Control effects of stimulus paradigms on characteristic firings of parkinsonism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Honghui; Wang, Qingyun; Chen, Guanrong

2014-09-01

Experimental studies have shown that neuron population located in the basal ganglia of parkinsonian primates can exhibit characteristic firings with certain firing rates differing from normal brain activities. Motivated by recent experimental findings, we investigate the effects of various stimulation paradigms on the firing rates of parkinsonism based on the proposed dynamical models. Our results show that the closed-loop deep brain stimulation is superior in ameliorating the firing behaviors of the parkinsonism, and other control strategies have similar effects according to the observation of electrophysiological experiments. In addition, in conformity to physiological experiments, we found that there exists optimal delay of input in the closed-loop GPtrain|M1 paradigm, where more normal behaviors can be obtained. More interestingly, we observed that W-shaped curves of the firing rates always appear as stimulus delay varies. We furthermore verify the robustness of the obtained results by studying three pallidal discharge rates of the parkinsonism based on the conductance-based model, as well as the integrate-and-fire-or-burst model. Finally, we show that short-term plasticity can improve the firing rates and optimize the control effects on parkinsonism. Our conclusions may give more theoretical insight into Parkinson's disease studies.

Prediction of User Preference over Shared Control Paradigms for a Robotic Wheelchair

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-20

the experimentally -observed changes between subject groups and sessions, while providing unique insight into the relative contribution of task metrics...WHEELCHAIR, including the four tested shared- control paradigms. The correlation model and experimental results are provided in Sections IV and V. Section VI...paradigm-specific models. Moreover, we also observe differences between sub- ject groups —meaning that subjects’ evaluations of a control paradigm are

The Translation of Basic Behavioral Research to School Psychology: A Citation Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Derek D.

2008-01-01

In recent years, school psychology has become increasingly grounded in data-based decision making and intervention design, based upon behavior analytic principles. This paradigm shift has occurred in part by recent federal legislation, as well as through advances in experimental research replicating laboratory based studies. Translating basic…

Conceptual information processing: A robust approach to KBS-DBMS integration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lazzara, Allen V.; Tepfenhart, William; White, Richard C.; Liuzzi, Raymond

1987-01-01

Integrating the respective functionality and architectural features of knowledge base and data base management systems is a topic of considerable interest. Several aspects of this topic and associated issues are addressed. The significance of integration and the problems associated with accomplishing that integration are discussed. The shortcomings of current approaches to integration and the need to fuse the capabilities of both knowledge base and data base management systems motivates the investigation of information processing paradigms. One such paradigm is concept based processing, i.e., processing based on concepts and conceptual relations. An approach to robust knowledge and data base system integration is discussed by addressing progress made in the development of an experimental model for conceptual information processing.

[Testing of the effect of classic conditioning stimuli in human experiment by means of the transfer of control paradigm].

PubMed

Wolter, J

1999-01-01

Pavlovian conditioning in animals is often evaluated by means of transfer of control experiments. With human subjects, however, only very few studies have been conducted and the outcomes were often not in accordance with theoretical explanations based on studies with animals. A theoretical framework is presented that tries to integrate the results of the human conditioning paradigm and the animal conditioning paradigm as well, with reference to the well-known Yerkes-Dodson law. The experimental study with human subjects (N = 24) confirmed the predictions out of this framework, when a procedure similar to animal research is applied.

A self-paced brain-computer interface for controlling a robot simulator: an online event labelling paradigm and an extended Kalman filter based algorithm for online training.

PubMed

Tsui, Chun Sing Louis; Gan, John Q; Roberts, Stephen J

2009-03-01

Due to the non-stationarity of EEG signals, online training and adaptation are essential to EEG based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Self-paced BCIs offer more natural human-machine interaction than synchronous BCIs, but it is a great challenge to train and adapt a self-paced BCI online because the user's control intention and timing are usually unknown. This paper proposes a novel motor imagery based self-paced BCI paradigm for controlling a simulated robot in a specifically designed environment which is able to provide user's control intention and timing during online experiments, so that online training and adaptation of the motor imagery based self-paced BCI can be effectively investigated. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed paradigm with an extended Kalman filter based method to adapt the BCI classifier parameters, with experimental results of online self-paced BCI training with four subjects.

An fMRI paradigm based on Williams inhibition test to study the neural substrates of attention and inhibitory control.

PubMed

Dores, Artemisa R; Barbosa, Fernando; Carvalho, Irene P; Almeida, Isabel; Guerreiro, Sandra; da Rocha, Benedita Martins; Cunha, Gil; Castelo Branco, Miguel; de Sousa, Liliana; Castro Caldas, Alexandre

2017-12-01

The purpose of this study is to present an fMRI paradigm, based on the Williams inhibition test (WIT), to study attentional and inhibitory control and their neuroanatomical substrates. We present an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioral performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with acquired brain injury. Stroop and Simon tests present similarities with WIT, but this latter is more demanding. We analyze the BOLD signal in 10 healthy participants performing the WIT. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inferior prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex were defined for specified region of interest analysis. We additionally compare behavioral data (hits, errors, reaction times) of the healthy participants with those of eight acquired brain injury patients. Data were analyzed with GLM-based random effects and Mann-Whitney tests. Results show the involvement of the defined regions and indicate that the WIT is sensitive to brain lesions. This WIT-based block design paradigm can be used as a research methodology for behavioral and neuroimaging studies of the attentional and inhibitory components of executive functions.

Ostracism Online: A social media ostracism paradigm.

PubMed

Wolf, Wouter; Levordashka, Ana; Ruff, Johanna R; Kraaijeveld, Steven; Lueckmann, Jan-Matthis; Williams, Kipling D

2015-06-01

We describe Ostracism Online, a novel, social media-based ostracism paradigm designed to (1) keep social interaction experimentally controlled, (2) provide researchers with the flexibility to manipulate the properties of the social situation to fit their research purposes, (3) be suitable for online data collection, (4) be convenient for studying subsequent within-group behavior, and (5) be ecologically valid. After collecting data online, we compared the Ostracism Online paradigm with the Cyberball paradigm (Williams & Jarvis Behavior Research Methods, 38, 174-180, 2006) on need-threat and mood questionnaire scores (van Beest & Williams Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91, 918-928, 2006). We also examined whether ostracized targets of either paradigm would be more likely to conform to their group members than if they had been included. Using a Bayesian analysis of variance to examine the individual effects of the different paradigms and to compare these effects across paradigms, we found analogous effects on need-threat and mood. Perhaps because we examined conformity to the ostracizers (rather than neutral sources), neither paradigm showed effects of ostracism on conformity. We conclude that Ostracism Online is a cost-effective, easy to use, and ecologically valid research tool for studying the psychological and behavioral effects of ostracism.

Highlights from the previous volumes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vergini Eduardo, G.; Pan, Y.; al., Vardi R. et; al., Akkermans Eric et; et al.

2014-01-01

Semiclassical propagation up to the Heisenberg time Superconductivity and magnetic order in the half-Heusler compound ErPdBi An experimental evidence-based computational paradigm for new logic-gates in neuronal activity Universality in the symmetric exclusion process and diffusive systems

Experimental Reservoirs of Human Pathogens: The Vibrio Cholerae Paradigm (7th Annual SFAF Meeting, 2012)

ScienceCinema

Colwell, Rita

2018-05-14

Rita Colwell on "Experimental Reservoirs of Human Pathogens: The Vibrio cholerae paradigm" at the 2012 Sequencing, Finishing, Analysis in the Future Meeting held June 5-7, 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Experimental Reservoirs of Human Pathogens: The Vibrio Cholerae Paradigm (7th Annual SFAF Meeting, 2012)

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

Colwell, Rita

Rita Colwell on "Experimental Reservoirs of Human Pathogens: The Vibrio cholerae paradigm" at the 2012 Sequencing, Finishing, Analysis in the Future Meeting held June 5-7, 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Differences in social interaction- vs. cocaine reward in mouse vs. rat.

PubMed

Kummer, Kai K; Hofhansel, Lena; Barwitz, Constanze M; Schardl, Aurelia; Prast, Janine M; Salti, Ahmad; El Rawas, Rana; Zernig, Gerald

2014-01-01

We previously developed rat experimental models based on the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in which only four 15-min episodes of dyadic social interaction with a sex- and weight-matched male Sprague Dawley (SD) rat (1) reversed CPP from cocaine to social interaction despite continuing cocaine training, and (2) prevented the reacquisition/re-expression of cocaine CPP. In a concurrent conditioning schedule, pairing one compartment with social interaction and the other compartment with 15 mg/kg cocaine injections, rats spent the same amount of time in both compartments and the most rewarding sensory component of the composite stimulus social interaction was touch (taction). In the present study, we validated our experimental paradigm in C57BL/6 mice to investigate if our experimental paradigm may be useful for the considerable number of genetically modified mouse models. Only 71% of the tested mice developed place preference for social interaction, whereas 85% of the rats did. Accordingly, 29% of the mice developed conditioned place aversion (CPA) to social interaction, whereas this was true for only 15% of the rats. In support of the lesser likelihood of mice to develop a preference for social interaction, the average amount of time spent in direct contact was 17% for mice vs. 79% for rats. In animals that were concurrently conditioned for social interaction vs. cocaine, the relative reward strength for cocaine was 300-fold higher in mice than in rats. Considering that human addicts regularly prefer drugs of abuse to drug-free social interaction, the present findings suggest that our experimental paradigm of concurrent CPP for cocaine vs. social interaction is of even greater translational power if performed in C57BL/6 mice, the genetic background for most transgenic rodent models, than in rats.

Different Research Paradigms Concerning Giftedness and Gifted Education: Shall Ever They Meet?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heller, Kurt A.

2012-01-01

Knowledge regarding giftedness and gifted education is supplied by different sources of information and different research paradigms. Particularly relevant approaches are here the psychometric paradigm, the expert-novice paradigm, and the explanatory approaches from cognitive sciences, also the quasi-experimental social and developmental studies…

A Human Alcohol Self-Administration Paradigm to Model Individual Differences in Impaired Control over Alcohol Use

PubMed Central

Leeman, Robert F.; Corbin, William R.; Nogueira, Christine; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N.; O’Malley, Stephanie S.

2014-01-01

We developed an alcohol self-administration paradigm to model individual differences in impaired control. The paradigm includes moderate drinking guidelines meant to model limits on alcohol consumption, which are typically exceeded by people with impaired control. Possible payment reductions provided a disincentive for excessive drinking. Alcohol use above the guideline, despite possible pay reductions, was considered to be indicative of impaired control. Heavy-drinking 21–25 year-olds (N = 39) were randomized to an experimental condition including the elements of the impaired control paradigm or to a free-drinking condition without these elements. Alcohol self-administration was compared between these two conditions to establish the internal validity of the experimental paradigm. In both conditions, participants self-administered beer and non-alcoholic beverages for 3 hours in a bar setting with 1–3 other participants. Experimental condition participants self-administered significantly fewer beers and drank to lower blood-alcohol concentrations (BACs) on average than those in the free-drinking condition. Experimental condition participants were more likely than free-drinking condition participants to intersperse non-alcoholic beverages with beer and to drink at a slower pace. Although experimental condition participants drank more moderately than those in the free-drinking condition overall, their range of drinking was considerable (BAC range = .024–.097) with several participants drinking excessively. A lower initial subjective response to alcohol and earlier age of alcohol use onset were associated with greater alcohol self-administration in the experimental condition. Given the variability in response, the impaired control laboratory paradigm may have utility for preliminary tests of novel interventions in future studies and for identifying individual differences in problem-drinking risk. PMID:23937598

An Efficient ERP-Based Brain-Computer Interface Using Random Set Presentation and Face Familiarity

PubMed Central

Müller, Klaus-Robert; Lee, Seong-Whan

2014-01-01

Event-related potential (ERP)-based P300 spellers are commonly used in the field of brain-computer interfaces as an alternative channel of communication for people with severe neuro-muscular diseases. This study introduces a novel P300 based brain-computer interface (BCI) stimulus paradigm using a random set presentation pattern and exploiting the effects of face familiarity. The effect of face familiarity is widely studied in the cognitive neurosciences and has recently been addressed for the purpose of BCI. In this study we compare P300-based BCI performances of a conventional row-column (RC)-based paradigm with our approach that combines a random set presentation paradigm with (non-) self-face stimuli. Our experimental results indicate stronger deflections of the ERPs in response to face stimuli, which are further enhanced when using the self-face images, and thereby improving P300-based spelling performance. This lead to a significant reduction of stimulus sequences required for correct character classification. These findings demonstrate a promising new approach for improving the speed and thus fluency of BCI-enhanced communication with the widely used P300-based BCI setup. PMID:25384045

An efficient ERP-based brain-computer interface using random set presentation and face familiarity.

PubMed

Yeom, Seul-Ki; Fazli, Siamac; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Lee, Seong-Whan

2014-01-01

Event-related potential (ERP)-based P300 spellers are commonly used in the field of brain-computer interfaces as an alternative channel of communication for people with severe neuro-muscular diseases. This study introduces a novel P300 based brain-computer interface (BCI) stimulus paradigm using a random set presentation pattern and exploiting the effects of face familiarity. The effect of face familiarity is widely studied in the cognitive neurosciences and has recently been addressed for the purpose of BCI. In this study we compare P300-based BCI performances of a conventional row-column (RC)-based paradigm with our approach that combines a random set presentation paradigm with (non-) self-face stimuli. Our experimental results indicate stronger deflections of the ERPs in response to face stimuli, which are further enhanced when using the self-face images, and thereby improving P300-based spelling performance. This lead to a significant reduction of stimulus sequences required for correct character classification. These findings demonstrate a promising new approach for improving the speed and thus fluency of BCI-enhanced communication with the widely used P300-based BCI setup.

