Judged temporal order and spatial context.

Studied the way pattern interpretations affect perceived temporal order in the brain. The coding system is presented as a method of predicting and interpreting pattern change. 40 Ss viewed 24 slides showing random shapes for 1 msec each and then viewed pairs of shapes for 2 sec. Ss then indicated which figure out of the pair had appeared 1st in the 1st stage. In each of these pairs, the interpretation of 1 pattern affected the interpretation of the other, but not the reverse. (French abstract) (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonspecific, unintended, and serendipitous effects of psychotherapy.

It is important for psychologists to consider the social context in which therapy takes place, as it reveals a plethora of factors that can account for the effects of treatment. These factors are frequently neglected in theoretical formulations about therapeutic procedure and efficacy. They include expectations of change, effects of labeling oneself a patient, reactions of significant others, the regulating effects of the therapeutic structure, unspoken beliefs about the therapist, inadvertent role modeling, and the influence of nonprofessional members of the therapeutic milieu. Recognition of nonspecific effects can help psychologists more accurately understand their clients' progress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between normal aging, frontal lobe function, and memory for temporal and spatial information.

Young and old participants were evaluated on tests of frontal lobe function, recognition memory, and memory for temporal and spatial information. Older participants showed significant impairments on memory for temporal order, and this impairment was found to correlate with deficits on frontal lobe tests measuring spontaneous flexibility but not reactive flexibility. However, spatial memory showed no evidence of an age effect. An interpretation of this latter finding based on the differential availability of contextual cues is ruled out because similar results were obtained when spatial memory was assessed in a different context to that used during learning. The researchers concluded that memory for temporal order and spatial memory are affected differentially by age. Theoretical interpretations of this difference are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity

This paper reviews work on the development of spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity in human infants. Both electrophysiological and behavioral techniques have been used. Infants' spatial contrast sensitivity functions exhibit a large deficit in spatial resolution and overall contrast sensitivity relative to adult functions. These measurements also reveal continuous development between one and six months of age. Infants' temporal resolution does not exhibit a large deficit relative to adults'. Indeed, critical flicker frequency is essentially adult-like by two months of age. This combination of coarse spatial resolution and fine temporal resolution is analogous to what is observed in the peripheral retina of the adult visual system.     

Dissociating the roles of dorsal and ventral CA1 for the temporal processing of spatial locations, visual objects, and odors.

The differential contributions of the dorsal and ventral hippocampus for learning and memory have long been of interest. The present experiments were designed to evaluate the contributions of dorsal CA1 and ventral CA1 for temporal processing. Animals were run on three temporal ordering paradigms: one with visual objects, one with olfactory stimuli, and one with spatial locations. Animals with lesions to dorsal CA1 showed deficits for the temporal ordering of visual objects relative to control animals, and deficits for the temporal ordering of spatial locations relative to control and ventral CA1 lesioned animals. Animals with lesions to ventral CA1 showed deficits for the temporal ordering of olfactory information relative to control and dorsal CA1 lesioned animals, and a mild deficit for the temporal ordering of visual objects relative to control animals, but not as severe as those shown by the dorsal CA1 lesioned animals. These data suggest that dorsal CA1 and ventral CA1 contribute to temporal ordering processes, and that dorsal CA1 and ventral CA1 are dissociable for temporal ordering based upon the nature of the information that is processed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal and spatial context memory in patients with focal frontal, temporal lobe, and diencephalic lesions

Patients with focal frontal, temporal lobe, or diencephalic lesions were investigated on measures of temporal (recency) and spatial (position) context memory, after manipulating exposure times to match recognition memory for targets (pictorial stimuli) as closely as possible. Patients with diencephalic lesions from an alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome showed significant impairment on the temporal context (recency) task, as did patients with frontal lesions penetrating the dorsolateral frontal cortex, according to MRI (and PET) evidence. Patients with temporal lobe lesions showed only a moderate (non-significant) impairment on this task, and patients with medial frontal lesions, or large frontal lesions not penetrating the dorsolateral cortical margins, performed as well as healthy controls at this task. On the spatial context memory task, patients with lesions in the temporal lobes showed significant impairment, and patients with right temporal lesions performed significantly worse than patients with left temporal lesions. Patients with diencephalic lesions showed only a modest (non-significant) impairment on this task, and the frontal lobe group performed normally. When a group of patients with temporal lobe lesions resulting from herpes encephalitis were examined separately, an identical pattern of results was obtained, the herpes group being significantly impaired on spatial memory and showing a trend towards impairment for temporal context memory. There were strong correlations between anterograde memory quotients and context memory performance (despite the use of an exposure time titration procedure) and a weak association in the frontal group with one frontal/executive task [corrected] (card-sorting perservations). It is predicted that correlations between temporal context memory and frontal/executive tasks will be greater in samples of patients all of whom have frontal lesions invading the dorsolateral cortical margin.     

The spatial constraint in intersensory pairing: No role in temporal ventriloquism.

A sound presented in temporal proximity to a light can alter the perceived temporal occurrence of that light (temporal ventriloquism). The authors explored whether spatial discordance between the sound and light affects this phenomenon. Participants made temporal order judgments about which of 2 lights appeared first, while they heard sounds before the 1st and after the 2nd light. Sensitivity was higher (i.e., a lower just noticeable difference) when the sound-light interval was ～100 ms rather than ～0 ms. This temporal ventriloquist effect was unaffected by whether sounds came from the same or a different position as the lights, whether the sounds were static or moved, or whether they came from the same or opposite sides of fixation. Yet, discordant sounds interfered with speeded visual discrimination. These results challenge the view that intersensory interactions in general require spatial correspondence between the stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Utility of predicting group membership and the role of spatial visualization in becoming an engineer, physical scientist, or artist.

