIP conditions, regardless of effort condition, supporting the findings reported by Meiser and Schult. Ex-Gaussian functions were fit to the mean reaction times (cf. Brewer Journal of Psychology 219:117-124, 2011) in order to examine monitoring across conditions. The analysis of distributional skew (τ parameter) showed sensitivity to ongoing task instructions and properties of the PM cues. These results support Meiser and Schult's suggestion that TIP conditions require more attentional processing, and they also afford novel discussion on the interactive effects of ongoing task condition, PM cue properties, and manipulations of effort.

Attentional bias to food-related visual cues: is there a role in obesity?

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Doolan, K J; Breslin, G; Hanna, D; Gallagher, A M

2015-02-01

The incentive sensitisation model of obesity suggests that modification of the dopaminergic associated reward systems in the brain may result in increased awareness of food-related visual cues present in the current food environment. Having a heightened awareness of these visual food cues may impact on food choices and eating behaviours with those being most aware of or demonstrating greater attention to food-related stimuli potentially being at greater risk of overeating and subsequent weight gain. To date, research related to attentional responses to visual food cues has been both limited and conflicting. Such inconsistent findings may in part be explained by the use of different methodological approaches to measure attentional bias and the impact of other factors such as hunger levels, energy density of visual food cues and individual eating style traits that may influence visual attention to food-related cues outside of weight status alone. This review examines the various methodologies employed to measure attentional bias with a particular focus on the role that attentional processing of food-related visual cues may have in obesity. Based on the findings of this review, it appears that it may be too early to clarify the role visual attention to food-related cues may have in obesity. Results however highlight the importance of considering the most appropriate methodology to use when measuring attentional bias and the characteristics of the study populations targeted while interpreting results to date and in designing future studies.

Using a social story intervention to decrease inappropriate behavior of preschool children with autism

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Angkhana Khantreejitranon

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This research investigated the inappropriate behavior of preschool children with autism in a classroom and examined the effectiveness of the use of social stories to decrease inappropriate autistic behavior. An A-B-A-B single subject design was used across the five participants selected for the study. Investigating the problematic social skills and developing a social story intervention for the preschool autistic children was completed, followed by an examination of the effectiveness of the social story intervention. Ten common problematic social skills among the autistic children in preschool were identified—walking around, making loud noises, not sharing their toys with others, showing frustration when feeling unsatisfied, having no patience, not putting toys away when finished, taking other people's belongings without permission, not knowing how to greet others, destroying things when feeling frustrated, and giving a hug to other people at inappropriate times. It was found that the social story intervention helped to decrease inappropriate behavior in children with autism. The social story intervention consisted of five social story books and five e-books (one story per child using a single subject design with an A-B-A-B pattern. The autistic children preferred social stories from the hardcopy books compared with stories from the e-books. A fourth stage time trial was used over 6 weeks, five times per week, for a total of 30 times. The findings suggested that the use of properly constructed social stories can be effective in decreasing the inappropriate behavior of children with autism. However, each story intervention should be applied with caution because of individual differences between children. The social story intervention should be designed only for autistic children who exhibit specific inappropriate social behavior. Keywords: autistic child, inappropriate behavior, social skills, social story

Explicit versus implicit evaluation to detect inappropriate medication use in geriatric outpatients.

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Bahat, Gulistan; Ilhan, Birkan; Bay, Ilker; Kilic, Cihan; Kucukdagli, Pinar; Oren, Meryem Merve; Karan, Mehmet Akif

2018-04-19

The rates and reasons why clinicians decide not to follow recommendations from explicit-criteria have been studied scarce. We aimed to compare STOPP version 2 representing one of the most commonly used excplicit tool with the implicit comprehensive geriatric assessment mediated clinical evaluation considered as gold standard. Two hundred and six (n = 206) outpatients ≥65 years old were included. The study was designed as retrospective, cross-sectional, and randomised. STOPP version 2 criteria were systematically used to assess pre-admission treatments followed by implicit clinical evaluation regarding two questions: Were the STOPP criteria recommendations valid for the individual patient and were there any potentially inappropriate-prescription other than depicted by STOPP version 2 criteria? The underlying reason(s) and associated clinical-features were noted. About 62.6% potentially inappropriate-prescriptions were identified (0.6 per-subject) according to systematic application of STOPP v2 while it was 53.4% (0.5 potentially inappropriate-prescriptions per subject) by clinician's application of STOPP v2. Prevalence of non-compliance was 14.7% in 18 (21.7%) of 83 patients identified by systematic application. Suggestion to stop a drug was not accepted because of need of treatment despite likelihood of anticipated side-effects in about 2/3 and with no-anticipated side-effects in about 1/3 of non-compliances. Not following STOPP v2 was significantly associated with lower functional level. According to clinician's implicit-evaluation, there were an extra 59.2% potentially inappropriate-prescriptions (0.6 per subject) in 80 (38.8%) patients yielding a total of 112.6% potentially inappropriate-prescription. Most of the STOPP v2 directed drug cessations are decided valid by the clinicians. In patients with higher functional dependency, it is likely that they are not followed due to palliation focussed care/patient-family preferences. There may be as much as STOPP

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in elderly population: A study in medicine out-patient department

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Ajit Kumar Sah

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Background & Objectives: Older individuals often suffer from multiple systemic diseases and are particularly more vulnerable to potentially inappropriate medicine prescribing. Inappropriate medication can cause serious medical problem for the elderly. The study was conducted with objectives to determine the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medicine (PIM prescribing in older Nepalese patients in a medicine outpatient department.Materials & Methods: A prospective observational analysis of drugs prescribed in medicine out-patient department (OPD of a tertiary hospital of central Nepal was conducted during November 2012 to October 2013 among 869 older adults aged 65 years and above. The use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM in elderly patients was analysed using Beer’s Criteria updated to 2013. Results: In the 869 patients included, the average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 5.56. The most commonly used drugs were atenolol (24.3%, amlodipine (23.16%, paracetamol (17.6%, salbutamol (15.72% and vitamin B complex (13.26%. The total number of medications prescribed was 4833. At least one instance of PIM was experienced by approximately 26.3% of patients when evaluated using the Beers criteria. Conclusion: Potentially inappropriate medications are highly prevalent among older patients attending medical OPD and are associated with number of medications prescribed. Further research is warranted to study the impact of PIMs towards health related outcomes in these elderly.

Pictures as cues or as support to verbal cues at encoding and execution of prospective memories in individuals with intellectual disability

OpenAIRE

Levén, Anna; Lyxell, Björn; Andersson, Jan; Danielsson, Henrik

2013-01-01

This study focused on prospective memory in persons with intellectual disability and age-matched controls. Persons with intellectual disability have limited prospective memory function. We investigated prospective memory with words and pictures as cues at encoding and retrieval. Prospective and episodic memory was estimated from Prospective Memory Game performance. Pictures at retrieval were important for prospective memory in particular in the intellectual disability group. Prospective memor...

Do current and former cigarette smokers have an attentional bias for e-cigarette cues?

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Lochbuehler, Kirsten; Wileyto, E Paul; Tang, Kathy Z; Mercincavage, Melissa; Cappella, Joseph N; Strasser, Andrew A

2018-03-01

The similarity of e-cigarettes to tobacco cigarettes with regard to shape and usage raises the question of whether e-cigarette cues have the same incentive motivational properties as tobacco cigarette cues. The objective of the present study was to examine whether e-cigarette cues capture and hold smokers' and former smokers' attention and whether the attentional focus is associated with subsequent craving for tobacco cigarettes. It was also examined whether device type (cigalike or mod) moderated this relationship. Participants (46 current daily smokers, 38 former smokers, 48 non-smokers) were randomly assigned to a device type condition in which their eye-movements were assessed while completing a visual probe task. Craving was assessed before and after the task. Smokers, but not former or non-smokers, maintained their gaze longer on e-cigarette than on neutral pictures ( p = 0.004). No difference in dwell time was found between device type. None of the smoking status groups showed faster initial fixations or faster reaction times to e-cigarette compared with neutral cues. Baseline craving was associated with dwell time on e-cigarette cues ( p = 0.004). Longer dwell time on e-cigarette cues was associated with more favorable attitudes towards e-cigarettes. These findings indicate that e-cigarette cues may contribute to craving for tobacco cigarettes and suggest the potential regulation of e-cigarette marketing.

Les perceptions de justice et de discrimination des candidats face à des questions inappropriées au recrutement

OpenAIRE

Ocana , Tania

2017-01-01

Applicants’ reaction research has mostly focused on fairness perceptions, but several researchers encourage the study of perceived job discrimination during the selection process, as well as specific consequences of that discrimination. In order to create a situation in which discrimination was possible, we studied the effects of inappropriate job interview questions related to a stigma on fairness and discrimination perceptions as well their impact on the recruiters’ and the organization’s i...

Competition between auditory and visual spatial cues during visual task performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koelewijn, T.; Bronkhorst, A.; Theeuwes, J.

2009-01-01

There is debate in the crossmodal cueing literature as to whether capture of visual attention by means of sound is a fully automatic process. Recent studies show that when visual attention is endogenously focused sound still captures attention. The current study investigated whether there is

Compound cueing in free recall

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Lohnas, Lynn J.; Kahana, Michael J.

2013-01-01

According to the retrieved context theory of episodic memory, the cue for recall of an item is a weighted sum of recently activated cognitive states, including previously recalled and studied items as well as their associations. We show that this theory predicts there should be compound cueing in free recall. Specifically, the temporal contiguity effect should be greater when the two most recently recalled items were studied in contiguous list positions. A meta-analysis of published free recall experiments demonstrates evidence for compound cueing in both conditional response probabilities and inter-response times. To help rule out a rehearsal-based account of these compound cueing effects, we conducted an experiment with immediate, delayed and continual-distractor free recall conditions. Consistent with retrieved context theory but not with a rehearsal-based account, compound cueing was present in all conditions, and was not significantly influenced by the presence of interitem distractors. PMID:23957364

Visible propagation from invisible exogenous cueing.

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Lin, Zhicheng; Murray, Scott O

2013-09-20

Perception and performance is affected not just by what we see but also by what we do not see-inputs that escape our awareness. While conscious processing and unconscious processing have been assumed to be separate and independent, here we report the propagation of unconscious exogenous cueing as determined by conscious motion perception. In a paradigm combining masked exogenous cueing and apparent motion, we show that, when an onset cue was rendered invisible, the unconscious exogenous cueing effect traveled, manifesting at uncued locations (4° apart) in accordance with conscious perception of visual motion; the effect diminished when the cue-to-target distance was 8° apart. In contrast, conscious exogenous cueing manifested in both distances. Further evidence reveals that the unconscious and conscious nonretinotopic effects could not be explained by an attentional gradient, nor by bottom-up, energy-based motion mechanisms, but rather they were subserved by top-down, tracking-based motion mechanisms. We thus term these effects mobile cueing. Taken together, unconscious mobile cueing effects (a) demonstrate a previously unknown degree of flexibility of unconscious exogenous attention; (b) embody a simultaneous dissociation and association of attention and consciousness, in which exogenous attention can occur without cue awareness ("dissociation"), yet at the same time its effect is contingent on conscious motion tracking ("association"); and (c) underscore the interaction of conscious and unconscious processing, providing evidence for an unconscious effect that is not automatic but controlled.

The (unclear effects of invalid retro-cues.

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Marcel eGressmann

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Studies with the retro-cue paradigm have shown that validly cueing objects in visual working memory long after encoding can still benefit performance on subsequent change detection tasks. With regard to the effects of invalid cues, the literature is less clear. Some studies reported costs, others did not. We here revisit two recent studies that made interesting suggestions concerning invalid retro-cues: One study suggested that costs only occur for larger set sizes, and another study suggested that inclusion of invalid retro-cues diminishes the retro-cue benefit. New data from one experiment and a reanalysis of published data are provided to address these conclusions. The new data clearly show costs (and benefits that were independent of set size, and the reanalysis suggests no influence of the inclusion of invalid retro-cues on the retro-cue benefit. Thus, previous interpretations may be taken with some caution at present.

Unveiling common responses of Medicago truncatula to appropriate and inappropriate rust species

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Vaz Patto, Maria Carlota; Rubiales, Diego

2014-01-01

Little is known about the nature of effective defense mechanisms in legumes to pathogens of remotely related plant species. Some rust species are among pathogens with broad host range causing dramatic losses in various crop plants. To understand and compare the different host and nonhost resistance (NHR) responses of legume species against rusts, we characterized the reaction of the model legume Medicago truncatula to one appropriate (Uromyces striatus) and two inappropriate (U. viciae-fabae and U. lupinicolus) rusts. We found that similar pre and post-haustorial mechanisms of resistance appear to be operative in M. truncatula against appropriate and inappropriate rust fungus. The appropriate U. striatus germinated better on M. truncatula accessions then the inappropriate U. viciae-fabae and U. lupinicolus, but once germinated, germ tubes of the three rusts had a similar level of success in finding stomata and forming an appressoria over a stoma. However, responses to different inappropriate rust species also showed some specificity, suggesting a combination of non-specific and specific responses underlying this legume NHR to rust fungi. Further genetic and expression analysis studies will contribute to the development of the necessary molecular tools to use the present information on host and NHR mechanisms to breed for broad-spectrum resistance to rust in legume species. PMID:25426128

Unveiling common responses of Medicago truncatula to appropriate and inappropriate rust species

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Maria Carlota eVaz Patto

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Little is known about the nature of effective defense mechanisms in legumes to pathogens of remotely related plant species. Some rust species are among pathogens with broad host range causing dramatic losses in various crop plants. To understand and compare the different host and nonhost resistance responses of legume species against rusts, we characterized the reaction of the model legume Medicago truncatula to one appropriate (Uromyces striatus and two inappropriate (U. viciae-fabae and U. lupinicolus rusts. We found that similar pre and post-haustorial mechanisms of resistance appear to be operative in M. truncatula against appropriate and inappropriate rust fungus. The appropriate U. striatus germinated better on M. truncatula accessions then the inappropriate U. viciae-fabae and U. lupinicolus, but once germinated, germ tubes of the three rusts had a similar level of success in finding stomata and forming an appressoria over a stoma. However responses to different inappropriate rust species also showed some specificity, suggesting a combination of non specific and specific responses underlying this legume nonhost resistance to rust fungi. Further genetic and expression analysis studies will contribute to the development of the necessary molecular tools to use the present information on host and nonhost resistance mechanisms to breed for broad-spectrum resistance to rust in legume species.

Utilization of potentially inappropriate medications in elderly patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital in India

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Binit N Jhaveri

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: To evaluate the use of potentially inappropriate medicines in elderly inpatients in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed for cases of elderly patients admitted between January 2010 and December 2010. Data on age, gender, diagnosis, duration of hospital stay, treatment, and outcome were collected. Prescriptions were assessed for the use of potentially inappropriate medications in geriatric patients by using American Geriatric Society Beer′s criteria (2012 and PRISCUS list (2010. Results: A total of 676 geriatric patients (52.12% females were admitted in the medicine ward. The average age of geriatric patients was 72.69 years. According to Beer′s criteria, at least one inappropriate medicine was prescribed in 590 (87.3% patients. Metoclopramide (54.3%, alprazolam (9%, diazepam (8%, digoxin > 0.125 mg/day (5%, and diclofenac (3.7% were the commonly used inappropriate medications. Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs in heart and renal failure patients was the commonly identified drug-disease interaction. According to PRISCUS list, at least one inappropriate medication was prescribed in 210 (31.06% patients. Conclusion: Use of inappropriate medicines is highly prevalent in elderly patients.

Modulation of auditory spatial attention by visual emotional cues: differential effects of attentional engagement and disengagement for pleasant and unpleasant cues.

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Harrison, Neil R; Woodhouse, Rob

2016-05-01

Previous research has demonstrated that threatening, compared to neutral pictures, can bias attention towards non-emotional auditory targets. Here we investigated which subcomponents of attention contributed to the influence of emotional visual stimuli on auditory spatial attention. Participants indicated the location of an auditory target, after brief (250 ms) presentation of a spatially non-predictive peripheral visual cue. Responses to targets were faster at the location of the preceding visual cue, compared to at the opposite location (cue validity effect). The cue validity effect was larger for targets following pleasant and unpleasant cues compared to neutral cues, for right-sided targets. For unpleasant cues, the crossmodal cue validity effect was driven by delayed attentional disengagement, and for pleasant cues, it was driven by enhanced engagement. We conclude that both pleasant and unpleasant visual cues influence the distribution of attention across modalities and that the associated attentional mechanisms depend on the valence of the visual cue.

Factors predisposing nursing home resident to inappropriate transfer to emergency department. The FINE study protocol

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Amélie Perrin

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Each year, around one out of two nursing home (NH residents are hospitalized in France, and about half to the emergency department (ED. These transfers are frequently inappropriate. This paper describes the protocol of the FINE study. The first aim of this study is to identify the factors associated with inappropriate transfers to ED. Methods/design: FINE is a case-control observational study. Sixteen hospitals participate. Inclusion period lasts 7 days per season in each center for a total period of inclusion of one year. All the NH residents admitted in ED during these periods are included. Data are collected in 4 times: before transfer in the NH, at the ED, in hospital wards in case of patient's hospitalization and at the patient's return to NH. The appropriateness of ED transfers (i.e. case versus control NH residents is determined by a multidisciplinary team of experts. Results: Our primary objective is to determine the factors predisposing NH residents to inappropriate transfer to ED. Our secondary objectives are to assess the cost of the transfers to ED; study the evolution of NH residents' functional status and the psychotropic and inappropriate drugs prescription between before and after the transfer; calculate the prevalence of potentially avoidable transfers to ED; and identify the factors predisposing NH residents to potentially avoidable transfer to ED. Discussion: A better understanding of the determinant factors of inappropriate transfers to ED of NH residents may lead to proposals of recommendations of better practice in NH and would allow implementing quality improvement programs in the health organization. Keywords: Inappropriate transfer, Nursing home resident, Emergency department transfer, Potentially avoidable transfer, Appropriateness of transfer, Inappropriate hospitalization

Impact of a warning CPOE system on the inappropriate pill splitting of prescribed medications in outpatients.

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Chia-Chen Hsu

Full Text Available Prescribing inappropriate pill splitting is not rare in clinical practice. To reduce inappropriate pill splitting, we developed an automatic warning system linked to a computerized physician order entry (CPOE system for special oral formulation drugs in outpatient settings. We examined the impact of the warning system on inappropriate prescribing of pill splitting and assess prescribers' responses to the warnings.Drugs with extended-release or enteric-coated formulations that were not originally intended to be split were recognized as "special oral formulations". A hard-stop system which could examine non-integer doses of drugs with special oral formulations, provide warnings to interrupt inappropriate prescriptions was integrated in CPOE in a medical center since June 2010. We designed an intervention study to compare the inappropriate splitting before and after the implementation of the warning system (baseline period 2010 January to May vs. intervention period 2010 June to 2011 August. During the intervention period, prescription changes in response to a warning were logged and analyzed.A total of 470,611 prescribed drug items with 34 different drugs with special oral formulations were prescribed in the study period. During the 15-month intervention period, 909 warnings for 26 different drugs were triggered among 354,523 prescribed drug items with special oral formulations. The warning rate of inappropriate splitting in the late intervention period was lower than those in baseline period (0.16% vs. 0.61%, incidence rate ratio 0.27, 95% CI 0.23-0.31, P<0.001. In respond to warnings, physicians had to make adjustments, of which the majority was changing to an unsplit pill (72.9%.The interruptive warning system could avoid the prescriptions with inappropriate pill splitting. Accordingly, physicians changed their behavior of prescribing special oral formulations regarding inappropriate pill splitting. We suggest the establishment of such system

Counterbalancing in smoking cue research: a critical analysis.

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Sayette, Michael A; Griffin, Kasey M; Sayers, W Michael

2010-11-01

Cue exposure research has been used to examine key issues in smoking research, such as predicting relapse, testing new medications, investigating the neurobiology of nicotine dependence, and examining reactivity among smokers with comorbid psychopathologies. Determining the order that cues are presented is one of the most critical steps in the design of these investigations. It is widely assumed that cue exposure studies should counterbalance the order in which smoking and control (neutral) cues are presented. This article examines the premises underlying the use of counterbalancing in experimental research, and it evaluates the degree to which counterbalancing is appropriate in smoking cue exposure studies. We reviewed the available literature on the use of counterbalancing techniques in human smoking cue exposure research. Many studies counterbalancing order of cues have not provided critical analyses to determine whether this approach was appropriate. Studies that have reported relevant data, however, suggest that order of cue presentation interacts with type of cue (smoking vs. control), which raises concerns about the utility of counterbalancing. Primarily, this concern arises from potential carryover effects, in which exposure to smoking cues affects subsequent responding to neutral cues. Cue type by order of cue interactions may compromise the utility of counterbalancing. Unfortunately, there is no obvious alternative that is optimal across studies. Strengths and limitations of several alternative designs are considered, and key questions are identified to advance understanding of the optimal conditions for conducting smoking cue exposure studies.

Counterbalancing in Smoking Cue Research: A Critical Analysis

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Griffin, Kasey M.; Sayers, W. Michael

2010-01-01

Introduction: Cue exposure research has been used to examine key issues in smoking research, such as predicting relapse, testing new medications, investigating the neurobiology of nicotine dependence, and examining reactivity among smokers with comorbid psychopathologies. Determining the order that cues are presented is one of the most critical steps in the design of these investigations. It is widely assumed that cue exposure studies should counterbalance the order in which smoking and control (neutral) cues are presented. This article examines the premises underlying the use of counterbalancing in experimental research, and it evaluates the degree to which counterbalancing is appropriate in smoking cue exposure studies. Methods: We reviewed the available literature on the use of counterbalancing techniques in human smoking cue exposure research. Results: Many studies counterbalancing order of cues have not provided critical analyses to determine whether this approach was appropriate. Studies that have reported relevant data, however, suggest that order of cue presentation interacts with type of cue (smoking vs. control), which raises concerns about the utility of counterbalancing. Primarily, this concern arises from potential carryover effects, in which exposure to smoking cues affects subsequent responding to neutral cues. Conclusions: Cue type by order of cue interactions may compromise the utility of counterbalancing. Unfortunately, there is no obvious alternative that is optimal across studies. Strengths and limitations of several alternative designs are considered, and key questions are identified to advance understanding of the optimal conditions for conducting smoking cue exposure studies. PMID:20884695

Novel ICD Programming and Inappropriate ICD Therapy in CRT-D Versus ICD Patients: A MADIT-RIT Sub-Study.

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Kutyifa, Valentina; Daubert, James P; Schuger, Claudio; Goldenberg, Ilan; Klein, Helmut; Aktas, Mehmet K; McNitt, Scott; Stockburger, Martin; Merkely, Bela; Zareba, Wojciech; Moss, Arthur J

2016-01-01

The Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial-Reduce Inappropriate therapy (MADIT-RIT) trial showed a significant reduction in inappropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy in patients programmed to high-rate cut-off (Arm B) or delayed ventricular tachycardia therapy (Arm C), compared with conventional programming (Arm A). There is limited data on the effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy with a cardioverter defibrillator (CRT-D) on the effect of ICD programming. We aimed to elucidate the effect of CRT-D on ICD programming to reduce inappropriate ICD therapy in patients implanted with CRT-D or an ICD, enrolled in MADIT-RIT. The primary end point of this study was the first inappropriate ICD therapy. Secondary end points were inappropriate anti-tachycardia pacing and inappropriate ICD shock. The study enrolled 742 (49%) patients with an ICD and 757 (51%) patients with a CRT-D. Patients implanted with a CRT-D had 62% lower risk of inappropriate ICD therapy than those with an ICD only (hazard ratio [HR] =0.38, 95% confidence interval: 0.25-0.57; Pprogramming significantly reduced the risk of inappropriate ICD therapy compared with conventional ICD programming in ICD (HR=0.14 [B versus A]; HR=0.21 [C versus A]) and CRT-D patients (HR=0.15 [B versus A]; HR=0.23 [C versus A]; Pprogramming significantly reduces the risk of inappropriate ICD therapy in both ICD and CRT-D patients. http://clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT00947310. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications

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Casadevall, Arturo; Fang, Ferric C.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Inaccurate data in scientific papers can result from honest error or intentional falsification. This study attempted to determine the percentage of published papers that contain inappropriate image duplication, a specific type of inaccurate data. The images from a total of 20,621 papers published in 40 scientific journals from 1995 to 2014 were visually screened. Overall, 3.8% of published papers contained problematic figures, with at least half exhibiting features suggestive of deliberate manipulation. The prevalence of papers with problematic images has risen markedly during the past decade. Additional papers written by authors of papers with problematic images had an increased likelihood of containing problematic images as well. As this analysis focused only on one type of data, it is likely that the actual prevalence of inaccurate data in the published literature is higher. The marked variation in the frequency of problematic images among journals suggests that journal practices, such as prepublication image screening, influence the quality of the scientific literature. PMID:27273827

Extinction and renewal of cue-elicited reward-seeking.

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Bezzina, Louise; Lee, Jessica C; Lovibond, Peter F; Colagiuri, Ben

2016-12-01

Reward cues can contribute to overconsumption of food and drugs and can relapse. The failure of exposure therapies to reduce overconsumption and relapse is generally attributed to the context-specificity of extinction. However, no previous study has examined whether cue-elicited reward-seeking (as opposed to cue-reactivity) is sensitive to context renewal. We tested this possibility in 160 healthy volunteers using a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) design involving voluntary responding for a high value natural reward (chocolate). One reward cue underwent Pavlovian extinction in the same (Group AAA) or different context (Group ABA) to all other phases. This cue was compared with a second non-extinguished reward cue and an unpaired control cue. There was a significant overall PIT effect with both reward cues eliciting reward-seeking on test relative to the unpaired cue. Pavlovian extinction substantially reduced this effect, with the extinguished reward cue eliciting less reward-seeking than the non-extinguished reward cue. Most interestingly, extinction of cue-elicited reward-seeking was sensitive to renewal, with extinction less effective for reducing PIT when conducted in a different context. These findings have important implications for extinction-based interventions for reducing maladaptive reward-seeking in practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Reasons for inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics in a high-complexity pediatric hospital].

Science.gov (United States)

Ruvinsky, Silvina; Mónaco, Andrea; Pérez, Guadalupe; Taicz, Moira; Inda, Laura; Kijko, Ivana; Constanzo, Patricia; Bologna, Rosa

2011-12-01

Determine the reasons for inappropriate prescription of antibiotics and identify opportunities to improve prescription of these drugs in pediatric patients hospitalized in intermediate and intensive care units. A prospective, descriptive longitudinal study was conducted of pediatric patients in intermediate and intensive care units who received parenteral administration of antibiotics, with the exception of newborns, burn unit patients, and surgical prophylaxis patients. A univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression were performed. A total of 376 patients with a median of age of 50 months were studied (interquartile range [IQR] 14.5-127 months). Out of the total patients studied, 75% had one or more underlying conditions. A total of 40.6% of these patients had an oncologic pathology and 33.5% had neurological conditions. The remaining 25.9% had other underlying conditions. Antibiotic treatment was inappropriate in 35.6% of the patients studied (N = 134). In 73 (54.4%) of the 134 cases, inappropriate use was due to the type of antibiotic prescribed, the dose administered, or the treatment period. The 61 (45.5%) remaining cases did not require antibiotic treatment. In the multivariate analysis, the risk factors for inappropriate use of antibiotics were: administration of ceftriaxone OR 2 (95% CI, 1.3-3.7; P = 0.02); acute lower respiratory tract infection OR 1.8 (95% CI, 1.1-3.3; P < 0.04); onset of fever of unknown origin in hospital inpatients OR 5.55 (95% CI, 2.5-12; P < 0.0001); and febrile neutropenia OR 0.3 (95% CI, 0.1-0.7; P = 0.009). Inappropriate use of antibiotics was less common in the clinical conditions that were well-characterized. Prescribing practices that could be improved were identified through the preparation and circulation of guidelines for antibiotic use in hospital inpatients.

Interaction between scene-based and array-based contextual cueing.

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Rosenbaum, Gail M; Jiang, Yuhong V

2013-07-01

Contextual cueing refers to the cueing of spatial attention by repeated spatial context. Previous studies have demonstrated distinctive properties of contextual cueing by background scenes and by an array of search items. Whereas scene-based contextual cueing reflects explicit learning of the scene-target association, array-based contextual cueing is supported primarily by implicit learning. In this study, we investigated the interaction between scene-based and array-based contextual cueing. Participants searched for a target that was predicted by both the background scene and the locations of distractor items. We tested three possible patterns of interaction: (1) The scene and the array could be learned independently, in which case cueing should be expressed even when only one cue was preserved; (2) the scene and array could be learned jointly, in which case cueing should occur only when both cues were preserved; (3) overshadowing might occur, in which case learning of the stronger cue should preclude learning of the weaker cue. In several experiments, we manipulated the nature of the contextual cues present during training and testing. We also tested explicit awareness of scenes, scene-target associations, and arrays. The results supported the overshadowing account: Specifically, scene-based contextual cueing precluded array-based contextual cueing when both were predictive of the location of a search target. We suggest that explicit, endogenous cues dominate over implicit cues in guiding spatial attention.

Are olfactory cues involved in nest recognition in two social species of estrildid finches?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Tobias Krause

Full Text Available Reliably recognizing their own nest provides parents with a necessary skill to invest time and resources efficiently in raising their offspring and thereby maximising their own reproductive success. Studies investigating nest recognition in adult birds have focused mainly on visual cues of the nest or the nest site and acoustic cues of the nestlings. To determine whether adult songbirds also use olfaction for nest recognition, we investigated the use of olfactory nest cues for two estrildid finch species, zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata and Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica during the nestling and fledgling phase of their offspring. We found similar behavioural responses to nest odours in both songbird species. Females preferred the odour of their own nest over a control and avoided the foreign conspecific nest scent over a control during the nestling phase of their offspring, but when given the own odour and the foreign conspecific odour simultaneously we did not find a preference for the own nest odour. Males of both species did not show any preferences at all. The behavioural reaction to any nest odour decreased after fledging of the offspring. Our results show that only females show a behavioural response to olfactory nest cues, indicating that the use of olfactory cues for nest recognition seems to be sex-specific and dependent on the developmental stage of the offspring. Although estrildid finches are known to use visual and acoustic cues for nest recognition, the similar behavioural pattern of both species indicates that at least females gain additional information by olfactory nest cues during the nestling phase of their offspring. Thus olfactory cues might be important in general, even in situations in which visual and acoustic cues are known to be sufficient.

Retro-dimension-cue benefit in visual working memory

OpenAIRE

Ye, Chaoxiong; Hu, Zhonghua; Ristaniemi, Tapani; Gendron, Maria; Liu, Qiang

2016-01-01

In visual working memory (VWM) tasks, participants? performance can be improved by a retro-object-cue. However, previous studies have not investigated whether participants? performance can also be improved by a retro-dimension-cue. Three experiments investigated this issue. We used a recall task with a retro-dimension-cue in all experiments. In Experiment 1, we found benefits from retro-dimension-cues compared to neutral cues. This retro-dimension-cue benefit is reflected in an increased prob...

Effects of the timing and identity of retrieval cues in individual recall: an attempt to mimic cross-cueing in collaborative recall.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Jan; Hitch, Graham; Meudell, Peter

2006-01-01

Inhibitory effects in collaborative recall have been attributed to cross-cueing among partners, in the same way that part-set cues are known to impair recall in individuals. However, studies of part-set cueing in individuals typically involve presenting cues visually at the start of recall, whereas cross-cueing in collaboration is likely to be spoken and distributed over time. In an attempt to bridge this gap, three experiments investigated effects of presenting spoken part-set or extra-list cues at different times during individual recall. Cues had an inhibitory effect on recollection in the early part of the recall period, especially when presented in immediate succession at the start of recall. There was no difference between the effects of part-set and extra-list cues under these presentation conditions. However, more inhibition was generated by part-set than extra-list cues when cue presentation was distributed throughout recall. These results are interpreted as suggesting that cues presented during recall disrupt memory in two ways, corresponding to either blocking or modifying retrieval processes. Implications for explaining and possibly ameliorating inhibitory effects in collaborative recall are discussed.

Inappropriate prescribing of proton pump inhibitors among patients ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

By comparing the patients according to their site of care, 52.4 % (43/82) of ICU patients compared to 87.4 % (97/111) of medically hospitalized patient (non-ICU) were inappropriately receiving PPIs (p = 0.000). Conclusion: Adherence to the current practice guidelines for safe prescription of PPIs is poor. Thus, updating ...

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in community-dwelling older people across Europe: a systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Tommelein, Eline; Mehuys, Els; Petrovic, Mirko; Somers, Annemie; Colin, Pieter; Boussery, Koen

2015-12-01

Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) is one of the main risk factors for adverse drug events (ADEs) in older people. This systematic literature review aims to determine prevalence and type of PIP in community-dwelling older people across Europe, as well as identifying risk factors for PIP. The PubMed and Web of Science database were searched systematically for relevant manuscripts (January 1, 2000-December 31, 2014). Manuscripts were included if the study design was observational, the study participants were community-dwelling older patients in Europe, and if a published screening method for PIP was used. Studies that focused on specific pathologies or that focused on merely one inappropriate prescribing issue were excluded. Data analysis was performed using R statistics. Fifty-two manuscripts were included, describing 82 different sample screenings with an estimated overall PIP prevalence of 22.6 % (CI 19.2-26.7 %; range 0.0-98.0 %). Ten of the sample screenings were based on the Beers 1997 criteria, 19 on the Beers 2003 criteria, 14 on STOPP criteria (2008 version), 8 on START-criteria (2008 version), and 7 on the PRISCUS list. The 24 remaining sample screenings were carried out using compilations of screening methods or used country-specific lists such as the Laroche criteria. It appears that only PIP prevalence calculated from insurance data significantly differs from the other data collection method categories. Furthermore, risk factors most often positively associated with PIP prevalence were polypharmacy, poor functional status, and depression. Drug groups most often involved in PIP were anxiolytics (ATC-code: N05B), antidepressants (N06A), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic products (M01A). PIP prevalence in European community-dwelling older adults is high and depends partially on the data collection method used. Polypharmacy, poor functional status, and depression were identified as the most common risk factors for PIP.

The influence of imagery vividness on cognitive and perceptual cues in circular auditorily-induced vection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksander eVäljamäe

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In the absence of other congruent multisensory motion cues, sound contribution to illusions of self-motion (vection is relatively weak and often attributed to purely cognitive, top-down processes. The present study addressed the influence of cognitive and perceptual factors in the experience of circular, yaw auditorily-induced vection (AIV, focusing on participants’ imagery vividness scores. We used different rotating sound sources (acoustic landmark vs. movable types and their filtered versions that provided different binaural cues (interaural time or level differences, ITD vs. ILD when delivering via loudspeaker array. The significant differences in circular vection intensity showed that 1 AIV was stronger for rotating sound fields containing auditory landmarks as compared to movable sound objects; 2 ITD based acoustic cues were more instrumental than ILD based ones for horizontal AIV; and 3 individual differences in imagery vividness significantly influenced the effects of contextual and perceptual cues. While participants with high scores of kinesthetic and visual imagery were helped by vection ``rich cues, i.e. acoustic landmarks and ITD cues, the participants from the low-vivid imagery group did not benefit from these cues automatically. Only when specifically asked to use their imagination intentionally did these external cues start influencing vection sensation in similar way to high-vivid imagers. These findings are in line with the recent fMRI work which suggested that high-vivid imagers employ automatic, almost unconscious mechanisms in imagery generation, while low-vivid imagers rely on more schematic and conscious framework. Consequently, our results provide an additional insight into the interaction between perceptual and contextual cues when experiencing purely auditorily or multisensorily induced vection.

Strategy selection in cue-based decision making.

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Bryant, David J

2014-06-01

People can make use of a range of heuristic and rational, compensatory strategies to perform a multiple-cue judgment task. It has been proposed that people are sensitive to the amount of cognitive effort required to employ decision strategies. Experiment 1 employed a dual-task methodology to investigate whether participants' preference for heuristic versus compensatory decision strategies can be altered by increasing the cognitive demands of the task. As indicated by participants' decision times, a secondary task interfered more with the performance of a heuristic than compensatory decision strategy but did not affect the proportions of participants using either type of strategy. A stimulus set effect suggested that the conjunction of cue salience and cue validity might play a determining role in strategy selection. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that when a perceptually salient cue was also the most valid, the majority of participants preferred a single-cue heuristic strategy. Overall, the results contradict the view that heuristics are more likely to be adopted when a task is made more cognitively demanding. It is argued that people employ 2 learning processes during training, one an associative learning process in which cue-outcome associations are developed by sampling multiple cues, and another that involves the sequential examination of single cues to serve as a basis for a single-cue heuristic.

The role of luminance and chromatic cues in emmetropisation.

Science.gov (United States)

Rucker, Frances J

2013-05-01

At birth most, but not all eyes, are hyperopic. Over the course of the first few years of life the refraction gradually becomes close to zero through a process called emmetropisation. This process is not thought to require accommodation, though a lag of accommodation has been implicated in myopia development, suggesting that the accuracy of accommodation is an important factor. This review will cover research on accommodation and emmetropisation that relates to the ability of the eye to use colour and luminance cues to guide the responses. There are three ways in which changes in luminance and colour contrast could provide cues: (1) The eye could maximize luminance contrast. Monochromatic light experiments have shown that the human eye can accommodate and animal eyes can emmetropise using changes in luminance contrast alone. However, by reducing the effectiveness of luminance cues in monochromatic and white light by introducing astigmatism, or by reducing light intensity, investigators have revealed that the eye also uses colour cues in emmetropisation. (2) The eye could compare relative cone contrast to derive the sign of defocus information from colour cues. Experiments involving simulations of the retinal image with defocus have shown that relative cone contrast can provide colour cues for defocus in accommodation and emmetropisation. In the myopic simulation the contrast of the red component of a sinusoidal grating was higher than that of the green and blue component and this caused relaxation of accommodation and reduced eye growth. In the hyperopic simulation the contrast of the blue component was higher than that of the green and red components and this caused increased accommodation and increased eye growth. (3) The eye could compare the change in luminance and colour contrast as the eye changes focus. An experiment has shown that changes in colour or luminance contrast can provide cues for defocus in emmetropisation. When the eye is exposed to colour

Automatic Retrieval of Newly Instructed Cue-Task Associations Seen in Task-Conflict Effects in the First Trial after Cue-Task Instructions.

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Meiran, Nachshon; Pereg, Maayan

2017-01-01

Novel stimulus-response associations are retrieved automatically even without prior practice. Is this true for novel cue-task associations? The experiment involved miniblocks comprising three phases and task switching. In the INSTRUCTION phase, two new stimuli (or familiar cues) were arbitrarily assigned as cues for up-down/right-left tasks performed on placeholder locations. In the UNIVALENT phase, there was no task cue since placeholder's location afforded one task but the placeholders were the stimuli that we assigned as task cues for the following BIVALENT phase (involving target locations affording both tasks). Thus, participants held the novel cue-task associations in memory while executing the UNIVALENT phase. Results show poorer performance in the first univalent trial when the placeholder was associated with the opposite task (incompatible) than when it was compatible, an effect that was numerically larger with newly instructed cues than with familiar cues. These results indicate automatic retrieval of newly instructed cue-task associations.

Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medication in People with Dementia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Rachel Underlien; Nørgaard, Ane; Jensen-Dahm, Christina

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy (use of ≥5 different medications) and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) are well-known risk factors for numerous negative health outcomes. However, the use of polypharmacy and PIM in people with dementia is not well-described. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence...

Focused cardiac ultrasound in the emergency department for patients admitted with respiratory symptoms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, C. B.

2015-01-01

In patients admitted with respiratory failure, a large proportion is diagnosed incorrectly in the emergency department and an even larger proportion seems to receive inappropriate treatment. Inappropriate initial treatment of these patients in the emergency department is associated with increased...... triage, patients with cardiac arrest, patients with undifferentiated shock, patients with cardiopulmonary instability, patients with respiratory symptoms, trauma patients with suspected cardiac injuries, and assessment of the fluid status before fluid loading. When using focused cardiac ultrasound (US......) in patients with respiratory symptoms, the typical objectives would be to identify pericardial effusion and enlargement of cardiac cavities, to estimate global systolic left-ventricular function, and to assess the volume status. The routine use of focused cardiac US in patients with respiratory symptoms may...