Assessing Neurocognition via Gamified Experimental Logic: A Novel Approach to Simultaneous Acquisition of Multiple ERPs.

PubMed

Nair, Ajay K; Sasidharan, Arun; John, John P; Mehrotra, Seema; Kutty, Bindu M

2016-01-01

The present study describes the development of a neurocognitive paradigm: "Assessing Neurocognition via Gamified Experimental Logic" (ANGEL), for performing the parametric evaluation of multiple neurocognitive functions simultaneously. ANGEL employs an audiovisual sensory motor design for the acquisition of multiple event related potentials (ERPs)-the C1, P50, MMN, N1, N170, P2, N2pc, LRP, P300, and ERN. The ANGEL paradigm allows assessment of 10 neurocognitive variables over the course of three "game" levels of increasing complexity ranging from simple passive observation to complex discrimination and response in the presence of multiple distractors. The paradigm allows assessment of several levels of rapid decision making: speeded up response vs. response-inhibition; responses to easy vs. difficult tasks; responses based on gestalt perception of clear vs. ambiguous stimuli; and finally, responses with set shifting during challenging tasks. The paradigm has been tested using 18 healthy participants from both sexes and the possibilities of varied data analyses have been presented in this paper. The ANGEL approach provides an ecologically valid assessment (as compared to existing tools) that quickly yields a very rich dataset and helps to assess multiple ERPs that can be studied extensively to assess cognitive functions in health and disease conditions.

Assessing Neurocognition via Gamified Experimental Logic: A Novel Approach to Simultaneous Acquisition of Multiple ERPs

PubMed Central

Nair, Ajay K.; Sasidharan, Arun; John, John P.; Mehrotra, Seema; Kutty, Bindu M.

2016-01-01

The present study describes the development of a neurocognitive paradigm: “Assessing Neurocognition via Gamified Experimental Logic” (ANGEL), for performing the parametric evaluation of multiple neurocognitive functions simultaneously. ANGEL employs an audiovisual sensory motor design for the acquisition of multiple event related potentials (ERPs)—the C1, P50, MMN, N1, N170, P2, N2pc, LRP, P300, and ERN. The ANGEL paradigm allows assessment of 10 neurocognitive variables over the course of three “game” levels of increasing complexity ranging from simple passive observation to complex discrimination and response in the presence of multiple distractors. The paradigm allows assessment of several levels of rapid decision making: speeded up response vs. response-inhibition; responses to easy vs. difficult tasks; responses based on gestalt perception of clear vs. ambiguous stimuli; and finally, responses with set shifting during challenging tasks. The paradigm has been tested using 18 healthy participants from both sexes and the possibilities of varied data analyses have been presented in this paper. The ANGEL approach provides an ecologically valid assessment (as compared to existing tools) that quickly yields a very rich dataset and helps to assess multiple ERPs that can be studied extensively to assess cognitive functions in health and disease conditions. PMID:26858586

Passage of American shad: paradigms and realities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haro, Alex; Castro-Santos, Theodore

2012-01-01

Despite more than 250 years of development, the passage of American shad Alosa sapidissima at dams and other barriers frequently remains problematic. Few improvements in design based on knowledge of the swimming, schooling, and migratory behaviors of American shad have been incorporated into passage structures. Large-scale technical fishways designed for the passage of adult salmonids on the Columbia River have been presumed to have good performance for American shad but have never been rigorously evaluated for this species. Similar but smaller fishway designs on the East Coast frequently have poor performance. Provision of effective downstream passage for both juvenile and postspawning adult American shad has been given little consideration in most passage projects. Ways to attract and guide American shad to both fishway entrances and downstream bypasses remain marginally understood. The historical development of passage structures for American shad has resulted in assumptions and paradigms about American shad behavior and passage that are frequently unsubstantiated by supporting data or appropriate experimentation. We propose that many of these assumptions and paradigms are either unfounded or invalid and that significant improvements to American shad upstream and downstream passage can be made via a sequential program of behavioral experimentation, application of experimental results to the physical and hydraulic design of new structures, and controlled tests of large-scale prototype structures in the laboratory and field.

Heterogeneous concurrent computing with exportable services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sunderam, Vaidy

1995-01-01

Heterogeneous concurrent computing, based on the traditional process-oriented model, is approaching its functionality and performance limits. An alternative paradigm, based on the concept of services, supporting data driven computation, and built on a lightweight process infrastructure, is proposed to enhance the functional capabilities and the operational efficiency of heterogeneous network-based concurrent computing. TPVM is an experimental prototype system supporting exportable services, thread-based computation, and remote memory operations that is built as an extension of and an enhancement to the PVM concurrent computing system. TPVM offers a significantly different computing paradigm for network-based computing, while maintaining a close resemblance to the conventional PVM model in the interest of compatibility and ease of transition Preliminary experiences have demonstrated that the TPVM framework presents a natural yet powerful concurrent programming interface, while being capable of delivering performance improvements of upto thirty percent.

Susceptibility to Peer Influence: Using a Performance-Based Measure to Identify Adolescent Males at Heightened Risk for Deviant Peer Socialization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prinstein, Mitchell J.; Brechwald, Whitney A.; Cohen, Geoffrey L.

2011-01-01

A substantial amount of research has suggested that adolescents' attitudes and behaviors are influenced by peers; however, little is known regarding adolescents' individual variability, or susceptibility, to peer influence. In this study, a performance-based index from an experimental paradigm was used to directly measure adolescents'…

The Impact of Task-Based Approach on Vocabulary Learning in ESP Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sarani, Abdullah; Sahebi, Leila Farzaneh

2012-01-01

This study investigates the teaching of vocabulary in ESP courses within the paradigm of task-based language teaching, concentrating on Persian literature students at Birjand University in Iran. Two homogenous groups of students who were taking their ESP courses participated in the study as a control and an experimental group. A teacher-made test…

The role of impact forces and foot pronation: a new paradigm.

PubMed

Nigg, B M

2001-01-01

This article discusses the possible association between impact forces and foot pronation and the development of running-related injuries, and proposes a new paradigm for impact forces and foot pronation. The article is based on a critical analysis of the literature on heel-toe running addressing kinematics, kinetics, resultant joint movements and forces, muscle activity, subject and material characteristics, epidemiology, and biologic reactions. However, this paper is not a review of the literature but rather an attempt to replace the established concepts of impact forces and movement control with a new paradigm that would allow explaining some of the current contradictions in this topic of research. The analysis included all papers published on this topic over the last 25 years. For the last few years, it concentrated on papers expressing critical concerns on the established concepts of impact and movement control. An attempt was made to find indications in the various publications to support or reject the current concept of impact forces and movement control. Furthermore, the results of the available studies were searched for indications expanding the current understanding of impact forces and movement control in running. Data were synthesized revealing contradictions in the experimental results and the established concepts. Based on the contradictions in the existing research publications, a new paradigm was proposed. Theoretical, experimental, and epidemiological evidence on impact forces showed that one cannot conclude that impact forces are important factors in the development of chronic and/or acute running-related injuries. A new paradigm for impact forces during running proposes that impact forces are input signals that produce muscle tuning shortly before the next contact with the ground to minimize soft tissue vibration and/or reduce joint and tendon loading. Muscle tuning might affect fatigue, comfort, work, and performance. Experimental evidence suggests that the concept of "aligning the skeleton" with shoes, inserts, and orthotics should be reconsidered. They produce only small, not systematic. and subject-specific changes of foot and leg movement. A new paradigm for movement control for the lower extremities proposes that forces acting on the foot during the stance phase act as an input signal producing a muscle reaction. The cost function used in this adaptation process is to maintain a preferred joint movement path for a given movement task. If an intervention counteracts the preferred movement path, muscle activity must be increased. An optimal shoe, insert, or orthotic reduces muscle activity. Thus, shoes, inserts, and orthotics affect general muscle activity and, therefore, fatigue, comfort, work, and performance. The two proposed paradigms suggest that the locomotor system use a similar strategy for "impact" and "movement control." In both cases the locomotor system keeps the general kinematic and kinetic situations similar for a given task. The proposed muscle tuning reaction to impact loading affects the muscle activation before ground contact. The proposed muscle adaptation to provide a constant joint movement pattern affects the muscle activation during ground contact. However, further experimental and theoretical studies are needed to support or reject the proposed paradigms.

Rational design of liposomal drug delivery systems, a review: Combined experimental and computational studies of lipid membranes, liposomes and their PEGylation.

PubMed

Bunker, Alex; Magarkar, Aniket; Viitala, Tapani

2016-10-01

Combined experimental and computational studies of lipid membranes and liposomes, with the aim to attain mechanistic understanding, result in a synergy that makes possible the rational design of liposomal drug delivery system (LDS) based therapies. The LDS is the leading form of nanoscale drug delivery platform, an avenue in drug research, known as "nanomedicine", that holds the promise to transcend the current paradigm of drug development that has led to diminishing returns. Unfortunately this field of research has, so far, been far more successful in generating publications than new drug therapies. This partly results from the trial and error based methodologies used. We discuss experimental techniques capable of obtaining mechanistic insight into LDS structure and behavior. Insight obtained purely experimentally is, however, limited; computational modeling using molecular dynamics simulation can provide insight not otherwise available. We review computational research, that makes use of the multiscale modeling paradigm, simulating the phospholipid membrane with all atom resolution and the entire liposome with coarse grained models. We discuss in greater detail the computational modeling of liposome PEGylation. Overall, we wish to convey the power that lies in the combined use of experimental and computational methodologies; we hope to provide a roadmap for the rational design of LDS based therapies. Computational modeling is able to provide mechanistic insight that explains the context of experimental results and can also take the lead and inspire new directions for experimental research into LDS development. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biosimulations edited by Ilpo Vattulainen and Tomasz Róg. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

What does a compound letter tell the psychologist's mind?

PubMed

Navon, David

2003-11-01

The paradigm based on using compound stimuli for studying global and local processing is revisited. Noting that not all researchers employ compound stimuli for the same purpose, the issue of its purpose is discussed. It is argued that the paradigm is pertinent for examining at least three notions--formation preference, global addressability, and within-object global precedence. It is suggested that findings in the paradigm are accommodated well by a disjunction of those three perceptual dispositions. A number of further issues associated with the interpretation of findings obtained with it are examined as well. An experimental study is reported that is meant to examine one such issue--a possible artifact putatively introduced by the special attribute of element homogeneity characteristic of compound stimuli. Seven experiments were used to examine to what extent, if at all, global advantage observed in compound stimulus paradigms depends on element heterogeneity. Across those experiments, heterogeneity did not have any effect that could be interpreted as suggesting that the paradigm is biased in favor of the global structure due to element homogeneity.

No-Report Paradigms: Extracting the True Neural Correlates of Consciousness.

PubMed

Tsuchiya, Naotsugu; Wilke, Melanie; Frässle, Stefan; Lamme, Victor A F

2015-12-01

The goal of consciousness research is to reveal the neural basis of phenomenal experience. To study phenomenology, experimenters seem obliged to ask reports from the subjects to ascertain what they experience. However, we argue that the requirement of reports has biased the search for the neural correlates of consciousness over the past decades. More recent studies attempt to dissociate neural activity that gives rise to consciousness from the activity that enables the report; in particular, no-report paradigms have been utilized to study conscious experience in the full absence of any report. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of report-based and no-report paradigms, and ask how these jointly bring us closer to understanding the true neural basis of consciousness. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An approach for brain-controlled prostheses based on Scene Graph Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials.

PubMed

Li, Rui; Zhang, Xiaodong; Li, Hanzhe; Zhang, Liming; Lu, Zhufeng; Chen, Jiangcheng

2018-08-01

Brain control technology can restore communication between the brain and a prosthesis, and choosing a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) paradigm to evoke electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is an essential step for developing this technology. In this paper, the Scene Graph paradigm used for controlling prostheses was proposed; this paradigm is based on Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs) regarding the Scene Graph of a subject's intention. A mathematic model was built to predict SSVEPs evoked by the proposed paradigm and a sinusoidal stimulation method was used to present the Scene Graph stimulus to elicit SSVEPs from subjects. Then, a 2-degree of freedom (2-DOF) brain-controlled prosthesis system was constructed to validate the performance of the Scene Graph-SSVEP (SG-SSVEP)-based BCI. The classification of SG-SSVEPs was detected via the Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) approach. To assess the efficiency of proposed BCI system, the performances of traditional SSVEP-BCI system were compared. Experimental results from six subjects suggested that the proposed system effectively enhanced the SSVEP responses, decreased the degradation of SSVEP strength and reduced the visual fatigue in comparison with the traditional SSVEP-BCI system. The average signal to noise ratio (SNR) of SG-SSVEP was 6.31 ± 2.64 dB, versus 3.38 ± 0.78 dB of traditional-SSVEP. In addition, the proposed system achieved good performances in prosthesis control. The average accuracy was 94.58% ± 7.05%, and the corresponding high information transfer rate (IRT) was 19.55 ± 3.07 bit/min. The experimental results revealed that the SG-SSVEP based BCI system achieves the good performance and improved the stability relative to the conventional approach. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Experimental Fractional Crystallization of the Lunar Magma Ocean

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rapp, J. F.; Draper, D. S.

