A Method to Test the Effect of Environmental Cues on Mating Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Gorter, Jenke A; Billeter, Jean-Christophe

2017-07-17

An individual's sexual drive is influenced by genotype, experience and environmental conditions. How these factors interact to modulate sexual behaviors remains poorly understood. In Drosophila melanogaster, environmental cues, such as food availability, affect mating activity offering a tractable system to investigate the mechanisms modulating sexual behavior. In D. melanogaster, environmental cues are often sensed via the chemosensory gustatory and olfactory systems. Here, we present a method to test the effect of environmental chemical cues on mating behavior. The assay consists of a small mating arena containing food medium and a mating couple. The mating frequency for each couple is continuously monitored for 24 h. Here we present the applicability of this assay to test environmental compounds from an external source through a pressurized air system as well as manipulation of the environmental components directly in the mating arena. The use of a pressurized air system is especially useful to test the effect of very volatile compounds, while manipulating components directly in the mating arena can be of value to ascertain a compound's presence. This assay can be adapted to answer questions about the influence of genetic and environmental cues on mating behavior and fecundity as well as other male and female reproductive behaviors.

Automation in visual inspection tasks: X-ray luggage screening supported by a system of direct, indirect or adaptable cueing with low and high system reliability.

PubMed

Chavaillaz, Alain; Schwaninger, Adrian; Michel, Stefan; Sauer, Juergen

2018-05-25

The present study evaluated three automation modes for improving performance in an X-ray luggage screening task. 140 participants were asked to detect the presence of prohibited items in X-ray images of cabin luggage. Twenty participants conducted this task without automatic support (control group), whereas the others worked with either indirect cues (system indicated the target presence without specifying its location), or direct cues (system pointed out the exact target location) or adaptable automation (participants could freely choose between no cue, direct and indirect cues). Furthermore, automatic support reliability was manipulated (low vs. high). The results showed a clear advantage for direct cues regarding detection performance and response time. No benefits were observed for adaptable automation. Finally, high automation reliability led to better performance and higher operator trust. The findings overall confirmed that automatic support systems for luggage screening should be designed such that they provide direct, highly reliable cues.

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

PubMed

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.

Ambiguous Tilt and Translation Motion Cues after Space Flight and Otolith Assessment during Post-Flight Re-Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, Scott J.; Clarke, A. H.; Harm, D. L.; Rupert, A. H.; Clement, G. R.

2009-01-01

Adaptive changes during space flight in how the brain integrates vestibular cues with other sensory information can lead to impaired movement coordination, vertigo, spatial disorientation and perceptual illusions following Gtransitions. These studies are designed to examine both the physiological basis and operational implications for disorientation and tilt-translation disturbances following short duration space flights.

Ungulates rely less on visual cues, but more on adapting movement behaviour, when searching for forage.

PubMed

Venter, Jan A; Prins, Herbert H T; Mashanova, Alla; Slotow, Rob

2017-01-01

Finding suitable forage patches in a heterogeneous landscape, where patches change dynamically both spatially and temporally could be challenging to large herbivores, especially if they have no a priori knowledge of the location of the patches. We tested whether three large grazing herbivores with a variety of different traits improve their efficiency when foraging at a heterogeneous habitat patch scale by using visual cues to gain a priori knowledge about potential higher value foraging patches. For each species (zebra ( Equus burchelli ), red hartebeest ( Alcelaphus buselaphus subspecies camaa ) and eland ( Tragelaphus oryx )), we used step lengths and directionality of movement to infer whether they were using visual cues to find suitable forage patches at a habitat patch scale. Step lengths were significantly longer for all species when moving to non-visible patches than to visible patches, but all movements showed little directionality. Of the three species, zebra movements were the most directional. Red hartebeest had the shortest step lengths and zebra the longest. We conclude that these large grazing herbivores may not exclusively use visual cues when foraging at a habitat patch scale, but would rather adapt their movement behaviour, mainly step length, to the heterogeneity of the specific landscape.

Verbal Auditory Cueing of Improvisational Dance: A Proposed Method for Training Agency in Parkinson’s Disease

PubMed Central

Batson, Glenna; Hugenschmidt, Christina E.; Soriano, Christina T.

2016-01-01

Dance is a non-pharmacological intervention that helps maintain functional independence and quality of life in people with Parkinson’s disease (PPD). Results from controlled studies on group-delivered dance for people with mild-to-moderate stage Parkinson’s have shown statistically and clinically significant improvements in gait, balance, and psychosocial factors. Tested interventions include non-partnered dance forms (ballet and modern dance) and partnered (tango). In all of these dance forms, specific movement patterns initially are learned through repetition and performed in time-to-music. Once the basic steps are mastered, students may be encouraged to improvise on the learned steps as they perform them in rhythm with the music. Here, we summarize a method of teaching improvisational dance that advances previous reported benefits of dance for people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The method relies primarily on improvisational verbal auditory cueing with less emphasis on directed movement instruction. This method builds on the idea that daily living requires flexible, adaptive responses to real-life challenges. In PD, movement disorders not only limit mobility but also impair spontaneity of thought and action. Dance improvisation demands open and immediate interpretation of verbally delivered movement cues, potentially fostering the formation of spontaneous movement strategies. Here, we present an introduction to a proposed method, detailing its methodological specifics, and pointing to future directions. The viewpoint advances an embodied cognitive approach that has eco-validity in helping PPD meet the changing demands of daily living. PMID:26925029

Depth Cue Integration in an Active Control Paradigm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaiser, Mary K.; Sweet, Barabara T.; Shafto, Meredith; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

Numerous models of depth cue integration have been proposed. Of particular interest is how the visual system processes discrepent cues, as might arise when viewing synthetic displays. A powerful paradigm for examining this integration process can be adapted from manual control research. This methodology introduces independent disturbances in the candidate cues, then performs spectral analysis of subjects' resulting motoric responses (e.g., depth matching). We will describe this technique and present initial findings.

Cue reactivity towards shopping cues in female participants.

PubMed

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.

A Nonlinear, Human-Centered Approach to Motion Cueing with a Neurocomputing Solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Telban, Robert J.; Cardullo, Frank M.; Houck, Jacob A.

2002-01-01

This paper discusses the continuation of research into the development of new motion cueing algorithms first reported in 1999. In this earlier work, two viable approaches to motion cueing were identified: the coordinated adaptive washout algorithm or 'adaptive algorithm', and the 'optimal algorithm'. In this study, a novel approach to motion cueing is discussed that would combine features of both algorithms. The new algorithm is formulated as a linear optimal control problem, incorporating improved vestibular models and an integrated visual-vestibular motion perception model previously reported. A control law is generated from the motion platform states, resulting in a set of nonlinear cueing filters. The time-varying control law requires the matrix Riccati equation to be solved in real time. Therefore, in order to meet the real time requirement, a neurocomputing approach is used to solve this computationally challenging problem. Single degree-of-freedom responses for the nonlinear algorithm were generated and compared to the adaptive and optimal algorithms. Results for the heave mode show the nonlinear algorithm producing a motion cue with a time-varying washout, sustaining small cues for a longer duration and washing out larger cues more quickly. The addition of the optokinetic influence from the integrated perception model was shown to improve the response to a surge input, producing a specific force response with no steady-state washout. Improved cues are also observed for responses to a sway input. Yaw mode responses reveal that the nonlinear algorithm improves the motion cues by reducing the magnitude of negative cues. The effectiveness of the nonlinear algorithm as compared to the adaptive and linear optimal algorithms will be evaluated on a motion platform, the NASA Langley Research Center Visual Motion Simulator (VMS), and ultimately the Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) with a series of pilot controlled maneuvers. A proposed experimental procedure is

Dyspnea-Related Cues Engage the Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Herigstad, Mari; Hayen, Anja; Evans, Eleanor; Hardinge, Frances M.; Davies, Robert J.; Wiech, Katja

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Dyspnea is the major source of disability in COPD. In COPD, environmental cues (eg, the prospect of having to climb stairs) become associated with dyspnea and may trigger dyspnea even before physical activity commences. We hypothesized that brain activation relating to such cues would be different between patients with COPD and healthy control subjects, reflecting greater engagement of emotional mechanisms in patients. METHODS: Using functional MRI (FMRI), we investigated brain responses to dyspnea-related word cues in 41 patients with COPD and 40 healthy age-matched control subjects. We combined these findings with scores on self-report questionnaires, thus linking the FMRI task with clinically relevant measures. This approach was adapted from studies in pain that enabled identification of brain networks responsible for pain processing despite absence of a physical challenge. RESULTS: Patients with COPD demonstrated activation in the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which correlated with the visual analog scale (VAS) response to word cues. This activity independently correlated with patient responses on questionnaires of depression, fatigue, and dyspnea vigilance. Activation in the anterior insula, lateral prefrontal cortex, and precuneus correlated with the VAS dyspnea scale but not with the questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that engagement of the emotional circuitry of the brain is important for interpretation of dyspnea-related cues in COPD and is influenced by depression, fatigue, and vigilance. A heightened response to salient cues is associated with increased symptom perception in chronic pain and asthma, and the findings suggest that such mechanisms may be relevant in COPD. PMID:26134891

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of Visual Cue Training to Improve Adaptability of Walking after Stroke: Multi-Centre, Single-Blind Randomised Control Pilot Trial.

PubMed

Hollands, Kristen L; Pelton, Trudy A; Wimperis, Andrew; Whitham, Diane; Tan, Wei; Jowett, Sue; Sackley, Catherine M; Wing, Alan M; Tyson, Sarah F; Mathias, Jonathan; Hensman, Marianne; van Vliet, Paulette M

2015-01-01

Given the importance of vision in the control of walking and evidence indicating varied practice of walking improves mobility outcomes, this study sought to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of varied walking practice in response to visual cues, for the rehabilitation of walking following stroke. This 3 arm parallel, multi-centre, assessor blind, randomised control trial was conducted within outpatient neurorehabilitation services. Community dwelling stroke survivors with walking speed <0.8m/s, lower limb paresis and no severe visual impairments. Over-ground visual cue training (O-VCT), Treadmill based visual cue training (T-VCT), and Usual care (UC) delivered by physiotherapists twice weekly for 8 weeks. Participants were randomised using computer generated random permutated balanced blocks of randomly varying size. Recruitment, retention, adherence, adverse events and mobility and balance were measured before randomisation, post-intervention and at four weeks follow-up. Fifty-six participants participated (18 T-VCT, 19 O-VCT, 19 UC). Thirty-four completed treatment and follow-up assessments. Of the participants that completed, adherence was good with 16 treatments provided over (median of) 8.4, 7.5 and 9 weeks for T-VCT, O-VCT and UC respectively. No adverse events were reported. Post-treatment improvements in walking speed, symmetry, balance and functional mobility were seen in all treatment arms. Outpatient based treadmill and over-ground walking adaptability practice using visual cues are feasible and may improve mobility and balance. Future studies should continue a carefully phased approach using identified methods to improve retention. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01600391.

Individual differences in perceptual adaptability of foreign sound categories

PubMed Central

Schertz, Jessamyn; Cho, Taehong; Lotto, Andrew; Warner, Natasha

2015-01-01

Listeners possess a remarkable ability to adapt to acoustic variability in the realization of speech sound categories (e.g. different accents). The current work tests whether non-native listeners adapt their use of acoustic cues in phonetic categorization when they are confronted with changes in the distribution of cues in the input, as native listeners do, and examines to what extent these adaptation patterns are influenced by individual cue-weighting strategies. In line with previous work, native English listeners, who use VOT as a primary cue to the stop voicing contrast (e.g. ‘pa’ vs. ‘ba’), adjusted their use of f0 (a secondary cue to the contrast) when confronted with a noncanonical “accent” in which the two cues gave conflicting information about category membership. Native Korean listeners’ adaptation strategies, while variable, were predictable based on their initial cue weighting strategies. In particular, listeners who used f0 as the primary cue to category membership adjusted their use of VOT (their secondary cue) in response to the noncanonical accent, mirroring the native pattern of “downweighting” a secondary cue. Results suggest that non-native listeners show native-like sensitivity to distributional information in the input and use this information to adjust categorization, just as native listeners do, with the specific trajectory of category adaptation governed by initial cue-weighting strategies. PMID:26404530

A psychoacoustic method for studying the necessary and sufficient perceptual cues of American English fricative consonants in noise.

PubMed

Li, Feipeng; Trevino, Andrea; Menon, Anjali; Allen, Jont B

2012-10-01

In a previous study on plosives, the 3-Dimensional Deep Search (3DDS) method for the exploration of the necessary and sufficient cues for speech perception was introduced (Li et al., (2010). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 127(4), 2599-2610). Here, this method is used to isolate the spectral cue regions for perception of the American English fricatives /∫, 3, s, z, f, v, θ, δ in time, frequency, and intensity. The fricatives are analyzed in the context of consonant-vowel utterances, using the vowel /α/. The necessary cues were found to be contained in the frication noise for /∫, 3, s, z, f, v/. 3DDS analysis isolated the cue regions of /s, z/ between 3.6 and 8 [kHz] and /∫, 3/ between 1.4 and 4.2 [kHz]. Some utterances were found to contain acoustic components that were unnecessary for correct perception, but caused listeners to hear non-target consonants when the primary cue region was removed; such acoustic components are labeled "conflicting cue regions." The amplitude modulation of the high-frequency frication region by the fundamental F0 was found to be a sufficient cue for voicing. Overall, the 3DDS method allows one to analyze the effects of natural speech components without initial assumptions about where perceptual cues lie in time-frequency space or which elements of production they correspond to.

Ignoring Memory Hints: The Stubborn Influence of Environmental Cues on Recognition Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Selmeczy, Diana; Dobbins, Ian G.

2017-01-01

Recognition judgments can benefit from the use of environmental cues that signal the general likelihood of encountering familiar versus unfamiliar stimuli. While incorporating such cues is often adaptive, there are circumstances (e.g., eyewitness testimony) in which observers should fully ignore environmental cues in order to preserve memory…

Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of Visual Cue Training to Improve Adaptability of Walking after Stroke: Multi-Centre, Single-Blind Randomised Control Pilot Trial

PubMed Central

Hollands, Kristen L.; Pelton, Trudy A.; Wimperis, Andrew; Whitham, Diane; Tan, Wei; Jowett, Sue; Sackley, Catherine M.; Wing, Alan M.; Tyson, Sarah F.; Mathias, Jonathan; Hensman, Marianne; van Vliet, Paulette M.

2015-01-01

Objectives Given the importance of vision in the control of walking and evidence indicating varied practice of walking improves mobility outcomes, this study sought to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of varied walking practice in response to visual cues, for the rehabilitation of walking following stroke. Design This 3 arm parallel, multi-centre, assessor blind, randomised control trial was conducted within outpatient neurorehabilitation services Participants Community dwelling stroke survivors with walking speed <0.8m/s, lower limb paresis and no severe visual impairments Intervention Over-ground visual cue training (O-VCT), Treadmill based visual cue training (T-VCT), and Usual care (UC) delivered by physiotherapists twice weekly for 8 weeks. Main outcome measures: Participants were randomised using computer generated random permutated balanced blocks of randomly varying size. Recruitment, retention, adherence, adverse events and mobility and balance were measured before randomisation, post-intervention and at four weeks follow-up. Results Fifty-six participants participated (18 T-VCT, 19 O-VCT, 19 UC). Thirty-four completed treatment and follow-up assessments. Of the participants that completed, adherence was good with 16 treatments provided over (median of) 8.4, 7.5 and 9 weeks for T-VCT, O-VCT and UC respectively. No adverse events were reported. Post-treatment improvements in walking speed, symmetry, balance and functional mobility were seen in all treatment arms. Conclusions Outpatient based treadmill and over-ground walking adaptability practice using visual cues are feasible and may improve mobility and balance. Future studies should continue a carefully phased approach using identified methods to improve retention. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01600391 PMID:26445137

Adapting to the destitute situations: poverty cues lead to short-term choice.

PubMed

Liu, Lei; Feng, Tingyong; Suo, Tao; Lee, Kang; Li, Hong

2012-01-01

Why do some people live for the present, whereas others save for the future? The evolutionary framework of life history theory predicts that preference for delay of gratification should be influenced by social economic status (SES). However, here we propose that the decision to choose alternatives in immediate and delayed gratification in poverty environments may have a psychological dimension. Specifically, the perception of environmental poverty cues may induce people alike to favor choices with short-term, likely smaller benefit than choices with long-term, greater benefit. The present study was conducted to explore how poverty and affluence cues affected individuals' intertemporal choices. In our first two experiments, individuals exposed explicitly (Experiment 1) and implicitly (Experiment 2) to poverty pictures (the poverty cue) were induced to prefer immediate gratification compared with those exposed to affluence pictures (the affluence cue). Furthermore, by the manipulation of temporary perceptions of poverty and affluence status using a lucky draw game; individuals in the poverty state were more impulsive in a manner, which made them pursue immediate gratification in intertemporal choices (Experiment 3). Thus, poverty cues can lead to short-term choices. Decision makers chose more frequently the sooner-smaller reward over the later-larger reward as they were exposed to the poverty cue. This indicates that it is that just the feeling of poverty influences intertemporal choice - the actual reality of poverty (restricted resources, etc.) is not necessary to get the effect. Furthermore, our findings emphasize that it is a change of the poverty-affluence status, not a trait change, can influence individual preference in intertemporal choice.

Cognition and balance control: does processing of explicit contextual cues of impending perturbations modulate automatic postural responses?

PubMed

Coelho, Daniel Boari; Teixeira, Luis Augusto

2017-08-01

Processing of predictive contextual cues of an impending perturbation is thought to induce adaptive postural responses. Cueing in previous research has been provided through repeated perturbations with a constant foreperiod. This experimental strategy confounds explicit predictive cueing with adaptation and non-specific properties of temporal cueing. Two experiments were performed to assess those factors separately. To perturb upright balance, the base of support was suddenly displaced backwards in three amplitudes: 5, 10 and 15 cm. In Experiment 1, we tested the effect of cueing the amplitude of the impending postural perturbation by means of visual signals, and the effect of adaptation to repeated exposures by comparing block versus random sequences of perturbation. In Experiment 2, we evaluated separately the effects of cueing the characteristics of an impending balance perturbation and cueing the timing of perturbation onset. Results from Experiment 1 showed that the block sequence of perturbations led to increased stability of automatic postural responses, and modulation of magnitude and onset latency of muscular responses. Results from Experiment 2 showed that only the condition cueing timing of platform translation onset led to increased balance stability and modulation of onset latency of muscular responses. Conversely, cueing platform displacement amplitude failed to induce any effects on automatic postural responses in both experiments. Our findings support the interpretation of improved postural responses via optimized sensorimotor processes, at the same time that cast doubt on the notion that cognitive processing of explicit contextual cues advancing the magnitude of an impending perturbation can preset adaptive postural responses.

Context-specific adaptation of pursuit initiation in humans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Takagi, M.; Abe, H.; Hasegawa, S.; Usui, T.; Hasebe, H.; Miki, A.; Zee, D. S.; Shelhauser, M. (Principal Investigator)

2000-01-01

PURPOSE: To determine if multiple states for the initiation of pursuit, as assessed by acceleration in the "open-loop" period, can be learned and gated by context. METHODS: Four normal subjects were studied. A modified step-ramp paradigm for horizontal pursuit was used to induce adaptation. In an increasing paradigm, target velocity doubled 230 msec after onset; in a decreasing paradigm, it was halved. In the first experiment, vertical eye position (+/-5 degrees ) was used as the context cue, and the training paradigm (increasing or decreasing) changed with vertical eye position. In the second experiment, with vertical position constant, when the target was red, training was decreasing, and when green, increasing. The average eye acceleration in the first 100 msec of tracking was the index of open-loop pursuit performance. RESULTS: With vertical position as the cue, pursuit adaptation differed between up and down gaze. In some cases, the direction of adaptation was in exact accord with the training stimuli. In others, acceleration increased or decreased for both up and down gaze but always in correct relative proportion to the training stimuli. In contrast, multiple adaptive states were not induced with color as the cue. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple values for the relationship between the average eye acceleration during the initiation of pursuit and target velocity could be learned and gated by context. Vertical position was an effective contextual cue but not target color, implying that useful contextual cues must be similar to those occurring naturally, for example, orbital position with eye muscle weakness.

mTORC1 in AGRP neurons integrates exteroceptive and interoceptive food-related cues in the modulation of adaptive energy expenditure in mice

PubMed Central

Burke, Luke K; Darwish, Tamana; Cavanaugh, Althea R; Virtue, Sam; Roth, Emma; Morro, Joanna; Liu, Shun-Mei; Xia, Jing; Dalley, Jeffrey W; Burling, Keith; Chua, Streamson; Vidal-Puig, Toni; Schwartz, Gary J; Blouet, Clémence

2017-01-01

Energy dissipation through interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) thermogenesis is an important contributor to adaptive energy expenditure. However, it remains unresolved how acute and chronic changes in energy availability are detected by the brain to adjust iBAT activity and maintain energy homeostasis. Here, we provide evidence that AGRP inhibitory tone to iBAT represents an energy-sparing circuit that integrates environmental food cues and internal signals of energy availability. We establish a role for the nutrient-sensing mTORC1 signaling pathway within AGRP neurons in the detection of environmental food cues and internal signals of energy availability, and in the bi-directional control of iBAT thermogenesis during nutrient deficiency and excess. Collectively, our findings provide insights into how mTORC1 signaling within AGRP neurons surveys energy availability to engage iBAT thermogenesis, and identify AGRP neurons as a neuronal substrate for the coordination of energy intake and adaptive expenditure under varying physiological and environmental contexts. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22848.001 PMID:28532548

Adapting to the Destitute Situations: Poverty Cues Lead to Short-Term Choice

PubMed Central

Suo, Tao; Lee, Kang; Li, Hong

2012-01-01

Background Why do some people live for the present, whereas others save for the future? The evolutionary framework of life history theory predicts that preference for delay of gratification should be influenced by social economic status (SES). However, here we propose that the decision to choose alternatives in immediate and delayed gratification in poverty environments may have a psychological dimension. Specifically, the perception of environmental poverty cues may induce people alike to favor choices with short-term, likely smaller benefit than choices with long-term, greater benefit. Methodology/Principal Findings The present study was conducted to explore how poverty and affluence cues affected individuals' intertemporal choices. In our first two experiments, individuals exposed explicitly (Experiment 1) and implicitly (Experiment 2) to poverty pictures (the poverty cue) were induced to prefer immediate gratification compared with those exposed to affluence pictures (the affluence cue). Furthermore, by the manipulation of temporary perceptions of poverty and affluence status using a lucky draw game; individuals in the poverty state were more impulsive in a manner, which made them pursue immediate gratification in intertemporal choices (Experiment 3). Thus, poverty cues can lead to short-term choices. Conclusions/Significance Decision makers chose more frequently the sooner-smaller reward over the later-larger reward as they were exposed to the poverty cue. This indicates that it is that just the feeling of poverty influences intertemporal choice – the actual reality of poverty (restricted resources, etc.) is not necessary to get the effect. Furthermore, our findings emphasize that it is a change of the poverty-affluence status, not a trait change, can influence individual preference in intertemporal choice. PMID:22529902

Flexible echolocation behavior of trawling bats during approach of continuous or transient prey cues

PubMed Central

Übernickel, Kirstin; Tschapka, Marco; Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.

2013-01-01

Trawling bats use echolocation not only to detect and classify acoustically continuous cues originated from insects at and above water surfaces, but also to detect small water-dwelling prey items breaking the water surface for a very short time, producing only transient cues to be perceived acoustically. Generally, bats need to adjust their echolocation behavior to the specific task on hand, and because of the diversity of prey cues they use in hunting, trawling bats should be highly flexible in their echolocation behavior. We studied the adaptations in the behavior of Noctilio leporinus when approaching either a continuous cue or a transient cue that disappeared during the approach of the bat. Normally the bats reacted by dipping their feet in the water at the cue location. We found that the bats typically started to adapt their calling behavior at approximately 410 ms before prey contact in continuous cue trials, but were also able to adapt their approach behavior to stimuli onsets as short as 177 ms before contact, within a minimum reaction time of 50.9 ms in response to transient cues. In both tasks the approach phase ended between 32 and 53 ms before prey contact. Call emission always continued after the end of the approach phase until around prey contact. In some failed capture attempts, call emission did not cease at all after prey contact. Probably bats used spatial memory to dip at the original location of the transient cue after its disappearance. The duration of the pointed dips was significantly longer in transient cue trials than in continuous cue trials. Our results suggest that trawling bats possess the ability to modify their generally rather stereotyped echolocation behavior during approaches within very short reaction times depending on the sensory information available. PMID:23675352

Look up: Human adults use vertical height cues in reorientation.

PubMed

Du, Yu; Spetch, Marcia L; Mou, Weimin

2016-11-01

Numerous studies have shown that people and other animals readily use horizontal geometry (distance and directional information) to reorient, and these cues sometimes dominate over other cues when reorienting in navigable environments. Our study investigated whether horizontal cues (distance/angle) dominate over vertical cues (wall height) when they are in conflict. Adult participants learned two locations (opposite corners) in either a rectangular room (with distance information) or a rhombus room (with angle information). Both training rooms had 2 opposite high walls as height cues. On each trial, participants were disoriented and then asked to locate the correct corners. In testing, the rooms were modified to provide (a) distance or angle cues only, (b) height cues only, and (c) both height and horizontal cues in conflict. Participants located the correct corners successfully with horizontal (distance/angle) or height cues alone. On conflict tests, participants did not show preference for the horizontal information (distance/angle) over the height cues. The results are discussed in terms of the geometric module theory and the adaptive combination theory.

Conflict adaptation in time: foreperiods as contextual cues for attentional adjustment.

PubMed

Wendt, Mike; Kiesel, Andrea

2011-10-01

Interference evoked by distractor stimulus information, such as flankers in the Eriksen task, is reduced when the proportion of conflicting stimuli is increased. This modulation is sensitive to contextual cues such as stimulus location or color, suggesting attentional adjustment to conflict contingencies on the basis of context information. In the present study, we explored whether conflict adjustment is modulated by temporal variation of conflict likelihood. To this end, we associated low and high proportions of conflict stimuli with foreperiods of different lengths. Flanker interference was higher with foreperiods associated with low conflict proportions, suggesting that participants use the foreperiod as a contextual cue for attentional adjustment. We conjecture that participants initially adopt the strategy useful for conflict contingencies associated with short foreperiods, and then readjust during the trial, in the absence of any additional exogenous cue, when the imperative stimulus has not occurred during a certain time interval.

Cue generation: How learners flexibly support future retrieval.

PubMed

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.

Context-dependent arm pointing adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seidler, R. D.; Bloomberg, J. J.; Stelmach, G. E.

2001-01-01

We sought to determine the effectiveness of head posture as a contextual cue to facilitate adaptive transitions in manual control during visuomotor distortions. Subjects performed arm pointing movements by drawing on a digitizing tablet, with targets and movement trajectories displayed in real time on a computer monitor. Adaptation was induced by presenting the trajectories in an altered gain format on the monitor. The subjects were shown visual displays of their movements that corresponded to either 0.5 or 1.5 scaling of the movements made. Subjects were assigned to three groups: the head orientation group tilted the head towards the right shoulder when drawing under a 0.5 gain of display and towards the left shoulder when drawing under a 1.5 gain of display; the target orientation group had the home and target positions rotated counterclockwise when drawing under the 0.5 gain and clockwise for the 1.5 gain; the arm posture group changed the elbow angle of the arm they were not drawing with from full flexion to full extension with 0.5 and 1.5 gain display changes. To determine if contextual cues were associated with display alternations, the gain changes were returned to the standard (1.0) display. Aftereffects were assessed to determine the efficacy of the head orientation contextual cue compared to the two control cues. The head orientation cue was effectively associated with the multiple gains. The target orientation cue also demonstrated some effectiveness while the arm posture cue did not. The results demonstrate that contextual cues can be used to switch between multiple adaptive states. These data provide support for the idea that static head orientation information is a crucial component to the arm adaptation process. These data further define the functional linkage between head posture and arm pointing movements.

Context-Dependent Arm Pointing Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seidler, R. D.; Bloomberg, J. J.; Stelmach, G. E.

2000-01-01

We sought to determine the effectiveness of head posture as a contextual cue to facilitate adaptive transitions in manual control during visuomotor distortions. Subjects performed arm pointing movements by drawing on a digitizing tablet, with targets and movement trajectories displayed in real time on a computer monitor. Adaptation was induced by presenting the trajectories in an altered gain format on the monitor. The subjects were shown visual displays of their movements that corresponded to either 0.5 or 1.5 scaling of the movements made. Subjects were assigned to three groups: the head orientation group tilted the head towards the right shoulder when drawing under a 0.5 gain of display and towards the left shoulder when drawing under a 1.5 gain of display, the target orientation group had the home & target positions rotated counterclockwise when drawing under the 0.5 gain and clockwise for the 1.5 gain, the arm posture group changed the elbow angle of the arm they were not drawing with from full flexion to full extension with 0.5 and 1.5 gain display changes. To determine if contextual cues were associated with display alternations, the gain changes were returned to the standard (1.0) display. Aftereffects were assessed to determine the efficacy of the head orientation contextual cue. . compared to the two control cues. The head orientation cue was effectively associated with the multiple gains. The target orientation cue also demonstrated some effectiveness while the.arm posture cue did not. The results demonstrate that contextual cues can be used to switch between multiple adaptive states. These data provide support for the idea that static head orientation information is a crucial component to the arm adaptation process. These data further define the functional linkage between head posture and arm pointing movements.

Perceptual Adaptation of Voice Gender Discrimination with Spectrally Shifted Vowels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Tianhao; Fu, Qian-Jie

2011-01-01

Purpose: To determine whether perceptual adaptation improves voice gender discrimination of spectrally shifted vowels and, if so, which acoustic cues contribute to the improvement. Method: Voice gender discrimination was measured for 10 normal-hearing subjects, during 5 days of adaptation to spectrally shifted vowels, produced by processing the…

Adaptive Monte Carlo methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fasnacht, Marc

We develop adaptive Monte Carlo methods for the calculation of the free energy as a function of a parameter of interest. The methods presented are particularly well-suited for systems with complex energy landscapes, where standard sampling techniques have difficulties. The Adaptive Histogram Method uses a biasing potential derived from histograms recorded during the simulation to achieve uniform sampling in the parameter of interest. The Adaptive Integration method directly calculates an estimate of the free energy from the average derivative of the Hamiltonian with respect to the parameter of interest and uses it as a biasing potential. We compare both methods to a state of the art method, and demonstrate that they compare favorably for the calculation of potentials of mean force of dense Lennard-Jones fluids. We use the Adaptive Integration Method to calculate accurate potentials of mean force for different types of simple particles in a Lennard-Jones fluid. Our approach allows us to separate the contributions of the solvent to the potential of mean force from the effect of the direct interaction between the particles. With contributions of the solvent determined, we can find the potential of mean force directly for any other direct interaction without additional simulations. We also test the accuracy of the Adaptive Integration Method on a thermodynamic cycle, which allows us to perform a consistency check between potentials of mean force and chemical potentials calculated using the Adaptive Integration Method. The results demonstrate a high degree of consistency of the method.

Motion Cueing Algorithm Development: Initial Investigation and Redesign of the Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2000-01-01

In this project four motion cueing algorithms were initially investigated. The classical algorithm generated results with large distortion and delay and low magnitude. The NASA adaptive algorithm proved to be well tuned with satisfactory performance, while the UTIAS adaptive algorithm produced less desirable results. Modifications were made to the adaptive algorithms to reduce the magnitude of undesirable spikes. The optimal algorithm was found to have the potential for improved performance with further redesign. The center of simulator rotation was redefined. More terms were added to the cost function to enable more tuning flexibility. A new design approach using a Fortran/Matlab/Simulink setup was employed. A new semicircular canals model was incorporated in the algorithm. With these changes results show the optimal algorithm has some advantages over the NASA adaptive algorithm. Two general problems observed in the initial investigation required solutions. A nonlinear gain algorithm was developed that scales the aircraft inputs by a third-order polynomial, maximizing the motion cues while remaining within the operational limits of the motion system. A braking algorithm was developed to bring the simulator to a full stop at its motion limit and later release the brake to follow the cueing algorithm output.

Illusory Distance Modulates Perceived Size of Afterimage despite the Disappearance of Depth Cues

PubMed Central

Liu, Shengxi; Lei, Quan

2016-01-01

It is known that the perceived size of an afterimage is modulated by the perceived distance between the observer and the depth plane on which the afterimage is projected (Emmert’s law). Illusions like Ponzo demonstrate that illusory distance induced by depth cues can also affect the perceived size of an object. In this study, we report that the illusory distance not only modulates the perceived size of object’s afterimage during the presence of the depth cues, but the modulation persists after the disappearance of the depth cues. We used an adapted version of the classic Ponzo illusion. Illusory depth perception was induced by linear perspective cues with two tilted lines converging at the upper boundary of the display. Two horizontal bars were placed between the two lines, resulting in a percept of the upper bar to be farther away than the lower bar. Observers were instructed to make judgment about the relative size of the afterimage of the lower and the upper bars after adaptation. When the perspective cues and the bars were static, the illusory effect of the Ponzo afterimage is consistent with that of the traditional size-distance illusion. When the perspective cues were flickering and the bars were static, only the afterimage of the latter was perceived, yet still a considerable amount of the illusory effect was perceived. The results could not be explained by memory of a prejudgment of the bar length during the adaptation phase. The findings suggest that cooccurrences of depth cues and object may link a depth marker for the object, so that the perceived size of the object or its afterimage is modulated by feedback of depth information from higher-level visual cortex even when there is no depth cues directly available on the retinal level. PMID:27391335

Optical methods for enabling focus cues in head-mounted displays for virtual and augmented reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hua, Hong

2017-05-01

Developing head-mounted displays (HMD) that offer uncompromised optical pathways to both digital and physical worlds without encumbrance and discomfort confronts many grand challenges, both from technological perspectives and human factors. Among the many challenges, minimizing visual discomfort is one of the key obstacles. One of the key contributing factors to visual discomfort is the lack of the ability to render proper focus cues in HMDs to stimulate natural eye accommodation responses, which leads to the well-known accommodation-convergence cue discrepancy problem. In this paper, I will provide a summary on the various optical methods approaches toward enabling focus cues in HMDs for both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

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

PubMed

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.

Adaptive developmental plasticity: compartmentalized responses to environmental cues and to corresponding internal signals provide phenotypic flexibility.

PubMed

Mateus, Ana Rita A; Marques-Pita, Manuel; Oostra, Vicencio; Lafuente, Elvira; Brakefield, Paul M; Zwaan, Bas J; Beldade, Patrícia

2014-11-21

The environmental regulation of development can result in the production of distinct phenotypes from the same genotype and provide the means for organisms to cope with environmental heterogeneity. The effect of the environment on developmental outcomes is typically mediated by hormonal signals which convey information about external cues to the developing tissues. While such plasticity is a wide-spread property of development, not all developing tissues are equally plastic. To understand how organisms integrate environmental input into coherent adult phenotypes, we must know how different body parts respond, independently or in concert, to external cues and to the corresponding internal signals. We quantified the effect of temperature and ecdysone hormone manipulations on post-growth tissue patterning in an experimental model of adaptive developmental plasticity, the butterfly Bicyclus anynana. Following a suite of traits evolving by natural or sexual selection, we found that different groups of cells within the same tissue have sensitivities and patterns of response that are surprisingly distinct for the external environmental cue and for the internal hormonal signal. All but those wing traits presumably involved in mate choice responded to developmental temperature and, of those, all but the wing traits not exposed to predators responded to hormone manipulations. On the other hand, while patterns of significant response to temperature contrasted traits on autonomously-developing wings, significant response to hormone manipulations contrasted neighboring groups of cells with distinct color fates. We also showed that the spatial compartmentalization of these responses cannot be explained by the spatial or temporal compartmentalization of the hormone receptor protein. Our results unravel the integration of different aspects of the adult phenotype into developmental and functional units which both reflect and impact evolutionary change. Importantly, our findings

Decline in Cue-Provoked Craving During Cue Exposure Therapy for Smoking Cessation

PubMed Central

Unrod, Marina; Drobes, David J.; Stasiewicz, Paul R.; Ditre, Joseph W.; Heckman, Bryan; Miller, Ralph R.; Sutton, Steven K.

2014-01-01

Introduction: Based on the principles of Pavlovian learning and extinction, cue exposure therapy (CET) involves repeated exposure to substance-associated cues to extinguish conditioned cravings and reduce the likelihood of relapse. The efficacy of CET is predicated on successful extinction, yet the process of extinction in CET trials has rarely been demonstrated. This study explored the extinction process using a cue-reactivity paradigm in smokers undergoing multiple CET sessions as part of a comprehensive smoking cessation treatment. Methods: The sample comprised 76 moderately dependent, treatment-seeking smokers who completed at least 4 CET sessions and 6 counseling sessions. The CET and counseling sessions were scheduled twice weekly, and participants began using transdermal nicotine replacement therapy on their quit day, which occurred prior to initiation of CET. Each CET session consisted of presentation of 140 images on a computer screen, with self-reported craving as the primary measure of cue reactivity. Results: Mixed-model analyses revealed a progressive decline in cue-provoked craving both within and across 6 sessions of CET. Moderator analyses showed that the decline in craving was greatest among those who displayed initial cue reactivity. Conclusions: These data are consistent with the premise that CET can produce extinction of laboratory-based cue-provoked smoking cravings and highlight important individual differences that may influence extinction. Implications for conducting cue exposure research and interventions are discussed. PMID:24078760

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

PubMed

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.

New human-centered linear and nonlinear motion cueing algorithms for control of simulator motion systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Telban, Robert J.

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. To address this, new human-centered motion cueing algorithms were developed. A revised "optimal algorithm" uses time-invariant filters developed by optimal control, incorporating human vestibular system models. The "nonlinear algorithm" is a novel approach that is also formulated by optimal control, but can also be updated in real time. It incorporates a new integrated visual-vestibular perception model that includes both visual and vestibular sensation and the interaction between the stimuli. A time-varying control law requires the matrix Riccati equation to be solved 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. As a result of unsatisfactory sensation, an augmented turbulence cue was added to the vertical mode for both the optimal and nonlinear algorithms. The relative effectiveness of the algorithms, in simulating aircraft maneuvers, was assessed with an eleven-subject piloted performance test conducted on the NASA Langley Visual Motion Simulator (VMS). Two methods, the quasi-objective NASA Task Load Index (TLX), and power spectral density analysis of pilot control, were used to assess pilot workload. TLX analysis reveals, in most cases, less workload and variation among pilots with the nonlinear algorithm. Control input

Binaural noise reduction via cue-preserving MMSE filter and adaptive-blocking-based noise PSD estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azarpour, Masoumeh; Enzner, Gerald

2017-12-01

Binaural noise reduction, with applications for instance in hearing aids, has been a very significant challenge. This task relates to the optimal utilization of the available microphone signals for the estimation of the ambient noise characteristics and for the optimal filtering algorithm to separate the desired speech from the noise. The additional requirements of low computational complexity and low latency further complicate the design. A particular challenge results from the desired reconstruction of binaural speech input with spatial cue preservation. The latter essentially diminishes the utility of multiple-input/single-output filter-and-sum techniques such as beamforming. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive and effective signal processing configuration with which most of the aforementioned criteria can be met suitably. This relates especially to the requirement of efficient online adaptive processing for noise estimation and optimal filtering while preserving the binaural cues. Regarding noise estimation, we consider three different architectures: interaural (ITF), cross-relation (CR), and principal-component (PCA) target blocking. An objective comparison with two other noise PSD estimation algorithms demonstrates the superiority of the blocking-based noise estimators, especially the CR-based and ITF-based blocking architectures. Moreover, we present a new noise reduction filter based on minimum mean-square error (MMSE), which belongs to the class of common gain filters, hence being rigorous in terms of spatial cue preservation but also efficient and competitive for the acoustic noise reduction task. A formal real-time subjective listening test procedure is also developed in this paper. The proposed listening test enables a real-time assessment of the proposed computationally efficient noise reduction algorithms in a realistic acoustic environment, e.g., considering time-varying room impulse responses and the Lombard effect. The listening test outcome

Depth cue reliance in surgeons and medical students.

PubMed

Shah, J; Buckley, D; Frisby, J; Darzi, A

2003-09-01

Depth perception is reduced in endoscopic surgery, although little is known about the effect this has on surgical performance. To assess the role of depth cues, 45 subjects completed tests of depth cue reliance. Surgical skill was assessed using the Minimally Invasive Surgical Trainer-Virtual Reality, a previously validated laparoscopic simulator. We could demonstrate no difference in cue reliance for three depth cues--namely stereo, texture, and outline--between surgeons and medical students. Greater dominance on stereo for medical students was a positive finding and a negative finding for the surgeons when correlated with surgical performance. We suggest that surgeons learn to adapt to the nonstereo environment in MIS, and this is the first study to show evidence of this phenomenon. This difference in stereo reliance is a reflection of the experience that surgeons have with laparoscopy compared with medical students, who have none.

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

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed

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.

Developing Bayesian adaptive methods for estimating sensitivity thresholds (d′) in Yes-No and forced-choice tasks

PubMed Central

Lesmes, Luis A.; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Baek, Jongsoo; Tran, Nina; Dosher, Barbara A.; Albright, Thomas D.