Kin-informative recognition cues in ants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nehring, Volker; Evison, Sophie E F; Santorelli, Lorenzo A

2011-01-01

behaviour is thought to be rare in one of the classic examples of cooperation--social insect colonies--because the colony-level costs of individual selfishness select against cues that would allow workers to recognize their closest relatives. In accord with this, previous studies of wasps and ants have...... found little or no kin information in recognition cues. Here, we test the hypothesis that social insects do not have kin-informative recognition cues by investigating the recognition cues and relatedness of workers from four colonies of the ant Acromyrmex octospinosus. Contrary to the theoretical...... prediction, we show that the cuticular hydrocarbons of ant workers in all four colonies are informative enough to allow full-sisters to be distinguished from half-sisters with a high accuracy. These results contradict the hypothesis of non-heritable recognition cues and suggest that there is more potential...

Multiscale Cues Drive Collective Cell Migration

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, Ki-Hwan; Kim, Peter; Wood, David K.; Kwon, Sunghoon; Provenzano, Paolo P.; Kim, Deok-Ho

2016-07-01

To investigate complex biophysical relationships driving directed cell migration, we developed a biomimetic platform that allows perturbation of microscale geometric constraints with concomitant nanoscale contact guidance architectures. This permits us to elucidate the influence, and parse out the relative contribution, of multiscale features, and define how these physical inputs are jointly processed with oncogenic signaling. We demonstrate that collective cell migration is profoundly enhanced by the addition of contract guidance cues when not otherwise constrained. However, while nanoscale cues promoted migration in all cases, microscale directed migration cues are dominant as the geometric constraint narrows, a behavior that is well explained by stochastic diffusion anisotropy modeling. Further, oncogene activation (i.e. mutant PIK3CA) resulted in profoundly increased migration where extracellular multiscale directed migration cues and intrinsic signaling synergistically conspire to greatly outperform normal cells or any extracellular guidance cues in isolation.

Inappropriate prescribing in geriatric patients.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Barry, Patrick J

2012-02-03

Inappropriate prescribing in older people is a common condition associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and financial costs. Medication use increases with age, and this, in conjunction with an increasing disease burden, is associated with adverse drug reactions. This review outlines why older people are more likely to develop adverse drug reactions and how common the problem is. The use of different tools to identify and measure the problem is reviewed. Common syndromes seen in older adults (eg, falling, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance) are considered, and recent evidence in relation to medication use for these conditions is reviewed. Finally, we present a brief summary of significant developments in the recent literature for those caring for older people.

Retro-dimension-cue benefit in visual working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Chaoxiong; Hu, Zhonghua; Ristaniemi, Tapani; Gendron, Maria; Liu, Qiang

2016-10-24

In visual working memory (VWM) tasks, participants' performance can be improved by a retro-object-cue. However, previous studies have not investigated whether participants' performance can also be improved by a retro-dimension-cue. Three experiments investigated this issue. We used a recall task with a retro-dimension-cue in all experiments. In Experiment 1, we found benefits from retro-dimension-cues compared to neutral cues. This retro-dimension-cue benefit is reflected in an increased probability of reporting the target, but not in the probability of reporting the non-target, as well as increased precision with which this item is remembered. Experiment 2 replicated the retro-dimension-cue benefit and showed that the length of the blank interval after the cue disappeared did not influence recall performance. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 2 with a lower memory load. Our studies provide evidence that there is a robust retro-dimension-cue benefit in VWM. Participants can use internal attention to flexibly allocate cognitive resources to a particular dimension of memory representations. The results also support the feature-based storing hypothesis.

Inappropriate prescribing in an acutely ill population of elderly patients as determined by Beers' Criteria.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Gallagher, Paul F

2012-02-03

INTRODUCTION: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are associated with inappropriate prescribing (IP) and result in increased morbidity, mortality and resource utilisation. We used Beers\\' Criteria to determine the three-month prevalence of IP in a non-selected community-dwelling population of acutely ill older people requiring hospitalisation. METHODS: A prospective, observational study of 597 consecutive acute admissions was performed. Diagnoses and concurrent medications were recorded before hospital physician intervention, and Beers\\' Criteria applied. RESULTS: Mean patient age (SD) was 77 (7) years. Median number of medications was 5, range 0-13. IP occurred in 32% of patients (n = 191), with 24%, 6% and 2% taking 1, 2 and 3 inappropriate medications respectively. Patients taking >5 medications were 3.3 times more likely to receive an inappropriate medication than those taking < or =5 medications (OR 3.34: 95%, CI 2.37-4.79; P<0.001). Forty-nine per cent of patients with inappropriate prescriptions were admitted with adverse effects of the inappropriate medications. Sixteen per cent of all admissions were associated with such adverse effects. CONCLUSION: IP is highly prevalent in acutely ill older patients and is associated with polypharmacy and hospitalisation. However, Beers\\' Criteria cannot be used as a gold standard as they do not comprehensively address all aspects of IP in older people.

Inappropriate use of urinary catheters and its common complications in different hospital wards

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Parivash Davoodian

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Inappropriate use of indwelling urinary catheters (IUCs and their related complications is one of the most important problems in hospital wards. The aim of this study was to evaluate inappropriate use of IUCs and their complications among patients in Tehran, Iran. Two hundred and six consecutive patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU as well as medical and surgical wards at the Shahid Mohammadi Hospital in Bandarabbas from September 1 to 30, 2005 and in whom IUCs were used, were studied. Data collected included age of the patients, diagnoses, reason for use of IUC and the complications related to it. Overall, 164 patients (79.6% had IUCs used appropriately while 42 of them (20.6% were catheterized unjustifiably. Inappropriate use of IUCs in the ICU, medical and surgical wards was reported in 12 (18.5%, 16 (19.0% and 14 patients (24.6%, respectively. The most common complication of IUCs was urinary tract infection, which occurred in 91 patients (44.2% and hematuria, which was seen in 3.9% of the patients. Our study suggests that inappropriate use of IUCs is prevalent, particularly in the surgical wards, and the most common complication observed was catheter-associated urinary tract infection.

Gaze Cueing by Pareidolia Faces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kohske Takahashi

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Visual images that are not faces are sometimes perceived as faces (the pareidolia phenomenon. While the pareidolia phenomenon provides people with a strong impression that a face is present, it is unclear how deeply pareidolia faces are processed as faces. In the present study, we examined whether a shift in spatial attention would be produced by gaze cueing of face-like objects. A robust cueing effect was observed when the face-like objects were perceived as faces. The magnitude of the cueing effect was comparable between the face-like objects and a cartoon face. However, the cueing effect was eliminated when the observer did not perceive the objects as faces. These results demonstrated that pareidolia faces do more than give the impression of the presence of faces; indeed, they trigger an additional face-specific attentional process.

Gaze cueing by pareidolia faces.

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Kohske; Watanabe, Katsumi

2013-01-01

Visual images that are not faces are sometimes perceived as faces (the pareidolia phenomenon). While the pareidolia phenomenon provides people with a strong impression that a face is present, it is unclear how deeply pareidolia faces are processed as faces. In the present study, we examined whether a shift in spatial attention would be produced by gaze cueing of face-like objects. A robust cueing effect was observed when the face-like objects were perceived as faces. The magnitude of the cueing effect was comparable between the face-like objects and a cartoon face. However, the cueing effect was eliminated when the observer did not perceive the objects as faces. These results demonstrated that pareidolia faces do more than give the impression of the presence of faces; indeed, they trigger an additional face-specific attentional process.

An automated technique to identify potential inappropriate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hsuan-Chia; Iqbal, Usman; Nguyen, Phung Anh; Lin, Shen-Hsien; Huang, Chih-Wei; Jian, Wen-Shan; Li, Yu-Chuan

2016-04-01

Medication errors such as potential inappropriate prescriptions would induce serious adverse drug events to patients. Information technology has the ability to prevent medication errors; however, the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is not as clear as in western medicine. The aim of this study was to apply the appropriateness of prescription (AOP) model to identify potential inappropriate TCM prescriptions. We used the association rule of mining techniques to analyze 14.5 million prescriptions from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The disease and TCM (DTCM) and traditional Chinese medicine-traditional Chinese medicine (TCMM) associations are computed by their co-occurrence, and the associations' strength was measured as Q-values, which often referred to as interestingness or life values. By considering the number of Q-values, the AOP model was applied to identify the inappropriate prescriptions. Afterwards, three traditional Chinese physicians evaluated 1920 prescriptions and validated the detected outcomes from the AOP model. Out of 1920 prescriptions, 97.1% of positive predictive value and 19.5% of negative predictive value were shown by the system as compared with those by experts. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the negative predictive value could improve up to 27.5% when the model's threshold changed to 0.4. We successfully applied the AOP model to automatically identify potential inappropriate TCM prescriptions. This model could be a potential TCM clinical decision support system in order to improve drug safety and quality of care. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effects of self-focus on attentional biases in social anxiety:An ERP study.

Science.gov (United States)

Judah, Matt R; Grant, DeMond M; Carlisle, Nancy B

2016-06-01

Cognitive theories of social anxiety disorder suggest that biased attention plays a key role in maintaining symptoms. These biases include self-focus and attention to socially threatening stimuli in the environment. The goal of this study was to utilize ERPs that are elicited by a change detection task to examine biases in selective attention (i.e., N2pc) and working memory maintenance (i.e., contralateral delay activity; CDA). Additionally, the effect of self-focus was examined using false heart rate feedback. In support of the manipulation, self-focus cues resulted in greater self-reported self-consciousness and task interference, enhanced anterior P2 amplitude and reduced SPN amplitude. Moreover, P2 amplitude for self-focus cues was correlated with reduced task performance for socially anxious subjects only. The difference in P2 amplitude between self-focus and standard cues was correlated with social anxiety independent of depression. As hypothesized, socially anxious participants (n = 20) showed early selection and maintenance of disgust faces relative to neutral faces as indicated by the N2pc and CDA components. Nonanxious controls (n = 22) did not show these biases. During self-focus cues, controls showed marginal evidence of biased selection for disgust faces, whereas socially anxious subjects showed no bias in this condition. Controls showed an ipsilateral delay activity after being cued to attend to one hemifield. Overall, this study supports early and persistent attentional bias for social threat in socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, self-focus may disrupt these biases. These findings and supplementary data are discussed in light of cognitive models of social anxiety disorder, recent empirical findings, and treatment.

Inappropriate use of payment weights to risk adjust readmission rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, Richard L; Goldfield, Norbert I; Averill, Richard F; Hughes, John S

2012-01-01

In this article, the authors demonstrate that the use of relative weights, as incorporated within the National Quality Forum-endorsed PacifiCare readmission measure, is inappropriate for risk adjusting rates of hospital readmission.

Acoustic Constraints and Musical Consequences: Exploring Composers' Use of Cues for Musical Emotion

Science.gov (United States)

Schutz, Michael

2017-01-01

Emotional communication in music is based in part on the use of pitch and timing, two cues effective in emotional speech. Corpus analyses of natural speech illustrate that happy utterances tend to be higher and faster than sad. Although manipulations altering melodies show that passages changed to be higher and faster sound happier, corpus analyses of unaltered music paralleling those of natural speech have proven challenging. This partly reflects the importance of modality (i.e., major/minor), a powerful musical cue whose use is decidedly imbalanced in Western music. This imbalance poses challenges for creating musical corpora analogous to existing speech corpora for purposes of analyzing emotion. However, a novel examination of music by Bach and Chopin balanced in modality illustrates that, consistent with predictions from speech, their major key (nominally “happy”) pieces are approximately a major second higher and 29% faster than their minor key pieces (Poon and Schutz, 2015). Although this provides useful evidence for parallels in use of emotional cues between these domains, it raises questions about how composers “trade off” cue differentiation in music, suggesting interesting new potential research directions. This Focused Review places those results in a broader context, highlighting their connections with previous work on the natural use of cues for musical emotion. Together, these observational findings based on unaltered music—widely recognized for its artistic significance—complement previous experimental work systematically manipulating specific parameters. In doing so, they also provide a useful musical counterpart to fruitful studies of the acoustic cues for emotion found in natural speech. PMID:29249997

Acoustic Constraints and Musical Consequences: Exploring Composers' Use of Cues for Musical Emotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Schutz, Michael

2017-01-01

Emotional communication in music is based in part on the use of pitch and timing, two cues effective in emotional speech. Corpus analyses of natural speech illustrate that happy utterances tend to be higher and faster than sad. Although manipulations altering melodies show that passages changed to be higher and faster sound happier, corpus analyses of unaltered music paralleling those of natural speech have proven challenging. This partly reflects the importance of modality (i.e., major/minor), a powerful musical cue whose use is decidedly imbalanced in Western music. This imbalance poses challenges for creating musical corpora analogous to existing speech corpora for purposes of analyzing emotion. However, a novel examination of music by Bach and Chopin balanced in modality illustrates that, consistent with predictions from speech, their major key (nominally "happy") pieces are approximately a major second higher and 29% faster than their minor key pieces (Poon and Schutz, 2015). Although this provides useful evidence for parallels in use of emotional cues between these domains, it raises questions about how composers "trade off" cue differentiation in music, suggesting interesting new potential research directions. This Focused Review places those results in a broader context, highlighting their connections with previous work on the natural use of cues for musical emotion. Together, these observational findings based on unaltered music-widely recognized for its artistic significance-complement previous experimental work systematically manipulating specific parameters. In doing so, they also provide a useful musical counterpart to fruitful studies of the acoustic cues for emotion found in natural speech.

Acoustic Constraints and Musical Consequences: Exploring Composers' Use of Cues for Musical Emotion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Schutz

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Emotional communication in music is based in part on the use of pitch and timing, two cues effective in emotional speech. Corpus analyses of natural speech illustrate that happy utterances tend to be higher and faster than sad. Although manipulations altering melodies show that passages changed to be higher and faster sound happier, corpus analyses of unaltered music paralleling those of natural speech have proven challenging. This partly reflects the importance of modality (i.e., major/minor, a powerful musical cue whose use is decidedly imbalanced in Western music. This imbalance poses challenges for creating musical corpora analogous to existing speech corpora for purposes of analyzing emotion. However, a novel examination of music by Bach and Chopin balanced in modality illustrates that, consistent with predictions from speech, their major key (nominally “happy” pieces are approximately a major second higher and 29% faster than their minor key pieces (Poon and Schutz, 2015. Although this provides useful evidence for parallels in use of emotional cues between these domains, it raises questions about how composers “trade off” cue differentiation in music, suggesting interesting new potential research directions. This Focused Review places those results in a broader context, highlighting their connections with previous work on the natural use of cues for musical emotion. Together, these observational findings based on unaltered music—widely recognized for its artistic significance—complement previous experimental work systematically manipulating specific parameters. In doing so, they also provide a useful musical counterpart to fruitful studies of the acoustic cues for emotion found in natural speech.

Cue generation: How learners flexibly support future retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Tullis, Jonathan G; Benjamin, Aaron S

2015-08-01

The successful use of memory requires us to be sensitive to the cues that will be present during retrieval. In many situations, we have some control over the external cues that we will encounter. For instance, learners create shopping lists at home to help remember what items to later buy at the grocery store, and they generate computer file names to help remember the contents of those files. Generating cues in the service of later cognitive goals is a complex task that lies at the intersection of metacognition, communication, and memory. In this series of experiments, we investigated how and how well learners generate external mnemonic cues. Across 5 experiments, learners generated a cue for each target word in a to-be-remembered list and received these cues during a later cued recall test. Learners flexibly generated cues in response to different instructional demands and study list compositions. When generating mnemonic cues, as compared to descriptions of target items, learners produced cues that were more distinct than mere descriptions and consequently elicited greater cued recall performance than those descriptions. When learners were aware of competing targets in the study list, they generated mnemonic cues with smaller cue-to-target associative strength but that were even more distinct. These adaptations led to fewer confusions among competing targets and enhanced cued recall performance. These results provide another example of the metacognitively sophisticated tactics that learners use to effectively support future retrieval.

Inappropriate prescribing in the older population: need for new criteria.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Mahony, Denis

2012-02-03

Inappropriate prescribing (IP) is a common and serious global healthcare problem in elderly people, leading to increased risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), polypharmacy being the main risk factor for both IP and ADRs. IP in older people is highly prevalent but preventable; hence screening tools for IP have been devised, principally Beers\\' Criteria and the Inappropriate Prescribing in the Elderly Tool (IPET). Although Beers\\' Criteria have become the most widely cited IP criteria in the literature, nevertheless, they have serious deficiencies, including several drugs that are rarely prescribed nowadays, a lack of structure in the presentation of the criteria and omission of several important and common IP instances. New, more up-to-date, systems-based and easily applicable criteria are needed that can be applied in the routine clinical setting.

Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours.

Science.gov (United States)

Voon, Valerie; Mole, Thomas B; Banca, Paula; Porter, Laura; Morris, Laurel; Mitchell, Simon; Lapa, Tatyana R; Karr, Judy; Harrison, Neil A; Potenza, Marc N; Irvine, Michael

2014-01-01

Although compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB) has been conceptualized as a "behavioural" addiction and common or overlapping neural circuits may govern the processing of natural and drug rewards, little is known regarding the responses to sexually explicit materials in individuals with and without CSB. Here, the processing of cues of varying sexual content was assessed in individuals with and without CSB, focusing on neural regions identified in prior studies of drug-cue reactivity. 19 CSB subjects and 19 healthy volunteers were assessed using functional MRI comparing sexually explicit videos with non-sexual exciting videos. Ratings of sexual desire and liking were obtained. Relative to healthy volunteers, CSB subjects had greater desire but similar liking scores in response to the sexually explicit videos. Exposure to sexually explicit cues in CSB compared to non-CSB subjects was associated with activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate, ventral striatum and amygdala. Functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate-ventral striatum-amygdala network was associated with subjective sexual desire (but not liking) to a greater degree in CSB relative to non-CSB subjects. The dissociation between desire or wanting and liking is consistent with theories of incentive motivation underlying CSB as in drug addictions. Neural differences in the processing of sexual-cue reactivity were identified in CSB subjects in regions previously implicated in drug-cue reactivity studies. The greater engagement of corticostriatal limbic circuitry in CSB following exposure to sexual cues suggests neural mechanisms underlying CSB and potential biological targets for interventions.

Retrieval-induced forgetting and interference between cues: training a cue-outcome association attenuates retrieval by alternative cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega-Castro, Nerea; Vadillo, Miguel A

2013-03-01

Some researchers have attempted to determine whether situations in which a single cue is paired with several outcomes (A-B, A-C interference or interference between outcomes) involve the same learning and retrieval mechanisms as situations in which several cues are paired with a single outcome (A-B, C-B interference or interference between cues). Interestingly, current research on a related effect, which is known as retrieval-induced forgetting, can illuminate this debate. Most retrieval-induced forgetting experiments are based on an experimental design that closely resembles the A-B, A-C interference paradigm. In the present experiment, we found that a similar effect may be observed when items are rearranged such that the general structure of the task more closely resembles the A-B, C-B interference paradigm. This result suggests that, as claimed by other researchers in the area of contingency learning, the two types of interference, namely A-B, A-C and A-B, C-B interference, may share some basic mechanisms. Moreover, the type of inhibitory processes assumed to underlie retrieval-induced forgetting may also play a role in these phenomena. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of a multi-faceted quality improvement intervention on inappropriate antibiotic use in children with non-bloody diarrhoea admitted to district hospitals in Kenya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Opondo Charles

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There are few reports of interventions to reduce the common but irrational use of antibiotics for acute non-bloody diarrhoea amongst hospitalised children in low-income settings. We undertook a secondary analysis of data from an intervention comprising training of health workers, facilitation, supervision and face-to-face feedback, to assess whether it reduced inappropriate use of antibiotics in children with non-bloody diarrhoea and no co-morbidities requiring antibiotics, compared to a partial intervention comprising didactic training and written feedback only. This outcome was not a pre-specified end-point of the main trial. Methods Repeated cross-sectional survey data from a cluster-randomised controlled trial of an intervention to improve management of common childhood illnesses in Kenya were used to describe the prevalence of inappropriate antibiotic use in a 7-day period in children aged 2-59 months with acute non-bloody diarrhoea. Logistic regression models with random effects for hospital were then used to identify patient and clinician level factors associated with inappropriate antibiotic use and to assess the effect of the intervention. Results 9, 459 admission records of children were reviewed for this outcome. Of these, 4, 232 (44.7% were diagnosed with diarrhoea, with 130 of these being bloody (dysentery therefore requiring antibiotics. 1, 160 children had non-bloody diarrhoea and no co-morbidities requiring antibiotics-these were the focus of the analysis. 750 (64.7% of them received antibiotics inappropriately, 313 of these being in the intervention hospitals vs. 437 in the controls. The adjusted logistic regression model showed the baseline-adjusted odds of inappropriate antibiotic prescription to children admitted to the intervention hospitals was 0.30 times that in the control hospitals (95%CI 0.09-1.02. Conclusion We found some evidence that the multi-faceted, sustained intervention described in this

Forgotten but not gone: Retro-cue costs and benefits in a double-cueing paradigm suggest multiple states in visual short-term memory.

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van Moorselaar, Dirk; Olivers, Christian N L; Theeuwes, Jan; Lamme, Victor A F; Sligte, Ilja G

2015-11-01

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) performance is enhanced when the to-be-tested item is cued after encoding. This so-called retro-cue benefit is typically accompanied by a cost for the noncued items, suggesting that information is lost from VSTM upon presentation of a retrospective cue. Here we assessed whether noncued items can be restored to VSTM when made relevant again by a subsequent second cue. We presented either 1 or 2 consecutive retro-cues (80% valid) during the retention interval of a change-detection task. Relative to no cue, a valid cue increased VSTM capacity by 2 items, while an invalid cue decreased capacity by 2. Importantly, when a second, valid cue followed an invalid cue, capacity regained 2 items, so that performance was back on par. In addition, when the second cue was also invalid, there was no extra loss of information from VSTM, suggesting that those items that survived a first invalid cue, automatically also survived a second. We conclude that these results are in support of a very versatile VSTM system, in which memoranda adopt different representational states depending on whether they are deemed relevant now, in the future, or not at all. We discuss a neural model that is consistent with this conclusion. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Individual differences in regulatory focus predict neural response to reward.

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Scult, Matthew A; Knodt, Annchen R; Hanson, Jamie L; Ryoo, Minyoung; Adcock, R Alison; Hariri, Ahmad R; Strauman, Timothy J

2017-08-01

Although goal pursuit is related to both functioning of the brain's reward circuits and psychological factors, the literatures surrounding these concepts have often been separate. Here, we use the psychological construct of regulatory focus to investigate individual differences in neural response to reward. Regulatory focus theory proposes two motivational orientations for personal goal pursuit: (1) promotion, associated with sensitivity to potential gain, and (2) prevention, associated with sensitivity to potential loss. The monetary incentive delay task was used to manipulate reward circuit function, along with instructional framing corresponding to promotion and prevention in a within-subject design. We observed that the more promotion oriented an individual was, the lower their ventral striatum response to gain cues. Follow-up analyses revealed that greater promotion orientation was associated with decreased ventral striatum response even to no-value cues, suggesting that promotion orientation may be associated with relatively hypoactive reward system function. The findings are also likely to represent an interaction between the cognitive and motivational characteristics of the promotion system with the task demands. Prevention orientation did not correlate with ventral striatum response to gain cues, supporting the discriminant validity of regulatory focus theory. The results highlight a dynamic association between individual differences in self-regulation and reward system function.

Cues for localization in the horizontal plane

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeppesen, Jakob; Møller, Henrik

2005-01-01

manipulated in HRTFs used for binaural synthesis of sound in the horizontal plane. The manipulation of cues resulted in HRTFs with cues ranging from correct combinations of spectral information and ITDs to combinations with severely conflicting cues. Both the ITD and the spectral information seem...

Age-Related Differences in Judgments of Inappropriate Behavior are Related to Humor Style Preferences

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Stanley, Jennifer Tehan; Lohani, Monika; Isaacowitz, Derek M.

2014-01-01

Identifying social gaffes is important for maintaining relationships. Older adults are less able than young to discriminate between socially appropriate and inappropriate behavior in video clips. One open question is how these social appropriateness ratings relate to potential age differences in the perception of what is actually funny or not. In the present study, young, middle-aged, and older adults were equally able to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate social behavior in a diverse set of clips relevant to both age groups. However, young and middle-aged adults rated the gaffe clips as funnier than control clips and young adults smiled more during the inappropriate clips than the control clips. Older adults did not show this pattern, suggesting that they did not find the inappropriate clips funny. Additionally, young adults endorsed a more aggressive humor style than middle-aged and older adults and aggressive humor style endorsement mediated age differences in social appropriateness ratings. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms such as cohort differences in humor and developmental prioritization of certain humor styles, as well as the importance of investigating age differences in both abilities and preferences. PMID:25244473

Amusia results in abnormal brain activity following inappropriate intonation during speech comprehension.

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Jiang, Cunmei; Hamm, Jeff P; Lim, Vanessa K; Kirk, Ian J; Chen, Xuhai; Yang, Yufang

2012-01-01

Pitch processing is a critical ability on which humans' tonal musical experience depends, and which is also of paramount importance for decoding prosody in speech. Congenital amusia refers to deficits in the ability to properly process musical pitch, and recent evidence has suggested that this musical pitch disorder may impact upon the processing of speech sounds. Here we present the first electrophysiological evidence demonstrating that individuals with amusia who speak Mandarin Chinese are impaired in classifying prosody as appropriate or inappropriate during a speech comprehension task. When presented with inappropriate prosody stimuli, control participants elicited a larger P600 and smaller N100 relative to the appropriate condition. In contrast, amusics did not show significant differences between the appropriate and inappropriate conditions in either the N100 or the P600 component. This provides further evidence that the pitch perception deficits associated with amusia may also affect intonation processing during speech comprehension in those who speak a tonal language such as Mandarin, and suggests music and language share some cognitive and neural resources.

Amusia results in abnormal brain activity following inappropriate intonation during speech comprehension.

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Cunmei Jiang

Full Text Available Pitch processing is a critical ability on which humans' tonal musical experience depends, and which is also of paramount importance for decoding prosody in speech. Congenital amusia refers to deficits in the ability to properly process musical pitch, and recent evidence has suggested that this musical pitch disorder may impact upon the processing of speech sounds. Here we present the first electrophysiological evidence demonstrating that individuals with amusia who speak Mandarin Chinese are impaired in classifying prosody as appropriate or inappropriate during a speech comprehension task. When presented with inappropriate prosody stimuli, control participants elicited a larger P600 and smaller N100 relative to the appropriate condition. In contrast, amusics did not show significant differences between the appropriate and inappropriate conditions in either the N100 or the P600 component. This provides further evidence that the pitch perception deficits associated with amusia may also affect intonation processing during speech comprehension in those who speak a tonal language such as Mandarin, and suggests music and language share some cognitive and neural resources.

Potentially inappropriate prescribing to older patients in primary care in the Netherlands: a retrospective longitudinal study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruin-Huisman, Linette; Abu-Hanna, Ameen; van Weert, Henk C. P. M.; Beers, Erna

2017-01-01

potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) is associated with adverse health effects in older patients. PIP comprises prescription of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and potential prescribing omissions (PPOs). to estimate the prevalence of PIMs and PPOs among older patients in primary

Inappropriate sexual behaviour in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: what education is recommended and why.

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Beddows, Nicola; Brooks, Rachel

2016-08-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder impairing social skills and communication. Adolescents with ASD have sexual needs, but may not understand their physical and emotional development resulting in inappropriate sexual behaviour. The aim of this review is to describe the type of inappropriate behaviour that presents in these adolescents, explain why such behaviours occur, suggest what education is suitable and identify current gaps in research. The databases EMBASE, OVID MEDLINE and PSYCINFO were searched for relevant articles. In total, 5241 articles were found, with an additional 15 sources found via soft searches, of which 42 met inclusion criteria and were subsequently reviewed. Sexual behaviours that occur in these adolescents with ASD include hypermasturbation, public masturbation, inappropriate romantic gestures, inappropriate arousal and exhibitionism. Such behaviours are thought to be caused via a lack of understanding of normal puberty, the absence of appropriate sex education, the severity of their ASD and other associated problems. It is suggested that individualized, repetitive education should be started from an early age in an accessible form. Social skills development is also important before more technical aspects of sex education are taught. Despite being such a common problem for schools, institutions and families to manage, it is surprising how sparse literature is particularly regarding why inappropriate behaviour occurs and what education is effective. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Cue reactivity in virtual reality: the role of context.

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Paris, Megan M; Carter, Brian L; Traylor, Amy C; Bordnick, Patrick S; Day, Susan X; Armsworth, Mary W; Cinciripini, Paul M

2011-07-01

Cigarette smokers in laboratory experiments readily respond to smoking stimuli with increased craving. An alternative to traditional cue-reactivity methods (e.g., exposure to cigarette photos), virtual reality (VR) has been shown to be a viable cue presentation method to elicit and assess cigarette craving within complex virtual environments. However, it remains poorly understood whether contextual cues from the environment contribute to craving increases in addition to specific cues, like cigarettes. This study examined the role of contextual cues in a VR environment to evoke craving. Smokers were exposed to a virtual convenience store devoid of any specific cigarette cues followed by exposure to the same convenience store with specific cigarette cues added. Smokers reported increased craving following exposure to the virtual convenience store without specific cues, and significantly greater craving following the convenience store with cigarette cues added. However, increased craving recorded after the second convenience store may have been due to the pre-exposure to the first convenience store. This study offers evidence that an environmental context where cigarette cues are normally present (but are not), elicits significant craving in the absence of specific cigarette cues. This finding suggests that VR may have stronger ecological validity over traditional cue reactivity exposure methods by exposing smokers to the full range of cigarette-related environmental stimuli, in addition to specific cigarette cues, that smokers typically experience in their daily lives. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toward understanding social cues and signals in human–robot interaction: effects of robot gaze and proxemic behavior

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Fiore, Stephen M.; Wiltshire, Travis J.; Lobato, Emilio J. C.; Jentsch, Florian G.; Huang, Wesley H.; Axelrod, Benjamin

2013-01-01

As robots are increasingly deployed in settings requiring social interaction, research is needed to examine the social signals perceived by humans when robots display certain social cues. In this paper, we report a study designed to examine how humans interpret social cues exhibited by robots. We first provide a brief overview of perspectives from social cognition in humans and how these processes are applicable to human–robot interaction (HRI). We then discuss the need to examine the relationship between social cues and signals as a function of the degree to which a robot is perceived as a socially present agent. We describe an experiment in which social cues were manipulated on an iRobot AvaTM mobile robotics platform in a hallway navigation scenario. Cues associated with the robot’s proxemic behavior were found to significantly affect participant perceptions of the robot’s social presence and emotional state while cues associated with the robot’s gaze behavior were not found to be significant. Further, regardless of the proxemic behavior, participants attributed more social presence and emotional states to the robot over repeated interactions than when they first interacted with it. Generally, these results indicate the importance for HRI research to consider how social cues expressed by a robot can differentially affect perceptions of the robot’s mental states and intentions. The discussion focuses on implications for the design of robotic systems and future directions for research on the relationship between social cues and signals. PMID:24348434

Toward understanding social cues and signals in human-robot interaction: effects of robot gaze and proxemic behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Fiore, Stephen M; Wiltshire, Travis J; Lobato, Emilio J C; Jentsch, Florian G; Huang, Wesley H; Axelrod, Benjamin

2013-01-01

As robots are increasingly deployed in settings requiring social interaction, research is needed to examine the social signals perceived by humans when robots display certain social cues. In this paper, we report a study designed to examine how humans interpret social cues exhibited by robots. We first provide a brief overview of perspectives from social cognition in humans and how these processes are applicable to human-robot interaction (HRI). We then discuss the need to examine the relationship between social cues and signals as a function of the degree to which a robot is perceived as a socially present agent. We describe an experiment in which social cues were manipulated on an iRobot Ava(TM) mobile robotics platform in a hallway navigation scenario. Cues associated with the robot's proxemic behavior were found to significantly affect participant perceptions of the robot's social presence and emotional state while cues associated with the robot's gaze behavior were not found to be significant. Further, regardless of the proxemic behavior, participants attributed more social presence and emotional states to the robot over repeated interactions than when they first interacted with it. Generally, these results indicate the importance for HRI research to consider how social cues expressed by a robot can differentially affect perceptions of the robot's mental states and intentions. The discussion focuses on implications for the design of robotic systems and future directions for research on the relationship between social cues and signals.

Towards understanding social cues and signals in human-robot interaction: Effects of robot gaze and proxemic behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen M. Fiore

2013-11-01

Full Text Available As robots are increasingly deployed in settings requiring social interaction, research is needed to examine the social signals perceived by humans when robots display certain social cues. In this paper, we report a study designed to examine how humans interpret social cues exhibited by robots. We first provide a brief overview of perspectives from social cognition in humans and how these processes are applicable to human-robot interaction (HRI. We then discuss the need to examine the relationship between social cues and signals as a function of the degree to which a robot is perceived as a socially present agent. We describe an experiment in which social cues were manipulated on an iRobot Ava™ Mobile Robotics Platform in a hallway navigation scenario. Cues associated with the robot’s proxemic behavior were found to significantly affect participant perceptions of the robot’s social presence and emotional state while cues associated with the robot’s gaze behavior were not found to be significant. Further, regardless of the proxemic behavior, participants attributed more social presence and emotional states to the robot over repeated interactions than when they first interacted with it. Generally, these results indicate the importance for HRI research to consider how social cues expressed by a robot can differentially affect perceptions of the robot’s mental states and intentions. The discussion focuses on implications for the design of robotic systems and future directions for research on the relationship between social cues and signals.

Evaluation of potentially inappropriate medications among older residents of Malaysian nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Li Li; Tangiisuran, Balamurugan; Shafie, Asrul Akmal; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi Ahmad

2012-08-01

There is an increasing evidence of medicines related issues such as inappropriate prescribing among older people. Inappropriate prescribing is an important risk factor for adverse drug reactions and hospitalizations in the older people. To assess and characterize the prevalence of Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIMs) in nursing home care in Malaysia as defined by Screening Tool of Older Peoples Prescriptions (STOPP) and Beers criteria. Four Nursing Homes situated in Penang, Malaysia. A multicenter and cross-sectional study was conducted over 2 months period at four large non-governmental organizations nursing homes in Penang, Malaysia. The study population included older residents (≥65 years old) taking at least one medication. Residents who had been diagnosed with dementia or taking anti dementia drugs, delirium, too frail or refused to give consent were excluded. Demographic, clinical data and concurrent medications were collected through direct interview and also by reviewing medical records. STOPP and Beers criteria were applied in the medical review to screen for PIMs. Potentially Inappropriate Medication using STOPP and Beers criteria. Two hundred eleven residents were included in the study with the median age of 77 (inter quartile range (IQR) 72-82) years. Median number of prescription medicines was 4 (IQR 1-14). STOPP identified less residents (50 residents, 23.7 %) being prescribed on PIMs compared with Beers criteria (69 residents, 32.7 %) (p older residents living in the nursing homes and are associated with number of medications and longer nursing home stay. Further research is warranted to study the impact of PIMs towards health related outcomes in these elderly.

Intentional modulation of the late positive potential in response to smoking cues by cognitive strategies in smokers.

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Littel, Marianne; Franken, Ingmar H A

2011-01-01

Attentional bias is considered an important concept in addiction since it has been found to correlate with subjective craving and is strongly associated with relapse after periods of abstinence. Hence, investigating in ways to regulate attention for drug cues would be of major clinical relevance. The present study examined deliberate, cognitive modulation of motivated attention for smoking cues in smokers. The effects of three different reappraisal strategies on an electrophysiological measure of attentive processing were investigated. Early and late LPP components in response to passively viewed neutral and smoking pictures were compared with LPPs in response to smoking pictures that were reappraised with three different reappraisal strategies. Results show that when smokers actively imagine how pleasant it would be to smoke (pleasant condition), their early LPP in response to smoking cues increases, but when smokers actively focus on an alternative stimulus (distraction condition) or think of a rational, uninvolved interpretation of the situation (rational condition), smoking-related late LPP amplitude decreases to the processing level of neutral stimuli. Present results are the first to indicate that smoking cue-elicited LPP amplitudes can be modulated by cognitive strategies, suggesting that attentive processing of smoking cues can be intentionally regulated by smokers with various levels of dependence. Although cognitive strategies can lead to enhanced processing of smoking cues, it is not completely clear whether cognitive strategies are also successful in reducing smoking-related motivated attention. Although findings do point in this direction, present study is best considered preliminary and a starting point for other research on this topic. A focus on the distraction strategy is proposed, as there are indications that this strategy is more successful than the rational strategy in decreasing LPP amplitude.

Cues of maternal condition influence offspring selfishness.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Janine W Y; Lucas, Christophe; Kölliker, Mathias

2014-01-01

The evolution of parent-offspring communication was mostly studied from the perspective of parents responding to begging signals conveying information about offspring condition. Parents should respond to begging because of the differential fitness returns obtained from their investment in offspring that differ in condition. For analogous reasons, offspring should adjust their behavior to cues/signals of parental condition: parents that differ in condition pay differential costs of care and, hence, should provide different amounts of food. In this study, we experimentally tested in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia) if cues of maternal condition affect offspring behavior in terms of sibling cannibalism. We experimentally manipulated female condition by providing them with different amounts of food, kept nymph condition constant, allowed for nymph exposure to chemical maternal cues over extended time, quantified nymph survival (deaths being due to cannibalism) and extracted and analyzed the females' cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC). Nymph survival was significantly affected by chemical cues of maternal condition, and this effect depended on the timing of breeding. Cues of poor maternal condition enhanced nymph survival in early broods, but reduced nymph survival in late broods, and vice versa for cues of good condition. Furthermore, female condition affected the quantitative composition of their CHC profile which in turn predicted nymph survival patterns. Thus, earwig offspring are sensitive to chemical cues of maternal condition and nymphs from early and late broods show opposite reactions to the same chemical cues. Together with former evidence on maternal sensitivities to condition-dependent nymph chemical cues, our study shows context-dependent reciprocal information exchange about condition between earwig mothers and their offspring, potentially mediated by cuticular hydrocarbons.

Cues of maternal condition influence offspring selfishness.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janine W Y Wong

Full Text Available The evolution of parent-offspring communication was mostly studied from the perspective of parents responding to begging signals conveying information about offspring condition. Parents should respond to begging because of the differential fitness returns obtained from their investment in offspring that differ in condition. For analogous reasons, offspring should adjust their behavior to cues/signals of parental condition: parents that differ in condition pay differential costs of care and, hence, should provide different amounts of food. In this study, we experimentally tested in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia if cues of maternal condition affect offspring behavior in terms of sibling cannibalism. We experimentally manipulated female condition by providing them with different amounts of food, kept nymph condition constant, allowed for nymph exposure to chemical maternal cues over extended time, quantified nymph survival (deaths being due to cannibalism and extracted and analyzed the females' cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC. Nymph survival was significantly affected by chemical cues of maternal condition, and this effect depended on the timing of breeding. Cues of poor maternal condition enhanced nymph survival in early broods, but reduced nymph survival in late broods, and vice versa for cues of good condition. Furthermore, female condition affected the quantitative composition of their CHC profile which in turn predicted nymph survival patterns. Thus, earwig offspring are sensitive to chemical cues of maternal condition and nymphs from early and late broods show opposite reactions to the same chemical cues. Together with former evidence on maternal sensitivities to condition-dependent nymph chemical cues, our study shows context-dependent reciprocal information exchange about condition between earwig mothers and their offspring, potentially mediated by cuticular hydrocarbons.

Detecting Inappropriate Access to Electronic Health Records Using Collaborative Filtering.

Science.gov (United States)

Menon, Aditya Krishna; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Kim, Jihoon; Vaidya, Jaideep; Ohno-Machado, Lucila

2014-04-01

Many healthcare facilities enforce security on their electronic health records (EHRs) through a corrective mechanism: some staff nominally have almost unrestricted access to the records, but there is a strict ex post facto audit process for inappropriate accesses, i.e., accesses that violate the facility's security and privacy policies. This process is inefficient, as each suspicious access has to be reviewed by a security expert, and is purely retrospective, as it occurs after damage may have been incurred. This motivates automated approaches based on machine learning using historical data. Previous attempts at such a system have successfully applied supervised learning models to this end, such as SVMs and logistic regression. While providing benefits over manual auditing, these approaches ignore the identity of the users and patients involved in a record access. Therefore, they cannot exploit the fact that a patient whose record was previously involved in a violation has an increased risk of being involved in a future violation. Motivated by this, in this paper, we propose a collaborative filtering inspired approach to predicting inappropriate accesses. Our solution integrates both explicit and latent features for staff and patients, the latter acting as a personalized "finger-print" based on historical access patterns. The proposed method, when applied to real EHR access data from two tertiary hospitals and a file-access dataset from Amazon, shows not only significantly improved performance compared to existing methods, but also provides insights as to what indicates an inappropriate access.

