Impairment in long-term retention but not short-term performance on a water maze reversal task following hippocampal or mediodorsal striatal n-methyl-d-aspartate receptor blockade.

Male Long-Evans rats were injected with 32 ng/μl of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl) propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP) or vehicle and trained to locate a hidden platform in a different location (reversal training) than used on the initial 4 days of training. Rats treated with vehicle or CPP into the dorsal hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, or mediodorsal striatum had similar latencies to locate the platform on the reversal day. Rats infused with CPP into the dorsal hippocampus or mediodorsal striatum failed to search preferentially in the novel location during a 24-hr, drug-free retention test, whereas all other groups searched preferentially in this location. Therefore, blocking dorsal hippocampal or mediodorsal striatal NMDA receptors selectively blocked long-term spatial retention without producing short-term performance deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex, Age, and Training Modulate Spatial Memory in the Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta).

The authors tested 90 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) on a task of spatial memory, the spatial Delayed Recognition Span Test. The results showed that performance declined significantly with age, males had greater scores than females, and the rate of apparent decline with age was greater in males than in females. Both working and reference memory declined with age, but only working memory showed sex differences. The authors compared these data with that of 22 monkeys who were trained on a simpler version of the task before formal testing. Training had no effect on males but dramatically improved working memory in young females. The results confirm a male advantage in spatial working memory at a young age and confirm a greater decline with age in males than in females. It is important to note that prior training completely reverses the deficits of young females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Involvement of Ventral Pallidum in Prefrontal Cortex-Dependent Aspects of Spatial Working Memory.

Ventral pallidum (VP) is an important source of limbic input to medial thalamus. Three studies examined the role of VP in spatial memory tasks impaired by medial thalamic lesions. In the 1st study, rats with VP lesions were impaired performing delayed matching trained with retractable levers (DMRL), a measure sensitive to prefrontal (but not hippocampal) damage. The 2nd study demonstrated dose-dependent DMRL impairment following microinjection of gamma-aminobutyric acidA, glutamate, or mu-opioid agonists in VP. In the 3rd study, VP lesions had no effect on varying choice radial-maze delayed nonmatching, a measure sensitive to hippocampal (but not prefrontal) lesions. These results suggest a common role in spatial memory for VP and other components of prefrontal-ventral striatopallidothalamic circuits distinct from hippocampal function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention: Reaction Time and Accuracy Reveal Different Mechanisms.

The authors propose that there are 2 different mechanisms whereby spatial cues capture attention. The voluntary mechanism is the strategic allocation of perceptual resources to the location most likely to contain the target. The involuntary mechanism is a reflexive orienting response that occurs even when the spatial cue does not indicate the probable target location. Voluntary attention enhances the perceptual representation of the stimulus in the cued location relative to other locations. Hence, voluntary attention affects performance in experiments designed around both accuracy and reaction time. Involuntary attention affects a decision as to which location should be responded to. Because involuntary attention does not change the perceptual representation, it affects performance in reaction time experiments but not accuracy experiments. The authors obtained this pattern of results in 4 different versions of the spatial cuing paradigm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Simon Effect in Pigeons.

Pigeons pecked left versus right keys contingent upon the color presented at 1 of those locations. Spatial-response latencies were shorter when the color appeared at the same location as the required response than at the opposite location. This Simon effect occurred when the stimulus on the alternative key was constant, varied from trial to trial, or changed when the color cue appeared and when the reinforcement probability for correct responses was the same on corresponding as on noncorresponding trials. Humans performing the same task by touching the keys also showed the Simon effect. These findings demonstrate that for pigeons, too, a relevant symbolic cue activates a spatial code that produces faster responses at the location corresponding with the activated code. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intentions Determine the Effect of Invisible Metacontrast-Masked Primes: Evidence for Top-Down Contingencies in a Peripheral Cuing Task.

In 5 experiments, the authors tested whether the processing of nonconscious spatial stimulus information depends on a prior intention. This test was conducted with the metacontrast dissociation paradigm. Experiment 1 demonstrated that masked primes that could not be discriminated above chance level affected responses to the visible stimuli that masked them. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this effect was abolished when the task instruction was changed in such a way that the primes ceased to be task relevant. Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that a prime's effect depended on whether it was associated with the same response as the target or with an opposite response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

一种最佳空间滤波器在圆柱型基阵上的实现

根据最佳空间滤波器的数学表述,在圆柱型基阵上实现了最佳空间滤波器。研究了目标附近数个干扰源存在情况下弱信号检测及干扰的抑制效果。表明在圆柱型基阵上最佳空间滤波器能够有效抑制多个干扰、完成弱信号检测。设计的最佳空间滤波器实现方法可以方便地在圆柱型基阵上实现。     

基于空间平滑处理的稳健宽带高分辨方位估计算法

实际系统中阵列误差导致的模型失配问题一直是高分辨方位估计技术走向实用化的一个瓶颈。相对于窄带信号,宽带信号阵列模型误差更加复杂和多样,通过建立宽带阵列信号误差模型,得出了基于空间平滑的稳健的宽带高分辨算法是一种抑制阵列误差的有效方法的结论,这种基于空间平滑的宽带高分辨算法,通过空间平滑后对各频率处不同子阵的互谱密度矩阵求和,一定程度上减弱了阵列误差的影响,具有较高的稳健性。本文结合消声水池试验,分析并验证了其效果。     

在Labview选择结构中实现非全部子框架对输出赋值

本文介绍了在Labview环境下，非全部子框架对输出赋值的三种方法，解决了与Labview要求的每个子框架都必须赋值的矛盾，并给出具体范例。     

主动网络节点研究及安全实现

主动网络是可编程网络，用户可对网络进行个性化的编程和设置。文章论述了主动网络的体系结构，重点探讨主动网络节点操作系统及安全实现。最后提出一种安全节点结构，它可以为主动应用提供认证，授权，完整性认证以及满足主动应用的动态安全要求及策略。