Explicates how the prediction of group membership can augment test validation designs restricted to prediction of individual differences in criterion performance, and illustrates the utility of this methodology by documenting the importance of spatial visualization for becoming an engineer, physical scientist, or artist. This involved various longitudinal analyses on a sample of 400,000 high school students tracked after 11 yrs following their high school graduation. The predictive validities of Spatial–Math and Verbal–Math ability composites were established by successfully differentiating a variety of educational and occupational groups. One implication of the findings is that physical science and engineering disciplines appear to be losing many talented persons by restricting assessment to conventional mathematical and verbal abilities, such as those of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the Graduate Record Examination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Localization of plastic flow: spatial vs temporal instabilities

The initiation of unstable plastic deformation associated with dynamic strain ageing in controlled load rate tests has been studied. Experimental measurements on an AlMgSi alloy show the existence of two regimes of instability: temporal and spatial. The initiation of the instability is found to occur by the growth of spatially uniform (temporal) strain rate oscillations. At a larger strain, spatial strain localization is found to develop. The existence of an intermediate regime of purely temporal instability is confirmed by a (linear) stability analysis, taking into account stress triaxiality due to non-uniform deformation. Interaction between adjacent material elements via dislocation cross-slip is also considered. Both effects are shown to cause a delay in the onset of spatial instabilities relative to purely temporal instabilities.     

Need for approval and susceptibility to unintended social influence.

Investigated the relationship between Ss' need for approval and their susceptibility to the subtle unintended influence of biased Es. 48 female undergraduates divided into high- and low-need-for-approval groups (on the basis of their Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale scores) were tested by 6 male Es. It was suggested that prior failures to find such a relationship were due to the absence during the programmed pretask interaction of E and S of cues which would be likely to arouse S's approval motivation and thereby make him more susceptible to E's influence. A single sentence designed to arouse S's motivation was thus inserted into the standard pretask instructions. Under these conditions, Ss high in need for approval demonstrated a significant susceptibility to E expectancy effects, while low-approval-motivation Ss did not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of rehearsal of temporal and spatial aspects on the long-term retention of a procedural skill.

The study examined several rehearsal techniques as means of facilitating the retention of a discrete procedural task. 4 rehearsal conditions were defined as: whole task rehearsal, temporal rehearsal, spatial rehearsal, and no rehearsal. All groups were trained for 5 days, given 10 days of no practice, 5 days of rehearsal, 11 more days of no practice, and a retention test. The number of commissive errors showed significant retention differences, with the whole rehearsal group performing best. Omissive errors and reaction time did not show group differences. It was also found that Ss emphasized those metrics of performance which gave the most immediate feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging, cognitive resources, and declarative learning.

A battery of cognitive tasks designed to assess information-processing speed, working memory capability, and declarative learning was administered to a cross-sectional sample of 477 adults ranging in age from 17 to 86 years. Results showed significant age-related decrements in all three constructs. A variety of structural equation models was fit to the results. The preferred model on empirical and conceptual grounds was one that showed (a) working memory capability as the most important mediator of age effects in declarative learning; (b) working memory capability as the mediator for the effects of general processing speed on declarative learning; and (c) differentiation among verbal, numeric, and spatial processing speed and between verbal and spatial working memory capability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health.

Psychological beliefs such as optimism, personal control, and a sense of meaning are known to be protective of mental health. Are they protective of physical health as well? The authors present a program of research that has tested the implications of cognitive adaptation theory and research on positive illusions for the relation of positive beliefs to disease progression among men infected with HIV. The investigations have revealed that even unrealistically optimistic beliefs about the future may be health protective. The ability to find meaning in the experience is also associated with a less rapid course of illness. Taken together, the research suggests that psychological beliefs such as meaning, control, and optimism act as resources, which may not only preserve mental health in the context of traumatic or life-threatening events but be protective of physical health as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working memory constraints on linear reasoning with spatial and temporal contents

The present article reports two experiments testing the use of working memory components during reasoning with temporal and spatial relations in four-term series problems. In the first experiment four groups of subjects performed reasoning tasks with temporal and with spatial contents either without (control) or with a secondary task (articulatory suppression, visuo-spatial suppression or central executive suppression). The second experiment tested the secondary task effects in a within-subjects design either on problems with a spatial content or on problems with a temporal content, and within each content domain either under conditions of self-paced or of fixed presentation of the premises. Both experiments found effects of all three secondary tasks on reasoning accuracy. This supports the hypothesis that the subjects construct spatial representations of the premise information with the support of visuo-spatial resources of working memory. The second experiment also showed that during premise intake, only visuo-spatial and central executive secondary tasks had an effect. The implications of the data for the working memory requirements of reasoning and for theories of linear reasoning are discussed.     

The influence of temporal selection on spatial selection and distractor interference: An attentional blink study.

Both spatial and temporal selection require focused attention. The authors examine how temporal attention affects spatial selection. In a dual-task rapid serial visual presentation paradigm, temporal selection of a target (T1) impairs processing of a second target (T2) that follows T1 within 500 ms. This process is the attentional blink (AB). To test the effects of withdrawing temporal attention, the authors measured concurrent distractor interference on T2 when the distractors were presented during and outside of the AB. Perceptual interference was manipulated by the similarity in color between T2 and concurrent distractors, and response interference was manipulated by the flanker congruency task. Results showed that perceptual interference was larger during the AB. Response interference also increased during the AB, but only when perceptual interference was high. The authors conclude that temporal selection and spatial selection rely on a common attentional process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)