Inappropriate Practices in Fitness Testing and Reporting: Alternative Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xihe; Davis, Summer; Kirk, T. Nicole; Haegele, Justin A.; Knott, Stephen E.

2018-01-01

Fitness education is becoming an integrated component for many physical education programs. As such, many physical educators conduct health-related fitness tests on a regular basis. Some states even mandate certain types of physical fitness tests to be administered and reported annually or by semester. Yet, inappropriate practices have been…

Action experience changes attention to kinematic cues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Courtney eFilippi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The current study used remote corneal reflection eye-tracking to examine the relationship between motor experience and action anticipation in 13-month-old infants. To measure online anticipation of actions infants watched videos where the actor’s hand provided kinematic information (in its orientation about the type of object that the actor was going to reach for. The actor’s hand orientation either matched the orientation of a rod (congruent cue or did not match the orientation of the rod (incongruent cue. To examine relations between motor experience and action anticipation, we used a 2 (reach first vs. observe first x 2 (congruent kinematic cue vs. incongruent kinematic cue between-subjects design. We show that 13-month-old infants in the observe first condition spontaneously generate rapid online visual predictions to congruent hand orientation cues and do not visually anticipate when presented incongruent cues. We further demonstrate that the speed that these infants generate predictions to congruent motor cues is correlated with their own ability to pre-shape their hands. Finally, we demonstrate that following reaching experience, infants generate rapid predictions to both congruent and incongruent hand shape cues—suggesting that short-term experience changes attention to kinematics.

Clinical pharmacist evaluation of medication inappropriateness in the emergency department of a teaching hospital in Malta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

West LM

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Appropriate prescribing remains an important priority in all medical areas of practice. Objective: The objective of this study was to apply a Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI to identify issues of inappropriate prescribing amongst patients admitted from the Emergency Department (ED.Method: This study was carried out at Malta’s general hospital on 125 patients following a two-week pilot period on 10 patients. Patients aged 18 years and over and on medication therapy were included. Medication treatment for inappropriateness was assessed by using the MAI. Under-prescribing was also screened for. Results: Treatment charts of 125 patients, including 697 medications, were assessed using a MAI. Overall, 115 (92% patients had one or more medications with one or more MAI criteria rated as inappropriate, giving a total of 384 (55.1% medications prescribed inappropriately. The mean SD MAI score per drug was 1.78 (SD=2.19. The most common medication classes with appropriateness problems were supplements (20.1%, antibiotics (20.0% and steroids (19.8%. The most common problems involved incorrect directions (26% and incorrect dosages (18.5%. There were 36 omitted medications with untreated indications. Conclusion: There is considerable inappropriate prescribing which could have significant negative effects regarding patient care.

Localization Performance of Multiple Vibrotactile Cues on Both Arms.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dangxiao; Peng, Cong; Afzal, Naqash; Li, Weiang; Wu, Dong; Zhang, Yuru

2018-01-01

To present information using vibrotactile stimuli in wearable devices, it is fundamental to understand human performance of localizing vibrotactile cues across the skin surface. In this paper, we studied human ability to identify locations of multiple vibrotactile cues activated simultaneously on both arms. Two haptic bands were mounted in proximity to the elbow and shoulder joints on each arm, and two vibrotactile motors were mounted on each band to provide vibration cues to the dorsal and palmar side of the arm. The localization performance under four conditions were compared, with the number of the simultaneously activated cues varying from one to four in each condition. Experimental results illustrate that the rate of correct localization decreases linearly with the increase in the number of activated cues. It was 27.8 percent for three activated cues, and became even lower for four activated cues. An analysis of the correct rate and error patterns show that the layout of vibrotactile cues can have significant effects on the localization performance of multiple vibrotactile cues. These findings might provide guidelines for using vibrotactile cues to guide the simultaneous motion of multiple joints on both arms.

Hunger, taste, and normative cues in predictions about food intake.

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Vartanian, Lenny R; Reily, Natalie M; Spanos, Samantha; McGuirk, Lucy C; Herman, C Peter; Polivy, Janet

2017-09-01

Normative eating cues (portion size, social factors) have a powerful impact on people's food intake, but people often fail to acknowledge the influence of these cues, instead explaining their food intake in terms of internal (hunger) or sensory (taste) cues. This study examined whether the same biases apply when making predictions about how much food a person would eat. Participants (n = 364) read a series of vignettes describing an eating scenario and predicted how much food the target person would eat in each situation. Some scenarios consisted of a single eating cue (hunger, taste, or a normative cue) that would be expected to increase intake (e.g., high hunger) or decrease intake (e.g., a companion who eats very little). Other scenarios combined two cues that were in conflict with one another (e.g., high hunger + a companion who eats very little). In the cue-conflict scenarios involving an inhibitory internal/sensory cue (e.g., low hunger) with an augmenting normative cue (e.g., a companion who eats a lot), participants predicted a low level of food intake, suggesting a bias toward the internal/sensory cue. For scenarios involving an augmenting internal/sensory cue (e.g., high hunger) and an inhibitory normative cue (e.g., a companion who eats very little), participants predicted an intermediate level of food intake, suggesting that they were influenced by both the internal/sensory and normative cue. Overall, predictions about food intake tend to reflect a general bias toward internal/sensory cues, but also include normative cues when those cues are inhibitory. If people are systematically biased toward internal, sensory, and inhibitory cues, then they may underestimate how much food they or other people will eat in many situations, particularly when normative cues promoting eating are present. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Context cue focality influences strategic prospective memory monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter Ball, B; Bugg, Julie M

2018-02-12

Monitoring the environment for the occurrence of prospective memory (PM) targets is a resource-demanding process that produces cost (e.g., slower responding) to ongoing activities. However, research suggests that individuals are able to monitor strategically by using contextual cues to reduce monitoring in contexts in which PM targets are not expected to occur. In the current study, we investigated the processes supporting context identification (i.e., determining whether or not the context is appropriate for monitoring) by testing the context cue focality hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts that the ability to monitor strategically depends on whether the ongoing task orients attention to the contextual cues that are available to guide monitoring. In Experiment 1, participants performed an ongoing lexical decision task and were told that PM targets (TOR syllable) would only occur in word trials (focal context cue condition) or in items starting with consonants (nonfocal context cue condition). In Experiment 2, participants performed an ongoing first letter judgment (consonant/vowel) task and were told that PM targets would only occur in items starting with consonants (focal context cue condition) or in word trials (nonfocal context cue condition). Consistent with the context cue focality hypothesis, strategic monitoring was only observed during focal context cue conditions in which the type of ongoing task processing automatically oriented attention to the relevant features of the contextual cue. These findings suggest that strategic monitoring is dependent on limited-capacity processing resources and may be relatively limited when the attentional demands of context identification are sufficiently high.

Spontaneous Hedonic Reactions to Social Media Cues.

Science.gov (United States)

van Koningsbruggen, Guido M; Hartmann, Tilo; Eden, Allison; Veling, Harm

2017-05-01

Why is it so difficult to resist the desire to use social media? One possibility is that frequent social media users possess strong and spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media cues, which, in turn, makes it difficult to resist social media temptations. In two studies (total N = 200), we investigated less-frequent and frequent social media users' spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media cues using the Affect Misattribution Procedure-an implicit measure of affective reactions. Results demonstrated that frequent social media users showed more favorable affective reactions in response to social media (vs. control) cues, whereas less-frequent social media users' affective reactions did not differ between social media and control cues (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, the spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media (vs. control) cues were related to self-reported cravings to use social media and partially accounted for the link between social media use and social media cravings (Study 2). These findings suggest that frequent social media users' spontaneous hedonic reactions in response to social media cues might contribute to their difficulties in resisting desires to use social media.

[The forensic medical aspects of the inappropriate medical care in the modern-day Ukraine].

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Franchuk, V V

2018-01-01

Despite the fact that the ever growing relevance of the problem of the inappropriate medical care was long ago brought to the worldwide attention, it has not been practically addressed in the Ukraine since the country gained independence in 1991. The objective of the present study was to consider the specific features of expert examination of the cases of inappropriate medical care as exemplified by the materials of the legal actions and lawsuits instituted against healthcare specialists violating their occupational duties. The results of forensic medical examination by the local Bureaux of forensic medical expertise concerning the 350 so-called malpractice suits instituted in the Ternopol, Zhitomir, and Chernovtsy regions during the period from 207 to 2016 were available for the analysis. The facts of inadequate and inappropriate medical care were documented in 245 (72.0%) cases. The frequency of diagnostic and therapeutic errors amounted to 29.7% and 26.9% respectively while the improper formulation of the medical documentation was recorded in 21.3% of the cases. The cases of poor organization of the diagnostic and treatment process accounted for 14.6% of the total whereas the improper behaviour of the medical personnel was reported in 7.5% of all the known cases of provision of the healthcare services. It is concluded that in the majority of the cases, the citizens of the modern-day Ukraine receive the inappropriate (insufficient and untimely) medical care. Over 80% of the cases of the inappropriate medical care currently provided in the country can be accounted for by the objective reasons, with each fifths case being due to the violation of professional responsibilities by the healthcare providers.

Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours.

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Valerie Voon

Full Text Available Although compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB has been conceptualized as a "behavioural" addiction and common or overlapping neural circuits may govern the processing of natural and drug rewards, little is known regarding the responses to sexually explicit materials in individuals with and without CSB. Here, the processing of cues of varying sexual content was assessed in individuals with and without CSB, focusing on neural regions identified in prior studies of drug-cue reactivity. 19 CSB subjects and 19 healthy volunteers were assessed using functional MRI comparing sexually explicit videos with non-sexual exciting videos. Ratings of sexual desire and liking were obtained. Relative to healthy volunteers, CSB subjects had greater desire but similar liking scores in response to the sexually explicit videos. Exposure to sexually explicit cues in CSB compared to non-CSB subjects was associated with activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate, ventral striatum and amygdala. Functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate-ventral striatum-amygdala network was associated with subjective sexual desire (but not liking to a greater degree in CSB relative to non-CSB subjects. The dissociation between desire or wanting and liking is consistent with theories of incentive motivation underlying CSB as in drug addictions. Neural differences in the processing of sexual-cue reactivity were identified in CSB subjects in regions previously implicated in drug-cue reactivity studies. The greater engagement of corticostriatal limbic circuitry in CSB following exposure to sexual cues suggests neural mechanisms underlying CSB and potential biological targets for interventions.

Negative emotion provides cues for orienting auditory spatial attention

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Erkin eAsutay

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The auditory stimuli provide information about the objects and events around us. They can also carry biologically significant emotional information (such as unseen dangers and conspecific vocalizations, which provides cues for allocation of attention and mental resources. Here, we investigated whether task-irrelevant auditory emotional information can provide cues for orientation of auditory spatial attention. We employed a covert spatial orienting task: the dot-probe task. In each trial, two task irrelevant auditory cues were simultaneously presented at two separate locations (left-right or front-back. Environmental sounds were selected to form emotional vs. neutral, emotional vs. emotional, and neutral vs. neutral cue pairs. The participants’ task was to detect the location of an acoustic target that was presented immediately after the task-irrelevant auditory cues. The target was presented at the same location as one of the auditory cues. The results indicated that participants were significantly faster to locate the target when it replaced the negative cue compared to when it replaced the neutral cue. The positive cues did not produce a clear attentional bias. Further, same valence pairs (emotional-emotional or neutral-neutral did not modulate reaction times due to a lack of spatial attention capture by one cue in the pair. Taken together, the results indicate that negative affect can provide cues for the orientation of spatial attention in the auditory domain.

What Does a Cue Do? Comparing Phonological and Semantic Cues for Picture Naming in Aphasia

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Meteyard, Lotte; Bose, Arpita

2018-01-01

Purpose: Impaired naming is one of the most common symptoms in aphasia, often treated with cued picture naming paradigms. It has been argued that semantic cues facilitate the reliable categorization of the picture, and phonological cues facilitate the retrieval of target phonology. To test these hypotheses, we compared the effectiveness of…

Effectiveness of external cues to facilitate task performance in people with neurological disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Harrison, Stephanie L; Laver, Kate E; Ninnis, Kayla; Rowett, Cherie; Lannin, Natasha A; Crotty, Maria

2018-03-09

To examine in people with neurological disorders, which method/s of providing external cues to improve task performance are most effective. Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO were systematically searched. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Twenty six studies were included. Studies examined a wide-range of cues including visual, tactile, auditory, verbal, and multi-component cues. Cueing (any type) improved walking speed when comparing cues to no cues (mean difference (95% confidence interval): 0.08 m/s (0.06-0.10), I 2  = 68%, low quality of evidence). Remaining evidence was analysed narratively; evidence that cueing improves activity-related outcomes was inconsistent and rated as very low quality. It was not possible to determine which form of cueing may be more effective than others. Providing cues to encourage successful task performance is a core component of rehabilitation, however there is limited evidence on the type of cueing or which tasks benefit most from external cueing. Low-quality evidence suggests there may be a beneficial effect of cueing (any type) on walking speed. Sufficiently powered randomised controlled trials are needed to inform therapists of the most effective cueing strategies to improve activity performance in populations with a neurological disorder. Implications for rehabilitation Providing cues is a core component of rehabilitation and may improve successful task performance and activities in people with neurological conditions including stroke, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and multiple sclerosis, but evidence is limited for most neurological conditions with much research focusing on stroke and Parkinson's disease. Therapists should consider using a range of different types of cues depending on the aims of treatment and the neurological condition. There is

An fMRI study of nicotine-deprived smokers' reactivity to smoking cues during novel/exciting activity.

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Xiaomeng Xu

Full Text Available Engaging in novel/exciting ("self-expanding" activities activates the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, a brain reward pathway also associated with the rewarding effects of nicotine. This suggests that self-expanding activities can potentially substitute for the reward from nicotine. We tested this model among nicotine-deprived smokers who, during fMRI scanning, played a series of two-player cooperative games with a relationship partner. Games were randomized in a 2 (self-expanding vs. not x 2 (cigarette cue present vs. absent design. Self-expansion conditions yielded significantly greater activation in a reward region (caudate than did non-self-expansion conditions. Moreover, when exposed to smoking cues during the self-expanding versus the non-self-expanding cooperative games, smokers showed less activation in a cigarette cue-reactivity region, a priori defined [temporo-parietal junction (TPJ] from a recent meta-analysis of cue-reactivity. In smoking cue conditions, increases in excitement associated with the self-expanding condition (versus the non-self-expanding condition were also negatively correlated with TPJ activation. These results support the idea that a self-expanding activity promoting reward activation attenuates cigarette cue-reactivity among nicotine-deprived smokers. Future research could focus on the parameters of self-expanding activities that produce this effect, as well as test the utility of self-expansion in clinical interventions for smoking cessation.

Transparent meta-analysis: does aging spare prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues?

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Bob Uttl

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Prospective memory (ProM is the ability to become aware of a previously-formed plan at the right time and place. For over twenty years, researchers have been debating whether prospective memory declines with aging or whether it is spared by aging and, most recently, whether aging spares prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues. Two recent meta-analyses examining these claims did not include all relevant studies and ignored prevalent ceiling effects, age confounds, and did not distinguish between prospective memory subdomains (e.g., ProM proper, vigilance, habitual ProM (see Uttl, 2008, PLoS ONE. The present meta-analysis focuses on the following questions: Does prospective memory decline with aging? Does prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues decline with aging? Does the size of age-related declines with focal vs. non-focal cues vary across ProM subdomains? And are age-related declines in ProM smaller than age-related declines in retrospective memory? METHODS AND FINDINGS: A meta-analysis of event-cued ProM using data visualization and modeling, robust count methods, and conventional meta-analysis techniques revealed that first, the size of age-related declines in ProM with both focal and non-focal cues are large. Second, age-related declines in ProM with focal cues are larger in ProM proper and smaller in vigilance. Third, age-related declines in ProM proper with focal cues are as large as age-related declines in recall measures of retrospective memory. CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with Craik's (1983 proposal that age-related declines on ProM tasks are generally large, support the distinction between ProM proper vs. vigilance, and directly contradict widespread claims that ProM, with or without focal cues, is spared by aging.

Implementation of a Computerized Order Entry Tool to Reduce the Inappropriate and Unnecessary Use of Cardiac Stress Tests With Imaging in Hospitalized Patients.

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Gertz, Zachary M; O'Donnell, William; Raina, Amresh; Balderston, Jessica R; Litwack, Andrew J; Goldberg, Lee R

2016-10-15

The rising use of imaging cardiac stress tests has led to potentially unnecessary testing. Interventions designed to reduce inappropriate stress testing have focused on the ambulatory setting. We developed a computerized order entry tool intended to reduce the use of imaging cardiac stress tests and improve appropriate use in hospitalized patients. The tool was evaluated using preimplementation and postimplementation cohorts at a single urban academic teaching hospital. All hospitalized patients referred for testing were included. The co-primary outcomes were the use of imaging stress tests as a percentage of all stress tests and the percentage of inappropriate tests, compared between the 2 cohorts. There were 478 patients in the precohort and 463 in the postcohort. The indication was chest pain in 66% and preoperative in 18% and was not significantly different between groups. The use of nonimaging stress tests increased from 4% in the pregroup to 15% in the postgroup (p nonimaging stress tests increased from 7% to 25% (p nonimaging cardiac stress tests and reduced the use of imaging tests yet was not able to reduce inappropriate use. Our study highlights the differences in cardiac stress testing between hospitalized and ambulatory patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Visual cues as a therapeutic tool in Parkinson's disease. A systematic review].

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Muñoz-Hellín, Elena; Cano-de-la-Cuerda, Roberto; Miangolarra-Page, Juan Carlos

2013-01-01

Sensory stimuli or sensory cues are being used as a therapeutic tool for improving gait disorders in Parkinson's disease patients, but most studies seem to focus on auditory stimuli. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review regarding the use of visual cues over gait disorders, dual tasks during gait, freezing and the incidence of falls in patients with Parkinson to obtain therapeutic implications. We conducted a systematic review in main databases such as Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, TripDataBase, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE and Physiotherapy Evidence Database, during 2005 to 2012, according to the recommendations of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, evaluating the quality of the papers included with the Downs & Black Quality Index. 21 articles were finally included in this systematic review (with a total of 892 participants) with variable methodological quality, achieving an average of 17.27 points in the Downs and Black Quality Index (range: 11-21). Visual cues produce improvements over temporal-spatial parameters in gait, turning execution, reducing the appearance of freezing and falls in Parkinson's disease patients. Visual cues appear to benefit dual tasks during gait, reducing the interference of the second task. Further studies are needed to determine the preferred type of stimuli for each stage of the disease. Copyright © 2012 SEGG. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Reduced recruitment of orbitofrontal cortex to human social chemosensory cues in social anxiety.

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Zhou, Wen; Hou, Ping; Zhou, Yuxiang; Chen, Denise

2011-04-01

Social anxiety refers to the prevalent and debilitating experience of fear and anxiety of being scrutinized in social situations. It originates from both learned (e.g. adverse social conditioning) and innate (e.g. shyness) factors. Research on social anxiety has traditionally focused on negative emotions induced by visual and auditory social cues in socially anxious clinical populations, and posits a dysfunctional orbitofrontal-amygdala circuit as a primary etiological mechanism. Yet as a trait, social anxiety is independent of one's specific emotional state. Here we probe the neural substrate of intrinsic social anxiety by employing a unique type of social stimuli, airborne human social chemosensory cues that are inherently social, ubiquitously present, and yet operating below verbal awareness. We show that the adopted social chemosensory cues were not perceived to be human-related, did not differentially bias self-report of anxiety or autonomic nervous system responses, yet individuals with elevated social anxiety demonstrated a reduced recruitment of the orbitofrontal cortex to social chemosensory cues. No reciprocal activity in the amygdala was observed. Our findings point to an intrinsic neural substrate underlying social anxiety that is not associated with prior adverse social conditioning, thereby providing the first neural evidence for the inherent social aspect of this enigmatic phenomenon. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inappropriate shocks in the subcutaneous ICD: Incidence, predictors and management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olde Nordkamp, Louise R. A.; Brouwer, Tom F.; Barr, Craig; Theuns, Dominic A. M. J.; Boersma, Lucas V. A.; Johansen, Jens B.; Neuzil, Petr; Wilde, Arthur A. M.; Carter, Nathan; Husby, Michael; Lambiase, Pier D.; Knops, Reinoud E.

2015-01-01

The entirely subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) eliminates the need for transvenous leads, and therefore has the potential to improve lead-longevity and reduce lead-related complications. The S-ICD has a morphology-based sensing algorithm of which inappropriate shocks have

Inappropriate medication use and risk of falls – A prospective study in a large community-dwelling elderly cohort

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Fourrier Annie

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Explicit criteria for determining potentially inappropriate medication consumption in elderly were elaborated by Beers et al. These lists have been used worldwide to evaluate medical prescriptions but there is little epidemiologic evidence demonstrating negative consequences of inappropriate medication use. It has been reported that some drugs could increase the risk of falls, which are a frequent and serious problem in elderly population. We aimed to evaluate the association between the use of potentially inappropriate medications and the risk of falls. Methods The 3C Study is a multicentre prospective cohort study conducted in France with 4 years of follow-up. Non-institutionalized men and women aged 65 years or over (N = 6343 were randomly selected from electoral rolls. Data on socio-demographic, medical characteristics and medication use (based on self-reports and data from the national healthcare insurance were collected. Use of inappropriate medication for elderly was defined from established criteria. Data about falls were collected at the two follow-up examinations (2 years and 4 years after baseline. The association between the exposure to inappropriate medications and the risk of falls was evaluated using multivariate models (Cox model and logistic regression. Results 32% of subjects reported inappropriate medication use at baseline and 29% at least two of the three examinations; 22% had fallen 2 times or more during follow-up. Overall, inappropriate medication users had an increased risk of falling. This increase was mainly due to the use of long-acting benzodiazepines (adjusted odds ratio (OR = 1.4, 95% confidence interval: [1.1–1.8], in both occasional and regular users, other inappropriate psychotropics (adjusted OR = 1.7 [1.7–2.7] in regular users, or medication with anticholinergic properties (adjusted OR = 1.6 [1.2–2.1] in regular users. Neither occasional, nor regular use of short- or intermediate

On the motivational properties of reward cues: Individual differences.

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Robinson, Terry E; Yager, Lindsay M; Cogan, Elizabeth S; Saunders, Benjamin T

2014-01-01

Cues associated with rewards, such as food or drugs of abuse, can themselves acquire motivational properties. Acting as incentive stimuli, such cues can exert powerful control over motivated behavior, and in the case of cues associated with drugs, they can goad continued drug-seeking behavior and relapse. However, recent studies reviewed here suggest that there are large individual differences in the extent to which food and drug cues are attributed with incentive salience. Rats prone to approach reward cues (sign-trackers) attribute greater motivational value to discrete localizable cues and interoceptive cues than do rats less prone to approach reward cues (goal-trackers). In contrast, contextual cues appear to exert greater control over motivated behavior in goal-trackers than sign-trackers. It is possible to predict, therefore, before any experience with drugs, in which animals specific classes of drug cues will most likely reinstate drug-seeking behavior. The finding that different individuals may be sensitive to different triggers capable of motivating behavior and producing relapse suggests there may be different pathways to addiction, and has implications for thinking about individualized treatment. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'NIDA 40th Anniversary Issue'. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Default mode network deactivation to smoking cue relative to food cue predicts treatment outcome in nicotine use disorder.

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Wilcox, Claire E; Claus, Eric D; Calhoun, Vince D; Rachakonda, Srinivas; Littlewood, Rae A; Mickey, Jessica; Arenella, Pamela B; Goodreau, Natalie; Hutchison, Kent E

2018-01-01

Identifying predictors of treatment outcome for nicotine use disorders (NUDs) may help improve efficacy of established treatments, like varenicline. Brain reactivity to drug stimuli predicts relapse risk in nicotine and other substance use disorders in some studies. Activity in the default mode network (DMN) is affected by drug cues and other palatable cues, but its clinical significance is unclear. In this study, 143 individuals with NUD (male n = 91, ages 18-55 years) received a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan during a visual cue task during which they were presented with a series of smoking-related or food-related video clips prior to randomization to treatment with varenicline (n = 80) or placebo. Group independent components analysis was utilized to isolate the DMN, and temporal sorting was used to calculate the difference between the DMN blood-oxygen-level dependent signal during smoke cues and that during food cues for each individual. Food cues were associated with greater deactivation compared with smoke cues in the DMN. In correcting for baseline smoking and other clinical variables, which have been shown to be related to treatment outcome in previous work, a less positive Smoke - Food difference score predicted greater smoking at 6 and 12 weeks when both treatment groups were combined (P = 0.005, β = -0.766). An exploratory analysis of executive control and salience networks demonstrated that a more positive Smoke - Food difference score for executive control network predicted a more robust response to varenicline relative to placebo. These findings provide further support to theories that brain reactivity to palatable cues, and in particular in DMN, may have a direct clinical relevance in NUD. © 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Standardized programming to reduce the burden of inappropriate therapies in implantable cardioverter defibrillators - Single centre follow up results

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U. Boles

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Current algorithms and device morphology templates have been proposed in current Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators (ICDs to minimize inappropriate therapies (ITS, but this has not been completely successful. Aim: Assess the impact of a deliberate strategy of using an atrial lead implant with standardized parameters; based on all current ICD discriminators and technologies, on the burden of ITS. Method: A retrospective single-centre analysis of 250 patients with either dual chamber (DR ICDs or biventricular ICDs (CRTDs over a (41.9 ± 27.3 month period was performed. The incidence of ITS on all ICD and CRTD patients was chronicled after the implementation of standardized programming. Results: 39 events of anti-tachycardial pacing (ATP and/or shocks were identified in 20 patients (8% incidence rate among patients. The total number of individual therapies was 120, of which 34% were inappropriate ATP, and 36% were inappropriate shocks. 11 patients of the 250 patients received ITS (4.4%. Of the 20 patients, four had ICDs for primary prevention and 16 for a secondary prevention. All the episodes in the primary indication group were inappropriate, while seven patients (43% of the secondary indication group experienced inappropriate therapies. Conclusions: The burden of ITS in the population of patients receiving ICDs was 4.4% in the presence of atrial leads. The proposed rationalized programming criteria seems an effective strategy to minimize the burden of inappropriate therapies and will require further validation. Keywords: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICDs, Inappropriate therapies, Standardized programming

Facilitation of voluntary goal-directed action by reward cues.

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Lovibond, Peter F; Colagiuri, Ben

2013-10-01

Reward-associated cues are known to influence motivation to approach both natural and man-made rewards, such as food and drugs. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects are not well understood. To model these processes in the laboratory with humans, we developed an appetitive Pavlovian-instrumental transfer procedure with a chocolate reward. We used a single unconstrained response that led to an actual rather than symbolic reward to assess the strength of reward motivation. Presentation of a chocolate-paired cue, but not an unpaired cue, markedly enhanced instrumental responding over a 30-s period. The same pattern was observed with 10-s and 30-s cues, showing that close cue-reward contiguity is not necessary for facilitation of reward-directed action. The results confirm that reward-related cues can instigate voluntary action to obtain that reward. The effectiveness of long-duration cues suggests that in clinical settings, attention should be directed to both proximal and distal cues for reward.

Negative emotional stimuli reduce contextual cueing but not response times in inefficient search

OpenAIRE

Kunar, Melina A.; Watson, Derrick G.; Cole, Louise (Researcher in Psychology); Cox, Angeline

2014-01-01

In visual search, previous work has shown that negative stimuli narrow the focus of attention and speed reaction times (RTs). This paper investigates these two effects by first asking whether negative emotional stimuli narrow the focus of attention to reduce the learning of a display context in a contextual cueing task and, second, whether exposure to negative stimuli also reduces RTs in inefficient search tasks. In Experiment 1, participants viewed either negative or neutral images (faces or...

Cue-reactivity in behavioral addictions: A meta-analysis and methodological considerations.

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Starcke, Katrin; Antons, Stephanie; Trotzke, Patrick; Brand, Matthias

2018-05-23

Background and aims Recent research has applied cue-reactivity paradigms to behavioral addictions. The aim of the current meta-analysis is to systematically analyze the effects of learning-based cue-reactivity in behavioral addictions. Methods The current meta-analysis includes 18 studies (29 data sets, 510 participants) that have used a cue-reactivity paradigm in persons with gambling (eight studies), gaming (nine studies), or buying (one study) disorders. We compared subjective, peripheral physiological, electroencephal, and neural responses toward addiction-relevant cues in patients versus control participants and toward addiction-relevant cues versus control cues in patients. Results Persons with behavioral addictions showed higher cue-reactivity toward addiction-relevant cues compared with control participants: subjective cue-reactivity (d = 0.84, p = .01) and peripheral physiological and electroencephal measures of cue-reactivity (d = 0.61, p buying disorders also showed higher cue-reactivity toward addiction-relevant cues compared with control cues: subjective cue-reactivity (d = 0.39, p = .11) and peripheral physiological and electroencephal measures of cue-reactivity (d = 0.47, p = .05). Increased neural activation was found in the caudate nucleus, inferior frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, inferior network, and precuneus. Discussion and conclusions Cue-reactivity not only exists in substance-use disorders but also in gambling, gaming, and buying disorders. Future research should differentiate between cue-reactivity in addictive behaviors and cue-reactivity in functional excessive behaviors such as passions, hobbies, or professions.

Quiet is the New Loud : Pausing and Focus in Child and Adult Dutch

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Romøren, Anna Sara H; Chen, Aoju

2015-01-01

In a number of languages, prosody is used to highlight new information (or focus). In Dutch, focus is marked by accentuation, whereby focal constituents are accented and post-focal constituents are de-accented. Even if pausing is not traditionally seen as a cue to focus in Dutch, several previous

Flexible spatial perspective-taking: conversational partners weigh multiple cues in collaborative tasks.

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Galati, Alexia; Avraamides, Marios N

2013-01-01

Research on spatial perspective-taking often focuses on the cognitive processes of isolated individuals as they adopt or maintain imagined perspectives. Collaborative studies of spatial perspective-taking typically examine speakers' linguistic choices, while overlooking their underlying processes and representations. We review evidence from two collaborative experiments that examine the contribution of social and representational cues to spatial perspective choices in both language and the organization of spatial memory. Across experiments, speakers organized their memory representations according to the convergence of various cues. When layouts were randomly configured and did not afford intrinsic cues, speakers encoded their partner's viewpoint in memory, if available, but did not use it as an organizing direction. On the other hand, when the layout afforded an intrinsic structure, speakers organized their spatial memories according to the person-centered perspective reinforced by the layout's structure. Similarly, in descriptions, speakers considered multiple cues whether available a priori or at the interaction. They used partner-centered expressions more frequently (e.g., "to your right") when the partner's viewpoint was misaligned by a small offset or coincided with the layout's structure. Conversely, they used egocentric expressions more frequently when their own viewpoint coincided with the intrinsic structure or when the partner was misaligned by a computationally difficult, oblique offset. Based on these findings we advocate for a framework for flexible perspective-taking: people weigh multiple cues (including social ones) to make attributions about the relative difficulty of perspective-taking for each partner, and adapt behavior to minimize their collective effort. This framework is not specialized for spatial reasoning but instead emerges from the same principles and memory-depended processes that govern perspective-taking in non-spatial tasks.

Differential Contributions of Nucleus Accumbens Subregions to Cue-Guided Risk/Reward Decision Making and Implementation of Conditional Rules.

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Floresco, Stan B; Montes, David R; Tse, Maric M T; van Holstein, Mieke

2018-02-21

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a key node within corticolimbic circuitry for guiding action selection and cost/benefit decision making in situations involving reward uncertainty. Preclinical studies have typically assessed risk/reward decision making using assays where decisions are guided by internally generated representations of choice-outcome contingencies. Yet, real-life decisions are often influenced by external stimuli that inform about likelihoods of obtaining rewards. How different subregions of the NAc mediate decision making in such situations is unclear. Here, we used a novel assay colloquially termed the "Blackjack" task that models these types of situations. Male Long-Evans rats were trained to choose between one lever that always delivered a one-pellet reward and another that delivered four pellets with different probabilities [either 50% (good-odds) or 12.5% (poor-odds)], which were signaled by one of two auditory cues. Under control conditions, rats selected the large/risky option more often on good-odds versus poor-odds trials. Inactivation of the NAc core caused indiscriminate choice patterns. In contrast, NAc shell inactivation increased risky choice, more prominently on poor-odds trials. Additional experiments revealed that both subregions contribute to auditory conditional discrimination. NAc core or shell inactivation reduced Pavlovian approach elicited by an auditory CS+, yet shell inactivation also increased responding during presentation of a CS-. These data highlight distinct contributions for NAc subregions in decision making and reward seeking guided by discriminative stimuli. The core is crucial for implementation of conditional rules, whereas the shell refines reward seeking by mitigating the allure of larger, unlikely rewards and reducing expression of inappropriate or non-rewarded actions. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using external cues to guide decision making is crucial for adaptive behavior. Deficits in cue-guided behavior have been

Perceptual stimulus-A Bayesian-based integration of multi-visual-cue approach and its application

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

XUE JianRu; ZHENG NanNing; ZHONG XiaoPin; PING LinJiang

2008-01-01

With the view that visual cue could be taken as a kind of stimulus, the study of the mechanism in the visual perception process by using visual cues in their probabilistic representation eventually leads to a class of statistical integration of multiple visual cues (IMVC) methods which have been applied widely in perceptual grouping, video analysis, and other basic problems in computer vision. In this paper, a survey on the basic ideas and recent advances of IMVC methods is presented, and much focus is on the models and algorithms of IMVC for video analysis within the framework of Bayesian estimation. Furthermore, two typical problems in video analysis, robust visual tracking and "switching problem" in multi-target tracking (MTT) are taken as test beds to verify a series of Bayesian-based IMVC methods proposed by the authors. Furthermore, the relations between the statistical IMVC and the visual per-ception process, as well as potential future research work for IMVC, are discussed.

Integrating cues of social interest and voice pitch in men's preferences for women's voices.

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Jones, Benedict C; Feinberg, David R; Debruine, Lisa M; Little, Anthony C; Vukovic, Jovana

2008-04-23

Most previous studies of vocal attractiveness have focused on preferences for physical characteristics of voices such as pitch. Here we examine the content of vocalizations in interaction with such physical traits, finding that vocal cues of social interest modulate the strength of men's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices. Men showed stronger preferences for raised pitch when judging the voices of women who appeared interested in the listener than when judging the voices of women who appeared relatively disinterested in the listener. These findings show that voice preferences are not determined solely by physical properties of voices and that men integrate information about voice pitch and the degree of social interest expressed by women when forming voice preferences. Women's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices were not modulated by cues of social interest, suggesting that the integration of cues of social interest and voice pitch when men judge the attractiveness of women's voices may reflect adaptations that promote efficient allocation of men's mating effort.

Neural response to alcohol taste cues in youth : Effects of the OPRM1 gene

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Korucuoglu, Ozlem; Gladwin, Thomas E.; Baas, Frank; Mocking, Roel J. T.; Ruhé, Henricus G.; Groot, Paul F. C.; Wiers, Reinout W.

2017-01-01

Genetic variations in the mu-opioid receptor (OPRM1) gene have been related to high sensitivity to rewarding effects of alcohol. The current study focuses on the neural circuitry underlying this phenomenon using an alcohol versus water taste-cue reactivity paradigm in a young sample at relatively

Neural response to alcohol taste cues in youth : effects of the OPRM1 gene

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Korucuoglu, O.; Gladwin, T.E.; Baas, F.; Mocking, R.J.T.; Ruhé, H.G.; Groot, P.F.C.; Wiers, R.W.

2017-01-01

Genetic variations in the mu-opioid receptor (OPRM1) gene have been related to high sensitivity to rewarding effects of alcohol. The current study focuses on the neural circuitry underlying this phenomenon using an alcohol versus water taste-cue reactivity paradigm in a young sample at relatively

Part-set cueing impairment & facilitation in semantic memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Matthew R; Parihar, Sushmeena A

2018-01-19

The present study explored the influence of part-set cues in semantic memory using tests of "free" recall, reconstruction of order, and serial recall. Nine distinct categories of information were used (e.g., Zodiac signs, Harry Potter books, Star Wars films, planets). The results showed part-set cueing impairment for all three "free" recall sets, whereas part-set cueing facilitation was evident for five of the six ordered sets. Generally, the present results parallel those often observed across episodic tasks, which could indicate that similar mechanisms contribute to part-set cueing effects in both episodic and semantic memory. A novel anchoring explanation of part-set cueing facilitation in order and spatial tasks is provided.

Use of explicit memory cues following parietal lobe lesions.

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Dobbins, Ian G; Jaeger, Antonio; Studer, Bettina; Simons, Jon S

2012-11-01

The putative role of the lateral parietal lobe in episodic memory has recently become a topic of considerable debate, owing primarily to its consistent activation for studied materials during functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of recognition. Here we examined the performance of patients with parietal lobe lesions using an explicit memory cueing task in which probabilistic cues ("Likely Old" or "Likely New"; 75% validity) preceded the majority of verbal recognition memory probes. Without cues, patients and control participants did not differ in accuracy. However, group differences emerged during the "Likely New" cue condition with controls responding more accurately than parietal patients when these cues were valid (preceding new materials) and trending towards less accuracy when these cues were invalid (preceding old materials). Both effects suggest insufficient integration of external cues into memory judgments on the part of the parietal patients whose cued performance largely resembled performance in the complete absence of cues. Comparison of the parietal patients to a patient group with frontal lobe lesions suggested the pattern was specific to parietal and adjacent area lesions. Overall, the data indicate that parietal lobe patients fail to appropriately incorporate external cues of novelty into recognition attributions. This finding supports a role for the lateral parietal lobe in the adaptive biasing of memory judgments through the integration of external cues and internal memory evidence. We outline the importance of such adaptive biasing through consideration of basic signal detection predictions regarding maximum possible accuracy with and without informative environmental cues. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decreasing Inappropriate Use of Mobile Devices in Urban High School Classrooms: Comparing an Antecedent Intervention With and Without the Good Behavior Game.

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Hernan, Colleen J; Collins, Tai A; Morrison, Julie Q; Kroeger, Stephen D

2018-03-01

As the capabilities of portable technology continue to advance and become more accessible, educators express concern about the impact of the inappropriate use of mobile devices on academic engagement and learning. An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness of an antecedent (Clear Box) intervention and an interdependent group contingency (Clear Box + Good Behavior Game [GBG]) intervention to typical classroom management techniques (Control) in increasing the academic engagement and decreasing mobile device use of high school students during instruction. The results indicate an increase in academic engagement and a decrease in the inappropriate presence of mobile devices in both classrooms with the implementation of the Clear Box + GBG, as compared with the Clear Box and Control conditions. In addition, teacher and student social validity data suggested that teachers and students viewed the Clear Box + GBG intervention favorably. Discussion focuses on contributions to the current literature, implications for practice, and suggestions for future areas of research.

Quetiapine effective in treatment of inappropriate sexual behavior of lewy body disease with predominant frontal lobe signs.

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Prakash, Ravi; Pathak, Amit; Munda, Sanjay; Bagati, Dhruv

2009-01-01

Dementia of Lewy body disease is the second most common degenerative cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease, among all the dementias. The core features are a progressive dementia, fluctuations in cognitive functions, visual hallucinations, and spontaneous parkinsonism. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, severe neuroleptic sensitivity, and low dopamine transporter uptake in basal ganglia are other suggestive features. Behavioral abnormalities are commonly present in the form of aggressive behavior, irritability, and uninhibited behaviors. These are mostly seen in the advanced stages of dementia. However, inappropriate sexual behavior is uncommonly seen in such cases. Three types of inappropriate sexual behaviors commonly found in cases of dementia are sex talks, sexual acts, and implied sexual acts. Such inappropriate sexual behaviors have not been described adequately in dementia of Lewy body disease. We report inappropriate sexual behaviors in a case of dementia of Lewy body disease, which improved rapidly after treatment with quetiapine.