2012-01-01

The current paradigm for lunar evolution is of crystallization of a global scale magma ocean, giving rise to the anorthositic crust and mafic cumulate interior. It is thought that all other lunar rocks have arisen from this differentiated interior. However, until recently this paradigm has remained untested experimentally. Presented here are the first experimental results of fractional crystallization of a Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO) using the Taylor Whole Moon (TWM) bulk lunar composition [1].

Natural Memory Beyond the Storage Model: Repression, Trauma, and the Construction of a Personal Past

PubMed Central

Axmacher, Nikolai; Do Lam, Anne T. A.; Kessler, Henrik; Fell, Juergen

2010-01-01

Naturally occurring memory processes show features which are difficult to investigate by conventional cognitive neuroscience paradigms. Distortions of memory for problematic contents are described both by psychoanalysis (internal conflicts) and research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; external traumata). Typically, declarative memory for these contents is impaired – possibly due to repression in the case of internal conflicts or due to dissociation in the case of external traumata – but they continue to exert an unconscious pathological influence: neurotic symptoms or psychosomatic disorders after repression or flashbacks and intrusions in PTSD after dissociation. Several experimental paradigms aim at investigating repression in healthy control subjects. We argue that these paradigms do not adequately operationalize the clinical process of repression, because they rely on an intentional inhibition of random stimuli (suppression). Furthermore, these paradigms ignore that memory distortions due to repression or dissociation are most accurately characterized by a lack of self-referential processing, resulting in an impaired integration of these contents into the self. This aspect of repression and dissociation cannot be captured by the concept of memory as a storage device which is usually employed in the cognitive neurosciences. It can only be assessed within the framework of a constructivist memory concept, according to which successful memory involves a reconstruction of experiences such that they fit into a representation of the self. We suggest several experimental paradigms that allow for the investigation of the neural correlates of repressed memories and trauma-induced memory distortions based on a constructivist memory concept. PMID:21151366

The Rise of the Super Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stamper, John C.; Lomas, Derek; Ching, Dixie; Ritter, Steve; Koedinger, Kenneth R.; Steinhart, Jonathan

2012-01-01

Traditional experimental paradigms have focused on executing experiments in a lab setting and eventually moving successful findings to larger experiments in the field. However, data from field experiments can also be used to inform new lab experiments. Now, with the advent of large student populations using internet-based learning software, online…

Neural correlates of social exclusion across ages: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional MRI studies.

PubMed

Vijayakumar, Nandita; Cheng, Theresa W; Pfeifer, Jennifer H

2017-06-01

Given the recent surge in functional neuroimaging studies on social exclusion, the current study employed activation likelihood estimation (ALE) based meta-analyses to identify brain regions that have consistently been implicated across different experimental paradigms used to investigate exclusion. We also examined the neural correlates underlying Cyberball, the most commonly used paradigm to study exclusion, as well as differences in exclusion-related activation between developing (7-18 years of age, from pre-adolescence up to late adolescence) and emerging adult (broadly defined as undergraduates, including late adolescence and young adulthood) samples. Results revealed involvement of the bilateral medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, right precuneus and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex across the different paradigms used to examine social exclusion; similar activation patterns were identified when restricting the analysis to Cyberball studies. Investigations into age-related effects revealed that ventrolateral prefrontal activations identified in the full sample were driven by (i.e. present in) developmental samples, while medial prefrontal activations were driven by emerging adult samples. In addition, the right ventral striatum was implicated in exclusion, but only in developmental samples. Subtraction analysis revealed significantly greater activation likelihood in striatal and ventrolateral prefrontal clusters in the developmental samples as compared to emerging adults, though the opposite contrast failed to identify any significant regions. Findings integrate the knowledge accrued from functional neuroimaging studies on social exclusion to date, highlighting involvement of lateral prefrontal regions implicated in regulation and midline structures involved in social cognitive and self-evaluative processes across experimental paradigms and ages, as well as limbic structures in developing samples specifically. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Self-Control Versus a Counterconditioning Paradigm for Systematic Desensitization: An Experimental Comparison

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spiegler, Michael D.; And Others

1976-01-01

A comparison was made between the traditional counterconditioning paradigm and a self-control paradigm of systematic desensitization. College students reporting high test anxiety and indicating interest in receiving treatment were assigned to counterconditioning, self-control, or wait-list control conditions. As predicted, self-control procedures…

A Systematic Review of Experimental Paradigms for Exploring Biased Interpretation of Ambiguous Information with Emotional and Neutral Associations.

PubMed

Schoth, Daniel E; Liossi, Christina

2017-01-01

Interpretation biases have been extensively explored in a range of populations, including patients with anxiety and depressive disorders where they have been argued to influence the onset and maintenance of such conditions. Other populations in which interpretation biases have been explored include patients with chronic pain, anorexia nervosa, and alcohol dependency among others, although this literature is more limited. In this research, stimuli with threatening/emotional and neutral meanings are presented, with participant responses indicative of ambiguity resolution. A large number of paradigms have been designed and implemented in the exploration of interpretation biases, some varying in minor features only. This article provides a review of experimental paradigms available for exploring interpretation biases, with the aim to stimulate and inform the design of future research exploring cognitive biases across a range of populations. A systematic search of the experimental literature was conducted in Medline, PsychINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms were information, stimuli , and ambiguous intersected with the terms interpretation and bias * . Forty-five paradigms were found, categorized into those using ambiguous words, ambiguous images, and ambiguous scenarios. The key features, strengths and limitations of the paradigms identified are discussed.

Refuting Data Aggregation Arguments and How the Instance-Based Learning Model Stands Criticism: A Reply to Hills and Hertwig (2012)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez, Cleotilde; Dutt, Varun

2012-01-01

Hills and Hertwig (2012) challenge the proposed similarity of the exploration-exploitation transitions found in Gonzalez and Dutt (2011) between the 2 experimental paradigms of decisions from experience (sampling and repeated-choice), which was predicted by an instance-based learning (IBL) model. The heart of their argument is that in the sampling…

The Evolution of Electronic Pedagogy in an Outcome Based Learning Environment: Learning, Teaching, and the Culture of Technology at California's Newest University--CSU Monterey Bay.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, George

California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is the newest university in the CSU system. CSUMB's vision statement distinguishes the institution from others in the system by promoting learning paradigms of Outcome Based Education (OBE) and communication technologies of distributed learning (DL). Faculty are committed to the experimental use of…

Experiments in thrusterless robot locomotion control for space applications. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jasper, Warren Joseph

1990-01-01

While performing complex assembly tasks or moving about in space, a space robot should minimize the amount of propellant consumed. A study is presented of space robot locomotion and orientation without the use of thrusters. The goal was to design a robot control paradigm that will perform thrusterless locomotion between two points on a structure, and to implement this paradigm on an experimental robot. A two arm free flying robot was constructed which floats on a cushion of air to simulate in 2-D the drag free, zero-g environment of space. The robot can impart momentum to itself by pushing off from an external structure in a coordinated two arm maneuver, and can then reorient itself by activating a momentum wheel. The controller design consists of two parts: a high level strategic controller and a low level dynamic controller. The control paradigm was verified experimentally by commanding the robot to push off from a structure with both arms, rotate 180 degs while translating freely, and then to catch itself on another structure. This method, based on the computed torque, provides a linear feedback law in momentum and its derivatives for a system of rigid bodies.

Spillover Effects of Loss of Control on Risky Decision-Making

PubMed Central

Beisswingert, Birgit M.; Zhang, Keshun; Goetz, Thomas; Fischbacher, Urs

2016-01-01

Decision making in risky situations is frequently required in our everyday lives and has been shown to be influenced by various factors, some of which are independent of the risk context. Based on previous findings and theories about the central role of perceptions of control and their impact on subsequent settings, spillover effects of subjective loss of control on risky decision-making are assumed. After developing an innovative experimental paradigm for inducing loss of control, its hypothesized effects on risky decision-making are investigated. Partially supporting the hypotheses, results demonstrated no increased levels of risk perceptions but decreased risk-taking behavior following experiences of loss of control. Thus, this study makes a methodological contribution by proposing a newly developed experimental paradigm facilitating further research on the effects of subjective loss of control, and additionally provides partial evidence for the spillover effects of loss of control experiences on risky decision-making. PMID:26930066

Optimizing laboratory animal stress paradigms: The H-H* experimental design.

PubMed

McCarty, Richard

2017-01-01

Major advances in behavioral neuroscience have been facilitated by the development of consistent and highly reproducible experimental paradigms that have been widely adopted. In contrast, many different experimental approaches have been employed to expose laboratory mice and rats to acute versus chronic intermittent stress. An argument is advanced in this review that more consistent approaches to the design of chronic intermittent stress experiments would provide greater reproducibility of results across laboratories and greater reliability relating to various neural, endocrine, immune, genetic, and behavioral adaptations. As an example, the H-H* experimental design incorporates control, homotypic (H), and heterotypic (H*) groups and allows for comparisons across groups, where each animal is exposed to the same stressor, but that stressor has vastly different biological and behavioral effects depending upon each animal's prior stress history. Implementation of the H-H* experimental paradigm makes possible a delineation of transcriptional changes and neural, endocrine, and immune pathways that are activated in precisely defined stressor contexts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anti-deception: reliable EEG-based biometrics with real-time capability from the neural response of face rapid serial visual presentation.

PubMed

Wu, Qunjian; Yan, Bin; Zeng, Ying; Zhang, Chi; Tong, Li

2018-05-03

The electroencephalogram (EEG) signal represents a subject's specific brain activity patterns and is considered as an ideal biometric given its superior invisibility, non-clonality, and non-coercion. In order to enhance its applicability in identity authentication, a novel EEG-based identity authentication method is proposed based on self- or non-self-face rapid serial visual presentation. In contrast to previous studies that extracted EEG features from rest state or motor imagery, the designed paradigm could obtain a distinct and stable biometric trait with a lower time cost. Channel selection was applied to select specific channels for each user to enhance system portability and improve discriminability between users and imposters. Two different imposter scenarios were designed to test system security, which demonstrate the capability of anti-deception. Fifteen users and thirty imposters participated in the experiment. The mean authentication accuracy values for the two scenarios were 91.31 and 91.61%, with 6 s time cost, which illustrated the precision and real-time capability of the system. Furthermore, in order to estimate the repeatability and stability of our paradigm, another data acquisition session is conducted for each user. Using the classification models generated from the previous sessions, a mean false rejected rate of 7.27% has been achieved, which demonstrates the robustness of our paradigm. Experimental results reveal that the proposed paradigm and methods are effective for EEG-based identity authentication.

Virtual Learning Spaces in the Web: An Agent-Based Architecture of Personalized Collaborative Learning Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nunez Esquer, Gustavo; Sheremetov, Leonid

This paper reports on the results and future research work within the paradigm of Configurable Collaborative Distance Learning, called Espacios Virtuales de Apredizaje (EVA). The paper focuses on: (1) description of the main concepts, including virtual learning spaces for knowledge, collaboration, consulting, and experimentation, a…

Testing for OO-Faithfulness in the Acquisition of Consonant Clusters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tessier, Anne-Michelle

2012-01-01

This article provides experimental evidence for the claim in Hayes (2004) and McCarthy (1998) that language learners are biased to assume that morphological paradigms should be phonologically-uniform--that is, that derived words should retain all the phonological properties of their bases. The evidence comes from an artificial language…

Internalising Problems and the Effects of Peer Ostracism on Children's Primary Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawes, David J.; Zadro, Lisa; Iannuzzelli, Rose; Godwin, Alexandra; MacNevin, Georgia; Dadds, Mark R.; Griffiths, Brendan; Richardson, Rick

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine associations between ostracism, internalising problems, and threat to primary needs (belonging, control, self-esteem, meaningful existence) in children (N= 165, M age = 9 years). Ostracism was simulated experimentally using the Cyberball paradigm--a computer-based ball-throwing game--and threats to primary…

Self-Paced Prioritized Curriculum Learning With Coverage Penalty in Deep Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Ren, Zhipeng; Dong, Daoyi; Li, Huaxiong; Chen, Chunlin; Zhipeng Ren; Daoyi Dong; Huaxiong Li; Chunlin Chen; Dong, Daoyi; Li, Huaxiong; Chen, Chunlin; Ren, Zhipeng

2018-06-01

In this paper, a new training paradigm is proposed for deep reinforcement learning using self-paced prioritized curriculum learning with coverage penalty. The proposed deep curriculum reinforcement learning (DCRL) takes the most advantage of experience replay by adaptively selecting appropriate transitions from replay memory based on the complexity of each transition. The criteria of complexity in DCRL consist of self-paced priority as well as coverage penalty. The self-paced priority reflects the relationship between the temporal-difference error and the difficulty of the current curriculum for sample efficiency. The coverage penalty is taken into account for sample diversity. With comparison to deep Q network (DQN) and prioritized experience replay (PER) methods, the DCRL algorithm is evaluated on Atari 2600 games, and the experimental results show that DCRL outperforms DQN and PER on most of these games. More results further show that the proposed curriculum training paradigm of DCRL is also applicable and effective for other memory-based deep reinforcement learning approaches, such as double DQN and dueling network. All the experimental results demonstrate that DCRL can achieve improved training efficiency and robustness for deep reinforcement learning.

Men, women…who cares? A population-based study on sex differences and gender roles in empathy and moral cognition.