2015-01-01

Motivated by Signal Detection Theory (SDT), we developed a family of novel adaptive methods that estimate the sensitivity threshold—the signal intensity corresponding to a pre-defined sensitivity level (d′ = 1)—in Yes-No (YN) and Forced-Choice (FC) detection tasks. Rather than focus stimulus sampling to estimate a single level of %Yes or %Correct, the current methods sample psychometric functions more broadly, to concurrently estimate sensitivity and decision factors, and thereby estimate thresholds that are independent of decision confounds. Developed for four tasks—(1) simple YN detection, (2) cued YN detection, which cues the observer's response state before each trial, (3) rated YN detection, which incorporates a Not Sure response, and (4) FC detection—the qYN and qFC methods yield sensitivity thresholds that are independent of the task's decision structure (YN or FC) and/or the observer's subjective response state. Results from simulation and psychophysics suggest that 25 trials (and sometimes less) are sufficient to estimate YN thresholds with reasonable precision (s.d. = 0.10–0.15 decimal log units), but more trials are needed for FC thresholds. When the same subjects were tested across tasks of simple, cued, rated, and FC detection, adaptive threshold estimates exhibited excellent agreement with the method of constant stimuli (MCS), and with each other. These YN adaptive methods deliver criterion-free thresholds that have previously been exclusive to FC methods. PMID:26300798

Cue reactivity in virtual reality: the role of context.

PubMed

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.

Nucleus accumbens core dopamine signaling tracks the need-based motivational value of food-paired cues

PubMed Central

Aitken, Tara J.; Greenfield, Venuz Y.; Wassum, Kate M.

2016-01-01

Environmental reward-predictive stimuli provide a major source of motivation for instrumental reward-seeking activity and this has been linked to dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). This cue-induced incentive motivation can be quite general, not restricted to instrumental actions that earn the same unique reward, and is also typically regulated by one’s current need state, such that cues only motivate actions when this is adaptive. But it is unknown whether cue-evoked dopamine signaling is similarly regulated by need state. Here we used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to monitor dopamine concentration changes in the NAc core of rats during a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) task in which the motivating influence of two cues, each signaling a distinct food reward (sucrose or food pellets), over an action earning a third unique food reward (grape-flavored polycose) was assessed in a state of hunger and of satiety. Both cues elicited a robust NAc dopamine response when hungry. The magnitude of the sucrose cue-evoked dopamine response correlated with the PIT effect that was selectively induced by this stimulus. Satiety attenuated these cue-evoked dopamine responses and behavioral responding, even though rats had never experienced the specific food rewards in this state. These data demonstrate that cue-evoked NAc core responses are sensitive to current need state, one critical variable that determines the current adaptive utility of cue-motivated behavior. PMID:26715366

Inexact adaptive Newton methods

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bertiger, W.I.; Kelsey, F.J.

1985-02-01

The Inexact Adaptive Newton method (IAN) is a modification of the Adaptive Implicit Method/sup 1/ (AIM) with improved Newton convergence. Both methods simplify the Jacobian at each time step by zeroing coefficients in regions where saturations are changing slowly. The methods differ in how the diagonal block terms are treated. On test problems with up to 3,000 cells, IAN consistently saves approximately 30% of the CPU time when compared to the fully implicit method. AIM shows similar savings on some problems, but takes as much CPU time as fully implicit on other test problems due to poor Newton convergence.

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

PubMed

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

Gait parameter control timing with dynamic manual contact or visual cues

PubMed Central

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

Cue Reactivity in Young Marijuana Smokers

PubMed Central

Gray, Kevin M.; LaRowe, Steven D.; Upadhyaya, Himanshu P.

2008-01-01

Objective To develop and evaluate the feasibility of a cue reactivity paradigm for young marijuana smokers. Method A laboratory procedure was developed involving neutral- and marijuana-related imagery, video, and in vivo cues. Fifteen adolescents and young adults with cannabis use disorders completed the procedure. Continuous Skin Conductance (SC) and Heart Rate (HR) were measured throughout the procedure. Participants completed questionnaires regarding marijuana craving before, during and after cue presentations. Results Higher levels of craving and SC were observed during marijuana cue presentations. Conclusions The procedure appears to elicit cue reactivity among adolescents and young adults with cannabis use disorders and should be further evaluated and refined with a larger sample. Implications for future studies are discussed. PMID:19071985

Plant responsiveness to root–root communication of stress cues

PubMed Central

Falik, Omer; Mordoch, Yonat; Ben-Natan, Daniel; Vanunu, Miriam; Goldstein, Oron; Novoplansky, Ariel

2012-01-01

Background and Aims Phenotypic plasticity is based on the organism's ability to perceive, integrate and respond to multiple signals and cues informative of environmental opportunities and perils. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that plants are able to adapt to imminent threats by perceiving cues emitted from their damaged neighbours. Here, the hypothesis was tested that unstressed plants are able to perceive and respond to stress cues emitted from their drought- and osmotically stressed neighbours and to induce stress responses in additional unstressed plants. Methods Split-root Pisum sativum, Cynodon dactylon, Digitaria sanguinalis and Stenotaphrum secundatum plants were subjected to osmotic stress or drought while sharing one of their rooting volumes with an unstressed neighbour, which in turn shared its other rooting volume with additional unstressed neighbours. Following the kinetics of stomatal aperture allowed testing for stress responses in both the stressed plants and their unstressed neighbours. Key Results In both P. sativum plants and the three wild clonal grasses, infliction of osmotic stress or drought caused stomatal closure in both the stressed plants and in their unstressed neighbours. While both continuous osmotic stress and drought induced prolonged stomatal closure and limited acclimation in stressed plants, their unstressed neighbours habituated to the stress cues and opened their stomata 3–24 h after the beginning of stress induction. Conclusions The results demonstrate a novel type of plant communication, by which plants might be able to increase their readiness to probable future osmotic and drought stresses. Further work is underway to decipher the identity and mode of operation of the involved communication vectors and to assess the potential ecological costs and benefits of emitting and perceiving drought and osmotic stress cues under various ecological scenarios. PMID:22408186

Emotional and informational patient cues: the impact of nurses' responses on recall.

PubMed

Jansen, Jesse; van Weert, Julia C M; de Groot, Judith; van Dulmen, Sandra; Heeren, Thea J; Bensing, Jozien M

2010-05-01

To investigate older cancer patients' informational and emotional cues, how nurses respond to these cues and the effect of cues and responses on patients' information recall. 105 cancer patients (aged >or=65 years) completed a recall questionnaire after an educational session preceding chemotherapy treatment. Recall was checked against the actual communication in videorecordings of the consultations. Patients' emotional and informational cues and subsequent responses by the nurse were rated using an adaptation of the Medical Interview Aural Rating Scale (MIARS). Patients gave more informational than emotional cues. The most frequent response to emotional cues was distancing followed by acknowledgement. Nurses gave appropriate information in response to the majority of informational cues. Patients' expression of emotional or informational cues did not influence recall; neither did nurses' responses to informational cues. Responses to emotional cues did affect recall. The more nurses responded by giving 'minimal' encouragements (e.g. 'Hmmm'), the more patients recalled, while distancing responses (e.g. switching focus) were associated with lower recall scores. Responding to patients' emotions is likely to impact information recall. These results highlight the importance of addressing patients' expressions of emotions in the context of patient education, as it enhances information recall. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advances in Adaptive Control Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Nhan

2009-01-01

This poster presentation describes recent advances in adaptive control technology developed by NASA. Optimal Control Modification is a novel adaptive law that can improve performance and robustness of adaptive control systems. A new technique has been developed to provide an analytical method for computing time delay stability margin for adaptive control systems.

Context-Specific Adaptation of Gravity-Dependent Vestibular Reflex Responses (NSBRI Neurovestibular Project 1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shelhamer, Mark; Goldberg, Jefim; Minor, Lloyd B.; Paloski, William H.; Young, Laurence R.; Zee, David S.

1999-01-01

Impairment of gaze and head stabilization reflexes can lead to disorientation and reduced performance in sensorimotor tasks such as piloting of spacecraft. Transitions between different gravitoinertial force (gif) environments - as during different phases of space flight - provide an extreme test of the adaptive capabilities of these mechanisms. We wish to determine to what extent the sensorimotor skills acquired in one gravity environment will transfer to others, and to what extent gravity serves as a context cue for inhibiting such transfer. We use the general approach of adapting a response (saccades, vestibuloocular reflex: VOR, or vestibulocollic reflex: VCR) to a particular change in gain or phase in one gif condition, adapting to a different gain or phase in a second gif condition, and then seeing if gif itself - the context cue - can recall the previously-learned adapted responses. Previous evidence indicates that unless there is specific training to induce context-specificity, reflex adaptation is sequential rather than simultaneous. Various experiments in this project investigate the behavioral properties, neurophysiological basis, and anatomical substrate of context-specific learning, using otolith (gravity) signals as a context cue. In the following, we outline the methods for all experiments in this project, and provide details and results on selected experiments.

Developments in Human Centered Cueing Algorithms for Control of Flight Simulator Motion Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Houck, Jacob A.; Telban, Robert J.; Cardullo, Frank M.

1997-01-01

The authors conducted further research with cueing algorithms for control of flight simulator motion systems. A variation of the so-called optimal algorithm was formulated using simulated aircraft angular velocity input as a basis. Models of the human vestibular sensation system, i.e. the semicircular canals and otoliths, are incorporated within the algorithm. Comparisons of angular velocity cueing responses showed a significant improvement over a formulation using angular acceleration input. Results also compared favorably with the coordinated adaptive washout algorithm, yielding similar results for angular velocity cues while eliminating false cues and reducing the tilt rate for longitudinal cues. These results were confirmed in piloted tests on the current motion system at NASA-Langley, the Visual Motion Simulator (VMS). Proposed future developments by the authors in cueing algorithms are revealed. The new motion system, the Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF), where the final evaluation of the cueing algorithms will be conducted, is also described.

The Effects of Keyword Cues and 3R Strategy on Children's e-Book Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liang, T.-H.

2015-01-01

Various studies have found that electronic books (e-books) promote learning, but few works have examined the use of e-books along with an adaptive reading strategy for children. The current study implemented a method to extract keyword cues from e-books to support e-book reading with the read, recite and review (3R) strategy, and then examined the…

Visual Cues, Verbal Cues and Child Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentini, Nadia

2004-01-01

In this article, the author discusses two strategies--visual cues (modeling) and verbal cues (short, accurate phrases) which are related to teaching motor skills in maximizing learning in physical education classes. Both visual and verbal cues are strong influences in facilitating and promoting day-to-day learning. Both strategies reinforce…

How performance-contingent reward prospect modulates cognitive control: Increased cue maintenance at the cost of decreased flexibility.

PubMed

Hefer, Carmen; Dreisbach, Gesine

2017-10-01

Growing evidence suggests that reward prospect promotes cognitive stability in terms of increased context or cue maintenance. In 3 Experiments, using different versions of the AX-continuous performance task, we investigated whether this reward effect comes at the cost of decreased cognitive flexibility. Experiment 1 shows that the reward induced increase of cue maintenance perseverates even when reward is no longer available. Experiment 2 shows that this reward effect not only survives the withdrawal of reward but also delays the adaptation to changed task conditions that make cue usage maladaptive. And finally in Experiment 3, it is shown that this reduced flexibility to adapt is observed in a more demanding modified version of the AX-continuous performance task and is even stronger under conditions of sustained reward. Taken together, all 3 Experiments thus speak to the idea that the prospect of reward increases cue maintenance and thereby cognitive stability. This increased cognitive stability however comes at the cost of decreased flexibility in terms of delayed adaptation to new reward and task conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A psychophysical imaging method evidencing auditory cue extraction during speech perception: a group analysis of auditory classification images.

PubMed

Varnet, Léo; Knoblauch, Kenneth; Serniclaes, Willy; Meunier, Fanny; Hoen, Michel

2015-01-01

Although there is a large consensus regarding the involvement of specific acoustic cues in speech perception, the precise mechanisms underlying the transformation from continuous acoustical properties into discrete perceptual units remains undetermined. This gap in knowledge is partially due to the lack of a turnkey solution for isolating critical speech cues from natural stimuli. In this paper, we describe a psychoacoustic imaging method known as the Auditory Classification Image technique that allows experimenters to estimate the relative importance of time-frequency regions in categorizing natural speech utterances in noise. Importantly, this technique enables the testing of hypotheses on the listening strategies of participants at the group level. We exemplify this approach by identifying the acoustic cues involved in da/ga categorization with two phonetic contexts, Al- or Ar-. The application of Auditory Classification Images to our group of 16 participants revealed significant critical regions on the second and third formant onsets, as predicted by the literature, as well as an unexpected temporal cue on the first formant. Finally, through a cluster-based nonparametric test, we demonstrate that this method is sufficiently sensitive to detect fine modifications of the classification strategies between different utterances of the same phoneme.

Texture and haptic cues in slant discrimination: reliability-based cue weighting without statistically optimal cue combination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosas, Pedro; Wagemans, Johan; Ernst, Marc O.; Wichmann, Felix A.

2005-05-01

A number of models of depth-cue combination suggest that the final depth percept results from a weighted average of independent depth estimates based on the different cues available. The weight of each cue in such an average is thought to depend on the reliability of each cue. In principle, such a depth estimation could be statistically optimal in the sense of producing the minimum-variance unbiased estimator that can be constructed from the available information. Here we test such models by using visual and haptic depth information. Different texture types produce differences in slant-discrimination performance, thus providing a means for testing a reliability-sensitive cue-combination model with texture as one of the cues to slant. Our results show that the weights for the cues were generally sensitive to their reliability but fell short of statistically optimal combination - we find reliability-based reweighting but not statistically optimal cue combination.

Cue reliability, risk sensitivity and inducible morphological defense in a marine snail.

PubMed

Bourdeau, Paul E

2010-04-01

Reliable cues that communicate current or future environmental conditions are a requirement for the evolution of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, yet we often do not know which cues are responsible for the induction of particular plastic phenotypes. I examined the single and combined effects of cues from damaged prey and predator cues on the induction of plastic shell defenses and somatic growth in the marine snail Nucella lamellosa. Snails were exposed to chemical risk cues from a factorial combination of damaged prey presented in isolation or consumed by predatory crabs (Cancer productus). Water-borne cues from damaged conspecific and heterospecific snails did not affect plastic shell defenses (shell mass, shell thickness and apertural teeth) or somatic growth in N. lamellosa. Cues released by feeding crabs, independent of prey cue, had significant effects on shell mass and somatic growth, but only crabs consuming conspecific snails induced the full suite of plastic shell defenses in N. lamellosa and induced the greatest response in all shell traits and somatic growth. Thus the relationship between risk cue and inducible morphological defense is dependent on which cues and which morphological traits are examined. Results indicate that cues from damaged conspecifics alone do not trigger a response, but, in combination with predator cues, act to signal predation risk and trigger inducible defenses in this species. This ability to "label" predators as dangerous may decrease predator avoidance costs and highlights the importance of the feeding habits of predators on the expression of inducible defenses.

Visual Cues for an Adaptive Expert System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Helen B.

NCR (National Cash Register) Corporation is pursuing opportunities to make their point of sale (POS) terminals easy to use and easy to learn. To approach the goal of making the technology invisible to the user, NCR has developed an adaptive expert prototype system for a department store POS operation. The structure for the adaptive system, the…

Robust Optimal Adaptive Control Method with Large Adaptive Gain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Nhan T.

2009-01-01

In the presence of large uncertainties, a control system needs to be able to adapt rapidly to regain performance. Fast adaptation is referred to the implementation of adaptive control with a large adaptive gain to reduce the tracking error rapidly. However, a large adaptive gain can lead to high-frequency oscillations which can adversely affect robustness of an adaptive control law. A new adaptive control modification is presented that can achieve robust adaptation with a large adaptive gain without incurring high-frequency oscillations as with the standard model-reference adaptive control. The modification is based on the minimization of the Y2 norm of the tracking error, which is formulated as an optimal control problem. The optimality condition is used to derive the modification using the gradient method. The optimal control modification results in a stable adaptation and allows a large adaptive gain to be used for better tracking while providing sufficient stability robustness. Simulations were conducted for a damaged generic transport aircraft with both standard adaptive control and the adaptive optimal control modification technique. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modification in tracking a reference model while maintaining a sufficient time delay margin.

Social Vision: Functional Forecasting and the Integration of Compound Social Cues

PubMed Central

Adams, Reginald B.; Kveraga, Kestutis

2017-01-01

For decades the study of social perception was largely compartmentalized by type of social cue: race, gender, emotion, eye gaze, body language, facial expression etc. This was partly due to good scientific practice (e.g., controlling for extraneous variability), and partly due to assumptions that each type of social cue was functionally distinct from others. Herein, we present a functional forecast approach to understanding compound social cue processing that emphasizes the importance of shared social affordances across various cues (see too Adams, Franklin, Nelson, & Stevenson, 2010; Adams & Nelson, 2011; Weisbuch & Adams, 2012). We review the traditional theories of emotion and face processing that argued for dissociable and noninteracting pathways (e.g., for specific emotional expressions, gaze, identity cues), as well as more recent evidence for combinatorial processing of social cues. We argue here that early, and presumably reflexive, visual integration of such cues is necessary for adaptive behavioral responding to others. In support of this claim, we review contemporary work that reveals a flexible visual system, one that readily incorporates meaningful contextual influences in even nonsocial visual processing, thereby establishing the functional and neuroanatomical bases necessary for compound social cue integration. Finally, we explicate three likely mechanisms driving such integration. Together, this work implicates a role for cognitive penetrability in visual perceptual abilities that have often been (and in some cases still are) ascribed to direct encapsulated perceptual processes. PMID:29242738

Reminder Cues Modulate the Renewal Effect in Human Predictive Learning

PubMed Central

Bustamante, Javier; Uengoer, Metin; Lachnit, Harald

2016-01-01

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, acquisition and

Perceptual Adaptation of Voice Gender Discrimination with Spectrally Shifted Vowels

PubMed Central

Li, Tianhao; Fu, Qian-Jie

2013-01-01

Purpose To determine whether perceptual adaptation improves voice gender discrimination of spectrally shifted vowels and, if so, which acoustic cues contribute to the improvement. Method Voice gender discrimination was measured for 10 normal-hearing subjects, during 5 days of adaptation to spectrally shifted vowels, produced by processing the speech of 5 male and 5 female talkers with 16-channel sine-wave vocoders. The subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups; one subjected to 50-Hz, and the other to 200-Hz, temporal envelope cutoff frequencies. No preview or feedback was provided. Results: There was significant adaptation in voice gender discrimination with the 200-Hz cutoff frequency, but significant improvement was observed only for 3 female talkers with F0 > 180 Hz and 3 male talkers with F0 < 170 Hz. There was no significant adaptation with the 50-Hz cutoff frequency. Conclusions Temporal envelope cues are important for voice gender discrimination under spectral shift conditions with perceptual adaptation, but spectral shift may limit the exclusive use of spectral information and/or the use of formant structure on voice gender discrimination. The results have implications for cochlear implant users and for understanding voice gender discrimination. PMID:21173392

Ontogenetic changes in responses to settlement cues by Anemonefish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Reactivity to Cannabis Cues in Virtual Reality Environments†

PubMed Central

Bordnick, Patrick S.; Copp, Hilary L.; Traylor, Amy; Graap, Ken M.; Carter, Brian L.; Walton, Alicia; Ferrer, Mirtha

2014-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) cue environments have been developed and successfully tested in nicotine, cocaine, and alcohol abusers. Aims in the current article include the development and testing of a novel VR cannabis cue reactivity assessment system. It was hypothesized that subjective craving levels and attention to cannabis cues would be higher in VR environments merits with cannabis cues compared to VR neutral environments. Twenty nontreatment-seeking current cannabis smokers participated in the VR cue trial. During the VR cue trial, participants were exposed to four virtual environments that contained audio, visual, olfactory, and vibrotactile sensory stimuli. Two VR environments contained cannabis cues that consisted of a party room in which people were smoking cannabis and a room containing cannabis paraphernalia without people. Two VR neutral rooms without cannabis cues consisted of a digital art gallery with nature videos. Subjective craving and attention to cues were significantly higher in the VR cannabis environments compared to the VR neutral environments. These findings indicate that VR cannabis cue reactivity may offer a new technology-based method to advance addiction research and treatment. PMID:19705672

Robust cue integration: a Bayesian model and evidence from cue-conflict studies with stereoscopic and figure cues to slant.

PubMed

Knill, David C

2007-05-23

Most research on depth cue integration has focused on stimulus regimes in which stimuli contain the small cue conflicts that one might expect to normally arise from sensory noise. In these regimes, linear models for cue integration provide a good approximation to system performance. This article focuses on situations in which large cue conflicts can naturally occur in stimuli. We describe a Bayesian model for nonlinear cue integration that makes rational inferences about scenes across the entire range of possible cue conflicts. The model derives from the simple intuition that multiple properties of scenes or causal factors give rise to the image information associated with most cues. To make perceptual inferences about one property of a scene, an ideal observer must necessarily take into account the possible contribution of these other factors to the information provided by a cue. In the context of classical depth cues, large cue conflicts most commonly arise when one or another cue is generated by an object or scene that violates the strongest form of constraint that makes the cue informative. For example, when binocularly viewing a slanted trapezoid, the slant interpretation of the figure derived by assuming that the figure is rectangular may conflict greatly with the slant suggested by stereoscopic disparities. An optimal Bayesian estimator incorporates the possibility that different constraints might apply to objects in the world and robustly integrates cues with large conflicts by effectively switching between different internal models of the prior constraints underlying one or both cues. We performed two experiments to test the predictions of the model when applied to estimating surface slant from binocular disparities and the compression cue (the aspect ratio of figures in an image). The apparent weight that subjects gave to the compression cue decreased smoothly as a function of the conflict between the cues but did not shrink to zero; that is, subjects did

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

PubMed

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.

Responding to social and symbolic extrafoveal cues: cue shape trumps biological relevance.

PubMed

Hermens, Frouke; Bindemann, Markus; Mike Burton, A

2017-01-01

Social cues presented at visual fixation have been shown to strongly influence an observer's attention and response selection. Here we ask whether the same holds for cues (initially) presented away from fixation, as cues are commonly perceived in natural vision. In six experiments, we show that extrafoveally presented cues with a distinct outline, such as pointing hands, rotated heads, and arrow cues result in strong cueing of responses (either to the cue itself, or a cued object). In contrast, cues without a clear outline, such as gazing eyes and direction words exert much weaker effects on participants' responses to a target cue. We also show that distraction effects on response times are relatively weak, but that strong interference effects can be obtained by measuring mouse trajectories. Eye tracking suggests that gaze cues are slower to respond to because their direction cannot easily be perceived in extrafoveal vision. Together, these data suggest that the strength of an extrafoveal cue is determined by the shape of the cue outline, rather than its biological relevance (i.e., whether the cue is provided by another human being), and that this shape effect is due to how easily the direction of a cue can be perceived in extrafoveal vision.

Counterbalancing in Smoking Cue Research: A Critical Analysis

PubMed Central

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

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

PubMed

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.

PubMed

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.

Integration of Pragmatic and Phonetic Cues in Spoken Word Recognition

PubMed Central

Rohde, Hannah; Ettlinger, Marc

2015-01-01

Although previous research has established that multiple top-down factors guide the identification of words during speech processing, the ultimate range of information sources that listeners integrate from different levels of linguistic structure is still unknown. In a set of experiments, we investigate whether comprehenders can integrate information from the two most disparate domains: pragmatic inference and phonetic perception. Using contexts that trigger pragmatic expectations regarding upcoming coreference (expectations for either he or she), we test listeners' identification of phonetic category boundaries (using acoustically ambiguous words on the/hi/∼/∫i/continuum). The results indicate that, in addition to phonetic cues, word recognition also reflects pragmatic inference. These findings are consistent with evidence for top-down contextual effects from lexical, syntactic, and semantic cues, but they extend this previous work by testing cues at the pragmatic level and by eliminating a statistical-frequency confound that might otherwise explain the previously reported results. We conclude by exploring the time-course of this interaction and discussing how different models of cue integration could be adapted to account for our results. PMID:22250908

Audiovisual cues and perceptual learning of spectrally distorted speech.

PubMed

Pilling, Michael; Thomas, Sharon

2011-12-01

Two experiments investigate the effectiveness of audiovisual (AV) speech cues (cues derived from both seeing and hearing a talker speak) in facilitating perceptual learning of spectrally distorted speech. Speech was distorted through an eight channel noise-vocoder which shifted the spectral envelope of the speech signal to simulate the properties of a cochlear implant with a 6 mm place mismatch: Experiment I found that participants showed significantly greater improvement in perceiving noise-vocoded speech when training gave AV cues than when it gave auditory cues alone. Experiment 2 compared training with AV cues with training which gave written feedback. These two methods did not significantly differ in the pattern of training they produced. Suggestions are made about the types of circumstances in which the two training methods might be found to differ in facilitating auditory perceptual learning of speech.

Sex differences in cue perception in a visual scene: investigation of cue type.

PubMed

Barkley, Cynthia L; Gabriel, Kara I

2007-04-01

Sex differences in spatial navigation indicate that women may focus on positional, landmark cues whereas men favor Euclidean, directional cues. Some studies have investigated sex differences in proximal and distal cue use; however, sex differences in gradient (i.e., graded features) and pinpoint (i.e., single, defined) cue perception remain unexamined. In the current experiments, paired photographs were presented in which the 2nd photograph showed the same scene with cues removed (Experiment 1) or isolated (Experiment 2) from the 1st photograph. In Experiment 1, women showed less disruption of task performance than men showed following cue removal but were slowest after proximal pinpoint cue removal. Male performance was slowed by distal gradient and proximal pinpoint cue removal. In Experiment 2, women were faster than men at identifying isolated proximal and distal pinpoint cues and were more accurate at identifying isolated distal gradient and distal pinpoint cues. Better pinpoint cue perception and memory in women indicates one possible mechanism underlying female preference for landmark-based navigation strategies. Findings also show that whereas men may preferentially rely on distal gradient cues they are not better at perceiving those cues than are women. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved

Sensory modality of smoking cues modulates neural cue reactivity.

PubMed

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.

Reversal of alcohol dependence-induced deficits in cue-guided behavior via mGluR2/3 signaling in mice.

PubMed

Barker, Jacqueline M; Lench, Daniel H; Chandler, L Judson

2016-01-01

Alcohol use disorders are associated with deficits in adaptive behavior. While some behavioral impairments that are associated with alcohol use disorders may predate exposure to drugs of abuse, others may result directly from exposure to drugs of abuse, including alcohol. Identifying a causal role for how alcohol exposure leads to these impairments will enable further investigation of the neurobiological mechanisms by which it acts to dysregulate adaptive behavior. In the present study, we examined the effects of chronic intermittent ethanol exposure (CIE) on the use of reward-paired cues to guide consummatory behaviors in a mouse model, and further, how manipulations of mGluR2/3 signaling-known to be dysregulated after chronic alcohol exposure-may alter the expression of this behavior. Adult male C57B/6J mice were trained to self-administer 10 % ethanol and exposed to CIE via vapor inhalation. After CIE exposure, mice were trained in a Pavlovian task wherein a cue (tone) was paired with the delivery of a 10 % sucrose unconditioned stimulus. The use of the reward-paired cue to guide licking behavior was determined across training. The effect of systemic mGluR2/3 manipulation on discrimination between cue-on and cue-off intervals was assessed by administration of the mGluR2/3 agonist LY379268 or the antagonist LY341495 prior to a testing session. Exposure to CIE resulted in reductions in discrimination between cue-on and cue-off intervals, with CIE-exposed mice exhibiting significantly lower consummatory behavior during reward-paired cues than air controls. In addition, systemic administration of an mGluR2/3 agonist restored the use of reward-paired cues in CIE-exposed animals without impacting behavior in air controls. Conversely, administration of an mGluR2/3 antagonist mimicked the effects of CIE on cue-guided licking behavior, indicating that mGluR2/3 signaling can bidirectionally regulate the ability to use reward-paired cues to guide behavior. Together

Spatial cues more salient than color cues in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) reversal learning.

PubMed

Gaudio, Jennifer L; Snowdon, Charles T

2008-11-01

Animals living in stable home ranges have many potential cues to locate food. Spatial and color cues are important for wild Callitrichids (marmosets and tamarins). Field studies have assigned the highest priority to distal spatial cues for determining the location of food resources with color cues serving as a secondary cue to assess relative ripeness, once a food source is located. We tested two hypotheses with captive cotton-top tamarins: (a) Tamarins will demonstrate higher rates of initial learning when rewarded for attending to spatial cues versus color cues. (b) Tamarins will show higher rates of correct responses when transferred from color cues to spatial cues than from spatial cues to color cues. The results supported both hypotheses. Tamarins rewarded based on spatial location made significantly more correct choices and fewer errors than tamarins rewarded based on color cues during initial learning. Furthermore, tamarins trained on color cues showed significantly increased correct responses and decreased errors when cues were reversed to reward spatial cues. Subsequent reversal to color cues induced a regression in performance. For tamarins spatial cues appear more salient than color cues in a foraging task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).

Auditory cueing in Parkinson's patients with freezing of gait. What matters most: Action-relevance or cue-continuity?

PubMed

Young, William R; Shreve, Lauren; Quinn, Emma Jane; Craig, Cathy; Bronte-Stewart, Helen

2016-07-01

Gait disturbances are a common feature of Parkinson's disease, one of the most severe being freezing of gait. Sensory cueing is a common method used to facilitate stepping in people with Parkinson's. Recent work has shown that, compared to walking to a metronome, Parkinson's patients without freezing of gait (nFOG) showed reduced gait variability when imitating recorded sounds of footsteps made on gravel. However, it is not known if these benefits are realised through the continuity of the acoustic information or the action-relevance. Furthermore, no study has examined if these benefits extend to PD with freezing of gait. We prepared four different auditory cues (varying in action-relevance and acoustic continuity) and asked 19 Parkinson's patients (10 nFOG, 9 with freezing of gait (FOG)) to step in place to each cue. Results showed a superiority of action-relevant cues (regardless of cue-continuity) for inducing reductions in Step coefficient of variation (CV). Acoustic continuity was associated with a significant reduction in Swing CV. Neither cue-continuity nor action-relevance was independently sufficient to increase the time spent stepping before freezing. However, combining both attributes in the same cue did yield significant improvements. This study demonstrates the potential of using action-sounds as sensory cues for Parkinson's patients with freezing of gait. We suggest that the improvements shown might be considered audio-motor 'priming' (i.e., listening to the sounds of footsteps will engage sensorimotor circuitry relevant to the production of that same action, thus effectively bypassing the defective basal ganglia). Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Warm-adapted microbial communities enhance their carbon-use efficiency in warmed soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rousk, Johannes; Frey, Serita

2017-04-01

Ecosystem models predict that climate warming will stimulate microbial decomposition of soil carbon (C), resulting in a positive feedback to increasing temperatures. The current generation of models assume that the temperature sensitivities of microbial processes do not respond to warming. However, recent studies have suggested that the ability of microbial communities to adapt to warming can lead both strengthened and weakened feedbacks. A further complication is that the balance between microbial C used for growth to that used for respiration - the microbial carbon-use efficiency (CUE) - also has been shown through both modelling and empirical study to respond to warming. In our study, we set out to assess how chronic warming (+5°C over ambient during 9 years) of a temperate hardwood forest floor (Harvard Forest LTER, USA) affected temperature sensitivities of microbial processes in soil. To do this, we first determined the temperature relationships for bacterial growth, fungal growth, and respiration in plots exposed to warmed or ambient conditions. Secondly, we parametrised the established temperature functions microbial growth and respiration with plot-specific measured soil temperature data at a hourly time-resolution over the course of 3 years to estimate the real-time variation of in situ microbial C production and respiration. To estimate the microbial CUE, we also divided the microbial C production with the sum of microbial C production and respiration as a proxy for substrate use. We found that warm-adapted bacterial and fungal communities both shifted their temperature relationships to grow at higher rates in warm conditions which coincided with reduced rates at cool conditions. As such, their optimal temperature (Topt), minimum temperature (Tmin) and temperature sensitivity (Q10) were all increased. The temperature relationship for temperature, in contrast, was only marginally shifted in the same direction, but at a much smaller effect size, with

Reward favours the prepared: incentive and task-informative cues interact to enhance attentional control

PubMed Central

Chiew, Kimberly S.; Braver, Todd S.

2015-01-01

The dual mechanisms of control account suggests that cognitive control may be implemented through relatively proactive mechanisms in anticipation of stimulus onset, or through reactive mechanisms, triggered in response to changing stimulus demands. Reward incentives and task-informative cues (signaling the presence/absence of upcoming cognitive demand) have both been found to influence cognitive control in a proactive or preparatory fashion; yet, it is currently unclear whether and how such cue effects interact. We investigated this in two experiments using an adapted flanker paradigm, where task-informative and reward incentive cues were orthogonally manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis. In Experiment 1, results indicated that incentives not only speed RTs, but specifically reduce both interference and facilitation effects when combined with task-informative cues, suggesting enhanced proactive attentional control. Experiment 2 manipulated the timing of incentive cue information, demonstrating that such proactive control effects were only replicated with sufficient time to process the incentive cue (Early Incentive); when incentive signals were presented close to target onset (Late Incentive) the primary effect was a speed-accuracy tradeoff. Together, results suggest that advance cueing may trigger differing control strategies, and that these strategies may critically depend on both the timing – and the motivational incentive – to use such cues. PMID:26322689

Local adaptation and the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata).

PubMed

Torres-Dowdall, Julián; Handelsman, Corey A; Reznick, David N; Ghalambor, Cameron K

2012-11-01

Divergent selection pressures across environments can result in phenotypic differentiation that is due to local adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, or both. Trinidadian guppies exhibit local adaptation to the presence or absence of predators, but the degree to which predator-induced plasticity contributes to population differentiation is less clear. We conducted common garden experiments on guppies obtained from two drainages containing populations adapted to high- and low-predation environments. We reared full-siblings from all populations in treatments simulating the presumed ancestral (predator cues present) and derived (predator cues absent) conditions and measured water column use, head morphology, and size at maturity. When reared in presence of predator cues, all populations had phenotypes that were typical of a high-predation ecotype. However, when reared in the absence of predator cues, guppies from high- and low-predation regimes differed in head morphology and size at maturity; the qualitative nature of these differences corresponded to those that characterize adaptive phenotypes in high- versus low-predation environments. Thus, divergence in plasticity is due to phenotypic differences between high- and low-predation populations when reared in the absence of predator cues. These results suggest that plasticity might initially play an important role during colonization of novel environments, and then evolve as a by-product of adaptation to the derived environment. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Transfer of contextual cueing in full-icon display remapping.

PubMed

Shi, Zhuanghua; Zang, Xuelian; Jia, Lina; Geyer, Thomas; Müller, Hermann J

2013-02-25

Invariant spatial context can expedite visual search, an effect that is known as contextual cueing (e.g., Chun & Jiang, 1998). However, disrupting learned display configurations abolishes the effect. In current touch-based mobile devices, such as the iPad, icons are shuffled and remapped when the display mode is changed. However, such remapping also disrupts the spatial relationships between icons. This may hamper usability. In the present study, we examined the transfer of contextual cueing in four different methods of display remapping: position-order invariant, global rotation, local invariant, and central invariant. We used full-icon landscape mode for training and both landscape and portrait modes for testing, to check whether the cueing transfers to portrait mode. The results showed transfer of contextual cueing but only with the local invariant and the central invariant remapping methods. We take the results to mean that the predictability of target locations is a crucial factor for the transfer of contextual cueing and thus icon remapping design for mobile devices.

Robust lane detection and tracking using multiple visual cues under stochastic lane shape conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Zhi; Fan, Baozheng; Song, Xiaolin

2018-03-01

As one of the essential components of environment perception techniques for an intelligent vehicle, lane detection is confronted with challenges including robustness against the complicated disturbance and illumination, also adaptability to stochastic lane shapes. To overcome these issues, we proposed a robust lane detection method named classification-generation-growth-based (CGG) operator to the detected lines, whereby the linear lane markings are identified by synergizing multiple visual cues with the a priori knowledge and spatial-temporal information. According to the quality of linear lane fitting, the linear and linear-parabolic models are dynamically switched to describe the actual lane. The Kalman filter with adaptive noise covariance and the region of interests (ROI) tracking are applied to improve the robustness and efficiency. Experiments were conducted with images covering various challenging scenarios. The experimental results evaluate the effectiveness of the presented method for complicated disturbances, illumination, and stochastic lane shapes.

Signals, cues and the nature of mimicry

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

‘Mimicry’ is used in the evolutionary and ecological literature to describe diverse phenomena. Many are textbook examples of natural selection's power to produce stunning adaptations. However, there remains a lack of clarity over how mimetic resemblances are conceptually related to each other. The result is that categories denoting the traditional subdivisions of mimicry are applied inconsistently across studies, hindering attempts at conceptual unification. This review critically examines the logic by which mimicry can be conceptually organized and analysed. It highlights the following three evolutionarily relevant distinctions. (i) Are the model's traits being mimicked signals or cues? (ii) Does the mimic signal a fitness benefit or fitness cost in order to manipulate the receiver's behaviour? (iii) Is the mimic's signal deceptive? The first distinction divides mimicry into two broad categories: ‘signal mimicry’ and ‘cue mimicry’. ‘Signal mimicry’ occurs when mimic and model share the same receiver, and ‘cue mimicry’ when mimic and model have different receivers or when there is no receiver for the model's trait. ‘Masquerade’ fits conceptually within cue mimicry. The second and third distinctions divide both signal and cue mimicry into four types each. These are the three traditional mimicry categories (aggressive, Batesian and Müllerian) and a fourth, often overlooked category for which the term ‘rewarding mimicry’ is suggested. Rewarding mimicry occurs when the mimic's signal is non-deceptive (as in Müllerian mimicry) but where the mimic signals a fitness benefit to the receiver (as in aggressive mimicry). The existence of rewarding mimicry is a logical extension of the criteria used to differentiate the three well-recognized forms of mimicry. These four forms of mimicry are not discrete, immutable types, but rather help to define important axes along which mimicry can vary. PMID:28202806

Assessing Adaptive Instructional Design Tools and Methods in ADAPT[IT].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eseryel, Deniz; Spector, J. Michael

ADAPT[IT] (Advanced Design Approach for Personalized Training - Interactive Tools) is a European project within the Information Society Technologies program that is providing design methods and tools to guide a training designer according to the latest cognitive science and standardization principles. ADAPT[IT] addresses users in two significantly…

Intentional Forgetting in Organizations: The Importance of Eliminating Retrieval Cues for Implementing New Routines

PubMed Central

Kluge, Annette; Gronau, Norbert

2018-01-01

To cope with the already large, and ever increasing, amount of information stored in organizational memory, “forgetting,” as an important human memory process, might be transferred to the organizational context. Especially in intentionally planned change processes (e.g., change management), forgetting is an important precondition to impede the recall of obsolete routines and adapt to new strategic objectives accompanied by new organizational routines. We first comprehensively review the literature on the need for organizational forgetting and particularly on accidental vs. intentional forgetting. We discuss the current state of the art of theory and empirical evidence on forgetting from cognitive psychology in order to infer mechanisms applicable to the organizational context. In this respect, we emphasize retrieval theories and the relevance of retrieval cues important for forgetting. Subsequently, we transfer the empirical evidence that the elimination of retrieval cues leads to faster forgetting to the forgetting of organizational routines, as routines are part of organizational memory. We then propose a classification of cues (context, sensory, business process-related cues) that are relevant in the forgetting of routines, and discuss a meta-cue called the “situational strength” cue, which is relevant if cues of an old and a new routine are present simultaneously. Based on the classification as business process-related cues (information, team, task, object cues), we propose mechanisms to accelerate forgetting by eliminating specific cues based on the empirical and theoretical state of the art. We conclude that in intentional organizational change processes, the elimination of cues to accelerate forgetting should be used in change management practices. PMID:29449821

Intentional Forgetting in Organizations: The Importance of Eliminating Retrieval Cues for Implementing New Routines.

PubMed

Kluge, Annette; Gronau, Norbert

2018-01-01

To cope with the already large, and ever increasing, amount of information stored in organizational memory, "forgetting," as an important human memory process, might be transferred to the organizational context. Especially in intentionally planned change processes (e.g., change management), forgetting is an important precondition to impede the recall of obsolete routines and adapt to new strategic objectives accompanied by new organizational routines. We first comprehensively review the literature on the need for organizational forgetting and particularly on accidental vs. intentional forgetting. We discuss the current state of the art of theory and empirical evidence on forgetting from cognitive psychology in order to infer mechanisms applicable to the organizational context. In this respect, we emphasize retrieval theories and the relevance of retrieval cues important for forgetting. Subsequently, we transfer the empirical evidence that the elimination of retrieval cues leads to faster forgetting to the forgetting of organizational routines, as routines are part of organizational memory. We then propose a classification of cues (context, sensory, business process-related cues) that are relevant in the forgetting of routines, and discuss a meta-cue called the "situational strength" cue, which is relevant if cues of an old and a new routine are present simultaneously. Based on the classification as business process-related cues (information, team, task, object cues), we propose mechanisms to accelerate forgetting by eliminating specific cues based on the empirical and theoretical state of the art. We conclude that in intentional organizational change processes, the elimination of cues to accelerate forgetting should be used in change management practices.

Quantifying density cues in grouping displays.

PubMed

Machilsen, Bart; Wagemans, Johan; Demeyer, Maarten

2016-09-01

Perceptual grouping processes are typically studied using sparse displays of spatially separated elements. Unless the grouping cue of interest is a proximity cue, researchers will want to ascertain that such a cue is absent from the display. Various solutions to this problem have been employed in the literature; however, no validation of these methods exists. Here, we test a number of local density metrics both through their performance as constrained ideal observer models, and through a comparison with a large dataset of human detection trials. We conclude that for the selection of stimuli without a density cue, the Voronoi density metric is preferable, especially if combined with a measurement of the distance to each element's nearest neighbor. We offer the entirety of the dataset as a benchmark for the evaluation of future, possibly improved, metrics. With regard to human processes of grouping by proximity, we found observers to be insensitive to target groupings that are more sparse than the surrounding distractor elements, and less sensitive to regularity cues in element positioning than to local clusterings of target elements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accelerated Adaptive Integration Method

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Conformational changes that occur upon ligand binding may be too slow to observe on the time scales routinely accessible using molecular dynamics simulations. The adaptive integration method (AIM) leverages the notion that when a ligand is either fully coupled or decoupled, according to λ, barrier heights may change, making some conformational transitions more accessible at certain λ values. AIM adaptively changes the value of λ in a single simulation so that conformations sampled at one value of λ seed the conformational space sampled at another λ value. Adapting the value of λ throughout a simulation, however, does not resolve issues in sampling when barriers remain high regardless of the λ value. In this work, we introduce a new method, called Accelerated AIM (AcclAIM), in which the potential energy function is flattened at intermediate values of λ, promoting the exploration of conformational space as the ligand is decoupled from its receptor. We show, with both a simple model system (Bromocyclohexane) and the more complex biomolecule Thrombin, that AcclAIM is a promising approach to overcome high barriers in the calculation of free energies, without the need for any statistical reweighting or additional processors. PMID:24780083

Perception of Speech Modulation Cues by 6-Month-Old Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) use of gaze cues in object-choice tasks: different methods yield different results.