Dominance dynamics of competition between intrinsic and extrinsic grouping cues.

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Luna, Dolores; Villalba-García, Cristina; Montoro, Pedro R; Hinojosa, José A

2016-10-01

In the present study we examined the dominance dynamics of perceptual grouping cues. We used a paradigm in which participants selectively attended to perceptual groups based on several grouping cues in different blocks of trials. In each block, single and competing grouping cues were presented under different exposure durations (50, 150 or 350ms). Using this procedure, intrinsic vs. intrinsic cues (i.e. proximity and shape similarity) were compared in Experiment 1; extrinsic vs. extrinsic cues (i.e. common region and connectedness) in Experiment 2; and intrinsic vs. extrinsic cues (i.e. common region and shape similarity) in Experiment 3. The results showed that in Experiment 1, no dominance of any grouping cue was found: shape similarity and proximity grouping cues showed similar reaction times (RTs) and interference effects. In contrast, in Experiments 2 and 3, common region dominated processing: (i) RTs to common region were shorter than those to connectedness (Exp. 2) or shape similarity (Exp. 3); and (ii) when the grouping cues competed, common region interfered with connectedness (Exp. 2) and shape similarity (Exp. 3) more than vice versa. The results showed that the exposure duration of stimuli only affected the connectedness grouping cue. An important result of our experiments indicates that when two grouping cues compete, both the non-attended intrinsic cue in Experiment 1, and the non-dominant extrinsic cue in Experiments 2 and 3, are still perceived and they are not completely lost. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Endogenous cueing attenuates object substitution masking.

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Germeys, Filip; Pomianowska, I; De Graef, P; Zaenen, P; Verfaillie, K

2010-07-01

Object substitution masking (OSM) is a form of visual masking in which a briefly presented target surrounded by four small dots is masked by the continuing presence of the four dots after target offset. A major parameter in the prediction of OSM is the time required for attention to be directed to the target following its onset. Object substitution theory (Di Lollo et al. in J Exp Psychol Gen 129:481-507, 2000) predicts that the sooner attention can be focused at the target's location, the less masking will ensue. However, recently Luiga and Bachmann (Psychol Res 71:634-640, 2007) presented evidence that precueing of attention to the target location prior to target-plus-mask onset by means of a central (endogenous) arrow cue does not reduce OSM. When attention was cued exogenously, OSM was attenuated. Based on these results, Luiga and Bachmann argued that object substitution theory should be adapted by differentiating the ways of directing attention to the target location. The goal of the present study was to further examine the dissociation between the effects of endogenous and exogenous precueing on OSM. Contrary to Luiga and Bachmann, our results show that prior shifts of attention to the target location initiated by both exogenous and endogenous cues reduce OSM as predicted by object substitution theory and its computational model CMOS.

Assessment of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing among a large cohort of general dentists in the United States.

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Durkin, Michael J; Feng, Qianxi; Warren, Kyle; Lockhart, Peter B; Thornhill, Martin H; Munshi, Kiraat D; Henderson, Rochelle R; Hsueh, Kevin; Fraser, Victoria J

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study was to assess dental antibiotic prescribing trends over time, to quantify the number and types of antibiotics dentists prescribe inappropriately, and to estimate the excess health care costs of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing with the use of a large cohort of general dentists in the United States. We used a quasi-Poisson regression model to analyze antibiotic prescriptions trends by general dentists between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015, with the use of data from Express Scripts Holding Company, a large pharmacy benefits manager. We evaluated antibiotic duration and appropriateness for general dentists. Appropriateness was evaluated by reviewing the antibiotic prescribed and the duration of the prescription. Overall, the number and rate of antibiotic prescriptions prescribed by general dentists remained stable in our cohort. During the 3-year study period, approximately 14% of antibiotic prescriptions were deemed inappropriate, based on the antibiotic prescribed, antibiotic treatment duration, or both indicators. The quasi-Poisson regression model, which adjusted for number of beneficiaries covered, revealed a small but statistically significant decrease in the monthly rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions by 0.32% (95% confidence interval, 0.14% to 0.50%; P = .001). Overall antibiotic prescribing practices among general dentists in this cohort remained stable over time. The rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions by general dentists decreased slightly over time. From these authors' definition of appropriate antibiotic prescription choice and duration, inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions are common (14% of all antibiotic prescriptions) among general dentists. Further analyses with the use of chart review, administrative data sets, or other approaches are needed to better evaluate antibiotic prescribing practices among dentists. Copyright © 2018 American Dental Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All

The influence of social and symbolic cues on observers' gaze behaviour.

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Hermens, Frouke; Walker, Robin

2016-08-01

Research has shown that social and symbolic cues presented in isolation and at fixation have strong effects on observers, but it is unclear how cues compare when they are presented away from fixation and embedded in natural scenes. We here compare the effects of two types of social cue (gaze and pointing gestures) and one type of symbolic cue (arrow signs) on eye movements of observers under two viewing conditions (free viewing vs. a memory task). The results suggest that social cues are looked at more quickly, for longer and more frequently than the symbolic arrow cues. An analysis of saccades initiated from the cue suggests that the pointing cue leads to stronger cueing than the gaze and the arrow cue. While the task had only a weak influence on gaze orienting to the cues, stronger cue following was found for free viewing compared to the memory task. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Cues for haptic perception of compliance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bergmann Tiest, W.M.; Kappers, A.M.L.

2009-01-01

For the perception of the hardness of compliant materials, several cues are available. In this paper, the relative roles of force/displacement and surface deformation cues are investigated. We have measured discrimination thresholds with silicone rubber stimuli of differing thickness and compliance.

Impact of carvedilol and metoprolol on inappropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruwald, Martin H; Abu-Zeitone, Abeer; Jons, Christian

2013-01-01

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of carvedilol and metoprolol on the endpoint of inappropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy in the MADIT-CRT (Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation With Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) study....

Development of the sound localization cues in cats

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Tollin, Daniel J.

2004-05-01

Cats are a common model for developmental studies of the psychophysical and physiological mechanisms of sound localization. Yet, there are few studies on the development of the acoustical cues to location in cats. The magnitude of the three main cues, interaural differences in time (ITDs) and level (ILDs), and monaural spectral shape cues, vary with location in adults. However, the increasing interaural distance associated with a growing head and pinnae during development will result in cues that change continuously until maturation is complete. Here, we report measurements, in cats aged 1 week to adulthood, of the physical dimensions of the head and pinnae and the localization cues, computed from measurements of directional transfer functions. At 1 week, ILD depended little on azimuth for frequencies 10 dB) shift to lower frequencies, and the maximum ITD increases to nearly 370 μs. Changes in the cues are correlated with the increasing size of the head and pinnae. [Work supported by NIDCD DC05122.

Meninges-derived cues control axon guidance.

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Suter, Tracey A C S; DeLoughery, Zachary J; Jaworski, Alexander

2017-10-01

The axons of developing neurons travel long distances along stereotyped pathways under the direction of extracellular cues sensed by the axonal growth cone. Guidance cues are either secreted proteins that diffuse freely or bind the extracellular matrix, or membrane-anchored proteins. Different populations of axons express distinct sets of receptors for guidance cues, which results in differential responses to specific ligands. The full repertoire of axon guidance cues and receptors and the identity of the tissues producing these cues remain to be elucidated. The meninges are connective tissue layers enveloping the vertebrate brain and spinal cord that serve to protect the central nervous system (CNS). The meninges also instruct nervous system development by regulating the generation and migration of neural progenitors, but it has not been determined whether they help guide axons to their targets. Here, we investigate a possible role for the meninges in neuronal wiring. Using mouse neural tissue explants, we show that developing spinal cord meninges produce secreted attractive and repulsive cues that can guide multiple types of axons in vitro. We find that motor and sensory neurons, which project axons across the CNS-peripheral nervous system (PNS) boundary, are attracted by meninges. Conversely, axons of both ipsi- and contralaterally projecting dorsal spinal cord interneurons are repelled by meninges. The responses of these axonal populations to the meninges are consistent with their trajectories relative to meninges in vivo, suggesting that meningeal guidance factors contribute to nervous system wiring and control which axons are able to traverse the CNS-PNS boundary. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acupuncture inhibits cue-induced heroin craving and brain activation.

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Cai, Xinghui; Song, Xiaoge; Li, Chuanfu; Xu, Chunsheng; Li, Xiliang; Lu, Qi

2012-11-25

Previous research using functional MRI has shown that specific brain regions associated with drug dependence and cue-elicited heroin craving are activated by environmental cues. Craving is an important trigger of heroin relapse, and acupuncture may inhibit craving. In this study, we performed functional MRI in heroin addicts and control subjects. We compared differences in brain activation between the two groups during heroin cue exposure, heroin cue exposure plus acupuncture at the Zusanli point (ST36) without twirling of the needle, and heroin cue exposure plus acupuncture at the Zusanli point with twirling of the needle. Heroin cue exposure elicited significant activation in craving-related brain regions mainly in the frontal lobes and callosal gyri. Acupuncture without twirling did not significantly affect the range of brain activation induced by heroin cue exposure, but significantly changed the extent of the activation in the heroin addicts group. Acupuncture at the Zusanli point with twirling of the needle significantly decreased both the range and extent of activation induced by heroin cue exposure compared with heroin cue exposure plus acupuncture without twirling of the needle. These experimental findings indicate that presentation of heroin cues can induce activation in craving-related brain regions, which are involved in reward, learning and memory, cognition and emotion. Acupuncture at the Zusanli point can rapidly suppress the activation of specific brain regions related to craving, supporting its potential as an intervention for drug craving.

Conditioned responses elicited by experimentally produced cues for smoking.

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Mucha, R F; Pauli, P; Angrilli, A

1998-03-01

Several theories of drug-craving postulate that a signal for drug elicits conditioned responses. However, depending on the theory, a drug cue is said to elicit drug similar, drug compensatory, positive motivational, and negative motivational effects. Since animal data alone cannot tease apart the relative importance of different cue-related processes in the addict, we developed and examined a model of drug cues in the human based on a two-sound, differential conditioning procedure using smoking as the reinforcer. After multiple pairings of a sound with smoking, there was a preference for the smoking cue on a conditioned preference test. The acute effects of smoking (increased heart rate, respiration rate, skin conductance level, skin conductance fluctuations, EEG beta power and trapezius EMG, decreased alpha power) were not affected by the smoking cue, although subjects drew more on their cigarette in the presence of the smoking cue than in the presence of a control cue. Moreover, the cue did not change baseline behaviour except for a possible increase in EEG beta power and an increase in trapezius EMG at about the time when smoking should have occurred. The findings confirm the value of experimental models of drug cues in the human for comparing different cue phenomena in the dependent individual. They indicate that an acquired signal for drug in the human may elicit incentive motivational effects and associated preparatory motor responses in addition to possible conditioned tolerance.

Dementia and inappropriate sexual behavior: What we know and what we need to know

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josep Fabà

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, there has been no place for sexuality in older age. However, research has shown that sexuality plays an important role in older people’s life, even in situations such as dementia. The goal of the article is to review the scientific literature regarding the inappropriate sexual behavior that these kind of patients might present. In order to do so, we will firstly address the definition of inappropriate sexual behavior or, more precisely, its multiple definitions. After that, we will deal with other issues such as its prevalence, factors that can cause its appearance, its consequences and some of the available therapeutic options. Finally, in the last section some recommendations for future research will be provided, such as the need to clarify the concept of inappropriate sexual behavior, to find more efficient ways to address this problem, and the desirability of considering sexuality as a human dimension with a high potential for adaptation in old age.

Estimating location without external cues.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allen Cheung

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The ability to determine one's location is fundamental to spatial navigation. Here, it is shown that localization is theoretically possible without the use of external cues, and without knowledge of initial position or orientation. With only error-prone self-motion estimates as input, a fully disoriented agent can, in principle, determine its location in familiar spaces with 1-fold rotational symmetry. Surprisingly, localization does not require the sensing of any external cue, including the boundary. The combination of self-motion estimates and an internal map of the arena provide enough information for localization. This stands in conflict with the supposition that 2D arenas are analogous to open fields. Using a rodent error model, it is shown that the localization performance which can be achieved is enough to initiate and maintain stable firing patterns like those of grid cells, starting from full disorientation. Successful localization was achieved when the rotational asymmetry was due to the external boundary, an interior barrier or a void space within an arena. Optimal localization performance was found to depend on arena shape, arena size, local and global rotational asymmetry, and the structure of the path taken during localization. Since allothetic cues including visual and boundary contact cues were not present, localization necessarily relied on the fusion of idiothetic self-motion cues and memory of the boundary. Implications for spatial navigation mechanisms are discussed, including possible relationships with place field overdispersion and hippocampal reverse replay. Based on these results, experiments are suggested to identify if and where information fusion occurs in the mammalian spatial memory system.

What You Don't Notice Can Harm You: Age-Related Differences in Detecting Concurrent Visual, Auditory, and Tactile Cues.

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Pitts, Brandon J; Sarter, Nadine

2018-06-01

Objective This research sought to determine whether people can perceive and process three nonredundant (and unrelated) signals in vision, hearing, and touch at the same time and how aging and concurrent task demands affect this ability. Background Multimodal displays have been shown to improve multitasking and attention management; however, their potential limitations are not well understood. The majority of studies on multimodal information presentation have focused on the processing of only two concurrent and, most often, redundant cues by younger participants. Method Two experiments were conducted in which younger and older adults detected and responded to a series of singles, pairs, and triplets of visual, auditory, and tactile cues in the absence (Experiment 1) and presence (Experiment 2) of an ongoing simulated driving task. Detection rates, response times, and driving task performance were measured. Results Compared to younger participants, older adults showed longer response times and higher error rates in response to cues/cue combinations. Older participants often missed the tactile cue when three cues were combined. They sometimes falsely reported the presence of a visual cue when presented with a pair of auditory and tactile signals. Driving performance suffered most in the presence of cue triplets. Conclusion People are more likely to miss information if more than two concurrent nonredundant signals are presented to different sensory channels. Application The findings from this work help inform the design of multimodal displays and ensure their usefulness across different age groups and in various application domains.

Evaluation of multimodal ground cues

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordahl, Rolf; Lecuyer, Anatole; Serafin, Stefania

2012-01-01

This chapter presents an array of results on the perception of ground surfaces via multiple sensory modalities,with special attention to non visual perceptual cues, notably those arising from audition and haptics, as well as interactions between them. It also reviews approaches to combining...... synthetic multimodal cues, from vision, haptics, and audition, in order to realize virtual experiences of walking on simulated ground surfaces or other features....

Scene-Based Contextual Cueing in Pigeons

Science.gov (United States)

Wasserman, Edward A.; Teng, Yuejia; Brooks, Daniel I.

2014-01-01

Repeated pairings of a particular visual context with a specific location of a target stimulus facilitate target search in humans. We explored an animal model of such contextual cueing. Pigeons had to peck a target which could appear in one of four locations on color photographs of real-world scenes. On half of the trials, each of four scenes was consistently paired with one of four possible target locations; on the other half of the trials, each of four different scenes was randomly paired with the same four possible target locations. In Experiments 1 and 2, pigeons exhibited robust contextual cueing when the context preceded the target by 1 s to 8 s, with reaction times to the target being shorter on predictive-scene trials than on random-scene trials. Pigeons also responded more frequently during the delay on predictive-scene trials than on random-scene trials; indeed, during the delay on predictive-scene trials, pigeons predominately pecked toward the location of the upcoming target, suggesting that attentional guidance contributes to contextual cueing. In Experiment 3, involving left-right and top-bottom scene reversals, pigeons exhibited stronger control by global than by local scene cues. These results attest to the robustness and associative basis of contextual cueing in pigeons. PMID:25546098

Gait parameter control timing with dynamic manual contact or visual cues

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Shi, Peter; Werner, William

2016-01-01

We investigated the timing of gait parameter changes (stride length, peak toe velocity, and double-, single-support, and complete step duration) to control gait speed. Eleven healthy participants adjusted their gait speed on a treadmill to maintain a constant distance between them and a fore-aft oscillating cue (a place on a conveyor belt surface). The experimental design balanced conditions of cue modality (vision: eyes-open; manual contact: eyes-closed while touching the cue); treadmill speed (0.2, 0.4, 0.85, and 1.3 m/s); and cue motion (none, ±10 cm at 0.09, 0.11, and 0.18 Hz). Correlation analyses revealed a number of temporal relationships between gait parameters and cue speed. The results suggest that neural control ranged from feedforward to feedback. Specifically, step length preceded cue velocity during double-support duration suggesting anticipatory control. Peak toe velocity nearly coincided with its most-correlated cue velocity during single-support duration. The toe-off concluding step and double-support durations followed their most-correlated cue velocity, suggesting feedback control. Cue-tracking accuracy and cue velocity correlations with timing parameters were higher with the manual contact cue than visual cue. The cue/gait timing relationships generalized across cue modalities, albeit with greater delays of step-cycle events relative to manual contact cue velocity. We conclude that individual kinematic parameters of gait are controlled to achieve a desired velocity at different specific times during the gait cycle. The overall timing pattern of instantaneous cue velocities associated with different gait parameters is conserved across cues that afford different performance accuracies. This timing pattern may be temporally shifted to optimize control. Different cue/gait parameter latencies in our nonadaptation paradigm provide general-case evidence of the independent control of gait parameters previously demonstrated in gait adaptation paradigms

Gait parameter control timing with dynamic manual contact or visual cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabin, Ely; Shi, Peter; Werner, William

2016-06-01

We investigated the timing of gait parameter changes (stride length, peak toe velocity, and double-, single-support, and complete step duration) to control gait speed. Eleven healthy participants adjusted their gait speed on a treadmill to maintain a constant distance between them and a fore-aft oscillating cue (a place on a conveyor belt surface). The experimental design balanced conditions of cue modality (vision: eyes-open; manual contact: eyes-closed while touching the cue); treadmill speed (0.2, 0.4, 0.85, and 1.3 m/s); and cue motion (none, ±10 cm at 0.09, 0.11, and 0.18 Hz). Correlation analyses revealed a number of temporal relationships between gait parameters and cue speed. The results suggest that neural control ranged from feedforward to feedback. Specifically, step length preceded cue velocity during double-support duration suggesting anticipatory control. Peak toe velocity nearly coincided with its most-correlated cue velocity during single-support duration. The toe-off concluding step and double-support durations followed their most-correlated cue velocity, suggesting feedback control. Cue-tracking accuracy and cue velocity correlations with timing parameters were higher with the manual contact cue than visual cue. The cue/gait timing relationships generalized across cue modalities, albeit with greater delays of step-cycle events relative to manual contact cue velocity. We conclude that individual kinematic parameters of gait are controlled to achieve a desired velocity at different specific times during the gait cycle. The overall timing pattern of instantaneous cue velocities associated with different gait parameters is conserved across cues that afford different performance accuracies. This timing pattern may be temporally shifted to optimize control. Different cue/gait parameter latencies in our nonadaptation paradigm provide general-case evidence of the independent control of gait parameters previously demonstrated in gait adaptation paradigms

Lonely adolescents exhibit heightened sensitivity for facial cues of emotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanhalst, Janne; Gibb, Brandon E; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2017-02-01

Contradicting evidence exists regarding the link between loneliness and sensitivity to facial cues of emotion, as loneliness has been related to better but also to worse performance on facial emotion recognition tasks. This study aims to contribute to this debate and extends previous work by (a) focusing on both accuracy and sensitivity to detecting positive and negative expressions, (b) controlling for depressive symptoms and social anxiety, and (c) using an advanced emotion recognition task with videos of neutral adolescent faces gradually morphing into full-intensity expressions. Participants were 170 adolescents (49% boys; M age  = 13.65 years) from rural, low-income schools. Results showed that loneliness was associated with increased sensitivity to happy, sad, and fear faces. When controlling for depressive symptoms and social anxiety, loneliness remained significantly associated with sensitivity to sad and fear faces. Together, these results suggest that lonely adolescents are vigilant to negative facial cues of emotion.

Effectiveness of self-generated cues in early Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipinska, B; Bäckman, L; Mäntylä, T; Viitanen, M

1994-12-01

The ability to utilize cognitive support in the form of self-generated cues in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the factors promoting efficient cue utilization in this group of patients, were examined in two experiments on memory for words. Results from both experiments showed that normal old adults as well as AD patients performed better with self-generated cues than with experimenter-provided cues, although the latter type of cues resulted in gains relative to free recall. The findings indicate no qualitative differences in patterns of performance between the normal old and the AD patients. For both groups of subjects, cue effectiveness was optimized when (a) there was self-generation activity at encoding, and (b) encoding and retrieval conditions were compatible.

Stimulus-driven attentional capture by subliminal onset cues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schoeberl, T.; Fuchs, I.; Theeuwes, J.; Ansorge, U.

2015-01-01

In two experiments, we tested whether subliminal abrupt onset cues capture attention in a stimulus-driven way. An onset cue was presented 16 ms prior to the stimulus display that consisted of clearly visible color targets. The onset cue was presented either at the same side as the target (the valid

Boosting Vocabulary Learning by Verbal Cueing During Sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Schreiner, Thomas; Rasch, Björn

2015-11-01

Reactivating memories during sleep by re-exposure to associated memory cues (e.g., odors or sounds) improves memory consolidation. Here, we tested for the first time whether verbal cueing during sleep can improve vocabulary learning. We cued prior learned Dutch words either during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NonREM) or during active or passive waking. Re-exposure to Dutch words during sleep improved later memory for the German translation of the cued words when compared with uncued words. Recall of uncued words was similar to an additional group receiving no verbal cues during sleep. Furthermore, verbal cueing failed to improve memory during active and passive waking. High-density electroencephalographic recordings revealed that successful verbal cueing during NonREM sleep is associated with a pronounced frontal negativity in event-related potentials, a higher frequency of frontal slow waves as well as a cueing-related increase in right frontal and left parietal oscillatory theta power. Our results indicate that verbal cues presented during NonREM sleep reactivate associated memories, and facilitate later recall of foreign vocabulary without impairing ongoing consolidation processes. Likewise, our oscillatory analysis suggests that both sleep-specific slow waves as well as theta oscillations (typically associated with successful memory encoding during wakefulness) might be involved in strengthening memories by cueing during sleep. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The development of prospective memory in young schoolchildren: the impact of ongoing task absorption, cue salience, and cue centrality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kliegel, Matthias; Mahy, Caitlin E V; Voigt, Babett; Henry, Julie D; Rendell, Peter G; Aberle, Ingo

2013-12-01

This study presents evidence that 9- and 10-year-old children outperform 6- and 7-year-old children on a measure of event-based prospective memory and that retrieval-based factors systematically influence performance and age differences. All experiments revealed significant age effects in prospective memory even after controlling for ongoing task performance. In addition, the provision of a less absorbing ongoing task (Experiment 1), higher cue salience (Experiment 2), and cues appearing in the center of attention (Experiment 3) were each associated with better performance. Of particular developmental importance was an age by cue centrality (in or outside of the center of attention) interaction that emerged in Experiment 3. Thus, age effects were restricted to prospective memory cues appearing outside of the center of attention, suggesting that the development of prospective memory across early school years may be modulated by whether a cue requires overt monitoring beyond the immediate attentional context. Because whether a cue is in or outside of the center of attention might determine the amount of executive control needed in a prospective memory task, findings suggest that developing executive control resources may drive prospective memory development across primary school age. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automatic focusing of attention on object size and shape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cesar Galera

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In two experiments we investigated the automatic adjusting of the attentional focus to simple geometric shapes. The participants performed a visual search task with four stimuli (the target and three distractors presented always around the fixation point, inside an outlined frame not related to the search task. A cue informed the subject only about the possible size and shape of the frame, not about the target. The results of the first experiment showed faster target detection in the valid cue trials, suggesting that attention was captured automatically by the cue shape. In the second experiment, we introduced a flanker stimulus (compatible or incompatible with the target in order to determine if attentional resources spread homogenously inside and outside the frame. The results showed that performance depended both on cue validity and frame orientation. The flanker effect was dependent on compatibility and flanker position (vertical or horizontal meridian. The results of both experiments suggest that the form of an irrelevant object can capture attention despite participants’ intention and the results of the second experiment suggest that the attentional resources are more concentrated along the horizontal meridian.

The frequency of agitation due to inappropriate use of naltrexone in addicts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sima Siadat

2014-01-01

Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of agitation in the poisoning emergency department due to inappropriate use of naltrexone, more accurate planning for administration of naltrexone in addicts seems necessary.

Auditory Emotional Cues Enhance Visual Perception

Science.gov (United States)

Zeelenberg, Rene; Bocanegra, Bruno R.

2010-01-01

Recent studies show that emotional stimuli impair performance to subsequently presented neutral stimuli. Here we show a cross-modal perceptual enhancement caused by emotional cues. Auditory cue words were followed by a visually presented neutral target word. Two-alternative forced-choice identification of the visual target was improved by…

Contextual Cueing Effects across the Lifespan

Science.gov (United States)

Merrill, Edward C.; Conners, Frances A.; Roskos, Beverly; Klinger, Mark R.; Klinger, Laura Grofer

2013-01-01

The authors evaluated age-related variations in contextual cueing, which reflects the extent to which visuospatial regularities can facilitate search for a target. Previous research produced inconsistent results regarding contextual cueing effects in young children and in older adults, and no study has investigated the phenomenon across the life…

Reminder cues modulate the renewal effect in human predictive learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Bustamante

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Associative learning refers to our ability to learn about regularities in our environment. When a stimulus is repeatedly followed by a specific outcome, we learn to expect the outcome in the presence of the stimulus. We are also able to modify established expectations in the face of disconfirming information (the stimulus is no longer followed by the outcome. Both the change of environmental regularities and the related processes of adaptation are referred to as extinction. However, extinction does not erase the initially acquired expectations. For instance, following successful extinction, the initially learned expectations can recover when there is a context change – a phenomenon called the renewal effect, which is considered as a model for relapse after exposure therapy. Renewal was found to be modulated by reminder cues of acquisition and extinction. However, the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of reminder cues are not well understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of reminder cues on renewal in the field of human predictive learning. Experiment I demonstrated that renewal in human predictive learning is modulated by cues related to acquisition or extinction. Initially, participants received pairings of a stimulus and an outcome in one context. These stimulus-outcome pairings were preceded by presentations of a reminder cue (acquisition cue. Then, participants received extinction in a different context in which presentations of the stimulus were no longer followed by the outcome. These extinction trials were preceded by a second reminder cue (extinction cue. During a final phase conducted in a third context, participants showed stronger expectations of the outcome in the presence of the stimulus when testing was accompanied by the acquisition cue compared to the extinction cue. Experiment II tested an explanation of the reminder cue effect in terms of simple cue-outcome associations. Therefore

Blood cues induce antipredator behavior in Nile tilapia conspecifics.

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Rodrigo Egydio Barreto

Full Text Available In this study, we show that the fish Nile tilapia displays an antipredator response to chemical cues present in the blood of conspecifics. This is the first report of alarm response induced by blood-borne chemical cues in fish. There is a body of evidence showing that chemical cues from epidermal 'club' cells elicit an alarm reaction in fish. However, the chemical cues of these 'club' cells are restricted to certain species of fish. Thus, as a parsimonious explanation, we assume that an alarm response to blood cues is a generalized response among animals because it occurs in mammals, birds and protostomian animals. Moreover, our results suggest that researchers must use caution when studying chemically induced alarm reactions because it is difficult to separate club cell cues from traces of blood.

Flexible spatial perspective-taking: Conversational partners weigh multiple cues in collaborative tasks

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Alexia eGalati

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Research on spatial perspective-taking often focuses on the cognitive processes of isolated individuals as they adopt or maintain imagined perspectives. Collaborative studies of spatial perspective-taking typically examine speakers’ linguistic choices, while overlooking their underlying processes and representations. We review evidence from two collaborative experiments that examine the contribution of social and representational cues to spatial perspective choices in both language and the organization of spatial memory. Across experiments, speakers organized their memory representations according to the convergence of various cues. When layouts were randomly configured and did not afford intrinsic cues, speakers encoded their partner’s viewpoint in memory, if available, but did not use it as an organizing direction. On the other hand, when the layout afforded an intrinsic structure, speakers organized their spatial memories according to the person-centered perspective reinforced by the layout’s structure. Similarly, in descriptions, speakers considered multiple cues whether available a priori or at the interaction. They used partner-centered expressions more frequently (e.g., to your right when the partner’s viewpoint was misaligned by a small offset or coincided with the layout’s structure. Conversely, they used egocentric expressions more frequently when their own viewpoint coincided with the intrinsic structure or when the partner was misaligned by a computationally difficult, oblique offset. Based on these findings we advocate for a framework for flexible perspective-taking: people weigh multiple cues (including social ones to make attributions about the relative difficulty of perspective-taking for each partner, and adapt behavior to minimize their collective effort. This framework is not specialized for spatial reasoning but instead emerges from the same principles and memory-depended processes that govern perspective-taking in

Transfer of memory retrieval cues in rats.

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Briggs, James F; Fitz, Kelly I; Riccio, David C

2007-06-01

Two experiments using rats were conducted to determine whether the retrieval of a memory could be brought under the control of new contextual cues that had not been present at the time of training. In Experiment 1, rats were trained in one context and then exposed to different contextual cues immediately, 60 min, or 120 min after training. When tested in the shifted context, rats that had been exposed shortly after training treated the shifted context as if it were the original context. The control that the previously neutral context had over retrieval disappeared with longer posttraining delays, suggesting the importance of an active memory representation during exposure. Experiment 2 replicated the basic finding and demonstrated that the transfer of retrieval cues was specific to the contextual cues present during exposure. These findings with rats are consistent with findings from infant research (see, e.g., Boller & Rovee-Collier, 1992) that have shown that a neutral context can come to serve as a retrieval cue for an episode experienced elsewhere.

Brief Report: Reduction of Inappropriate Vocalizations for a Child with Autism Using a Self-Management Treatment Program.

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Mancina, Catherine; Tankersley, Melody; Kamps, Debra; Kravits, Tammy; Parrett, Jean

2000-01-01

A study examined the effects of a self-management program used to reduce high rates of inappropriate vocalizations (e.g., humming, tongue clucking, perseveration, and echolalic words/phases) in a 12-year-old girl with autism. When self-management was applied to inappropriate vocalizations during leisure, prevocational, and reading tasks, the…

Individualization of music-based rhythmic auditory cueing in Parkinson's disease.

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Bella, Simone Dalla; Dotov, Dobromir; Bardy, Benoît; de Cock, Valérie Cochen

2018-06-04

Gait dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease can be partly relieved by rhythmic auditory cueing. This consists in asking patients to walk with a rhythmic auditory stimulus such as a metronome or music. The effect on gait is visible immediately in terms of increased speed and stride length. Moreover, training programs based on rhythmic cueing can have long-term benefits. The effect of rhythmic cueing, however, varies from one patient to the other. Patients' response to the stimulation may depend on rhythmic abilities, often deteriorating with the disease. Relatively spared abilities to track the beat favor a positive response to rhythmic cueing. On the other hand, most patients with poor rhythmic abilities either do not respond to the cues or experience gait worsening when walking with cues. An individualized approach to rhythmic auditory cueing with music is proposed to cope with this variability in patients' response. This approach calls for using assistive mobile technologies capable of delivering cues that adapt in real time to patients' gait kinematics, thus affording step synchronization to the beat. Individualized rhythmic cueing can provide a safe and cost-effective alternative to standard cueing that patients may want to use in their everyday lives. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Augmented Reality Cues and Elderly Driver Hazard Perception

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Schall, Mark C.; Rusch, Michelle L.; Lee, John D.; Dawson, Jeffrey D.; Thomas, Geb; Aksan, Nazan; Rizzo, Matthew

2013-01-01

Objective Evaluate the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) cues in improving driving safety in elderly drivers who are at increased crash risk due to cognitive impairments. Background Cognitively challenging driving environments pose a particular crash risk for elderly drivers. AR cueing is a promising technology to mitigate risk by directing driver attention to roadway hazards. This study investigates whether AR cues improve or interfere with hazard perception in elderly drivers with age-related cognitive decline. Methods Twenty elderly (Mean= 73 years, SD= 5 years), licensed drivers with a range of cognitive abilities measured by a speed of processing (SOP) composite participated in a one-hour drive in an interactive, fixed-base driving simulator. Each participant drove through six, straight, six-mile-long rural roadway scenarios following a lead vehicle. AR cues directed attention to potential roadside hazards in three of the scenarios, and the other three were uncued (baseline) drives. Effects of AR cueing were evaluated with respect to: 1) detection of hazardous target objects, 2) interference with detecting nonhazardous secondary objects, and 3) impairment in maintaining safe distance behind a lead vehicle. Results AR cueing improved the detection of hazardous target objects of low visibility. AR cues did not interfere with detection of nonhazardous secondary objects and did not impair ability to maintain safe distance behind a lead vehicle. SOP capacity did not moderate those effects. Conclusion AR cues show promise for improving elderly driver safety by increasing hazard detection likelihood without interfering with other driving tasks such as maintaining safe headway. PMID:23829037

The semantic representation of event information depends on the cue modality: an instance of meaning-based retrieval.

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Karlsson, Kristina; Sikström, Sverker; Willander, Johan

2013-01-01

The semantic content, or the meaning, is the essence of autobiographical memories. In comparison to previous research, which has mainly focused on the phenomenological experience and the age distribution of retrieved events, the present study provides a novel view on the retrieval of event information by quantifying the information as semantic representations. We investigated the semantic representation of sensory cued autobiographical events and studied the modality hierarchy within the multimodal retrieval cues. The experiment comprised a cued recall task, where the participants were presented with visual, auditory, olfactory or multimodal retrieval cues and asked to recall autobiographical events. The results indicated that the three different unimodal retrieval cues generate significantly different semantic representations. Further, the auditory and the visual modalities contributed the most to the semantic representation of the multimodally retrieved events. Finally, the semantic representation of the multimodal condition could be described as a combination of the three unimodal conditions. In conclusion, these results suggest that the meaning of the retrieved event information depends on the modality of the retrieval cues.

The semantic representation of event information depends on the cue modality: an instance of meaning-based retrieval.

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Kristina Karlsson

Full Text Available The semantic content, or the meaning, is the essence of autobiographical memories. In comparison to previous research, which has mainly focused on the phenomenological experience and the age distribution of retrieved events, the present study provides a novel view on the retrieval of event information by quantifying the information as semantic representations. We investigated the semantic representation of sensory cued autobiographical events and studied the modality hierarchy within the multimodal retrieval cues. The experiment comprised a cued recall task, where the participants were presented with visual, auditory, olfactory or multimodal retrieval cues and asked to recall autobiographical events. The results indicated that the three different unimodal retrieval cues generate significantly different semantic representations. Further, the auditory and the visual modalities contributed the most to the semantic representation of the multimodally retrieved events. Finally, the semantic representation of the multimodal condition could be described as a combination of the three unimodal conditions. In conclusion, these results suggest that the meaning of the retrieved event information depends on the modality of the retrieval cues.

Intelligence as the efficiency of cue-driven retrieval from secondary memory.

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Liesefeld, Heinrich René; Hoffmann, Eugenia; Wentura, Dirk

2016-01-01

Complex-span (working-memory-capacity) tasks are among the most successful predictors of intelligence. One important contributor to this relationship is the ability to efficiently employ cues for the retrieval from secondary memory. Presumably, intelligent individuals can considerably restrict their memory search sets by using such cues and can thereby improve recall performance. We here test this assumption by experimentally manipulating the validity of retrieval cues. When memoranda are drawn from the same semantic category on two successive trials of a verbal complex-span task, the category is a very strong retrieval cue on its first occurrence (strong-cue trial) but loses some of its validity on its second occurrence (weak-cue trial). If intelligent individuals make better use of semantic categories as retrieval cues, their recall accuracy suffers more from this loss of cue validity. Accordingly, our results show that less variance in intelligence is explained by recall accuracy on weak-cue compared with strong-cue trials.

Using Self-Generated Cues to Facilitate Recall: A Narrative Review

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Wheeler, Rebecca L.; Gabbert, Fiona

2017-01-01

We draw upon the Associative Network model of memory, as well as the principles of encoding-retrieval specificity, and cue distinctiveness, to argue that self-generated cue mnemonics offer an intuitive means of facilitating reliable recall of personally experienced events. The use of a self-generated cue mnemonic allows for the spreading activation nature of memory, whilst also presenting an opportunity to capitalize upon cue distinctiveness. Here, we present the theoretical rationale behind the use of this technique, and highlight the distinction between a self-generated cue and a self-referent cue in autobiographical memory research. We contrast this mnemonic with a similar retrieval technique, Mental Reinstatement of Context, which is recognized as the most effective mnemonic component of the Cognitive Interview. Mental Reinstatement of Context is based upon the principle of encoding-retrieval specificity, whereby the overlap between encoded information and retrieval cue predicts the likelihood of accurate recall. However, it does not incorporate the potential additional benefit of self-generated retrieval cues. PMID:29163254

Using Self-Generated Cues to Facilitate Recall: A Narrative Review

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Rebecca L. Wheeler

2017-10-01

Full Text Available We draw upon the Associative Network model of memory, as well as the principles of encoding-retrieval specificity, and cue distinctiveness, to argue that self-generated cue mnemonics offer an intuitive means of facilitating reliable recall of personally experienced events. The use of a self-generated cue mnemonic allows for the spreading activation nature of memory, whilst also presenting an opportunity to capitalize upon cue distinctiveness. Here, we present the theoretical rationale behind the use of this technique, and highlight the distinction between a self-generated cue and a self-referent cue in autobiographical memory research. We contrast this mnemonic with a similar retrieval technique, Mental Reinstatement of Context, which is recognized as the most effective mnemonic component of the Cognitive Interview. Mental Reinstatement of Context is based upon the principle of encoding-retrieval specificity, whereby the overlap between encoded information and retrieval cue predicts the likelihood of accurate recall. However, it does not incorporate the potential additional benefit of self-generated retrieval cues.

Limits on the role of retrieval cues in memory for actions: enactment effects in the absence of object cues in the environment.

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Steffens, Melanie C; Buchner, Axel; Wender, Karl F; Decker, Claudia

2007-12-01

Verb-object phrases (open the umbrella, knock on the table) are usually remembered better if they have been enacted during study (also called subject-performed tasks) than if they have merely been learned verbally (verbal tasks). This enactment effect is particularly pronounced for phrases for which the objects (table) are present as cues in the study and test contexts. In previous studies with retrieval cues for some phrases, the enactment effect in free recall for the other phrases has been surprisingly small or even nonexistent. The present study tested whether the often replicated enactment effect in free recall can be found if none of the phrases contains context cues. In Experiment 1, we tested, and corroborated, the suppression hypothesis: The enactment effect for a given type of phrase (marker phrases) is modified by the presence or absence of cues for the other phrases in the list (experimental phrases). Experiments 2 and 3 replicated the enactment effect for phrases without cues. Experiment 2 also showed that the presence of cues either at study or at test is sufficient for obtaining a suppression effect, and Experiment 3 showed that the enactment effect may disappear altogether if retrieval cues are very salient.

The time course of attentional deployment in contextual cueing.

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Jiang, Yuhong V; Sigstad, Heather M; Swallow, Khena M

2013-04-01

The time course of attention is a major characteristic on which different types of attention diverge. In addition to explicit goals and salient stimuli, spatial attention is influenced by past experience. In contextual cueing, behaviorally relevant stimuli are more quickly found when they appear in a spatial context that has previously been encountered than when they appear in a new context. In this study, we investigated the time that it takes for contextual cueing to develop following the onset of search layout cues. In three experiments, participants searched for a T target in an array of Ls. Each array was consistently associated with a single target location. In a testing phase, we manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the repeated spatial layout and the search display. Contextual cueing was equivalent for a wide range of SOAs between 0 and 1,000 ms. The lack of an increase in contextual cueing with increasing cue durations suggests that as an implicit learning mechanism, contextual cueing cannot be effectively used until search begins.

Using multisensory cues to facilitate air traffic management.