PubMed

Baez, Sandra; Flichtentrei, Daniel; Prats, María; Mastandueno, Ricardo; García, Adolfo M; Cetkovich, Marcelo; Ibáñez, Agustín

2017-01-01

Research on sex differences in empathy has revealed mixed findings. Whereas experimental and neuropsychological measures show no consistent sex effect, self-report data consistently indicates greater empathy in women. However, available results mainly come from separate populations with relatively small samples, which may inflate effect sizes and hinder comparability between both empirical corpora. To elucidate the issue, we conducted two large-scale studies. First, we examined whether sex differences emerge in a large population-based sample (n = 10,802) when empathy is measured with an experimental empathy-for-pain paradigm. Moreover, we investigated the relationship between empathy and moral judgment. In the second study, a subsample (n = 334) completed a self-report empathy questionnaire. Results showed some sex differences in the experimental paradigm, but with minuscule effect sizes. Conversely, women did portray themselves as more empathic through self-reports. In addition, utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas were less frequent in women, although these differences also had small effect sizes. These findings suggest that sex differences in empathy are highly driven by the assessment measure. In particular, self-reports may induce biases leading individuals to assume gender-role stereotypes. Awareness of the role of measurement instruments in this field may hone our understanding of the links between empathy, sex differences, and gender roles.

Donders revisited: Discrete or continuous temporal processing underlying reaction time distributions?

PubMed

Bao, Yan; Yang, Taoxi; Lin, Xiaoxiong; Pöppel, Ernst

2016-09-01

Differences of reaction times to specific stimulus configurations are used as indicators of cognitive processing stages. In this classical experimental paradigm, continuous temporal processing is implicitly assumed. Multimodal response distributions indicate, however, discrete time sampling, which is often masked by experimental conditions. Differences in reaction times reflect discrete temporal mechanisms that are pre-semantically implemented and suggested to be based on entrained neural oscillations. © 2016 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

A normative inference approach for optimal sample sizes in decisions from experience

PubMed Central

Ostwald, Dirk; Starke, Ludger; Hertwig, Ralph

2015-01-01

“Decisions from experience” (DFE) refers to a body of work that emerged in research on behavioral decision making over the last decade. One of the major experimental paradigms employed to study experience-based choice is the “sampling paradigm,” which serves as a model of decision making under limited knowledge about the statistical structure of the world. In this paradigm respondents are presented with two payoff distributions, which, in contrast to standard approaches in behavioral economics, are specified not in terms of explicit outcome-probability information, but by the opportunity to sample outcomes from each distribution without economic consequences. Participants are encouraged to explore the distributions until they feel confident enough to decide from which they would prefer to draw from in a final trial involving real monetary payoffs. One commonly employed measure to characterize the behavior of participants in the sampling paradigm is the sample size, that is, the number of outcome draws which participants choose to obtain from each distribution prior to terminating sampling. A natural question that arises in this context concerns the “optimal” sample size, which could be used as a normative benchmark to evaluate human sampling behavior in DFE. In this theoretical study, we relate the DFE sampling paradigm to the classical statistical decision theoretic literature and, under a probabilistic inference assumption, evaluate optimal sample sizes for DFE. In our treatment we go beyond analytically established results by showing how the classical statistical decision theoretic framework can be used to derive optimal sample sizes under arbitrary, but numerically evaluable, constraints. Finally, we critically evaluate the value of deriving optimal sample sizes under this framework as testable predictions for the experimental study of sampling behavior in DFE. PMID:26441720

Virtually Ostracized: Studying Ostracism in Immersive Virtual Environments

PubMed Central

Wesselmann, Eric D.; Law, Alvin Ty; Williams, Kipling D.

2012-01-01

Abstract Electronic-based communication (such as Immersive Virtual Environments; IVEs) may offer new ways of satisfying the need for social connection, but they also provide ways this need can be thwarted. Ostracism, being ignored and excluded, is a common social experience that threatens fundamental human needs (i.e., belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence). Previous ostracism research has made use of a variety of paradigms, including minimal electronic-based interactions (e.g., Cyberball) and communication (e.g., chatrooms and Short Message Services). These paradigms, however, lack the mundane realism that many IVEs now offer. Further, IVE paradigms designed to measure ostracism may allow researchers to test more nuanced hypotheses about the effects of ostracism. We created an IVE in which ostracism could be manipulated experimentally, emulating a previously validated minimal ostracism paradigm. We found that participants who were ostracized in this IVE experienced the same negative effects demonstrated in other ostracism paradigms, providing, to our knowledge, the first evidence of the negative effects of ostracism in virtual environments. Though further research directly exploring these effects in online virtual environments is needed, this research suggests that individuals encountering ostracism in other virtual environments (such as massively multiplayer online role playing games; MMORPGs) may experience negative effects similar to those of being ostracized in real life. This possibility may have serious implications for individuals who are marginalized in their real life and turn to IVEs to satisfy their need for social connection. PMID:22897472

Virtually ostracized: studying ostracism in immersive virtual environments.

PubMed

Kassner, Matthew P; Wesselmann, Eric D; Law, Alvin Ty; Williams, Kipling D

2012-08-01

Electronic-based communication (such as Immersive Virtual Environments; IVEs) may offer new ways of satisfying the need for social connection, but they also provide ways this need can be thwarted. Ostracism, being ignored and excluded, is a common social experience that threatens fundamental human needs (i.e., belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence). Previous ostracism research has made use of a variety of paradigms, including minimal electronic-based interactions (e.g., Cyberball) and communication (e.g., chatrooms and Short Message Services). These paradigms, however, lack the mundane realism that many IVEs now offer. Further, IVE paradigms designed to measure ostracism may allow researchers to test more nuanced hypotheses about the effects of ostracism. We created an IVE in which ostracism could be manipulated experimentally, emulating a previously validated minimal ostracism paradigm. We found that participants who were ostracized in this IVE experienced the same negative effects demonstrated in other ostracism paradigms, providing, to our knowledge, the first evidence of the negative effects of ostracism in virtual environments. Though further research directly exploring these effects in online virtual environments is needed, this research suggests that individuals encountering ostracism in other virtual environments (such as massively multiplayer online role playing games; MMORPGs) may experience negative effects similar to those of being ostracized in real life. This possibility may have serious implications for individuals who are marginalized in their real life and turn to IVEs to satisfy their need for social connection.

A Systematic Review of Experimental Paradigms for Exploring Biased Interpretation of Ambiguous Information with Emotional and Neutral Associations

PubMed Central

Schoth, Daniel E.; Liossi, Christina

2017-01-01

Interpretation biases have been extensively explored in a range of populations, including patients with anxiety and depressive disorders where they have been argued to influence the onset and maintenance of such conditions. Other populations in which interpretation biases have been explored include patients with chronic pain, anorexia nervosa, and alcohol dependency among others, although this literature is more limited. In this research, stimuli with threatening/emotional and neutral meanings are presented, with participant responses indicative of ambiguity resolution. A large number of paradigms have been designed and implemented in the exploration of interpretation biases, some varying in minor features only. This article provides a review of experimental paradigms available for exploring interpretation biases, with the aim to stimulate and inform the design of future research exploring cognitive biases across a range of populations. A systematic search of the experimental literature was conducted in Medline, PsychINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms were information, stimuli, and ambiguous intersected with the terms interpretation and bias*. Forty-five paradigms were found, categorized into those using ambiguous words, ambiguous images, and ambiguous scenarios. The key features, strengths and limitations of the paradigms identified are discussed. PMID:28232813

The negative priming paradigm: An update and implications for selective attention.

PubMed

Frings, Christian; Schneider, Katja Kerstin; Fox, Elaine

2015-12-01

Negative Priming (NP) is an influential paradigm in cognitive psychology that was originally developed to measure attentional selection. Yet, up to the mid-1990s, a large number of experimental reports questioned whether the NP effect is based on attentional inhibition and/or episodic retrieval processes. In this review, we summarize findings since the mid-1990s and discuss new and old theoretical approaches to Negative Priming. We conclude that more than one process contributes to NP and that future research should analyze the conditions under which a particular process contributes to NP. Moreover, we argue that the paradigm--although it does not measure a single cognitive process alone--is still a useful tool for understanding selection in cognition. In fact, it might be a virtue of the paradigm that several cognitive processes work here together as selection in nonexperimental contexts is surely a multidimensional process. From this perspective, research on NP is relevant for all research fields analyzing selection. We therefore close our review by discussing the implications of the new evidence on NP for theories of selective attention.

The Art of Common Ground: Emergence of a Complex Pragmatic Language Skill in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Marchena, Ashley; Eigsti, Inge-Marie

2016-01-01

Deficits in pragmatic language are central to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here we investigate common ground, a pragmatic language skill in which speakers adjust the contents of their speech based on their interlocutor's perceived knowledge, in adolescents with ASD and typical development (TD), using an experimental narrative paradigm.…

Psychophysiology of Delayed Extinction and Reconsideration in Humans

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

modify or block it. The aim of this project is to create an experimental assay in the form of an optimal Pavlovian differential fear conditioning ...The aim of this project is to create an experimental assay in the form of an optimal Pavlovian differential fear conditioning paradigm. Animal...open label study examining the relative efficacies of pharmacological and non- drug interventions within a fear conditioning paradigm. At the time of

The trauma film paradigm as an experimental psychopathology model of psychological trauma: intrusive memories and beyond.

PubMed

James, Ella L; Lau-Zhu, Alex; Clark, Ian A; Visser, Renée M; Hagenaars, Muriel A; Holmes, Emily A

2016-07-01

A better understanding of psychological trauma is fundamental to clinical psychology. Following traumatic event(s), a clinically significant number of people develop symptoms, including those of Acute Stress Disorder and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The trauma film paradigm offers an experimental psychopathology model to study both exposure and reactions to psychological trauma, including the hallmark symptom of intrusive memories. We reviewed 74 articles that have used this paradigm since the earliest review (Holmes & Bourne, 2008) until July 2014. Highlighting the different stages of trauma processing, i.e. pre-, peri- and post-trauma, the studies are divided according to manipulations before, during and after film viewing, for experimental as well as correlational designs. While the majority of studies focussed on the frequency of intrusive memories, other reactions to trauma were also modelled. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the trauma film paradigm as an experimental psychopathology model of trauma, consider ethical issues, and suggest future directions. By understanding the basic mechanisms underlying trauma symptom development, we can begin to translate findings from the laboratory to the clinic, test innovative science-driven interventions, and in the future reduce the debilitating effects of psychopathology following stressful and/or traumatic events. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Test and Evaluation of TRUST: Tools for Recognizing Useful Signals of Trustworthiness

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

guaranteed, social exchange requires trust—the belief that others will follow through on their obligations. The model includes the beliefs that...current reflection could be measured based on properties of the skin, and (2) skin conductance response (SCR), where the fastest could be measured and...SEM prediction (H4d). The results of the LF HRV signals indicate the SEM model predicts distrust base on the experimental SS paradigm and SEM

Combined Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Virtual Reality-Based Paradigm for Upper Limb Rehabilitation in Individuals with Restricted Movements. A Feasibility Study with a Chronic Stroke Survivor with Severe Hemiparesis.

PubMed

Fuentes, María Antonia; Borrego, Adrián; Latorre, Jorge; Colomer, Carolina; Alcañiz, Mariano; Sánchez-Ledesma, María José; Noé, Enrique; Llorens, Roberto

2018-04-02

Impairments of the upper limb function are a major cause of disability and rehabilitation. Most of the available therapeutic options are based on active exercises and on motor and attentional inclusion of the affected arm in task oriented movements. However, active movements may not be possible after severe impairment of the upper limbs. Different techniques, such as mirror therapy, motor imagery, and non-invasive brain stimulation have been shown to elicit cortical activity in absence of movements, which could be used to preserve the available neural circuits and promote motor learning. We present a virtual reality-based paradigm for upper limb rehabilitation that allows for interaction of individuals with restricted movements from active responses triggered when they attempt to perform a movement. The experimental system also provides multisensory stimulation in the visual, auditory, and tactile channels, and transcranial direct current stimulation coherent to the observed movements. A feasibility study with a chronic stroke survivor with severe hemiparesis who seemed to reach a rehabilitation plateau after two years of its inclusion in a physical therapy program showed clinically meaningful improvement of the upper limb function after the experimental intervention and maintenance of gains in both the body function and activity. The experimental intervention also was reported to be usable and motivating. Although very preliminary, these results could highlight the potential of this intervention to promote functional recovery in severe impairments of the upper limb.

Schema-driven facilitation of new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference paradigm

PubMed Central

Kumaran, Dharshan

2013-01-01

Prior knowledge, in the form of a mental schema or framework, is viewed to facilitate the learning of new information in a range of experimental and everyday scenarios. Despite rising interest in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying schema-driven facilitation of new learning, few paradigms have been developed to examine this issue in humans. Here we develop a multiphase experimental scenario aimed at characterizing schema-based effects in the context of a paradigm that has been very widely used across species, the transitive inference task. We show that an associative schema, comprised of prior knowledge of the rank positions of familiar items in the hierarchy, has a marked effect on transitivity performance and the development of relational knowledge of the hierarchy that cannot be accounted for by more general changes in task strategy. Further, we show that participants are capable of deploying prior knowledge to successful effect under surprising conditions (i.e., when corrective feedback is totally absent), but only when the associative schema is robust. Finally, our results provide insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying such schema-driven effects, and suggest that new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference task can occur through a contextual transfer mechanism that exploits the structure of associative experiences. PMID:23782509

Validation of an auditory sensory reinforcement paradigm: Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli) do not prefer consonant over dissonant sounds.