PubMed

Barth, Jochen; Reaux, James E; Povinelli, Daniel J

2005-04-01

To assess the influence of different procedures on chimpanzees' performance in object-choice tasks, five adult chimpanzees were tested using three experimenter-given cues to food location: gazing, glancing, and pointing. These cues were delivered to the subjects in an identical fashion but were deployed within the context of two distinct meta-procedures that have been previously employed with this species with conflicting results. In one procedure, the subjects entered the test unit and approached the experimenter (who had already established the cue) on each trial. In the other procedure, the subjects stayed in the test unit throughout a session, witnessed the hiding procedure, and waited for a delay of 10 s during which the cue was provided. The subjects scored at high levels far exceeding chance in response to the gaze cue only when they approached the experimenter for each trial. They performed at chance levels when they stayed inside the test unit throughout the session. They scored at chance levels on all other cues irrespective of the procedure. These findings imply that (a) chimpanzees can immediately exploit social gaze cues, and (b) previous conflicting findings were likely due to the different meta-procedures that were used.

Effect of training and familiarity on responsiveness to human cues in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).

PubMed

Cunningham, Clare L; Ramos, Mari F

2014-05-01

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) seem to possess an evolved competency to follow human-given cues, often out-performing their wild progenitor the wolf (Canis lupus) on cue-following tasks. However, domestication may not be solely responsible for the socio-cognitive skills of dogs, with ontogenetic experience also playing a role. This research evaluated the effects of intensive training on cue-following behaviour using an unreinforced object-choice paradigm. The responses of dogs that were trained to competitive levels were compared to those of pet dogs with only basic training, and dogs living in an animal shelter that demonstrated no or only rudimentary following of basic commands. Using a cue-following task where three types of cues were presented by familiar and unfamiliar human partners, the number of cues followed by each training group were recorded. All dogs found cues where gesture was combined with a congruent head and eye movement easier to follow than either gesture or eye gaze alone. Whether the cue-giver was familiar or not had a significant effect on number of cues followed in homed dogs, and the performance of shelter dogs was comparable to the other groups when faced with an unfamiliar cue-giver. Contrary to predictions, level of training did not improve performance on the cue-following task. This work does provide support for the presence of an evolved adaptation to exploit social cues provided by humans that can be augmented by familiarity with the cue giver. However, additional joint activity as experienced in an intensive training regime does not seem to increase accuracy in following human-given cues.

Individual differences in the influence of task-irrelevant Pavlovian cues on human behavior.

PubMed

Garofalo, Sara; di Pellegrino, Giuseppe

2015-01-01

Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) refers to the process of a Pavlovian reward-paired cue acquiring incentive motivational proprieties that drive choices. It represents a crucial phenomenon for understanding cue-controlled behavior, and it has both adaptive and maladaptive implications (i.e., drug-taking). In animals, individual differences in the degree to which such cues bias performance have been identified in two types of individuals that exhibit distinct Conditioned Responses (CR) during Pavlovian conditioning: Sign-Trackers (ST) and Goal-Trackers (GT). Using an appetitive PIT procedure with a monetary reward, the present study investigated, for the first time, the extent to which such individual differences might affect the influence of reward-paired cues in humans. In a first task, participants learned an instrumental response leading to reward; then, in a second task, a visual Pavlovian cue was associated with the same reward; finally, in a third task, PIT was tested by measuring the preference for the reward-paired instrumental response when the task-irrelevant reward-paired cue was presented, in the absence of the reward itself. In ST individuals, but not in GT individuals, reward-related cues biased behavior, resulting in an increased likelihood to perform the instrumental response independently paired with the same reward when presented with the task-irrelevant reward-paired cue, even if the reward itself was no longer available (i.e., stronger PIT effect). This finding has important implications for developing individualized treatment for maladaptive behaviors, such as addiction.

Individual differences in the influence of task-irrelevant Pavlovian cues on human behavior

PubMed Central

Garofalo, Sara; di Pellegrino, Giuseppe

2015-01-01

Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) refers to the process of a Pavlovian reward-paired cue acquiring incentive motivational proprieties that drive choices. It represents a crucial phenomenon for understanding cue-controlled behavior, and it has both adaptive and maladaptive implications (i.e., drug-taking). In animals, individual differences in the degree to which such cues bias performance have been identified in two types of individuals that exhibit distinct Conditioned Responses (CR) during Pavlovian conditioning: Sign-Trackers (ST) and Goal-Trackers (GT). Using an appetitive PIT procedure with a monetary reward, the present study investigated, for the first time, the extent to which such individual differences might affect the influence of reward-paired cues in humans. In a first task, participants learned an instrumental response leading to reward; then, in a second task, a visual Pavlovian cue was associated with the same reward; finally, in a third task, PIT was tested by measuring the preference for the reward-paired instrumental response when the task-irrelevant reward-paired cue was presented, in the absence of the reward itself. In ST individuals, but not in GT individuals, reward-related cues biased behavior, resulting in an increased likelihood to perform the instrumental response independently paired with the same reward when presented with the task-irrelevant reward-paired cue, even if the reward itself was no longer available (i.e., stronger PIT effect). This finding has important implications for developing individualized treatment for maladaptive behaviors, such as addiction. PMID:26157371

The reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory and for public events: A comparison across different cueing methods.

PubMed

Koppel, Jonathan; Berntsen, Dorthe

2016-01-01

The reminiscence bump has been found for both autobiographical memories and memories of public events. However, there have been few comparisons of the bump across each type of event. In the current study, therefore, we compared the bump for autobiographical memories versus the bump for memories of public events. We did so between-subjects, through two cueing methods administered within-subjects, the cue word method and the important memories method. For word-cued memories, we found a similar bump from ages 5 to 19 for both types of memories. However, the bump was more pronounced for autobiographical memories. For most important memories, we found a bump from ages 20 to 29 in autobiographical memory, but little discernible age pattern for public events. Rather, specific public events (e.g., the Fall of the Berlin Wall) dominated recall, producing a chronological distribution characterised by spikes in citations according to the years these events occurred. Follow-up analyses suggested that the bump in most important autobiographical memories was a function of the cultural life script. Our findings did not yield support for any of the dominant existing accounts of the bump as underlying the bump in word-cued memories.

Discrimination between cocaine-associated context and cue in a modified conditioned place preference paradigm: role of the nNOS gene in cue conditioning.

PubMed

Itzhak, Yossef; Roger-Sánchez, Concepción; Kelley, Jonathan B; Anderson, Karen L

2010-03-01

The conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm entails appetitive learning and is utilized to investigate the motivational effects of drug and natural reward in rodents. However, a typical CPP design does not allow dissociation between cue- and context-dependent appetitive learning. In humans, context and cues that had been associated with drug reward can elicit conditioned response and drug craving. Therefore, we investigated (a) methods by which to discriminate between cue- and context-dependent appetitive learning, and (b) the role of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene in appetitive learning. Wild-type (WT) and nNOS knockout (KO) mice were trained by cocaine (20 mg/kg) in a discrete context paired with a light cue (a compound context-cue stimulus). In test 1, approach behaviour to either the training context or to the cue in a novel context was determined. WT mice showed robust preference for both cocaine-associated context and cue. nNOS KO mice acquired approach behaviour for the cocaine-associated context but not cue. This finding suggests that the nNOS gene is required for cue-dependent appetitive learning. On the following day (test 2), mice were tested for approach behaviour to the compound context-cue stimulus. Context but not cue exposure in test 1 reduced approach behaviour to the compound context-cue stimulus in test 2, suggesting that repeated context but not cue exposures diminished the conditioned response. Hence, this modified CPP paradigm is useful for the investigation of approach behaviour for both drug-associated context and cue, and allows further investigation of mechanisms underlying cue- and context-dependent appetitive learning.

Two cloud-based cues for estimating scene structure and camera calibration.

PubMed

Jacobs, Nathan; Abrams, Austin; Pless, Robert

2013-10-01

We describe algorithms that use cloud shadows as a form of stochastically structured light to support 3D scene geometry estimation. Taking video captured from a static outdoor camera as input, we use the relationship of the time series of intensity values between pairs of pixels as the primary input to our algorithms. We describe two cues that relate the 3D distance between a pair of points to the pair of intensity time series. The first cue results from the fact that two pixels that are nearby in the world are more likely to be under a cloud at the same time than two distant points. We describe methods for using this cue to estimate focal length and scene structure. The second cue is based on the motion of cloud shadows across the scene; this cue results in a set of linear constraints on scene structure. These constraints have an inherent ambiguity, which we show how to overcome by combining the cloud motion cue with the spatial cue. We evaluate our method on several time lapses of real outdoor scenes.

Communication at an online infertility expert forum: provider responses to patients' emotional and informational cues.

PubMed

Aarts, J W M; van Oers, A M; Faber, M J; Cohlen, B J; Nelen, W L D M; Kremer, J A M; van Dulmen, A M

2015-01-01

Online patient-provider communication has become increasingly popular in fertility care. However, it is not known to what extent patients express cues or concerns and how providers respond. In this study, we investigated cues and responses that occur in online patient-provider communication at an infertility-specific expert forum. We extracted 106 threads from the multidisciplinary expert forum of two Dutch IVF clinics. We performed the following analyses: (1) thematic analysis of patients' questions; and (2) rating patients' emotional and informational cues and subsequent professionals' responses using an adaptation of the validated Medical Interview Aural Rating Scale. Frequencies of themes, frequencies of cues and responses, and sequences (what cue is followed by what response) were extracted. Sixty-five infertile patients and 19 providers participated. The most common themes included medication and lifestyle. Patients gave more informational than emotional cues (106 versus 64). Responses to informational cues were mostly adequate (61%). The most common response to emotional cues was empathic acknowledgment (72%). Results indicate that an online expert forum could have a positive effect on patient outcomes, which should guide future research. Offering infertile patients an expert forum to communicate with providers can be a promising supplement to usual care in both providing information and addressing patients' concerns.

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

PubMed

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.

Development of Feeding Cues during Infancy and Toddlerhood

PubMed Central

Hodges, Eric A.; Wasser, Heather M.; Colgan, Brook K.; Bentley, Margaret E.

2016-01-01

Purpose To enhance responsive feeding, this study aimed to characterize the development of feeding cues during infancy and toddlerhood. Study Design and Methods A secondary analysis was performed on a dataset of first time, low-income African-American mother-infant pairs assessed at infant age 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months. A subsample with the 15 highest, middle, and lowest infant body mass index (BMI) Z-scores at 18 months was selected (n=45). Using video-recorded home feedings, early, active, and late receptiveness and fullness cues were assessed using the Responsiveness to Child Feeding Cues Scale at each time point. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize development. Results Early receptiveness cues were relatively rare over time, whereas active receptiveness cues were much more common. However, there were changes over time. For example, settling into the feeding decreased from ~50% at 3 and 6 months to 4.8% by 18 months, whereas postural attention and reaching for food increased after 6 months. In the first six months, falling asleep and decreasing muscle tone and activity level were the most common early fullness cues. Thereafter, taking interest in surroundings was most prevalent. Active fullness cues became increasingly diverse after 6 months, led by more assertive cues such as pushing or pulling away and communicating “no” verbally or non-verbally. Clinical Implications These findings provide an empirical description of waxing and waning in feeding cues and indicate increasing intentionality of cues over the first 18 months of life. Knowing common cues across development may aid clinicians in enhancing parental feeding responsiveness, avoiding overfeeding, thereby decreasing risk of early childhood obesity. PMID:27710994

Subliminal spatial cues capture attention and strengthen between-object link.

PubMed

Chou, Wei-Lun; Yeh, Su-Ling

2011-12-01

According to the spreading hypothesis of object-based attention, a subliminal cue that can successfully capture attention to a location within an object should also cause attention to spread throughout the whole cued object and lead to the same-object advantage. Instead, we propose that a subliminal cue favors shifts of attention between objects and strengthens the between-object link, which is coded primarily within the dorsal pathway that governs the visual guidance of action. By adopting the two-rectangle method and using an effective subliminal cue to compare with the classic suprathreshold cue, we found a different result pattern with suprathreshold cues than with subliminal cues. The suprathreshold cue replicated the conventional location and object effects, whereas a subliminal cue led to a different-object advantage with a facilitatory location effect and a same-object advantage with an inhibitory location effect. These results support our consciousness-dependent shifting hypothesis but not the spreading hypothesis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Can species-specific prey responses to chemical cues explain prey susceptibility to predation?

PubMed

Šmejkal, Marek; Ricard, Daniel; Sajdlová, Zuzana; Čech, Martin; Vejřík, Lukáš; Blabolil, Petr; Vejříková, Ivana; Prchalová, Marie; Vašek, Mojmír; Souza, Allan T; Brönmark, Christer; Peterka, Jiří

2018-05-01

The perception of danger represents an essential ability of prey for gaining an informational advantage over their natural enemies. Especially in complex environments or at night, animals strongly rely on chemoreception to avoid predators. The ability to recognize danger by chemical cues and subsequent adaptive responses to predation threats should generally increase prey survival. Recent findings suggest that European catfish ( Silurus glanis ) introduction induce changes in fish community and we tested whether the direction of change can be attributed to differences in chemical cue perception. We tested behavioral response to chemical cues using three species of freshwater fish common in European water: rudd ( Scardinius erythrophthalmus ), roach ( Rutilus rutilus ), and perch ( Perca fluviatilis ). Further, we conducted a prey selectivity experiment to evaluate the prey preferences of the European catfish. Roach exhibited the strongest reaction to chemical cues, rudd decreased use of refuge and perch did not alter any behavior in the experiment. These findings suggest that chemical cue perception might be behind community data change and we encourage collecting more community data of tested prey species before and after European catfish introduction to test the hypothesis. We conclude that used prey species can be used as a model species to verify whether chemical cue perception enhances prey survival.

Information Integration in Multiple Cue Judgment: A Division of Labor Hypothesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juslin, Peter; Karlsson, Linnea; Olsson, Henrik

2008-01-01

There is considerable evidence that judgment is constrained to additive integration of information. The authors propose an explanation of why serial and additive cognitive integration can produce accurate multiple cue judgment both in additive and non-additive environments in terms of an adaptive division of labor between multiple representations.…

[The effects of cue upon selective memorization].

PubMed

Watanabe, I

1982-10-01

The subjects listened to a list of 21 words read aloud and memorized eight words among them indicated by the cue. In VC (voice-cue) condition, where the change of voice between male and female cued the difference between the to-be-memorized and not-to-be-memorized items, the percentage of correct recall was higher and the number of intrusion-errors was fewer than in NVC (non-voice-cue) condition, where the cue was the sound of chime given immediately before the to-be-memorized item. The results suggest that the physical characteristics of cue facilitate the selective memorization, but do not necessarily support the early-selection theory of attention. Next, in order to confirm Watanabe's (1976) assertion that the transformation of to-be-memorized items into long-term memory and the exclusion of not-to-be-memorized items take place in parallel, the subjects were required to rehearse aloud every word as it was presented. However, it was found that the method of voiced rehearsal was inadequate to test the assertion.

Does laboratory cue reactivity correlate with real-world craving and smoking responses to cues?

PubMed

Shiffman, Saul; Li, Xiaoxue; Dunbar, Michael S; Tindle, Hilary A; Scholl, Sarah M; Ferguson, Stuart G

2015-10-01

Laboratory cue reactivity (CR) assessments are used to assess smokers' responses to cues. Likewise, EMA recording is used to characterize real-world response to cues. Understanding the relationship between CR and EMA responses addresses the ecological validity of CR. In 190 daily smokers not currently quitting, craving and smoking responses to cues were assessed in laboratory CR and by real-world EMA recording. Separate CR sessions involved 5 smoking-relevant cues (smoking, alcohol, negative affect, positive affect, smoking prohibitions), and a neutral cue. Subjects used EMA to monitor smoking situations for 3 weeks, completing parallel situational assessments (presence of others smoking, alcohol consumption, negative affect, positive affect, and smoking prohibitions, plus current craving) in smoking and non-smoking occasions (averaging 70 and 60 occasions each). Analyses correlated CR craving and smoking cue responses with EMA craving and smoking correlations with similar cues. Although some cues did not show main effects on average craving or smoking, a wide range of individual differences in response to cues was apparent in both CR and EMA data, providing the necessary context to assess their relationship. Laboratory CR measures of cue response were not correlated with real-world cue responses assessed by EMA. The average correlation was 0.03; none exceeded 0.32. One of 40 correlations examined was significantly greater than 0. Laboratory CR measures do not correlate with EMA-assessed craving or smoking in response to cues, suggesting that CR measures are not accurate predictors of how smokers react to relevant stimuli in the real world. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Role of Cigarette Sensory Cues in Modifying Puffing Topography

PubMed Central

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

Adaptive spatial filtering improves speech reception in noise while preserving binaural cues.

PubMed

Bissmeyer, Susan R S; Goldsworthy, Raymond L

2017-09-01

Hearing loss greatly reduces an individual's ability to comprehend speech in the presence of background noise. Over the past decades, numerous signal-processing algorithms have been developed to improve speech reception in these situations for cochlear implant and hearing aid users. One challenge is to reduce background noise while not introducing interaural distortion that would degrade binaural hearing. The present study evaluates a noise reduction algorithm, referred to as binaural Fennec, that was designed to improve speech reception in background noise while preserving binaural cues. Speech reception thresholds were measured for normal-hearing listeners in a simulated environment with target speech generated in front of the listener and background noise originating 90° to the right of the listener. Lateralization thresholds were also measured in the presence of background noise. These measures were conducted in anechoic and reverberant environments. Results indicate that the algorithm improved speech reception thresholds, even in highly reverberant environments. Results indicate that the algorithm also improved lateralization thresholds for the anechoic environment while not affecting lateralization thresholds for the reverberant environments. These results provide clear evidence that this algorithm can improve speech reception in background noise while preserving binaural cues used to lateralize sound.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow – Adaptation to Change in Memory-Guided Visual Search

PubMed Central

Zellin, Martina; Conci, Markus; von Mühlenen, Adrian; Müller, Hermann J.

2013-01-01

Visual search for a target object can be facilitated by the repeated presentation of an invariant configuration of nontargets (‘contextual cueing’). Here, we tested adaptation of learned contextual associations after a sudden, but permanent, relocation of the target. After an initial learning phase targets were relocated within their invariant contexts and repeatedly presented at new locations, before they returned to the initial locations. Contextual cueing for relocated targets was neither observed after numerous presentations nor after insertion of an overnight break. Further experiments investigated whether learning of additional, previously unseen context-target configurations is comparable to adaptation of existing contextual associations to change. In contrast to the lack of adaptation to changed target locations, contextual cueing developed for additional invariant configurations under identical training conditions. Moreover, across all experiments, presenting relocated targets or additional contexts did not interfere with contextual cueing of initially learned invariant configurations. Overall, the adaptation of contextual memory to changed target locations was severely constrained and unsuccessful in comparison to learning of an additional set of contexts, which suggests that contextual cueing facilitates search for only one repeated target location. PMID:23555038

Capuchin monkeys' use of human and conspecific cues to solve a hidden object-choice task.

PubMed

Essler, Jennifer L; Schwartz, Lindsay P; Rossettie, Mattea S; Judge, Peter G

2017-09-01

Learning by watching others can provide valuable information with adaptive consequences, such as identifying the presence of a predator or locating a food source. The extent to which nonhuman animals can gain information by reading the cues of others is often tested by evaluating responses to human gestures, such as a point, and less often evaluated by examining responses to conspecific cues. We tested whether ten brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus [Sapajus] apella) were able to use cues from monkeys and a pointing cue from a human to obtain hidden rewards. A monkey could gain access to a reward hidden in one of two locations by reading a cue from a conspecific (e.g., reaching) or a human pointing. We then tested whether they could transfer this skill from monkeys to humans, from humans to monkeys, and from one conspecific to another conspecific. One group of monkeys was trained and tested using a conspecific as the cue-giver and was then tested with a human cue-giver. The second group of monkeys was trained and tested with a human cue-giver and was then tested with a monkey cue-giver. Monkeys that were successful with a conspecific cue-giver were also tested with a novel conspecific cue-giver. Monkeys learned to use a human point and conspecific cues to obtain rewards. Monkeys that had learned to use the cues of a conspecific to obtain rewards performed significantly better than expected by chance when they were transferred to the cues of a novel conspecific. Monkeys that learned to use a human point to obtain rewards performed significantly better than expected by chance when tested while observing conspecific cues. Some evidence suggested that transferring between conspecific cue-givers occurred with more facility than transferring across species. Results may be explained by simple rules of association learning and stimulus generalization; however, spontaneous flexible use of gestures across conspecifics and between different species may indicate capuchins can

Bats without borders: Predators learn novel prey cues from other predatory species.

PubMed

Patriquin, Krista J; Kohles, Jenna E; Page, Rachel A; Ratcliffe, John M

2018-03-01

Learning from others allows individuals to adapt rapidly to environmental change. Although conspecifics tend to be reliable models, heterospecifics with similar resource requirements may be suitable surrogates when conspecifics are few or unfamiliar with recent changes in resource availability. We tested whether Trachops cirrhosus , a gleaning bat that localizes prey using their mating calls, can learn about novel prey from conspecifics and the sympatric bat Lophostoma silvicolum. Specifically, we compared the rate for naïve T. cirrhosus to learn an unfamiliar tone from either a trained conspecific or heterospecific alone through trial and error or through social facilitation. T. cirrhosus learned this novel cue from L. silvicolum as quickly as from conspecifics. This is the first demonstration of social learning of a novel acoustic cue in bats and suggests that heterospecific learning may occur in nature. We propose that auditory-based social learning may help bats learn about unfamiliar prey and facilitate their adaptive radiation.

Effects of cognitive load on neural and behavioral responses to smoking cue distractors

PubMed Central

MacLean, R. Ross; Nichols, Travis T.; LeBreton, James M.; Wilson, Stephen J.

2017-01-01

Smoking cessation failures are frequently thought to reflect poor top-down regulatory control over behavior. Previous studies suggest that smoking cues occupy limited working memory resources, an effect that may contribute to difficulty achieving abstinence. Few studies have evaluated the effects of cognitive load on the ability to actively maintain information in the face of distracting smoking cues. The current study adapted an fMRI probed recall task under low and high cognitive load with three distractor conditions: control, neutral images, or smoking-related images. Consistent with a limited-resource model of cue reactivity, we predicted that performance of daily smokers (n=17) would be most impaired when high load was paired with smoking distractors. Results demonstrated a main effect of load, with decreased accuracy under high, compared to low, cognitive load. Surprisingly, an interaction revealed the effect of load was weakest in the smoking cue distractor condition. Along with this behavioral effect, we observed significantly greater activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in the low load condition relative to the high load condition for trials containing smoking cue distractors. Furthermore, load-related changes in rIFG activation partially mediated the effects of load on task accuracy in the smoking cue distractor condition. These findings are discussed in the context of prevailing cognitive and cue reactivity theories. Results suggest that high cognitive load does not necessarily make smokers more susceptible to interference from smoking-related stimuli, and that elevated load may even have a buffering effect in the presence of smoking cues under certain conditions. PMID:27012714

Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Continuum Damage Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Min, J. B.; Tworzydlo, W. W.; Xiques, K. E.

1995-01-01

The paper presents an application of adaptive finite element methods to the modeling of low-cycle continuum damage and life prediction of high-temperature components. The major objective is to provide automated and accurate modeling of damaged zones through adaptive mesh refinement and adaptive time-stepping methods. The damage modeling methodology is implemented in an usual way by embedding damage evolution in the transient nonlinear solution of elasto-viscoplastic deformation problems. This nonlinear boundary-value problem is discretized by adaptive finite element methods. The automated h-adaptive mesh refinements are driven by error indicators, based on selected principal variables in the problem (stresses, non-elastic strains, damage, etc.). In the time domain, adaptive time-stepping is used, combined with a predictor-corrector time marching algorithm. The time selection is controlled by required time accuracy. In order to take into account strong temperature dependency of material parameters, the nonlinear structural solution a coupled with thermal analyses (one-way coupling). Several test examples illustrate the importance and benefits of adaptive mesh refinements in accurate prediction of damage levels and failure time.

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

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed

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.

Dissociable Fronto-Operculum-Insula Control Signals for Anticipation and Detection of Inhibitory Sensory Cue.

PubMed

Cai, Weidong; Chen, Tianwen; Ide, Jaime S; Li, Chiang-Shan R; Menon, Vinod

2017-08-01

The ability to anticipate and detect behaviorally salient stimuli is important for virtually all adaptive behaviors, including inhibitory control that requires the withholding of prepotent responses when instructed by external cues. Although right fronto-operculum-insula (FOI), encompassing the anterior insular cortex (rAI) and inferior frontal cortex (rIFC), involvement in inhibitory control is well established, little is known about signaling mechanisms underlying their differential roles in detection and anticipation of salient inhibitory cues. Here we use 2 independent functional magnetic resonance imaging data sets to investigate dynamic causal interactions of the rAI and rIFC, with sensory cortex during detection and anticipation of inhibitory cues. Across 2 different experiments involving auditory and visual inhibitory cues, we demonstrate that primary sensory cortex has a stronger causal influence on rAI than on rIFC, suggesting a greater role for the rAI in detection of salient inhibitory cues. Crucially, a Bayesian prediction model of subjective trial-by-trial changes in inhibitory cue anticipation revealed that the strength of causal influences from rIFC to rAI increased significantly on trials in which participants had higher anticipation of inhibitory cues. Together, these results demonstrate the dissociable bottom-up and top-down roles of distinct FOI regions in detection and anticipation of behaviorally salient cues across multiple sensory modalities. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The effects of transient attention on spatial resolution and the size of the attentional cue.

PubMed

Yeshurun, Yaffa; Carrasco, Marisa

2008-01-01

It has been shown that transient attention enhances spatial resolution, but is the effect of transient attention on spatial resolution modulated by the size of the attentional cue? Would a gradual increase in the size of the cue lead to a gradual decrement in spatial resolution? To test these hypotheses, we used a texture segmentation task in which performance depends on spatial resolution, and systematically manipulated the size of the attentional cue: A bar of different lengths (Experiment 1) or a frame of different sizes (Experiments 2-3) indicated the target region in a texture segmentation display. Observers indicated whether a target patch region (oriented line elements in a background of an orthogonal orientation), appearing at a range of eccentricities, was present in the first or the second interval. We replicated the attentional enhancement of spatial resolution found with small cues; attention improved performance at peripheral locations but impaired performance at central locations. However, there was no evidence of gradual resolution decrement with large cues. Transient attention enhanced spatial resolution at the attended location when it was attracted to that location by a small cue but did not affect resolution when it was attracted by a large cue. These results indicate that transient attention cannot adapt its operation on spatial resolution on the basis of the size of the attentional cue.

Modeling Adaptive Educational Methods with IMS Learning Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Specht, Marcus; Burgos, Daniel

2007-01-01

The paper describes a classification system for adaptive methods developed in the area of adaptive educational hypermedia based on four dimensions: What components of the educational system are adapted? To what features of the user and the current context does the system adapt? Why does the system adapt? How does the system get the necessary…

Novel cues reinstate cocaine-seeking behavior and induce Fos protein expression as effectively as conditioned cues.

PubMed

Bastle, Ryan M; Kufahl, Peter R; Turk, Mari N; Weber, Suzanne M; Pentkowski, Nathan S; Thiel, Kenneth J; Neisewander, Janet L

2012-08-01

Cue reinstatement of extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior is a widely used model of cue-elicited craving in abstinent human addicts. This study examined Fos protein expression in response to cocaine cues or to novel cues as a control for activation produced by test novelty. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine paired with either a light or a tone cue, or received yoked saline and cue presentations, and then underwent daily extinction training. They were then tested for reinstatement of extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior elicited by response-contingent presentations of either the cocaine-paired cue or a novel cue (that is, tone for those trained with a light or vice versa). Surprisingly, conditioned and novel cues both reinstated responding and increased Fos similarly in most brain regions. Exceptions included the anterior cingulate, which was sensitive to test cue modality in saline controls and the dorsomedial caudate-putamen, where Fos was correlated with responding in the novel, but not conditioned, cue groups. In subsequent experiments, we observed a similar pattern of reinstatement in rats trained and tested for sucrose-seeking behavior, whereas rats trained and tested with the cues only reinstated to a novel, and not a familiar, light or tone. The results suggest that novel cues reinstate responding to a similar extent as conditioned cues regardless of whether animals have a reinforcement history with cocaine or sucrose, and that both types of cues activate similar brain circuits. Several explanations as to why converging processes may drive drug and novel cue reinforcement and seeking behavior are discussed.

Adaptive skin detection based on online training

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ming; Tang, Liang; Zhou, Jie; Rong, Gang

2007-11-01

Skin is a widely used cue for porn image classification. Most conventional methods are off-line training schemes. They usually use a fixed boundary to segment skin regions in the images and are effective only in restricted conditions: e.g. good lightness and unique human race. This paper presents an adaptive online training scheme for skin detection which can handle these tough cases. In our approach, skin detection is considered as a classification problem on Gaussian mixture model. For each image, human face is detected and the face color is used to establish a primary estimation of skin color distribution. Then an adaptive online training algorithm is used to find the real boundary between skin color and background color in current image. Experimental results on 450 images showed that the proposed method is more robust in general situations than the conventional ones.

Rumor has it...: relay communication of stress cues in plants.

PubMed

Falik, Omer; Mordoch, Yonat; Quansah, Lydia; Fait, Aaron; Novoplansky, Ariel

2011-01-01

Recent evidence demonstrates that plants are able not only to perceive and adaptively respond to external information but also to anticipate forthcoming hazards and stresses. Here, we tested the hypothesis that unstressed plants are able to respond to stress cues emitted from their abiotically-stressed neighbors and in turn induce stress responses in additional unstressed plants located further away from the stressed plants. Pisum sativum plants were subjected to drought while neighboring rows of five unstressed plants on both sides, with which they could exchange different cue combinations. On one side, the stressed plant and its unstressed neighbors did not share their rooting volumes (UNSHARED) and thus were limited to shoot communication. On its other side, the stressed plant shared one of its rooting volumes with its nearest unstressed neighbor and all plants shared their rooting volumes with their immediate neighbors (SHARED), allowing both root and shoot communication. Fifteen minutes following drought induction, significant stomatal closure was observed in both the stressed plants and their nearest unstressed SHARED neighbors, and within one hour, all SHARED neighbors closed their stomata. Stomatal closure was not observed in the UNSHARED neighbors. The results demonstrate that unstressed plants are able to perceive and respond to stress cues emitted by the roots of their drought-stressed neighbors and, via 'relay cuing', elicit stress responses in further unstressed plants. Further work is underway to study the underlying mechanisms of this new mode of plant communication and its possible adaptive implications for the anticipation of forthcoming abiotic stresses by plants.

Plant responsiveness to root-root communication of stress cues.

PubMed

Falik, Omer; Mordoch, Yonat; Ben-Natan, Daniel; Vanunu, Miriam; Goldstein, Oron; Novoplansky, Ariel

2012-07-01

Phenotypic plasticity is based on the organism's ability to perceive, integrate and respond to multiple signals and cues informative of environmental opportunities and perils. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that plants are able to adapt to imminent threats by perceiving cues emitted from their damaged neighbours. Here, the hypothesis was tested that unstressed plants are able to perceive and respond to stress cues emitted from their drought- and osmotically stressed neighbours and to induce stress responses in additional unstressed plants. Split-root Pisum sativum, Cynodon dactylon, Digitaria sanguinalis and Stenotaphrum secundatum plants were subjected to osmotic stress or drought while sharing one of their rooting volumes with an unstressed neighbour, which in turn shared its other rooting volume with additional unstressed neighbours. Following the kinetics of stomatal aperture allowed testing for stress responses in both the stressed plants and their unstressed neighbours. In both P. sativum plants and the three wild clonal grasses, infliction of osmotic stress or drought caused stomatal closure in both the stressed plants and in their unstressed neighbours. While both continuous osmotic stress and drought induced prolonged stomatal closure and limited acclimation in stressed plants, their unstressed neighbours habituated to the stress cues and opened their stomata 3-24 h after the beginning of stress induction. The results demonstrate a novel type of plant communication, by which plants might be able to increase their readiness to probable future osmotic and drought stresses. Further work is underway to decipher the identity and mode of operation of the involved communication vectors and to assess the potential ecological costs and benefits of emitting and perceiving drought and osmotic stress cues under various ecological scenarios.

Misleading contextual cues: how do they affect visual search?

PubMed

Manginelli, Angela A; Pollmann, Stefan

2009-03-01

Contextual cueing occurs when repetitions of the distractor configuration are implicitly learned. This implicit learning leads to faster search times in repeated displays. Here, we investigated how search adapts to a change of the target location in old displays from a consistent location in the learning phase to a consistent new location in the transfer phase. In agreement with the literature, contextual cueing was accompanied by fewer fixations, a more efficient scan path and, specifically, an earlier onset of a monotonic gaze approach phase towards the target location in repeated displays. When the repeated context was no longer predictive of the old target location, search times and number of fixations for old displays increased to the level of novel displays. Along with this, scan paths for old and new displays became equally efficient. After the target location change, there was a bias of exploration towards the old target location, which soon disappeared. Thus, change of implicitly learned spatial relations between target and distractor configuration eliminated the advantageous effects of contextual cueing, but did not lead to a lasting impairment of search in repeated displays relative to novel displays.

Voluntary saccadic eye movements in humans studied with a double-cue paradigm.

PubMed

Sheliga, B M; Brown, V J; Miles, F A

2002-07-01

In the classic double-step paradigm, subjects are required to make a saccade to a visual target that is briefly presented at one location and then shifted to a new location before the subject has responded. The saccades in this situation are "reflexive" in that they are made in response to the appearance of the target itself. In the present experiments we adapted the double-step paradigm to study "voluntary" saccades. For this, several identical targets were always visible and subjects were given a cue to indicate that they should make a saccade to one of them. This cue was then changed to indicate another of the targets before the subject had responded: double-cue (DC) paradigm. The saccadic eye movements in our DC paradigm had many features in common with those in the double-step paradigm and we show that apparent differences can be attributed to the spatio-temporal arrangements of the cues/targets rather than to any intrinsic differences in the programming of these two kinds of eye movements. For example, a feature of our DC paradigm that is not seen in the usual double-step paradigm is that the second cue could cause transient delays of the initial saccade, and these delays still occurred when the second cue was reflexive--provided that it was at the fovea (as in our DC paradigm) and not in the periphery (as in the usual double-step paradigm). Thus, the critical factor for the delay was the retinal (foveal) location of the second cue/target--not whether it was cognitive or reflexive--and we argue that the second cue/target is here acting as a distractor. We conclude that the DC paradigm can be used to study the programming of voluntary saccades in the same way that the double-step paradigm can be used to study reflexive saccades.

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

PubMed

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 < .01). Increased neural activation was found in the caudate nucleus, inferior frontal gyrus, median cingulate cortex, subgenual cingulate, and precentral gyrus. Persons with gambling, gaming, or 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.

POST-RETRIEVAL EXTINCTION ATTENUATES ALCOHOL CUE REACTIVITY IN RATS

PubMed Central

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

Effect of stimuli presentation method on perception of room size using only acoustic cues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, Jeffrey Barnabas

People listen to music and speech in a large variety of rooms and many room parameters, including the size of the room, can drastically affect how well the speech is understood or the music enjoyed. While multi-modal (typically hearing and sight) tests may be more realistic, in order to isolate what acoustic cues listeners use to determine the size of a room, a listening-only tests is conducted here. Nearly all of the studies to-date on the perception of room volume using acoustic cues have presented the stimuli only over headphones and these studies have reported that, in most cases, the perceived room volume is more highly correlated with the perceived reverberation (reverberance) than with actual room volume. While reverberance may be a salient acoustic cue used for the determination or room size, the actual sound field in a room is not accurately reproduced when presented over headphones and it is thought that some of the complexities of the sound field that relate to perception of geometric volume, specifically directional information of reflections, may be lost. It is possible that the importance of reverberance may be overemphasized when using only headphones to present stimuli so a comparison of room-size perception is proposed where the sound field (from modeled and recorded impulse responses) is presented both over headphones and also over a surround system using higher order ambisonics to more accurately produce directional sound information. Major results are that, in this study, no difference could be seen between the two presentation methods and that reverberation time is highly correlated to room-size perception while real room size is not.

The Influence of Cue Reliability and Cue Representation on Spatial Reorientation in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Ian M.; Huttenlocher, Janellen; Ratliff, Kristin R.

2014-01-01

Previous studies of children's reorientation have focused on cue representation (e.g., whether cues are geometric) as a predictor of performance but have not addressed cue reliability (the regularity of the relation between a given cue and an outcome) as a predictor of performance. Here we address both factors within the same series of…

Effects of cognitive load on neural and behavioral responses to smoking-cue distractors.

PubMed

MacLean, R Ross; Nichols, Travis T; LeBreton, James M; Wilson, Stephen J

2016-08-01

Smoking cessation failures are frequently thought to reflect poor top-down regulatory control over behavior. Previous studies have suggested that smoking cues occupy limited working memory resources, an effect that may contribute to difficulty achieving abstinence. Few studies have evaluated the effects of cognitive load on the ability to actively maintain information in the face of distracting smoking cues. For the present study, we adapted an fMRI probed recall task under low and high cognitive load with three distractor conditions: control, neutral images, or smoking-related images. Consistent with a limited-resource model of cue reactivity, we predicted that the performance of daily smokers (n = 17) would be most impaired when high load was paired with smoking distractors. The results demonstrated a main effect of load, with decreased accuracy under high, as compared to low, cognitive load. Surprisingly, an interaction revealed that the effect of load was weakest in the smoking cue distractor condition. Along with this behavioral effect, we observed significantly greater activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in the low-load condition than in the high-load condition for trials containing smoking cue distractors. Furthermore, load-related changes in rIFG activation partially mediated the effects of load on task accuracy in the smoking-cue distractor condition. These findings are discussed in the context of prevailing cognitive and cue reactivity theories. These results suggest that high cognitive load does not necessarily make smokers more susceptible to interference from smoking-related stimuli, and that elevated load may even have a buffering effect in the presence of smoking cues under certain conditions.

Auditory observation of stepping actions can cue both spatial and temporal components of gait in Parkinson׳s disease patients.

PubMed

Young, William R; Rodger, Matthew W M; Craig, Cathy M

2014-05-01

A common behavioural symptom of Parkinson׳s disease (PD) is reduced step length (SL). Whilst sensory cueing strategies can be effective in increasing SL and reducing gait variability, current cueing strategies conveying spatial or temporal information are generally confined to the use of either visual or auditory cue modalities, respectively. We describe a novel cueing strategy using ecologically-valid 'action-related' sounds (footsteps on gravel) that convey both spatial and temporal parameters of a specific action within a single cue. The current study used a real-time imitation task to examine whether PD affects the ability to re-enact changes in spatial characteristics of stepping actions, based solely on auditory information. In a second experimental session, these procedures were repeated using synthesized sounds derived from recordings of the kinetic interactions between the foot and walking surface. A third experimental session examined whether adaptations observed when participants walked to action-sounds were preserved when participants imagined either real recorded or synthesized sounds. Whilst healthy control participants were able to re-enact significant changes in SL in all cue conditions, these adaptations, in conjunction with reduced variability of SL were only observed in the PD group when walking to, or imagining the recorded sounds. The findings show that while recordings of stepping sounds convey action information to allow PD patients to re-enact and imagine spatial characteristics of gait, synthesis of sounds purely from gait kinetics is insufficient to evoke similar changes in behaviour, perhaps indicating that PD patients have a higher threshold to cue sensorimotor resonant responses. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Chemosensory cues of predators and competitors influence search for refuge in fruit by the coconut mite Aceria guerreronis.

PubMed

Calvet, Érica C; Lima, Debora B; Melo, José W S; Gondim, Manoel G C

2018-03-01

Organisms are adapted to recognize environmental cues that can provide information about predation risk or competition. Non-vagrant eriophyoid mites mainly avoid predation by using habitats that are difficult for predators to access (galls or confined spaces in plants) such as the meristematic region of the coconut fruit, which is inhabited by the phytophagous mites Aceria guerreronis and Steneotarsonemus concavuscutum. The objective of this study was to investigate the response of A. guerreronis to cues from the predators Neoseiulus baraki and Amblyseius largoensis in coconut fruits, cues from conspecifics (A. guerreronis injured) and cues from the phytophage S. concavuscutum. The test was carried out through the release of about 300 A. guerreronis on coconut fruits previously treated with cues from predators, conspecific or heterospecific phytophagous. We also observed the walking behaviour of A. guerreronis exposed to the same chemical cues using a video tracking system. The infestation of fruits by A. guerreronis was greater in the presence of predator cues and reduced in the presence of S. concavuscutum cues, but cues from injured conspecifics did not interfere in the infestation process. In addition, the cues also altered the walking parameters of A. guerreronis: it walked more in response to cues from predators and the heterospecific phytophage. Aceria guerreronis spent more time in activity in the treatments with clues than in the control treatment. These results suggest that A. guerreronis recognizes cues from predators and competitors and modifies its behaviour to increase its fitness.