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Ngo, Mary K; Pierce, Russell S; Spence, Charles

2012-12-01

In the present study, we sought to investigate whether auditory and tactile cuing could be used to facilitate a complex, real-world air traffic management scenario. Auditory and tactile cuing provides an effective means of improving both the speed and accuracy of participants' performance in a variety of laboratory-based visual target detection and identification tasks. A low-fidelity air traffic simulation task was used in which participants monitored and controlled aircraft.The participants had to ensure that the aircraft landed or exited at the correct altitude, speed, and direction and that they maintained a safe separation from all other aircraft and boundaries. The performance measures recorded included en route time, handoff delay, and conflict resolution delay (the performance measure of interest). In a baseline condition, the aircraft in conflict was highlighted in red (visual cue), and in the experimental conditions, this standard visual cue was accompanied by a simultaneously presented auditory, vibrotactile, or audiotactile cue. Participants responded significantly more rapidly, but no less accurately, to conflicts when presented with an additional auditory or audiotactile cue than with either a vibrotactile or visual cue alone. Auditory and audiotactile cues have the potential for improving operator performance by reducing the time it takes to detect and respond to potential visual target events. These results have important implications for the design and use of multisensory cues in air traffic management.

Floral humidity as a reliable sensory cue for profitability assessment by nectar-foraging hawkmoths.

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von Arx, Martin; Goyret, Joaquín; Davidowitz, Goggy; Raguso, Robert A

2012-06-12

Most research on plant-pollinator communication has focused on sensory and behavioral responses to relatively static cues. Floral rewards such as nectar, however, are dynamic, and foraging animals will increase their energetic profit if they can make use of floral cues that more accurately indicate nectar availability. Here we document such a cue--transient humidity gradients--using the night blooming flowers of Oenothera cespitosa (Onagraceae). The headspace of newly opened flowers reaches levels of about 4% above ambient relative humidity due to additive evapotranspirational water loss through petals and water-saturated air from the nectar tube. Floral humidity plumes differ from ambient levels only during the first 30 min after anthesis (before nectar is depleted in wild populations), whereas other floral traits (scent, shape, and color) persist for 12-24 h. Manipulative experiments indicated that floral humidity gradients are mechanistically linked to nectar volume and therefore contain information about energy rewards to floral visitors. Behavioral assays with Hyles lineata (Sphingidae) and artificial flowers with appropriate humidity gradients suggest that these hawkmoth pollinators distinguish between subtle differences in relative humidity when other floral cues are held constant. Moths consistently approached and probed flowers with elevated humidity over those with ambient humidity levels. Because floral humidity gradients are largely produced by the evaporation of nectar itself, they represent condition-informative cues that facilitate remote sensing of floral profitability by discriminating foragers. In a xeric environment, this level of honest communication should be adaptive when plant reproductive success is pollinator limited, due to intense competition for the attention of a specialized pollinator.

Caloric restriction in the presence of attractive food cues: external cues, eating, and weight.

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Polivy, Janet; Herman, C Peter; Coelho, Jennifer S

2008-08-06

A growing body of research on caloric restriction (CR) in many species of laboratory animals suggests that underfeeding leads to better health and longevity in the calorically-restricted animal (e.g., see [[34]. J.P. Pinel, S. Assanand and D.R. Lehman, (2000). Hunger, eating and ill health. Am Psychol, 55, 1105-1116.], for a review). Although some objections have been raised by scientists concerned about negative psychological and behavioral sequelae of such restriction, advocates of CR continue to urge people to adopt sharply reduced eating regimes in order to increase their longevity. Yet very few people are even attempting to reap the benefits of such restriction. The present paper explores one factor that may deter many humans from drastically reducing their food consumption--the presence of abundant, attractive food cues in the environment. Research on the influence of food cues on food-related behaviors is reviewed to demonstrate that the presence of food cues makes restriction of intake more difficult.

Auditory distance perception in humans: a review of cues, development, neuronal bases, and effects of sensory loss.

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Kolarik, Andrew J; Moore, Brian C J; Zahorik, Pavel; Cirstea, Silvia; Pardhan, Shahina

2016-02-01

Auditory distance perception plays a major role in spatial awareness, enabling location of objects and avoidance of obstacles in the environment. However, it remains under-researched relative to studies of the directional aspect of sound localization. This review focuses on the following four aspects of auditory distance perception: cue processing, development, consequences of visual and auditory loss, and neurological bases. The several auditory distance cues vary in their effective ranges in peripersonal and extrapersonal space. The primary cues are sound level, reverberation, and frequency. Nonperceptual factors, including the importance of the auditory event to the listener, also can affect perceived distance. Basic internal representations of auditory distance emerge at approximately 6 months of age in humans. Although visual information plays an important role in calibrating auditory space, sensorimotor contingencies can be used for calibration when vision is unavailable. Blind individuals often manifest supranormal abilities to judge relative distance but show a deficit in absolute distance judgments. Following hearing loss, the use of auditory level as a distance cue remains robust, while the reverberation cue becomes less effective. Previous studies have not found evidence that hearing-aid processing affects perceived auditory distance. Studies investigating the brain areas involved in processing different acoustic distance cues are described. Finally, suggestions are given for further research on auditory distance perception, including broader investigation of how background noise and multiple sound sources affect perceived auditory distance for those with sensory loss.

Visual-vestibular cue integration for heading perception: applications of optimal cue integration theory.

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Fetsch, Christopher R; Deangelis, Gregory C; Angelaki, Dora E

2010-05-01

The perception of self-motion is crucial for navigation, spatial orientation and motor control. In particular, estimation of one's direction of translation, or heading, relies heavily on multisensory integration in most natural situations. Visual and nonvisual (e.g., vestibular) information can be used to judge heading, but each modality alone is often insufficient for accurate performance. It is not surprising, then, that visual and vestibular signals converge frequently in the nervous system, and that these signals interact in powerful ways at the level of behavior and perception. Early behavioral studies of visual-vestibular interactions consisted mainly of descriptive accounts of perceptual illusions and qualitative estimation tasks, often with conflicting results. In contrast, cue integration research in other modalities has benefited from the application of rigorous psychophysical techniques, guided by normative models that rest on the foundation of ideal-observer analysis and Bayesian decision theory. Here we review recent experiments that have attempted to harness these so-called optimal cue integration models for the study of self-motion perception. Some of these studies used nonhuman primate subjects, enabling direct comparisons between behavioral performance and simultaneously recorded neuronal activity. The results indicate that humans and monkeys can integrate visual and vestibular heading cues in a manner consistent with optimal integration theory, and that single neurons in the dorsal medial superior temporal area show striking correlates of the behavioral effects. This line of research and other applications of normative cue combination models should continue to shed light on mechanisms of self-motion perception and the neuronal basis of multisensory integration.

Evidence for a shared representation of sequential cues that engage sign-tracking.

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Smedley, Elizabeth B; Smith, Kyle S

2018-06-19

Sign-tracking is a phenomenon whereby cues that predict rewards come to acquire their own motivational value (incentive salience) and attract appetitive behavior. Typically, sign-tracking paradigms have used single auditory, visual, or lever cues presented prior to a reward delivery. Yet, real world examples of events often can be predicted by a sequence of cues. We have shown that animals will sign-track to multiple cues presented in temporal sequence, and with time develop a bias in responding toward a reward distal cue over a reward proximal cue. Further, extinction of responding to the reward proximal cue directly decreases responding to the reward distal cue. One possible explanation of this result is that serial cues become representationally linked with one another. Here we provide further support of this by showing that extinction of responding to a reward distal cue directly reduces responding to a reward proximal cue. We suggest that the incentive salience of one cue can influence the incentive salience of the other cue. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Inappropriate drug donations: what has happened since the 1999 WHO guidelines?

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van Dijk, D P; Dinant, G; Jacobs, J A

2011-08-01

Drug donations to developing countries may be part of medical relief operations in acute emergencies, development aid in non-emergency situations, or a corporate donations programme. After a number of documented inappropriate drug donations, the World Health Organization developed the 'Guidelines for Drug Donations', with the second and final version published in 1999. We reviewed the medical literature on drug donations since the Guidelines publication in 1999. Literature was retrieved from PubMed and other on-line databases as well as from relevant websites providing medical literature for use in developing countries. We considered the following donations to be inappropriate: (i) essential drugs in excessive quantities; (ii) mixed unused drugs (unsorted medicines and free samples); and (iii) drug dumping (large quantities of useless medicines). We retrieved 25 publications dated after 1999, including 20 and 5 from the scientific literature and 'grey' literature (technical reports, working papers), respectively. New information concerned emergencies in East Timor, Mozambique, El Salvador, Gujarat State (India), Aceh (Indonesia) and Sri Lanka. Except for East Timor and Gujarat, inappropriate donations still occurred, accounting for 85%, 37%, 70% and 80% of donations in Mozambique, El Salvador, Aceh and Sri Lanka, respectively. Very little information was found on drug donations in non-emergency situations. There are few recent reports on the compliance of drug donations with the World Health Organization guidelines. For emergency situations, there is still room for improvement. Drug donations in non-emergency situations need to be evaluated. A reform of drug donations policy is needed.

Clinical hyperthyroidism due to non-neoplastic inappropriate thyrotrophin secretion.

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Chan, A. W.; MacFarlane, I. A.; van Heyningen, C.; Foy, P. M.

1990-01-01

We report a case of hyperthyroidism due to inappropriate thyrotrophin (TSH) secretion in a patient with selective pituitary resistance to thyroid hormone action. Symptoms of hyperthyroidism in patients with this disorder are usually mild, implying some peripheral tissue resistance to the metabolic effects of thyroid hormone. Our patient had unusually severe symptoms, including marked weight loss and cardiac arrythmias which required carbimazole and beta-blocker therapy for control. Somatostat...

Claimed Versus Calculated Cue-Weighting Systems for Screening Employee Applicants

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Blevins, David E.

1975-01-01

This research compares the cue-weighting system which assessors claimed they used with the cue-weighting system one would infer they used based on multiple observations of their assessing behavior. The claimed cue-weighting systems agreed poorly with the empirically calculated cue-weighting systems for all assessors except one who utilized only…

Does Contextual Cueing Guide the Deployment of Attention?

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Kunar, Melina A.; Flusberg, Stephen; Horowitz, Todd S.; Wolfe, Jeremy M.

2008-01-01

Contextual cueing experiments show that when displays are repeated, reaction times (RTs) to find a target decrease over time even when observers are not aware of the repetition. It has been thought that the context of the display guides attention to the target. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the effects of guidance in a standard search task to the effects of contextual cueing. Firstly, in standard search, an improvement in guidance causes search slopes (derived from RT × Set Size functions) to decrease. In contrast, we found that search slopes in contextual cueing did not become more efficient over time (Experiment 1). Secondly, when guidance is optimal (e.g. in easy feature search) we still found a small, but reliable contextual cueing effect (Experiments 2a and 2b), suggesting that other factors, such as response selection, contribute to the effect. Experiment 3 supported this hypothesis by showing that the contextual cueing effect disappeared when we added interference to the response selection process. Overall, our data suggest that the relationship between guidance and contextual cueing is weak and that response selection can account for part of the effect. PMID:17683230

Attentional bias for craving-related (chocolate) food cues.

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Kemps, Eva; Tiggemann, Marika

2009-12-01

In this study, we investigated attentional biases for craving-related food cues. A pictorial dot probe task was used to assess selective attentional processing of one particular highly desired food, namely chocolate, relative to that of other highly desired foods. In Experiment 1, we examined biased processing of chocolate cues in habitual (trait) chocolate cravers, whereas in Experiment 2 we investigated the effect of experimentally induced (state) chocolate cravings on such processing. As predicted, habitual chocolate cravers (Experiment 1) and individuals in whom a craving for chocolate was temporarily induced (Experiment 2) showed speeded detection of probes replacing chocolate-related pictures, demonstrating an attentional bias for chocolate cues. Subsequent examination indicated that in both experiments the observed attentional biases stemmed from difficulty in disengaging attention from chocolate cues rather than from a shift of attention toward such cues. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications.

Individual differences in food cue responsivity are associated with acute and repeated cocaine-induced vocalizations, but not cue-induced vocalizations.

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Tripi, Jordan A; Dent, Micheal L; Meyer, Paul J

2017-02-01

Individuals prone to attribute incentive salience to food-associated stimuli ("cues") are also more sensitive to cues during drug seeking and drug taking. This may be due in part to a difference in sensitivity to the affective or other stimulus properties of the drug. In rats, these properties are associated with 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), in that they are elicited during putative positive affective and motivational states, including in response to drugs of abuse. We sought to determine whether individual differences in the tendency to attribute incentive salience to a food cue (as measured by approach) were associated with differences in cocaine-induced USVs. We also tested whether the food cue would elicit USVs and if this response was related to approach to the food cue. In experiment 1, rats underwent Pavlovian conditioned approach (PavCA) training where they learned to associate a cue (an illuminated lever) with the delivery of a food pellet into a food cup. Subjects were categorized based on their approach to the cue ("sign-trackers") or to the food cup ("goal-trackers"). Rats subsequently underwent nine testing days in which they were given saline or cocaine (10 mg/kg i.p) and placed into a locomotor chamber. In experiment 2, rats were first tested in the locomotor chambers for one saline-treated day followed by one cocaine-treated day and then trained in PavCA. USVs were recorded from a subset of individuals during the last day of PavCA to determine if the food cue would elicit USVs. Sign-trackers produced 5-24 times more cocaine-induced 50 kHz USVs compared to goal-trackers for all days of experiment 1, and this response sensitized with repeated cocaine, only in sign-trackers. Similarly in experiment 2, individuals that produced the most cocaine-induced USVs on a single exposure also showed the greatest tendency to sign-track during PavCA. Lastly, while sign-trackers produced more USVs during PavCA generally, the cue itself did not elicit

Attributes and circumstances that induce inappropriate health services demand: a study of the health sector in Brazil.

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Guimarães, Djalma S; Soares, Eduardo J O; Júnior, Gileno Ferraz; Medeiros, Denise D

2015-02-18

The current economic and social context has required health systems to provide top quality services and to be efficient in controlling costs. An obstacle to achieve these goals is the inappropriate health services demand. This study aims to present these inappropriate health service demand determinants from data on telephone calls made to a medical advice call centre. This study used a Brazilian medical advice call centre data sample in the period of November and December 2012 (n = 19690), which supplied data on the user's initial request, the physician's recommendation, information on the patient and circumstances (the day and time of the day of the telephone call). The convergence between user intent and medical recommendation consists in adequate demand; otherwise the divergence consists in an inadequate one. In this way, using a logistic regression model, the critical factors that determine inappropriate health services request could be estimated. In general, the user's initial intent is the most critical for the inappropriate health system demand occurrence: the greater the complexity of the patient's initial intent, the greater the chance the intent is wrong: (OR: 1.160; 95% CI: 1.113-1.210). With regard to the social characteristics, men are more likely to make inappropriate requests (OR: 1.102; 95% CI: 1038-1169); as well as youngsters are more likely to use the system incorrectly (OR = .993; 95% CI: .992 - .994). Regarding the circumstances (day and time of the call), requests in the final hours of the day and on days close to the weekend are more likely to be the inappropriate ones (OR: 1.082 for each six hour increase; 95% CI: 1.049-1.116) and weekday (OR: 1.017 for each day increase; 95% CI: 1.002-1.032). The critical profile for the inappropriate use occurrence consists of males and youngsters, who use the health service in the final hours of the day and at weekends, and mainly want to use more complex services. A practical implication of this

Clinical analysis of asthenopia caused by wearing inappropriate glasses in college students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available AIM: To proposed control measures by exploring visual fatigue caused by college students wearing inappropriate glasses.METHODS: A total of 124 cases of asthenopia patients underwent optometry students audition, checked the original spectacles; TOPCON-CL100 computer center was used to checked the original mirror glasses(glasses, the distance between the optical center; with near vision as the standard examination table nearly with vergence and regulation near point, and checked the visual function. RESULTS: All 124 cases(248 eyeshad refractive errors, 77% were spherical mirror and 69% column mirror with error ≥±0.50D, and the pupil center distance from the lens had significant difference(U=5.27, PCONCLUSION: Students wearing inappropriate spectacle asthenopia is caused by one of the main scientific wearing glasses can effectively control asthenopia.

Volume Attenuation and High Frequency Loss as Auditory Depth Cues in Stereoscopic 3D Cinema

Science.gov (United States)

Manolas, Christos; Pauletto, Sandra

2014-09-01

Assisted by the technological advances of the past decades, stereoscopic 3D (S3D) cinema is currently in the process of being established as a mainstream form of entertainment. The main focus of this collaborative effort is placed on the creation of immersive S3D visuals. However, with few exceptions, little attention has been given so far to the potential effect of the soundtrack on such environments. The potential of sound both as a means to enhance the impact of the S3D visual information and to expand the S3D cinematic world beyond the boundaries of the visuals is large. This article reports on our research into the possibilities of using auditory depth cues within the soundtrack as a means of affecting the perception of depth within cinematic S3D scenes. We study two main distance-related auditory cues: high-end frequency loss and overall volume attenuation. A series of experiments explored the effectiveness of these auditory cues. Results, although not conclusive, indicate that the studied auditory cues can influence the audience judgement of depth in cinematic 3D scenes, sometimes in unexpected ways. We conclude that 3D filmmaking can benefit from further studies on the effectiveness of specific sound design techniques to enhance S3D cinema.

A magnetorheological haptic cue accelerator for manual transmission vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Young-Min; Noh, Kyung-Wook; Choi, Seung-Bok; Lee, Yang-Sub

2010-01-01

This paper proposes a new haptic cue function for manual transmission vehicles to achieve optimal gear shifting. This function is implemented on the accelerator pedal by utilizing a magnetorheological (MR) brake mechanism. By combining the haptic cue function with the accelerator pedal, the proposed haptic cue device can transmit the optimal moment of gear shifting for manual transmission to a driver without requiring the driver's visual attention. As a first step to achieve this goal, a MR fluid-based haptic device is devised to enable rotary motion of the accelerator pedal. Taking into account spatial limitations, the design parameters are optimally determined using finite element analysis to maximize the relative control torque. The proposed haptic cue device is then manufactured and its field-dependent torque and time response are experimentally evaluated. Then the manufactured MR haptic cue device is integrated with the accelerator pedal. A simple virtual vehicle emulating the operation of the engine of a passenger vehicle is constructed and put into communication with the haptic cue device. A feed-forward torque control algorithm for the haptic cue is formulated and control performances are experimentally evaluated and presented in the time domain

POST-RETRIEVAL EXTINCTION ATTENUATES ALCOHOL CUE REACTIVITY IN RATS

Science.gov (United States)

Cofresí, Roberto U.; Lewis, Suzanne M.; Chaudhri, Nadia; Lee, Hongjoo J.; Monfils, Marie-H.; Gonzales, Rueben A.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND Conditioned responses to alcohol-associated cues can hinder recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD). Cue exposure (extinction) therapy (CET) can reduce reactivity to alcohol cues, but its efficacy is limited by phenomena such as spontaneous recovery and reinstatement that can cause a return of conditioned responding after extinction. Using a preclinical model of alcohol cue reactivity in rats, we evaluated whether the efficacy of alcohol CET could be improved by conducting CET during the memory reconsolidation window after retrieval of a cue-alcohol association. METHODS Rats were provided with intermittent access to unsweetened alcohol. Rats were then trained to predict alcohol access based on a visual cue. Next, rats were treated with either standard extinction (n=14) or post-retrieval extinction (n=13). Rats were then tested for long-term memory of extinction and susceptibility to spontaneous recovery and reinstatement. RESULTS Despite equivalent extinction, rats treated with post-retrieval extinction exhibited reduced spontaneous recovery and reinstatement relative to rats treated with standard extinction. CONCLUSIONS Post-retrieval CET shows promise for persistently attenuating the risk to relapse posed by alcohol cues in individuals with AUD. PMID:28169439

Visual cue-specific craving is diminished in stressed smokers.

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Cochran, Justinn R; Consedine, Nathan S; Lee, John M J; Pandit, Chinmay; Sollers, John J; Kydd, Robert R

2017-09-01

Craving among smokers is increased by stress and exposure to smoking-related visual cues. However, few experimental studies have tested both elicitors concurrently and considered how exposures may interact to influence craving. The current study examined craving in response to stress and visual cue exposure, separately and in succession, in order to better understand the relationship between craving elicitation and the elicitor. Thirty-nine smokers (21 males) who forwent smoking for 30 minutes were randomized to complete a stress task and a visual cue task in counterbalanced orders (creating the experimental groups); for the cue task, counterbalanced blocks of neutral, motivational control, and smoking images were presented. Self-reported craving was assessed after each block of visual stimuli and stress task, and after a recovery period following each task. As expected, the stress and smoking images generated greater craving than neutral or motivational control images (p smokers are stressed, visual cues have little additive effect on craving, and different types of visual cues elicit comparable craving. These findings may imply that once stressed, smokers will crave cigarettes comparably notwithstanding whether they are exposed to smoking image cues.

Spectral information as an orientation cue in dung beetles

OpenAIRE

el Jundi, Basil; Foster, James J.; Byrne, Marcus J.; Baird, Emily; Dacke, Marie

2015-01-01

During the day, a non-uniform distribution of long and short wavelength light generates a colour gradient across the sky. This gradient could be used as a compass cue, particularly by animals such as dung beetles that rely primarily on celestial cues for orientation. Here, we tested if dung beetles can use spectral cues for orientation by presenting them with monochromatic (green and UV) light spots in an indoor arena. Beetles kept their original bearing when presented with a single light cue...

Word segmentation with universal prosodic cues.

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Endress, Ansgar D; Hauser, Marc D

2010-09-01

When listening to speech from one's native language, words seem to be well separated from one another, like beads on a string. When listening to a foreign language, in contrast, words seem almost impossible to extract, as if there was only one bead on the same string. This contrast reveals that there are language-specific cues to segmentation. The puzzle, however, is that infants must be endowed with a language-independent mechanism for segmentation, as they ultimately solve the segmentation problem for any native language. Here, we approach the acquisition problem by asking whether there are language-independent cues to segmentation that might be available to even adult learners who have already acquired a native language. We show that adult learners recognize words in connected speech when only prosodic cues to word-boundaries are given from languages unfamiliar to the participants. In both artificial and natural speech, adult English speakers, with no prior exposure to the test languages, readily recognized words in natural languages with critically different prosodic patterns, including French, Turkish and Hungarian. We suggest that, even though languages differ in their sound structures, they carry universal prosodic characteristics. Further, these language-invariant prosodic cues provide a universally accessible mechanism for finding words in connected speech. These cues may enable infants to start acquiring words in any language even before they are fine-tuned to the sound structure of their native language. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Triggers of fear: perceptual cues versus conceptual information in spider phobia.

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Peperkorn, Henrik M; Alpers, Georg W; Mühlberger, Andreas

2014-07-01

Fear reactions in spider-phobic patients can be activated by specific perceptual cues or by conceptual fear-related information. Matching perceptual fear cues and fear-related information were expected to result in maximal fear responses, perceptual fear cues alone in less fear, and information alone in the weakest responses. We used virtual reality to manipulate the available cues and information. Forty-eight phobic patients and 48 healthy participants were repeatedly exposed to either a perceptual cue, information, or a combination of both. In conditions with a fear-relevant perceptual cue, phobic patients reported increased fear compared to the condition with information only. Across exposures trials, these reactions diminished. Skin conductance in phobic patients was significantly higher in the combined than in the cue or the information condition. Perceptual cues are essential for phobic fear reactions in spider phobia. In combination with fear-relevant information, perceptual cues activate an intense and persistent fear reaction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Children’s identification of familiar songs from pitch and timing cues

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Anna eVolkova

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The goal of the present study was to ascertain whether children with normal hearing and prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants could use pitch or timing cues alone or in combination to identify familiar songs. Children 4-7 years of age were required to identify the theme songs of familiar TV shows in a simple task with excerpts that preserved (1 the relative pitch and timing cues of the melody but not the original instrumentation, (2 the timing cues only (rhythm, meter, and tempo, and (3 the relative pitch cues only (pitch contour and intervals. Children with normal hearing performed at high levels and comparably across the three conditions. The performance of child implant users was well above chance levels when both pitch and timing cues were available, marginally above chance with timing cues only, and at chance with pitch cues only. This is the first demonstration that children can identify familiar songs from monotonic versions—timing cues but no pitch cues—and from isochronous versions—pitch cues but no timing cues. The study also indicates that, in the context of a very simple task, young implant users readily identify songs from melodic versions that preserve pitch and timing cues.

White sucker Catostomus commersonii respond to conspecific and sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus alarm cues but not potential predator cues

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Jordbro, Ethan J.; Di Rocco, Richard T.; Imre, Istvan; Johnson, Nicholas; Brown, Grant E.

2016-01-01

Recent studies proposed the use of chemosensory alarm cues to control the distribution of invasive sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus populations in the Laurentian Great Lakes and necessitate the evaluation of sea lamprey chemosensory alarm cues on valuable sympatric species such as white sucker. In two laboratory experiments, 10 replicate groups (10 animals each) of migratory white suckers were exposed to deionized water (control), conspecific whole-body extract, heterospecific whole-body extract (sea lamprey) and two potential predator cues (2-phenylethylamine HCl (PEA HCl) and human saliva) during the day, and exposed to the first four of the above cues at night. White suckers avoided the conspecific and the sea lamprey whole-body extract both during the day and at night to the same extent. Human saliva did not induce avoidance during the day. PEA HCl did not induce avoidance at a higher concentration during the day, or at night at the minimum concentration that was previously shown to induce maximum avoidance by sea lamprey under laboratory conditions. Our findings suggest that human saliva and PEA HCl may be potential species-specific predator cues for sea lamprey.

Evidence for greater cue reactivity among low-dependent vs. high-dependent smokers.

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Watson, Noreen L; Carpenter, Matthew J; Saladin, Michael E; Gray, Kevin M; Upadhyaya, Himanshu P

2010-07-01

Cue reactivity paradigms are well-established laboratory procedures used to examine subjective craving in response to substance-related cues. For smokers, the relationship between nicotine dependence and cue reactivity has not been clearly established. The main aim of the present study was to further examine this relationship. Participants (N=90) were between the ages 18-40 and smoked > or =10 cigarettes per day. Average nicotine dependence (Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence; FTND) at baseline was 4.9 (SD=2.1). Participants completed four cue reactivity sessions consisting of two in vivo cues (smoking and neutral) and two affective imagery cues (stressful and relaxed), all counterbalanced. Craving in response to cues was assessed following each cue exposure using the Questionnaire of Smoking Urges-Brief (QSU-B). Differential cue reactivity was operationally defined as the difference in QSU scores between the smoking and neutral cues, and between the stressful and relaxed cues. Nicotine dependence was significantly and negatively associated with differential cue reactivity scores in regard to hedonic craving (QSU factor 1) for both in vivo and imagery cues, such that those who had low FTND scores demonstrated greater differential cue reactivity than those with higher FTND scores (beta=-.082; p=.037; beta=-.101; p=.023, respectively). Similar trends were found for the Total QSU and for negative reinforcement craving (QSU factor 2), but did not reach statistical significance. Under partially sated conditions, less dependent smokers may be more differentially cue reactive to smoking cues as compared to heavily dependent smokers. These findings offer methodological and interpretative implications for cue reactivity studies. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Haven't a Cue? Mapping the CUE Space as an Aid to HRA Modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

David I Gertman; Ronald L Boring; Jacques Hugo; William Phoenix

2012-06-01

Advances in automation present a new modeling environment for the human reliability analysis (HRA) practitioner. Many, if not most, current day HRA methods have their origin in characterizing and quantifying human performance in analog environments where mode awareness and system status indications are potentially less comprehensive, but simpler to comprehend at a glance when compared to advanced presentation systems. The introduction of highly complex automation has the potential to lead to: decreased levels of situation awareness caused by the need for increased monitoring; confusion regarding the often non-obvious causes of automation failures, and emergent system dependencies that formerly may have been uncharacterized. Understanding the relation of incoming cues available to operators during plant upset conditions, in conjunction with operating procedures, yields insight into understanding the nature of the expected operator response in this control room environment. Static systems methods such as fault trees do not contain the appropriate temporal information or necessarily specify the relationship among cues leading to operator response. In this paper, we do not attempt to replace standard performance shaping factors commonly used in HRA nor offer a new HRA method, existing methods may suffice. In this paper we strive to enhance current understanding of the basis for operator response through a technique that can be used during the qualitative portion of the HRA analysis process. The CUE map is a means to visualize the relationship among salient cues in the control room that help influence operator response, show how the cognitive map of the operator changes as information is gained or lost, and is applicable to existing as well as advanced hybrid plants and small modular reactor designs. A brief application involving loss of condensate is presented and advantages and limitations of the modeling approach and use of the CUE map are discussed.

Does acute tobacco smoking prevent cue-induced craving?

Science.gov (United States)

Schlagintweit, Hera E; Barrett, Sean P

2016-05-01

Smoking cessation aids appear to be limited in their ability to prevent craving triggered by exposure to smoking-associated stimuli; however, the extent to which cue-induced cravings persist following denicotinized or nicotine-containing tobacco smoking is not known. Thirty (17 male) ⩾12-hour abstinent dependent smokers completed two sessions during which they smoked a nicotine-containing or denicotinized cigarette. Instructions regarding the nicotine content of the cigarette varied across sessions, and all participants were exposed to a neutral cue followed by a smoking cue after cigarette consumption. Craving was assessed before and after cigarette consumption and cue exposure. Reduced intentions to smoke were associated with both nicotine expectancy (pSmoking-associated stimuli increased craving regardless of nicotine expectancy or administration (p-valuessmoking, neither smoking-related nicotine administration nor expectation prevents increases in craving following exposure to smoking-associated stimuli. These findings suggest that cue-induced craving may be resistant to various pharmacological and psychological interventions. © The Author(s) 2016.

Mental state attribution and the gaze cueing effect.

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Cole, Geoff G; Smith, Daniel T; Atkinson, Mark A

2015-05-01

Theory of mind is said to be possessed by an individual if he or she is able to impute mental states to others. Recently, some authors have demonstrated that such mental state attributions can mediate the "gaze cueing" effect, in which observation of another individual shifts an observer's attention. One question that follows from this work is whether such mental state attributions produce mandatory modulations of gaze cueing. Employing the basic gaze cueing paradigm, together with a technique commonly used to assess mental-state attribution in nonhuman animals, we manipulated whether the gazing agent could see the same thing as the participant (i.e., the target) or had this view obstructed by a physical barrier. We found robust gaze cueing effects, even when the observed agent in the display could not see the same thing as the participant. These results suggest that the attribution of "seeing" does not necessarily modulate the gaze cueing effect.

Deceptive body movements reverse spatial cueing in soccer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael J Wright

Full Text Available The purpose of the experiments was to analyse the spatial cueing effects of the movements of soccer players executing normal and deceptive (step-over turns with the ball. Stimuli comprised normal resolution or point-light video clips of soccer players dribbling a football towards the observer then turning right or left with the ball. Clips were curtailed before or on the turn (-160, -80, 0 or +80 ms to examine the time course of direction prediction and spatial cueing effects. Participants were divided into higher-skilled (HS and lower-skilled (LS groups according to soccer experience. In experiment 1, accuracy on full video clips was higher than on point-light but results followed the same overall pattern. Both HS and LS groups correctly identified direction on normal moves at all occlusion levels. For deceptive moves, LS participants were significantly worse than chance and HS participants were somewhat more accurate but nevertheless substantially impaired. In experiment 2, point-light clips were used to cue a lateral target. HS and LS groups showed faster reaction times to targets that were congruent with the direction of normal turns, and to targets incongruent with the direction of deceptive turns. The reversed cueing by deceptive moves coincided with earlier kinematic events than cueing by normal moves. It is concluded that the body kinematics of soccer players generate spatial cueing effects when viewed from an opponent's perspective. This could create a reaction time advantage when anticipating the direction of a normal move. A deceptive move is designed to turn this cueing advantage into a disadvantage. Acting on the basis of advance information, the presence of deceptive moves primes responses in the wrong direction, which may be only partly mitigated by delaying a response until veridical cues emerge.

Gaze Cueing by Pareidolia Faces

OpenAIRE

Kohske Takahashi; Katsumi Watanabe

2013-01-01

Visual images that are not faces are sometimes perceived as faces (the pareidolia phenomenon). While the pareidolia phenomenon provides people with a strong impression that a face is present, it is unclear how deeply pareidolia faces are processed as faces. In the present study, we examined whether a shift in spatial attention would be produced by gaze cueing of face-like objects. A robust cueing effect was observed when the face-like objects were perceived as faces. The magnitude of the cuei...

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in institutionalised older patients in Spain: the STOPP-START criteria compared with the Beers criteria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bonet M

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aims of this study were to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing using the Beers and STOPP criteria. The START criteria were applied to detect prescription omission in the geriatric population. We compared the utility of these criteria in institutionalised older people.Methods: Descriptive study reviewing the medication and clinical records of 81 residents (aged 65 years and more by pharmacists in a nursing home in the Lleida region (Spain.Results: The mean patients’ age was 84 (SD=8 years, with an average of 5 drugs per resident (total prescriptions: 416 medicines. The Beers criteria identified potentially inappropriate medication use in 25% of patients and 48% of patients used at least 1 inappropriate medication according to STOPP criteria. The most frequent potentially inappropriate medications for both criteria were long-acting benzodiazepines and NSAIDs. START detected 58 potential prescribing omissions in 44% of patients. Calcium-vitamin D supplementation in osteoporosis was the most frequent rule (15%, but omissions corresponding to the cardiovascular system implied 23% of patients.Conclusion: The STOPP-START criteria reveal that potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP is a highly prevalent problem among Spanish nursing home residents, and a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the number of medicines prescribed and the number of PIP detected in this study. The STOPP criteria detect a larger number of PI medications in this geriatric population than the Beers criteria. The prescribing omissions detected by the START criteria are relevant and require intervention. Pharmacists’ review of medications may help identify potentially inappropriate prescribing and, through an interdisciplinary approach, working with physicians may improve prescribing practices among geriatric residents of nursing homes.

Shifting attention among working memory representations: testing cue type, awareness, and strategic control.

Science.gov (United States)

Berryhill, Marian E; Richmond, Lauren L; Shay, Cara S; Olson, Ingrid R

2012-01-01

It is well known that visual working memory (VWM) performance is modulated by attentional cues presented during encoding. Interestingly, retrospective cues presented after encoding, but prior to the test phase also improve performance. This improvement in performance is termed the retro-cue benefit. We investigated whether the retro-cue benefit is sensitive to cue type, whether participants were aware of their improvement in performance due to the retro-cue, and whether the effect was under strategic control. Experiment 1 compared the potential cueing benefits of abrupt onset retro-cues relying on bottom-up attention, number retro-cues relying on top-down attention, and arrow retro-cues, relying on a mixture of both. We found a significant retro-cue effect only for arrow retro-cues. In Experiment 2, we tested participants' awareness of their use of the informative retro-cue and found that they were aware of their improved performance. In Experiment 3, we asked whether participants have strategic control over the retro-cue. The retro-cue was difficult to ignore, suggesting that strategic control is low. The retro-cue effect appears to be within conscious awareness but not under full strategic control.

The effect of social cues on marketing decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Hentschel, H. G. E.; Pan, Jiening; Family, Fereydoon; Zhang, Zhenyu; Song, Yiping

2012-02-01

We address the question as to what extent individuals, when given information in marketing polls on the decisions made by the previous Nr individuals questioned, are likely to change their original choices. The processes can be formulated in terms of a Cost function equivalent to a Hamiltonian, which depends on the original likelihood of an individual making a positive decision in the absence of social cues p0; the strength of the social cue J; and memory size Nr. We find both positive and negative herding effects are significant. Specifically, if p0>1/2 social cues enhance positive decisions, while for p0cues reduce the likelihood of a positive decision.

Smoking, food, and alcohol cues on subsequent behavior: a qualitative systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Veilleux, Jennifer C; Skinner, Kayla D

2015-03-01

Although craving is a frequent phenomenon in addictive behaviors, and laboratory paradigms have robustly established that presentation of cues can elicit self-reported craving responses, extant work has not established whether cue exposure influences subsequent behavior. We systematically review extant literature assessing the effects of cue exposure to smoking, food, and alcohol cues on behavioral outcomes framed by three questions: (1) Is there value in distinguishing between the effects of cue exposure on behavior from the responses to cues (e.g., self-reported craving) predicting behavior?; (2) What are the effect of cues on behavior beyond lapse, such as broadly considering both target-syntonic (e.g., do cigarette cues predict smoking-related behaviors) and target-dystonic behaviors (e.g., do cigarette cues predict other outcomes besides smoking)?; (3) What are the lessons to be learned from examining cue exposure studies across smoking, food and alcohol domains? Evidence generally indicates an effect of cue exposure on both target-syntonic and target-dystonic behavior, and that self-report cue-reactivity predicts immediate target-syntonic outcomes. Effects of smoking, food and alcohol cues on behavior are compared to elucidate generalizations about the effects of cue exposure as well as methodological differences that may serve the study of craving in the future. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applying extinction research and theory to cue-exposure addiction treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Conklin, Cynthia A; Tiffany, Stephen T

2002-02-01

To evaluate the efficacy of cue-exposure addiction treatment and review modern animal learning research to generate recommendations for substantially enhancing the effectiveness of this treatment. Meta-analysis of cue-exposure addiction treatment outcome studies (N=9), review of animal extinction research and theory, and evaluation of whether major principles from this literature are addressed adequately in cue-exposure treatments. The meta-analytical review showed that there is no consistent evidence for the efficacy of cue-exposure treatment as currently implemented. Moreover, procedures derived from the animal learning literature that should maximize the potential of extinction training are rarely used in cue-exposure treatments. Given what is known from animal extinction theory and research about extinguishing learned behavior, it is not surprising that cue-exposure treatments so often fail. This paper reviews current animal research regarding the most salient threats to the development and maintenance of extinction, and suggests several major procedures for increasing the efficacy of cue-exposure addiction treatment.

Emotion Unchained: Facial Expression Modulates Gaze Cueing under Cognitive Load.

Science.gov (United States)

Pecchinenda, Anna; Petrucci, Manuel

2016-01-01

Direction of eye gaze cues spatial attention, and typically this cueing effect is not modulated by the expression of a face unless top-down processes are explicitly or implicitly involved. To investigate the role of cognitive control on gaze cueing by emotional faces, participants performed a gaze cueing task with happy, angry, or neutral faces under high (i.e., counting backward by 7) or low cognitive load (i.e., counting forward by 2). Results show that high cognitive load enhances gaze cueing effects for angry facial expressions. In addition, cognitive load reduces gaze cueing for neutral faces, whereas happy facial expressions and gaze affected object preferences regardless of load. This evidence clearly indicates a differential role of cognitive control in processing gaze direction and facial expression, suggesting that under typical conditions, when we shift attention based on social cues from another person, cognitive control processes are used to reduce interference from emotional information.

Magpies can use local cues to retrieve their food caches.

Science.gov (United States)

Feenders, Gesa; Smulders, Tom V

2011-03-01

Much importance has been placed on the use of spatial cues by food-hoarding birds in the retrieval of their caches. In this study, we investigate whether food-hoarding birds can be trained to use local cues ("beacons") in their cache retrieval. We test magpies (Pica pica) in an active hoarding-retrieval paradigm, where local cues are always reliable, while spatial cues are not. Our results show that the birds use the local cues to retrieve their caches, even when occasionally contradicting spatial information is available. The design of our study does not allow us to test rigorously whether the birds prefer using local over spatial cues, nor to investigate the process through which they learn to use local cues. We furthermore provide evidence that magpies develop landmark preferences, which improve their retrieval accuracy. Our findings support the hypothesis that birds are flexible in their use of memory information, using a combination of the most reliable or salient information to retrieve their caches. © Springer-Verlag 2010

Altered Brain Reactivity to Game Cues After Gaming Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahn, Hyeon Min; Chung, Hwan Jun; Kim, Sang Hee

2015-08-01

Individuals who play Internet games excessively show elevated brain reactivity to game-related cues. This study attempted to test whether this elevated cue reactivity observed in game players is a result of repeated exposure to Internet games. Healthy young adults without a history of excessively playing Internet games were recruited, and they were instructed to play an online Internet game for 2 hours/day for five consecutive weekdays. Two control groups were used: the drama group, which viewed a fantasy TV drama, and the no-exposure group, which received no systematic exposure. All participants performed a cue reactivity task with game, drama, and neutral cues in the brain scanner, both before and after the exposure sessions. The game group showed an increased reactivity to game cues in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). The degree of VLPFC activation increase was positively correlated with the self-reported increase in desire for the game. The drama group showed an increased cue reactivity in response to the presentation of drama cues in the caudate, posterior cingulate, and precuneus. The results indicate that exposure to either Internet games or TV dramas elevates the reactivity to visual cues associated with the particular exposure. The exact elevation patterns, however, appear to differ depending on the type of media experienced. How changes in each of the regions contribute to the progression to pathological craving warrants a future longitudinal study.