PubMed

Koda, Hiroki; Basile, Muriel; Olivier, Marion; Remeuf, Kevin; Nagumo, Sumiharu; Blois-Heulin, Catherine; Lemasson, Alban

2013-08-01

The central position and universality of music in human societies raises the question of its phylogenetic origin. One of the most important properties of music involves harmonic musical intervals, in response to which humans show a spontaneous preference for consonant over dissonant sounds starting from early human infancy. Comparative studies conducted with organisms at different levels of the primate lineage are needed to understand the evolutionary scenario under which this phenomenon emerged. Although previous research found no preference for consonance in a New World monkey species, the question remained opened for Old World monkeys. We used an experimental paradigm based on a sensory reinforcement procedure to test auditory preferences for consonant sounds in Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli), an Old World monkey species. Although a systematic preference for soft (70 dB) over loud (90 dB) control white noise was found, Campbell's monkeys showed no preference for either consonant or dissonant sounds. The preference for soft white noise validates our noninvasive experimental paradigm, which can be easily reused in any captive facility to test for auditory preferences. This would suggest that human preference for consonant sounds is not systematically shared with New and Old World monkeys. The sensitivity for harmonic musical intervals emerged probably very late in the primate lineage.

Schema-driven facilitation of new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference paradigm.

PubMed

Kumaran, Dharshan

2013-06-19

Prior knowledge, in the form of a mental schema or framework, is viewed to facilitate the learning of new information in a range of experimental and everyday scenarios. Despite rising interest in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying schema-driven facilitation of new learning, few paradigms have been developed to examine this issue in humans. Here we develop a multiphase experimental scenario aimed at characterizing schema-based effects in the context of a paradigm that has been very widely used across species, the transitive inference task. We show that an associative schema, comprised of prior knowledge of the rank positions of familiar items in the hierarchy, has a marked effect on transitivity performance and the development of relational knowledge of the hierarchy that cannot be accounted for by more general changes in task strategy. Further, we show that participants are capable of deploying prior knowledge to successful effect under surprising conditions (i.e., when corrective feedback is totally absent), but only when the associative schema is robust. Finally, our results provide insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying such schema-driven effects, and suggest that new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference task can occur through a contextual transfer mechanism that exploits the structure of associative experiences.

Dendritic Learning as a Paradigm Shift in Brain Learning.

PubMed

Sardi, Shira; Vardi, Roni; Goldental, Amir; Tugendhaft, Yael; Uzan, Herut; Kanter, Ido

2018-06-20

Experimental and theoretical results reveal a new underlying mechanism for fast brain learning process, dendritic learning, as opposed to the misdirected research in neuroscience over decades, which is based solely on slow synaptic plasticity. The presented paradigm indicates that learning occurs in closer proximity to the neuron, the computational unit, dendritic strengths are self-oscillating, and weak synapses, which comprise the majority of our brain and previously were assumed to be insignificant, play a key role in plasticity. The new learning sites of the brain call for a reevaluation of current treatments for disordered brain functionality and for a better understanding of proper chemical drugs and biological mechanisms to maintain, control and enhance learning.

INO340 telescope control system: middleware requirements, design, and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shalchian, Hengameh; Ravanmehr, Reza

2016-07-01

The INO340 Control System (INOCS) is being designed in terms of a distributed real-time architecture. The real-time (soft and firm) nature of many processes inside INOCS causes the communication paradigm between its different components to be time-critical and sensitive. For this purpose, we have chosen the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard as the communications middleware which is itself based on the publish-subscribe paradigm. In this paper, we review and compare the main middleware types, and then we illustrate the middleware architecture of INOCS and its specific requirements. Finally, we present the experimental results, performed to evaluate our middleware in order to ensure that it meets our requirements.

Computing with dynamical systems based on insulator-metal-transition oscillators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parihar, Abhinav; Shukla, Nikhil; Jerry, Matthew; Datta, Suman; Raychowdhury, Arijit

2017-04-01

In this paper, we review recent work on novel computing paradigms using coupled oscillatory dynamical systems. We explore systems of relaxation oscillators based on linear state transitioning devices, which switch between two discrete states with hysteresis. By harnessing the dynamics of complex, connected systems, we embrace the philosophy of "let physics do the computing" and demonstrate how complex phase and frequency dynamics of such systems can be controlled, programmed, and observed to solve computationally hard problems. Although our discussion in this paper is limited to insulator-to-metallic state transition devices, the general philosophy of such computing paradigms can be translated to other mediums including optical systems. We present the necessary mathematical treatments necessary to understand the time evolution of these systems and demonstrate through recent experimental results the potential of such computational primitives.

The eXperience Induction Machine: A New Paradigm for Mixed-Reality Interaction Design and Psychological Experimentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardet, Ulysses; Bermúdez I Badia, Sergi; Duff, Armin; Inderbitzin, Martin; Le Groux, Sylvain; Manzolli, Jônatas; Mathews, Zenon; Mura, Anna; Väljamäe, Aleksander; Verschure, Paul F. M. J.

The eXperience Induction Machine (XIM) is one of the most advanced mixed-reality spaces available today. XIM is an immersive space that consists of physical sensors and effectors and which is conceptualized as a general-purpose infrastructure for research in the field of psychology and human-artifact interaction. In this chapter, we set out the epistemological rational behind XIM by putting the installation in the context of psychological research. The design and implementation of XIM are based on principles and technologies of neuromorphic control. We give a detailed description of the hardware infrastructure and software architecture, including the logic of the overall behavioral control. To illustrate the approach toward psychological experimentation, we discuss a number of practical applications of XIM. These include the so-called, persistent virtual community, the application in the research of the relationship between human experience and multi-modal stimulation, and an investigation of a mixed-reality social interaction paradigm.

Men, women…who cares? A population-based study on sex differences and gender roles in empathy and moral cognition

PubMed Central

Baez, Sandra; Flichtentrei, Daniel; Prats, María; Mastandueno, Ricardo; García, Adolfo M.; Cetkovich, Marcelo

2017-01-01

Research on sex differences in empathy has revealed mixed findings. Whereas experimental and neuropsychological measures show no consistent sex effect, self-report data consistently indicates greater empathy in women. However, available results mainly come from separate populations with relatively small samples, which may inflate effect sizes and hinder comparability between both empirical corpora. To elucidate the issue, we conducted two large-scale studies. First, we examined whether sex differences emerge in a large population-based sample (n = 10,802) when empathy is measured with an experimental empathy-for-pain paradigm. Moreover, we investigated the relationship between empathy and moral judgment. In the second study, a subsample (n = 334) completed a self-report empathy questionnaire. Results showed some sex differences in the experimental paradigm, but with minuscule effect sizes. Conversely, women did portray themselves as more empathic through self-reports. In addition, utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas were less frequent in women, although these differences also had small effect sizes. These findings suggest that sex differences in empathy are highly driven by the assessment measure. In particular, self-reports may induce biases leading individuals to assume gender-role stereotypes. Awareness of the role of measurement instruments in this field may hone our understanding of the links between empathy, sex differences, and gender roles. PMID:28632770

Testing effects of free recall on organization in whole/part and part/whole transfer.

PubMed

Bacso, Sarah A; Marmurek, Harvey H C

2016-11-01

Testing of to-be-learned material facilitates subsequent learning of new material. We investigated this forward effect of testing in two experiments using the whole/part and part/whole transfer paradigms with categorized word lists. Learning was assessed for recall of individual words, higher order categories, and category clustering. In each experiment participants learned two lists in which the number of tests on the first list was varied. The first list contained either twice as many items as the second list (whole/part paradigm) or half as many items as the second list (part/whole paradigm). In the experimental condition, the part list contained half the items of the whole list. In the control condition, the two lists were unique. In the whole/part paradigm, learning of the part list was poorer in the experimental than in the control condition. Although testing during whole list learning facilitated learning of the part list, it did not moderate the negative transfer effect. In the part/whole paradigm, learning of the whole list was better in the experimental than in the control condition, and this positive transfer effect was strengthened by repeated testing of the part list. The findings are discussed in the context of discrimination and encoding explanations of the forward effect of testing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using a Paradigm Shift to Teach Neurobiology and the Nature of Science-a C.R.E.A.T.E.-based Approach.

PubMed

Hoskins, Sally G

2008-01-01

Decades ago, classic experiments established the phenomenon of "neural induction" (Spemann and Mangold, 1924; Holtfreter, 1933). It appeared clear that amphibian ectoderm was pre-programmed to form epidermis, and that the neural phenotype was induced by a chemical signal from mesoderm. The "ectoderm makes skin, unless induced to make nervous system" model appeared in many textbooks. This interpretation, however, was not simply incorrect but 180 degrees out of alignment with the actual situation. As subsequently demonstrated, the default state of amphibian ectoderm is neuronal, and the expression of the epidermal phenotype requires cell signaling (Hemmati-Brivanlou and Melton, 1992; 1994; 1997). In this activity, students are presented with key experiments in a stepwise fashion. At several points, they work in groups to devise models that explain particular experimental results. The stepwise presentation of results mirrors the history of discoveries in this experimental system. Eventually, faced with seemingly contradictory data, students must revise their models substantially and in doing so, experience the paradigm shift. The lesson also examines the history of this paradigm shift. Data inconsistent with the "epidermal default" model were published years before the "neural default" model was proposed, but the significance of the surprising new data was underemphasized by the scientists who made the discovery. Discussing this situation provides insight into how science works and highlights the possibility that working scientists may become entrenched in prevailing paradigms. Such "nature of science" discussions emphasize research as a human activity, and help to dispel student misconceptions about science and scientists.

Team Interactive Decision Exercise for Teams Incorporating Distributed Expertise (TIDE2): A Program and Paradigm for Team Research. (Version 1.0)

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-10-25

now descr.. be the four means of creating targets. Creatina targets with Randomized Cues. First, there may be conditions when the experimenter wishes to...participants in the threatening base rate condition than in the rectangular condition. Creatina Group Conflict Group conflict is a condition where there are

The Experiment Factory: Standardizing Behavioral Experiments.

PubMed

Sochat, Vanessa V; Eisenberg, Ian W; Enkavi, A Zeynep; Li, Jamie; Bissett, Patrick G; Poldrack, Russell A

2016-01-01

The administration of behavioral and experimental paradigms for psychology research is hindered by lack of a coordinated effort to develop and deploy standardized paradigms. While several frameworks (Mason and Suri, 2011; McDonnell et al., 2012; de Leeuw, 2015; Lange et al., 2015) have provided infrastructure and methods for individual research groups to develop paradigms, missing is a coordinated effort to develop paradigms linked with a system to easily deploy them. This disorganization leads to redundancy in development, divergent implementations of conceptually identical tasks, disorganized and error-prone code lacking documentation, and difficulty in replication. The ongoing reproducibility crisis in psychology and neuroscience research (Baker, 2015; Open Science Collaboration, 2015) highlights the urgency of this challenge: reproducible research in behavioral psychology is conditional on deployment of equivalent experiments. A large, accessible repository of experiments for researchers to develop collaboratively is most efficiently accomplished through an open source framework. Here we present the Experiment Factory, an open source framework for the development and deployment of web-based experiments. The modular infrastructure includes experiments, virtual machines for local or cloud deployment, and an application to drive these components and provide developers with functions and tools for further extension. We release this infrastructure with a deployment (http://www.expfactory.org) that researchers are currently using to run a set of over 80 standardized web-based experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk. By providing open source tools for both deployment and development, this novel infrastructure holds promise to bring reproducibility to the administration of experiments, and accelerate scientific progress by providing a shared community resource of psychological paradigms.

The Experiment Factory: Standardizing Behavioral Experiments

PubMed Central

Sochat, Vanessa V.; Eisenberg, Ian W.; Enkavi, A. Zeynep; Li, Jamie; Bissett, Patrick G.; Poldrack, Russell A.

2016-01-01

The administration of behavioral and experimental paradigms for psychology research is hindered by lack of a coordinated effort to develop and deploy standardized paradigms. While several frameworks (Mason and Suri, 2011; McDonnell et al., 2012; de Leeuw, 2015; Lange et al., 2015) have provided infrastructure and methods for individual research groups to develop paradigms, missing is a coordinated effort to develop paradigms linked with a system to easily deploy them. This disorganization leads to redundancy in development, divergent implementations of conceptually identical tasks, disorganized and error-prone code lacking documentation, and difficulty in replication. The ongoing reproducibility crisis in psychology and neuroscience research (Baker, 2015; Open Science Collaboration, 2015) highlights the urgency of this challenge: reproducible research in behavioral psychology is conditional on deployment of equivalent experiments. A large, accessible repository of experiments for researchers to develop collaboratively is most efficiently accomplished through an open source framework. Here we present the Experiment Factory, an open source framework for the development and deployment of web-based experiments. The modular infrastructure includes experiments, virtual machines for local or cloud deployment, and an application to drive these components and provide developers with functions and tools for further extension. We release this infrastructure with a deployment (http://www.expfactory.org) that researchers are currently using to run a set of over 80 standardized web-based experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk. By providing open source tools for both deployment and development, this novel infrastructure holds promise to bring reproducibility to the administration of experiments, and accelerate scientific progress by providing a shared community resource of psychological paradigms. PMID:27199843

Suppressing flashes of items surrounding targets during calibration of a P300-based brain-computer interface improves performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frye, G. E.; Hauser, C. K.; Townsend, G.; Sellers, E. W.