Context Modulates Congruency Effects in Selective Attention to Social Cues.

PubMed

Ravagli, Andrea; Marini, Francesco; Marino, Barbara F M; Ricciardelli, Paola

2018-01-01

Head and gaze directions are used during social interactions as essential cues to infer where someone attends. When head and gaze are oriented toward opposite directions, we need to extract socially meaningful information despite stimulus conflict. Recently, a cognitive and neural mechanism for filtering-out conflicting stimuli has been identified while performing non-social attention tasks. This mechanism is engaged proactively when conflict is anticipated in a high proportion of trials and reactively when conflict occurs infrequently. Here, we investigated whether a similar mechanism is at play for limiting distraction from conflicting social cues during gaze or head direction discrimination tasks in contexts with different probabilities of conflict. Results showed that, for the gaze direction task only (Experiment 1), inverse efficiency (IE) scores for distractor-absent trials (i.e., faces with averted gaze and centrally oriented head) were larger (indicating worse performance) when these trials were intermixed with congruent/incongruent distractor-present trials (i.e., faces with averted gaze and tilted head in the same/opposite direction) relative to when the same distractor-absent trials were shown in isolation. Moreover, on distractor-present trials, IE scores for congruent (vs. incongruent) head-gaze pairs in blocks with rare conflict were larger than in blocks with frequent conflict, suggesting that adaptation to conflict was more efficient than adaptation to infrequent events. However, when the task required discrimination of head orientation while ignoring gaze direction, performance was not impacted by both block-level and current trial congruency (Experiment 2), unless the cognitive load of the task was increased by adding a concurrent task (Experiment 3). Overall, our study demonstrates that during attention to social cues proactive cognitive control mechanisms are modulated by the expectation of conflicting stimulus information at both the block- and

Augmented Reality Cues and Elderly Driver Hazard Perception

PubMed Central

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

Quantitative electroencephalographic studies of cue-induced cocaine craving.

PubMed

Reid, Malcolm S; Prichep, Leslie S; Ciplet, Debra; O'Leary, Siobhan; Tom, MeeLee; Howard, Bryant; Rotrosen, John; John, E Roy

2003-07-01

Quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) profiles were studied in cocaine dependent patients in response to cocaine cue exposure. Using neurometric analytical methods, the spectral power of each primary bandwidth was computed and topographically mapped. Additional measures of cue-reactivity included cocaine craving, anxiety and related subjective ratings, and physiological measures of skin conductance, skin temperature, heart rate, and plasma cortisol and HVA levels. Twenty-four crack cocaine-dependent subjects were tested for their response to tactile, visual and audio cues related to crack cocaine or neutral items. All measures were analyzed for significant difference by comparing cocaine versus neutral cue conditions. An increase in cocaine craving, anxiety and related subjective ratings, elevated plasma cortisol levels, and a decrease in skin temperature, were induced by cocaine cue exposure. Distinct qEEG profiles were found during the paraphernalia handling and video viewing (eyes-open), and guided imagery (eyes-closed), phases of cocaine cue exposure. During paraphernalia handling and video viewing, there was an increase in beta activity accompanied by a drop in delta power in the frontal cortex, and an increase in beta mean frequency in the occipital cortex. In contrast, during guided imagery there was an increase in theta and delta power in the frontal cortex, and an increase in beta power in the occipital cortex. Correlation analyses revealed that cue-induced anxiety during paraphernalia handling and video viewing was associated with reduced high frequency and enhanced low frequency EEG activity. These findings demonstrated that EEG activation during cue-induced cocaine craving may be topographically mapped and subsequently analyzed for functional relevance.

Behavioral training promotes multiple adaptive processes following acute hearing loss.

PubMed

Keating, Peter; Rosenior-Patten, Onayomi; Dahmen, Johannes C; Bell, Olivia; King, Andrew J

2016-03-23

The brain possesses a remarkable capacity to compensate for changes in inputs resulting from a range of sensory impairments. Developmental studies of sound localization have shown that adaptation to asymmetric hearing loss can be achieved either by reinterpreting altered spatial cues or by relying more on those cues that remain intact. Adaptation to monaural deprivation in adulthood is also possible, but appears to lack such flexibility. Here we show, however, that appropriate behavioral training enables monaurally-deprived adult humans to exploit both of these adaptive processes. Moreover, cortical recordings in ferrets reared with asymmetric hearing loss suggest that these forms of plasticity have distinct neural substrates. An ability to adapt to asymmetric hearing loss using multiple adaptive processes is therefore shared by different species and may persist throughout the lifespan. This highlights the fundamental flexibility of neural systems, and may also point toward novel therapeutic strategies for treating sensory disorders.

Cortical Brain Activity Reflecting Attentional Biasing Toward Reward-Predicting Cues Covaries with Economic Decision-Making Performance

PubMed Central

San Martín, René; Appelbaum, Lawrence G.; Huettel, Scott A.; Woldorff, Marty G.

2016-01-01

Adaptive choice behavior depends critically on identifying and learning from outcome-predicting cues. We hypothesized that attention may be preferentially directed toward certain outcome-predicting cues. We studied this possibility by analyzing event-related potential (ERP) responses in humans during a probabilistic decision-making task. Participants viewed pairs of outcome-predicting visual cues and then chose to wager either a small (i.e., loss-minimizing) or large (i.e., gain-maximizing) amount of money. The cues were bilaterally presented, which allowed us to extract the relative neural responses to each cue by using a contralateral-versus-ipsilateral ERP contrast. We found an early lateralized ERP response, whose features matched the attention-shift-related N2pc component and whose amplitude scaled with the learned reward-predicting value of the cues as predicted by an attention-for-reward model. Consistently, we found a double dissociation involving the N2pc. Across participants, gain-maximization positively correlated with the N2pc amplitude to the most reliable gain-predicting cue, suggesting an attentional bias toward such cues. Conversely, loss-minimization was negatively correlated with the N2pc amplitude to the most reliable loss-predicting cue, suggesting an attentional avoidance toward such stimuli. These results indicate that learned stimulus–reward associations can influence rapid attention allocation, and that differences in this process are associated with individual differences in economic decision-making performance. PMID:25139941

Individual Sensitivity to Spectral and Temporal Cues in Listeners with Hearing Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Souza, Pamela E.; Wright, Richard A.; Blackburn, Michael C.; Tatman, Rachael; Gallun, Frederick J.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The present study was designed to evaluate use of spectral and temporal cues under conditions in which both types of cues were available. Method: Participants included adults with normal hearing and hearing loss. We focused on 3 categories of speech cues: static spectral (spectral shape), dynamic spectral (formant change), and temporal…

Adaptive mesh strategies for the spectral element method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mavriplis, Catherine

1992-01-01

An adaptive spectral method was developed for the efficient solution of time dependent partial differential equations. Adaptive mesh strategies that include resolution refinement and coarsening by three different methods are illustrated on solutions to the 1-D viscous Burger equation and the 2-D Navier-Stokes equations for driven flow in a cavity. Sharp gradients, singularities, and regions of poor resolution are resolved optimally as they develop in time using error estimators which indicate the choice of refinement to be used. The adaptive formulation presents significant increases in efficiency, flexibility, and general capabilities for high order spectral methods.

Track and vertex reconstruction: From classical to adaptive methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strandlie, Are; Frühwirth, Rudolf

2010-04-01

This paper reviews classical and adaptive methods of track and vertex reconstruction in particle physics experiments. Adaptive methods have been developed to meet the experimental challenges at high-energy colliders, in particular, the CERN Large Hadron Collider. They can be characterized by the obliteration of the traditional boundaries between pattern recognition and statistical estimation, by the competition between different hypotheses about what constitutes a track or a vertex, and by a high level of flexibility and robustness achieved with a minimum of assumptions about the data. The theoretical background of some of the adaptive methods is described, and it is shown that there is a close connection between the two main branches of adaptive methods: neural networks and deformable templates, on the one hand, and robust stochastic filters with annealing, on the other hand. As both classical and adaptive methods of track and vertex reconstruction presuppose precise knowledge of the positions of the sensitive detector elements, the paper includes an overview of detector alignment methods and a survey of the alignment strategies employed by past and current experiments.

Adaptive [theta]-methods for pricing American options

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaliq, Abdul Q. M.; Voss, David A.; Kazmi, Kamran

2008-12-01

We develop adaptive [theta]-methods for solving the Black-Scholes PDE for American options. By adding a small, continuous term, the Black-Scholes PDE becomes an advection-diffusion-reaction equation on a fixed spatial domain. Standard implementation of [theta]-methods would require a Newton-type iterative procedure at each time step thereby increasing the computational complexity of the methods. Our linearly implicit approach avoids such complications. We establish a general framework under which [theta]-methods satisfy a discrete version of the positivity constraint characteristic of American options, and numerically demonstrate the sensitivity of the constraint. The positivity results are established for the single-asset and independent two-asset models. In addition, we have incorporated and analyzed an adaptive time-step control strategy to increase the computational efficiency. Numerical experiments are presented for one- and two-asset American options, using adaptive exponential splitting for two-asset problems. The approach is compared with an iterative solution of the two-asset problem in terms of computational efficiency.

Smoking Cues, Argument Strength, and Perceived Effectiveness of Antismoking PSAs

PubMed Central

Cappella, Joseph. N.; Lerman, Caryn; Strasser, Andrew A.

2011-01-01

Introduction: The study examines the effectiveness of antismoking public service announcements (PSAs) among adult smokers as a function of smoking cues and the argument strength of the PSAs. Consistent with the previous cue-reactivity studies, smoking cues are defined as one of the following visual scenes: (a) objects associated with smoking, (b) holding or handling cigarettes, and (c) actual smoking behaviors. Argument strength indicates smoker's judgments of perceived strength and persuasiveness of the arguments extracted from the PSAs. Methods: Data were collected through a web-based experiment of a random sample of general population of smokers (n = 566 adults aged 19 years or older). Each participant was shown 4 PSAs randomly selected from a set of 60. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling to assess the effects of smoking cues and argument strength. Effectiveness measures include perceived persuasiveness, transportation, valenced thought, negative emotion, and smoking-related thoughts. Results: Argument strength is a significant predictor of outcome variables. Although there were no significant main effects of smoking cues on any outcome variables, smoking cues were found to interact with argument strength such that the association between argument strength and outcome variables became weaker for PSAs in the smoking cue condition compared with those in the no-cue condition. Conclusions: The interaction between smoking cues and argument strength suggests that smoking cues in antismoking PSAs undermine a significant part of what makes PSAs effective—their arguments against smoking. In designing antismoking messages, the inclusion of smoking cues should be weighed carefully. PMID:21330273

The impact of temporal contingencies between cue and target onset on spatial attentional capture by subliminal onset cues.

PubMed

Schoeberl, Tobias; Ansorge, Ulrich

2018-05-15

Prior research suggested that attentional capture by subliminal abrupt onset cues is stimulus driven. In these studies, reacting was faster when a searched-for target appeared at the location of a preceding abrupt onset cue compared to when the same target appeared at a location away from the cue (cueing effect), although the earlier onset of the cue was subliminal, because it appeared as one out of three horizontally aligned placeholders with a lead time that was too short to be noticed by the participants. Because the cueing effects seemed to be independent of top-down search settings for target features, the effect was attributed to stimulus-driven attentional capture. However, prior studies did not investigate if participants experienced the cues as useful temporal warning signals and, therefore, attended to the cues in a top-down way. Here, we tested to which extent search settings based on temporal contingencies between cue and target onset could be responsible for spatial cueing effects. Cueing effects were replicated, and we showed that removing temporal contingencies between cue and target onset did not diminish the cueing effects (Experiments 1 and 2). Neither presenting the cues in the majority of trials after target onset (Experiment 1) nor presenting cue and target unrelated to one another (Experiment 2) led to a significant reduction of the spatial cueing effects. Results thus support the hypothesis that the subliminal cues captured attention in a stimulus-driven way.

Identifying specific erotic cues in sexual deviations by audiotaped descriptions.

PubMed Central

Abel, G G; Blanchard, E B; Barlow, D H; Mavissakalian, M

1975-01-01

Using audiotaped descriptions of sexual experiences and a direct measure of penile erection, it is possible to specify more precisely erotic cues in sexual deviates. Results indicated that such cues are highly idiosyncratic. Some tentative conclusions and suggested application for the method are discussed. PMID:1184490

Retrospective Revaluation of Associative Retroactive Cue Interference

PubMed Central

Miguez, Gonzalo; Laborda, Mario A.; Miller, Ralph R.

2013-01-01

Two fear-conditioning experiments with rats assessed whether retrospective revaluation, which has been observed in cue competition (i.e., when compounded cues are followed with an outcome), can also be observed in retroactive cue interference (i.e., when different cues are reinforced in separate phases with the same outcome). Experiment 1 found that after inducing retroactive cue interference (i.e., X-outcome followed by A-outcome), nonreinforced presentations of the interfering cue (A) decreases interference with responding to the target cue (X), just as has been observed in retrospective revaluation experiments in cue competition. Using the opposite manipulation (i.e., adding reinforced presentations of A), Experiment 2 demonstrated that after inducing retroactive cue interference, additional reinforced presentations of the interfering cue (A) increases interference with responding to the target cue (X); alternatively stated, the amount of interference increases with the amount of training with the interfering cue. Thus, both types of retrospective revaluation occur in retroactive cue competition. The results are discussed in terms of the possibility that similar associative mechanisms underlie cue competition and cue interference. PMID:24142799

Methods used in adaptation of health-related guidelines: A systematic survey.

PubMed

Abdul-Khalek, Rima A; Darzi, Andrea J; Godah, Mohammad W; Kilzar, Lama; Lakis, Chantal; Agarwal, Arnav; Abou-Jaoude, Elias; Meerpohl, Joerg J; Wiercioch, Wojtek; Santesso, Nancy; Brax, Hneine; Schünemann, Holger; Akl, Elie A

2017-12-01

Adaptation refers to the systematic approach for considering the endorsement or modification of recommendations produced in one setting for application in another as an alternative to de novo development. To describe and assess the methods used for adapting health-related guidelines published in peer-reviewed journals, and to assess the quality of the resulting adapted guidelines. We searched Medline and Embase up to June 2015. We assessed the method of adaptation, and the quality of included guidelines. Seventy-two papers were eligible. Most adapted guidelines and their source guidelines were published by professional societies (71% and 68% respectively), and in high-income countries (83% and 85% respectively). Of the 57 adapted guidelines that reported any detail about adaptation method, 34 (60%) did not use a published adaptation method. The number (and percentage) of adapted guidelines fulfilling each of the ADAPTE steps ranged between 2 (4%) and 57 (100%). The quality of adapted guidelines was highest for the "scope and purpose" domain and lowest for the "editorial independence" domain (respective mean percentages of the maximum possible scores were 93% and 43%). The mean score for "rigor of development" was 57%. Most adapted guidelines published in peer-reviewed journals do not report using a published adaptation method, and their adaptation quality was variable.

Adaptive method with intercessory feedback control for an intelligent agent

DOEpatents

Goldsmith, Steven Y.

2004-06-22

An adaptive architecture method with feedback control for an intelligent agent provides for adaptively integrating reflexive and deliberative responses to a stimulus according to a goal. An adaptive architecture method with feedback control for multiple intelligent agents provides for coordinating and adaptively integrating reflexive and deliberative responses to a stimulus according to a goal. Re-programming of the adaptive architecture is through a nexus which coordinates reflexive and deliberator components.

Amygdala subsystems and control of feeding behavior by learned cues.

PubMed

Petrovich, Gorica D; Gallagher, Michela

2003-04-01

A combination of behavioral studies and a neural systems analysis approach has proven fruitful in defining the role of the amygdala complex and associated circuits in fear conditioning. The evidence presented in this chapter suggests that this approach is also informative in the study of other adaptive functions that involve the amygdala. In this chapter we present a novel model to study learning in an appetitive context. Furthermore, we demonstrate that long-recognized connections between the amygdala and the hypothalamus play a crucial role in allowing learning to modulate feeding behavior. In the first part we describe a behavioral model for motivational learning. In this model a cue that acquires motivational properties through pairings with food delivery when an animal is hungry can override satiety and promote eating in sated rats. Next, we present evidence that a specific amygdala subsystem (basolateral area) is responsible for allowing such learned cues to control eating (override satiety and promote eating in sated rats). We also show that basolateral amygdala mediates these actions via connectivity with the lateral hypothalamus. Lastly, we present evidence that the amygdalohypothalamic system is specific for the control of eating by learned motivational cues, as it does not mediate another function that depends on intact basolateral amygdala, namely, the ability of a conditioned cue to support new learning based on its acquired value. Knowledge about neural systems through which food-associated cues specifically control feeding behavior provides a defined model for the study of learning. In addition, this model may be informative for understanding mechanisms of maladaptive aspects of learned control of eating that contribute to eating disorders and more moderate forms of overeating.

Cues Resulting in Desire for Sexual Activity in Women

PubMed Central

McCall, Katie; Meston, Cindy

2010-01-01

Introduction A number of questionnaires have been created to assess levels of sexual desire in women, but to our knowledge, there are currently no validated measures for assessing cues that result in sexual desire. A questionnaire of this nature could be useful for both clinicians and researchers, because it considers the contextual nature of sexual desire and it draws attention to individual differences in factors that can contribute to sexual desire. Aim The aim of the present study was to create a multidimensional assessment tool of cues for sexual desire in women that is validated in women with and without hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). Methods Factor analyses conducted on both an initial sample (N = 874) and a community sample (N = 138) resulted in the Cues for Sexual Desire Scale (CSDS) which included four factors: (i) Emotional Bonding Cues; (ii) Erotic/ Explicit Cues; (iii) Visual/Proximity Cues; and (iv) Implicit/Romantic Cues. Main Outcome Measures Scale construction of cues associated with sexual desire and differences between women with and without sexual dysfunction. Results The CSDS demonstrated good reliability and validity and was able to detect significant differences between women with and without HSDD. Results from regression analyses indicated that both marital status and level of sexual functioning predicted scores on the CSDS. The CSDS provided predictive validity for the Female Sexual Function Index desire and arousal domain scores, and increased cues were related to a higher reported frequency of sexual activity in women. Conclusions The findings from the present study provide valuable information regarding both internal and external triggers that can result in sexual desire for women. We believe that the CSDS could be beneficial in therapeutic settings to help identify cues that do and do not facilitate sexual desire in women with clinically diagnosed desire difficulties. PMID:16942529

Cortical Brain Activity Reflecting Attentional Biasing Toward Reward-Predicting Cues Covaries with Economic Decision-Making Performance.

PubMed

San Martín, René; Appelbaum, Lawrence G; Huettel, Scott A; Woldorff, Marty G

2016-01-01

Adaptive choice behavior depends critically on identifying and learning from outcome-predicting cues. We hypothesized that attention may be preferentially directed toward certain outcome-predicting cues. We studied this possibility by analyzing event-related potential (ERP) responses in humans during a probabilistic decision-making task. Participants viewed pairs of outcome-predicting visual cues and then chose to wager either a small (i.e., loss-minimizing) or large (i.e., gain-maximizing) amount of money. The cues were bilaterally presented, which allowed us to extract the relative neural responses to each cue by using a contralateral-versus-ipsilateral ERP contrast. We found an early lateralized ERP response, whose features matched the attention-shift-related N2pc component and whose amplitude scaled with the learned reward-predicting value of the cues as predicted by an attention-for-reward model. Consistently, we found a double dissociation involving the N2pc. Across participants, gain-maximization positively correlated with the N2pc amplitude to the most reliable gain-predicting cue, suggesting an attentional bias toward such cues. Conversely, loss-minimization was negatively correlated with the N2pc amplitude to the most reliable loss-predicting cue, suggesting an attentional avoidance toward such stimuli. These results indicate that learned stimulus-reward associations can influence rapid attention allocation, and that differences in this process are associated with individual differences in economic decision-making performance. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Integrating advice and experience: learning and decision making with social and nonsocial cues.

PubMed

Collins, Elizabeth C; Percy, Elise J; Smith, Eliot R; Kruschke, John K

2011-06-01

When making decisions, people typically gather information from both social and nonsocial sources, such as advice from others and direct experience. This research adapted a cognitive learning paradigm to examine the process by which people learn what sources of information are credible. When participants relied on advice alone to make decisions, their learning of source reliability proceeded in a manner analogous to traditional cue learning processes and replicated the established learning phenomena. However, when advice and nonsocial cues were encountered together as an established phenomenon, blocking (ignoring redundant information) did not occur. Our results suggest that extant cognitive learning models can accommodate either advice or nonsocial cues in isolation. However, the combination of advice and nonsocial cues (a context more typically encountered in daily life) leads to different patterns of learning, in which mutually supportive information from different types of sources is not regarded as redundant and may be particularly compelling. For these situations, cognitive learning models still constitute a promising explanatory tool but one that must be expanded. As such, these findings have important implications for social psychological theory and for cognitive models of learning. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Disruption of Cue-Potentiated Feeding in Mice with Blocked Ghrelin Signaling

PubMed Central

Walker, Angela K.; Ibia, Imikomobong E.; Zigman, Jeffrey M.

2012-01-01

The peptide hormone ghrelin regulates a variety of eating behaviors. Not only does it potently increase intake of freely-available food, but it also shifts food preference towards diets rich in fat, enhances operant responding for food rewards, and induces conditioned place preference for food rewards. Here, we postulated that ghrelin also enables cue-potentiated feeding, in which eating is enhanced upon presentation of a food-conditioned stimulus. To test this hypothesis, a novel cue-potentiated feeding protocol adapted for use in mice was designed and validated, and then the effects of pharmacologic ghrelin receptor (GHSR) antagonism and GHSR transcriptional blockade (as occurs in GHSR-null mice) were assessed. Sated C57BL/6J mice indeed demonstrated cue-potentiated intake of grain-based pellets specifically upon presentation of a positive conditioned stimulus (CS+) but not a negative conditioned stimulus (CS-). Treatment with a GHSR antagonist blocked potentiated feeding in sated C57BL/6J mice in response to the CS+. In contrast, while GHSR-null mice also lacked a potentiation of feeding specifically in response to the CS+, they displayed an enhanced intake of pellets in response to both the positive and negative conditioned stimuli. The pattern of immediate early gene expression within the basolateral amygdala -- a brain region previously linked to cue-potentiated feeding -- paralleled the observed behavior of these mice, suggesting uncharacteristic activation of the amygdala in response to negative conditioned stimuli in GHSR-null mice as compared to wild-type littermates. Thus, although the observed disruptions in cue-potentiated feeding are different depending upon whether GHSR activity or GHSR expression is blocked, a key role for GHSRs in establishing a specific positive cue-food association has now been established. PMID:23063723

Cue-Induced Craving in Dependence Upon Prescription Opioids and Heroin

PubMed Central

McHugh, R. Kathryn; Park, Sara; Weiss, Roger D.

2014-01-01

Background and Objectives Cues associated with heroin use (e.g., needles, powder) elicit robust craving responses in individuals dependent upon heroin. Elevated cue-induced craving may be a risk factor for relapse and can persist after periods of drug abstinence. Despite the growing prevalence of opioid dependence involving prescription opioids, published studies have yet to examine whether cue-induced craving is also present in prescription opioid dependence. Methods A sample of 50 adults diagnosed with opioid dependence (20 prescription opioid users, 25 heroin users, and 5 mixed opioid users) completed a cue reactivity assessment. Participants were administered a series of 90 pictures, including heroin-specific, prescription opioid-specific, and neutral images, and were asked to rate craving and cue salience after each image. Results Both the prescription opioid and heroin groups experienced significantly more craving to drug than to neutral stimuli. The prescription opioid group reported significantly less craving to prescription opioid stimuli than the heroin group to heroin stimuli; however, this effect was smaller and non-significant when controlling for group differences in cue salience. Discussion and Conclusions This study found evidence for cue-induced craving in individuals dependent upon prescription opioids. Further research is needed to better understand the role of cue reactivity in the course and treatment of opioid dependence involving prescription opioid use. Scientific Significance As elevated craving reactivity to drug cues may reflect a risk factor for relapse, understanding the nature of cue-induced craving in individuals with opioid dependence is important to improving treatments for this population. PMID:24628912

Cue-Induced Craving to Paraphernalia and Drug Images in Opioid Dependence

PubMed Central

McHugh, R. Kathryn; Fulciniti, Francesca; Mashhoon, Yasmin; Weiss, Roger D.

2016-01-01

Background and Objectives Stimuli that are repeatedly paired with substance use, such as drug paraphernalia, can themselves elicit drug craving. The aim of this study was to examine whether particular cue types elicit greater craving responses than others among individuals with opioid dependence. Methods Participants seeking inpatient treatment for opioid dependence were recruited for a study of cue-induced craving. This sample (N=50), included 25 primary heroin users, 20 primary prescription opioid users, and 5 users of heroin and prescription opioids equally. Participants completed a cue reactivity task, in which images of drug-related stimuli were presented on a computer screen, each followed by a question assessing state drug craving. Results Overall, participants reported higher craving following paraphernalia stimuli relative to drug stimuli. However, this was moderated by opioid type; there was significantly higher craving in response to images of paraphernalia cues in the heroin group, and higher craving in response to drug cues in the prescription opioid group. Discussion and Conclusions These findings highlight potential differences in cue reactivity to opioid paraphernalia and drug cues, which appears to be moderated by drug type. Scientific Significance Cue-induced craving is an important factor in relapse. This study adds further to the literature on cue-induced craving in opioid dependence, suggesting that craving may vary based on both cue type and opioid type. Future studies designed to discriminate the impact of substance of abuse, route of administration, and cue type will help to further understand cue-induced craving in this population. PMID:26848719

PERIPHERAL IMMUNE SYSTEM SUPPRESSION IN EARLY ABSTINENT ALCOHOL DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS: LINKS TO STRESS AND CUE-RELATED CRAVING

PubMed Central

Fox, Helen C; Milivojevic, Verica; Angarita, Gustavo A; Stowe, Raymond; Sinha, Rajita

2017-01-01

Background Peripheral immune system cytokines may play an integral role in underlying sensitized stress response and alcohol craving during early withdrawal. To date, the nature of these immune changes during early abstinence have not been examined. Methods Thirty-nine early abstinent, treatment-seeking alcohol dependent individuals and 46 socially drinking controls were exposed to three guided imageries: stress, alcohol cue and neutral. These were presented randomly across consecutive days. Plasma measures of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10), were collected at baseline, immediately after imagery and at various recovery time-points. Ratings of alcohol craving, negative mood and anxiety were also obtained at the same time-points. Results The alcohol group demonstrated decreased basal IL-10 compared with controls particularly following exposure to alcohol cue. They also showed a dampened TNFα and TNFR1 response to stress and cue, respectively, and a generalized suppression of IL-6. In the alcohol group, these immune system adaptations occurred alongside significant elevations in anxiety, negative mood and alcohol craving. Conclusions Findings demonstrate that broad immuno-suppression is still observed in alcohol dependent individuals after three weeks of abstinence and may be linked to motivation for alcohol. PMID:28675117

Rethinking human visual attention: spatial cueing effects and optimality of decisions by honeybees, monkeys and humans.

PubMed

Eckstein, Miguel P; Mack, Stephen C; Liston, Dorion B; Bogush, Lisa; Menzel, Randolf; Krauzlis, Richard J

2013-06-07

Visual attention is commonly studied by using visuo-spatial cues indicating probable locations of a target and assessing the effect of the validity of the cue on perceptual performance and its neural correlates. Here, we adapt a cueing task to measure spatial cueing effects on the decisions of honeybees and compare their behavior to that of humans and monkeys in a similarly structured two-alternative forced-choice perceptual task. Unlike the typical cueing paradigm in which the stimulus strength remains unchanged within a block of trials, for the monkey and human studies we randomized the contrast of the signal to simulate more real world conditions in which the organism is uncertain about the strength of the signal. A Bayesian ideal observer that weights sensory evidence from cued and uncued locations based on the cue validity to maximize overall performance is used as a benchmark of comparison against the three animals and other suboptimal models: probability matching, ignore the cue, always follow the cue, and an additive bias/single decision threshold model. We find that the cueing effect is pervasive across all three species but is smaller in size than that shown by the Bayesian ideal observer. Humans show a larger cueing effect than monkeys and bees show the smallest effect. The cueing effect and overall performance of the honeybees allows rejection of the models in which the bees are ignoring the cue, following the cue and disregarding stimuli to be discriminated, or adopting a probability matching strategy. Stimulus strength uncertainty also reduces the theoretically predicted variation in cueing effect with stimulus strength of an optimal Bayesian observer and diminishes the size of the cueing effect when stimulus strength is low. A more biologically plausible model that includes an additive bias to the sensory response from the cued location, although not mathematically equivalent to the optimal observer for the case stimulus strength uncertainty, can

Altruists are trusted based on non-verbal cues.

PubMed

Oda, Ryo; Naganawa, Takuya; Yamauchi, Shinsaku; Yamagata, Noriko; Matsumoto-Oda, Akiko

2009-12-23

The identification of altruists based on non-verbal cues might offer a solution to the problem of subtle cheating. Previous studies have indicated that the ability to discriminate altruists from non-altruists emerges during evolution. However, behavioural differences with regard to social exchanges involving altruists and non-altruists have not been studied. We investigated differences in responses to videotaped altruists and non-altruists with the Faith Game. Participants tended to entrust real money to altruists more than to non-altruists, providing strong evidence that cognitive adaptations evolve as counter-strategies to subtle cheating.

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

PubMed Central

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

Adaptive envelope protection methods for aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Unnikrishnan, Suraj

Carefree handling refers to the ability of a pilot to operate an aircraft without the need to continuously monitor aircraft operating limits. At the heart of all carefree handling or maneuvering systems, also referred to as envelope protection systems, are algorithms and methods for predicting future limit violations. Recently, envelope protection methods that have gained more acceptance, translate limit proximity information to its equivalent in the control channel. Envelope protection algorithms either use very small prediction horizon or are static methods with no capability to adapt to changes in system configurations. Adaptive approaches maximizing prediction horizon such as dynamic trim, are only applicable to steady-state-response critical limit parameters. In this thesis, a new adaptive envelope protection method is developed that is applicable to steady-state and transient response critical limit parameters. The approach is based upon devising the most aggressive optimal control profile to the limit boundary and using it to compute control limits. Pilot-in-the-loop evaluations of the proposed approach are conducted at the Georgia Tech Carefree Maneuver lab for transient longitudinal hub moment limit protection. Carefree maneuvering is the dual of carefree handling in the realm of autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Designing a flight control system to fully and effectively utilize the operational flight envelope is very difficult. With the increasing role and demands for extreme maneuverability there is a need for developing envelope protection methods for autonomous UAVs. In this thesis, a full-authority automatic envelope protection method is proposed for limit protection in UAVs. The approach uses adaptive estimate of limit parameter dynamics and finite-time horizon predictions to detect impending limit boundary violations. Limit violations are prevented by treating the limit boundary as an obstacle and by correcting nominal control

Blunted Striatal Responses to Favorite Food Cues in Smokers*

PubMed Central

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

Adaptive Set-Based Methods for Association Testing.

PubMed

Su, Yu-Chen; Gauderman, William James; Berhane, Kiros; Lewinger, Juan Pablo

2016-02-01

With a typical sample size of a few thousand subjects, a single genome-wide association study (GWAS) using traditional one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-at-a-time methods can only detect genetic variants conferring a sizable effect on disease risk. Set-based methods, which analyze sets of SNPs jointly, can detect variants with smaller effects acting within a gene, a pathway, or other biologically relevant sets. Although self-contained set-based methods (those that test sets of variants without regard to variants not in the set) are generally more powerful than competitive set-based approaches (those that rely on comparison of variants in the set of interest with variants not in the set), there is no consensus as to which self-contained methods are best. In particular, several self-contained set tests have been proposed to directly or indirectly "adapt" to the a priori unknown proportion and distribution of effects of the truly associated SNPs in the set, which is a major determinant of their power. A popular adaptive set-based test is the adaptive rank truncated product (ARTP), which seeks the set of SNPs that yields the best-combined evidence of association. We compared the standard ARTP, several ARTP variations we introduced, and other adaptive methods in a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate their performance. We used permutations to assess significance for all the methods and thus provide a level playing field for comparison. We found the standard ARTP test to have the highest power across our simulations followed closely by the global model of random effects (GMRE) and a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)-based test. © 2015 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

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

PubMed Central

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

Individual Sensitivity to Spectral and Temporal Cues in Listeners With Hearing Impairment

PubMed Central

Wright, Richard A.; Blackburn, Michael C.; Tatman, Rachael; Gallun, Frederick J.

2015-01-01

Purpose The present study was designed to evaluate use of spectral and temporal cues under conditions in which both types of cues were available. Method Participants included adults with normal hearing and hearing loss. We focused on 3 categories of speech cues: static spectral (spectral shape), dynamic spectral (formant change), and temporal (amplitude envelope). Spectral and/or temporal dimensions of synthetic speech were systematically manipulated along a continuum, and recognition was measured using the manipulated stimuli. Level was controlled to ensure cue audibility. Discriminant function analysis was used to determine to what degree spectral and temporal information contributed to the identification of each stimulus. Results Listeners with normal hearing were influenced to a greater extent by spectral cues for all stimuli. Listeners with hearing impairment generally utilized spectral cues when the information was static (spectral shape) but used temporal cues when the information was dynamic (formant transition). The relative use of spectral and temporal dimensions varied among individuals, especially among listeners with hearing loss. Conclusion Information about spectral and temporal cue use may aid in identifying listeners who rely to a greater extent on particular acoustic cues and applying that information toward therapeutic interventions. PMID:25629388

Grasp cueing and joint attention.

PubMed

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.

Orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala lesions result in suboptimal and dissociable reward choices on cue-guided effort in rats

PubMed Central

Ostrander, Serena; Cazares, Victor A.; Kim, Charissa; Cheung, Shauna; Gonzalez, Isabel; Izquierdo, Alicia

2011-01-01

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) are important neural regions in responding adaptively to changes in the incentive value of reward. Recent evidence suggests these structures may be differentially engaged in effort and cue-guided choice behavior. In two t-maze experiments, we examined the effects of bilateral lesions of either BLA or OFC on 1) effortful choices where rats could climb a barrier for a high reward or select a low reward with no effort and 2) effortful choices when a visual cue signaled changes in reward magnitude. In both experiments, BLA rats displayed transient work aversion, choosing the effortless low reward option. OFC rats were work averse only in the no cue conditions, displaying a pattern of attenuated recovery from the cue conditions signaling reward unavailability in the effortful arm. Control measures rule out an inability to discriminate the cue in either lesion group. PMID:21639604

Motion Cueing Algorithm Development: New Motion Cueing Program Implementation and Tuning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2005-01-01

A computer program has been developed for the purpose of driving the NASA Langley Research Center Visual Motion Simulator (VMS). This program includes two new motion cueing algorithms, the optimal algorithm and the nonlinear algorithm. A general description of the program is given along with a description and flowcharts for each cueing algorithm, and also descriptions and flowcharts for subroutines used with the algorithms. Common block variable listings and a program listing are also provided. The new cueing algorithms have a nonlinear gain algorithm implemented that scales each aircraft degree-of-freedom input with a third-order polynomial. A description of the nonlinear gain algorithm is given along with past tuning experience and procedures for tuning the gain coefficient sets for each degree-of-freedom to produce the desired piloted performance. This algorithm tuning will be needed when the nonlinear motion cueing algorithm is implemented on a new motion system in the Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) at the NASA Langley Research Center.

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

PubMed

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.

"Gulliver's Travels" by Alfred Silver with Music by Stephen Naylor. Cue Sheet for Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waterfall, Milde; Flynn, Rosalind, Ed.

Designed to be used before and after attending a musical adaptation of Jonathan's Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (performed by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia), this cue sheet presents information about the performance and suggests activities that can be done with classmates, friends, or family members. Beginning with an illustration of…

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

PubMed

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.

Trait Mindfulness Predicts Attentional and Autonomic Regulation of Alcohol Cue-Reactivity

PubMed Central

Garland, Eric L.

2013-01-01

Background The trait of mindfulness varies among meditation-naïve individuals and is associated with attentional and autonomic regulation, two neurocognitive functions that become impaired in addiction. It was hypothesized that alcohol dependent inpatients with comparatively high levels of trait mindfulness would exhibit significant autonomic recovery from stress-primed alcohol cues mediated by greater attentional disengagement from such cues. Methods 58 alcohol dependent inpatients participated in affect-modulated psychophysiological cue-reactivity protocol and a spatial cueing task designed to assess alcohol attentional bias (AB). Associations between trait mindfulness, alcohol AB, and an index of autonomic activity, high-frequency heart rate variability (HFHRV), were examined via multivariate path analysis. Results Higher trait mindfulness was significantly associated with less difficulty resisting the urge to drink and greater HFHRV recovery from stress-primed alcohol cues. After statistically controlling for the correlation of mindfulness and perceived difficulty resisting drinking urges, the association between mindfulness and HFHRV recovery was partially mediated by attentional disengagement from alcohol cues (model R2 = .30). Discussion Alcohol dependent inpatients higher in mindfulness are better able to disengage attention from alcohol cues, which in turn predicts the degree of HFHRV recovery from such cues. Trait mindfulness may index cognitive control over appetitive responses reflected in superior attentional and autonomic regulation of stress-primed alcohol cue-reactivity. PMID:23976814

Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces.

PubMed

Little, Anthony C; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2011-07-07

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident.

Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces

PubMed Central

Little, Anthony C.; DeBruine, Lisa M.; Jones, Benedict C.

2011-01-01

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident. PMID:21123269

Nipping cue reactivity in the bud: baclofen prevents limbic activation elicited by subliminal drug cues.

PubMed

Young, Kimberly A; Franklin, Teresa R; Roberts, David C S; Jagannathan, Kanchana; Suh, Jesse J; Wetherill, Reagan R; Wang, Ze; Kampman, Kyle M; O'Brien, Charles P; Childress, Anna Rose

2014-04-02

Relapse is a widely recognized and difficult to treat feature of the addictions. Substantial evidence implicates cue-triggered activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system as an important contributing factor. Even drug cues presented outside of conscious awareness (i.e., subliminally) produce robust activation within this circuitry, indicating the sensitivity and vulnerability of the brain to potentially problematic reward signals. Because pharmacological agents that prevent these early cue-induced responses could play an important role in relapse prevention, we examined whether baclofen-a GABAB receptor agonist that reduces mesolimbic dopamine release and conditioned drug responses in laboratory animals-could inhibit mesolimbic activation elicited by subliminal cocaine cues in cocaine-dependent individuals. Twenty cocaine-dependent participants were randomized to receive baclofen (60 mg/d; 20 mg t.i.d.) or placebo. Event-related BOLD fMRI and a backward-masking paradigm were used to examine the effects of baclofen on subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues. Sexual and aversive cues were included to examine specificity. We observed that baclofen-treated participants displayed significantly less activation in response to subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues, but not sexual or aversive (vs neutral) cues, than placebo-treated participants in a large interconnected bilateral cluster spanning the ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, amygdala, midbrain, and orbitofrontal cortex (voxel threshold p < 0.005; cluster corrected at p < 0.05). These results suggest that baclofen may inhibit the earliest type of drug cue-induced motivational processing-that which occurs outside of awareness-before it evolves into a less manageable state.

Nipping Cue Reactivity in the Bud: Baclofen Prevents Limbic Activation Elicited by Subliminal Drug Cues

PubMed Central

Young, Kimberly A.; Franklin, Teresa R.; Roberts, David C.S.; Jagannathan, Kanchana; Suh, Jesse J.; Wetherill, Reagan R.; Wang, Ze; Kampman, Kyle M.; O'Brien, Charles P.

2014-01-01

Relapse is a widely recognized and difficult to treat feature of the addictions. Substantial evidence implicates cue-triggered activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system as an important contributing factor. Even drug cues presented outside of conscious awareness (i.e., subliminally) produce robust activation within this circuitry, indicating the sensitivity and vulnerability of the brain to potentially problematic reward signals. Because pharmacological agents that prevent these early cue-induced responses could play an important role in relapse prevention, we examined whether baclofen—a GABAB receptor agonist that reduces mesolimbic dopamine release and conditioned drug responses in laboratory animals—could inhibit mesolimbic activation elicited by subliminal cocaine cues in cocaine-dependent individuals. Twenty cocaine-dependent participants were randomized to receive baclofen (60 mg/d; 20 mg t.i.d.) or placebo. Event-related BOLD fMRI and a backward-masking paradigm were used to examine the effects of baclofen on subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues. Sexual and aversive cues were included to examine specificity. We observed that baclofen-treated participants displayed significantly less activation in response to subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues, but not sexual or aversive (vs neutral) cues, than placebo-treated participants in a large interconnected bilateral cluster spanning the ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, amygdala, midbrain, and orbitofrontal cortex (voxel threshold p < 0.005; cluster corrected at p < 0.05). These results suggest that baclofen may inhibit the earliest type of drug cue-induced motivational processing—that which occurs outside of awareness—before it evolves into a less manageable state. PMID:24695721

Ambiguous Tilt and Translation Motion Cues in Astronauts After Space Flight (ZAG)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clement, Guilles; Harm, Deborah; Rupert, Angus; Beaton, Kara; Wood, Scott

2008-06-01

Adaptive changes during space flight in how the brain integrates vestibular cues with visual, proprioceptive, and somatosensory information can lead to impaired movement coordination, vertigo, spatial disorientation, and perceptual illusions following transitions between gravity levels. This joint ESA-NASA pre- and post-flight experiment is designed to examine both the physiological basis and operational implications for disorientation and tilt-translation disturbances in astronauts following short-duration space flights. Specifically, this study addresses three questions: (1) What adaptive changes occur in eye movements and motion perception in response to different combinations of tilt and translation motion? (2) Do adaptive changes in tilt-translation responses impair ability to manually control vehicle orientation? (3) Can sensory substitution aids (e.g., tactile) mitigate risks associated with manual control of vehicle orientation?