Interference from retrieval cues in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Crescentini, Cristiano; Marin, Dario; Del Missier, Fabio; Biasutti, Emanuele; Shallice, Tim

2011-11-01

Existing studies on memory interference in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have provided mixed results and it is unknown whether PD patients have problems in overcoming interference from retrieval cues. We investigated this issue by using a part-list cuing paradigm. In this paradigm, after the study of a list of items, the presentation of some of these items as retrieval cues hinders the recall of the remaining ones. We tested PD patients' (n = 19) and control participants' (n = 16) episodic memory in the presence and absence of part-list cues, using initial-letter probes, and following either weak or strong serial associative encoding of list items. Both PD patients and control participants showed a comparable and significant part-list cuing effect after weak associative encoding (13% vs. 12% decrease in retrieval in part-list cuing vs. no part-list cuing -control- conditions in PD patients and control participants, respectively), denoting a similar effect of cue-driven interference in the two populations when a serial retrieval strategy is hard to develop. However, only PD patients showed a significant part-list cuing effect after strong associative encoding (20% vs. 5% decrease in retrieval in patients and controls, respectively). When encoding promotes the development of an effective serial retrieval strategy, the presentation of part-list cues has a specifically disruptive effect in PD patients. This indicates problems in strategic retrieval, probably related to PD patients' increased tendency to rely on external cues. Findings in control conditions suggest that less effective encoding may have contributed to PD patients' memory performance.

Motion Cueing Algorithm Development: Human-Centered Linear and Nonlinear Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Houck, Jacob A. (Technical Monitor); Telban, Robert J.; Cardullo, Frank M.

2005-01-01

While the performance of flight simulator motion system hardware has advanced substantially, the development of the motion cueing algorithm, the software that transforms simulated aircraft dynamics into realizable motion commands, has not kept pace. Prior research identified viable features from two algorithms: the nonlinear "adaptive algorithm", and the "optimal algorithm" that incorporates human vestibular models. A novel approach to motion cueing, the "nonlinear algorithm" is introduced that combines features from both approaches. This algorithm is formulated by optimal control, and incorporates a new integrated perception model that includes both visual and vestibular sensation and the interaction between the stimuli. Using a time-varying control law, the matrix Riccati equation is updated in real time by a neurocomputing approach. Preliminary pilot testing resulted in the optimal algorithm incorporating a new otolith model, producing improved motion cues. The nonlinear algorithm vertical mode produced a motion cue with a time-varying washout, sustaining small cues for longer durations and washing out large cues more quickly compared to the optimal algorithm. The inclusion of the integrated perception model improved the responses to longitudinal and lateral cues. False cues observed with the NASA adaptive algorithm were absent. The neurocomputing approach was crucial in that the number of presentations of an input vector could be reduced to meet the real time requirement without degrading the quality of the motion cues.

The Accuracy Enhancing Effect of Biasing Cues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

W. Vanhouche (Wouter); S.M.J. van Osselaer (Stijn)

2009-01-01

textabstractExtrinsic cues such as price and irrelevant attributes have been shown to bias consumers’ product judgments. Results in this article replicate those findings in pretrial judgments but show that such biasing cues can improve quality judgments at a later point in time. Initially biasing

Cue-induced craving for marijuana in cannabis-dependent adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Lundahl, Leslie H; Johanson, Chris-Ellyn

2011-06-01

Recent interest in the development of medications for treatment of cannabis-use disorders indicates the need for laboratory models to evaluate potential compounds prior to undertaking clinical trials. To investigate whether a cue-reactivity paradigm could induce marijuana craving in cannabis-dependent adults, 16 (eight female) cannabis-dependent and 16 (eight female) cannabis-naïve participants were exposed to neutral and marijuana-related cues, and subsequent changes in mood, self-reported craving, and physiologic function were assessed. Significant Group X cue interactions were found on all three VAS craving indices as well as on the Compulsivity scale of the Marijuana Craving Questionnaire-Brief Form (MCQ-BF). Cannabis-dependent individuals responded to marijuana-related cues with significantly increased reports of marijuana craving compared to neutral cue exposure, although there were no cue-induced changes in any of the physiological measures. There were no significant gender differences on any of the measures. These results indicate that marijuana craving can be induced and assessed in cannabis-dependent, healthy adults within a laboratory setting, and support the need for further research of the cue reactivity paradigm in the development of medications to treat cannabis-use disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

Hierarchical acquisition of visual specificity in spatial contextual cueing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, Kin-Pou

2015-01-01

Spatial contextual cueing refers to visual search performance's being improved when invariant associations between target locations and distractor spatial configurations are learned incidentally. Using the instance theory of automatization and the reverse hierarchy theory of visual perceptual learning, this study explores the acquisition of visual specificity in spatial contextual cueing. Two experiments in which detailed visual features were irrelevant for distinguishing between spatial contexts found that spatial contextual cueing was visually generic in difficult trials when the trials were not preceded by easy trials (Experiment 1) but that spatial contextual cueing progressed to visual specificity when difficult trials were preceded by easy trials (Experiment 2). These findings support reverse hierarchy theory, which predicts that even when detailed visual features are irrelevant for distinguishing between spatial contexts, spatial contextual cueing can progress to visual specificity if the stimuli remain constant, the task is difficult, and difficult trials are preceded by easy trials. However, these findings are inconsistent with instance theory, which predicts that when detailed visual features are irrelevant for distinguishing between spatial contexts, spatial contextual cueing will not progress to visual specificity. This study concludes that the acquisition of visual specificity in spatial contextual cueing is more plausibly hierarchical, rather than instance-based.

Responsivity to food cues in bulimic women and controls.

Science.gov (United States)

Staiger, P; Dawe, S; McCarthy, R

2000-08-01

The current study investigated responsivity to individualized food cues consisting of binge/favourite foods in 17 women with bulimic nervosa (BN) and 17 women with no history or current symptoms of eating disorders (C). The hypothesis that increasing cue salience would be associated with an increase in responsivity was tested by comparison of self reported urges, affective responses and salivation to the sight and smell (SS) and the sight, smell and taste (SST) of a binge/favourite food compared to a neutral stimulus (lettuce leaf). As predicted, the BN group reported a greater urge to binge and higher levels of stress/arousal to selected binge/favourite food cues compared to the C group. The BN group also reported lower confidence to resist the urge to binge and control over food intake compared to the C group. Further, a series of planned comparisons in the BN group found that the urge to binge, stress, and loss of control were greater when participants were exposed to the SST cue than to the SS cue. There was no difference between the groups in salivary responsivity to food cues. These results are discussed in terms of a conditioning model of cue reactivity. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Quiet is the new loud: pausing and focus in child and adult Dutch.

Science.gov (United States)

Romøren, Anna Sara H; Chen, Aoju

2015-03-01

In a number of languages, prosody is used to highlight new information (or focus). In Dutch, focus is marked by accentuation, whereby focal constituents are accented and post-focal constituents are de-accented. Even if pausing is not traditionally seen as a cue to focus in Dutch, several previous studies have pointed to a possible relationship between pausing and information structure. Considering that Dutch-speaking 4 to 5 year olds are not yet completely proficient in using accentuation for focus and that children generally pause more than adults, we asked whether pausing might be an available parameter for children to manipulate for focus. Sentences with varying focus structure were elicited from 10 Dutch-speaking 4 to 5 year olds and 9 Dutch-speaking adults by means of a picture-matching game. Comparing pause durations before focal and non-focal targets showed pre-target pauses to be significantly longer when the targets were focal than when they were not. Notably, the use of pausing was more robust in the children than in the adults, suggesting that children exploit pausing to mark focus more generally than adults do, at a stage where their mastery of the canonical cues to focus is still developing.

Long-Term Outcomes in a Family with Nephrogenic Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuresis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoon Hi Cho

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We report a familial case of the nephrogenic syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis (NSIAD, including 30-year followup data on two patients. The proband and one maternal uncle presented in their infancy with severe recurrent hyponatremia, and clinical pictures consistent with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH in the absence of an elevated ADH level. They were both confirmed to be hemizygous for the R137C mutation on the V2R gene (AVPR2, the same locus of the gain of function mutation demonstrated in the original reports of this condition. The proband's mother was identified as an asymptomatic carrier of this X-linked condition. Our case describes a favourable long-term outcome for NSIAD, in particular, successful treatment with oral urea during the infancy period, and with self-regulated precautions on fluid intake into adult life.

Long-Term Outcomes in a Family with Nephrogenic Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuresis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosenthal Stephen

2009-12-01

Full Text Available We report a familial case of the nephrogenic syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis (NSIAD, including 30-year followup data on two patients. The proband and one maternal uncle presented in their infancy with severe recurrent hyponatremia, and clinical pictures consistent with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH in the absence of an elevated ADH level. They were both confirmed to be hemizygous for the R137C mutation on the V2R gene (AVPR2, the same locus of the gain of function mutation demonstrated in the original reports of this condition. The proband's mother was identified as an asymptomatic carrier of this X-linked condition. Our case describes a favourable long-term outcome for NSIAD, in particular, successful treatment with oral urea during the infancy period, and with self-regulated precautions on fluid intake into adult life.

Interpreting instructional cues in task switching procedures: the role of mediator retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Logan, Gordon D; Schneider, Darryl W

2006-03-01

In 3 experiments the role of mediators in task switching with transparent and nontransparent cues was examined. Subjects switched between magnitude (greater or less than 5) and parity (odd or even) judgments of single digits. A cue-target congruency effect indicated mediator use: subjects responded faster to congruent cue-target combinations (e.g., ODD-3) than to incongruent cue-target combinations (e.g., ODD-4). Experiment 1 revealed significant congruency effects with transparent word cues (ODD, EVEN, HIGH, and LOW) and with relatively transparent letter cues (O, E, H, and L) but not with nontransparent letter cues (D, V, G, and W). Experiment 2 revealed significant congruency effects after subjects who were trained with nontransparent letter cues were informed of the relations between cues and word mediators halfway through the experiment. Experiment 3 showed that congruency effects with relatively transparent letter cues diminished over 10 sessions of practice, suggesting that subjects used mediators less as practice progressed. The results are discussed in terms of the role of mediators in interpreting instructional cues.

Tiger salamanders' (Ambystoma tigrinum) response learning and usage of visual cues.

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Kundey, Shannon M A; Millar, Roberto; McPherson, Justin; Gonzalez, Maya; Fitz, Aleyna; Allen, Chadbourne

2016-05-01

We explored tiger salamanders' (Ambystoma tigrinum) learning to execute a response within a maze as proximal visual cue conditions varied. In Experiment 1, salamanders learned to turn consistently in a T-maze for reinforcement before the maze was rotated. All learned the initial task and executed the trained turn during test, suggesting that they learned to demonstrate the reinforced response during training and continued to perform it during test. In a second experiment utilizing a similar procedure, two visual cues were placed consistently at the maze junction. Salamanders were reinforced for turning towards one cue. Cue placement was reversed during test. All learned the initial task, but executed the trained turn rather than turning towards the visual cue during test, evidencing response learning. In Experiment 3, we investigated whether a compound visual cue could control salamanders' behaviour when it was the only cue predictive of reinforcement in a cross-maze by varying start position and cue placement. All learned to turn in the direction indicated by the compound visual cue, indicating that visual cues can come to control their behaviour. Following training, testing revealed that salamanders attended to stimuli foreground over background features. Overall, these results suggest that salamanders learn to execute responses over learning to use visual cues but can use visual cues if required. Our success with this paradigm offers the potential in future studies to explore salamanders' cognition further, as well as to shed light on how features of the tiger salamanders' life history (e.g. hibernation and metamorphosis) impact cognition.

Substantial reduction of inappropriate tablet splitting with computerised decision support: a prospective intervention study assessing potential benefit and harm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quinzler Renate

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Currently ambulatory patients break one in four tablets before ingestion. Roughly 10% of them are not suitable for splitting because they lack score lines or because enteric or modified release coating is destroyed impairing safety and effectiveness of the medication. We assessed impact and safety of computerised decision support on the inappropriate prescription of split tablets. Methods We performed a prospective intervention study in a 1680-bed university hospital. Over a 15-week period we evaluated all electronically composed medication regimens and determined the fraction of tablets and capsules that demanded inappropriate splitting. In a subsequent intervention phase of 15 weeks duration for 10553 oral drugs divisibility characteristics were indicated in the system. In addition, an alert was generated and displayed during the prescription process whenever the entered dosage regimen demanded inappropriate splitting (splitting of capsules, unscored tablets, or scored tablets unsuitable for the intended fragmentation. Results During the baseline period 12.5% of all drugs required splitting and 2.7% of all drugs (257/9545 required inappropriate splitting. During the intervention period the frequency of inappropriate splitting was significantly reduced (1.4% of all drugs (146/10486; p = 0.0008. In response to half of the alerts (69/136 physicians adjusted the medication regimen. In the other half (67/136 no corrections were made although a switch to more suitable drugs (scored tablets, tablets with lower strength, liquid formulation was possible in 82% (55/67. Conclusion This study revealed that computerised decision support can immediately reduce the frequency of inappropriate splitting without introducing new safety hazards.

The invisible cues that guide king penguin chicks home: use of magnetic and acoustic cues during orientation and short-range navigation.

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Nesterova, Anna P; Chiffard, Jules; Couchoux, Charline; Bonadonna, Francesco

2013-04-15

King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) live in large and densely populated colonies, where navigation can be challenging because of the presence of many conspecifics that could obstruct locally available cues. Our previous experiments demonstrated that visual cues were important but not essential for king penguin chicks' homing. The main objective of this study was to investigate the importance of non-visual cues, such as magnetic and acoustic cues, for chicks' orientation and short-range navigation. In a series of experiments, the chicks were individually displaced from the colony to an experimental arena where they were released under different conditions. In the magnetic experiments, a strong magnet was attached to the chicks' heads. Trials were conducted in daylight and at night to test the relative importance of visual and magnetic cues. Our results showed that when the geomagnetic field around the chicks was modified, their orientation in the arena and the overall ability to home was not affected. In a low sound experiment we limited the acoustic cues available to the chicks by putting ear pads over their ears, and in a loud sound experiment we provided additional acoustic cues by broadcasting colony sounds on the opposite side of the arena to the real colony. In the low sound experiment, the behavior of the chicks was not affected by the limited sound input. In the loud sound experiment, the chicks reacted strongly to the colony sound. These results suggest that king penguin chicks may use the sound of the colony while orienting towards their home.

Speech cues contribute to audiovisual spatial integration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher W Bishop

Full Text Available Speech is the most important form of human communication but ambient sounds and competing talkers often degrade its acoustics. Fortunately the brain can use visual information, especially its highly precise spatial information, to improve speech comprehension in noisy environments. Previous studies have demonstrated that audiovisual integration depends strongly on spatiotemporal factors. However, some integrative phenomena such as McGurk interference persist even with gross spatial disparities, suggesting that spatial alignment is not necessary for robust integration of audiovisual place-of-articulation cues. It is therefore unclear how speech-cues interact with audiovisual spatial integration mechanisms. Here, we combine two well established psychophysical phenomena, the McGurk effect and the ventriloquist's illusion, to explore this dependency. Our results demonstrate that conflicting spatial cues may not interfere with audiovisual integration of speech, but conflicting speech-cues can impede integration in space. This suggests a direct but asymmetrical influence between ventral 'what' and dorsal 'where' pathways.

Urea for long-term treatment of syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone.

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Decaux, G; Genette, F

1981-10-24

The efficacy of oral urea in producing a sufficiently high osmotic diuresis was tested in seven patients with the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. In all patients urea corrected the hyponatraemia despite a normal fluid intake. Five patients were controlled (serum sodium concentration greater than 128 mmol(mEq)/1) with a dose of 30 g urea daily, and two with 60 g daily. The patients who needed 30 g drank 1-2 1 of fluid daily, while those who needed 60 g drank up to 3.1 per day. No major side effects were noted, even after treatment periods of up to 270 days. These findings suggest that urea is a safe and efficacious treatment of the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone.

Craving by imagery cue reactivity in opiate dependence following detoxification

OpenAIRE

Behera, Debakanta; Goswami, Utpal; Khastgir, Udayan; Kumar, Satindra

2003-01-01

Background: Frequent relapses in opioid addiction may be a result of abstinentemergent craving. Exposure to various stimuli associated with drug use (drug cues) may trigger craving as a conditioned response to ?drug cues?. Aims: The present study explored the effects of imagery cue exposure on psychophysiological mechanisms of craving, viz. autonomic arousal, in detoxified opiate addicts. Methodology: Opiate dependent subjects (N=38) following detoxification underwent imagery cue reactivity t...

Polymeric Nerve Conduits with Contact Guidance Cues Used in Nerve Repair

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

G DAI; X NIU; J YIN

2016-01-01

In the modern life, the nerve injury frequently happens due to mechanical, chemical or thermal accidents. In the trivial injuries, the peripheral nerves can regenerate on their own; however, in most of the cases the clinical treatments are required, where relatively large nerve injury gaps are formed. Currently, the nerve repair can be accomplished by direct suture when the injury gap is not too large;while the autologous nerve graft working as the gold standard of peripheral nerve injury treatment for nerve injuries with larger gaps. However, the direct suture is limited by heavy tension at the suture sites, and the autologous nerve graft also has the drawbacks of donor site morbidity and insufifcient donor tissue. Recently, artiifcial nerve conduits have been developed as an alternative for clinical nerve repair to overcome the limitations associated with the above treatments. In order to further improve the efifciency of nerve conduits, various guidance cues are incorporated, including physical cues, biochemical signals, as well as support cells. First, this paper reviewed the contact guidance cues applied in nerve conduits, such as lumen ifllers, multi-channels and micro-patterns on the inner surface. Then, the paper focused on the polymeric nerve conduits with micro inner grooves. The polymeric nerve conduits were fabricated using the phase inversion-based ifber spinning techniques. The smart spinneret with grooved die was designed in the spinning platform, while different spinning conditions, including flow rates, air-gap distances, and polymer concentrations, were adjusted to investigate the inlfuence of fabrication conditions on the geometry of nerve conduits. The inner groove size in the nerve conduits can be precisely controlled in our hollow ifber spinning process, which can work as the efifcient contact guidance cue for nerve regeneration.

Drinkers’ memory bias for alcohol picture cues in explicit and implicit memory tasks

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Nguyen-Louie, Tam T.; Buckman, Jennifer F.; Ray, Suchismita

2016-01-01

Background Alcohol cues can bias attention and elicit emotional reactions, especially in drinkers. Yet, little is known about how alcohol cues affect explicit and implicit memory processes, and how memory for alcohol cues is affected by acute alcohol intoxication. Methods Young adult participants (N=161) were randomly assigned to alcohol, placebo, or control beverage conditions. Following beverage consumption, they were shown neutral, emotional and alcohol-related pictures cues. Participants then completed free recall and repetition priming tasks to test explicit and implicit memory, respectively, for picture cues. Average blood alcohol concentration for the alcohol group was 74 ± 13 mg/dl when memory testing began. Two mixed linear model analyses were conducted to examine the effects of beverage condition, picture cue type, and their interaction on explicit and implicit memory. Results Picture cue type and beverage condition each significantly affected explicit recall of picture cues, whereas only picture cue type significantly influenced repetition priming. Individuals in the alcohol condition recalled significantly fewer pictures than those in other conditions, regardless of cue type. Both free recall and repetition priming were greater for emotional and alcohol-related cues compared to neutral picture cues. No interaction effects were detected. Conclusions Young adult drinkers showed enhanced explicit and implicit memory processing of alcohol cues compared to emotionally neutral cues. This enhanced processing for alcohol cues was on par with that seen for positive emotional cues. Acute alcohol intoxication did not alter this preferential memory processing for alcohol cues over neutral cues. PMID:26811126

Drinkers' memory bias for alcohol picture cues in explicit and implicit memory tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen-Louie, Tam T; Buckman, Jennifer F; Ray, Suchismita; Bates, Marsha E

2016-03-01

Alcohol cues can bias attention and elicit emotional reactions, especially in drinkers. Yet, little is known about how alcohol cues affect explicit and implicit memory processes, and how memory for alcohol cues is affected by acute alcohol intoxication. Young adult participants (N=161) were randomly assigned to alcohol, placebo, or control beverage conditions. Following beverage consumption, they were shown neutral, emotional and alcohol-related pictures cues. Participants then completed free recall and repetition priming tasks to test explicit and implicit memory, respectively, for picture cues. Average blood alcohol concentration for the alcohol group was 74±13mg/dl when memory testing began. Two mixed linear model analyses were conducted to examine the effects of beverage condition, picture cue type, and their interaction on explicit and implicit memory. Picture cue type and beverage condition each significantly affected explicit recall of picture cues, whereas only picture cue type significantly influenced repetition priming. Individuals in the alcohol condition recalled significantly fewer pictures than those in other conditions, regardless of cue type. Both free recall and repetition priming were greater for emotional and alcohol-related cues compared to neutral picture cues. No interaction effects were detected. Young adult drinkers showed enhanced explicit and implicit memory processing of alcohol cues compared to emotionally neutral cues. This enhanced processing for alcohol cues was on par with that seen for positive emotional cues. Acute alcohol intoxication did not alter this preferential memory processing for alcohol cues over neutral cues. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Health IT and inappropriate utilization of outpatient imaging: A cross-sectional study of U.S. hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Appari, Ajit; Johnson, M Eric; Anthony, Denise L

2018-01-01

To determine whether the use of information technology (IT), measured by Meaningful Use capability, is associated with lower rates of inappropriate utilization of imaging services in hospital outpatient settings. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of 3332 nonfederal U.S. hospitals using data from: Hospital Compare (2011 outpatient imaging efficiency measures), HIMSS Analytics (2009 health IT), and Health Indicator Warehouse (market characteristics). Hospitals were categorized for their health IT infrastructure including EHR Stage-1 capability, and three advanced imaging functionalities/systems including integrated picture archiving and communication system, Web-based image distribution, and clinical decision support (CDS) with physician pathways. Three imaging efficiency measures suggesting inappropriate utilization during 2011 included: percentage of "combined" (with and without contrast) computed tomography (CT) studies out of all CT studies for abdomen and chest respectively, and percentage of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of lumbar spine without antecedent conservative therapy within 60days. For each measure, three separate regression models (GLM with gamma-log link function, and denominator of imaging measure as exposure) were estimated adjusting for hospital characteristics, market characteristics, and state fixed effects. Additionally, Heckman's Inverse Mills Ratio and propensity for Stage-1 EHR capability were used to account for selection bias. We find support for association of each of the four health IT capabilities with inappropriate utilization rates of one or more imaging modality. Stage-1 EHR capability is associated with lower inappropriate utilization rates for chest CT (incidence rate ratio IRR=0.72, p-value value value value value value value use of Stage-1 Meaningful Use capable EHR systems along with advanced imaging related functionalities could have a beneficial impact on reducing some of the inappropriate utilization of

Crystal structures of E. coli laccase CueO at different copper concentrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xu; Wei Zhiyi; Zhang Min; Peng Xiaohui; Yu Guangzhe; Teng Maikun; Gong Weimin

2007-01-01

CueO protein is a hypothetical bacterial laccase and a good laccase candidate for large scale industrial application. Four CueO crystal structures were determined at different copper concentrations. Low copper occupancy in apo-CueO and slow copper reconstitution process in CueO with exogenous copper were demonstrated. These observations well explain the copper dependence of CueO oxidase activity. Structural comparison between CueO and other three fungal laccase proteins indicates that Glu106 in CueO constitutes the primary counter-work for reconstitution of the trinuclear copper site. Mutation of Glu106 to a Phe enhanced CueO oxidation activity and supported this hypothesis. In addition, an extra α-helix from Leu351 to Gly378 covers substrate biding pocket of CueO and might compromises the electron transfer from substrate to type I copper

G-cueing microcontroller (a microprocessor application in simulators)

Science.gov (United States)

Horattas, C. G.

1980-01-01

A g cueing microcontroller is described which consists of a tandem pair of microprocessors, dedicated to the task of simulating pilot sensed cues caused by gravity effects. This task includes execution of a g cueing model which drives actuators that alter the configuration of the pilot's seat. The g cueing microcontroller receives acceleration commands from the aerodynamics model in the main computer and creates the stimuli that produce physical acceleration effects of the aircraft seat on the pilots anatomy. One of the two microprocessors is a fixed instruction processor that performs all control and interface functions. The other, a specially designed bipolar bit slice microprocessor, is a microprogrammable processor dedicated to all arithmetic operations. The two processors communicate with each other by a shared memory. The g cueing microcontroller contains its own dedicated I/O conversion modules for interface with the seat actuators and controls, and a DMA controller for interfacing with the simulation computer. Any application which can be microcoded within the available memory, the available real time and the available I/O channels, could be implemented in the same controller.

The effect of cue content on retrieval from autobiographical memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Uzer, Tugba; Brown, Norman R

2017-01-01

It has long been argued that personal memories are usually generated in an effortful search process in word-cueing studies. However, recent research (Uzer, Lee, & Brown, 2012) shows that direct retrieval of autobiographical memories, in response to word cues, is common. This invites the question of whether direct retrieval phenomenon is generalizable beyond the standard laboratory paradigm. Here we investigated prevalence of direct retrieval of autobiographical memories cued by specific and individuated cues versus generic cues. In Experiment 1, participants retrieved memories in response to cues from their own life (e.g., the names of friends) and generic words (e.g., chair). In Experiment 2, participants provided their personal cues two or three months prior to coming to the lab (min: 75days; max: 100days). In each experiment, RT was measured and participants reported whether memories were directly retrieved or generated on each trial. Results showed that personal cues elicited a high rate of direct retrieval. Personal cues were more likely to elicit direct retrieval than generic word cues, and as a consequence, participants responded faster, on average, to the former than to the latter. These results challenge the constructive view of autobiographical memory and suggest that autobiographical memories consist of pre-stored event representations, which are largely governed by associative mechanisms. These demonstrations offer theoretically interesting questions such as why are we not overwhelmed with directly retrieved memories cued by everyday familiar surroundings? Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Age-Related Cues on Health and Longevity.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Laura M; Chung, Jaewoo; Langer, Ellen J

2010-11-01

Environmental cues that signal aging may directly and indirectly prime diminished capacity. Similarly, the absence of these cues may prime improved health. The authors investigated the effects of age cues on health and longevity in five very different settings. The findings include the following: First, women who think they look younger after having their hair colored/cut show a decrease in blood pressure and appear younger in photographs (in which their hair is cropped out) to independent raters. Second, clothing is an age-related cue. Uniforms eliminate these age-related cues: Those who wear work uniforms have lower morbidity than do those who earn the same amount of money and do not wear work uniforms. Third, baldness cues old age. Men who bald prematurely see an older self and therefore age faster: Prematurely bald men have an excess risk of getting prostate cancer and coronary heart disease than do men who do not prematurely bald. Fourth, women who bear children later in life are surrounded by younger age-related cues: Older mothers have a longer life expectancy than do women who bear children earlier in life. Last, large spousal age differences result in age-incongruent cues: Younger spouses live shorter lives and older spouses live longer lives than do controls. © The Author(s) 2010.

Cue integration vs. exemplar-based reasoning in multi-attribute decisions from memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arndt Broeder

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Inferences about target variables can be achieved by deliberate integration of probabilistic cues or by retrieving similar cue-patterns (exemplars from memory. In tasks with cue information presented in on-screen displays, rule-based strategies tend to dominate unless the abstraction of cue-target relations is unfeasible. This dominance has also been demonstrated --- surprisingly --- in experiments that demanded the retrieval of cue values from memory (M. Persson and J. Rieskamp, 2009. In three modified replications involving a fictitious disease, binary cue values were represented either by alternative symptoms (e.g., fever vs. hypothermia or by symptom presence vs. absence (e.g., fever vs. no fever. The former representation might hinder cue abstraction. The cues were predictive of the severity of the disease, and participants had to infer in each trial who of two patients was sicker. Both experiments replicated the rule-dominance with present-absent cues but yielded higher percentages of exemplar-based strategies with alternative cues. The experiments demonstrate that a change in cue representation may induce a dramatic shift from rule-based to exemplar-based reasoning in formally identical tasks.

Differences in the reliance on cuticular hydrocarbons as sexual signaling and species discrimination cues in parasitoid wasps.

Science.gov (United States)

Buellesbach, Jan; Vetter, Sebastian G; Schmitt, Thomas

2018-01-01

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) have been documented to play crucial roles as species- and sex-specific cues in the chemical communication systems of a wide variety of insects. However, whether they are sufficient by themselves as the sole cue triggering sexual behavior as well as preference of con- over heterospecific mating partners is rarely assessed. We conducted behavioral assays in three representative species of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to determine their reliance on CHC as species-specific sexual signaling cues. We found a surprising degree of either unspecific or insufficient sexual signaling when CHC are singled out as recognition cues. Most strikingly, the cosmopolitan species Nasonia vitripennis , expected to experience enhanced selection pressure to discriminate against other co-occurring parasitoids, did not discriminate against CHC of a partially sympatric species from another genus, Trichomalopsis sarcophagae . Focusing on the latter species, in turn, it became apparent that CHC are even insufficient as the sole cue triggering conspecific sexual behavior, hinting at the requirement of additional, synergistic sexual cues particularly important in this species. Finally, in the phylogenetically and chemically most divergent species Muscidifurax uniraptor, we intriguingly found both CHC-based sexual signaling as well as species discrimination behavior intact although this species is naturally parthenogenetic with sexual reproduction only occurring under laboratory conditions. Our findings implicate a discrepancy in the reliance on and specificity of CHC as sexual cues in our tested parasitioid wasps. CHC profiles were not sufficient for unambiguous discrimination and preference behavior, as demonstrated by clear cross-attraction between some of our tested wasp genera. Moreover, we could show that only in T. sarcophagae , additional behavioral cues need to be present for triggering natural mating behavior, hinting at an interesting

Potentially inappropriate medications defined by STOPP criteria and the risk of adverse drug events in older hospitalized patients.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Hamilton, Hilary

2011-06-13

Previous studies have not demonstrated a consistent association between potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) in older patients as defined by Beers criteria and avoidable adverse drug events (ADEs). This study aimed to assess whether PIMs defined by new STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Persons\\' potentially inappropriate Prescriptions) criteria are significantly associated with ADEs in older people with acute illness.

Alcohol-seeking and relapse: A focus on incentive salience and contextual conditioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Valyear, Milan D; Villaruel, Franz R; Chaudhri, Nadia

2017-08-01

Environmental stimuli that reliably accompany alcohol intake can become associated with the pharmacological effects of alcohol through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning. Of growing interest to addiction researchers is whether or not this process results in the attribution of incentive salience to alcohol-predictive cues, which could motivate alcohol-seeking behavior and relapse. To evaluate this question, we present a review of rodent behavioral studies that examined the capacity of alcohol-predictive cues to (i) support sign-tracking behavior, (ii) serve as conditioned reinforcers, and (iii) produce Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. A second, emerging area of research is focused on delineating the role of context in alcohol-seeking behavior and relapse. Here, we review studies showing that alcohol-associated contexts (i) support conditioned place preference, (ii) renew extinguished alcohol-seeking behavior, and (iii) modulate alcohol-seeking responses elicited by discrete alcohol-predictive cues. These behavioral effects may be mediated by unique psychological processes, and have important implications for cue-reactivity studies and neurobiological research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use Among Elderly Home Care Patients in Europe

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Fialová, D.; Topinková, E.; Gambassi, G.; Finne-Soveri, H.; Jónsson, P.; Carpenter, I.; Schroll, M.; Onder, G.; Sorbye, L.W.; Wagner, C.; Reissigová, Jindra; Bernabei, R.

2005-01-01

Roč. 293, č. 11 (2005), s. 1348-1358 ISSN 0098-7484 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : potentially inappropriate medication * prevalence * independent correlates Subject RIV: FQ - Public Health Care , Social Medicine Impact factor: 23.332, year: 2005 http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/293/11/1348

Familiar units prevail over statistical cues in word segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Poulin-Charronnat, Bénédicte; Perruchet, Pierre; Tillmann, Barbara; Peereman, Ronald

2017-09-01

In language acquisition research, the prevailing position is that listeners exploit statistical cues, in particular transitional probabilities between syllables, to discover words of a language. However, other cues are also involved in word discovery. Assessing the weight learners give to these different cues leads to a better understanding of the processes underlying speech segmentation. The present study evaluated whether adult learners preferentially used known units or statistical cues for segmenting continuous speech. Before the exposure phase, participants were familiarized with part-words of a three-word artificial language. This design allowed the dissociation of the influence of statistical cues and familiar units, with statistical cues favoring word segmentation and familiar units favoring (nonoptimal) part-word segmentation. In Experiment 1, performance in a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task between words and part-words revealed part-word segmentation (even though part-words were less cohesive in terms of transitional probabilities and less frequent than words). By contrast, an unfamiliarized group exhibited word segmentation, as usually observed in standard conditions. Experiment 2 used a syllable-detection task to remove the likely contamination of performance by memory and strategy effects in the 2AFC task. Overall, the results suggest that familiar units overrode statistical cues, ultimately questioning the need for computation mechanisms of transitional probabilities (TPs) in natural language speech segmentation.

Real-Time Clinical Decision Support Decreases Inappropriate Plasma Transfusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Neil; Baker, Steven A; Spain, David; Shieh, Lisa; Shepard, John; Hadhazy, Eric; Maggio, Paul; Goodnough, Lawrence T

2017-08-01

To curtail inappropriate plasma transfusions, we instituted clinical decision support as an alert upon order entry if the patient's recent international normalized ratio (INR) was 1.7 or less. The alert was suppressed for massive transfusion and within operative or apheresis settings. The plasma order was automatically removed upon alert acceptance while clinical exception reasons allowed for continued transfusion. Alert impact was studied comparing a 7-month control period with a 4-month intervention period. Monthly plasma utilization decreased 17.4%, from a mean ± SD of 3.40 ± 0.48 to 2.82 ± 0.6 plasma units per hundred patient days (95% confidence interval [CI] of difference, -0.1 to 1.3). Plasma transfused below an INR of 1.7 or less decreased from 47.6% to 41.6% (P = .0002; odds ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.69-0.89). The alert recommendation was accepted 33% of the time while clinical exceptions were chosen in the remaining cases (active bleeding, 31%; other clinical indication, 33%; and apheresis, 2%). Alert acceptance rate varied significantly among different provider specialties. Clinical decision support can help curtail inappropriate plasma use but needs to be part of a comprehensive strategy including audit and feedback for comprehensive, long-term changes. © American Society for Clinical Pathology, 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

[Prevalence of potentially inappropriate drug prescription in the elderly].

Science.gov (United States)

Fajreldines, A; Insua, J; Schnitzler, E

2016-01-01

One of the causes of preventable adverse drug events (ADES) in older patients constitutes inappropriate prescription of drugs (PIM). The PIM is where risks exceed the clinical benefit. Several instruments can be use to measure this problem, the most used are: a) Beers criteria; b) Screening tool to Older People Potentially inappropriate Prescription (STOPP); c) Screening tool to Alert Doctors to Right Appropriate indicated Treatments (START); d) The Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI). This study aims to assess the prevalence of PIM, in a population of older adults in three clinical scopes of university hospital. cross sectional study of 300 cases from a random sample of fields: hospitalization (n=100), ambulatory (n=100) and emergency (n=100), all patients over 65 years old or more who where treated at our hospital. 1355 prescription drugs were analized, finding patients hospitalized (PIM) of 57.7%, 55%, 26%, and 80% according to Beers, in ambulatory 36%, 36.5%, 5% and 52% with the same tools and in emergency 35%, 35%, 6% y 52% with the same tools. Was found significant association the PIM with polipharmacy with Beers, STOPP and MAI. results can be compare to world literature (26-80% vs 11-73.1%). The STOPP-START used in an integrated manner would be best estimating the problem of PIM. Copyright © 2016 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Cueing listeners to attend to a target talker progressively improves word report as the duration of the cue-target interval lengthens to 2,000 ms.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Emma; Kitterick, Padraig T; Summerfield, A Quentin

2018-04-25

Endogenous attention is typically studied by presenting instructive cues in advance of a target stimulus array. For endogenous visual attention, task performance improves as the duration of the cue-target interval increases up to 800 ms. Less is known about how endogenous auditory attention unfolds over time or the mechanisms by which an instructive cue presented in advance of an auditory array improves performance. The current experiment used five cue-target intervals (0, 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 ms) to compare four hypotheses for how preparatory attention develops over time in a multi-talker listening task. Young adults were cued to attend to a target talker who spoke in a mixture of three talkers. Visual cues indicated the target talker's spatial location or their gender. Participants directed attention to location and gender simultaneously ("objects") at all cue-target intervals. Participants were consistently faster and more accurate at reporting words spoken by the target talker when the cue-target interval was 2,000 ms than 0 ms. In addition, the latency of correct responses progressively shortened as the duration of the cue-target interval increased from 0 to 2,000 ms. These findings suggest that the mechanisms involved in preparatory auditory attention develop gradually over time, taking at least 2,000 ms to reach optimal configuration, yet providing cumulative improvements in speech intelligibility as the duration of the cue-target interval increases from 0 to 2,000 ms. These results demonstrate an improvement in performance for cue-target intervals longer than those that have been reported previously in the visual or auditory modalities.

Inappropriate emergency laboratory test ordering: defensive or peer evidence shared based medicine?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Descovich

2013-05-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND The laboratory overuse is widely prevalent in hospital practice, mostly in the emergency care. Reasons for excessive and inappropriate test-ordering include defensive behaviour and fear or uncertainty, lack of experience, the misuse of protocols and guidelines, “routine” and local attitudes, inadequate educational feedback and clinician’s unawareness about the cost of examinations and their related implications. AIM OF THE STUDY AND METHODS The primary target of our working group was to reduce inappropriate ordering on a urgent basis test, implementing further examinations not yet previewed in the hospital panel of the available urgencies, according to the evidence based diagnosis concept. The secondary goal was to indicate strategies of re-engineering of the processes, improving turnaround time in the laboratory management of emergencies. After evaluating, as first intervention, the more reliable sources for practice guidelines, systematic reviews and RCTs, the committee further discussed main topics with in-hospital stakeholders, selected from Emergency, Internal Medicine and Surgery Depts. The working group, in many subsequent audits, tried to obtain a systematic feed back with all involved professionals. RESULTS After reviewing literature’s evidence, the board constrained testing options by defining the basic emergency laboratory panel tests (blood type, hemogram, blood urea nitrogen, plasma creatinine, glucose, sodium, potassium, chloride, osmolarity, CRP, bicarbonate, CPK, creatine phosphokinase-MB, myoglobin, troponin, BNP and NT-proBNP, PT-INR, PTT, D-dimer, beta- HCG, biochemical urinalysis etc.. As final result, the proposed tests reduced the overall number of inappropriate investigations and increased, with newer and updated tests, the available panel for critical patients. DISCUSSION A collegiate review of data reporting, in-hospital deepening of problems and the inter- professional discussion of the evidences

Automaticity of phasic alertness: Evidence for a three-component model of visual cueing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Zhicheng; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2016-10-01

The automaticity of phasic alertness is investigated using the attention network test. Results show that the cueing effect from the alerting cue-double cue-is strongly enhanced by the task relevance of visual cues, as determined by the informativeness of the orienting cue-single cue-that is being mixed (80 % vs. 50 % valid in predicting where the target will appear). Counterintuitively, the cueing effect from the alerting cue can be negatively affected by its visibility, such that masking the cue from awareness can reveal a cueing effect that is otherwise absent when the cue is visible. Evidently, then, top-down influences-in the form of contextual relevance and cue awareness-can have opposite influences on the cueing effect from the alerting cue. These findings lead us to the view that a visual cue can engage three components of attention-orienting, alerting, and inhibition-to determine the behavioral cueing effect. We propose that phasic alertness, particularly in the form of specific response readiness, is regulated by both internal, top-down expectation and external, bottom-up stimulus properties. In contrast to some existing views, we advance the perspective that phasic alertness is strongly tied to temporal orienting, attentional capture, and spatial orienting. Finally, we discuss how translating attention research to clinical applications would benefit from an improved ability to measure attention. To this end, controlling the degree of intraindividual variability in the attentional components and improving the precision of the measurement tools may prove vital.