2011-04-01

Since the introduction of the P300 brain-computer interface (BCI) speller by Farwell and Donchin in 1988, the speed and accuracy of the system has been significantly improved. Larger electrode montages and various signal processing techniques are responsible for most of the improvement in performance. New presentation paradigms have also led to improvements in bit rate and accuracy (e.g. Townsend et al (2010 Clin. Neurophysiol. 121 1109-20)). In particular, the checkerboard paradigm for online P300 BCI-based spelling performs well, has started to document what makes for a successful paradigm, and is a good platform for further experimentation. The current paper further examines the checkerboard paradigm by suppressing items which surround the target from flashing during calibration (i.e. the suppression condition). In the online feedback mode the standard checkerboard paradigm is used with a stepwise linear discriminant classifier derived from the suppression condition and one classifier derived from the standard checkerboard condition, counter-balanced. The results of this research demonstrate that using suppression during calibration produces significantly more character selections/min ((6.46) time between selections included) than the standard checkerboard condition (5.55), and significantly fewer target flashes are needed per selection in the SUP condition (5.28) as compared to the RCP condition (6.17). Moreover, accuracy in the SUP and RCP conditions remained equivalent (~90%). Mean theoretical bit rate was 53.62 bits/min in the suppression condition and 46.36 bits/min in the standard checkerboard condition (ns). Waveform morphology also showed significant differences in amplitude and latency.

Some considerations concerning the theory of combined toxicity: a case study of subchronic experimental intoxication with cadmium and lead.

PubMed

Varaksin, Anatoly N; Katsnelson, Boris A; Panov, Vladimir G; Privalova, Larisa I; Kireyeva, Ekaterina P; Valamina, Irene E; Beresneva, Olga Yu

2014-02-01

Rats were exposed intraperitoneally (3 times a week up to 20 injections) to either Cadmium and Lead salts in doses equivalent to their 0.05 LD50 separately or combined in the same or halved doses. Toxic effects were assessed by more than 40 functional, biochemical and morphometric indices. We analysed the results obtained aiming at determination of the type of combined toxicity using either common sense considerations based on descriptive statistics or two mathematical models based (a) on ANOVA and (b) on Mathematical Theory of Experimental Design, which correspond, respectively, to the widely recognised paradigms of effect additivity and dose additivity. Nevertheless, these approaches have led us unanimously to the following conclusions: (1) The above paradigms are virtually interchangeable and should be regarded as different methods of modelling the combined toxicity rather than as reflecting fundamentally differing processes. (2) Within both models there exist not merely three traditionally used types of combined toxicity (additivity, subadditivity and superadditivity) but at least 10 variants of it depending on exactly which effect is considered and on its level, as well as on the dose levels and their ratio. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploiting Complexity Information for Brain Activation Detection

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yan; Liang, Jiali; Lin, Qiang; Hu, Zhenghui

2016-01-01

We present a complexity-based approach for the analysis of fMRI time series, in which sample entropy (SampEn) is introduced as a quantification of the voxel complexity. Under this hypothesis the voxel complexity could be modulated in pertinent cognitive tasks, and it changes through experimental paradigms. We calculate the complexity of sequential fMRI data for each voxel in two distinct experimental paradigms and use a nonparametric statistical strategy, the Wilcoxon signed rank test, to evaluate the difference in complexity between them. The results are compared with the well known general linear model based Statistical Parametric Mapping package (SPM12), where a decided difference has been observed. This is because SampEn method detects brain complexity changes in two experiments of different conditions and the data-driven method SampEn evaluates just the complexity of specific sequential fMRI data. Also, the larger and smaller SampEn values correspond to different meanings, and the neutral-blank design produces higher predictability than threat-neutral. Complexity information can be considered as a complementary method to the existing fMRI analysis strategies, and it may help improving the understanding of human brain functions from a different perspective. PMID:27045838

Meta-T: TetrisⓇ as an experimental paradigm for cognitive skills research.

PubMed

Lindstedt, John K; Gray, Wayne D

2015-12-01

Studies of human performance in complex tasks using video games are an attractive prospect, but many existing games lack a comprehensive way to modify the game and track performance beyond basic levels of analysis. Meta-T provides experimenters a tool to study behavior in a dynamic task environment with time-stressed decision-making and strong perceptual-motor elements, offering a host of experimental manipulations with a robust and detailed logging system for all user events, system events, and screen objects. Its experimenter-friendly interface provides control over detailed parameters of the task environment without need for programming expertise. Support for eye-tracking and computational cognitive modeling extend the paradigm's scope.

Dissonance-based interventions for health behaviour change: a systematic review.

PubMed

Freijy, Tanya; Kothe, Emily J

2013-05-01

Increasing evidence suggests that various health behaviours are amenable to change following the induction of cognitive dissonance. This systematic review sought to evaluate the effectiveness and methodological quality of dissonance-based health behaviour interventions and to explore identified sources of heterogeneity in intervention effects. Bibliographic databases were searched for relevant articles from inception to March 2012. Only studies targeting non-clinical health behaviour in non-clinical populations were included in the review. One author extracted data and assessed quality of evidence and a second author verified all content. Reports of 20 studies were included. A variety of health behaviours and outcome measures were addressed across studies. Most studies produced one or more significant effects on measures of behaviour, attitude or intention. Across studies, methodological risk for bias was frequently high, particularly for selection bias. Gender and self-esteem were identified as potential moderator variables. The evidence for the effectiveness of dissonance-based interventions was generally positive. The hypocrisy paradigm was found to be the most commonly applied research paradigm and was most effective at inciting change across a range of health behaviours. There was no observable link between type of target behaviour and positive outcomes. Researchers are encouraged to minimize potential for bias in future studies and explore moderators of the dissonance effect. What is already known on this subject? A recent meta-analysis indicates that dissonance-based interventions primarily based on the induced compliance paradigm are effective for eating disorder prevention (Stice, Shaw, Becker, & Rohde, 2008, Prev. Sci., 9, 114). However, it is currently unclear whether such outcomes are generalizable to interventions targeting non-clinical health behaviours such as smoking, sun protection and sexual risk taking. Other research indicates that studies based on the hypocrisy paradigm may lead to changes in non-clinical health behaviours (Stone & Fernandez, 2008, Soc. Personal. Psychol. Compass, 2, 1024; Stone & Focella, 2011, Self Identity, 10, 295) although this literature lacks systematic evaluation of interventions across a range of experimental paradigms. What does this study add? The hypocrisy paradigm appears most effective in inciting change across a range of non-clinical health behaviours. The dissonance effect may be moderated by variables such as self-esteem and gender. Risk of bias needs to be minimised to increase the validity of studies within this topic area. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Providing Self-Healing Ability for Wireless Sensor Node by Using Reconfigurable Hardware

PubMed Central

Yuan, Shenfang; Qiu, Lei; Gao, Shang; Tong, Yao; Yang, Weiwei

2012-01-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have received tremendous attention over the past ten years. In engineering applications of WSNs, a number of sensor nodes are usually spread across some specific geographical area. Some of these nodes have to work in harsh environments. Dependability of the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is very important for its successful applications in the engineering area. In ordinary research, when a node has a failure, it is usually discarded and the network is reorganized to ensure the normal operation of the WSN. Using appropriate WSN re-organization methods, though the sensor networks can be reorganized, this causes additional maintenance costs and sometimes still decreases the function of the networks. In those situations where the sensor networks cannot be reorganized, the performance of the whole WSN will surely be degraded. In order to ensure the reliable and low cost operation of WSNs, a method to develop a wireless sensor node with self-healing ability based on reconfigurable hardware is proposed in this paper. Two self-healing WSN node realization paradigms based on reconfigurable hardware are presented, including a redundancy-based self-healing paradigm and a whole FPAA/FPGA based self-healing paradigm. The nodes designed with the self-healing ability can dynamically change their node configurations to repair the nodes' hardware failures. To demonstrate these two paradigms, a strain sensor node is adopted as an illustration to show the concepts. Two strain WSN sensor nodes with self-healing ability are developed respectively according to the proposed self-healing paradigms. Evaluation experiments on self-healing ability and power consumption are performed. Experimental results show that the developed nodes can self-diagnose the failures and recover to a normal state automatically. The research presented can improve the robustness of WSNs and reduce the maintenance cost of WSNs in engineering applications. PMID:23202176

Stress-based animal models of depression: Do we actually know what we are doing?

PubMed

Yin, Xin; Guven, Nuri; Dietis, Nikolas

2016-12-01

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability and a significant health-concern worldwide. Much of our current understanding on the pathogenesis of depression and the pharmacology of antidepressant drugs is based on pre-clinical models. Three of the most popular stress-based rodent models are the forced swimming test, the chronic mild stress paradigm and the learned helplessness model. Despite their recognizable advantages and limitations, they are associated with an immense variability due to the high number of design parameters that define them. Only few studies have reported how minor modifications of these parameters affect the model phenotype. Thus, the existing variability in how these models are used has been a strong barrier for drug development as well as benchmark and evaluation of these pre-clinical models of depression. It also has been the source of confusing variability in the experimental outcomes between research groups using the same models. In this review, we summarize the known variability in the experimental protocols, identify the main and relevant parameters for each model and describe the variable values using characteristic examples. Our view of depression and our efforts to discover novel and effective antidepressants is largely based on our detailed knowledge of these testing paradigms, and requires a sound understanding around the importance of individual parameters to optimize and improve these pre-clinical models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Where is the criterion noise in recognition? (Almost) everyplace you look: A comment on Kellen, Klauer, & Singmann (2012)

PubMed Central

Benjamin, Aaron S.

2013-01-01

Recent articles, including Benjamin, Diaz, & Wee (2009), have argued that recognition memory may be better understood if consideration is given to sources of noise in the decisions, as well as to those in the representations, underlying recognition judgments. They based that conclusion on a wide consideration of persisting mysteries in recognition research as well as a new experimental paradigm involving ensemble recognition. Kellen, Klauer, and Singmann (2012) reanalyzed the Benjamin et al. data and introduced their own new experimental paradigm to this debate. They concluded that criteria do not vary much from trial to trial in recognition testing, and thus that decision noise in recognition is small or nonexistent. However, their alternative interpretation of the Benjamin et al. data relies on a questionable conclusion to reject all models in which the locations of criteria were restricted to be the same across ensembles and a meta-assumption that a model should be rejected as false if it yields unconventional parameters. In addition, their experimental logic relies on the assumption that ranking tasks are always bias-free. Here I question these assumptions and suggest avenues for reconciliation between these contrasting claims. PMID:23915089

Game-XP: Action Games as Experimental Paradigms for Cognitive Science.

PubMed

Gray, Wayne D

2017-04-01

Why games? How could anyone consider action games an experimental paradigm for Cognitive Science? In 1973, as one of three strategies he proposed for advancing Cognitive Science, Allen Newell exhorted us to "accept a single complex task and do all of it." More specifically, he told us that rather than taking an "experimental psychology as usual approach," we should "focus on a series of experimental and theoretical studies around a single complex task" so as to demonstrate that our theories of human cognition were powerful enough to explain "a genuine slab of human behavior" with the studies fitting into a detailed theoretical picture. Action games represent the type of experimental paradigm that Newell was advocating and the current state of programming expertise and laboratory equipment, along with the emergence of Big Data and naturally occurring datasets, provide the technologies and data needed to realize his vision. Action games enable us to escape from our field's regrettable focus on novice performance to develop theories that account for the full range of expertise through a twin focus on expertise sampling (across individuals) and longitudinal studies (within individuals) of simple and complex tasks. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The mirror game as a paradigm for studying the dynamics of two people improvising motion together

PubMed Central

Noy, Lior; Dekel, Erez; Alon, Uri

2011-01-01

Joint improvisation is the creative action of two or more people without a script or designated leader. Examples include improvisational theater and music, and day-to-day activities such as conversations. In joint improvisation, novel action is created, emerging from the interaction between people. Although central to creative processes and social interaction, joint improvisation remains largely unexplored due to the lack of experimental paradigms. Here we introduce a paradigm based on a theater practice called the mirror game. We measured the hand motions of two people mirroring each other at high temporal and spatial resolution. We focused on expert actors and musicians skilled in joint improvisation. We found that players can jointly create novel complex motion without a designated leader, synchronized to less than 40 ms. In contrast, we found that designating one player as leader deteriorated performance: The follower showed 2–3 Hz oscillation around the leader's smooth trajectory, decreasing synchrony and reducing the range of velocities reached. A mathematical model suggests a mechanism for these observations based on mutual agreement on future motion in mirrored reactive–predictive controllers. This is a step toward understanding the human ability to create novelty by improvising together. PMID:22160696

The mirror game as a paradigm for studying the dynamics of two people improvising motion together.

PubMed

Noy, Lior; Dekel, Erez; Alon, Uri

2011-12-27

Joint improvisation is the creative action of two or more people without a script or designated leader. Examples include improvisational theater and music, and day-to-day activities such as conversations. In joint improvisation, novel action is created, emerging from the interaction between people. Although central to creative processes and social interaction, joint improvisation remains largely unexplored due to the lack of experimental paradigms. Here we introduce a paradigm based on a theater practice called the mirror game. We measured the hand motions of two people mirroring each other at high temporal and spatial resolution. We focused on expert actors and musicians skilled in joint improvisation. We found that players can jointly create novel complex motion without a designated leader, synchronized to less than 40 ms. In contrast, we found that designating one player as leader deteriorated performance: The follower showed 2-3 Hz oscillation around the leader's smooth trajectory, decreasing synchrony and reducing the range of velocities reached. A mathematical model suggests a mechanism for these observations based on mutual agreement on future motion in mirrored reactive-predictive controllers. This is a step toward understanding the human ability to create novelty by improvising together.