Less we forget: retrieval cues and release from retrieval-induced forgetting.

PubMed

Jonker, Tanya R; Seli, Paul; Macleod, Colin M

2012-11-01

Retrieving some items from memory can impair the subsequent recall of other related but not retrieved items, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). The dominant explanation of RIF-the inhibition account-asserts that forgetting occurs because related items are suppressed during retrieval practice to reduce retrieval competition. This item inhibition persists, making it more difficult to recall the related items on a later test. In our set of experiments, each category was designed such that each exemplar belonged to one of two subcategories (e.g., each BIRD exemplar was either a bird of prey or a pet bird), but this subcategory information was not made explicit during study or retrieval practice. Practicing retrieval of items from only one subcategory led to RIF for items from the other subcategory when cued only with the overall category label (BIRD) at test. However, adapting the technique of Gardiner, Craik, and Birtwistle (Journal of Learning and Verbal Behavior 11:778-783, 1972), providing subcategory cues during the final test eliminated RIF. The results challenge the inhibition account's fundamental assumption of cue independence but are consistent with a cue-based interference account.

Action Enhances Acoustic Cues for 3-D Target Localization by Echolocating Bats

PubMed Central

Wohlgemuth, Melville J.

2016-01-01

Under natural conditions, animals encounter a barrage of sensory information from which they must select and interpret biologically relevant signals. Active sensing can facilitate this process by engaging motor systems in the sampling of sensory information. The echolocating bat serves as an excellent model to investigate the coupling between action and sensing because it adaptively controls both the acoustic signals used to probe the environment and movements to receive echoes at the auditory periphery. We report here that the echolocating bat controls the features of its sonar vocalizations in tandem with the positioning of the outer ears to maximize acoustic cues for target detection and localization. The bat’s adaptive control of sonar vocalizations and ear positioning occurs on a millisecond timescale to capture spatial information from arriving echoes, as well as on a longer timescale to track target movement. Our results demonstrate that purposeful control over sonar sound production and reception can serve to improve acoustic cues for localization tasks. This finding also highlights the general importance of movement to sensory processing across animal species. Finally, our discoveries point to important parallels between spatial perception by echolocation and vision. PMID:27608186

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Cue exposure treatment in a virtual environment to reduce nicotine craving: a functional MRI study.

PubMed

Moon, Jiyoon; Lee, Jang-Han

2009-02-01

Smokers show an increase in cue reactivity during exposure to smoking-related cues. CET aims at extinguishing cue reactivity by repeated presentation of substance-related cues and has been claimed a potentially effective method of treating addictive behaviors, including cigarette smoking. We applied CET to eight late-adolescent smokers in virtual environments (VEs). When comparing pre-CET regions to those of post-CET, the inferior frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus were detected. These regions are consistent with previous studies of activated brain regions related to nicotine craving, and VE-CET seems to be an effective method of treating nicotine craving.

Neural Responses to Partner Rejection Cues

PubMed Central

Zayas, Vivian; Shoda, Yuichi; Mischel, Walter; Osterhout, Lee; Takahashi, Melissa

2009-01-01

Little is known about neural responses in the early automatic-stage processing of rejection cues from a partner. Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer a window to study processes that may be difficult to detect via behavioral methods. We focused on the N400 ERP component, which reflects the amount of semantic processing prompted by a target. When participants were primed by attachment-related contexts (“If I need help from my partner, my partner will be …”), rejection-related words (e.g., dismissing) elicited greater N400 amplitudes than acceptance-related words (e.g., supporting). Analyses of results for nonattachment primes suggest that these findings were not simply caused by target valence; the brain responds differentially to cues of partner rejection versus acceptance in under 300 ms. Moreover, these early-stage neurophysiological responses were heightened or dampened as a function of individuals’ adult attachment; women characterized by high anxiety and low avoidance showed the greatest N400 responses to cues of partner rejection (vs. acceptance). PMID:19493321

Great cormorants ( Phalacrocorax carbo) can detect auditory cues while diving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Kirstin Anderson; Maxwell, Alyssa; Siebert, Ursula; Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Wahlberg, Magnus

2017-06-01

In-air hearing in birds has been thoroughly investigated. Sound provides birds with auditory information for species and individual recognition from their complex vocalizations, as well as cues while foraging and for avoiding predators. Some 10% of existing species of birds obtain their food under the water surface. Whether some of these birds make use of acoustic cues while underwater is unknown. An interesting species in this respect is the great cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo), being one of the most effective marine predators and relying on the aquatic environment for food year round. Here, its underwater hearing abilities were investigated using psychophysics, where the bird learned to detect the presence or absence of a tone while submerged. The greatest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, with an underwater hearing threshold of 71 dB re 1 μPa rms. The great cormorant is better at hearing underwater than expected, and the hearing thresholds are comparable to seals and toothed whales in the frequency band 1-4 kHz. This opens up the possibility of cormorants and other aquatic birds having special adaptations for underwater hearing and making use of underwater acoustic cues from, e.g., conspecifics, their surroundings, as well as prey and predators.

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

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed

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.

Global Repetition Influences Contextual Cueing

PubMed Central

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

Global Repetition Influences Contextual Cueing.

PubMed

Zang, Xuelian; Zinchenko, Artyom; Jia, Lina; Assumpção, Leonardo; 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.

Perception of aircraft Deviation Cues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Lynne; Azuma, Ronald; Fox, Jason; Verma, Savita; Lozito, Sandra

2005-01-01

To begin to address the need for new displays, required by a future airspace concept to support new roles that will be assigned to flight crews, a study of potentially informative display cues was undertaken. Two cues were tested on a simple plan display - aircraft trajectory and flight corridor. Of particular interest was the speed and accuracy with which participants could detect an aircraft deviating outside its flight corridor. Presence of the trajectory cue significantly reduced participant reaction time to a deviation while the flight corridor cue did not. Although non-significant, the flight corridor cue seemed to have a relationship with the accuracy of participants judgments rather than their speed. As this is the second of a series of studies, these issues will be addressed further in future studies.

Phonetic training with acoustic cue manipulations: A comparison of methods for teaching English /r/-/l/ to Japanese adults

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iverson, Paul; Hazan, Valerie; Bannister, Kerry

2005-11-01

Recent work [Iverson et al. (2003) Cognition, 87, B47-57] has suggested that Japanese adults have difficulty learning English /r/ and /l/ because they are overly sensitive to acoustic cues that are not reliable for /r/-/l/ categorization (e.g., F2 frequency). This study investigated whether cue weightings are altered by auditory training, and compared the effectiveness of different training techniques. Separate groups of subjects received High Variability Phonetic Training (natural words from multiple talkers), and 3 techniques in which the natural recordings were altered via signal processing (All Enhancement, with F3 contrast maximized and closure duration lengthened; Perceptual Fading, with F3 enhancement reduced during training; and Secondary Cue Variability, with variation in F2 and durations increased during training). The results demonstrated that all of the training techniques improved /r/-/l/ identification by Japanese listeners, but there were no differences between the techniques. Training also altered the use of secondary acoustic cues; listeners became biased to identify stimuli as English /l/ when the cues made them similar to the Japanese /r/ category, and reduced their use of secondary acoustic cues for stimuli that were dissimilar to Japanese /r/. The results suggest that both category assimilation and perceptual interference affect English /r/ and /l/ acquisition.

Nicotine Dependence, “Background” and Cue-Induced Craving and Smoking in the Laboratory

PubMed Central

Dunbar, Michael S.; Shiffman, Saul; Kirchner, Thomas; Tindle, Hilary; Scholl, Sarah

2014-01-01

Background Nicotine dependence has been associated with higher “background” craving and smoking, independent of situational cues. Due in part to conceptual and methodological differences across past studies, the relationship between dependence and cue-reactivity (CR; e.g., cue-induced craving and smoking) remains unclear. Methods 207 daily smokers completed six pictorial CR sessions (smoking, negative affect, positive affect, alcohol, smoking prohibitions, and neutral). Individuals rated craving before (background craving) and after cues, and could smoke following cue exposure. Session videos were coded to assess smoking. Participants completed four nicotine dependence measures. Regression models assessed the relationship of dependence to cue-independent (i.e., pre-cue) and cue-specific (i.e., pre-post cue change for each cue, relative to neutral) craving and smoking (likelihood of smoking, latency to smoke, puff count). Results Dependence was associated with background craving and smoking, but did not predict change in craving across the entire sample for any cue. Among alcohol drinkers, dependence was associated with greater increases in craving following the alcohol cue. Only one dependence measure (Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives) was consistently associated with smoking reactivity (higher likelihood of smoking, shorter latency to smoke, greater puff count) in response to cues. Conclusion While related to cue-independent background craving and smoking, dependence is not strongly associated with laboratory cue-induced craving under conditions of minimal deprivation. Dependence measures that incorporate situational influences on smoking correlate with greater cue-provoked smoking. This may suggest independent roles for CR and traditional dependence as determinants of smoking, and highlights the importance of assessing behavioral CR outcomes. PMID:25028339

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

PubMed

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.

Calibration of magnetic and celestial compass cues in migratory birds--a review of cue-conflict experiments.

PubMed

Muheim, Rachel; Moore, Frank R; Phillips, John B

2006-01-01

Migratory birds use multiple sources of compass information for orientation, including the geomagnetic field, the sun, skylight polarization patterns and star patterns. In this paper we review the results of cue-conflict experiments designed to determine the relative importance of the different compass mechanisms, and how directional information from these compass mechanisms is integrated. We focus on cue-conflict experiments in which the magnetic field was shifted in alignment relative to natural celestial cues. Consistent with the conclusions of earlier authors, our analyses suggest that during the premigratory season, celestial information is given the greatest salience and used to recalibrate the magnetic compass by both juvenile and adult birds. Sunset polarized light patterns from the region of the sky near the horizon appear to provide the calibration reference for the magnetic compass. In contrast, during migration, a majority of experiments suggest that birds rely on the magnetic field as the primary source of compass information and use it to calibrate celestial compass cues, i.e. the relative saliency of magnetic and celestial cues is reversed. An alternative possibility, however, is suggested by several experiments in which birds exposed to a cue conflict during migration appear to have recalibrated the magnetic compass, i.e. their response is similar to that of birds exposed to cue conflicts during the premigratory season. The general pattern to emerge from these analyses is that birds exposed to the cue conflict with a view of the entire sunset sky tended to recalibrate the magnetic compass, regardless of whether the cue conflict occurred during the premigratory or migratory period. In contrast, birds exposed to the cue conflict in orientation funnels and registration cages that restricted their view of the region of sky near the horizon (as was generally the case in experiments carried out during the migratory season) did not recalibrate the magnetic

Individual differences in anticipatory activity to food rewards predict cue-induced appetitive 50-kHz calls in rats.

PubMed

Brenes, Juan C; Schwarting, Rainer K W

2015-10-01

Reward-related stimuli come to acquire incentive salience through Pavlovian learning and become capable of controlling reward-oriented behaviors. Here, we examined individual differences in anticipatory activity elicited by reward-related cues as indicative of how animals attribute incentive salience to otherwise neutral stimuli. Since adult rats can signal incentive motivation states through ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) at around 50-kHz, such calls were recorded in food-deprived rats trained to associate cues with food rewards, which were subsequently devalued by satiation.We found that the extent to which animals developed conditioned anticipatory activity to food cues while food deprived determined the level of cue-induced appetitive USVs while sated. Re-exposure to reward cues after a free-testing period reinstated USVs, invigorated reward seeking and consumption, and again, increases in calling occurred only in animals with high levels of cue-induced anticipatory activity. Reward-experienced rats systemically challenged with the catecholamine agonist amphetamine or with the dopamine receptor antagonist flupenthixol showed attenuated responses to these drugs, especially for USVs and in subjects with high levels of cue-induced anticipatory activity. Our results suggest that individuals prone to attribute incentive salience to reward cues showed heightened reward-induced USVs which were reliably expressed over time and persisted despite physiological needs being fulfilled. Also, prone subjects seemed to undergo particular adaptations in their dopaminergic system related with incentive learning. Our findings may have translational relevance in preclinical research modeling compulsive disorders, which may be due to excessive attribution of incentive salience to reward cues, such as overeating, pathological gambling, and drug addiction.

Cocaine-conditioned odor cues without chronic exposure: Implications for the development of addiction vulnerability.

PubMed

Lowen, Steven B; Rohan, Michael L; Gillis, Timothy E; Thompson, Britta S; Wellons, Clara B W; Andersen, Susan L

2015-01-01

Adolescents are highly vulnerable to addiction and are four times more likely to become addicted at first exposure than at any other age. The dopamine D1 receptor, which is typically overexpressed in the normal adolescent prefrontal cortex, is involved in drug cue responses and is associated with relapse in animal models. In human drug addicts, imaging methods have detected increased activation in response to drug cues in reward- and habit-associated brain regions. These same methods can be applied more quantitatively to rodent models. Here, changes in neuronal activation in response to cocaine-conditioned cues were observed using functional magnetic resonance imaging in juvenile rats that were made to over-express either D1 receptors or green fluorescent protein by viral-mediated transduction. Reduced activation was observed in the amygdala and dopamine cell body regions in the low cue-preferring/control juvenile rats in response to cocaine cues. In contrast, increased activation was observed in the dorsal striatum, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, and dopamine cell bodies in high cue-preferring/D1 juveniles. The increase in cue salience that is mediated by increased D1 receptor density, rather than excessive cocaine experience, appears to underlie the transition from aversion to reward in cue-induced neural response and may form the basis for habit-forming vulnerability.

Adaptive reconnection-based arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bo, Wurigen; Shashkov, Mikhail

We present a new adaptive Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method. This method is based on the reconnection-based ALE (ReALE) methodology of Refs. [35], [34] and [6]. The main elements in a standard ReALE method are: an explicit Lagrangian phase on an arbitrary polygonal (in 2D) mesh in which the solution and positions of grid nodes are updated; a rezoning phase in which a new grid is defined by changing the connectivity (using Voronoi tessellation) but not the number of cells; and a remapping phase in which the Lagrangian solution is transferred onto the new grid. Furthermore, in the standard ReALEmore » method, the rezoned mesh is smoothed by using one or several steps toward centroidal Voronoi tessellation, but it is not adapted to the solution in any way.« less

Adaptive reconnection-based arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method

DOE PAGES

Bo, Wurigen; Shashkov, Mikhail

2015-07-21

We present a new adaptive Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method. This method is based on the reconnection-based ALE (ReALE) methodology of Refs. [35], [34] and [6]. The main elements in a standard ReALE method are: an explicit Lagrangian phase on an arbitrary polygonal (in 2D) mesh in which the solution and positions of grid nodes are updated; a rezoning phase in which a new grid is defined by changing the connectivity (using Voronoi tessellation) but not the number of cells; and a remapping phase in which the Lagrangian solution is transferred onto the new grid. Furthermore, in the standard ReALEmore » method, the rezoned mesh is smoothed by using one or several steps toward centroidal Voronoi tessellation, but it is not adapted to the solution in any way.« less

A novel experimental method for measuring vergence and accommodation responses to the main near visual cues in typical and atypical groups.

PubMed

Horwood, Anna M; Riddell, Patricia M

2009-01-01

Binocular disparity, blur, and proximal cues drive convergence and accommodation. Disparity is considered to be the main vergence cue and blur the main accommodation cue. We have developed a remote haploscopic photorefractor to measure simultaneous vergence and accommodation objectively in a wide range of participants of all ages while fixating targets at between 0.3 and 2 m. By separating the three main near cues, we can explore their relative weighting in three-, two-, one-, and zero-cue conditions. Disparity can be manipulated by remote occlusion; blur cues manipulated by using either a Gabor patch or a detailed picture target; looming cues by either scaling or not scaling target size with distance. In normal orthophoric, emmetropic, symptom-free, naive visually mature participants, disparity was by far the most significant cue to both vergence and accommodation. Accommodation responses dropped dramatically if disparity was not available. Blur only had a clinically significant effect when disparity was absent. Proximity had very little effect. There was considerable interparticipant variation. We predict that relative weighting of near cue use is likely to vary between clinical groups and present some individual cases as examples. We are using this naturalistic tool to research strabismus, vergence and accommodation development, and emmetropization.

A Novel Experimental Method for Measuring Vergence and Accommodation Responses to the Main Near Visual Cues in Typical and Atypical Groups

PubMed Central

Horwood, Anna M; Riddell, Patricia M

2015-01-01

Binocular disparity, blur and proximal cues drive convergence and accommodation. Disparity is considered to be the main vergence cue and blur the main accommodation cue. We have developed a remote haploscopic photorefractor to measure simultaneous vergence and accommodation objectively in a wide range of participants of all ages while fixating targets at between 0.3m and 2m. By separating the three main near cues we can explore their relative weighting in three, two, one and zero cue conditions. Disparity can be manipulated by remote occlusion; blur cues manipulated by using either a Gabor patch or a detailed picture target; looming cues by either scaling or not scaling target size with distance. In normal orthophoric, emmetropic, symptom-free, naive visually mature participants, disparity was by far the most significant cue to both vergence and accommodation. Accommodation responses dropped dramatically if disparity was not available. Blur only had a clinically significant effect when disparity was absent. Proximity had very little effect. There was considerable inter-participant variation. We predict that relative weighting of near cue use is likely to vary between clinical groups and present some individual cases as examples. We are using this naturalistic tool to research strabismus, vergence and accommodation development and emmetropisation. PMID:19301186

Beyond naïve cue combination: salience and social cues in early word learning.

PubMed

Yurovsky, Daniel; Frank, Michael C

2017-03-01

Children learn their earliest words through social interaction, but it is unknown how much they rely on social information. Some theories argue that word learning is fundamentally social from its outset, with even the youngest infants understanding intentions and using them to infer a social partner's target of reference. In contrast, other theories argue that early word learning is largely a perceptual process in which young children map words onto salient objects. One way of unifying these accounts is to model word learning as weighted cue combination, in which children attend to many potential cues to reference, but only gradually learn the correct weight to assign each cue. We tested four predictions of this kind of naïve cue combination account, using an eye-tracking paradigm that combines social word teaching and two-alternative forced-choice testing. None of the predictions were supported. We thus propose an alternative unifying account: children are sensitive to social information early, but their ability to gather and deploy this information is constrained by domain-general cognitive processes. Developmental changes in children's use of social cues emerge not from learning the predictive power of social cues, but from the gradual development of attention, memory, and speed of information processing. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Beyond Naïve Cue Combination: Salience and Social Cues in Early Word Learning

PubMed Central

Yurovsky, Daniel

2015-01-01

Children learn their earliest words through social interaction, but it is unknown how much they rely on social information. Some theories argue that word learning is fundamentally social from its outset, with even the youngest infants understanding intentions and using them to infer a social partner’s target of reference. In contrast, other theories argue that early word learning is largely a perceptual process in which young children map words onto salient objects. One way of unifying these accounts is to model word learning as weighted cue-combination, in which children attend to many potential cues to reference, but only gradually learn the correct weight to assign each cue. We tested four predictions of this kind of naïve cue-combination account, using an eye-tracking paradigm that combines social word-teaching and two-alternative forced-choice testing. None of the predictions were supported. We thus propose an alternative unifying account: children are sensitive to social information early, but their ability to gather and deploy this information is constrained by domain-general cognitive processes. Developmental changes in children’s use of social cues emerge not from learning the predictive power of social cues, but from the gradual development of attention, memory, and speed of information processing. PMID:26575408

Stimulus-driven attentional capture by subliminal onset cues.

PubMed

Schoeberl, Tobias; Fuchs, Isabella; Theeuwes, Jan; Ansorge, Ulrich

2015-04-01

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 cue condition) or on the opposite side of the target (the invalid cue condition). Because the onset cue was presented 16 ms before other placeholders were presented, the cue was subliminal to the participant. To ensure that this subliminal cue captured attention in a stimulus-driven way, the cue's features did not match the top-down attentional control settings of the participants: (1) The color of the cue was always different than the color of the non-singleton targets ensuring that a top-down set for a specific color or for a singleton would not match the cue, and (2) colored targets and distractors had the same objective luminance (measured by the colorimeter) and subjective lightness (measured by flicker photometry), preventing a match between the top-down set for target and cue contrast. Even though a match between the cues and top-down settings was prevented, in both experiments, the cues captured attention, with faster response times in valid than invalid cue conditions (Experiments 1 and 2) and faster response times in valid than the neutral conditions (Experiment 2). The results support the conclusion that subliminal cues capture attention in a stimulus-driven way.

Octopamine connects nutrient cues to lipid metabolism upon nutrient deprivation.

PubMed

Tao, Jun; Ma, Yi-Cheng; Yang, Zhong-Shan; Zou, Cheng-Gang; Zhang, Ke-Qin

2016-05-01

Starvation is probably the most common stressful situation in nature. In vertebrates, elevation of the biogenic amine norepinephrine levels is common during starvation. However, the precise role of norepinephrine in nutrient deprivation remains largely unknown. We report that in the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, up-regulation of the biosynthesis of octopamine, the invertebrate counterpart of norepinephrine, serves as a mechanism to adapt to starvation. During nutrient deprivation, the nuclear receptor DAF-12, known to sense nutritional cues, up-regulates the expression of tbh-1 that encodes tyramine β-hydroxylase, a key enzyme for octopamine biosynthesis, in the RIC neurons. Octopamine induces the expression of the lipase gene lips-6 via its receptor SER-3 in the intestine. LIPS-6, in turn, elicits lipid mobilization. Our findings reveal that octopamine acts as an endocrine regulator linking nutrient cues to lipolysis to maintain energy homeostasis, and suggest that such a mechanism may be evolutionally conserved in diverse organisms.

Octopamine connects nutrient cues to lipid metabolism upon nutrient deprivation

PubMed Central

Tao, Jun; Ma, Yi-Cheng; Yang, Zhong-Shan; Zou, Cheng-Gang; Zhang, Ke-Qin

2016-01-01

Starvation is probably the most common stressful situation in nature. In vertebrates, elevation of the biogenic amine norepinephrine levels is common during starvation. However, the precise role of norepinephrine in nutrient deprivation remains largely unknown. We report that in the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, up-regulation of the biosynthesis of octopamine, the invertebrate counterpart of norepinephrine, serves as a mechanism to adapt to starvation. During nutrient deprivation, the nuclear receptor DAF-12, known to sense nutritional cues, up-regulates the expression of tbh-1 that encodes tyramine β-hydroxylase, a key enzyme for octopamine biosynthesis, in the RIC neurons. Octopamine induces the expression of the lipase gene lips-6 via its receptor SER-3 in the intestine. LIPS-6, in turn, elicits lipid mobilization. Our findings reveal that octopamine acts as an endocrine regulator linking nutrient cues to lipolysis to maintain energy homeostasis, and suggest that such a mechanism may be evolutionally conserved in diverse organisms. PMID:27386520

The language used in describing autobiographical memories prompted by life period visually presented verbal cues, event-specific visually presented verbal cues and short musical clips of popular music.

PubMed

Zator, Krysten; Katz, Albert N

2017-07-01

Here, we examined linguistic differences in the reports of memories produced by three cueing methods. Two groups of young adults were cued visually either by words representing events or popular cultural phenomena that took place when they were 5, 10, or 16 years of age, or by words referencing a general lifetime period word cue directing them to that period in their life. A third group heard 30-second long musical clips of songs popular during the same three time periods. In each condition, participants typed a specific event memory evoked by the cue and these typed memories were subjected to analysis by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program. Differences in the reports produced indicated that listening to music evoked memories embodied in motor-perceptual systems more so than memories evoked by our word-cueing conditions. Additionally, relative to music cues, lifetime period word cues produced memories with reliably more uses of personal pronouns, past tense terms, and negative emotions. The findings provide evidence for the embodiment of autobiographical memories, and how those differ when the cues emphasise different aspects of the encoded events.

Perception-based synthetic cueing for night vision device rotorcraft hover operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachelder, Edward N.; McRuer, Duane

2002-08-01

Helicopter flight using night-vision devices (NVDs) is difficult to perform, as evidenced by the high accident rate associated with NVD flight compared to day operation. The approach proposed in this paper is to augment the NVD image with synthetic cueing, whereby the cues would emulate position and motion and appear to be actually occurring in physical space on which they are overlaid. Synthetic cues allow for selective enhancement of perceptual state gains to match the task requirements. A hover cue set was developed based on an analogue of a physical target used in a flight handling qualities tracking task, a perceptual task analysis for hover, and fundamentals of human spatial perception. The display was implemented on a simulation environment, constructed using a virtual reality device, an ultrasound head-tracker, and a fixed-base helicopter simulator. Seven highly trained helicopter pilots were used as experimental subjects and tasked to maintain hover in the presence of aircraft positional disturbances while viewing a synthesized NVD environment and the experimental hover cues. Significant performance improvements were observed when using synthetic cue augmentation. This paper demonstrates that artificial magnification of perceptual states through synthetic cueing can be an effective method of improving night-vision helicopter hover operations.

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

PubMed Central

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

2016-01-01

Rationale 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. Objectives 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. Methods 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. Results 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

Wavelet methods in multi-conjugate adaptive optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helin, T.; Yudytskiy, M.

2013-08-01

The next generation ground-based telescopes rely heavily on adaptive optics for overcoming the limitation of atmospheric turbulence. In the future adaptive optics modalities, like multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO), atmospheric tomography is the major mathematical and computational challenge. In this severely ill-posed problem, a fast and stable reconstruction algorithm is needed that can take into account many real-life phenomena of telescope imaging. We introduce a novel reconstruction method for the atmospheric tomography problem and demonstrate its performance and flexibility in the context of MCAO. Our method is based on using locality properties of compactly supported wavelets, both in the spatial and frequency domains. The reconstruction in the atmospheric tomography problem is obtained by solving the Bayesian MAP estimator with a conjugate-gradient-based algorithm. An accelerated algorithm with preconditioning is also introduced. Numerical performance is demonstrated on the official end-to-end simulation tool OCTOPUS of European Southern Observatory.

Optimal assessment of multiple cues.

PubMed Central

Fawcett, Tim W; Johnstone, Rufus A

2003-01-01

In a wide range of contexts from mate choice to foraging, animals are required to discriminate between alternative options on the basis of multiple cues. How should they best assess such complex multicomponent stimuli? Here, we construct a model to investigate this problem, focusing on a simple case where a 'chooser' faces a discrimination task involving two cues. These cues vary in their accuracy and in how costly they are to assess. As an example, we consider a mate-choice situation where females choose between males of differing quality. Our model predicts the following: (i) females should become less choosy as the cost of finding new males increases; (ii) females should prioritize cues differently depending on how choosy they are; (iii) females may sometimes prioritize less accurate cues; and (iv) which cues are most important depends on the abundance of desirable mates. These predictions are testable in mate-choice experiments where the costs of choice can be manipulated. Our findings are applicable to other discrimination tasks besides mate choice, for example a predator's choice between palatable and unpalatable prey, or an altruist's choice between kin and non-kin. PMID:12908986

Solution-adaptive finite element method in computational fracture mechanics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Min, J. B.; Bass, J. M.; Spradley, L. W.

1993-01-01

Some recent results obtained using solution-adaptive finite element method in linear elastic two-dimensional fracture mechanics problems are presented. The focus is on the basic issue of adaptive finite element method for validating the applications of new methodology to fracture mechanics problems by computing demonstration problems and comparing the stress intensity factors to analytical results.

Compound cueing in free recall

PubMed Central

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.

PubMed

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.

Cue-Induced Cigarette Cravings and Smoking Cessation: The Role of Expectancies

PubMed Central

Montgomery, Guy H.

2012-01-01

Introduction: Cue-induced cigarette cravings have been oft studied as potentially important predictors of smoking cessation outcomes. The literature on the relationship between cue-induced cravings and cessation, however, remains mixed. One possible explanation for the discrepant results in the literature may be the as-yet untested variability in expectancies of craving. Indeed, as with many interoceptive responses, cravings and their downstream consequences may be influenced by expectancies. To date, no study has examined the influence of expected cravings following smoking cue exposures on actual craving experiences and cessation outcomes. The objective of this study, therefore, was to test the possibility that smokers’ expected craving levels in response to smoking cues would be related to actual cravings following cue exposure and that expected cravings would be related to cessation outcomes. Methods: Nicotine-dependent adult smokers (n = 153) were exposed to sets of neutral and smoking cues and completed questionnaires assessing (a) prior to the exposures, the cigarette craving levels they expected to experience following the cue exposures and (b) following the exposures, their actual craving levels. Participants also reported the duration of their most recent quit attempt and their perceived future quit difficulty. Results: Findings indicated that expected cravings assessed prior to the cue exposures were significantly related to actual cravings following the exposures. In addition, both expected cravings and actual cravings were related to shorter previous quit duration and higher perceived quit difficulty. Conclusions: Study results highlight the importance of considering both expected and actual cravings in cue-induced craving paradigms. PMID:22218404

Stop identity cue as a cue to language identity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castonguay, Paula Lisa

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether language membership could potentially be cued by the acoustic-phonetic detail of word-initial stops and retained all the way through the process of lexical access to aid in language identification. Of particular interest were language-specific differences in CE and CF word-initial stops. Experiment 1 consisted of an interlingual homophone production task. The purpose of this study was to examine how word-initial stop consonants differ in terms of acoustic properties in Canadian English (CE) and Canadian French (CF) interlingual homophones. The analyses from the bilingual speakers in Experiment 1 indicate that bilinguals do produce language-specific differences in CE and CF word-initial stops, and that closure duration, voice onset time, and burst spectral SD may provide cues to language identity in CE and CF stops. Experiment 2 consisted of a Phoneme and Language Categorization task. The purpose of this study was to examine how stop identity cues, such as VOT and closure duration, influence a listener to identify word-initial stop consonants as belonging to Canadian English (CE) or Canadian French (CF). The RTs from the bilingual listeners in this study indicate that bilinguals do perceive language-specific differences in CE and CF word-initial stops, and that voice onset time may provide cues to phoneme and language membership in CE and CF stops. Experiment 3 consisted of a Phonological-Semantic priming task. The purpose of this study was to examine how subphonetic variations, such as changes in the VOT, affect lexical access. The results of Experiment 3 suggest that language-specific cues, such as VOT, affects the composition of the bilingual cohort and that the extent to which English and/or French words are activated is dependent on the language-specific cues present in a word. The findings of this study enhanced our theoretical understanding of lexical structure and lexical access in bilingual speakers

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

PubMed

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.

Juvenile exposure to predator cues induces a larger egg size in fish

PubMed Central

Segers, Francisca H. I. D.; Taborsky, Barbara

2012-01-01

When females anticipate a hazardous environment for their offspring, they can increase offspring survival by producing larger young. Early environmental experience determines egg size in different animal taxa. We predicted that a higher perceived predation risk by juveniles would cause an increase in the sizes of eggs that they produce as adults. To test this, we exposed juveniles of the mouthbrooding cichlid Eretmodus cyanostictus in a split-brood experiment either to cues of a natural predator or to a control situation. After maturation, females that had been confronted with predators produced heavier eggs, whereas clutch size itself was not affected by the treatment. This effect cannot be explained by a differential female body size because the predator treatment did not influence growth trajectories. The observed increase of egg mass is likely to be adaptive, as heavier eggs gave rise to larger young and in fish, juvenile predation risk drops sharply with increasing body size. This study provides the first evidence that predator cues perceived by females early in life positively affect egg mass, suggesting that these cues allow her to predict the predation risk for her offspring. PMID:21976689

Adaptive Set-Based Methods for Association Testing

PubMed Central

Su, Yu-Chen; Gauderman, W. James; Kiros, Berhane; Lewinger, Juan Pablo

2017-01-01

With a typical sample size of a few thousand subjects, a single genomewide association study (GWAS) using traditional one-SNP-at-a-time methods can only detect genetic variants conferring a sizable effect on disease risk. Set-based methods, which analyze sets of SNPs jointly, can detect variants with smaller effects acting within a gene, a pathway, or other biologically relevant sets. While self-contained set-based methods (those that test sets of variants without regard to variants not in the set) are generally more powerful than competitive set-based approaches (those that rely on comparison of variants in the set of interest with variants not in the set), there is no consensus as to which self-contained methods are best. In particular, several self-contained set tests have been proposed to directly or indirectly ‘adapt’ to the a priori unknown proportion and distribution of effects of the truly associated SNPs in the set, which is a major determinant of their power. A popular adaptive set-based test is the adaptive rank truncated product (ARTP), which seeks the set of SNPs that yields the best-combined evidence of association. We compared the standard ARTP, several ARTP variations we introduced, and other adaptive methods in a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate their performance. We used permutations to assess significance for all the methods and thus provide a level playing field for comparison. We found the standard ARTP test to have the highest power across our simulations followed closely by the global model of random effects (GMRE) and a LASSO based test. PMID:26707371

Exogenous attentional capture by subliminal abrupt-onset cues: evidence from contrast-polarity independent cueing effects.

PubMed

Fuchs, Isabella; Theeuwes, Jan; Ansorge, Ulrich

2013-08-01

In the present study, we tested whether subliminal abrupt-onset cues capture attention in a bottom-up or top-down controlled manner. For our tests, we varied the searched-for target-contrast polarity (i.e., dark or light targets against a gray background) over four experiments. In line with the bottom-up hypothesis, our results indicate that subliminal-onset cues capture attention independently of the searched-for target-contrast polarity (Experiment 1), and this effect is not stronger for targets that matched the searched-for target-contrast polarity (Experiment 2). In fact, even to-be-ignored cues associated with a no-go response captured attention in a salience-driven way (Experiment 3). For supraliminal cues, we found attentional capture only by cues with a matching contrast polarity, reflecting contingent capture (Experiment 4). The results point toward a specific role of subliminal abrupt onsets for attentional capture. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Effects of Extinction Context and Retrieval Cues on Renewal of Alcohol-Cue Reactivity Among Alcohol-Dependent Outpatients

PubMed Central

Stasiewicz, Paul R.; Brandon, Thomas H.; Bradizza, Clara M.

2013-01-01

Pavlovian conditioning models have led to cue-exposure treatments for drug abuse. However, conditioned responding to drug stimuli can return (be renewed) following treatment. Animal research and a previous study of social drinkers indicated that extinction is highly context dependent but that renewal could be reduced by the inclusion of a cue from the extinction context. This study extends this research to a clinical sample. Alcohol-dependent outpatients (N = 143) completed an extinction trial to reduce craving and salivation responses to alcohol cues. They were then randomized to renewal tests in either the same context as extinction, a different context, the different context containing an extinction cue, or the different context with cue plus a manipulation to increase the salience of the cue. Contrary to predictions, the different context did not produce the expected renewal effect. Although the generalization of extinction effects beyond the cue-exposure context is a positive clinical finding, it is inconsistent with basic research findings on the context dependence of extinction. Possible explanations for this inconsistency are discussed. PMID:17563145

Effects of extinction context and retrieval cues on renewal of alcohol-cue reactivity among alcohol-dependent outpatients.

PubMed

Stasiewicz, Paul R; Brandon, Thomas H; Bradizza, Clara M

2007-06-01

Pavlovian conditioning models have led to cue-exposure treatments for drug abuse. However, conditioned responding to drug stimuli can return (be renewed) following treatment. Animal research and a previous study of social drinkers indicated that extinction is highly context dependent but that renewal could be reduced by the inclusion of a cue from the extinction context. This study extends this research to a clinical sample. Alcohol-dependent outpatients (N = 143) completed an extinction trial to reduce craving and salivation responses to alcohol cues. They were then randomized to renewal tests in either the same context as extinction, a different context, the different context containing an extinction cue, or the different context with cue plus a manipulation to increase the salience of the cue. Contrary to predictions, the different context did not produce the expected renewal effect. Although the generalization of extinction effects beyond the cue-exposure context is a positive clinical finding, it is inconsistent with basic research findings on the context dependence of extinction. Possible explanations for this inconsistency are discussed.

Why won't they sit with me? An exploratory investigation of stereotyped cues, social exclusion, and the P3b.

PubMed

Kiat, John E; Straley, Elizabeth; Cheadle, Jacob E

2017-10-01

The importance of understanding how we anticipate and prepare for being socially excluded is underscored by the numerous adverse mental and physical consequences of social rejection. In this study, we adapted a social exclusion paradigm, the Lunchroom task, to investigate the use of social context cues in the formation of social outcome expectations as indexed by the P3b, an ERP component associated with attention orientation and context updating. In this task, Black and White participants were presented with either neutral or stereotyped cues prior to being exposed to simulated inclusion versus exclusion outcome scenarios. Black participants showed evidence of (1) a significantly reduced P3b response to exclusions preceded by stereotyped cues relative to neutral cue-related exclusions and (2) a marginally significant increase in the P3b response to inclusions relative to exclusions when both were preceded by stereotyped cues. Both of these findings suggest a key role for the use of social cues in the formation of outcome expectations. In line with our hypothesis that the random intermixing of inclusion and exclusion outcomes would prevent formation of outcome expectations when coupled with the absence of self-relevant cues, no overall P3b modulations were observed among a comparison group of White participants.

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

PubMed

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.

Integration of multiple cues allows threat-sensitive anti-intraguild predator responses in predatory mites

PubMed Central

Walzer, Andreas; Schausberger, Peter

2013-01-01

Intraguild (IG) prey is commonly confronted with multiple IG predator species. However, the IG predation (IGP) risk for prey is not only dependent on the predator species, but also on inherent (intraspecific) characteristics of a given IG predator such as its life-stage, sex or gravidity and the associated prey needs. Thus, IG prey should have evolved the ability to integrate multiple IG predator cues, which should allow both inter- and intraspecific threat-sensitive anti-predator responses. Using a guild of plant-inhabiting predatory mites sharing spider mites as prey, we evaluated the effects of single and combined cues (eggs and/or chemical traces left by a predator female on the substrate) of the low risk IG predator Neoseiulus californicus and the high risk IG predator Amblyseius andersoni on time, distance and path shape parameters of the larval IG prey Phytoseiulus persimilis. IG prey discriminated between traces of the low and high risk IG predator, with and without additional presence of their eggs, indicating interspecific threat-sensitivity. The behavioural changes were manifest in distance moved, activity and path shape of IG prey. The cue combination of traces and eggs of the IG predators conveyed other information than each cue alone, allowing intraspecific threat-sensitive responses by IG prey apparent in changed velocities and distances moved. We argue that graded responses to single and combined IG predator cues are adaptive due to minimization of acceptance errors in IG prey decision making. PMID:23750040

Do different salience cues compete for dominance in memory over a daytime nap?

PubMed

Alger, Sara E; Chen, Shirley; Payne, Jessica D

2018-06-12

Information that is the most salient and important for future use is preferentially preserved through active processing during sleep. Emotional salience is a biologically adaptive cue that influences episodic memory processing through interactions between amygdalar and hippocampal activity. However, other cues that influence the importance of information, such as the explicit direction to remember or forget, interact with the inherent salience of information to determine its fate in memory. It is unknown how sleep-based processes selectively consolidate this complex information. The current study examined the development of memory for emotional and neutral information that was either cued to-be-remembered (TBR) or to-be-forgotten (TBF) across a daytime period including either napping or wakefulness. Baseline memory revealed dominance of the TBR cue, regardless of emotional salience. As anticipated, napping was found to preserve memory overall significantly better than remaining awake. Furthermore, we observed a trending interaction indicating that napping specifically enhanced the discrimination between the most salient information (negative TBR items) over other information. We found that memory for negative items was positively associated with the percentage of SWS obtained during a nap. Furthermore, the magnitude of the difference in memory between negative TBR items and negative TBF items increased with greater sleep spindle activity. Taken together, our results suggest that although the cue to actively remember or intentionally forget initially wins out, active processes during sleep facilitate the competition between salience cues to promote the most salient information in memory. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Systematic Cue Exposure Through Virtual Reality on Cigarette Craving

PubMed Central

Pericot-Valverde, Irene; Secades-Villa, Roberto; Gutiérrez-Maldonado, José

2014-01-01

Introduction: Cigarette cravings have been associated with less successful attempts to quit smoking and a greater likelihood of relapse after smoking cessation. Background craving refers to a relatively steady and continuous experience of craving, while cue-induced craving refers to phases of intense craving triggered by cues associated with smoking. Cue exposure treatment (CET) involves repeated exposure to stimuli associated with substance use in order to reduce craving responses. However, mixed results have been found regarding the effect of CET on both types of craving. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of systematic virtual reality cue exposure treatment (VR-CET) on background and cue-induced cravings. Methods: Participants were 48 treatment-seeking smokers. The VR-CET consisted of prolonged exposure sessions to several interactive virtual environments. The VR-CET was applied once a week over 5 weeks. An individualized hierarchy of exposure was drawn up for each patient starting from the easiest virtual environment. Background and cue-induced cravings were recorded in each session. Results: Cue-induced craving decreased over each session as a result of prolonged exposure. VR-CET also reduced cue-induced and background cravings across the 5 sessions, showing a cumulative effect across the exposure sessions. Conclusions: Our results evidenced the utility of VR-CET in reducing both types of cigarette craving. A combination of CET through VR with psychological treatments may improve current treatments for smoking cessation. PMID:24962558

Cultural adaptation and translation of measures: an integrated method.

PubMed

Sidani, Souraya; Guruge, Sepali; Miranda, Joyal; Ford-Gilboe, Marilyn; Varcoe, Colleen

2010-04-01

Differences in the conceptualization and operationalization of health-related concepts may exist across cultures. Such differences underscore the importance of examining conceptual equivalence when adapting and translating instruments. In this article, we describe an integrated method for exploring conceptual equivalence within the process of adapting and translating measures. The integrated method involves five phases including selection of instruments for cultural adaptation and translation; assessment of conceptual equivalence, leading to the generation of a set of items deemed to be culturally and linguistically appropriate to assess the concept of interest in the target community; forward translation; back translation (optional); and pre-testing of the set of items. Strengths and limitations of the proposed integrated method are discussed. (c) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Magnitude and duration of cue-induced craving for marijuana in volunteers with cannabis use disorder

PubMed Central

Lundahl, Leslie H.; Greenwald, Mark K.