Investigating the effects of consumption-associated cues on disappointment, regret and post-consumption behaviours

OpenAIRE

Hossain, Muhammad Ismail

2017-01-01

Consumers invariably encounter both positive and negative consumption experiences in their lives. Prior research finds that negative consumption experiences result in particular affective and behavioural reactions. This research focuses on how consumers respond to consumption-associated cues, in particular, causal attributions, expectations, and perceived information search, in terms of feelings of disappointment and regret, and how these emotions subsequently influence consumers’ post consum...

Cue combination in a combined feature contrast detection and figure identification task.

Science.gov (United States)

Meinhardt, Günter; Persike, Malte; Mesenholl, Björn; Hagemann, Cordula

2006-11-01

Target figures defined by feature contrast in spatial frequency, orientation or both cues had to be detected in Gabor random fields and their shape had to be identified in a dual task paradigm. Performance improved with increasing feature contrast and was strongly correlated among both tasks. Subjects performed significantly better with combined cues than with single cues. The improvement due to cue summation was stronger than predicted by the assumption of independent feature specific mechanisms, and increased with the performance level achieved with single cues until it was limited by ceiling effects. Further, cue summation was also strongly correlated among tasks: when there was benefit due to the additional cue in feature contrast detection, there was also benefit in figure identification. For the same performance level achieved with single cues, cue summation was generally larger in figure identification than in feature contrast detection, indicating more benefit when processes of shape and surface formation are involved. Our results suggest that cue combination improves spatial form completion and figure-ground segregation in noisy environments, and therefore leads to more stable object vision.

The testing effect for mediator final test cues and related final test cues in online and laboratory experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Coppens, Leonora C; Verkoeijen, Peter P J L; Bouwmeester, Samantha; Rikers, Remy M J P

2016-05-31

The testing effect is the finding that information that is retrieved during learning is more often correctly retrieved on a final test than information that is restudied. According to the semantic mediator hypothesis the testing effect arises because retrieval practice of cue-target pairs (mother-child) activates semantically related mediators (father) more than restudying. Hence, the mediator-target (father-child) association should be stronger for retrieved than restudied pairs. Indeed, Carpenter (2011) found a larger testing effect when participants received mediators (father) than when they received target-related words (birth) as final test cues. The present study started as an attempt to test an alternative account of Carpenter's results. However, it turned into a series of conceptual (Experiment 1) and direct (Experiment 2 and 3) replications conducted with online samples. The results of these online replications were compared with those of similar existing laboratory experiments through small-scale meta-analyses. The results showed that (1) the magnitude of the raw mediator testing effect advantage is comparable for online and laboratory experiments, (2) in both online and laboratory experiments the magnitude of the raw mediator testing effect advantage is smaller than in Carpenter's original experiment, and (3) the testing effect for related cues varies considerably between online experiments. The variability in the testing effect for related cues in online experiments could point toward moderators of the related cue short-term testing effect. The raw mediator testing effect advantage is smaller than in Carpenter's original experiment.

Sex-related differences in behavioral and amygdalar responses to compound facial threat cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Im, Hee Yeon; Adams, Reginald B; Cushing, Cody A; Boshyan, Jasmine; Ward, Noreen; Kveraga, Kestutis

2018-03-08

During face perception, we integrate facial expression and eye gaze to take advantage of their shared signals. For example, fear with averted gaze provides a congruent avoidance cue, signaling both threat presence and its location, whereas fear with direct gaze sends an incongruent cue, leaving threat location ambiguous. It has been proposed that the processing of different combinations of threat cues is mediated by dual processing routes: reflexive processing via magnocellular (M) pathway and reflective processing via parvocellular (P) pathway. Because growing evidence has identified a variety of sex differences in emotional perception, here we also investigated how M and P processing of fear and eye gaze might be modulated by observer's sex, focusing on the amygdala, a structure important to threat perception and affective appraisal. We adjusted luminance and color of face stimuli to selectively engage M or P processing and asked observers to identify emotion of the face. Female observers showed more accurate behavioral responses to faces with averted gaze and greater left amygdala reactivity both to fearful and neutral faces. Conversely, males showed greater right amygdala activation only for M-biased averted-gaze fear faces. In addition to functional reactivity differences, females had proportionately greater bilateral amygdala volumes, which positively correlated with behavioral accuracy for M-biased fear. Conversely, in males only the right amygdala volume was positively correlated with accuracy for M-biased fear faces. Our findings suggest that M and P processing of facial threat cues is modulated by functional and structural differences in the amygdalae associated with observer's sex. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Perception of Verbal and Nonverbal Emotional Signals in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder: Evidence of a Negative Bias and an Increased Reliance on Nonverbal Cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Brück, Carolin; Derstroff, Stephanie; Jacob, Heike; Wolf-Arehult, Martina; Wekenmann, Stefanie; Wildgruber, Dirk

2017-04-01

Studies conducted in patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have documented a variety of anomalies concerning patients' abilities to interpret emotional signals. Attempting to clarify the bases of these anomalies, the current literature draws attention to a possible role of dysfunctional expectations, such as the expectation of social rejection. Dysfunctional expectations, however, may not only bias social interpretations, but may also focus attention on social cues most important in conveying emotional messages, such as nonverbal signals. To explore these assumptions, 30 female BPD patients were tasked to judge the valence of emotional states conveyed by combinations of verbal and nonverbal emotional cues. Compared to controls, BPD patients exhibited a negative bias in their interpretations and relied more on available nonverbal cues. Shifts in the relative importance of nonverbal cues appeared to be rooted mainly in a reduced reliance on positive verbal cues presumably deemed less credible by BPD patients.

Top down modulation of attention to food cues via working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgs, Suzanne; Rutters, Femke; Thomas, Jason M; Naish, Katherine; Humphreys, Glyn W

2012-08-01

Attentional biases towards food cues may be linked to the development of obesity. The present study investigated the mechanisms underlying attentional biases to food cues by assessing the role of top down influences, such as working memory (WM). We assessed whether attention in normal-weight, sated participants was drawn to food items specifically when that food item was held in WM. Twenty-three participants (15 f/8 m, age 23.4±5 year, BMI 23.5±4 kg/m(2)) took part in a laboratory based study assessing reaction times to food and non-food stimuli. Participants were presented with an initial cue stimulus to either hold in WM or to merely attend to, and then searched for the target (a circle) in a two-item display. On valid trials the target was flanked by a picture matching the cue, on neutral trials the display did not contain a picture matching the cue, and on invalid trials the distractor (a square) was flanked by a picture matching the cue. Cues were food, cars or stationery items. We observed that, relative to the effects with non-food stimuli, food items in WM strongly affected attention when the memorised cue re-appeared in the search display. In particular there was an enhanced response on valid trials, when the re-appearance of the memorised cue coincided with the search target. There were no effects of cue category on attentional guidance when the cues were merely attended to but not held in WM. These data point towards food having a strong effect on top-down guidance of search from working memory, and suggest a mechanism whereby individuals who are preoccupied with thoughts of food, for example obese individuals, show facilitated detection of food cues in the environment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning Grammatical Categories from Distributional Cues: Flexible Frames for Language Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

St. Clair, Michelle C.; Monaghan, Padraic; Christiansen, Morten H.

2010-01-01

Numerous distributional cues in the child's environment may potentially assist in language learning, but what cues are useful to the child and when are these cues utilised? We propose that the most useful source of distributional cue is a flexible frame surrounding the word, where the language learner integrates information from the preceding and…

Viewpoint-independent contextual cueing effect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

taiga etsuchiai

2012-06-01

Full Text Available We usually perceive things in our surroundings as unchanged despite viewpoint changes caused by self-motion. The visual system therefore must have a function to process objects independently of viewpoint. In this study, we examined whether viewpoint-independent spatial layout can be obtained implicitly. For this purpose, we used a contextual cueing effect, a learning effect of spatial layout in visual search displays known to be an implicit effect. We compared the transfer of the contextual cueing effect between cases with and without self-motion by using visual search displays for 3D objects, which changed according to the participant’s assumed location for viewing the stimuli. The contextual cueing effect was obtained with self-motion but disappeared when the display changed without self-motion. This indicates that there is an implicit learning effect in spatial coordinates and suggests that the spatial representation of object layouts or scenes can be obtained and updated implicitly. We also showed that binocular disparity play an important role in the layout representations.

Cue Reliance in L2 Written Production

Science.gov (United States)

Wiechmann, Daniel; Kerz, Elma

2014-01-01

Second language learners reach expert levels in relative cue weighting only gradually. On the basis of ensemble machine learning models fit to naturalistic written productions of German advanced learners of English and expert writers, we set out to reverse engineer differences in the weighting of multiple cues in a clause linearization problem. We…

Ontogenetic changes in responses to settlement cues by Anemonefish

Science.gov (United States)

Dixson, D. L.; Munday, P. L.; Pratchett, M.; Jones, G. P.

2011-12-01

Population connectivity for most marine species is dictated by dispersal during the pelagic larval stage. Although reef fish larvae are known to display behavioral adaptations that influence settlement site selection, little is known about the development of behavioral preferences throughout the larval phase. Whether larvae are attracted to the same sensory cues throughout their larval phase, or exhibit distinct ontogenetic shifts in sensory preference is unknown. Here, we demonstrate an ontogenetic shift in olfactory cue preferences for two species of anemonefish, a process that could aid in understanding both patterns of dispersal and settlement. Aquarium-bred naïve Amphiprion percula and A. melanopus larvae were tested for olfactory preference of relevant reef-associated chemical cues throughout the 11-day pelagic larval stage. Age posthatching had a significant effect on the preference for olfactory cues from host anemones and live corals for both species. Preferences of olfactory cues from tropical plants of A. percula, increased by approximately ninefold between hatching and settlement, with A. percula larvae showing a fivefold increase in preference for the olfactory cue produced by the grass species. Larval age had no effect on the olfactory preference for untreated seawater over the swamp-based tree Melaleuca nervosa, which was always avoided compared with blank seawater. These results indicate that reef fish larvae are capable of utilizing olfactory cues early in the larval stage and may be predisposed to disperse away from reefs, with innate olfactory preferences drawing newly hatched larvae into the pelagic environment. Toward the end of the larval phase, larvae become attracted to the olfactory cues of appropriate habitats, which may assist them in identification of and navigation toward suitable settlement sites.

Proximal femoral osteosarcoma: Diagnostic challenges translate into delayed and inappropriate management.

Science.gov (United States)

Dahan, M; Anract, P; Babinet, A; Larousserie, F; Biau, D

2017-11-01

The proximal femuris is an uncommon site of osteosarcoma. The unusual manifestations at this site may lead to diagnostic and therapeutic mistakes. We therefore performed a retrospective study to estimate the proportions of patients with imaging study findings and/or clinical manifestations typical for osteosarcoma and/or inappropriate treatment decisions. Proximal femoral osteosarcoma often produces atypical clinical and radiological presentations. Consecutive patients who underwent surgery at our center to treat proximal femoral osteosarcoma were included. For each patient, we collected the epidemiological characteristics, clinical symptoms, imaging study findings, treatment, and tumor outcome. Proportions were computed with their confidence intervals. Twelve patients had surgery for proximal femoral osteosarcoma between 1986 and 2015. Imaging findings were typical in 1 (8%) patient; they consisted of ill-defined osteolysis in 11/12 (92%) patients, a periosteal reaction in 1/12 (8%) patient, soft tissue involvement in 7/12 (58%) patients, and immature osteoid matrix in 11/12 (92%) patients. No patient had the typical combination of pain with a soft tissue swelling. Management was inappropriate in 2/12 (17%) patients, who did not undergo all the recommended imaging studies before surgery and were treated in another center before the correct diagnosis was established. At last follow-up, 4 patients had died (after a mean of 7 years) and 8 were alive (after a mean of 4 years). Proximal femoral osteosarcoma is uncommon and rarely produces the typical clinical and imaging study findings. The atypical presentation often results in diagnostic errors and inappropriate treatments. Ill-defined osteolysis on standard radiographs should prompt computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the proximal femur. Treatment in a specialized center is imperative. IV, retrospective study. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The Responses of Young Domestic Horses to Human-Given Cues

Science.gov (United States)

Proops, Leanne; Rayner, Jenny; Taylor, Anna M.; McComb, Karen

2013-01-01

It has been suggested that the process of domestication, at least in some species, has led to an innate predisposition to be skilled at reading human communicative and attentional cues. Adult domestic horses (Equus caballus) are highly sensitive to subtle bodily cues when determining if a person is attending to them but they are less adept at using human communicative cues in object choice tasks. Here we provide the first study into the ontogeny of such skills in order to gain insights into the mechanisms underlying these abilities. Compared with adult horses, youngsters under the age of three could use body orientation but not more subtle cues such as head movement and open/closed eyes to correctly choose an attentive person to approach for food. Across two object choice experiments, the performance of young horses was comparable to that of adult horses – subjects were able to correctly choose a rewarded bucket using marker placement, pointing and touching cues but could not use body orientation, gaze, elbow pointing or tapping cues. Taken together these results do not support the theory that horses possess an innate predisposition to be particularly skilled at using human cues. Horses' ability to determine whether humans are attending to them using subtle body cues appears to require significant experience to fully develop and their perhaps less remarkable use of limited cues in object choice tasks, although present at a much earlier age, is likely to reflect a more general learning ability related to stimulus enhancement rather than a specific ‘human-reading’ skill. PMID:23840572

Smoking-Cue Induced Brain Activation In Adolescent Light Smokers

Science.gov (United States)

Rubinstein, Mark L.; Luks, Tracy L.; Moscicki, Anna-Barbara; Dryden, Wendy; Rait, Michelle A.; Simpson, Gregory V.

2010-01-01

Purpose Using fMRI, we examined whether or not adolescents with low levels of nicotine exposure (light smokers) display neural activation in areas shown to be involved with addiction in response to smoking-related stimuli. Design/Setting/Participants Twelve adolescent light smokers (aged 13 to17, smoked 1 to 5 cigarettes per day) and 12 non-smokers (ages 13 to 17, never smoked a cigarette) from the San Francisco Bay Area underwent fMRI scanning. During scanning they viewed blocks of photographic smoking and control cues. Smoking cues consisted of pictures of people smoking cigarettes and smoking-related objects such as lighters and ashtrays. Neutral cues consisted of everyday objects and people engaged in everyday activities. Findings For smokers, smoking cues elicited greater activation than neutral cues in the mesolimbic reward circuit (left anterior cingulate (T=7.88, pbrain regions seen in adult and heavy teen smokers suggests that even at low levels of smoking, adolescents exhibit heightened reactivity to smoking cues. This paper adds to the existing literature suggesting that nicotine dependence may begin with exposure to low levels of nicotine, underscoring the need for early intervention among adolescent smokers. PMID:21185518

Spectral information as an orientation cue in dung beetles.

Science.gov (United States)

El Jundi, Basil; Foster, James J; Byrne, Marcus J; Baird, Emily; Dacke, Marie

2015-11-01

During the day, a non-uniform distribution of long and short wavelength light generates a colour gradient across the sky. This gradient could be used as a compass cue, particularly by animals such as dung beetles that rely primarily on celestial cues for orientation. Here, we tested if dung beetles can use spectral cues for orientation by presenting them with monochromatic (green and UV) light spots in an indoor arena. Beetles kept their original bearing when presented with a single light cue, green or UV, or when presented with both light cues set 180° apart. When either the UV or the green light was turned off after the beetles had set their bearing in the presence of both cues, they were still able to maintain their original bearing to the remaining light. However, if the beetles were presented with two identical green light spots set 180° apart, their ability to maintain their original bearing was impaired. In summary, our data show that ball-rolling beetles could potentially use the celestial chromatic gradient as a reference for orientation. © 2015 The Author(s).

Subliminal Cues While Teaching: HCI Technique for Enhanced Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre Chalfoun

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents results from an empirical study conducted with a subliminal teaching technique aimed at enhancing learner's performance in Intelligent Systems through the use of physiological sensors. This technique uses carefully designed subliminal cues (positive and miscues (negative and projects them under the learner's perceptual visual threshold. A positive cue, called answer cue, is a hint aiming to enhance the learner's inductive reasoning abilities and projected in a way to help them figure out the solution faster but more importantly better. A negative cue, called miscue, is also used and aims at obviously at the opposite (distract the learner or lead them to the wrong conclusion. The latest obtained results showed that only subliminal cues, not miscues, could significantly increase learner performance and intuition in a logic-based problem-solving task. Nonintrusive physiological sensors (EEG for recording brainwaves, blood volume pressure to compute heart rate and skin response to record skin conductivity were used to record affective and cerebral responses throughout the experiment. The descriptive analysis, combined with the physiological data, provides compelling evidence for the positive impact of answer cues on reasoning and intuitive decision making in a logic-based problem-solving paradigm.

Visual Search and Target Cueing: A Comparison of Head-Mounted Versus Hand-Held Displays on the Allocation of Visual Attention

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Yeh, Michelle; Wickens, Christopher D

1998-01-01

We conducted a study to examine the effects of target cueing and conformality with a hand-held or head-mounted display to determine their effects on visual search tasks requiring focused and divided attention...

Distinguishing Reconfiguration and Compound-cue Retrieval in Task Switching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gordon D Logan

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Many researchers claim that task switching requires reconfiguration of the cognitive system. Others claim that task switching involves cue-based memory retrieval processes and not reconfiguration. We evaluate these competing claims by developing both reconfiguration and cue-based memory models in a common theoretical framework and by fitting the models to' target functions', which show how performance on individual target stimuli varies depending on the task subjects perform on the targets. Our analyses show that the process of compound-cue retrieval – using the task cue and the target as joint retrieval cues to select a response from memory – is sufficient to explain target functions for parity and magnitude judgments of digits and that reconfiguration does not seem to add anything to the explanation. We address the generality of this conclusion and speculate about the conditions under which reconfiguration may be necessary for task switching.

Auditory feedback blocks memory benefits of cueing during sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Schreiner, Thomas; Lehmann, Mick; Rasch, Björn

2015-10-28

It is now widely accepted that re-exposure to memory cues during sleep reactivates memories and can improve later recall. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. As reactivation during wakefulness renders memories sensitive to updating, it remains an intriguing question whether reactivated memories during sleep also become susceptible to incorporating further information after the cue. Here we show that the memory benefits of cueing Dutch vocabulary during sleep are in fact completely blocked when memory cues are directly followed by either correct or conflicting auditory feedback, or a pure tone. In addition, immediate (but not delayed) auditory stimulation abolishes the characteristic increases in oscillatory theta and spindle activity typically associated with successful reactivation during sleep as revealed by high-density electroencephalography. We conclude that plastic processes associated with theta and spindle oscillations occurring during a sensitive period immediately after the cue are necessary for stabilizing reactivated memory traces during sleep.

Women born preterm or with inappropriate weight for gestational age are at risk of subsequent gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

á Rogvi, Rasmus; Forman, Julie Lyng; Damm, Peter

2012-01-01

Low birthweight, which can be caused by inappropriate intrauterine growth or prematurity, is associated with development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as well as pre-eclampsia later in life, but the relative effects of prematurity and inappropriate intrauterine growth remain uncertain....

Reward dependence moderates smoking-cue- and stress-induced cigarette cravings.

Science.gov (United States)

Michalowski, Alexandra; Erblich, Joel

2014-12-01

Cigarette cravings following exposure to smoking cues in a smoker's environment are thought to play an important role in cessation failure. The possibility that dispositional factors may impact cue-induced cravings, though intriguing, has received little attention. According to Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Theory, factors such as reward dependence (RD), harm avoidance (HA), and novelty seeking (NS) may figure prominently in risk for addiction, as well as relapse, in individuals attempting to abstain from drug and alcohol use. Particularly interesting in this regard is the possibility that smokers with higher levels of RD, who are especially sensitive to reward signals, will have heightened craving reactions to smoking cues. To that end, non-treatment-seeking nicotine dependent smokers (n=96, mean age=41.1, 47% African American, 17% Caucasian, 22% Hispanic, 19.3cigs/day, FTND=7.5) underwent a classic experimental cue-induction, during which they were exposed to imagery of: (1) smoking, (2) neutral, and (3) stress cues, and reported their cigarette cravings (0-100) before and after each exposure. Participants also completed the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. Not surprisingly, smoking and stress cues (but not neutral cues) elicited significant elevations in craving (p'scues (pcues (pcues. Furthermore, the similar effects of RD on stress-induced craving suggest that both cue-and stress-induced cravings may be influenced by a common underlying disposition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A dominance hierarchy of auditory spatial cues in barn owls.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilana B Witten

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Barn owls integrate spatial information across frequency channels to localize sounds in space.We presented barn owls with synchronous sounds that contained different bands of frequencies (3-5 kHz and 7-9 kHz from different locations in space. When the owls were confronted with the conflicting localization cues from two synchronous sounds of equal level, their orienting responses were dominated by one of the sounds: they oriented toward the location of the low frequency sound when the sources were separated in azimuth; in contrast, they oriented toward the location of the high frequency sound when the sources were separated in elevation. We identified neural correlates of this behavioral effect in the optic tectum (OT, superior colliculus in mammals, which contains a map of auditory space and is involved in generating orienting movements to sounds. We found that low frequency cues dominate the representation of sound azimuth in the OT space map, whereas high frequency cues dominate the representation of sound elevation.We argue that the dominance hierarchy of localization cues reflects several factors: 1 the relative amplitude of the sound providing the cue, 2 the resolution with which the auditory system measures the value of a cue, and 3 the spatial ambiguity in interpreting the cue. These same factors may contribute to the relative weighting of sound localization cues in other species, including humans.

Effects of cue types on sex differences in human spatial memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Chai, Xiaoqian J; Jacobs, Lucia F

2010-04-02

We examined the effects of cue types on human spatial memory in 3D virtual environments adapted from classical animal and human tasks. Two classes of cues of different functions were investigated: those that provide directional information, and those that provide positional information. Adding a directional cue (geographical slant) to the spatial delayed-match-to-sample task improved performance in males but not in females. When the slant directional cue was removed in a hidden-target location task, male performance was impaired but female performance was unaffected. The removal of positional cues, on the other hand, impaired female performance but not male performance. These results are consistent with results from laboratory rodents and thus support the hypothesis that sex differences in spatial memory arise from the dissociation between a preferential reliance on directional cues in males and on positional cues in females. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Task Interruption: Resumption Lag and the Role of Cues

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Altmann, Erik M; Trafton, J. G

2004-01-01

...), indicating a substantial disruptive effect. To probe the nature of the disruption, they examined the role of external cues associated with the interrupted task and found that cues available immediately before an interruption facilitate performance immediately afterwards, thus reducing the resumption lag. This "cue-availability" effect suggests that people deploy preparatory perceptual and memory processes, apparently spontaneously, to mitigate the disruptive effects of task interruption.

The Effects of Spatial Endogenous Pre-cueing across Eccentricities.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Jing; Spence, Ian

2017-01-01

Frequently, we use expectations about likely locations of a target to guide the allocation of our attention. Despite the importance of this attentional process in everyday tasks, examination of pre-cueing effects on attention, particularly endogenous pre-cueing effects, has been relatively little explored outside an eccentricity of 20°. Given the visual field has functional subdivisions that attentional processes can differ significantly among the foveal, perifoveal, and more peripheral areas, how endogenous pre-cues that carry spatial information of targets influence our allocation of attention across a large visual field (especially in the more peripheral areas) remains unclear. We present two experiments examining how the expectation of the location of the target shapes the distribution of attention across eccentricities in the visual field. We measured participants' ability to pick out a target among distractors in the visual field after the presentation of a highly valid cue indicating the size of the area in which the target was likely to occur, or the likely direction of the target (left or right side of the display). Our first experiment showed that participants had a higher target detection rate with faster responses, particularly at eccentricities of 20° and 30°. There was also a marginal advantage of pre-cueing effects when trials of the same size cue were blocked compared to when trials were mixed. Experiment 2 demonstrated a higher target detection rate when the target occurred at the cued direction. This pre-cueing effect was greater at larger eccentricities and with a longer cue-target interval. Our findings on the endogenous pre-cueing effects across a large visual area were summarized using a simple model to assist in conceptualizing the modifications of the distribution of attention over the visual field. We discuss our finding in light of cognitive penetration of perception, and highlight the importance of examining attentional process across

The Effects of Spatial Endogenous Pre-cueing across Eccentricities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Feng

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Frequently, we use expectations about likely locations of a target to guide the allocation of our attention. Despite the importance of this attentional process in everyday tasks, examination of pre-cueing effects on attention, particularly endogenous pre-cueing effects, has been relatively little explored outside an eccentricity of 20°. Given the visual field has functional subdivisions that attentional processes can differ significantly among the foveal, perifoveal, and more peripheral areas, how endogenous pre-cues that carry spatial information of targets influence our allocation of attention across a large visual field (especially in the more peripheral areas remains unclear. We present two experiments examining how the expectation of the location of the target shapes the distribution of attention across eccentricities in the visual field. We measured participants’ ability to pick out a target among distractors in the visual field after the presentation of a highly valid cue indicating the size of the area in which the target was likely to occur, or the likely direction of the target (left or right side of the display. Our first experiment showed that participants had a higher target detection rate with faster responses, particularly at eccentricities of 20° and 30°. There was also a marginal advantage of pre-cueing effects when trials of the same size cue were blocked compared to when trials were mixed. Experiment 2 demonstrated a higher target detection rate when the target occurred at the cued direction. This pre-cueing effect was greater at larger eccentricities and with a longer cue-target interval. Our findings on the endogenous pre-cueing effects across a large visual area were summarized using a simple model to assist in conceptualizing the modifications of the distribution of attention over the visual field. We discuss our finding in light of cognitive penetration of perception, and highlight the importance of examining

Using spatial uncertainty to manipulate the size of the attention focus

OpenAIRE

Huang, Dan; Xue, Linyan; Wang, Xin; Chen, Yao

2016-01-01

Preferentially processing behaviorally relevant information is vital for primate survival. In visuospatial attention studies, manipulating the spatial extent of attention focus is an important question. Although many studies have claimed to successfully adjust attention field size by either varying the uncertainty about the target location (spatial uncertainty) or adjusting the size of the cue orienting the attention focus, no systematic studies have assessed and compared the effectiveness of...

Common influences of non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonists on the consolidation and reconsolidation of cocaine-cue memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Alaghband, Yasaman; Marshall, John F

2013-04-01

Environmental stimuli or contexts previously associated with rewarding drugs contribute importantly to relapse among addicts, and research has focused on neurobiological processes maintaining those memories. Much research shows contributions of cell surface receptors and intracellular signaling pathways in maintaining associations between rewarding drugs (e.g., cocaine) and concurrent cues/contexts; these memories can be degraded at the time of their retrieval through reconsolidation interference. Much less studied is the consolidation of drug-cue memories during their acquisition. The present experiments use the cocaine-conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in rats to directly compare, in a consistent setting, the effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonists MK-801 and memantine on the consolidation and reconsolidation of cocaine-cue memories. For the consolidation studies, animals were systemically administered MK-801 or memantine immediately following training sessions. To investigate the effects of these NMDA receptor antagonists on the retention of previously established cocaine-cue memories, animals were systemically administered MK-801 or memantine immediately after memory retrieval. Animals given either NMDA receptor antagonist immediately following training sessions did not establish a preference for the cocaine-paired compartment. Post-retrieval administration of either NMDA receptor antagonist attenuated the animals' preference for the cocaine-paired compartment. Furthermore, animals given NMDA receptor antagonists post-retrieval showed a blunted response to cocaine-primed reinstatement. Using two distinct NMDA receptor antagonists in a common setting, these findings demonstrate that NMDA receptor-dependent processes contribute both to the consolidation and reconsolidation of cocaine-cue memories, and they point to the potential utility of treatments that interfere with drug-cue memory reconsolidation.

Emotional expression in music: contribution, linearity, and additivity of primary musical cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Eerola, Tuomas; Friberg, Anders; Bresin, Roberto

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to manipulate musical cues systematically to determine the aspects of music that contribute to emotional expression, and whether these cues operate in additive or interactive fashion, and whether the cue levels can be characterized as linear or non-linear. An optimized factorial design was used with six primary musical cues (mode, tempo, dynamics, articulation, timbre, and register) across four different music examples. Listeners rated 200 musical examples according to four perceived emotional characters (happy, sad, peaceful, and scary). The results exhibited robust effects for all cues and the ranked importance of these was established by multiple regression. The most important cue was mode followed by tempo, register, dynamics, articulation, and timbre, although the ranking varied across the emotions. The second main result suggested that most cue levels contributed to the emotions in a linear fashion, explaining 77-89% of variance in ratings. Quadratic encoding of cues did lead to minor but significant increases of the models (0-8%). Finally, the interactions between the cues were non-existent suggesting that the cues operate mostly in an additive fashion, corroborating recent findings on emotional expression in music (Juslin and Lindström, 2010).

Most people do not ignore salient invalid cues in memory-based decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Platzer, Christine; Bröder, Arndt

2012-08-01

Former experimental studies have shown that decisions from memory tend to rely only on a few cues, following simple noncompensatory heuristics like "take the best." However, it has also repeatedly been demonstrated that a pictorial, as opposed to a verbal, representation of cue information fosters the inclusion of more cues in compensatory strategies, suggesting a facilitated retrieval of cue patterns. These studies did not properly control for visual salience of cues, however. In the experiment reported here, the cue salience hierarchy established in a pilot study was either congruent or incongruent with the validity order of the cues. Only the latter condition increased compensatory decision making, suggesting that the apparent representational format effect is, rather, a salience effect: Participants automatically retrieve and incorporate salient cues irrespective of their validity. Results are discussed with respect to reaction time data.

Role of Cigarette Sensory Cues in Modifying Puffing Topography

Science.gov (United States)

Rees, Vaughan W.; Kreslake, Jennifer M.; Wayne, Geoffrey Ferris; O Connor, Richard J.; Cummings, K. Michael; Connolly, Gregory N.

2012-01-01

Background Human puffing topography promotes tobacco dependence by ensuring nicotine delivery, but the factors that determine puffing behavior are not well explained by existing models. Chemosensory cues generated by variations in cigarette product design features may serve as conditioned cues to allow the smoker to optimize nicotine delivery by adjusting puffing topography. Internal tobacco industry research documents were reviewed to understand the influence of sensory cues on puffing topography, and to examine how the tobacco industry has designed cigarettes, including modified risk tobacco products (MRTPs), to enhance puffing behavior to optimize nicotine delivery and product acceptability. Methods Relevant internal tobacco industry documents were identified using systematic searching with key search terms and phrases, and then snowball sampling method was applied to establish further search terms. Results Modern cigarettes are designed by cigarette manufacturers to provide sensory characteristics that not only maintain appeal, but provide cues which inform puffing intensity. Alterations in the chemosensory cues provided in tobacco smoke play an important role in modifying smoking behavior independently of the central effects of nicotine. Conclusions An associative learning model is proposed to explain the influence of chemosensory cues on variation in puffing topography. These cues are delivered via tobacco smoke and are moderated by design features and additives used in cigarettes. The implications for regulation of design features of modified risk tobacco products, which may act to promote intensive puffing while lowering risk perceptions, are discussed. PMID:22365895

Stimulus homogeneity enhances implicit learning: evidence from contextual cueing.

Science.gov (United States)

Feldmann-Wüstefeld, Tobias; Schubö, Anna

2014-04-01

Visual search for a target object is faster if the target is embedded in a repeatedly presented invariant configuration of distractors ('contextual cueing'). It has also been shown that the homogeneity of a context affects the efficiency of visual search: targets receive prioritized processing when presented in a homogeneous context compared to a heterogeneous context, presumably due to grouping processes at early stages of visual processing. The present study investigated in three Experiments whether context homogeneity also affects contextual cueing. In Experiment 1, context homogeneity varied on three levels of the task-relevant dimension (orientation) and contextual cueing was most pronounced for context configurations with high orientation homogeneity. When context homogeneity varied on three levels of the task-irrelevant dimension (color) and orientation homogeneity was fixed, no modulation of contextual cueing was observed: high orientation homogeneity led to large contextual cueing effects (Experiment 2) and low orientation homogeneity led to low contextual cueing effects (Experiment 3), irrespective of color homogeneity. Enhanced contextual cueing for homogeneous context configurations suggest that grouping processes do not only affect visual search but also implicit learning. We conclude that memory representation of context configurations are more easily acquired when context configurations can be processed as larger, grouped perceptual units. However, this form of implicit perceptual learning is only improved by stimulus homogeneity when stimulus homogeneity facilitates grouping processes on a dimension that is currently relevant in the task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How Helpful is Colour-Cueing of PIN Entry?

OpenAIRE

Renaud, Karen; Ramsay, Judith

2014-01-01

21st Century citizens are faced with the need to remember numbers of PINs (Personal Identification Numbers) in order to do their daily business, and they often have difficulties due to human memory limitations. One way of helping them could be by providing cues during the PIN entry process. The provision of cues that would only be helpful to the PIN owner is challenging because the cue should only make sense to the legitimate user, and not to a random observer. In this paper we report on an e...

Direction of Attentional Focus in Biofeedback Treatment for /R/ Misarticulation

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister Byun, Tara; Swartz, Michelle T.; Halpin, Peter F.; Szeredi, Daniel; Maas, Edwin

2016-01-01

Background: Maintaining an external direction of focus during practice is reported to facilitate acquisition of non-speech motor skills, but it is not known whether these findings also apply to treatment for speech errors. This question has particular relevance for treatment incorporating visual biofeedback, where clinician cueing can direct the…

Increasing the efficacy of cue exposure treatment in preventing relapse of addictive behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Havermans, Remco C; Jansen, Anita T M

2003-07-01

Theoretically, cue exposure treatment should be able to prevent relapse by extinguishing conditioned drug responding (e.g. cue-elicited craving). According to contemporary learning theory, though, extinction does not eliminate conditioned responding. Analogous cue exposure with response prevention (CERP) as a treatment of addictive behavior might not eliminate the learned relation between drug-related cues and drug use. This does not necessarily mean that cue exposure cannot successfully prevent relapse. Various suggestions for increasing the efficacy of cue exposure treatment are being discussed from a contemporary learning theory perspective. It is suggested that cue exposure treatment incorporating retrieval cues can be a beneficial treatment in preventing relapse of addictive behavior.

Infants can use distributional cues to form syntactic categories.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerken, LouAnn; Wilson, Rachel; Lewis, William

2005-05-01

Nearly all theories of language development emphasize the importance of distributional cues for segregating words and phrases into syntactic categories like noun, feminine or verb phrase. However, questions concerning whether such cues can be used to the exclusion of referential cues have been debated. Using the headturn preference procedure, American children aged 1;5 were briefly familiarized with a partial Russian gender paradigm, with a subset of the paradigm members withheld. During test, infants listened on alternate trials to previously withheld grammatical items and ungrammatical items with incorrect gender markings on previously heard stems. Across three experiments, infants discriminated new grammatical from ungrammatical items, but like adults in previous studies, were only able to do so when a subset of familiarization items was double marked for gender category. The results suggest that learners can use distributional cues to category structure, to the exclusion of referential cues, from relatively early in the language learning process.

Should visual speech cues (speechreading) be considered when fitting hearing aids?

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Ken

2002-05-01

When talker and listener are face-to-face, visual speech cues become an important part of the communication environment, and yet, these cues are seldom considered when designing hearing aids. Models of auditory-visual speech recognition highlight the importance of complementary versus redundant speech information for predicting auditory-visual recognition performance. Thus, for hearing aids to work optimally when visual speech cues are present, it is important to know whether the cues provided by amplification and the cues provided by speechreading complement each other. In this talk, data will be reviewed that show nonmonotonicity between auditory-alone speech recognition and auditory-visual speech recognition, suggesting that efforts designed solely to improve auditory-alone recognition may not always result in improved auditory-visual recognition. Data will also be presented showing that one of the most important speech cues for enhancing auditory-visual speech recognition performance, voicing, is often the cue that benefits least from amplification.

Clinical relevance of retrieval cues for attenuating context renewal of fear.

Science.gov (United States)

Culver, Najwa C; Stoyanova, Milena; Craske, Michelle G

2011-03-01

The present studies investigated if retrieval cues (reminder objects) can attenuate context renewal of fear. In Study 1, 32 participants completed exposure in one of two contexts; 1-week follow-up testing occurred in a novel or the same context. Results indicated significant renewal of fear for those tested in a novel context. In Study 2, 40 participants completed exposure in one of these contexts; half were presented with cues. One week later, all were tested in a novel context with or without cues. Results indicated weak attenuation of context renewal for participants re-presented with cues. In Study 3, 18 participants completed exposure in one of two maximally distinct contexts; all with cues. One week later, participants were tested in a novel context with or without cues. Results indicated no group differences. These findings suggest that clinical relevance of this set of cues for attenuating context renewal may be limited. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of rates of potentially inappropriate medication use according to the Zhan criteria for VA versus private sector medicare HMOs.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Mitchell J; Perry, Paul J; Langstaff, Jodi D; Kaboli, Peter J

2006-06-01

Inappropriate prescribing in the elderly is common, but rates across different health care systems and the impact of formulary restrictions are not well described. To determine if rates of inappropriate medication use in the elderly differ between the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system and the private sector Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) patients. A cross-sectional study design compared administrative pharmacy claims from 10 distinct geographic regions in the United States in the VA health care system and 10 analogous regions for patients enrolled in Medicare HMOs. The cohorts included 123,633 VA and 157,517 Medicare HMO patients aged 65 years and older. Inappropriate medication use was identified using the Zhan modification of the Beers criteria, which categorizes 33 potentially inappropriate drugs into 3 major classifications: "always avoid," "rarely appropriate," and "some indications." Comparisons between the VA health care system and the private sector Medicare HMO were performed for overall differences and stratified by gender and age. The drug formulary status of the Zhan-criteria drugs was known for the VA health system but not for the Medicare HMO patients. Compared with private sector patients, VA patients were less likely to receive any inappropriate medication (21% vs. 29%, P private sector for males (21% vs. 24%, P private sector Medicare HMOs, elderly VA patients were less likely to receive medications defined by the Zhan criteria as potentially inappropriate. A restrictive formulary that excludes 12 of the 33 Zhan criteria drugs may be a factor in the reduction of undesired prescribing patterns in elderly populations.

Tariffs, Quotas, and the Corrupt Purchasing of Inappropriate Technology

OpenAIRE

Neil Campbell

2005-01-01

This paper develops a simple model where a manager of a firm in a Less-Developed Country (LDC) has the choice of whether or not to purchase an inappropriate technology in return for a bribe (kick-back) from the supplier of the technology. Provided that the manager achieves some minimum level of profit, the manager has a positive probability of not getting caught taking the bribe. The actual size of the bribe is determined by Nash axiomatic bargaining between the manager and the supplier. An i...

Multiple cues add up in defining a figure on a ground.

Science.gov (United States)

Devinck, Frédéric; Spillmann, Lothar

2013-01-25

We studied the contribution of multiple cues to figure-ground segregation. Convexity, symmetry, and top-down polarity (henceforth called wide base) were used as cues. Single-cue displays as well as ambiguous stimulus patterns containing two or three cues were presented. Error rate (defined by responses to uncued stimuli) and reaction time were used to quantify the figural strength of a given cue. In the first experiment, observers were asked to report which of two regions, left or right, appeared as foreground figure. Error rate did not benefit from adding additional cues if convexity was present, suggesting that responses were based on convexity as the predominant figural determinant. However, reaction time became shorter with additional cues even if convexity was present. For example, when symmetry and wide base were added, figure-ground segregation was facilitated. In a second experiment, stimulus patterns were exposed for 150ms to rule out eye movements. Results were similar to those found in the first experiment. Both experiments suggest that under the conditions of our experiment figure-ground segregation is perceived more readily, when several cues cooperate in defining the figure. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attention to irrelevant cues is related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Richard; Griffiths, Oren; Le Pelley, Michael E; Weickert, Thomas W

2013-05-01

Many modern learning theories assume that the amount of attention to a cue depends on how well that cue predicted important events in the past. Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in attention and recent theories of psychosis have argued that positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations are related to a failure of selective attention. However, evidence demonstrating that attention to irrelevant cues is related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia is lacking. We used a novel method of measuring attention to nonpredictive (and thus irrelevant) cues in a causal learning test (Le Pelley ME, McLaren IP. Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning. Q J Exp Psychol B. 2003;56:68-79) to assess whether healthy adults and people with schizophrenia discriminate previously predictive and nonpredictive cues. In a series of experiments with independent samples, we demonstrated: (1) when people with schizophrenia who had severe positive symptoms successfully distinguished between predictive and nonpredictive cues during training, they failed to discriminate between predictive and nonpredictive cues relative to healthy adults during subsequent testing and (2) learning about nonpredictive cues was correlated with more severe positive symptoms scores in schizophrenia. These results suggest that positive symptoms of schizophrenia are related to increased attention to nonpredictive cues during causal learning. This deficit in selective attention results in learning irrelevant causal associations and may be the basis of positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

HiRITER - An evaluation tool to reduce the adverse effect of inappropriate human actions in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, J.; Jung, W.; Kim, J.; Kim, S.; Heo, G.