Advanced compilation techniques in the PARADIGM compiler for distributed-memory multicomputers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Su, Ernesto; Lain, Antonio; Ramaswamy, Shankar; Palermo, Daniel J.; Hodges, Eugene W., IV; Banerjee, Prithviraj

1995-01-01

The PARADIGM compiler project provides an automated means to parallelize programs, written in a serial programming model, for efficient execution on distributed-memory multicomputers. .A previous implementation of the compiler based on the PTD representation allowed symbolic array sizes, affine loop bounds and array subscripts, and variable number of processors, provided that arrays were single or multi-dimensionally block distributed. The techniques presented here extend the compiler to also accept multidimensional cyclic and block-cyclic distributions within a uniform symbolic framework. These extensions demand more sophisticated symbolic manipulation capabilities. A novel aspect of our approach is to meet this demand by interfacing PARADIGM with a powerful off-the-shelf symbolic package, Mathematica. This paper describes some of the Mathematica routines that performs various transformations, shows how they are invoked and used by the compiler to overcome the new challenges, and presents experimental results for code involving cyclic and block-cyclic arrays as evidence of the feasibility of the approach.

Praxis-based research networks: An emerging paradigm for research that is rigorous, relevant, and inclusive.

PubMed

Werner, James J; Stange, Kurt C

2014-01-01

Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) have developed a grounded approach to conducting practice-relevant and translational research in community practice settings. Seismic shifts in the health care landscape are shaping PBRNs that work across organizational and institutional margins to address complex problems. Praxis-based research networks combine PBRN knowledge generation with multistakeholder learning, experimentation, and application of practical knowledge. The catalytic processes in praxis-based research networks are cycles of action and reflection based on experience, observation, conceptualization, and experimentation by network members and partners. To facilitate co-learning and solution-building, these networks have a flexible architecture that allows pragmatic inclusion of stakeholders based on the demands of the problem and the needs of the network. Praxis-based research networks represent an evolving trend that combines the core values of PBRNs with new opportunities for relevance, rigor, and broad participation. © Copyright 2014 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

Teaching Compound Words to a Spelling-Disabled Child via Smart Notebook Technology: ? Case Study Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsesmeli, Styliani N.; Tsirozi, Theologia

2015-01-01

The case-study aims to examine the effectiveness of training of morphological structure on the spelling of compounds by a spelling-disabled primary school student. The experimental design of the intervention was based on the word-pair paradigm and included a pre-test, a training program and a post-test (n = 50 pairs). The Training Program aimed to…

Online webcam-based eye tracking in cognitive science: A first look.

PubMed

Semmelmann, Kilian; Weigelt, Sarah

2018-04-01

Online experimentation is emerging in many areas of cognitive psychology as a viable alternative or supplement to classical in-lab experimentation. While performance- and reaction-time-based paradigms are covered in recent studies, one instrument of cognitive psychology has not received much attention up to now: eye tracking. In this study, we used JavaScript-based eye tracking algorithms recently made available by Papoutsaki et al. (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2016) together with consumer-grade webcams to investigate the potential of online eye tracking to benefit from the common advantages of online data conduction. We compared three in-lab conducted tasks (fixation, pursuit, and free viewing) with online-acquired data to analyze the spatial precision in the first two, and replicability of well-known gazing patterns in the third task. Our results indicate that in-lab data exhibit an offset of about 172 px (15% of screen size, 3.94° visual angle) in the fixation task, while online data is slightly less accurate (18% of screen size, 207 px), and shows higher variance. The same results were found for the pursuit task with a constant offset during the stimulus movement (211 px in-lab, 216 px online). In the free-viewing task, we were able to replicate the high attention attribution to eyes (28.25%) compared to other key regions like the nose (9.71%) and mouth (4.00%). Overall, we found web technology-based eye tracking to be suitable for all three tasks and are confident that the required hard- and software will be improved continuously for even more sophisticated experimental paradigms in all of cognitive psychology.

Endobiogeny: a global approach to systems biology (part 1 of 2).

PubMed

Lapraz, Jean-Claude; Hedayat, Kamyar M

2013-01-01

Endobiogeny is a global systems approach to human biology that may offer an advancement in clinical medicine based in scientific principles of rigor and experimentation and the humanistic principles of individualization of care and alleviation of suffering with minimization of harm. Endobiogeny is neither a movement away from modern science nor an uncritical embracing of pre-rational methods of inquiry but a synthesis of quantitative and qualitative relationships reflected in a systems-approach to life and based on new mathematical paradigms of pattern recognition.

Pyff - a pythonic framework for feedback applications and stimulus presentation in neuroscience.

PubMed

Venthur, Bastian; Scholler, Simon; Williamson, John; Dähne, Sven; Treder, Matthias S; Kramarek, Maria T; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Blankertz, Benjamin

2010-01-01

This paper introduces Pyff, the Pythonic feedback framework for feedback applications and stimulus presentation. Pyff provides a platform-independent framework that allows users to develop and run neuroscientific experiments in the programming language Python. Existing solutions have mostly been implemented in C++, which makes for a rather tedious programming task for non-computer-scientists, or in Matlab, which is not well suited for more advanced visual or auditory applications. Pyff was designed to make experimental paradigms (i.e., feedback and stimulus applications) easily programmable. It includes base classes for various types of common feedbacks and stimuli as well as useful libraries for external hardware such as eyetrackers. Pyff is also equipped with a steadily growing set of ready-to-use feedbacks and stimuli. It can be used as a standalone application, for instance providing stimulus presentation in psychophysics experiments, or within a closed loop such as in biofeedback or brain-computer interfacing experiments. Pyff communicates with other systems via a standardized communication protocol and is therefore suitable to be used with any system that may be adapted to send its data in the specified format. Having such a general, open-source framework will help foster a fruitful exchange of experimental paradigms between research groups. In particular, it will decrease the need of reprogramming standard paradigms, ease the reproducibility of published results, and naturally entail some standardization of stimulus presentation.

Pyff – A Pythonic Framework for Feedback Applications and Stimulus Presentation in Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Venthur, Bastian; Scholler, Simon; Williamson, John; Dähne, Sven; Treder, Matthias S.; Kramarek, Maria T.; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Blankertz, Benjamin

2010-01-01

This paper introduces Pyff, the Pythonic feedback framework for feedback applications and stimulus presentation. Pyff provides a platform-independent framework that allows users to develop and run neuroscientific experiments in the programming language Python. Existing solutions have mostly been implemented in C++, which makes for a rather tedious programming task for non-computer-scientists, or in Matlab, which is not well suited for more advanced visual or auditory applications. Pyff was designed to make experimental paradigms (i.e., feedback and stimulus applications) easily programmable. It includes base classes for various types of common feedbacks and stimuli as well as useful libraries for external hardware such as eyetrackers. Pyff is also equipped with a steadily growing set of ready-to-use feedbacks and stimuli. It can be used as a standalone application, for instance providing stimulus presentation in psychophysics experiments, or within a closed loop such as in biofeedback or brain–computer interfacing experiments. Pyff communicates with other systems via a standardized communication protocol and is therefore suitable to be used with any system that may be adapted to send its data in the specified format. Having such a general, open-source framework will help foster a fruitful exchange of experimental paradigms between research groups. In particular, it will decrease the need of reprogramming standard paradigms, ease the reproducibility of published results, and naturally entail some standardization of stimulus presentation. PMID:21160550

Utility as a rationale for choosing observer performance assessment paradigms for detection tasks in medical imaging.

PubMed

Wunderlich, Adam; Abbey, Craig K

2013-11-01

Studies of lesion detectability are often carried out to evaluate medical imaging technology. For such studies, several approaches have been proposed to measure observer performance, such as the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), the localization ROC (LROC), the free-response ROC (FROC), the alternative free-response ROC (AFROC), and the exponentially transformed FROC (EFROC) paradigms. Therefore, an experimenter seeking to carry out such a study is confronted with an array of choices. Traditionally, arguments for different approaches have been made on the basis of practical considerations (statistical power, etc.) or the gross level of analysis (case-level or lesion-level). This article contends that a careful consideration of utility should form the rationale for matching the assessment paradigm to the clinical task of interest. In utility theory, task performance is commonly evaluated with total expected utility, which integrates the various event utilities against the probability of each event. To formalize the relationship between expected utility and the summary curve associated with each assessment paradigm, the concept of a "natural" utility structure is proposed. A natural utility structure is defined for a summary curve when the variables associated with the summary curve axes are sufficient for computing total expected utility, assuming that the disease prevalence is known. Natural utility structures for ROC, LROC, FROC, AFROC, and EFROC curves are introduced, clarifying how the utilities of correct and incorrect decisions are aggregated by summary curves. Further, conditions are given under which general utility structures for localization-based methodologies reduce to case-based assessment. Overall, the findings reveal how summary curves correspond to natural utility structures of diagnostic tasks, suggesting utility as a motivating principle for choosing an assessment paradigm.

Nanoscale Morphology Evolution Under Ion Irradiation

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

Aziz, Michael J.

We showed that the half-century-old paradigm of morphological instability under irradiation due to the curvature-dependence of the sputter yield, can account neither for the phase diagram nor the amplification or decay rates that we measure in the simplest possible experimental system -- an elemental semiconductor with an amorphous surface under noble-gas ion irradiation; We showed that a model of pattern formation based on the impact-induced redistribution of atoms that do not get sputtered away explains our experimental observations; We developed a first-principles, parameter-free approach for predicting morphology evolution, starting with molecular dynamics simulations of single ion impacts, lasting picoseconds, andmore » upscaling through a rigorous crater-function formalism to develop a partial differential equation that predicts morphology evolution on time scales more than twelve orders of magnitude longer than can be covered by the molecular dynamics; We performed the first quantitative comparison of the contributions to morphological instability from sputter removal and from impact-induced redistribution of atoms that are removed, and showed that the former is negligible compared to the latter; We established a new paradigm for impact-induced morphology evolution based on crater functions that incorporate both redistribution and sputter effects; and We developed a model of nanopore closure by irradiation-induced stress and irradiationenhanced fluidity, for the near-surface irradiation regime in which nuclear stopping predominates, and showed that it explains many aspects of pore closure kinetics that we measure experimentally.« less

Development of Innovative Group Work Practice Using the Intervention Research Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comer, Edna; Meier, Andrea; Galinsky, Maeda J.

2004-01-01

Rothman and Thomas' intervention research (IR) paradigm provides an alternative, developmental research method that is appropriate for practice research, especially at the early stages. It is more flexible than conventional experimental designs, capitalizes on the availability of small samples, accommodates the dynamism and variation in practice…

Para-Quantitative Methodology: Reclaiming Experimentalism in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shabani Varaki, Bakhtiar; Floden, Robert E.; Javidi Kalatehjafarabadi, Tahereh

2015-01-01

This article focuses on the criticisms of current approaches in educational research methodology. It summarizes rationales for mixed methods and argues that the mixing quantitative paradigm and qualitative paradigm is problematic due to practical and philosophical arguments. It is also indicated that the current rise of mixed methods work has…

All-optical reservoir computer based on saturation of absorption.

PubMed

Dejonckheere, Antoine; Duport, François; Smerieri, Anteo; Fang, Li; Oudar, Jean-Louis; Haelterman, Marc; Massar, Serge

2014-05-05

Reservoir computing is a new bio-inspired computation paradigm. It exploits a dynamical system driven by a time-dependent input to carry out computation. For efficient information processing, only a few parameters of the reservoir needs to be tuned, which makes it a promising framework for hardware implementation. Recently, electronic, opto-electronic and all-optical experimental reservoir computers were reported. In those implementations, the nonlinear response of the reservoir is provided by active devices such as optoelectronic modulators or optical amplifiers. By contrast, we propose here the first reservoir computer based on a fully passive nonlinearity, namely the saturable absorption of a semiconductor mirror. Our experimental setup constitutes an important step towards the development of ultrafast low-consumption analog computers.

Effects of victim presence and coercion in restorative justice: An experimental paradigm.

PubMed

Saulnier, Alana; Sivasubramaniam, Diane

2015-08-01

There is little experimental work examining the ways in which particular procedural features of restorative justice impact offenders. This research describes a new experimental paradigm designed to advance knowledge about causal relationships in restorative justice settings. Apologizing is a core component of restorative procedures, and can result in beneficial outcomes, but previous research suggests that coercion to apologize and the absence of victims in restorative procedures may negatively impact these outcomes. The experimental procedure elicited confessions and apologies for a transgression from participants (N = 101) in a deceptive paradigm. We manipulated coercion (coerced, not coerced) and victim presence (direct, surrogate, ambiguous) to test their effects on offenders' subjective experiences of offering an apology, as well as their effects on the quality of offenders' apologies. Findings indicated that the victim presence and coercion manipulations significantly impacted some of the subjective perceptions of apologizers, including perceptions of accountability and transgression finality. In addition, independent raters evaluated the degree to which the transgressor's apologies conveyed remorse, acceptance of guilt, and potential for dispute resolution. Victim presence and coercion consistently affected the ability of transgressors to convey high quality apologies. Implications for future research and restorative procedures are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Cascading Oscillators in Decoding Speech: Reflection of a Cortical Computation Principle

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-06

Combining an experimental paradigm based on Ghitza and Greenberg (2009) for speech with the approach of Farbood et al. (2013) to timing in key...Fuglsang, 2015). A model was developed which uses modulation spectrograms to construct an oscillating time - series synchronized with the slowly varying...estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching data sources, gathering and maintaining the data

Music Performance As an Experimental Approach to Hyperscanning Studies

PubMed Central

Acquadro, Michaël A. S.; Congedo, Marco; De Riddeer, Dirk

2016-01-01

Humans are fundamentally social and tend to create emergent organizations when interacting with each other; from dyads to families, small groups, large groups, societies, and civilizations. The study of the neuronal substrate of human social behavior is currently gaining momentum in the young field of social neuroscience. Hyperscanning is a neuroimaging technique by which we can study two or more brains simultaneously while participants interact with each other. The aim of this article is to discuss several factors that we deem important in designing hyperscanning experiments. We first review hyperscanning studies performed by means of electroencephalography (EEG) that have been relying on a continuous interaction paradigm. Then, we provide arguments for favoring ecological paradigms, for studying the emotional component of social interactions and for performing longitudinal studies, the last two aspects being largely neglected so far in the hyperscanning literature despite their paramount importance in social sciences. Based on these premises, we argue that music performance is a suitable experimental setting for hyperscanning and that for such studies EEG is an appropriate choice as neuroimaging modality. PMID:27252641

A novel Brain Computer Interface for classification of social joint attention in autism and comparison of 3 experimental setups: A feasibility study.