2016-01-01

Aims Evaluate magnitude and duration of subjective and physiologic responses to neutral and marijuana (MJ)–related cues in cannabis dependent volunteers. Methods 33 volunteers (17 male) who met DSM-IV criteria for Cannabis Abuse or Dependence were exposed to neutral (first) then MJ-related visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile cues. Mood, drug craving and physiology were assessed at baseline, post-neutral, post-MJ and 15-min post MJ cue exposure to determine magnitude of cue- responses. For a subset of participants (n=15; 9 male), measures of craving and physiology were collected also at 30-, 90-, and 150-min post-MJ cue to examine duration of cue-effects. Results In cue-response magnitude analyses, visual analog scale (VAS) items craving for, urge to use, and desire to smoke MJ, Total and Compulsivity subscale scores of the Marijuana Craving Questionnaire, anxiety ratings, and diastolic blood pressure (BP) were significantly elevated following MJ vs. neutral cue exposure. In cue-response duration analyses, desire and urge to use MJ remained significantly elevated at 30-, 90- and 150-min post MJ-cue exposure, relative to baseline and neutral cues. Conclusions Presentation of polysensory MJ cues increased MJ craving, anxiety and diastolic BP relative to baseline and neutral cues. MJ craving remained elevated up to 150-min after MJ cue presentation. This finding confirms that carry-over effects from drug cue presentation must be considered in cue reactivity studies. PMID:27436749

Perceptual adaptation of voice gender discrimination with spectrally shifted vowels.

PubMed

Li, Tianhao; Fu, Qian-Jie

2011-08-01

To determine whether perceptual adaptation improves voice gender discrimination of spectrally shifted vowels and, if so, which acoustic cues contribute to the improvement. Voice gender discrimination was measured for 10 normal-hearing subjects, during 5 days of adaptation to spectrally shifted vowels, produced by processing the speech of 5 male and 5 female talkers with 16-channel sine-wave vocoders. The subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups; one subjected to 50-Hz, and the other to 200-Hz, temporal envelope cutoff frequencies. No preview or feedback was provided. There was significant adaptation in voice gender discrimination with the 200-Hz cutoff frequency, but significant improvement was observed only for 3 female talkers with F(0) > 180 Hz and 3 male talkers with F(0) < 170 Hz. There was no significant adaptation with the 50-Hz cutoff frequency. Temporal envelope cues are important for voice gender discrimination under spectral shift conditions with perceptual adaptation, but spectral shift may limit the exclusive use of spectral information and/or the use of formant structure on voice gender discrimination. The results have implications for cochlear implant users and for understanding voice gender discrimination.

Counterbalancing in smoking cue research: a critical analysis.

PubMed

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.

Visual cues for data mining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogowitz, Bernice E.; Rabenhorst, David A.; Gerth, John A.; Kalin, Edward B.

1996-04-01

This paper describes a set of visual techniques, based on principles of human perception and cognition, which can help users analyze and develop intuitions about tabular data. Collections of tabular data are widely available, including, for example, multivariate time series data, customer satisfaction data, stock market performance data, multivariate profiles of companies and individuals, and scientific measurements. In our approach, we show how visual cues can help users perform a number of data mining tasks, including identifying correlations and interaction effects, finding clusters and understanding the semantics of cluster membership, identifying anomalies and outliers, and discovering multivariate relationships among variables. These cues are derived from psychological studies on perceptual organization, visual search, perceptual scaling, and color perception. These visual techniques are presented as a complement to the statistical and algorithmic methods more commonly associated with these tasks, and provide an interactive interface for the human analyst.

Relationships Between Vestibular Measures as Potential Predictors for Spaceflight Sensorimotor Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, T. K.; Peters, B.; Gadd, N. E.; De Dios, Y. E.; Wood, S.; Bloomberg, J. J.; Mulavara, A. P.

2016-01-01

Introduction: During space exploration missions astronauts are exposed to a series of novel sensorimotor environments, requiring sensorimotor adaptation. Until adaptation is complete, sensorimotor decrements occur, affecting critical tasks such as piloted landing or docking. Of particularly interest are locomotion tasks such as emergency vehicle egress or extra-vehicular activity. While nearly all astronauts eventually adapt sufficiently, it appears there are substantial individual differences in how quickly and effectively this adaptation occurs. These individual differences in capacity for sensorimotor adaptation are poorly understood. Broadly, we aim to identify measures that may serve as pre-flight predictors of and individual's adaptation capacity to spaceflight-induced sensorimotor changes. As a first step, since spaceflight is thought to involve a reinterpretation of graviceptor cues (e.g. otolith cues from the vestibular system) we investigate the relationships between various measures of vestibular function in humans. Methods: In a set of 15 ground-based control subjects, we quantified individual differences in vestibular function using three measures: 1) ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP), 2) computerized dynamic posturography and 3) vestibular perceptual thresholds. oVEMP responses are elicited using a mechanical stimuli approach. Computerized dynamic posturography was used to quantify Sensory Organization Tests (SOTs), including SOT5M which involved performing pitching head movements while balancing on a sway-reference support surface with eyes closed. We implemented a vestibular perceptual threshold task using the tilt capabilities of the Tilt-Translation Sled (TTS) at JSC. On each trial, the subject was passively roll-tilted left ear down or right ear down in the dark and verbally provided a forced-choice response regarding which direction they felt tilted. The motion profile was a single-cycle sinusoid of angular acceleration with a

Migratory-stage sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus stop responding to conspecific damage-released alarm cues after 4 h of continuous exposure in laboratory conditions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Imre, Istvan; Di Rocco, Richard T.; McClure, Haley; Johnson, Nicholas; Brown, Grant E.

2016-01-01

This study investigated the length of avoidance response of migratory-stage sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus exposed continuously to conspecific damage-released alarm cues for varying lengths of time in laboratory stream channels. Ten replicate groups of P. marinus, separated by sex, were exposed to either deionized water control or to P. marinus extract for 0, 2 or 4 h continuously. Petromyzon marinus maintained their avoidance response to the conspecific damage-released alarm cue after continuous exposure to the alarm cue for 0 and 2 h but not 4 h. Beyond being one of the first studies in regards to sensory–olfactory adaptation–acclimation of fishes to alarm cues of any kind, these results have important implications for use of conspecific alarm cues in P. marinus control. For example, continuous application of conspecific alarm cue during the day, when P. marinus are inactive and hiding, may result in sensory adaptation to the odour by nightfall when they migrate upstream.

Social categories shape the neural representation of emotion: evidence from a visual face adaptation task

PubMed Central

Otten, Marte; Banaji, Mahzarin R.

2012-01-01

A number of recent behavioral studies have shown that emotional expressions are differently perceived depending on the race of a face, and that perception of race cues is influenced by emotional expressions. However, neural processes related to the perception of invariant cues that indicate the identity of a face (such as race) are often described to proceed independently of processes related to the perception of cues that can vary over time (such as emotion). Using a visual face adaptation paradigm, we tested whether these behavioral interactions between emotion and race also reflect interdependent neural representation of emotion and race. We compared visual emotion aftereffects when the adapting face and ambiguous test face differed in race or not. Emotion aftereffects were much smaller in different race (DR) trials than same race (SR) trials, indicating that the neural representation of a facial expression is significantly different depending on whether the emotional face is black or white. It thus seems that invariable cues such as race interact with variable face cues such as emotion not just at a response level, but also at the level of perception and neural representation. PMID:22403531

Psychological adaptations for assessing gossip veracity.

PubMed

Hess, Nicole H; Hagen, Edward H

2006-09-01

Evolutionary models of human cooperation are increasingly emphasizing the role of reputation and the requisite truthful "gossiping" about reputation-relevant behavior. If resources were allocated among individuals according to their reputations, competition for resources via competition for "good" reputations would have created incentives for exaggerated or deceptive gossip about oneself and one's competitors in ancestral societies. Correspondingly, humans should have psychological adaptations to assess gossip veracity. Using social psychological methods, we explored cues of gossip veracity in four experiments. We found that simple reiteration increased gossip veracity, but only for those who found the gossip relatively uninteresting. Multiple sources of gossip increased its veracity, as did the independence of those sources. Information that suggested alternative, benign interpretations of gossip decreased its veracity. Competition between a gossiper and her target decreased gossip veracity. These results provide preliminary evidence for psychological adaptations for assessing gossip veracity, mechanisms that might be used to assess veracity in other domains involving social exchange of information.

Application of Bounded Linear Stability Analysis Method for Metrics-Driven Adaptive Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bakhtiari-Nejad, Maryam; Nguyen, Nhan T.; Krishnakumar, Kalmanje

2009-01-01

This paper presents the application of Bounded Linear Stability Analysis (BLSA) method for metrics-driven adaptive control. The bounded linear stability analysis method is used for analyzing stability of adaptive control models, without linearizing the adaptive laws. Metrics-driven adaptive control introduces a notion that adaptation should be driven by some stability metrics to achieve robustness. By the application of bounded linear stability analysis method the adaptive gain is adjusted during the adaptation in order to meet certain phase margin requirements. Analysis of metrics-driven adaptive control is evaluated for a second order system that represents a pitch attitude control of a generic transport aircraft. The analysis shows that the system with the metrics-conforming variable adaptive gain becomes more robust to unmodeled dynamics or time delay. The effect of analysis time-window for BLSA is also evaluated in order to meet the stability margin criteria.

Impulsivity Moderates the Relationship between Previous Quit Failure and Cue-induced Craving

PubMed Central

Erblich, Joel; Michalowski, Alexandra

2015-01-01

Introduction Poor inhibitory control has been shown to be an important predictor of relapse to a number of drugs, including nicotine. Indeed, smokers who exhibit higher levels of impulsivity are thought to have impaired regulation of urges to smoke, and previous research has suggested that impulsivity may moderate cue-induced cigarette cravings. To that end, we conducted a study to evaluate the interplay between failed smoking cessation, cue-induced craving, and impulsivity. Methods Current smokers (n=151) rated their cigarette cravings before and after laboratory to exposure to smoking cues, and completed questionnaires assessing impulsivity and previous failed quit attempts. Results Findings indicated that shorter duration of previous failed quit attempts was related to higher cue-induced cigarette craving, especially among smokers with higher levels of impulsivity. Conclusions Results underscore the importance of considering trait impulsivity as a factor in better understanding the management of cue-induced cravings. PMID:26183443

Extinction and renewal of cue-elicited reward-seeking.

PubMed

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.

Moving and adaptive grid methods for compressible flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trepanier, Jean-Yves; Camarero, Ricardo

1995-01-01

This paper describes adaptive grid methods developed specifically for compressible flow computations. The basic flow solver is a finite-volume implementation of Roe's flux difference splitting scheme or arbitrarily moving unstructured triangular meshes. The grid adaptation is performed according to geometric and flow requirements. Some results are included to illustrate the potential of the methodology.

Adaptive Discontinuous Galerkin Methods in Multiwavelets Bases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Archibald, Richard K; Fann, George I; Shelton Jr, William Allison

2011-01-01

We use a multiwavelet basis with the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method to produce a multi-scale DG method. We apply this Multiwavelet DG method to convection and convection-diffusion problems in multiple dimensions. Merging the DG method with multiwavelets allows the adaptivity in the DG method to be resolved through manipulation of multiwavelet coefficients rather than grid manipulation. Additionally, the Multiwavelet DG method is tested on non-linear equations in one dimension and on the cubed sphere.

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

PubMed

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.

Comparing Anisotropic Output-Based Grid Adaptation Methods by Decomposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Michael A.; Loseille, Adrien; Krakos, Joshua A.; Michal, Todd

2015-01-01

Anisotropic grid adaptation is examined by decomposing the steps of flow solution, ad- joint solution, error estimation, metric construction, and simplex grid adaptation. Multiple implementations of each of these steps are evaluated by comparison to each other and expected analytic results when available. For example, grids are adapted to analytic metric fields and grid measures are computed to illustrate the properties of multiple independent implementations of grid adaptation mechanics. Different implementations of each step in the adaptation process can be evaluated in a system where the other components of the adaptive cycle are fixed. Detailed examination of these properties allows comparison of different methods to identify the current state of the art and where further development should be targeted.

Neural substrates of resisting craving during cigarette cue exposure.

PubMed

Brody, Arthur L; Mandelkern, Mark A; Olmstead, Richard E; Jou, Jennifer; Tiongson, Emmanuelle; Allen, Valerie; Scheibal, David; London, Edythe D; Monterosso, John R; Tiffany, Stephen T; Korb, Alex; Gan, Joanna J; Cohen, Mark S

2007-09-15

In cigarette smokers, the most commonly reported areas of brain activation during visual cigarette cue exposure are the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and visual cortices. We sought to determine changes in brain activity in response to cigarette cues when smokers actively resist craving. Forty-two tobacco-dependent smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, during which they were presented with videotaped cues. Three cue presentation conditions were tested: cigarette cues with subjects allowing themselves to crave (cigarette cue crave), cigarette cues with the instruction to resist craving (cigarette cue resist), and matched neutral cues. Activation was found in the cigarette cue resist (compared with the cigarette cue crave) condition in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and precuneus. Lower magnetic resonance signal for the cigarette cue resist condition was found in the cuneus bilaterally, left lateral occipital gyrus, and right postcentral gyrus. These relative activations and deactivations were more robust when the cigarette cue resist condition was compared with the neutral cue condition. Suppressing craving during cigarette cue exposure involves activation of limbic (and related) brain regions and deactivation of primary sensory and motor cortices.

Cue-Reactive Altered State of Consciousness Mediates the Relationship Between Problem-Gambling Severity and Cue-Reactive Urge in Poker-Machine Gamblers.

PubMed

Tricker, Christopher; Rock, Adam J; Clark, Gavin I

2016-06-01

In order to enhance our understanding of the nature of poker-machine problem-gambling, a community sample of 37 poker-machine gamblers (M age = 32 years, M PGSI = 5; PGSI = Problem Gambling Severity Index) were assessed for urge to gamble (responses on a visual analogue scale) and altered state of consciousness (assessed by the Altered State of Awareness dimension of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory) at baseline, after a neutral cue, and after a gambling cue. It was found that (a) problem-gambling severity (PGSI score) predicted increase in urge (from neutral cue to gambling cue, controlling for baseline; sr (2) = .19, p = .006) and increase in altered state of consciousness (from neutral cue to gambling cue, controlling for baseline; sr (2) = .57, p < .001), and (b) increase in altered state of consciousness (from neutral cue to gambling cue) mediated the relationship between problem-gambling severity and increase in urge (from neutral cue to gambling cue; κ(2) = .40, 99 % CI [.08, .71]). These findings suggest that cue-reactive altered state of consciousness is an important component of cue-reactive urge in poker-machine problem-gamblers.

Ion and lipid signaling in apical growth-a dynamic machinery responding to extracellular cues.

PubMed

Malhó, Rui; Serrazina, Susana; Saavedra, Laura; Dias, Fernando V; Ul-Rehman, Reiaz

2015-01-01

Apical cell growth seems to have independently evolved throughout the major lineages of life. To a certain extent, so does our body of knowledge on the mechanisms regulating this morphogenetic process. Studies on pollen tubes, root hairs, rhizoids, fungal hyphae, even nerve cells, have highlighted tissue and cell specificities but also common regulatory characteristics (e.g., ions, proteins, phospholipids) that our focused research sometimes failed to grasp. The working hypothesis to test how apical cell growth is established and maintained have thus been shaped by the model organism under study and the type of methods used to study them. The current picture is one of a dynamic and adaptative process, based on a spatial segregation of components that network to achieve growth and respond to environmental (extracellular) cues. Here, we explore some examples of our live imaging research, namely on cyclic nucleotide gated ion channels, lipid kinases and syntaxins involved in exocytosis. We discuss how their spatial distribution, activity and concentration suggest that the players regulating apical cell growth may display more mobility than previously thought. Furthermore, we speculate on the implications of such perspective in our understanding of the mechanisms regulating apical cell growth and their responses to extracellular cues.

In the presence of conflicting gaze cues, fearful expression and eye-size guide attention.

PubMed

Carlson, Joshua M; Aday, Jacob

2017-10-19

Humans are social beings that often interact in multi-individual environments. As such, we are frequently confronted with nonverbal social signals, including eye-gaze direction, from multiple individuals. Yet, the factors that allow for the prioritisation of certain gaze cues over others are poorly understood. Using a modified conflicting gaze paradigm, we tested the hypothesis that fearful gaze would be favoured amongst competing gaze cues. We further hypothesised that this effect is related to the increased sclera exposure, which is characteristic of fearful expressions. Across three experiments, we found that fearful, but not happy, gaze guides observers' attention over competing non-emotional gaze. The guidance of attention by fearful gaze appears to be linked to increased sclera exposure. However, differences in sclera exposure do not prioritise competing gazes of other types. Thus, fearful gaze guides attention among competing cues and this effect is facilitated by increased sclera exposure - but increased sclera exposure per se does not guide attention. The prioritisation of fearful gaze over non-emotional gaze likely represents an adaptive means of selectively attending to survival-relevant spatial locations.

Evidence against associative blocking as a cause of cue-independent retrieval-induced forgetting.

PubMed

Hulbert, Justin C; Shivde, Geeta; Anderson, Michael C

2012-01-01

Selectively retrieving an item from long-term memory reduces the accessibility of competing traces, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). RIF exhibits cue independence, or the tendency for forgetting to generalize to novel test cues, suggesting an inhibitory basis for this phenomenon. An alternative view (Camp, Pecher, & Schmidt, 2007; Camp et al., 2009; Perfect et al., 2004) suggests that using novel test cues to measure cue independence actually engenders associative interference when participants covertly supplement retrieval with practiced cues that then associatively block retrieval. Accordingly, the covert-cueing hypothesis assumes that the relative strength of the practiced items at final test – and not the inhibition levied on the unpracticed items during retrieval practice – underlies cue-independent forgetting. As such, this perspective predicts that strengthening practiced items by any means, even if not via retrieval practice, should induce forgetting. Contrary to these predictions, however, we present clear evidence that cue-independent forgetting is induced by retrieval practice and not by repeated study exposures. This dissociation occurred despite significant, comparable levels of strengthening of practiced items in each case, and despite the use of Anderson and Spellman's original (1995) independent probe method criticized by covert-cueing theorists as being especially conducive to associative blocking. These results demonstrate that cue-independent RIF is unrelated to the strengthening of practiced items, and thereby fail to support a key prediction of the covert-cueing hypothesis. The results, instead, favor a role of inhibition in resolving retrieval interference. © 2011 Hogrefe Publishing

Cue-Elicited Increases in Incentive Salience for Marijuana: Craving, Demand, and Attentional Bias

PubMed Central

Metrik, Jane; Aston, Elizabeth R.; Kahler, Christopher W.; Rohsenow, Damaris J.; McGeary, John E.; Knopik, Valerie S.; MacKillop, James

2016-01-01

Background Incentive salience is a multidimensional construct that includes craving, drug value relative to other reinforcers, and implicit motivation such as attentional bias to drug cues. Laboratory cue reactivity (CR) paradigms have been used to evaluate marijuana incentive salience with measures of craving, but not with behavioral economic measures of marijuana demand or implicit attentional processing tasks. Methods This within-subjects study used a new CR paradigm to examine multiple dimensions of marijuana’s incentive salience and to compare CR-induced increases in craving and demand. Frequent marijuana users (N=93, 34% female) underwent exposure to neutral cues then to lit marijuana cigarettes. Craving, marijuana demand via a marijuana purchase task, and heart rate were assessed after each cue set. A modified Stroop task with cannabis and control words was completed after the marijuana cues as a measure of attentional bias. Results Relative to neutral cues, marijuana cues significantly increased subjective craving and demand indices of intensity (i.e., drug consumed at $0) and Omax (i.e., peak drug expenditure). Elasticity significantly decreased following marijuana cues, reflecting sustained purchase despite price increases. Craving was correlated with demand indices (r’s: 0.23–0.30). Marijuana users displayed significant attentional bias for cannabis-related words after marijuana cues. Cue-elicited increases in intensity were associated with greater attentional bias for marijuana words. Conclusions Greater incentive salience indexed by subjective, behavioral economic, and implicit measures was observed after marijuana versus neutral cues, supporting multidimensional assessment. The study highlights the utility of a behavioral economic approach in detecting cue-elicited changes in marijuana incentive salience. PMID:27515723

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

PubMed

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.

Biologically-variable rhythmic auditory cues are superior to isochronous cues in fostering natural gait variability in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Dotov, D G; Bayard, S; Cochen de Cock, V; Geny, C; Driss, V; Garrigue, G; Bardy, B; Dalla Bella, S

2017-01-01

Rhythmic auditory cueing improves certain gait symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Cues are typically stimuli or beats with a fixed inter-beat interval. We show that isochronous cueing has an unwanted side-effect in that it exacerbates one of the motor symptoms characteristic of advanced PD. Whereas the parameters of the stride cycle of healthy walkers and early patients possess a persistent correlation in time, or long-range correlation (LRC), isochronous cueing renders stride-to-stride variability random. Random stride cycle variability is also associated with reduced gait stability and lack of flexibility. To investigate how to prevent patients from acquiring a random stride cycle pattern, we tested rhythmic cueing which mimics the properties of variability found in healthy gait (biological variability). PD patients (n=19) and age-matched healthy participants (n=19) walked with three rhythmic cueing stimuli: isochronous, with random variability, and with biological variability (LRC). Synchronization was not instructed. The persistent correlation in gait was preserved only with stimuli with biological variability, equally for patients and controls (p's<0.05). In contrast, cueing with isochronous or randomly varying inter-stimulus/beat intervals removed the LRC in the stride cycle. Notably, the individual's tendency to synchronize steps with beats determined the amount of negative effects of isochronous and random cues (p's<0.05) but not the positive effect of biological variability. Stimulus variability and patients' propensity to synchronize play a critical role in fostering healthier gait dynamics during cueing. The beneficial effects of biological variability provide useful guidelines for improving existing cueing treatments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Acoustic Cues to Perception of Word Stress by English, Mandarin, and Russian Speakers

PubMed Central

Chrabaszcz, Anna; Winn, Matthew; Lin, Candise Y.; Idsardi, William J.

2017-01-01

Purpose This study investigated how listeners’ native language affects their weighting of acoustic cues (such as vowel quality, pitch, duration, and intensity) in the perception of contrastive word stress. Method Native speakers (N = 45) of typologically diverse languages (English, Russian, and Mandarin) performed a stress identification task on nonce disyllabic words with fully crossed combinations of each of the 4 cues in both syllables. Results The results revealed that although the vowel quality cue was the strongest cue for all groups of listeners, pitch was the second strongest cue for the English and the Mandarin listeners but was virtually disregarded by the Russian listeners. Duration and intensity cues were used by the Russian listeners to a significantly greater extent compared with the English and Mandarin participants. Compared with when cues were noncontrastive across syllables, cues were stronger when they were in the iambic contour than when they were in the trochaic contour. Conclusions Although both English and Russian are stress languages and Mandarin is a tonal language, stress perception performance of the Mandarin listeners but not of the Russian listeners is more similar to that of the native English listeners, both in terms of weighting of the acoustic cues and the cues’ relative strength in different word positions. The findings suggest that tuning of second-language prosodic perceptions is not entirely predictable by prosodic similarities across languages. PMID:24686836

Investigation of the Multiple Method Adaptive Control (MMAC) method for flight control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Athans, M.; Baram, Y.; Castanon, D.; Dunn, K. P.; Green, C. S.; Lee, W. H.; Sandell, N. R., Jr.; Willsky, A. S.

1979-01-01

The stochastic adaptive control of the NASA F-8C digital-fly-by-wire aircraft using the multiple model adaptive control (MMAC) method is presented. The selection of the performance criteria for the lateral and the longitudinal dynamics, the design of the Kalman filters for different operating conditions, the identification algorithm associated with the MMAC method, the control system design, and simulation results obtained using the real time simulator of the F-8 aircraft at the NASA Langley Research Center are discussed.

Perceived association between diagnostic and non-diagnostic cues of women's sexual interest: General Recognition Theory predictors of risk for sexual coercion.

PubMed

Farris, Coreen; Viken, Richard J; Treat, Teresa A

2010-01-01

Young men's errors in sexual perception have been linked to sexual coercion. The current investigation sought to explicate the perceptual and decisional sources of these social perception errors, as well as their link to risk for sexual violence. General Recognition Theory (GRT; [Ashby, F. G., & Townsend, J. T. (1986). Varieties of perceptual independence. Psychological Review, 93, 154-179]) was used to estimate participants' ability to discriminate between affective cues and clothing style cues and to measure illusory correlations between men's perception of women's clothing style and sexual interest. High-risk men were less sensitive to the distinction between women's friendly and sexual interest cues relative to other men. In addition, they were more likely to perceive an illusory correlation between women's diagnostic sexual interest cues (e.g., facial affect) and non-diagnostic cues (e.g., provocative clothing), which increases the probability that high-risk men will misperceive friendly women as intending to communicate sexual interest. The results provide information about the degree of risk conferred by individual differences in perceptual processing of women's interest cues, and also illustrate how translational scientists might adapt GRT to examine research questions about individual differences in social perception.

Auditory emotional cues enhance visual perception.

PubMed

Zeelenberg, René; Bocanegra, Bruno R

2010-04-01

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 emotional cues as compared to neutral cues. When the cue was presented visually we replicated the emotion-induced impairment found in other studies. Our results suggest emotional stimuli have a twofold effect on perception. They impair perception by reflexively attracting attention at the expense of competing stimuli. However, emotional stimuli also induce a nonspecific perceptual enhancement that carries over onto other stimuli when competition is reduced, for example, by presenting stimuli in different modalities. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Eliciting nicotine craving with virtual smoking cues.

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed Central

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

Strategy selection in cue-based decision making.

PubMed

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.

Floral and vegetative cues in oil-secreting and non-oil-secreting Lysimachia species

PubMed Central

Schäffler, I.; Balao, F.; Dötterl, S.

2012-01-01

Background and Aims Unrelated plants pollinated by the same group or guild of animals typically evolve similar floral cues due to pollinator-mediated selection. Related plant species, however, may possess similar cues either as a result of pollinator-mediated selection or as a result of sharing a common ancestor that possessed the same cues or traits. In this study, visual and olfactory floral cues in Lysimachia species exhibiting different pollination strategies were analysed and compared, and the importance of pollinators and phylogeny on the evolution of these floral cues was determined. For comparison, cues of vegetative material were examined where pollinator selection would not be expected. Methods Floral and vegetative scents and colours in floral oil- and non-floral oil-secreting Lysimachia species were studied by chemical and spectrophotometric analyses, respectively, compared between oil- and non-oil-secreting species, and analysed by phylogenetically controlled methods. Key Results Vegetative and floral scent was species specific, and variability in floral but not vegetative scent was lower in oil compared with non-oil species. Overall, oil species did not differ in their floral or vegetative scent from non-oil species. However, a correlation was found between oil secretion and six floral scent constituents specific to oil species, whereas the presence of four other floral compounds can be explained by phylogeny. Four of the five analysed oil species had bee-green flowers and the pattern of occurrence of this colour correlated with oil secretion. Non-oil species had different floral colours. The colour of leaves was similar among all species studied. Conclusions Evidence was found for correlated evolution between secretion of floral oils and floral but not vegetative visual and olfactory cues. The cues correlating with oil secretion were probably selected by Macropis bees, the specialized pollinators of oil-secreting Lysimachia species, and may have

White matter integrity of central executive network correlates with enhanced brain reactivity to smoking cues.

PubMed

Bi, Yanzhi; Yuan, Kai; Yu, Dahua; Wang, Ruonan; Li, Min; Li, Yangding; Zhai, Jinquan; Lin, Wei; Tian, Jie

2017-12-01

The attentional bias to smoking cues contributes to smoking cue reactivity and cognitive declines underlines smoking behaviors, which were probably associated with the central executive network (CEN). However, little is known about the implication of the structural connectivity of the CEN in smoking cue reactivity and cognitive control impairments in smokers. In the present study, the white matter structural connectivity of the CEN was quantified in 35 smokers and 26 non-smokers using the diffusion tensor imaging and deterministic fiber tractography methods. Smoking cue reactivity was evaluated using cue exposure tasks, and cognitive control performance was assessed by the Stroop task. Relative to non-smokers, smokers showed increased fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the bilateral CEN fiber tracts. The FA values of left CEN positively correlated with the smoking cue-induced activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right middle occipital cortex in smokers. Meanwhile, the FA values of left CEN positively correlated with the incongruent errors during Stroop task in smokers. Collectively, the present study highlighted the role of the structural connectivity of the CEN in smoking cue reactivity and cognitive control performance, which may underpin the attentional bias to smoking cues and cognitive deficits in smokers. The multimodal imaging method by forging links from brain structure to brain function extended the notion that structural connections can modulate the brain activity in specific projection target regions. Hum Brain Mapp 38:6239-6249, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fast adaptive composite grid methods on distributed parallel architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lemke, Max; Quinlan, Daniel

1992-01-01

The fast adaptive composite (FAC) grid method is compared with the adaptive composite method (AFAC) under variety of conditions including vectorization and parallelization. Results are given for distributed memory multiprocessor architectures (SUPRENUM, Intel iPSC/2 and iPSC/860). It is shown that the good performance of AFAC and its superiority over FAC in a parallel environment is a property of the algorithm and not dependent on peculiarities of any machine.

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

PubMed

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.

Risk Assessment Heuristics: Cues and Intention to Use a Condom in Casual Sex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rinaldi-Miles, Anna; Quick, Brian L.; McCloskey, Laura

2017-01-01

Objective: This study examined the relationship between three heuristic cues (consistency, liking and social proof) and condom use in casual sex relationships utilising the theory of planned behaviour. Participants: Totally, 388 US college students were surveyed. Method: Three vignettes for each cue primed students to project their willingness to…

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

PubMed

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.

Cue-Reactive Rationality, Visual Imagery and Volitional Control Predict Cue-Reactive Urge to Gamble in Poker-Machine Gamblers.

PubMed

Clark, Gavin I; Rock, Adam J; McKeith, Charles F A; Coventry, William L

2017-09-01

Poker-machine gamblers have been demonstrated to report increases in the urge to gamble following exposure to salient gambling cues. However, the processes which contribute to this urge to gamble remain to be understood. The present study aimed to investigate whether changes in the conscious experience of visual imagery, rationality and volitional control (over one's thoughts, images and attention) predicted changes in the urge to gamble following exposure to a gambling cue. Thirty-one regular poker-machine gamblers who reported at least low levels of problem gambling on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), were recruited to complete an online cue-reactivity experiment. Participants completed the PGSI, the visual imagery, rationality and volitional control subscales of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), and a visual analogue scale (VAS) assessing urge to gamble. Participants completed the PCI subscales and VAS at baseline, following a neutral video cue and following a gambling video cue. Urge to gamble was found to significantly increase from neutral cue to gambling cue (while controlling for baseline urge) and this increase was predicted by PGSI score. After accounting for the effects of problem-gambling severity, cue-reactive visual imagery, rationality and volitional control significantly improved the prediction of cue-reactive urge to gamble. The small sample size and limited participant characteristic data restricts the generalizability of the findings. Nevertheless, this is the first study to demonstrate that changes in the subjective experience of visual imagery, volitional control and rationality predict changes in the urge to gamble from neutral to gambling cue. The results suggest that visual imagery, rationality and volitional control may play an important role in the experience of the urge to gamble in poker-machine gamblers.

Multiscale Cues Drive Collective Cell Migration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Adapting Aquatic Circuit Training for Special Populations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thome, Kathleen

1980-01-01

The author discusses how land activities can be adapted to water so that individuals with handicapping conditions can participate in circuit training activities. An initial section lists such organizational procedures as providing vocal and/or visual cues for activities, having assistants accompany the performers throughout the circuit, and…

Retro-dimension-cue benefit in visual working memory.

PubMed

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.

Adaptive Nodal Transport Methods for Reactor Transient Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomas Downar; E. Lewis

2005-08-31

Develop methods for adaptively treating the angular, spatial, and time dependence of the neutron flux in reactor transient analysis. These methods were demonstrated in the DOE transport nodal code VARIANT and the US NRC spatial kinetics code, PARCS.

Gaze cueing by pareidolia faces.

PubMed

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.

Gaze cueing by pareidolia faces

PubMed Central

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. PMID:25165505

Wavelet-based adaptive thresholding method for image segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zikuan; Tao, Yang; Chen, Xin; Griffis, Carl

2001-05-01

A nonuniform background distribution may cause a global thresholding method to fail to segment objects. One solution is using a local thresholding method that adapts to local surroundings. In this paper, we propose a novel local thresholding method for image segmentation, using multiscale threshold functions obtained by wavelet synthesis with weighted detail coefficients. In particular, the coarse-to- fine synthesis with attenuated detail coefficients produces a threshold function corresponding to a high-frequency- reduced signal. This wavelet-based local thresholding method adapts to both local size and local surroundings, and its implementation can take advantage of the fast wavelet algorithm. We applied this technique to physical contaminant detection for poultry meat inspection using x-ray imaging. Experiments showed that inclusion objects in deboned poultry could be extracted at multiple resolutions despite their irregular sizes and uneven backgrounds.

Innate control of adaptive immunity: Beyond the three-signal paradigm

PubMed Central

Jain, Aakanksha; Pasare, Chandrashekhar

2017-01-01

Activation of cells in the adaptive immune system is a highly orchestrated process dictated by multiples cues from the innate immune system. Although the fundamental principles of innate control of adaptive immunity are well established, it is not fully understood how innate cells integrate qualitative pathogenic information in order to generate tailored protective adaptive immune responses. In this review, we discuss complexities involved in the innate control of adaptive immunity that extend beyond T cell receptor engagement, co-stimulation and priming cytokine production but are critical for generation of protective T cell immunity. PMID:28483987

Adaptive coding of the value of social cues with oxytocin, an fMRI study in autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Andari, Elissar; Richard, Nathalie; Leboyer, Marion; Sirigu, Angela

2016-03-01

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is one of the major targets of research in neuroscience, with respect to social functioning. Oxytocin promotes social skills and improves the quality of face processing in individuals with social dysfunctions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although one of OT's key functions is to promote social behavior during dynamic social interactions, the neural correlates of this function remain unknown. Here, we combined acute intranasal OT (IN-OT) administration (24 IU) and fMRI with an interactive ball game and a face-matching task in individuals with ASD (N = 20). We found that IN-OT selectively enhanced the brain activity of early visual areas in response to faces as compared to non-social stimuli. OT inhalation modulated the BOLD activity of amygdala and hippocampus in a context-dependent manner. Interestingly, IN-OT intake enhanced the activity of mid-orbitofrontal cortex in response to a fair partner, and insula region in response to an unfair partner. These OT-induced neural responses were accompanied by behavioral improvements in terms of allocating appropriate feelings of trust toward different partners' profiles. Our findings suggest that OT impacts the brain activity of key areas implicated in attention and emotion regulation in an adaptive manner, based on the value of social cues. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The use of cue familiarity during retrieval failure is affected by past versus future orientation.

PubMed

Cleary, Anne M

2015-01-01

Cue familiarity that is brought on by cue resemblance to memory representations is useful for judging the likelihood of a past occurrence with an item that fails to actually be retrieved from memory. The present study examined the extent to which this type of resemblance-based cue familiarity is used in future-oriented judgments made during retrieval failure. Cue familiarity was manipulated using a previously-established method of creating differing degrees of feature overlap between the cue and studied items in memory, and the primary interest was in how these varying degrees of cue familiarity would influence future-oriented feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments given in instances of cued recall failure. The present results suggest that participants do use increases in resemblance-based cue familiarity to infer an increased likelihood of future recognition of an unretrieved target, but not to the extent that they use it to infer an increased likelihood of past experience with an unretrieved target. During retrieval failure, the increase in future-oriented FOK judgments with increasing cue familiarity was significantly less than the increase in past-oriented recognition judgments with increasing cue familiarity.

Preschoolers Benefit from Visually Salient Speech Cues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study explored visual speech influence in preschoolers using 3 developmentally appropriate tasks that vary in perceptual difficulty and task demands. They also examined developmental differences in the ability to use visually salient speech cues and visual phonological knowledge. Method: Twelve adults and 27 typically developing 3-…

Adaptive methods, rolling contact, and nonclassical friction laws

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oden, J. T.

1989-01-01

Results and methods on three different areas of contemporary research are outlined. These include adaptive methods, the rolling contact problem for finite deformation of a hyperelastic or viscoelastic cylinder, and non-classical friction laws for modeling dynamic friction phenomena.

Adaptation: paradigm for the gut and an academic career.

PubMed

Warner, Brad W

2013-01-01

Adaptation is an important compensatory response to environmental cues resulting in enhanced survival. In the gut, the abrupt loss of intestinal length is characterized by increased rates of enterocyte proliferation and apoptosis and culminates in adaptive villus and crypt growth. In the development of an academic pediatric surgical career, adaptation is also an important compensatory response to survive the ever changing research, clinical, and economic environment. The ability to adapt in both situations is critical for patients and a legacy of pediatric surgical contributions to advance our knowledge of multiple conditions and diseases. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Formative Method for Adapting Psychotherapy (FMAP): A community-based developmental approach to culturally adapting therapy

PubMed Central

Hwang, Wei-Chin

2010-01-01

How do we culturally adapt psychotherapy for ethnic minorities? Although there has been growing interest in doing so, few therapy adaptation frameworks have been developed. The majority of these frameworks take a top-down theoretical approach to adapting psychotherapy. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a community-based developmental approach to modifying psychotherapy for ethnic minorities. The Formative Method for Adapting Psychotherapy (FMAP) is a bottom-up approach that involves collaborating with consumers to generate and support ideas for therapy adaptation. It involves 5-phases that target developing, testing, and reformulating therapy modifications. These phases include: (a) generating knowledge and collaborating with stakeholders (b) integrating generated information with theory and empirical and clinical knowledge, (c) reviewing the initial culturally adapted clinical intervention with stakeholders and revising the culturally adapted intervention, (d) testing the culturally adapted intervention, and (e) finalizing the culturally adapted intervention. Application of the FMAP is illustrated using examples from a study adapting psychotherapy for Chinese Americans, but can also be readily applied to modify therapy for other ethnic groups. PMID:20625458

Perception of health from facial cues

PubMed Central

Henderson, Audrey J.; Holzleitner, Iris J.; Talamas, Sean N.

2016-01-01

Impressions of health are integral to social interactions, yet poorly understood. A review of the literature reveals multiple facial characteristics that potentially act as cues to health judgements. The cues vary in their stability across time: structural shape cues including symmetry and sexual dimorphism alter slowly across the lifespan and have been found to have weak links to actual health, but show inconsistent effects on perceived health. Facial adiposity changes over a medium time course and is associated with both perceived and actual health. Skin colour alters over a short time and has strong effects on perceived health, yet links to health outcomes have barely been evaluated. Reviewing suggested an additional influence of demeanour as a perceptual cue to health. We, therefore, investigated the association of health judgements with multiple facial cues measured objectively from two-dimensional and three-dimensional facial images. We found evidence for independent contributions of face shape and skin colour cues to perceived health. Our empirical findings: (i) reinforce the role of skin yellowness; (ii) demonstrate the utility of global face shape measures of adiposity; and (iii) emphasize the role of affect in facial images with nominally neutral expression in impressions of health. PMID:27069057

Cue reactivity in converted and native intermittent smokers.

PubMed

Shiffman, Saul; Dunbar, Michael S; Kirchner, Thomas R; Li, Xiaoxue; Tindle, Hilary A; Anderson, Stewart J; Scholl, Sarah M; Ferguson, Stuart G

2015-01-01

Nondaily, or intermittent smokers (ITS), who constitute a substantial fraction of U.S. smokers, are thought to smoke in response to cues. Previous cue reactivity research showed no difference between ITS and daily smokers in response to cues. This report examines whether "converted" ITS (CITS) with a history of past daily smoking differ from "native" ITS (NITS) in craving and smoking in response to cues. A total of 146 CITS (who previously smoked daily for at least 6 months) and 73 NITS participated. Participants were exposed to 5 active cues (smoking, alcohol, negative affect, positive affect, and smoking prohibitions) and a control neutral cue, in separate sessions. Changes in craving were assessed pre-post cue exposure. Smoking behavior (smoking [y/n], smoking latency, number of cigarettes, number of puffs, and increase in carbon monoxide [CO]) was observed. Analyses contrasted response to each active cue compared to the neutral cue and controlled for order effects and for time since last cigarette, which differed between groups. Regardless of cues, CITS reported higher craving and greater change in craving, were more likely to smoke, tended to progress faster to smoking, and showed greater increases in CO when they did smoke. NITS and CITS showed similar cue reactivity on most measures, though NITS took more puffs after viewing smoking cues (compared to neutral) than did CITS. Though CITS show some remnants of their history of daily smoking, CITS and NITS demonstrate similar cue reactivity, suggesting that they would not require different behavioral approaches to help them quit. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Stability and error estimation for Component Adaptive Grid methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliger, Joseph; Zhu, Xiaolei

1994-01-01

Component adaptive grid (CAG) methods for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDE's) are discussed in this paper. Applying recent stability results for a class of numerical methods on uniform grids. The convergence of these methods for linear problems on component adaptive grids is established here. Furthermore, the computational error can be estimated on CAG's using the stability results. Using these estimates, the error can be controlled on CAG's. Thus, the solution can be computed efficiently on CAG's within a given error tolerance. Computational results for time dependent linear problems in one and two space dimensions are presented.

Capillary Electrophoresis Sensitivity Enhancement Based on Adaptive Moving Average Method.