2012-01-01

From end-users to regulatory bodies, it is widely recognized that human-induced events including inappropriate human actions are one of the most crucial sources degrading the overall safety of nuclear power plants (NPPs). This means that a systematic framework through which inappropriate human actions can be effectively identified is necessary to enhance the safety of NPPs. For this reason, HiRITER (High Risk Inducible Task Evaluator) has been developed, which is able to evaluate the effect of inappropriate human actions on risk as well as performance. To this end, HiRITER integrates three modules that have distinctive roles: human error prediction module that is able to determine the types of failure modes resulting from inappropriate human actions with the associated daily task, performance evaluation module that computes the loss of electric power due to the change of component configurations caused by human error and risk evaluation module that clarifies whether or not the propagation of human error can trigger an unexpected shutdown of NPPs. In addition, a couple of real events that had occurred in domestic NPPs are simulated in order to validate the feasibility of HiRITER. As a result, it is observed that the results of HiRITER are largely congruent with those of real events. Therefore, although a huge amount of additional effort is indispensable to enhance the overall accuracy of estimated results, it is expected that HiRITER could be a good starting point to reduce the adverse effect of inappropriate human actions in NPPs

Environmental Cues in Double-Occupancy Rooms to Support Patients With Dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Motzek, Tom; Bueter, Kathrin; Marquardt, Gesine

2016-04-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of different environmental cues in double-occupancy rooms of an acute care hospital to support patients' abilities to identify their bed and wardrobe. The quasi-experiment was conducted on a geriatric ward of an acute care hospital. Patients with dementia were included (n = 42). To test the effectiveness of environmental cues, two rooms were enhanced with the environmental cue "color," two rooms with the cue "number," and two rooms with the cue "patient's name". Four rooms were not redesigned and were used as control rooms. For analysis, we pooled the intervention groups color and number (n = 14) and compared it with the control group (n = 22). The environmental cues color and number were significantly effective to improve the identification of the wardrobe from the third to the fifth day after admission. However, for the 10th-12th day after admission, we found no difference in results. Furthermore, results indicate improvements in the ability to identify the bed by using the environmental cues color and number. As this study indicated, the environmental cues color and number are helpful for these patients to identify their bed and wardrobe. However, these cues were most effective from the third to the fifth day after admission. To sustain their effectiveness on patients' identification abilities during their hospital stay, we discuss, whether verbal prompting and an ongoing mentioning of such cues, embedded in the daily work of nurses, could be beneficial. © The Author(s) 2015.

Does predictability matter? Effects of cue predictability on neurocognitive mechanisms underlying prospective memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Cona, Giorgia; Arcara, Giorgio; Tarantino, Vincenza; Bisiacchi, Patrizia S

2015-01-01

Prospective memory (PM) represents the ability to successfully realize intentions when the appropriate moment or cue occurs. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the impact of cue predictability on the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting PM. Participants performed an ongoing task and, simultaneously, had to remember to execute a pre-specified action when they encountered the PM cues. The occurrence of the PM cues was predictable (being signaled by a warning cue) for some participants and was completely unpredictable for others. In the predictable cue condition, the behavioral and ERP correlates of strategic monitoring were observed mainly in the ongoing trials wherein the PM cue was expected. In the unpredictable cue condition they were instead shown throughout the whole PM block. This pattern of results suggests that, in the predictable cue condition, participants engaged monitoring only when subjected to a context wherein the PM cue was expected, and disengaged monitoring when the PM cue was not expected. Conversely, participants in the unpredictable cue condition distributed their resources for strategic monitoring in more continuous manner. The findings of this study support the most recent views-the "Dynamic Multiprocess Framework" and the "Attention to Delayed Intention" (AtoDI) model-confirming that strategic monitoring is a flexible mechanism that is recruited mainly when a PM cue is expected and that may interact with bottom-up spontaneous processes.

A configural dominant account of contextual cueing : configural cues are stronger than colour cues

OpenAIRE

Kunar, Melina A.; Johnston, Rebecca; Sweetman, Hollie

2013-01-01

Previous work has shown that reaction times to find a target in displays that have been repeated are faster than those for displays that have never been seen before. This learning effect, termed “contextual cueing” (CC), has been shown using contexts such as the configuration of the distractors in the display and the background colour. However, it is not clear how these two contexts interact to facilitate search. We investigated this here by comparing the strengths of these two cues when they...

Emotional Expression in Music: Contribution, Linearity, and Additivity of Primary Musical Cues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tuomas eEerola

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to manipulate musical cues systematically to determine the aspects of music that contribute to emotional expression, and whether these cues operate in additive or interactive fashion, and whether the cue levels can be characterized as linear or non-linear. An optimized factorial design was used with six primary musical cues (mode, tempo, dynamics, articulation, timbre, and register across four different music examples. Listeners rated 200 musical examples according to four perceived emotional characters (happy, sad, peaceful, and scary. The results exhibited robust effects for all cues and the ranked importance of these was established by multiple regression. The most important cue was mode followed by tempo, register, dynamics, articulation, and timbre, although the ranking varied across the emotions. The second main result suggested that most cue levels contributed to the emotions in a linear fashion, explaining 77–89% of variance in ratings. Quadratic encoding of cues did lead to minor but significant increases of the models (0–8%. Finally, the interactions between the cues were non-existent suggesting that the cues operate mostly in an additive fashion, corroborating recent findings on emotional expression in music (Juslin & Lindström, 2010.

Emotional expression in music: contribution, linearity, and additivity of primary musical cues

Science.gov (United States)

Eerola, Tuomas; Friberg, Anders; Bresin, Roberto

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to manipulate musical cues systematically to determine the aspects of music that contribute to emotional expression, and whether these cues operate in additive or interactive fashion, and whether the cue levels can be characterized as linear or non-linear. An optimized factorial design was used with six primary musical cues (mode, tempo, dynamics, articulation, timbre, and register) across four different music examples. Listeners rated 200 musical examples according to four perceived emotional characters (happy, sad, peaceful, and scary). The results exhibited robust effects for all cues and the ranked importance of these was established by multiple regression. The most important cue was mode followed by tempo, register, dynamics, articulation, and timbre, although the ranking varied across the emotions. The second main result suggested that most cue levels contributed to the emotions in a linear fashion, explaining 77–89% of variance in ratings. Quadratic encoding of cues did lead to minor but significant increases of the models (0–8%). Finally, the interactions between the cues were non-existent suggesting that the cues operate mostly in an additive fashion, corroborating recent findings on emotional expression in music (Juslin and Lindström, 2010). PMID:23908642

Evaluation of electrical aversion therapy for inappropriate sexual behaviour after traumatic brain injury: a single case experimental design study

Science.gov (United States)

ter Mors, Bert Jan; van Heugten, Caroline M; van Harten, Peter N

2012-01-01

Inappropriate sexual behaviour after acquired brain injury is a severe complication. Evidence for effective treatment is not available. Electrical aversion therapy (EAT) is a behavioural therapeutic option used in persons with intellectual disabilities, which might be suitable for brain-injured individuals for whom other therapies are not effective. The effect of EAT in brain injury has not been investigated previously. A single case experimental design was used. In an ABBA (baseline-treatment-treatment-withdrawal) design the frequency of the target behaviour (ie, inappropriate sexual behaviour) in a 40-year-old man was measured daily. A total of 551 measurements were recorded. A significant reduction of the target behaviour was seen after the first treatment phase (baseline 12.18 (2.59) vs 3.15 (3.19) mean target behaviours daily); this reduction remained stable over time. We conclude that EAT was effective in this patient with inappropriate sexual behaviour due to severe brain injury. EAT can therefore be considered in therapy resistant inappropriate sexual behaviour in brain-injured patients. PMID:22922913

Rates of inappropriate antiretroviral prescription among injection drug users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bonner Simon

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although the survival benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART for the treatment of HIV infection are well established, the clinical management of HIV disease continues to present major challenges. There are particular concerns regarding access to appropriate HIV treatment among HIV-infected injection drug users (IDU. Methods In a prospective cohort study of HIV-infected IDU in Vancouver, Canada, we examined initial ART regimens vis-à-vis the provincial government's therapeutic guidelines at the time ART was initiated. Briefly, there have been four sets of guidelines: Era 1 (1992 to November 1995; double-drug (dual NRTIs ART for patients with a CD4 cell count of 350 or less; Era 2 (December 1995 to May 1996; double-drug therapy for patients with a CD4+ cell count of 500 or less; Era 3 (June 1996 to June 1997; triple-drug therapy (dual NRTIs with a PI or NNRTI for patients who had a plasma viral load of > 100,000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL; dual therapy with two NRTIs for those with a plasma viral load of 5,000 to 100,000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL; Era 4 (since July 1997; universal use of triple drug therapy as first-line treatment. Results Between May 1996 and May 2003, 431 HIV-infected individuals were enrolled into the cohort. By May 31, 2003, 291 (67.5% individuals had initiated ART. We noted instances of inappropriate antiretroviral prescription in each guideline era, with 9 (53% in Era 1, 3 (12% in Era 2, 22 (28% in Era 3, and 23 (15% in Era 4. Of the 57 subjects who received an inappropriate ART regimen initially, 14 never received the appropriate therapy; among the remaining 43, the median time to the initiation of a guideline-appropriate ART regimen was 12 months (inter-quartile range 5 – 20. Conclusion The present study identified measurable rates of guideline-inappropriate ART prescription for patients who were injection drug users. Rates were highest in the era of dual therapy, although high rates persisted into the triple

Interaction of Object Binding Cues in Binaural Masking Pattern Experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Verhey, Jesko L; Lübken, Björn; van de Par, Steven

2016-01-01

Object binding cues such as binaural and across-frequency modulation cues are likely to be used by the auditory system to separate sounds from different sources in complex auditory scenes. The present study investigates the interaction of these cues in a binaural masking pattern paradigm where a sinusoidal target is masked by a narrowband noise. It was hypothesised that beating between signal and masker may contribute to signal detection when signal and masker do not spectrally overlap but that this cue could not be used in combination with interaural cues. To test this hypothesis an additional sinusoidal interferer was added to the noise masker with a lower frequency than the noise whereas the target had a higher frequency than the noise. Thresholds increase when the interferer is added. This effect is largest when the spectral interferer-masker and masker-target distances are equal. The result supports the hypothesis that modulation cues contribute to signal detection in the classical masking paradigm and that these are analysed with modulation bandpass filters. A monaural model including an across-frequency modulation process is presented that account for this effect. Interestingly, the interferer also affects dichotic thresholds indicating that modulation cues also play a role in binaural processing.

Perceptual and Conceptual Priming of Cue Encoding in Task Switching

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Darryl W.

2016-01-01

Transition effects in task-cuing experiments can be partitioned into task switching and cue repetition effects by using multiple cues per task. In the present study, the author shows that cue repetition effects can be partitioned into perceptual and conceptual priming effects. In 2 experiments, letters or numbers in their uppercase/lowercase or…

The focus of attention in working memory – from metaphors to mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klaus eOberauer

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Many verbal theories describe working memory in terms of physical metaphors such as information flow or information containers. These metaphors are often useful but can also be misleading. This article contrasts the verbal version of the author’s three-embedded-component theory with a computational implementation of the theory. The analysis focuses on phenomena that have been attributed to the focus of attention in working memory. The verbal theory characterizes the focus of attention by a container metaphor, which gives rise to questions such as: How many items fit into the focus? The computational model explains the same phenomena mechanistically through a combination of strengthened bindings between items and their retrieval cues, and priming of these cues. The author applies the computational model to three findings that have been used to argue about how many items can be held in the focus of attention (Gilchrist & Cowan, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2011; Oberauer & Bialkova, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2009; Oberauer & Bialkova, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2011. The modeling results imply a new interpretation of those findings: The different patterns of results across those studies don’t imply different capacity estimates for the focus of attention; they rather reflect to what extent retrieval from working memory is parallel or serial.

Cue reactivity in non-daily smokers: effects on craving and on smoking behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiffman, Saul; Dunbar, Michael S; Kirchner, Thomas R; Li, Xiaoxue; Tindle, Hilary A; Anderson, Stewart J; Scholl, Sarah M; Ferguson, Stuart G

2013-03-01

Non-daily, or intermittent smokers (ITS), are increasingly prevalent. Their smoking may be more situational than that of daily smokers (DS), and thus is hypothesized to be more influenced by cues. To assess ITS' response to cues, and compare it to that of DS. Samples of 239 ITS and 207 DS (previously reported in Shiffman et al. 2012a) were studied in 2,586 laboratory cue-reactivity sessions. Craving (Questionnaire of Smoking Urges) and smoking (probability, latency, puff parameters, and carbon monoxide increases) in response to cues was assessed following exposure to neutral cues and cues related to smoking, alcohol, negative affect, positive affect, and smoking prohibitions. Mixed effects models, generalized estimating equations and random-effects survival analyses were used to assess response to cues and differences between DS and ITS. ITS' craving increased following exposure to smoking and alcohol cues and decreased following positive affect cues, but cues had little effect on smoking behaviors. Cue reactivity was similar in ITS and DS. Among ITS, craving intensity predicted smoking probability, latency, and intensity, and the effects on latency were stronger among ITS than DS. Contrary to hypotheses, ITS were not more responsive to laboratory cues than DS. Results show that ITS do experience craving and craving increases that are then associated with smoking.

Peak Provoked Craving: An Alternative to Smoking Cue-Reactivity

OpenAIRE

Sayette, Michael A.; Tiffany, Stephen T.

2012-01-01

Smoking cue-exposure research has provided a powerful tool for examining cravings in the laboratory. A key attraction of this method is that tightly controlled experimental procedures can model craving experiences that are presumed to relate to addiction. Despite its appeal, key assumptions underlying the clinical relevance of smoking cue reactivity studies recently have been questioned. For both conceptual and methodological reasons it may be quite difficult to tease apart cue-based and abst...

Functional neuroimaging studies in addiction: multisensory drug stimuli and neural cue reactivity.

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Yalachkov, Yavor; Kaiser, Jochen; Naumer, Marcus J

2012-02-01

Neuroimaging studies on cue reactivity have substantially contributed to the understanding of addiction. In the majority of studies drug cues were presented in the visual modality. However, exposure to conditioned cues in real life occurs often simultaneously in more than one sensory modality. Therefore, multisensory cues should elicit cue reactivity more consistently than unisensory stimuli and increase the ecological validity and the reliability of brain activation measurements. This review includes the data from 44 whole-brain functional neuroimaging studies with a total of 1168 subjects (812 patients and 356 controls). Correlations between neural cue reactivity and clinical covariates such as craving have been reported significantly more often for multisensory than unisensory cues in the motor cortex, insula and posterior cingulate cortex. Thus, multisensory drug cues are particularly effective in revealing brain-behavior relationships in neurocircuits of addiction responsible for motivation, craving awareness and self-related processing. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FREQUENCY COMPONENT EXTRACTION OF HEARTBEAT CUES WITH SHORT TIME FOURIER TRANSFORM (STFT

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Sumarna Sumarna

2017-01-01

  Electro-acoustic human heartbeat detector have been made with the main parts : (a stetoscope (piece chest, (b mic condenser, (c transistor amplifier, and (d cues analysis program with MATLAB. The frequency components that contained in heartbeat. cues have also been extracted with Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT from 9 volunteers. The results of the analysis showed that heart rate appeared in every cue frequency spectrum with their harmony. The steps of the research were including detector instrument design, test and instrument repair, cues heartbeat recording with Sound Forge 10 program and stored in wav file ; cues breaking at the start and the end, and extraction/cues analysis using MATLAB. The MATLAB program included filter (bandpass filter with bandwidth between 0.01 – 110 Hz, cues breaking with hamming window and every part was calculated using Fourier Transform (STFT mechanism and the result were shown in frequency spectrum graph.   Keywords: frequency components extraction, heartbeat cues, Short Time Fourier Transform

Process and representation in multiple-cue judgment

OpenAIRE

Olsson, Anna-Carin

2002-01-01

This thesis investigates the cognitive processes and representations underlying human judgment in a multiple-cue judgment task. Several recent models assume that people have several qualitatively distinct and competing levels of knowledge representations (Ashby, Alfonso-Reese, Turken, & Waldron, 1998; Erickson & Kruschke, 1998; Nosofsky, Palmeri, & McKinley, 1994; Sloman, 1996). The most successful cognitive models in categorization and multiple-cue judgment are, respectively, exe...

Perception of Speech Modulation Cues by 6-Month-Old Infants

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Cabrera, Laurianne; Bertoncini, Josiane; Lorenzi, Christian

2013-01-01

Purpose: The capacity of 6-month-old infants to discriminate a voicing contrast (/aba/--/apa/) on the basis of "amplitude modulation (AM) cues" and "frequency modulation (FM) cues" was evaluated. Method: Several vocoded speech conditions were designed to either degrade FM cues in 4 or 32 bands or degrade AM in 32 bands. Infants…

Cueing Complex Animations: Does Direction of Attention Foster Learning Processes?

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Lowe, Richard; Boucheix, Jean-Michel

2011-01-01

The time course of learners' processing of a complex animation was studied using a dynamic diagram of a piano mechanism. Over successive repetitions of the material, two forms of cueing (standard colour cueing and anti-cueing) were administered either before or during the animated segment of the presentation. An uncued group and two other control…

Improved multi-microphone noise reduction preserving binaural cues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koutrouvelis, A.; Hendriks, R.C.; Jensen, J; Heusdens, R.; Dong, Min; Zheng, Thomas Fang

2016-01-01

We propose a new multi-microphone noise reduction technique for binaural cue preservation of the desired source and the interferers. This method is based on the linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) framework, where the constraints are used for the binaural cue preservation of the desired

Encoding Specificity and Nonverbal Cue Context: An Expansion of Episodic Memory Research.

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Woodall, W. Gill; Folger, Joseph P.

1981-01-01

Reports two studies demonstrating the ability of nonverbal contextual cues to act as retrieval mechanisms for co-occurring language. Suggests that visual contextual cues, such as speech primacy and motor primacy gestures, can access linguistic target information. Motor primacy cues are shown to act as stronger retrieval cues. (JMF)

Inappropriate prescribing in outpatient healthcare: an evaluation of respiratory infection visits among veterans in teaching versus non-teaching primary care clinics

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Diane M. Parente

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract A recent study led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC revealed at least 30% of antibiotic prescriptions in the outpatient setting were inappropriate. In this study of all ages, among adult patients, results were similar to the overall population, with the majority of inappropriate prescribing relating to respiratory infections. We applied the same methodology to investigate rates of antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections in outpatient primary care clinics at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The results of our evaluation reflected comparable rates of inappropriate prescribing, but when stratified by teaching versus non-teaching primary care clinics, inappropriate prescribing was significantly higher in non-teaching clinics (17.6% vs 44.0%, p < .0001. Respiratory infection visits in non-teaching outpatient clinics may be a pragmatic target for antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Inappropriate prescribing and prescribing omissions among drug-related problems using STOPP-START criteria

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Verdoorn, M.A.; Kwint, H.-F.; Faber, A.; L. Bouvy, M.

2013-01-01

Background and objectives: Medication review has been suggested as a way to prevent drug related problems (DRPs). Screening tools have been formulated to identify potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) and potential prescribing omissions (PPOs) respectively called Screening Tool of Older

Cue-induced Behavioral and Neural Changes among Excessive Internet Gamers and Possible Application of Cue Exposure Therapy to Internet Gaming Disorder.

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Zhang, Yongjun; Ndasauka, Yamikani; Hou, Juan; Chen, Jiawen; Yang, Li Zhuang; Wang, Ying; Han, Long; Bu, Junjie; Zhang, Peng; Zhou, Yifeng; Zhang, Xiaochu

2016-01-01

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) may lead to many negative consequences in everyday life, yet there is currently no effective treatment for IGD. Cue-reactivity paradigm is commonly used to evaluate craving for substance, food, and gambling; cue exposure therapy (CET) is applied to treating substance use disorders (SUDs) and some other psychological disorders such as pathological gambling (PG). However, no study has explored CET's application to the treatment of IGD except two articles having implied that cues' exposure may have therapeutic effect on IGD. This paper reviews studies on cue-induced behavioral and neural changes in excessive Internet gamers, indicating that behavioral and neural mechanisms of IGD mostly overlap with those of SUD. The CET's effects in the treatment of SUDs and PG are also reviewed. We finally propose an optimized CET paradigm, which future studies should consider and investigate as a probable treatment of IGD.

Odors as effective retrieval cues for stressful episodes.

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Wiemers, Uta S; Sauvage, Magdalena M; Wolf, Oliver T

2014-07-01

Olfactory information seems to play a special role in memory due to the fast and direct processing of olfactory information in limbic areas like the amygdala and the hippocampus. This has led to the assumption that odors can serve as effective retrieval cues for autobiographic memories, especially emotional memories. The current study sought to investigate whether an olfactory cue can serve as an effective retrieval cue for memories of a stressful episode. A total of 95 participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor or a well matching but not stressful control condition. During both conditions were visual objects present, either bound to the situation (central objects) or not (peripheral objects). Additionally, an ambient odor was present during both conditions. The next day, participants engaged in an unexpected object recognition task either under the influence of the same odor as was present during encoding (congruent odor) or another odor (non-congruent odor). Results show that stressed participants show a better memory for all objects and especially for central visual objects if recognition took place under influence of the congruent odor. An olfactory cue thus indeed seems to be an effective retrieval cue for stressful memories. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trust in prescription drug brand websites: website trust cues, attitude toward the website, and behavioral intentions.

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Huh, Jisu; Shin, Wonsun

2014-01-01

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug brand websites, as a form of DTC advertising, are receiving increasing attention due to the growing number and importance as an ad and a consumer information source. This study examined consumer trust in a DTC website as an important factor influencing consumers' attitude toward the website and behavioral intention. Applying the conceptual framework of website trust, the particular focus of investigation was the effect of the website trust cue factor on consumers' perceived DTC website trust and subsequent attitudinal and behavioral responses. Results show a significant relation between the website trust cue factor and consumers' perceived DTC website trust. Perceived DTC website trust, in turn, was found to be significantly associated with consumers' attitude toward the DTC website and behavioral intention.

Does predictability matter? Effects of cue predictability on neurocognitive mechanisms underlying Prospective Memory

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Giorgia eCona

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Prospective memory (PM represents the ability to successfully realize intentions when the appropriate moment or cue occurs. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs to explore the impact of cue predictability on the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting PM. Participants performed an ongoing task and, simultaneously, had to remember to execute a pre-specified action when they encountered the PM cues. The occurrence of the PM cues was predictable (being signalled by a warning cue for some participants and was completely unpredictable for others. In the predictable cue condition, the behavioural and ERP correlates of strategic monitoring were observed mainly in the ongoing trials wherein the PM cue was expected. In the unpredictable cue condition they were instead shown throughout the whole PM block. This pattern of results suggests that, in the predictable cue condition, participants engaged monitoring only when subjected to a context wherein the PM cue was expected, and disengaged monitoring when the PM cue was not expected. Conversely, participants in the unpredictable cue condition distributed their resources for strategic monitoring in more continuous manner. The findings of this study support the most recent views – the ‘Dynamic Multiprocess Framework’ and the ‘Attention to Delayed Intention’ (AtoDI model – confirming that strategic monitoring is a flexible mechanism that is recruited mainly when a PM cue is expected and that may interact with bottom-up spontaneous processes.

Inappropriate colonoscopic surveillance of hyperplastic polyps.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Keane, R A

2011-11-15

Colonoscopic surveillance of hyperplastic polyps alone is controversial and may be inappropriate. The colonoscopy surveillance register at a university teaching hospital was audited to determine the extent of such hyperplastic polyp surveillance. The surveillance endoscopy records were reviewed, those patients with hyperplastic polyps were identified, their clinical records were examined and contact was made with each patient. Of the 483 patients undergoing surveillance for colonic polyps 113 (23%) had hyperplastic polyps alone on last colonoscopy. 104 patients remained after exclusion of those under appropriate surveillance. 87 of the 104 patients (84%) were successfully contacted. 37 patients (8%) were under appropriate colonoscopic surveillance for a significant family history of colorectal carcinoma. 50 (10%) patients with hyperplastic polyps alone and no other clinical indication for colonoscopic surveillance were booked for follow up colonoscopy. This represents not only a budgetary but more importantly a clinical opportunity cost the removal of which could liberate valuable colonoscopy time for more appropriate indications.

Lower region: a new cue for figure-ground assignment.

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Vecera, Shaun P; Vogel, Edward K; Woodman, Geoffrey F

2002-06-01

Figure-ground assignment is an important visual process; humans recognize, attend to, and act on figures, not backgrounds. There are many visual cues for figure-ground assignment. A new cue to figure-ground assignment, called lower region, is presented: Regions in the lower portion of a stimulus array appear more figurelike than regions in the upper portion of the display. This phenomenon was explored, and it was demonstrated that the lower-region preference is not influenced by contrast, eye movements, or voluntary spatial attention. It was found that the lower region is defined relative to the stimulus display, linking the lower-region preference to pictorial depth perception cues. The results are discussed in terms of the environmental regularities that this new figure-ground cue may reflect.

[Inappropriate test methods in allergy].

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Kleine-Tebbe, J; Herold, D A

2010-11-01

Inappropriate test methods are increasingly utilized to diagnose allergy. They fall into two categories: I. Tests with obscure theoretical basis, missing validity and lacking reproducibility, such as bioresonance, electroacupuncture, applied kinesiology and the ALCAT-test. These methods lack both the technical and clinical validation needed to justify their use. II. Tests with real data, but misleading interpretation: Detection of IgG or IgG4-antibodies or lymphocyte proliferation tests to foods do not allow to separate healthy from diseased subjects, neither in case of food intolerance, allergy or other diagnoses. The absence of diagnostic specificity induces many false positive findings in healthy subjects. As a result unjustified diets might limit quality of life and lead to malnutrition. Proliferation of lymphocytes in response to foods can show elevated rates in patients with allergies. These values do not allow individual diagnosis of hypersensitivity due to their broad variation. Successful internet marketing, infiltration of academic programs and superficial reporting by the media promote the popularity of unqualified diagnostic tests; also in allergy. Therefore, critical observation and quick analysis of and clear comments to unqualified methods by the scientific medical societies are more important than ever.

Local spectral anisotropy is a valid cue for figure-ground organization in natural scenes.

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Ramenahalli, Sudarshan; Mihalas, Stefan; Niebur, Ernst

2014-10-01

An important step in the process of understanding visual scenes is its organization in different perceptual objects which requires figure-ground segregation. The determination of which side of an occlusion boundary is figure (closer to the observer) and which is ground (further away from the observer) is made through a combination of global cues, like convexity, and local cues, like T-junctions. We here focus on a novel set of local cues in the intensity patterns along occlusion boundaries which we show to differ between figure and ground. Image patches are extracted from natural scenes from two standard image sets along the boundaries of objects and spectral analysis is performed separately on figure and ground. On the figure side, oriented spectral power orthogonal to the occlusion boundary significantly exceeds that parallel to the boundary. This "spectral anisotropy" is present only for higher spatial frequencies, and absent on the ground side. The difference in spectral anisotropy between the two sides of an occlusion border predicts which is the figure and which the background with an accuracy exceeding 60% per patch. Spectral anisotropy of close-by locations along the boundary co-varies but is largely independent over larger distances which allows to combine results from different image regions. Given the low cost of this strictly local computation, we propose that spectral anisotropy along occlusion boundaries is a valuable cue for figure-ground segregation. A data base of images and extracted patches labeled for figure and ground is made freely available. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Floral humidity as a reliable sensory cue for profitability assessment by nectar-foraging hawkmoths

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von Arx, Martin; Goyret, Joaquín; Davidowitz, Goggy; Raguso, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Most research on plant–pollinator communication has focused on sensory and behavioral responses to relatively static cues. Floral rewards such as nectar, however, are dynamic, and foraging animals will increase their energetic profit if they can make use of floral cues that more accurately indicate nectar availability. Here we document such a cue—transient humidity gradients—using the night blooming flowers of Oenothera cespitosa (Onagraceae). The headspace of newly opened flowers reaches levels of about 4% above ambient relative humidity due to additive evapotranspirational water loss through petals and water-saturated air from the nectar tube. Floral humidity plumes differ from ambient levels only during the first 30 min after anthesis (before nectar is depleted in wild populations), whereas other floral traits (scent, shape, and color) persist for 12–24 h. Manipulative experiments indicated that floral humidity gradients are mechanistically linked to nectar volume and therefore contain information about energy rewards to floral visitors. Behavioral assays with Hyles lineata (Sphingidae) and artificial flowers with appropriate humidity gradients suggest that these hawkmoth pollinators distinguish between subtle differences in relative humidity when other floral cues are held constant. Moths consistently approached and probed flowers with elevated humidity over those with ambient humidity levels. Because floral humidity gradients are largely produced by the evaporation of nectar itself, they represent condition-informative cues that facilitate remote sensing of floral profitability by discriminating foragers. In a xeric environment, this level of honest communication should be adaptive when plant reproductive success is pollinator limited, due to intense competition for the attention of a specialized pollinator. PMID:22645365

The Effects of Cues on Neurons in the Basal Ganglia in Parkinson’s Disease

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Sridevi V. Sarma

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Visual cues open a unique window to the understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD. These cues can temporarily but dramatically improve PD motor symptoms. Although details are unclear, cues are believed to suppress pathological basal ganglia (BG activity through activation of corticostriatal pathways. In this study, we investigated human BG neurophysiology under different cued conditions. We evaluated bursting, 10-30Hz oscillations (OSCs, and directional tuning (DT dynamics in the subthalamic nucleus activity while 7 patients executed a two-step motor task. In the first step (predicted +cue, the patient moved to a target when prompted by a visual go cue that appeared 100% of the time. Here, the timing of the cue is predictable and the cue serves an external trigger to execute a motor plan. In the second step, the cue appeared randomly 50% of the time, and the patient had to move to the same target as in the first step. When it appeared (unpredicted +cue, the motor plan was to be triggered by the cue, but its timing was not predictable. When the cue failed to appear (unpredicted -cue, the motor plan was triggered by the absence of the visual cue. We found that during predicted +cue and unpredicted -cue trials, OSCs significantly decreased and DT significantly increased above baseline, though these modulations occurred an average of 640 milliseconds later in unpredicted -cue trials. Movement and reaction times were comparable in these trials. During unpredicted +cue trials, OSCs and DT failed to modulate though bursting significantly decreased after movement. Correspondingly, movement performance deteriorated. These findings suggest that during motor planning either a predictably timed external cue or an internally generated cue (generated by the absence of a cue trigger the execution of a motor plan in premotor cortex, whose increased activation then suppresses pathological activity in STN through direct pathways, leading to motor facilitation in

Hippocampal Regulation of Contextual Cue-Induced Reinstatement of Cocaine-Seeking Behavior

OpenAIRE

Atkins, Alison L.; Mashhoon, Yasmin; Kantak, Kathleen M.

2008-01-01

Associations between cocaine and cues facilitate development and maintenance of addiction. We hypothesized that the ventral hippocampus is important for acquisition of these associations. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine, with or without pre-exposure to distinct sets of cocaine- and saline-paired contextual cues. Next, rats were conditioned for 3 days with the distinct sets of contextual cues paired with cocaine and saline along with distinct discrete cues. Vehicle or lidocaine wa...

Improving Inappropriate Social Behavior of Autistic Students Using the LISTEN Intervention Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Shammari, Zaid; Daniel, Cathy; Faulkner, Paula; Yawkey, Thomas D.

2010-01-01

A case study was conducted on the development of the LISTEN intervention strategy for use with autistic students to improve inappropriate social behaviors. The study was conducted in a special education classroom in an autism school in Kuwait. Examination of LISTEN Intervention Strategy applications included: duration of targeted behavior; methods…

The prelimbic cortex uses higher-order cues to modulate both the acquisition and expression of conditioned fear.

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Melissa Judith Sharpe

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The prelimbic (PL cortex allows rodents to adapt their responding under changing experimental circumstances. In line with this, the PL cortex has been implicated in strategy set shifting, attentional set shifting, the resolution of response conflict, and the modulation of attention towards predictive stimuli. One interpretation of this research is that the PL cortex is involved in using information garnered from higher-order cues in the environment to modulate how an animal responds to environmental stimuli. However, data supporting this view of PL function in the aversive domain are lacking. In the following experiments, we attempted to answer two questions. Firstly, we wanted to investigate whether the role of the PL cortex in using higher-order cues to influence responding generalizes across appetitive and aversive domains. Secondly, as much of the research has focused on a role for the PL cortex in performance, we wanted to assess whether this region is also involved in the acquisition of hierarchal associations which facilitate an ability to use higher-order cues to modulate responding. In order to answer these questions, we assessed the impact of PL inactivation during both the acquisition and expression of a contextual bi-conditional discrimination. A contextual bi-conditional discrimination involves presenting two stimuli. In one context, one stimulus is paired with shock while the other is presented without shock. In another context, these contingencies are reversed. Thus, animals have to use the present contextual cues to disambiguate the significance of the stimulus and respond appropriately. We found that PL inactivation disrupted both the encoding and expression of these context-dependent associations. This supports a role for the PL cortex in allowing higher-order cues to modulate both learning about, and responding towards, different cues. We discuss these findings in the broader context of functioning in the medial prefrontal

Blunted Striatal Responses to Favorite Food Cues in Smokers*

Science.gov (United States)

Jastreboff, Ania M.; Sinha, Rajita; Lacadie, Cheryl M.; Balodis, Iris M.; Sherwin, Robert; Potenza, Marc N.

2014-01-01

Background Although tobacco-smoking is associated with relatively leaner body mass and smoking cessation with weight gain, the brain mechanisms underlying these relationships are not well understood. Smokers compared to non-smokers have shown diminished neural responses to non-tobacco rewarding stimuli (e.g., monetary rewards), but brain responses to favorite-food cues have not been investigated relative to smoking status. We hypothesized that smokers would exhibit diminished neural responses compared to non-smokers in response to favorite-food cues in motivation-reward and emotion-regulating regions of the brain. Methods Twenty-three smokers and 23 non-smokers matched based on body mass index (BMI), age, and gender listened to personalized favorite-food-cue, stress, and neutral-relaxing audiotapes during fMRI. Results During favorite-food-cue exposure, smokers versus non-smokers exhibited diminished activations in the caudate, putamen, insula, and thalamus. Neural responses during stress and neutral-relaxing conditions were similar across groups. Subjective food-craving ratings were similar across groups. Conclusions The relatively diminished neural responses to favorite-food cues in smokers may contribute to lower BMI. PMID:25444233

Lost in hospital: a qualitative interview study that explores the perceptions of NHS inpatients who spent time on clinically inappropriate hospital wards.

Science.gov (United States)

Goulding, Lucy; Adamson, Joy; Watt, Ian; Wright, John

2015-10-01

Prior research suggests that the placement of patients on clinically inappropriate hospital wards may increase the risk of experiencing patient safety issues. To explore patients' perspectives of the quality and safety of the care received during their inpatient stay on a clinically inappropriate hospital ward. Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Nineteen patients who had spent time on at least one clinically inappropriate ward during their hospital stay at a large NHS teaching hospital in England. Patients would prefer to be treated on the correct specialty ward, but it is generally accepted that this may not be possible. When patients are placed on inappropriate wards, they may lack a sense of belonging. Participants commented on potential failings in communication, medical staff availability, nurses' knowledge and the resources available, each of which may contribute to unsafe care. Patients generally acknowledge the need for placement on inappropriate wards due to demand for inpatient beds, but may report dissatisfaction in terms of preference and belonging. Importantly, patients recount issues resulting from this placement that may compromise their safety. Hospital managers should be encouraged to appreciate this insight and potential threat to safe practice and where possible avoid inappropriate ward transfers and admissions. Where such admissions are unavoidable, staff should take action to address the gaps in safety of care that have been identified. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The importance of source and cue type in time-based everyday prospective memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Oates, Joyce M; Peynircioğlu, Zehra F

2014-01-01

We examined the effects of the source of a prospective memory task (provided or generated) and the type of cue (specific or general) triggering that task in everyday settings. Participants were asked to complete both generated and experimenter-provided tasks and to send a text message when each task was completed. The cue/context for the to-be-completed tasks was either a specific time or a general deadline (time-based cue), and the cue/context for the texting task was the completion of the task itself (activity-based cue). Although generated tasks were completed more often, generated cues/contexts were no more effective than provided ones in triggering the intention. Furthermore, generated tasks were completed more often when the cue/context comprised a specific time, whereas provided tasks were completed more often when the cue/context comprised a general deadline. However, texting was unaffected by the source of the cue/context. Finally, emotion modulated the effects. Results are discussed within a process-driven framework.

Rooting out institutional corruption to manage inappropriate off-label drug use.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodwin, Marc A

2013-01-01

Prescribing drugs for uses that the FDA has not approved - off-label drug use - can sometimes be justified but is typically not supported by substantial evidence of effectiveness. At the root of inappropriate off-label drug use lie perverse incentives for pharmaceutical firms and flawed oversight of prescribing physicians. Typical reform proposals such as increased sanctions for manufacturers might reduce the incidence of unjustified off-label use, but they do not remove the source of the problem. Public policy should address the cause and control the practice. To manage inappropriate off-label drug use, off-label prescriptions must be tracked in order to monitor the risks and benefits and the manufacturers' conduct. Even more important, reimbursement rules should be changed so that manufacturers cannot profit from off-label sales. When off-label sales pass a critical threshold, manufacturers should also be required to pay for independent testing of the safety and effectiveness of off-label drug uses and for the FDA to review the evidence. Manufacturers should also finance, under FDA supervision, programs designed to warn physicians and the public about the risks of off-label drug use. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Changes in expression of c-Fos protein following cocaine-cue extinction learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Nic Dhonnchadha, B Á; Lovascio, B F; Shrestha, N; Lin, A; Leite-Morris, K A; Man, H Y; Kaplan, G B; Kantak, K M

2012-09-01

Extinguishing abnormally strengthened learned responses to cues associated with drugs of abuse remains a key tactic for alleviating addiction. To assist in developing pharmacotherapies to augment exposure therapy for relapse prevention, investigation into neurobiological underpinnings of drug-cue extinction learning is needed. We used regional analyses of c-Fos and GluR2 protein expression to delineate neural activity and plasticity that may be associated with cocaine-cue extinction learning. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine paired with a light cue, and later underwent a single 2h extinction session for which cocaine was withheld but response-contingent cues were presented (cocaine-cue extinction). Control groups consisted of rats yoked to animals self-administering cocaine and receiving saline non-contingently followed by an extinction session, or rats trained to self-administer cocaine followed by a no-extinction session for which levers were retracted, and cocaine and cues were withheld. Among 11 brain sites examined, extinction training increased c-Fos expression in basolateral amygdala and prelimbic prefrontal cortex of cocaine-cue extinguished rats relative to both control conditions. In dorsal subiculum and infralimbic prefrontal cortex, extinction training increased c-Fos expression in both cocaine-cue and saline-cue extinguished rats relative to the no-extinction control condition. GluR2 protein expression was not altered in any site examined after extinction or control training. Findings suggest that basolateral amygdala and prelimbic prefrontal cortex neurons are activated during acquisition of cocaine-cue extinction learning, a process that is independent of changes in GluR2 abundance. Other sites are implicated in processing the significance of cues that are present early in extinction training. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.