PubMed

Drevinskas, Tomas; Telksnys, Laimutis; Maruška, Audrius; Gorbatsova, Jelena; Kaljurand, Mihkel

2018-06-05

In the present work, we demonstrate a novel approach to improve the sensitivity of the "out of lab" portable capillary electrophoretic measurements. Nowadays, many signal enhancement methods are (i) underused (nonoptimal), (ii) overused (distorts the data), or (iii) inapplicable in field-portable instrumentation because of a lack of computational power. The described innovative migration velocity-adaptive moving average method uses an optimal averaging window size and can be easily implemented with a microcontroller. The contactless conductivity detection was used as a model for the development of a signal processing method and the demonstration of its impact on the sensitivity. The frequency characteristics of the recorded electropherograms and peaks were clarified. Higher electrophoretic mobility analytes exhibit higher-frequency peaks, whereas lower electrophoretic mobility analytes exhibit lower-frequency peaks. On the basis of the obtained data, a migration velocity-adaptive moving average algorithm was created, adapted, and programmed into capillary electrophoresis data-processing software. Employing the developed algorithm, each data point is processed depending on a certain migration time of the analyte. Because of the implemented migration velocity-adaptive moving average method, the signal-to-noise ratio improved up to 11 times for sampling frequency of 4.6 Hz and up to 22 times for sampling frequency of 25 Hz. This paper could potentially be used as a methodological guideline for the development of new smoothing algorithms that require adaptive conditions in capillary electrophoresis and other separation methods.

Nonspecific verbal cues alleviate forgetting by young children.

PubMed

Morgan, Kirstie; Hayne, Harlene

2007-11-01

Verbal reminders play a pervasive role in memory retrieval by human adults. In fact, relatively nonspecific verbal information (e.g. 'Remember the last time we ate at that restaurant?') will often cue vivid recollections of a past event even when presented outside the original encoding context. Although research has shown that memory retrieval by young children can be initiated by physical cues and by highly specific verbal cues, the effect of less specific verbal cues is not known. Using a Visual Recognition Memory (VRM) procedure, we examined the effect of nonspecific verbal cues on memory retrieval by 4-year-old children. Our findings showed that nonspecific verbal cues were as effective as highly specific nonverbal cues in facilitating memory retrieval after a 2-week delay. We conclude that, at least by 4 years of age, children are able to use nonspecific verbal reminders to cue memory retrieval, and that the VRM paradigm may be particularly valuable in examining the age at which this initially occurs.

Cues for Lexical Tone Perception in Children: Acoustic Correlates and Phonetic Context Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tong, Xiuli; McBride, Catherine; Burnham, Denis

2014-01-01

Purpose: The authors investigated the effects of acoustic cues (i.e., pitch height, pitch contour, and pitch onset and offset) and phonetic context cues (i.e., syllable onsets and rimes) on lexical tone perception in Cantonese-speaking children. Method: Eight minimum pairs of tonal contrasts were presented in either an identical phonetic context…

Three-dimensional self-adaptive grid method for complex flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Djomehri, M. Jahed; Deiwert, George S.

1988-01-01

A self-adaptive grid procedure for efficient computation of three-dimensional complex flow fields is described. The method is based on variational principles to minimize the energy of a spring system analogy which redistributes the grid points. Grid control parameters are determined by specifying maximum and minimum grid spacing. Multidirectional adaptation is achieved by splitting the procedure into a sequence of successive applications of a unidirectional adaptation. One-sided, two-directional constraints for orthogonality and smoothness are used to enhance the efficiency of the method. Feasibility of the scheme is demonstrated by application to a multinozzle, afterbody, plume flow field. Application of the algorithm for initial grid generation is illustrated by constructing a three-dimensional grid about a bump-like geometry.

Efficient Unstructured Grid Adaptation Methods for Sonic Boom Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Richard L.; Carter, Melissa B.; Deere, Karen A.; Waithe, Kenrick A.

2008-01-01

This paper examines the use of two grid adaptation methods to improve the accuracy of the near-to-mid field pressure signature prediction of supersonic aircraft computed using the USM3D unstructured grid flow solver. The first method (ADV) is an interactive adaptation process that uses grid movement rather than enrichment to more accurately resolve the expansion and compression waves. The second method (SSGRID) uses an a priori adaptation approach to stretch and shear the original unstructured grid to align the grid with the pressure waves and reduce the cell count required to achieve an accurate signature prediction at a given distance from the vehicle. Both methods initially create negative volume cells that are repaired in a module in the ADV code. While both approaches provide significant improvements in the near field signature (< 3 body lengths) relative to a baseline grid without increasing the number of grid points, only the SSGRID approach allows the details of the signature to be accurately computed at mid-field distances (3-10 body lengths) for direct use with mid-field-to-ground boom propagation codes.

Human sensitivity to differences in the rate of auditory cue change.

PubMed

Maloff, Erin S; Grantham, D Wesley; Ashmead, Daniel H

2013-05-01

Measurement of sensitivity to differences in the rate of change of auditory signal parameters is complicated by confounds among duration, extent, and velocity of the changing signal. Dooley and Moore [(1988) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 84(4), 1332-1337] proposed a method for measuring sensitivity to rate of change using a duration discrimination task. They reported improved duration discrimination when an additional intensity or frequency change cue was present. The current experiments were an attempt to use this method to measure sensitivity to the rate of change in intensity and spatial position. Experiment 1 investigated whether duration discrimination was enhanced when additional cues of rate of intensity change, rate of spatial position change, or both were provided. Experiment 2 determined whether participant listening experience or the testing environment influenced duration discrimination task performance. Experiment 3 assessed whether duration discrimination could be used to measure sensitivity to rates of changes in intensity and spatial position for stimuli with lower rates of change, as well as emphasizing the constancy of the velocity cue. Results of these experiments showed that duration discrimination was impaired rather than enhanced by the additional velocity cues. The findings are discussed in terms of the demands of listening to concurrent changes along multiple auditory dimensions.

Auditory rhythmic cueing in movement rehabilitation: findings and possible mechanisms

PubMed Central

Schaefer, Rebecca S.

2014-01-01

Moving to music is intuitive and spontaneous, and music is widely used to support movement, most commonly during exercise. Auditory cues are increasingly also used in the rehabilitation of disordered movement, by aligning actions to sounds such as a metronome or music. Here, the effect of rhythmic auditory cueing on movement is discussed and representative findings of cued movement rehabilitation are considered for several movement disorders, specifically post-stroke motor impairment, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. There are multiple explanations for the efficacy of cued movement practice. Potentially relevant, non-mutually exclusive mechanisms include the acceleration of learning; qualitatively different motor learning owing to an auditory context; effects of increased temporal skills through rhythmic practices and motivational aspects of musical rhythm. Further considerations of rehabilitation paradigm efficacy focus on specific movement disorders, intervention methods and complexity of the auditory cues. Although clinical interventions using rhythmic auditory cueing do not show consistently positive results, it is argued that internal mechanisms of temporal prediction and tracking are crucial, and further research may inform rehabilitation practice to increase intervention efficacy. PMID:25385780

Adaptation of mammalian host-pathogen interactions in a changing arctic environment

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Many arctic mammals are adapted to live year-round in extreme environments with low winter temperatures and great seasonal variations in key variables (e.g. sunlight, food, temperature, moisture). The interaction between hosts and pathogens in high northern latitudes is not very well understood with respect to intra-annual cycles (seasons). The annual cycles of interacting pathogen and host biology is regulated in part by highly synchronized temperature and photoperiod changes during seasonal transitions (e.g., freezeup and breakup). With a warming climate, only one of these key biological cues will undergo drastic changes, while the other will remain fixed. This uncoupling can theoretically have drastic consequences on host-pathogen interactions. These poorly understood cues together with a changing climate by itself will challenge host populations that are adapted to pathogens under the historic and current climate regime. We will review adaptations of both host and pathogens to the extreme conditions at high latitudes and explore some potential consequences of rapid changes in the Arctic. PMID:21392401

Adaptation of mammalian host-pathogen interactions in a changing arctic environment.

PubMed

Hueffer, Karsten; O'Hara, Todd M; Follmann, Erich H

2011-03-11

Many arctic mammals are adapted to live year-round in extreme environments with low winter temperatures and great seasonal variations in key variables (e.g. sunlight, food, temperature, moisture). The interaction between hosts and pathogens in high northern latitudes is not very well understood with respect to intra-annual cycles (seasons). The annual cycles of interacting pathogen and host biology is regulated in part by highly synchronized temperature and photoperiod changes during seasonal transitions (e.g., freezeup and breakup). With a warming climate, only one of these key biological cues will undergo drastic changes, while the other will remain fixed. This uncoupling can theoretically have drastic consequences on host-pathogen interactions. These poorly understood cues together with a changing climate by itself will challenge host populations that are adapted to pathogens under the historic and current climate regime. We will review adaptations of both host and pathogens to the extreme conditions at high latitudes and explore some potential consequences of rapid changes in the Arctic.

Preschoolers Benefit From Visually Salient Speech Cues

PubMed Central

Holt, Rachael Frush

2015-01-01

Purpose This study explored visual speech influence in preschoolers using 3 developmentally appropriate tasks that vary in perceptual difficulty and task demands. They also examined developmental differences in the ability to use visually salient speech cues and visual phonological knowledge. Method Twelve adults and 27 typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children completed 3 audiovisual (AV) speech integration tasks: matching, discrimination, and recognition. The authors compared AV benefit for visually salient and less visually salient speech discrimination contrasts and assessed the visual saliency of consonant confusions in auditory-only and AV word recognition. Results Four-year-olds and adults demonstrated visual influence on all measures. Three-year-olds demonstrated visual influence on speech discrimination and recognition measures. All groups demonstrated greater AV benefit for the visually salient discrimination contrasts. AV recognition benefit in 4-year-olds and adults depended on the visual saliency of speech sounds. Conclusions Preschoolers can demonstrate AV speech integration. Their AV benefit results from efficient use of visually salient speech cues. Four-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, used visual phonological knowledge to take advantage of visually salient speech cues, suggesting possible developmental differences in the mechanisms of AV benefit. PMID:25322336

Retro-dimension-cue benefit in visual working memory

PubMed Central

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 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. PMID:27774983

Adaptive Prior Variance Calibration in the Bayesian Continual Reassessment Method

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jin; Braun, Thomas M.; Taylor, Jeremy M.G.

2012-01-01

Use of the Continual Reassessment Method (CRM) and other model-based approaches to design in Phase I clinical trials has increased due to the ability of the CRM to identify the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) better than the 3+3 method. However, the CRM can be sensitive to the variance selected for the prior distribution of the model parameter, especially when a small number of patients are enrolled. While methods have emerged to adaptively select skeletons and to calibrate the prior variance only at the beginning of a trial, there has not been any approach developed to adaptively calibrate the prior variance throughout a trial. We propose three systematic approaches to adaptively calibrate the prior variance during a trial and compare them via simulation to methods proposed to calibrate the variance at the beginning of a trial. PMID:22987660

Alcohol cues impair learning inhibitory signals in beer drinkers

PubMed Central

Laude, Jennifer R.; Fillmore, Mark T.

2015-01-01

Background Models of drug addiction emphasize the reciprocal influence of incentive-motivational properties of drug-related cues and poor impulse control resulting in drug use. Recent studies have shown that alcohol-related cues can impair response inhibition. What is unknown is whether these cues also disrupt learning of inhibitory associations. Methods Participants performed a Conditioned Inhibition (CI) task and were required to learn that a neutral image was a conditioned inhibitor when presented in the context of either an alcohol image intended to draw their attention away from the to-be-trained inhibitor, or a control condition in which the alcohol image was absent. After training, subjects in each condition rated the likelihood that the neutral image would signal the outcome. Eye tracking was used to verify that attention to the neutral image was in fact reduced when the alcohol image was present. Results Compared with controls those trained in the alcohol image condition reported a greater likelihood that the presence of the inhibitor would be followed by the outcome and thus were less able to acquire CI. Measures of eye-tracking verified that attention to the alcohol cue was associated with this maladaptive behavior. Conclusions When alcohol cues are present, there is a reduced ability to learn that such information is irrelevant to an outcome, and this impairs ones’ ability to inhibit perseveration of a response. This has implications for persistence of a drinking episode. PMID:25872597

Free energy calculations: an efficient adaptive biasing potential method.

PubMed

Dickson, Bradley M; Legoll, Frédéric; Lelièvre, Tony; Stoltz, Gabriel; Fleurat-Lessard, Paul

2010-05-06

We develop an efficient sampling and free energy calculation technique within the adaptive biasing potential (ABP) framework. By mollifying the density of states we obtain an approximate free energy and an adaptive bias potential that is computed directly from the population along the coordinates of the free energy. Because of the mollifier, the bias potential is "nonlocal", and its gradient admits a simple analytic expression. A single observation of the reaction coordinate can thus be used to update the approximate free energy at every point within a neighborhood of the observation. This greatly reduces the equilibration time of the adaptive bias potential. This approximation introduces two parameters: strength of mollification and the zero of energy of the bias potential. While we observe that the approximate free energy is a very good estimate of the actual free energy for a large range of mollification strength, we demonstrate that the errors associated with the mollification may be removed via deconvolution. The zero of energy of the bias potential, which is easy to choose, influences the speed of convergence but not the limiting accuracy. This method is simple to apply to free energy or mean force computation in multiple dimensions and does not involve second derivatives of the reaction coordinates, matrix manipulations nor on-the-fly adaptation of parameters. For the alanine dipeptide test case, the new method is found to gain as much as a factor of 10 in efficiency as compared to two basic implementations of the adaptive biasing force methods, and it is shown to be as efficient as well-tempered metadynamics with the postprocess deconvolution giving a clear advantage to the mollified density of states method.

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

PubMed

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.

Environmental Cues and Attempts to Change in Daily Cannabis Users: An Intensive Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Hughes, John R.; Naud, Shelly; Budney, Alan J.; Fingar, James R.; Callas, Peter W.

2016-01-01

Introduction We tested whether environmental cues prompt or inhibit quit or reduction attempts among heavy cannabis users. Methods We recruited 196 daily cannabis users who intended to stop or reduce at some point in the next 3 months. Users called an Interactive Voice Response system daily over 3 months to report on cues that might prompt an attempt to quit or reduce (e.g., a request to stop), cues that might inhibit a quit/reduction attempt (e.g., someone offering cannabis), cannabis use, and attempts to stop or reduce cannabis. No treatment was provided. Results Our major findings were a) cost and health/psychological problems were the most common prompting cues, and seeing others use and being offered cannabis were the most common inhibiting cues, b) the number of different types of prompting cues prospectively predicted an increase in attempts to change in a dose-related manner, c) more proximal cues appeared to be more strongly related to change, d) requests to stop or reduce, and physical or psychological problems from cannabis, best predicted change attempts, and e) inhibiting cues did not consistently predict the probability of an attempt to change. Conclusion These preliminary results suggest several environmental cues prompt attempts to change cannabis use. Thus, interventions to increase the frequency of these cues, and specifically requests to stop or reduce cannabis use, and reinforcing concerns about health and mental adverse events from cannabis use may increase cannabis reduction or cessation. PMID:26872879

Performance Benefits Associated with Context-Dependent Arm Pointing Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seidler, R. D.; Bloomberg, J. J.; Stelmach, George E.

2000-01-01

Our previous work has demonstrated that head orientation can be used as a contextual cue to switch between mUltiple adaptive states. Subjects were assigned to one of three groups: the head orientation group tilted the head towards the right shoulder when drawing under a 0.5 gain of display and towards the left shoulder when drawing under a 1.5 gain of display; the target orientation group had the home & target positions rotated counterclockwise when drawing under the 0.5 gain and clockwise for the l.5 gain; the arm posture group changed the elbow angle of the arm they were not drawing with from full flexion to full extension with 0.5 and l.5 gain display changes. The head orientation cue was effectively associated with the multiple gains, in comparison to the control conditions. The purpose of the current investigation was to determine whether this context-dependent adaptation results in any savings in terms of performance measures such as movement duration and movement smoothness when subjects switch between multiple adaptive states. Subjects in the head adaptation group demonstrated reduced movement duration and increased movement smoothness (measured via normalized j erk scores) in comparison to the two control groups when switching between the 0.5 and 1.5 gain. of display. This work has demonstrated not only that subjects can acquire context-dependent adaptation, but also that it results in a significant savings of performance upon transfer between adaptive states

Basolateral Amygdala to Orbitofrontal Cortex Projections Enable Cue-Triggered Reward Expectations

PubMed Central

Lichtenberg, Nina T.; Pennington, Zachary T.; Holley, Sandra M.; Greenfield, Venuz Y.; Levine, Michael S.

2017-01-01

To make an appropriate decision, one must anticipate potential future rewarding events, even when they are not readily observable. These expectations are generated by using observable information (e.g., stimuli or available actions) to retrieve often quite detailed memories of available rewards. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are two reciprocally connected key nodes in the circuitry supporting such outcome-guided behaviors. But there is much unknown about the contribution of this circuit to decision making, and almost nothing known about the whether any contribution is via direct, monosynaptic projections, or the direction of information transfer. Therefore, here we used designer receptor-mediated inactivation of OFC→BLA or BLA→OFC projections to evaluate their respective contributions to outcome-guided behaviors in rats. Inactivation of BLA terminals in the OFC, but not OFC terminals in the BLA, disrupted the selective motivating influence of cue-triggered reward representations over reward-seeking decisions as assayed by Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. BLA→OFC projections were also required when a cued reward representation was used to modify Pavlovian conditional goal-approach responses according to the reward's current value. These projections were not necessary when actions were guided by reward expectations generated based on learned action-reward contingencies, or when rewards themselves, rather than stored memories, directed action. These data demonstrate that BLA→OFC projections enable the cue-triggered reward expectations that can motivate the execution of specific action plans and allow adaptive conditional responding. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Deficits anticipating potential future rewarding events are associated with many psychiatric diseases. Presently, we know little about the neural circuits supporting such reward expectation. Here we show that basolateral amygdala to orbitofrontal cortex projections are

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

PubMed

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).

Cueing Animations: Dynamic Signaling Aids Information Extraction and Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boucheix, Jean-Michel; Lowe, Richard K.; Putri, Dian K.; Groff, Jonathan

2013-01-01

The effectiveness of animations containing two novel forms of animation cueing that target relations between event units rather than individual entities was compared with that of animations containing conventional entity-based cueing or no cues. These relational event unit cues ("progressive path" and "local coordinated" cues) were specifically…

What causes IOR? Attention or perception? - manipulating cue and target luminance in either blocked or mixed condition.

PubMed

Zhao, Yuanyuan; Heinke, Dietmar

2014-12-01

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the performance disadvantage when detecting a target presented at a previously cued location. The current paper contributes to the long-standing debate whether IOR is caused by attentional processing or perceptual processing. We present a series of four experiments which varied the cue luminance in mixed and blocked conditions. We hypothesised that if inhibition was initialized by an attentional process the size of IOR should not vary in the blocked condition as participants should be able to adapt to the level of cue luminance. However, if a perceptual process triggers inhibition both experimental manipulations should lead to varying levels of IOR. Indeed, we found evidence for the latter hypothesis. In addition, we also varied the target luminance in blocked and mixed condition. Both manipulations, cue luminance and target luminance, affected IOR in an additive fashion suggesting that the two stimuli affect human behaviour on different processing stages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ephrin-A/EphA specific co-adaptation as a novel mechanism in topographic axon guidance

PubMed Central

Fiederling, Felix; Weschenfelder, Markus; Fritz, Martin; von Philipsborn, Anne; Bastmeyer, Martin; Weth, Franco

2017-01-01

Genetic hardwiring during brain development provides computational architectures for innate neuronal processing. Thus, the paradigmatic chick retinotectal projection, due to its neighborhood preserving, topographic organization, establishes millions of parallel channels for incremental visual field analysis. Retinal axons receive targeting information from quantitative guidance cue gradients. Surprisingly, novel adaptation assays demonstrate that retinal growth cones robustly adapt towards ephrin-A/EphA forward and reverse signals, which provide the major mapping cues. Computational modeling suggests that topographic accuracy and adaptability, though seemingly incompatible, could be reconciled by a novel mechanism of coupled adaptation of signaling channels. Experimentally, we find such ‘co-adaptation’ in retinal growth cones specifically for ephrin-A/EphA signaling. Co-adaptation involves trafficking of unliganded sensors between the surface membrane and recycling endosomes, and is presumably triggered by changes in the lipid composition of membrane microdomains. We propose that co-adaptative desensitization eventually relies on guidance sensor translocation into cis-signaling endosomes to outbalance repulsive trans-signaling. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25533.001 PMID:28722651

Cues to viewing distance for stereoscopic depth constancy.

PubMed

Glennerster, A; Rogers, B J; Bradshaw, M F

1998-01-01

A veridical estimate of viewing distance is required in order to determine the metric structure of objects from binocular stereopsis. One example of a judgment of metric structure, which we used in our experiment, is the apparently circular cylinder task (E B Johnston, 1991 Vision Research 31 1351-1360). Most studies report underconstancy in this task when the stimulus is defined purely by binocular disparities. We examined the effect of two factors on performance: (i) the richness of the cues to viewing distance (using either a naturalistic setting with many cues to viewing distance or a condition in which the room and the monitors were obscured from view), and (ii) the range of stimulus disparities (cylinder depths) presented during an experimental run. We tested both experienced subjects (who had performed the task many times before under full-cue conditions) and naïve subjects. Depth constancy was reduced for the naïve subjects (from 62% to 46%) when the position of the monitors was obscured. Under similar conditions, the experienced subjects showed no reduction in constancy. In a second experiment, using a forced-choice method of constant stimuli, we found that depth constancy was reduced from 64% to 23% in naïve subjects and from 77% to 55% in experienced subjects when the same set of images was presented at all viewing distances rather than using a set of stimulus disparities proportional to the correct setting. One possible explanation of these results is that, under reduced-cue conditions, the range of disparities presented is used by the visual system as a cue to viewing distance.

Cues for Better Writing: Empirical Assessment of a Word Counter and Cueing Application's Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vijayasarathy, Leo R.; Gould, Susan Martin; Gould, Michael

2015-01-01

Written clarity and conciseness are desired by employers and emphasized in business communication courses. We developed and tested the efficacy of a cueing tool--Scribe Bene--to help students reduce their use of imprecise and ambiguous words and wordy phrases. Effectiveness was measured by comparing cue word usage between a treatment group given…

Beyond Cue Reactivity: Non-Drug-Related Motivationally Relevant Stimuli Are Necessary to Understand Reactivity to Drug-Related Cues.

PubMed

Versace, Francesco; Engelmann, Jeffrey M; Deweese, Menton M; Robinson, Jason D; Green, Charles E; Lam, Cho Y; Minnix, Jennifer A; Karam-Hage, Maher A; Wetter, David W; Schembre, Susan M; Cinciripini, Paul M

2017-06-01

Neurobiological models of addiction posit that drug use can alter reward processes in two ways: (1) by increasing the motivational relevance of drugs and drug-related cues and (2) by reducing the motivational relevance of non-drug-related rewards. Here, we discuss the results from a series of neuroimaging studies in which we assessed the extent to which these hypotheses apply to nicotine dependence. In these studies, we recorded smokers’ and nonsmokers’ brain responses to a wide array of motivationally relevant visual stimuli that included pleasant, unpleasant, cigarette-related, and neutral images. Based on these findings, we highlight the flaws of the traditional cue reactivity paradigm and we conclude that responses to non-drug-related motivationally relevant stimuli should be used to appropriately gauge the motivational relevance of cigarette-related cues and to identify smokers attributing higher motivational relevance to drug-related cues than to non-drug-related rewards. Identifying these individuals is clinically relevant as they achieve lower rates of long-term smoking abstinence when attempting to quit. Finally, we show how this approach may be extended beyond nicotine dependence to inform theoretical and clinical research in the study of obesity. The cue reactivity paradigm (ie, comparing responses evoked by drug-related cues to those evoked by neutral cues) cannot provide conclusive information about the motivational relevance of drug-related cues. Responses to non-drug-related motivationally relevant stimuli should be used to appropriately gauge the level of motivational relevance that substance-dependent individuals attribute to drug-related cues. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Effect of Repeated Virtual Nicotine Cue Exposure Therapy on the Psychophysiological Responses: A Preliminary Study

PubMed Central

Choi, Jung-Seok; Park, Sumi; Lee, Jun-Young; Jung, Hee-Yeon; Lee, Hae-Woo; Jin, Chong-Hyeon

2011-01-01

Objective Smoking related cues may elicit smoking urges and psychophysiological responses in subjects with nicotine dependence. This study aimed to investigate the effect of repeated virtual cue exposure therapy using the surround-screen based projection wall system on the psychophysiological responses in nicotine dependence. Methods The authors developed 3-dimensional neutral and smoking-related environments using virtual reality (VR) technology. Smoking-related environment was a virtual bar, which comprised both object-related and social situation cues. Ten subjects with nicotine dependence participated in 4-week (one session per week) virtual cue exposure therapy. Psychophysiological responses [electromyography (EMG), skin conductance (SC), and heart rate] and subjective nicotine craving were acquired during each session. Results VR nicotine cue elicited greater psychophysiological responses and subjective craving for smoking than did neutral cue, and exposure to social situation cues showed greater psychophysiological responses in SC and EMG than did object-related cues. This responsiveness decreased during the course of repeated therapy. Conclusion The present study found that both psychophysiological responses and subjective nicotine craving were greater to nicotine cue exposure via projection wall VR system than to neutral cues and that enhanced cue reactivity decreased gradually over the course of repeated exposure therapy. These results suggest that VR cue exposure therapy combined with psychophysiological response monitoring may be an alternative treatment modality for smoking cessation, although the current findings are preliminary. PMID:21852993

Beyond Stimulus Cues and Reinforcement Signals: A New Approach to Animal Metacognition

PubMed Central

Couchman, Justin J.; Coutinho, Mariana V. C.; Beran, Michael J.; Smith, J. David

2010-01-01

Some metacognition paradigms for nonhuman animals encourage the alternative explanation that animals avoid difficult trials based only on reinforcement history and stimulus aversion. To explore this possibility, we placed humans and monkeys in successive uncertainty-monitoring tasks that were qualitatively different, eliminating many associative cues that might support transfer across tasks. In addition, task transfer occurred under conditions of deferred and rearranged feedback—both species completed blocks of trials followed by summary feedback. This ensured that animals received no trial-by-trial reinforcement. Despite distancing performance from associative cues, humans and monkeys still made adaptive uncertainty responses by declining the most difficult trials. These findings suggest that monkeys’ uncertainty responses could represent a higher-level, decisional process of cognitive monitoring, though that process need not involve full self-awareness or consciousness. The dissociation of performance from reinforcement has theoretical implications concerning the status of reinforcement as the critical binding force in animal learning. PMID:20836592

Locally adaptive parallel temperature accelerated dynamics method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shim, Yunsic; Amar, Jacques G.

2010-03-01

The recently-developed temperature-accelerated dynamics (TAD) method [M. Sørensen and A.F. Voter, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 9599 (2000)] along with the more recently developed parallel TAD (parTAD) method [Y. Shim et al, Phys. Rev. B 76, 205439 (2007)] allow one to carry out non-equilibrium simulations over extended time and length scales. The basic idea behind TAD is to speed up transitions by carrying out a high-temperature MD simulation and then use the resulting information to obtain event times at the desired low temperature. In a typical implementation, a fixed high temperature Thigh is used. However, in general one expects that for each configuration there exists an optimal value of Thigh which depends on the particular transition pathways and activation energies for that configuration. Here we present a locally adaptive high-temperature TAD method in which instead of using a fixed Thigh the high temperature is dynamically adjusted in order to maximize simulation efficiency. Preliminary results of the performance obtained from parTAD simulations of Cu/Cu(100) growth using the locally adaptive Thigh method will also be presented.

A pilot evaluation of two G-seat cueing schemes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Showalter, T. W.

1978-01-01

A comparison was made of two contrasting G-seat cueing schemes. The G-seat, an aircraft simulation subsystem, creates aircraft acceleration cues via seat contour changes. Of the two cueing schemes tested, one was designed to create skin pressure cues and the other was designed to create body position cues. Each cueing scheme was tested and evaluated subjectively by five pilots regarding its ability to cue the appropriate accelerations in each of four simple maneuvers: a pullout, a pushover, an S-turn maneuver, and a thrusting maneuver. A divergence of pilot opinion occurred, revealing that the perception and acceptance of G-seat stimuli is a highly individualistic phenomena. The creation of one acceptable G-seat cueing scheme was, therefore, deemed to be quite difficult.

Visual Cues and Listening Effort: Individual Variability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Picou, Erin M.; Ricketts, Todd A; Hornsby, Benjamin W. Y.

2011-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the effect of visual cues on listening effort as well as whether predictive variables such as working memory capacity (WMC) and lipreading ability affect the magnitude of listening effort. Method: Twenty participants with normal hearing were tested using a paired-associates recall task in 2 conditions (quiet and noise) and…

Context-specific adaptation of the gain of the oculomotor response to lateral translation using roll and pitch head tilts as contexts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shelhamer, Mark; Peng, Grace C Y.; Ramat, Stefano; Patel, Vivek

2002-01-01

Previous studies established that vestibular and oculomotor behaviors can have two adapted states (e.g., gain) simultaneously, and that a context cue (e.g., vertical eye position) can switch between the two states. The present study examined this phenomenon of context-specific adaptation for the oculomotor response to interaural translation (which we term "linear vestibulo-ocular reflex" or LVOR even though it may have extravestibular components). Subjects sat upright on a linear sled and were translated at 0.7 Hz and 0.3 gpeak acceleration while a visual-vestibular mismatch paradigm was used to adaptively increase (x2) or decrease (x0) the gain of the LVOR. In each experimental session, gain increase was asked for in one context, and gain decrease in another context. Testing in darkness with steps and sines before and after adaptation, in each context, assessed the extent to which the context itself could recall the gain state that was imposed in that context during adaptation. Two different contexts were used: head pitch (26 degrees forward and backward) and head roll (26 degrees or 45 degrees, right and left). Head roll tilt worked well as a context cue: with the head rolled to the right the LVOR could be made to have a higher gain than with the head rolled to the left. Head pitch tilt was less effective as a context cue. This suggests that the more closely related a context cue is to the response being adapted, the more effective it is.

Cue-dependent interference in comprehension

PubMed Central

Van Dyke, Julie A.

2011-01-01

The role of interference as a primary determinant of forgetting in memory has long been accepted, however its role as a contributor to poor comprehension is just beginning to be understood. The current paper reports two studies, in which speed-accuracy tradeoff and eye-tracking methodologies were used with the same materials to provide converging evidence for the role of syntactic and semantic cues as mediators of both proactive (PI) and retroactive interference (RI) during comprehension. Consistent with previous work (e.g., Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003), we found that syntactic constraints at the retrieval site are among the cues that drive retrieval in comprehension, and that these constraints effectively limit interference from potential distractors with semantic/pragmatic properties in common with the target constituent. The data are discussed in terms of a cue-overload account, in which interference both arises from and is mediated through a direct-access retrieval mechanism that utilizes a linear, weighted cue-combinatoric scheme. PMID:21927535

Recognition during recall failure: Semantic feature matching as a mechanism for recognition of semantic cues when recall fails.

PubMed

Cleary, Anne M; Ryals, Anthony J; Wagner, Samantha R

2016-01-01

Research suggests that a feature-matching process underlies cue familiarity-detection when cued recall with graphemic cues fails. When a test cue (e.g., potchbork) overlaps in graphemic features with multiple unrecalled studied items (e.g., patchwork, pitchfork, pocketbook, pullcork), higher cue familiarity ratings are given during recall failure of all of the targets than when the cue overlaps in graphemic features with only one studied target and that target fails to be recalled (e.g., patchwork). The present study used semantic feature production norms (McRae et al., Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 37, 547-559, 2005) to examine whether the same holds true when the cues are semantic in nature (e.g., jaguar is used to cue cheetah). Indeed, test cues (e.g., cedar) that overlapped in semantic features (e.g., a_tree, has_bark, etc.) with four unretrieved studied items (e.g., birch, oak, pine, willow) received higher cue familiarity ratings during recall failure than test cues that overlapped in semantic features with only two (also unretrieved) studied items (e.g., birch, oak), which in turn received higher familiarity ratings during recall failure than cues that did not overlap in semantic features with any studied items. These findings suggest that the feature-matching theory of recognition during recall failure can accommodate recognition of semantic cues during recall failure, providing a potential mechanism for conceptually-based forms of cue recognition during target retrieval failure. They also provide converging evidence for the existence of the semantic features envisaged in feature-based models of semantic knowledge representation and for those more concretely specified by the production norms of McRae et al. (Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 37, 547-559, 2005).

A self-adaptive-grid method with application to airfoil flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakahashi, K.; Deiwert, G. S.

1985-01-01

A self-adaptive-grid method is described that is suitable for multidimensional steady and unsteady computations. Based on variational principles, a spring analogy is used to redistribute grid points in an optimal sense to reduce the overall solution error. User-specified parameters, denoting both maximum and minimum permissible grid spacings, are used to define the all-important constants, thereby minimizing the empiricism and making the method self-adaptive. Operator splitting and one-sided controls for orthogonality and smoothness are used to make the method practical, robust, and efficient. Examples are included for both steady and unsteady viscous flow computations about airfoils in two dimensions, as well as for a steady inviscid flow computation and a one-dimensional case. These examples illustrate the precise control the user has with the self-adaptive method and demonstrate a significant improvement in accuracy and quality of the solutions.

Is refreshing in working memory impaired in older age? Evidence from the retro-cue paradigm.

PubMed

Loaiza, Vanessa M; Souza, Alessandra S

2018-04-10

Impairments in refreshing have been suggested as one source of working memory (WM) deficits in older age. Retro-cues provide an important method of investigating this question: a retro-cue guides attention to one WM item, thereby arguably refreshing it and increasing its accessibility compared with a no-cue baseline. In contrast to the refreshing deficit hypothesis, intact retro-cue benefits have been found in older adults. Refreshing, however, is assumed to boost not one but several WM representations when sequentially applied to them. Hence, intact refreshing requires the flexible switching of attention among WM items. So far, it remains an open question whether older adults show this flexibility. Here, we investigated whether older adults can use multiple cues to sequentially refresh WM representations. Younger and older adults completed a continuous-color delayed-estimation task, in which the number of retro-cues (0, 1, or 2) presented during the retention interval was manipulated. The results showed a similar retro-cue benefit for younger and older adults, even in the two-cue condition in which participants had to switch attention between items to refresh representations in WM. These findings suggest that the capacity to use cues to refresh information in visual WM may be preserved with age. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Combined smoking cues enhance reactivity and predict immediate subsequent smoking.

PubMed

Conklin, Cynthia A; McClernon, F Joseph; Vella, Elizabeth J; Joyce, Christopher J; Salkeld, Ronald P; Parzynski, Craig S; Bennett, Lee

2018-01-23

Cue reactivity (CR) research has reliably demonstrated robust cue-induced responding among smokers exposed to common proximal smoking cues (e.g., cigarettes, lighter). More recent work demonstrates that distal stimuli, most notably the actual environments in which smoking previously occurred, can also gain associative control over craving. In the real world proximal cues always occur within an environment; thus, a more informative test of how cues affect smokers might be to present these two cue types simultaneously. Using a combined-cue counterbalanced cue reactivity paradigm, the present study tested the impact of proximal (smoking and neutral) + personal environment (smoking and nonsmoking places) pictorial cues, on smokers' subjective and behavioral cue reactivity; as well as the extent to which cue-induced craving predicts immediate subsequent smoking in a within-subjects design. As anticipated, the dual smoking cue combination (ProxS+EnvS) led to the greatest cue-induced craving relative to the other three cue combinations (ProxS+EnvN, ProxN+EnvS, ProxN+-EnvN), p's < .004. Dual smoking cues also led to significantly shorter post-trial latencies to smoke, p's < .01. Overall cue reactivity difference score (post-trial craving minus baseline craving) was predictive of subsequent immediate smoking indexed by: Post-trial latency to smoke (B= -2.69, SE= 9.02; t(143) = -2.98, p = .003); total puff volume (B= 2.99, SE= 1.13; t(143)= 2.65, p = .009); and total number of puffs (B= .053, SE= .027; t(143)= 1.95, p = .05). The implications of these findings for better understanding the impact of cues on smoking behavior and cessation are discussed. This novel cue reactivity study examined smokers' reactivity to combined proximal and distal smoking cues. Exposure to a combination of two smoking cues (proximal and environment) led to the greatest increases in cue-induced craving and smoking behavior compared to all other cue combinations. Further, the overall magnitude of

Speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography by adaptive total variation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Tong; Shi, Yaoyao; Liu, Youwen; He, Chongjun

2015-12-01

An adaptive total variation method based on the combination of speckle statistics and total variation restoration is proposed and developed for reducing speckle noise in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. The statistical distribution of the speckle noise in OCT image is investigated and measured. With the measured parameters such as the mean value and variance of the speckle noise, the OCT image is restored by the adaptive total variation restoration method. The adaptive total variation restoration algorithm was applied to the OCT images of a volunteer's hand skin, which showed effective speckle noise reduction and image quality improvement. For image quality comparison, the commonly used median filtering method was also applied to the same images to reduce the speckle noise. The measured results demonstrate the superior performance of the adaptive total variation restoration method in terms of image signal-to-noise ratio, equivalent number of looks, contrast-to-noise ratio, and mean square error.

Cell-cycle progress in obligate predatory bacteria is dependent upon sequential sensing of prey recognition and prey quality cues.

PubMed

Rotem, Or; Pasternak, Zohar; Shimoni, Eyal; Belausov, Eduard; Porat, Ziv; Pietrokovski, Shmuel; Jurkevitch, Edouard

2015-11-03

Predators feed on prey to acquire the nutrients necessary to sustain their survival, growth, and replication. In Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, an obligate predator of Gram-negative bacteria, cell growth and replication are tied to a shift from a motile, free-living phase of search and attack to a sessile, intracellular phase of growth and replication during which a single prey cell is consumed. Engagement and sustenance of growth are achieved through the sensing of two unidentified prey-derived cues. We developed a novel ex vivo cultivation system for B. bacteriovorus composed of prey ghost cells that are recognized and invaded by the predator. By manipulating their content, we demonstrated that an early cue is located in the prey envelope and a late cue is found within the prey soluble fraction. These spatially and temporally separated cues elicit discrete and combinatory regulatory effects on gene transcription. Together, they delimit a poorly characterized transitory phase between the attack phase and the growth phase, during which the bdelloplast (the invaded prey cell) is constructed. This transitory phase constitutes a checkpoint in which the late cue presumably acts as a determinant of the prey's nutritional value before the predator commits. These regulatory adaptations to a unique bacterial lifestyle have not been reported previously.

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

PubMed

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.

Vortical Flow Prediction Using an Adaptive Unstructured Grid Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar Z.

2001-01-01

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method has been employed to compute vortical flows around slender wing/body configurations. The emphasis of the paper is on the effectiveness of an adaptive grid procedure in "capturing" concentrated vortices generated at sharp edges or flow separation lines of lifting surfaces flying at high angles of attack. The method is based on a tetrahedral unstructured grid technology developed at the NASA Langley Research Center. Two steady-state, subsonic, inviscid and Navier-Stokes flow test cases are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the method for solving practical vortical flow problems. The first test case concerns vortex flow over a simple 65deg delta wing with different values of leading-edge bluntness, and the second case is that of a more complex fighter configuration. The superiority of the adapted solutions in capturing the vortex flow structure over the conventional unadapted results is demonstrated by comparisons with the windtunnel experimental data. The study shows that numerical prediction of vortical flows is highly sensitive to the local grid resolution and that the implementation of grid adaptation is essential when applying CFD methods to such complicated flow problems.

Action Experience Changes Attention to Kinematic Cues

PubMed Central

Filippi, Courtney A.; Woodward, Amanda L.

2016-01-01

The current study used remote corneal reflection eye-tracking to examine the relationship between motor experience and action anticipation in 13-months-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) × 2 (congruent kinematic cue vs. incongruent kinematic cue) between-subjects design. We show that 13-months-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. PMID:26913012

ICASE/LaRC Workshop on Adaptive Grid Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

South, Jerry C., Jr. (Editor); Thomas, James L. (Editor); Vanrosendale, John (Editor)

1995-01-01

Solution-adaptive grid techniques are essential to the attainment of practical, user friendly, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications. In this three-day workshop, experts gathered together to describe state-of-the-art methods in solution-adaptive grid refinement, analysis, and implementation; to assess the current practice; and to discuss future needs and directions for research. This was accomplished through a series of invited and contributed papers. The workshop focused on a set of two-dimensional test cases designed by the organizers to aid in assessing the current state of development of adaptive grid technology. In addition, a panel of experts from universities, industry, and government research laboratories discussed their views of needs and future directions in this field.

Localization Performance of Multiple Vibrotactile Cues on Both Arms.

PubMed

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.

PubMed

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.

PubMed

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.

Parallel adaptive wavelet collocation method for PDEs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nejadmalayeri, Alireza, E-mail: Alireza.Nejadmalayeri@gmail.com; Vezolainen, Alexei, E-mail: Alexei.Vezolainen@Colorado.edu; Brown-Dymkoski, Eric, E-mail: Eric.Browndymkoski@Colorado.edu

2015-10-01

A parallel adaptive wavelet collocation method for solving a large class of Partial Differential Equations is presented. The parallelization is achieved by developing an asynchronous parallel wavelet transform, which allows one to perform parallel wavelet transform and derivative calculations with only one data synchronization at the highest level of resolution. The data are stored using tree-like structure with tree roots starting at a priori defined level of resolution. Both static and dynamic domain partitioning approaches are developed. For the dynamic domain partitioning, trees are considered to be the minimum quanta of data to be migrated between the processes. This allowsmore » fully automated and efficient handling of non-simply connected partitioning of a computational domain. Dynamic load balancing is achieved via domain repartitioning during the grid adaptation step and reassigning trees to the appropriate processes to ensure approximately the same number of grid points on each process. The parallel efficiency of the approach is discussed based on parallel adaptive wavelet-based Coherent Vortex Simulations of homogeneous turbulence with linear forcing at effective non-adaptive resolutions up to 2048{sup 3} using as many as 2048 CPU cores.« less

Spontaneous Hedonic Reactions to Social Media Cues.

PubMed

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.

Differential effect of visual motion adaption upon visual cortical excitability.

PubMed

Lubeck, Astrid J A; Van Ombergen, Angelique; Ahmad, Hena; Bos, Jelte E; Wuyts, Floris L; Bronstein, Adolfo M; Arshad, Qadeer

2017-03-01

The objectives of this study were 1 ) to probe the effects of visual motion adaptation on early visual and V5/MT cortical excitability and 2 ) to investigate whether changes in cortical excitability following visual motion adaptation are related to the degree of visual dependency, i.e., an overreliance on visual cues compared with vestibular or proprioceptive cues. Participants were exposed to a roll motion visual stimulus before, during, and after visual motion adaptation. At these stages, 20 transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulses at phosphene threshold values were applied over early visual and V5/MT cortical areas from which the probability of eliciting a phosphene was calculated. Before and after adaptation, participants aligned the subjective visual vertical in front of the roll motion stimulus as a marker of visual dependency. During adaptation, early visual cortex excitability decreased whereas V5/MT excitability increased. After adaptation, both early visual and V5/MT excitability were increased. The roll motion-induced tilt of the subjective visual vertical (visual dependence) was not influenced by visual motion adaptation and did not correlate with phosphene threshold or visual cortex excitability. We conclude that early visual and V5/MT cortical excitability is differentially affected by visual motion adaptation. Furthermore, excitability in the early or late visual cortex is not associated with an increase in visual reliance during spatial orientation. Our findings complement earlier studies that have probed visual cortical excitability following motion adaptation and highlight the differential role of the early visual cortex and V5/MT in visual motion processing. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We examined the influence of visual motion adaptation on visual cortex excitability and found a differential effect in V1/V2 compared with V5/MT. Changes in visual excitability following motion adaptation were not related to the degree of an individual's visual

AD/HD and the Capture of Attention by Briefly Exposed Delay-Related Cues: Evidence from a Conditioning Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J. S.; De Houwer, Jan; De Ruiter, Karen; Ajzenstzen, Michal; Holland, Sarah

2004-01-01

Background: The selective attention of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) to briefly exposed delay-related cues was examined in two experiments using a dot-probe conditioning paradigm. Method: Colour cues were paired with negatively (i.e., imposition of delay) and positively valenced cues (i.e., escape from or avoidance…

Optic flow improves adaptability of spatiotemporal characteristics during split-belt locomotor adaptation with tactile stimulation

PubMed Central

Anthony Eikema, Diderik Jan A.; Chien, Jung Hung; Stergiou, Nicholas; Myers, Sara A.; Scott-Pandorf, Melissa M.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.; Mukherjee, Mukul

2015-01-01

Human locomotor adaptation requires feedback and feed-forward control processes to maintain an appropriate walking pattern. Adaptation may require the use of visual and proprioceptive input to decode altered movement dynamics and generate an appropriate response. After a person transfers from an extreme sensory environment and back, as astronauts do when they return from spaceflight, the prolonged period required for re-adaptation can pose a significant burden. In our previous paper, we showed that plantar tactile vibration during a split-belt adaptation task did not interfere with the treadmill adaptation however, larger overground transfer effects with a slower decay resulted. Such effects, in the absence of visual feedback (of motion) and perturbation of tactile feedback, is believed to be due to a higher proprioceptive gain because, in the absence of relevant external dynamic cues such as optic flow, reliance on body-based cues is enhanced during gait tasks through multisensory integration. In this study we therefore investigated the effect of optic flow on tactile stimulated split-belt adaptation as a paradigm to facilitate the sensorimotor adaptation process. Twenty healthy young adults, separated into two matched groups, participated in the study. All participants performed an overground walking trial followed by a split-belt treadmill adaptation protocol. The tactile group (TC) received vibratory plantar tactile stimulation only, whereas the virtual reality and tactile group (VRT) received an additional concurrent visual stimulation: a moving virtual corridor, inducing perceived self-motion. A post-treadmill overground trial was performed to determine adaptation transfer. Interlimb coordination of spatiotemporal and kinetic variables was quantified using symmetry indices, and analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Marked changes of step length characteristics were observed in both groups during split-belt adaptation. Stance and swing time symmetry were

Methods for prismatic/tetrahedral grid generation and adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kallinderis, Y.

1995-01-01

The present work involves generation of hybrid prismatic/tetrahedral grids for complex 3-D geometries including multi-body domains. The prisms cover the region close to each body's surface, while tetrahedra are created elsewhere. Two developments are presented for hybrid grid generation around complex 3-D geometries. The first is a new octree/advancing front type of method for generation of the tetrahedra of the hybrid mesh. The main feature of the present advancing front tetrahedra generator that is different from previous such methods is that it does not require the creation of a background mesh by the user for the determination of the grid-spacing and stretching parameters. These are determined via an automatically generated octree. The second development is a method for treating the narrow gaps in between different bodies in a multiply-connected domain. This method is applied to a two-element wing case. A High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) type of aircraft geometry is considered. The generated hybrid grid required only 170 K tetrahedra instead of an estimated two million had a tetrahedral mesh been used in the prisms region as well. A solution adaptive scheme for viscous computations on hybrid grids is also presented. A hybrid grid adaptation scheme that employs both h-refinement and redistribution strategies is developed to provide optimum meshes for viscous flow computations. Grid refinement is a dual adaptation scheme that couples 3-D, isotropic division of tetrahedra and 2-D, directional division of prisms.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Effects of Spatial Cueing on Representational Momentum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbard, Timothy L.; Kumar, Anuradha Mohan; Carp, Charlotte L.

2009-01-01

Effects of a spatial cue on representational momentum were examined. If a cue was present during or after target motion and indicated the location at which the target would vanish or had vanished, forward displacement of that target decreased. The decrease in forward displacement was larger when cues were present after target motion than when cues…

Adaptation Method for Overall and Local Performances of Gas Turbine Engine Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sangjo; Kim, Kuisoon; Son, Changmin

2018-04-01

An adaptation method was proposed to improve the modeling accuracy of overall and local performances of gas turbine engine. The adaptation method was divided into two steps. First, the overall performance parameters such as engine thrust, thermal efficiency, and pressure ratio were adapted by calibrating compressor maps, and second, the local performance parameters such as temperature of component intersection and shaft speed were adjusted by additional adaptation factors. An optimization technique was used to find the correlation equation of adaptation factors for compressor performance maps. The multi-island genetic algorithm (MIGA) was employed in the present optimization. The correlations of local adaptation factors were generated based on the difference between the first adapted engine model and performance test data. The proposed adaptation method applied to a low-bypass ratio turbofan engine of 12,000 lb thrust. The gas turbine engine model was generated and validated based on the performance test data in the sea-level static condition. In flight condition at 20,000 ft and 0.9 Mach number, the result of adapted engine model showed improved prediction in engine thrust (overall performance parameter) by reducing the difference from 14.5 to 3.3%. Moreover, there was further improvement in the comparison of low-pressure turbine exit temperature (local performance parameter) as the difference is reduced from 3.2 to 0.4%.

QUEST+: A general multidimensional Bayesian adaptive psychometric method.

PubMed

Watson, Andrew B

2017-03-01

QUEST+ is a Bayesian adaptive psychometric testing method that allows an arbitrary number of stimulus dimensions, psychometric function parameters, and trial outcomes. It is a generalization and extension of the original QUEST procedure and incorporates many subsequent developments in the area of parametric adaptive testing. With a single procedure, it is possible to implement a wide variety of experimental designs, including conventional threshold measurement; measurement of psychometric function parameters, such as slope and lapse; estimation of the contrast sensitivity function; measurement of increment threshold functions; measurement of noise-masking functions; Thurstone scale estimation using pair comparisons; and categorical ratings on linear and circular stimulus dimensions. QUEST+ provides a general method to accelerate data collection in many areas of cognitive and perceptual science.

Optimal cue integration in ants.

PubMed

Wystrach, Antoine; Mangan, Michael; Webb, Barbara

2015-10-07

In situations with redundant or competing sensory information, humans have been shown to perform cue integration, weighting different cues according to their certainty in a quantifiably optimal manner. Ants have been shown to merge the directional information available from their path integration (PI) and visual memory, but as yet it is not clear that they do so in a way that reflects the relative certainty of the cues. In this study, we manipulate the variance of the PI home vector by allowing ants (Cataglyphis velox) to run different distances and testing their directional choice when the PI vector direction is put in competition with visual memory. Ants show progressively stronger weighting of their PI direction as PI length increases. The weighting is quantitatively predicted by modelling the expected directional variance of home vectors of different lengths and assuming optimal cue integration. However, a subsequent experiment suggests ants may not actually compute an internal estimate of the PI certainty, but are using the PI home vector length as a proxy. © 2015 The Author(s).

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

PubMed

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

On the motivational properties of reward cues: Individual differences.

PubMed

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.

PubMed

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.

Use of chemosensory cues as repellents for sea lamprey: Potential directions for population management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Imre, I.; Brown, G.E.; Bergstedt, R.A.; McDonald, R.

2010-01-01

Sea lamprey invaded the Great Lakes in the early 20th century and caused an abrupt decline in the population densities of several native fish species. The integrated management of this invasive species is composed of chemical (lampricide) applications, low-head barrier dams, adult trapping and sterile male release. Recently, there has been an increased emphasis on the development of control methods alternative to lampricide applications. We propose as an alternative-control method the use of chemosensory cues as repellents for sea lamprey population management. Based on the available evidence at this time, we suggest that injury-released chemical alarm cues show promise as repellents for sea lamprey and further research should be directed at determining whether sea lamprey show an avoidance response to these types of chemosensory cues. From a management perspective, these chemosensory cues could be used to restrict sea lamprey access to spawning grounds. Repellents could also be used together with attractants like sex pheromones to manipulate sea lamprey behavior, similar to the "push-pull" strategies utilized with insect pests. ?? 2010 Elsevier B.V.

Facilitation of voluntary goal-directed action by reward cues.

PubMed

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.

Parallel 3D Mortar Element Method for Adaptive Nonconforming Meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feng, Huiyu; Mavriplis, Catherine; VanderWijngaart, Rob; Biswas, Rupak

2004-01-01

High order methods are frequently used in computational simulation for their high accuracy. An efficient way to avoid unnecessary computation in smooth regions of the solution is to use adaptive meshes which employ fine grids only in areas where they are needed. Nonconforming spectral elements allow the grid to be flexibly adjusted to satisfy the computational accuracy requirements. The method is suitable for computational simulations of unsteady problems with very disparate length scales or unsteady moving features, such as heat transfer, fluid dynamics or flame combustion. In this work, we select the Mark Element Method (MEM) to handle the non-conforming interfaces between elements. A new technique is introduced to efficiently implement MEM in 3-D nonconforming meshes. By introducing an "intermediate mortar", the proposed method decomposes the projection between 3-D elements and mortars into two steps. In each step, projection matrices derived in 2-D are used. The two-step method avoids explicitly forming/deriving large projection matrices for 3-D meshes, and also helps to simplify the implementation. This new technique can be used for both h- and p-type adaptation. This method is applied to an unsteady 3-D moving heat source problem. With our new MEM implementation, mesh adaptation is able to efficiently refine the grid near the heat source and coarsen the grid once the heat source passes. The savings in computational work resulting from the dynamic mesh adaptation is demonstrated by the reduction of the the number of elements used and CPU time spent. MEM and mesh adaptation, respectively, bring irregularity and dynamics to the computer memory access pattern. Hence, they provide a good way to gauge the performance of computer systems when running scientific applications whose memory access patterns are irregular and unpredictable. We select a 3-D moving heat source problem as the Unstructured Adaptive (UA) grid benchmark, a new component of the NAS Parallel

Evaluation of chromatic cues for trapping Bactrocera tau.

PubMed

Li, Lei; Ma, Huabo; Niu, Liming; Han, Dongyin; Zhang, Fangping; Chen, Junyu; Fu, Yueguan

2017-01-01

Trapping technology based on chromatic cues is an important strategy in controlling Tephritidae (fruit flies). The objectives of this present study were to evaluate the preference of Bactrocera tau for different chromatic cues, and to explore an easy method to print and reproduce coloured paper. Chromatic cues significantly affected the preference of adult B. tau. Wavelengths in the 515-604 nm range were the suitable wavelengths for trapping B. tau. Different-day-old B. tau had different colour preferences. Virtual wavelengths of 595 nm (yellow) and 568 nm (yellowish green) were the optimum wavelengths for trapping 5-7-day-old B. tau and 30-32-day-old B. tau respectively. The trap type and height significantly influenced B. tau attraction efficiency. The number of B. tau on coloured traps hung perpendicular to plant rows was not significantly higher than the number on traps hung parallel to plant rows. The quantisation of colour on the basis of Bruton's wavelength to RGB function can serve as an alternative method for printing and reproducing coloured paper, but a corrected equation should be established between the theoretical wavelength and actual wavelength of coloured paper. Results show that a compound paper coloured yellow (595 nm) and yellowish green (568 nm) installed at 60 and 90 cm above the ground shows the maximum effect for trapping B. tau. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Solving delay differential equations in S-ADAPT by method of steps.

PubMed

Bauer, Robert J; Mo, Gary; Krzyzanski, Wojciech

2013-09-01

S-ADAPT is a version of the ADAPT program that contains additional simulation and optimization abilities such as parametric population analysis. S-ADAPT utilizes LSODA to solve ordinary differential equations (ODEs), an algorithm designed for large dimension non-stiff and stiff problems. However, S-ADAPT does not have a solver for delay differential equations (DDEs). Our objective was to implement in S-ADAPT a DDE solver using the methods of steps. The method of steps allows one to solve virtually any DDE system by transforming it to an ODE system. The solver was validated for scalar linear DDEs with one delay and bolus and infusion inputs for which explicit analytic solutions were derived. Solutions of nonlinear DDE problems coded in S-ADAPT were validated by comparing them with ones obtained by the MATLAB DDE solver dde23. The estimation of parameters was tested on the MATLB simulated population pharmacodynamics data. The comparison of S-ADAPT generated solutions for DDE problems with the explicit solutions as well as MATLAB produced solutions which agreed to at least 7 significant digits. The population parameter estimates from using importance sampling expectation-maximization in S-ADAPT agreed with ones used to generate the data. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Young children pause on phrase boundaries in self-paced music listening: The role of harmonic cues.

PubMed

Kragness, Haley E; Trainor, Laurel J

2018-05-01

Proper segmentation of auditory streams is essential for understanding music. Many cues, including meter, melodic contour, and harmony, influence adults' perception of musical phrase boundaries. To date, no studies have examined young children's musical grouping in a production task. We used a musical self-pacing method to investigate (1) whether dwell times index young children's musical phrase grouping and, if so, (2) whether children dwell longer on phrase boundaries defined by harmonic cues specifically. In Experiment 1, we asked 3-year-old children to self-pace through chord progressions from Bach chorales (sequences in which metrical, harmonic, and melodic contour grouping cues aligned) by pressing a computer key to present each chord in the sequence. Participants dwelled longer on chords in the 8th position, which corresponded to phrase endings. In Experiment 2, we tested 3-, 4-, and 7-year-old children's sensitivity to harmonic cues to phrase grouping when metrical regularity cues and melodic contour cues were misaligned with the harmonic phrase boundaries. In this case, 7 and 4 year olds but not 3 year olds dwelled longer on harmonic phrase boundaries, suggesting that the influence of harmonic cues on phrase boundary perception develops substantially between 3 and 4 years of age in Western children. Overall, we show that the musical dwell time method is child-friendly and can be used to investigate various aspects of young children's musical understanding, including phrase grouping and harmonic knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of lower peripheral visual cues in the visuomotor coordination of locomotion and prehension.

PubMed

Graci, Valentina

2011-10-01

It has been previously suggested that coupled upper and limb movements need visuomotor coordination to be achieved. Previous studies have not investigated the role that visual cues may play in the coordination of locomotion and prehension. The aim of this study was to investigate if lower peripheral visual cues provide online control of the coordination of locomotion and prehension as they have been showed to do during adaptive gait and level walking. Twelve subjects reached a semi-empty or a full glass with their dominant or non-dominant hand at gait termination. Two binocular visual conditions were investigated: normal vision and lower visual occlusion. Outcome measures were determined using 3D motion capture techniques. Results showed that although the subjects were able to successfully complete the task without spilling the water from the glass under lower visual occlusion, they increased the margin of safety between final foot placements and glass. These findings suggest that lower visual cues are mainly used online to fine tune the trajectory of the upper and lower limbs moving toward the target. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Real-time range acquisition by adaptive structured light.

PubMed

Koninckx, Thomas P; Van Gool, Luc

2006-03-01

The goal of this paper is to provide a "self-adaptive" system for real-time range acquisition. Reconstructions are based on a single frame structured light illumination. Instead of using generic, static coding that is supposed to work under all circumstances, system adaptation is proposed. This occurs on-the-fly and renders the system more robust against instant scene variability and creates suitable patterns at startup. A continuous trade-off between speed and quality is made. A weighted combination of different coding cues--based upon pattern color, geometry, and tracking--yields a robust way to solve the correspondence problem. The individual coding cues are automatically adapted within a considered family of patterns. The weights to combine them are based on the average consistency with the result within a small time-window. The integration itself is done by reformulating the problem as a graph cut. Also, the camera-projector configuration is taken into account for generating the projection patterns. The correctness of the range maps is not guaranteed, but an estimation of the uncertainty is provided for each part of the reconstruction. Our prototype is implemented using unmodified consumer hardware only and, therefore, is cheap. Frame rates vary between 10 and 25 fps, dependent on scene complexity.

Within-person adaptivity in frugal judgments from memory.

PubMed

Filevich, Elisa; Horn, Sebastian S; Kühn, Simone

2017-12-22

Humans can exploit recognition memory as a simple cue for judgment. The utility of recognition depends on the interplay with the environment, particularly on its predictive power (validity) in a domain. It is, therefore, an important question whether people are sensitive to differences in recognition validity between domains. Strategic, intra-individual changes in the reliance on recognition have not been investigated so far. The present study fills this gap by scrutinizing within-person changes in using a frugal strategy, the recognition heuristic (RH), across two task domains that differed in recognition validity. The results showed adaptive changes in the reliance on recognition between domains. However, these changes were neither associated with the individual recognition validities nor with corresponding changes in these validities. These findings support a domain-adaptivity explanation, suggesting that people have broader intuitions about the usefulness of recognition across different domains that are nonetheless sufficiently robust for adaptive decision making. The analysis of metacognitive confidence reports mirrored and extended these results. Like RH use, confidence ratings covaried with task domain, but not with individual recognition validities. The changes in confidence suggest that people may have metacognitive access to information about global differences between task domains, but not to individual cue validities.

The Role of Geomagnetic Cues in Green Turtle Open Sea Navigation

PubMed Central

Benhamou, Simon; Sudre, Joël; Bourjea, Jérome; Ciccione, Stéphane; De Santis, Angelo; Luschi, Paolo

2011-01-01

Background Laboratory and field experiments have provided evidence that sea turtles use geomagnetic cues to navigate in the open sea. For instance, green turtles (Chelonia mydas) displaced 100 km away from their nesting site were impaired in returning home when carrying a strong magnet glued on the head. However, the actual role of geomagnetic cues remains unclear, since magnetically treated green turtles can perform large scale (>2000 km) post-nesting migrations no differently from controls. Methodology/Principal Findings In the present homing experiment, 24 green turtles were displaced 200 km away from their nesting site on an oceanic island, and tracked, for the first time in this type of experiment, with Global Positioning System (GPS), which is able to provide much more frequent and accurate locations than previously used tracking methods. Eight turtles were magnetically treated for 24–48 h on the nesting beach prior to displacement, and another eight turtles had a magnet glued on the head at the release site. The last eight turtles were used as controls. Detailed analyses of water masses-related (i.e., current-corrected) homing paths showed that magnetically treated turtles were able to navigate toward their nesting site as efficiently as controls, but those carrying magnets were significantly impaired once they arrived within 50 km of home. Conclusions/Significance While green turtles do not seem to need geomagnetic cues to navigate far from the goal, these cues become necessary when turtles get closer to home. As the very last part of the homing trip (within a few kilometers of home) likely depends on non-magnetic cues, our results suggest that magnetic cues play a key role in sea turtle navigation at an intermediate scale by bridging the gap between large and small scale navigational processes, which both appear to depend on non-magnetic cues. PMID:22046329

The role of geomagnetic cues in green turtle open sea navigation.

PubMed

Benhamou, Simon; Sudre, Joël; Bourjea, Jérome; Ciccione, Stéphane; De Santis, Angelo; Luschi, Paolo

2011-01-01

Laboratory and field experiments have provided evidence that sea turtles use geomagnetic cues to navigate in the open sea. For instance, green turtles (Chelonia mydas) displaced 100 km away from their nesting site were impaired in returning home when carrying a strong magnet glued on the head. However, the actual role of geomagnetic cues remains unclear, since magnetically treated green turtles can perform large scale (>2000 km) post-nesting migrations no differently from controls. In the present homing experiment, 24 green turtles were displaced 200 km away from their nesting site on an oceanic island, and tracked, for the first time in this type of experiment, with Global Positioning System (GPS), which is able to provide much more frequent and accurate locations than previously used tracking methods. Eight turtles were magnetically treated for 24-48 h on the nesting beach prior to displacement, and another eight turtles had a magnet glued on the head at the release site. The last eight turtles were used as controls. Detailed analyses of water masses-related (i.e., current-corrected) homing paths showed that magnetically treated turtles were able to navigate toward their nesting site as efficiently as controls, but those carrying magnets were significantly impaired once they arrived within 50 km of home. While green turtles do not seem to need geomagnetic cues to navigate far from the goal, these cues become necessary when turtles get closer to home. As the very last part of the homing trip (within a few kilometers of home) likely depends on non-magnetic cues, our results suggest that magnetic cues play a key role in sea turtle navigation at an intermediate scale by bridging the gap between large and small scale navigational processes, which both appear to depend on non-magnetic cues.

Acoustic cues available for ranging by humpback whales.

PubMed

Mercado, Eduardo; Schneider, Jennifer N; Green, Sean R; Wang, Chong; Rubin, Rachael D; Banks, Patchouly N

2007-05-01

Field measurements of sound propagation in a humpback whale habitat were collected to identify cues that a humpback whale might use to estimate its distance from sound sources. The data show that spectral cues are sufficient for estimating the relative distance a sound has traveled in such environments, and that several other cues may also provide useful information. It is suggested that listening humpback whales may use multiple cues in parallel to determine the range to singing whales.

Cue-Provoked Craving and Nicotine Replacement Therapy in Smoking Cessation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waters, Andrew J.; Shiffman, Saul; Sayette, Michael A.; Paty, Jean A.; Gwaltney, Chad J.; Balabanis, Mark H.

2004-01-01

Cue exposure paradigms have been used to examine reactivity to smoking cues. However, it is not known whether cue-provoked craving is associated with smoking cessation outcomes or whether cue reactivity can be attenuated by nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in clinical samples. Cue-provoked craving ratings and reaction time responses were…

An investigation of motion base cueing and G-seat cueing on pilot performance in a simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mckissick, B. T.; Ashworth, B. R.; Parrish, R. V.

1983-01-01

The effect of G-seat cueing (GSC) and motion-base cueing (MBC) on performance of a pursuit-tracking task is studied using the visual motion simulator (VMS) at Langley Research Center. The G-seat, the six-degree-of-freedom synergistic platform motion system, the visual display, the cockpit hardware, and the F-16 aircraft mathematical model are characterized. Each of 8 active F-15 pilots performed the 2-min-43-sec task 10 times for each experimental mode: no cue, GSC, MBC, and GSC + MBC; the results were analyzed statistically in terms of the RMS values of vertical and lateral tracking error. It is shown that lateral error is significantly reduced by either GSC or MBC, and that the combination of cues produces a further, significant decrease. Vertical error is significantly decreased by GSC with or without MBC, whereas MBC effects vary for different pilots. The pattern of these findings is roughly duplicated in measurements of stick force applied for roll and pitch correction.

Transparent Meta-Analysis: Does Aging Spare Prospective Memory with Focal vs. Non-Focal Cues?

PubMed Central

Uttl, Bob

2011-01-01

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. PMID:21304905

Neural substrates of cue reactivity and craving in gambling disorder

PubMed Central

Limbrick-Oldfield, E H; Mick, I; Cocks, R E; McGonigle, J; Sharman, S P; Goldstone, A P; Stokes, P R A; Waldman, A; Erritzoe, D; Bowden-Jones, H; Nutt, D; Lingford-Hughes, A; Clark, L

2017-01-01

Cue reactivity is an established procedure in addictions research for examining the subjective experience and neural basis of craving. This experiment sought to quantify cue-related brain responses in gambling disorder using personally tailored cues in conjunction with subjective craving, as well as a comparison with appetitive non-gambling stimuli. Participants with gambling disorder (n=19) attending treatment and 19 controls viewed personally tailored blocks of gambling-related cues, as well as neutral cues and highly appetitive (food) images during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan performed ~2–3 h after a usual meal. fMRI analysis examined cue-related brain activity, cue-related changes in connectivity and associations with block-by-block craving ratings. Craving ratings in the participants with gambling disorder increased following gambling cues compared with non-gambling cues. fMRI analysis revealed group differences in left insula and anterior cingulate cortex, with the gambling disorder group showing greater reactivity to the gambling cues, but no differences to the food cues. In participants with gambling disorder, craving to gamble correlated positively with gambling cue-related activity in the bilateral insula and ventral striatum, and negatively with functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex. Gambling cues, but not food cues, elicit increased brain responses in reward-related circuitry in individuals with gambling disorder (compared with controls), providing support for the incentive sensitization theory of addiction. Activity in the insula co-varied with craving intensity, and may be a target for interventions. PMID:28045460

[Application of adaptive canceling methods in temperature control in ultrasonic therapeutical treatment].

PubMed

Deng, Jun; Liu, Du-ren

2002-12-01

Objective. To improve the quality of ultrasonic therapeutical treatment by improving the accuracy of temperature control. Method. Adaptive canceling methods were used to reduce the noise of temperature signal gained, and enhance signal-to-noise ratio. Result. The test's result corresponds basically to the theoretical curve. Conclusion. Adaptive canceling methods can be applied to clinic treatment.

Acetylcholine Release in Prefrontal Cortex Promotes Gamma Oscillations and Theta-Gamma Coupling during Cue Detection.

PubMed

Howe, William M; Gritton, Howard J; Lusk, Nicholas A; Roberts, Erik A; Hetrick, Vaughn L; Berke, Joshua D; Sarter, Martin

2017-03-22

this process; however, the relationship between these neuronal mechanisms is not well understood. Using a combination of in vivo neurochemistry, neurophysiology, and pharmacological methods, we demonstrate that cue-evoked acetylcholine release, through distinct actions at both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors, triggers a procession of neural oscillations that map onto the multiple stages of cue detection. Our data offer new insights into cholinergic function by revealing the temporally orchestrated changes in prefrontal network synchrony modulated by acetylcholine release during cue detection. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/373215-16$15.00/0.

Acetylcholine Release in Prefrontal Cortex Promotes Gamma Oscillations and Theta–Gamma Coupling during Cue Detection

PubMed Central

Hetrick, Vaughn L.; Berke, Joshua D.

2017-01-01

contribute to this process; however, the relationship between these neuronal mechanisms is not well understood. Using a combination of in vivo neurochemistry, neurophysiology, and pharmacological methods, we demonstrate that cue-evoked acetylcholine release, through distinct actions at both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors, triggers a procession of neural oscillations that map onto the multiple stages of cue detection. Our data offer new insights into cholinergic function by revealing the temporally orchestrated changes in prefrontal network synchrony modulated by acetylcholine release during cue detection. PMID:28213446

Part-set cueing impairment & facilitation in semantic memory.

PubMed

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.

Drivers anticipate lead-vehicle conflicts during automated longitudinal control: Sensory cues capture driver attention and promote appropriate and timely responses.

PubMed

Morando, Alberto; Victor, Trent; Dozza, Marco

2016-12-01

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) has been shown to reduce the exposure to critical situations by maintaining a safe speed and headway. It has also been shown that drivers adapt their visual behavior in response to the driving task demand with ACC, anticipating an impending lead vehicle conflict by directing their eyes to the forward path before a situation becomes critical. The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes related to this anticipatory mechanism, by investigating drivers' visual behavior while driving with ACC when a potential critical situation is encountered, identified as a forward collision warning (FCW) onset (including false positive warnings). This paper discusses how sensory cues capture attention to the forward path in anticipation of the FCW onset. The analysis used the naturalistic database EuroFOT to examine visual behavior with respect to two manually-coded metrics, glance location and glance eccentricity, and then related the findings to vehicle data (such as speed, acceleration, and radar information). Three sensory cues (longitudinal deceleration, looming, and brake lights) were found to be relevant for capturing driver attention and increase glances to the forward path in anticipation of the threat; the deceleration cue seems to be dominant. The results also show that the FCW acts as an effective attention-orienting mechanism when no threat anticipation is present. These findings, relevant to the study of automation, provide additional information about drivers' response to potential lead-vehicle conflicts when longitudinal control is automated. Moreover, these results suggest that sensory cues are important for alerting drivers to an impending critical situation, allowing for a prompt reaction. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hippocampal Regulation of Contextual Cue-Induced Reinstatement of Cocaine-Seeking Behavior

PubMed Central

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 was infused into the ventral hippocampus prior to conditioning sessions. Following extinction, reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior was examined following exposure to contextual cues, discrete cues, or their combination. Inactivation of the ventral hippocampus during conditioning blocked acquisition of the association between cocaine and cocaine-paired contextual cues in that only lidocaine-treated rats with short-term cue exposure failed to reinstate responding in the presence of cocaine-paired contextual cues. Lidocaine also prevented rats in both cue exposure groups from discriminating between cocaine-and saline-paired contextual cues during reinstatement tests. Reinstatement induced by cocaine-paired discrete cues or by contextual and discrete cues together was not impaired for either cue exposure condition. The hippocampus is important for acquisition of the association between cocaine and context and in maintaining discrimination between cocaine-relevant and -irrelevant contextual cues. PMID:18499239

Dominance dynamics of competition between intrinsic and extrinsic grouping cues.

PubMed

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.

Cortical cholinergic signaling controls the detection of cues

PubMed Central

Gritton, Howard J.; Howe, William M.; Mallory, Caitlin S.; Hetrick, Vaughn L.; Berke, Joshua D.; Sarter, Martin

2016-01-01

The cortical cholinergic input system has been described as a neuromodulator system that influences broadly defined behavioral and brain states. The discovery of phasic, trial-based increases in extracellular choline (transients), resulting from the hydrolysis of newly released acetylcholine (ACh), in the cortex of animals reporting the presence of cues suggests that ACh may have a more specialized role in cognitive processes. Here we expressed channelrhodopsin or halorhodopsin in basal forebrain cholinergic neurons of mice with optic fibers directed into this region and prefrontal cortex. Cholinergic transients, evoked in accordance with photostimulation parameters determined in vivo, were generated in mice performing a task necessitating the reporting of cue and noncue events. Generating cholinergic transients in conjunction with cues enhanced cue detection rates. Moreover, generating transients in noncued trials, where cholinergic transients normally are not observed, increased the number of invalid claims for cues. Enhancing hits and generating false alarms both scaled with stimulation intensity. Suppression of endogenous cholinergic activity during cued trials reduced hit rates. Cholinergic transients may be essential for synchronizing cortical neuronal output driven by salient cues and executing cue-guided responses. PMID:26787867

Postretrieval Extinction Attenuates Alcohol Cue Reactivity in Rats.

PubMed

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

2017-03-01

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 cue-alcohol associations. 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 postretrieval extinction (n = 13). Rats were then tested for long-term memory of extinction and susceptibility to spontaneous recovery and reinstatement. Despite equivalent extinction, rats treated with postretrieval extinction exhibited reduced spontaneous recovery and reinstatement relative to rats treated with standard extinction. Postretrieval CET shows promise for persistently attenuating the risk to relapse posed by alcohol cues in individuals with AUD. Copyright © 2017 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

An adaptive singular spectrum analysis method for extracting brain rhythms of electroencephalography

PubMed Central

Hu, Hai; Guo, Shengxin; Liu, Ran

2017-01-01

Artifacts removal and rhythms extraction from electroencephalography (EEG) signals are important for portable and wearable EEG recording devices. Incorporating a novel grouping rule, we proposed an adaptive singular spectrum analysis (SSA) method for artifacts removal and rhythms extraction. Based on the EEG signal amplitude, the grouping rule determines adaptively the first one or two SSA reconstructed components as artifacts and removes them. The remaining reconstructed components are then grouped based on their peak frequencies in the Fourier transform to extract the desired rhythms. The grouping rule thus enables SSA to be adaptive to EEG signals containing different levels of artifacts and rhythms. The simulated EEG data based on the Markov Process Amplitude (MPA) EEG model and the experimental EEG data in the eyes-open and eyes-closed states were used to verify the adaptive SSA method. Results showed a better performance in artifacts removal and rhythms extraction, compared with the wavelet decomposition (WDec) and another two recently reported SSA methods. Features of the extracted alpha rhythms using adaptive SSA were calculated to distinguish between the eyes-open and eyes-closed states. Results showed a higher accuracy (95.8%) than those of the WDec method (79.2%) and the infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering method (83.3%). PMID:28674650

Size cues and the adjacency principle.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1963-11-01

The purpose of the present study was to apply the adjacency principle to the perception of relative depth from size cues. In agreement with the adjacency principle, it was found that the size cue between adjacent objects was more effective than the s...

Brain Responses to Smoking Cues Differ Based on Nicotine Metabolism Rate

PubMed Central

Falcone, Mary; Cao, Wen; Bernardo, Leah; Tyndale, Rachel F; Loughead, James; Lerman, Caryn

2017-01-01

Background Inherited differences in the rate of metabolism of nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco, affect smoking behavior and quitting success. The nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR, 3′-hydroxycotinine/cotinine) is a reliable measure of nicotine clearance, and a well validated predictive biomarker of response to pharmacotherapy. To clarify the mechanisms underlying these associations, we investigated the neural responses to smoking cues in normal and slow nicotine metabolizers. Methods Sixty-nine treatment-seeking smokers (30 slow, 39 normal metabolizers) completed a visual cue reactivity task during functional magnetic resonance imaging on two separate occasions: once during smoking satiety and once following 24 hours of smoking abstinence. Results In whole brain analysis, normal (compared to slow) metabolizers exhibited heightened abstinence-induced neural responses to smoking cues in the left caudate, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left frontal pole. These effects were even more pronounced when extreme groups of slow and normal metabolizers were examined. Greater activation in the left caudate and left frontal pole was associated with abstinence-induced subjective cravings to smoke. Conclusion Inherited differences in rate of nicotine elimination may drive neural responses to smoking cues during early abstinence, providing a plausible mechanism to explain differences in smoking behaviors and response to cessation treatment. Normal metabolizers may benefit from adjunctive behavioral smoking cessation treatments, such as cue exposure therapy. PMID:26805583

Effects of E-cigarette Advertising Messages and Cues on Cessation Outcomes

PubMed Central

Jo, Catherine L.; Golden, Shelley D.; Noar, Seth M.; Rini, Christine; Ribisl, Kurt M.

2017-01-01

Objectives We examined effects of e-cigarette ad messages and visual cues on outcomes related to combustible cigarette smoking cessation: smoking cessation intention, smoking urges, and immediate smoking behavior. Methods US adult smokers (N = 3293) were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk and randomized to condition in a 3 (message: e-cigarette use anywhere, harm reduction, control) × 2 (e-cigarette cue presence or absence) between-subjects experiment. Stimuli were print ads for cigarette-like e-cigarettes (“cigalikes”) that were manipulated for the experimental conditions. We conducted ANOVA and logistic regression analyses to investigate effects of the manipulations. Results Message effects on cessation intention and smoking urges were not statistically significant. There was no evidence of cue effects or message × cue interactions across outcomes. Contrary to expectations, e-cigarette use anywhere and harm reduction messages were associated with lower odds of immediate smoking than the control message (AOREUA = 0.75, 95%CI = 0.58, 0.97, p = .026; AORHR = 0.72, 95%CI = 0.55, 0.93, p = .013). Conclusions E-cigarette use anywhere and harm reduction messages may encourage smoking cessation, given the observed reduction in immediate smoking. E-cigarette cues may not influence smoking cessation outcomes. Future studies should investigate whether message effects are a result of smokers believing e-cigarettes to be effective cessation aids. PMID:29242819

Attentional cueing: fearful body postures capture attention with saccades.

PubMed

Bannerman, Rachel L; Milders, Maarten; Sahraie, Arash

2010-05-01

According to theories of attention and emotion, threat-related stimuli (e.g., negative facial expressions) capture and hold attention. Despite these theories, previous examination of attentional cueing by threat showed no enhanced capture at brief durations. One explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects may be related to the sensitivity of the manual response measure employed. Here we extended beyond facial expressions and investigated the time course of orienting attention towards fearful body postures in the exogenous cueing task. Cue duration (20, 40, 60, or 100 ms), orientation (upright or inverted), and response mode (saccadic eye movement or manual keypress) were manipulated across three experiments. In the saccade mode, both enhanced attentional capture and impaired disengagement from fearful bodies were evident and limited to rapid cue durations (20 and 40 ms), suggesting that saccadic cueing effects emerge rapidly and are short lived. In the manual mode, fearful bodies impacted only upon the disengagement component of attention at 100 ms, suggesting that manual cueing effects emerge over longer periods of time. No cueing modulation was found for inverted presentation, suggesting that valence, not low-level image confounds, was responsible for the cueing effects. Importantly, saccades could reveal threat biases at brief cue durations consistent with current theories of emotion and attention.

Design and implementation of a study evaluating extinction processes to food cues in obese children: the Intervention for Regulations of Cues Trial (iROC).

PubMed

Boutelle, Kerri N; Liang, June; Knatz, Stephanie; Matheson, Brittany; Risbrough, Victoria; Strong, David; Rhee, Kyung E; Craske, Michelle G; Zucker, Nancy; Bouton, Mark E

2015-01-01

Obesity and its health sequelae affect a significant portion of children in the United States. Yet, the current gold-standard family-based behavioral weight-loss treatments are only effective for one-third of children long-term. Therefore, we developed iROC (Intervention for Regulation of Cues) to specifically target a method to decrease overeating in overweight children, based on learning theory, to inform and enhance interventions targeting diet and obesity in youth. This study will rigorously test extinction processes as a method of decreasing physiological and psychological responses to food cues in overweight and obese children. Through exposing children to their highly craved foods, and 'training the brain and body' to decrease overeating, we are hoping to produce longer-lasting weight loss or weight-gain prevention over time. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceptual Training in Beach Volleyball Defence: Different Effects of Gaze-Path Cueing on Gaze and Decision-Making

PubMed Central

Klostermann, André; Vater, Christian; Kredel, Ralf; Hossner, Ernst-Joachim

2015-01-01

For perceptual-cognitive skill training, a variety of intervention methods has been proposed, including the so-called “color-cueing method” which aims on superior gaze-path learning by applying visual markers. However, recent findings challenge this method, especially, with regards to its actual effects on gaze behavior. Consequently, after a preparatory study on the identification of appropriate visual cues for life-size displays, a perceptual-training experiment on decision-making in beach volleyball was conducted, contrasting two cueing interventions (functional vs. dysfunctional gaze path) with a conservative control condition (anticipation-related instructions). Gaze analyses revealed learning effects for the dysfunctional group only. Regarding decision-making, all groups showed enhanced performance with largest improvements for the control group followed by the functional and the dysfunctional group. Hence, the results confirm cueing effects on gaze behavior, but they also question its benefit for enhancing decision-making. However, before completely denying the method’s value, optimisations should be checked regarding, for instance, cueing-pattern characteristics and gaze-related feedback. PMID:26648894

Meninges-derived cues control axon guidance.

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed Central

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

Craving, Cue Reactivity, and Stimulus Control Among Early-Stage Young Smokers: Effects of Smoking Intensity and Gender

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Introduction: Smoking initiation usually begins in adolescence, but how and for whom nicotine dependence emerges during this period is unclear. The cue-reactivity paradigm is well suited to examine one marker of dependence: craving-related stimulus control, i.e., the ability of environmental cues to elicit craving to smoke. This study examined the effects of both level of smoking involvement (daily vs. occasional smoking) and gender on reactivity to both smoking and alcohol cues. Methods: Young (age range 16–20; 42% female) daily (n = 55) and occasional (n = 52) smokers were exposed to each of three counterbalanced cues: (a) in vivo smoking (e.g., sight, smell, lighting of cigarette), (b) alcohol (e.g., opening, pouring, and smell of preferred beverage), and (c) neutral cue. Results: Daily smokers exhibited higher levels of tonic (i.e., noncue-elicited) craving than did occasional smokers. Both groups showed significant increases in craving in response to cues (i.e., cue-elicited craving), with little evidence that cue-elicited craving differed between groups. Females were more cue reactive to both the alcohol and smoking cues than males, particularly for the positively reinforced aspects of smoking (i.e., hedonic craving). There were no gender × group interaction effects in response to either the alcohol or the smoking cue. Conclusions: Findings show the presence of cue-elicited craving even among occasional smokers and are consistent with literature demonstrating heightened sensitivity to environmental cues among females. Cue-elicited craving may be one mechanism that contributes to the maintenance of smoking behavior and perhaps to the development of nicotine dependence within early stage smokers. PMID:24042699

Acupuncture inhibits cue-induced heroin craving and brain activation★

PubMed Central

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

2012-01-01

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. PMID:25368637

Acupuncture inhibits cue-induced heroin craving and brain activation.

PubMed

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.