PubMed

Amaral, Carlos P; Simões, Marco A; Mouga, Susana; Andrade, João; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

2017-10-01

We present a novel virtual-reality P300-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) paradigm using social cues to direct the focus of attention. We combined interactive immersive virtual-reality (VR) technology with the properties of P300 signals in a training tool which can be used in social attention disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested the novel social attention training paradigm (P300-based BCI paradigm for rehabilitation of joint-attention skills) in 13 healthy participants, in 3 EEG systems. The more suitable setup was tested online with 4 ASD subjects. Statistical accuracy was assessed based on the detection of P300, using spatial filtering and a Naïve-Bayes classifier. We compared: 1 - g.Mobilab+ (active dry-electrodes, wireless transmission); 2 - g.Nautilus (active electrodes, wireless transmission); 3 - V-Amp with actiCAP Xpress dry-electrodes. Significant statistical classification was achieved in all systems. g.Nautilus proved to be the best performing system in terms of accuracy in the detection of P300, preparation time, speed and reported comfort. Proof of concept tests in ASD participants proved that this setup is feasible for training joint attention skills in ASD. This work provides a unique combination of 'easy-to-use' BCI systems with new technologies such as VR to train joint-attention skills in autism. Our P300 BCI paradigm is feasible for future Phase I/II clinical trials to train joint-attention skills, with successful classification within few trials, online in ASD participants. The g.Nautilus system is the best performing one to use with the developed BCI setup. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of a combination of flip and zooming stimuli on the performance of a visual brain-computer interface for spelling.

PubMed

Cheng, Jiao; Jin, Jing; Daly, Ian; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Bei; Wang, Xingyu; Cichocki, Andrzej

2018-02-13

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems can allow their users to communicate with the external world by recognizing intention directly from their brain activity without the assistance of the peripheral motor nervous system. The P300-speller is one of the most widely used visual BCI applications. In previous studies, a flip stimulus (rotating the background area of the character) that was based on apparent motion, suffered from less refractory effects. However, its performance was not improved significantly. In addition, a presentation paradigm that used a "zooming" action (changing the size of the symbol) has been shown to evoke relatively higher P300 amplitudes and obtain a better BCI performance. To extend this method of stimuli presentation within a BCI and, consequently, to improve BCI performance, we present a new paradigm combining both the flip stimulus with a zooming action. This new presentation modality allowed BCI users to focus their attention more easily. We investigated whether such an action could combine the advantages of both types of stimuli presentation to bring a significant improvement in performance compared to the conventional flip stimulus. The experimental results showed that the proposed paradigm could obtain significantly higher classification accuracies and bit rates than the conventional flip paradigm (p<0.01).

Decoding of top-down cognitive processing for SSVEP-controlled BMI

PubMed Central

Min, Byoung-Kyong; Dähne, Sven; Ahn, Min-Hee; Noh, Yung-Kyun; Müller, Klaus-Robert

2016-01-01

We present a fast and accurate non-invasive brain-machine interface (BMI) based on demodulating steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in electroencephalography (EEG). Our study reports an SSVEP-BMI that, for the first time, decodes primarily based on top-down and not bottom-up visual information processing. The experimental setup presents a grid-shaped flickering line array that the participants observe while intentionally attending to a subset of flickering lines representing the shape of a letter. While the flickering pixels stimulate the participant’s visual cortex uniformly with equal probability, the participant’s intention groups the strokes and thus perceives a ‘letter Gestalt’. We observed decoding accuracy of 35.81% (up to 65.83%) with a regularized linear discriminant analysis; on average 2.05-fold, and up to 3.77-fold greater than chance levels in multi-class classification. Compared to the EEG signals, an electrooculogram (EOG) did not significantly contribute to decoding accuracies. Further analysis reveals that the top-down SSVEP paradigm shows the most focalised activation pattern around occipital visual areas; Granger causality analysis consistently revealed prefrontal top-down control over early visual processing. Taken together, the present paradigm provides the first neurophysiological evidence for the top-down SSVEP BMI paradigm, which potentially enables multi-class intentional control of EEG-BMIs without using gaze-shifting. PMID:27808125

Decoding of top-down cognitive processing for SSVEP-controlled BMI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Min, Byoung-Kyong; Dähne, Sven; Ahn, Min-Hee; Noh, Yung-Kyun; Müller, Klaus-Robert

2016-11-01

We present a fast and accurate non-invasive brain-machine interface (BMI) based on demodulating steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in electroencephalography (EEG). Our study reports an SSVEP-BMI that, for the first time, decodes primarily based on top-down and not bottom-up visual information processing. The experimental setup presents a grid-shaped flickering line array that the participants observe while intentionally attending to a subset of flickering lines representing the shape of a letter. While the flickering pixels stimulate the participant’s visual cortex uniformly with equal probability, the participant’s intention groups the strokes and thus perceives a ‘letter Gestalt’. We observed decoding accuracy of 35.81% (up to 65.83%) with a regularized linear discriminant analysis; on average 2.05-fold, and up to 3.77-fold greater than chance levels in multi-class classification. Compared to the EEG signals, an electrooculogram (EOG) did not significantly contribute to decoding accuracies. Further analysis reveals that the top-down SSVEP paradigm shows the most focalised activation pattern around occipital visual areas; Granger causality analysis consistently revealed prefrontal top-down control over early visual processing. Taken together, the present paradigm provides the first neurophysiological evidence for the top-down SSVEP BMI paradigm, which potentially enables multi-class intentional control of EEG-BMIs without using gaze-shifting.

A Simplified Conjoint Recognition Paradigm for the Measurement of Gist and Verbatim Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stahl, Christoph; Klauer, Karl Christoph

2008-01-01

The distinction between verbatim and gist memory traces has furthered the understanding of numerous phenomena in various fields, such as false memory research, research on reasoning and decision making, and cognitive development. To measure verbatim and gist memory empirically, an experimental paradigm and multinomial measurement model has been…

Are Abstract and Concrete Concepts Organized Differently? Evidence from the Blocked Translation Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Xiaohong; Han, Zaizhu; Bi, Yanchao

2013-01-01

Using the blocked-translation paradigm with healthy participants, we examined Crutch and Warrington's hypothesis that concrete and abstract concepts are organized by distinct principles: concrete concepts by semantic similarities and abstract ones by associations. In three experiments we constructed two types of experimental blocking (similar…

Learning for Understanding: A Faculty-Driven Paradigm Shift in Learning, Imaginative Teaching, and Creative Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz-Lefebvre, Rene

2006-01-01

This article describes an experimental pilot study begun in 1994 in the Glendale Community College (Glendale, Arizona) psychology department. The faculty-driven idea incorporated Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory (MI) into a new paradigm--one where creative forms of learning resulted in real understanding. The pilot study, Multiple…

Investigation of vertical cavity surface emitting laser dynamics for neuromorphic photonic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurtado, A.; Schires, K.; Henning, I. D.; Adams, M. J.

2012-03-01

We report an approach based upon vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) to reproduce optically different behaviors exhibited by biological neurons but on a much faster timescale. The technique proposed is based on the polarization switching and nonlinear dynamics induced in a single VCSEL under polarized optical injection. The particular attributes of VCSELs and the simple experimental configuration used in this work offer prospects of fast, reconfigurable processing elements with excellent fan-out and scaling potentials for use in future computational paradigms and artificial neural networks.

A Hamiltonian driven quantum-like model for overdistribution in episodic memory recollection.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broekaert, Jan B.; Busemeyer, Jerome R.

2017-06-01

While people famously forget genuine memories over time, they also tend to mistakenly over-recall equivalent memories concerning a given event. The memory phenomenon is known by the name of episodic overdistribution and occurs both in memories of disjunctions and partitions of mutually exclusive events and has been tested, modeled and documented in the literature. The total classical probability of recalling exclusive sub-events most often exceeds the probability of recalling the composed event, i.e. a subadditive total. We present a Hamiltonian driven propagation for the Quantum Episodic Memory model developed by Brainerd (et al., 2015) for the episodic memory overdistribution in the experimental immediate item false memory paradigm (Brainerd and Reyna, 2008, 2010, 2015). Following the Hamiltonian method of Busemeyer and Bruza (2012) our model adds time-evolution of the perceived memory state through the stages of the experimental process based on psychologically interpretable parameters - γ_c for recollection capability of cues, κ_p for bias or description-dependence by probes and β for the average gist component in the memory state at start. With seven parameters the Hamiltonian model shows good accuracy of predictions both in the EOD-disjunction and in the EOD-subadditivity paradigm. We noticed either an outspoken preponderance of the gist over verbatim trace, or the opposite, in the initial memory state when β is real. Only for complex β a mix of both traces is present in the initial state for the EOD-subadditivity paradigm.

An Exploration and Optimization of the Metal Insulator Transition in Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-02

Executive summary Vanadium dioxide ( VO2 ) is an archetypal strongly correlated oxide and could offer many opportunities for new paradigms of information...experimental understanding of the metal-insulator transition in VO2 and explored the various ways to control the transition temperature and hysteresis...Beyond attempts to understand the strong correlation phenomena in VO2 , we hope to demonstrate a phase transition switch based on the electrically

Barnes Maze Procedure for Spatial Learning and Memory in Mice.

PubMed

Pitts, Matthew W

2018-03-05

The Barnes maze is a dry-land based rodent behavioral paradigm for assessing spatial learning and memory that was originally developed by its namesake, Carol Barnes. It represents a well-established alternative to the more popular Morris Water maze and offers the advantage of being free from the potentially confounding influence of swimming behavior. Herein, the Barnes maze experimental setup and corresponding procedures for testing and analysis in mice are described in detail.

Learning by Doing Approach in the Internet Environment to Improve the Teaching Efficiency of Information Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X.-S.; Xie, Hua

This paper presents a learning-by-doing method in the Internet environment to enhance the results of information technology education by experimental work in the classroom of colleges. In this research, an practical approach to apply the "learning by doing" paradigm in Internet-based learning, both for higher educational environments and life-long training systems, taking into account available computer and network resources, such as blogging, podcasting, social networks, wiki etc. We first introduce the different phases in the learning process, which aimed at showing to the readers that the importance of the learning by doing paradigm, which is not implemented in many Internet-based educational environments. Secondly, we give the concept of learning by doing in the different perfective. Then, we identify the most important trends in this field, and give a real practical case for the application of this approach. The results show that the attempt methods are much better than traditional teaching methods.

The effects of semantic congruency: a research of audiovisual P300-speller.

PubMed

Cao, Yong; An, Xingwei; Ke, Yufeng; Jiang, Jin; Yang, Hanjun; Chen, Yuqian; Jiao, Xuejun; Qi, Hongzhi; Ming, Dong

2017-07-25

Over the past few decades, there have been many studies of aspects of brain-computer interface (BCI). Of particular interests are event-related potential (ERP)-based BCI spellers that aim at helping mental typewriting. Nowadays, audiovisual unimodal stimuli based BCI systems have attracted much attention from researchers, and most of the existing studies of audiovisual BCIs were based on semantic incongruent stimuli paradigm. However, no related studies had reported that whether there is difference of system performance or participant comfort between BCI based on semantic congruent paradigm and that based on semantic incongruent paradigm. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of semantic congruency in system performance and participant comfort in audiovisual BCI. Two audiovisual paradigms (semantic congruent and incongruent) were adopted, and 11 healthy subjects participated in the experiment. High-density electrical mapping of ERPs and behavioral data were measured for the two stimuli paradigms. The behavioral data indicated no significant difference between congruent and incongruent paradigms for offline classification accuracy. Nevertheless, eight of the 11 participants reported their priority to semantic congruent experiment, two reported no difference between the two conditions, and only one preferred the semantic incongruent paradigm. Besides, the result indicted that higher amplitude of ERP was found in incongruent stimuli based paradigm. In a word, semantic congruent paradigm had a better participant comfort, and maintained the same recognition rate as incongruent paradigm. Furthermore, our study suggested that the paradigm design of spellers must take both system performance and user experience into consideration rather than merely pursuing a larger ERP response.

Materials-by-design: computation, synthesis, and characterization from atoms to structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeo, Jingjie; Jung, Gang Seob; Martín-Martínez, Francisco J.; Ling, Shengjie; Gu, Grace X.; Qin, Zhao; Buehler, Markus J.

2018-05-01

In the 50 years that succeeded Richard Feynman’s exposition of the idea that there is ‘plenty of room at the bottom’ for manipulating individual atoms for the synthesis and manufacturing processing of materials, the materials-by-design paradigm is being developed gradually through synergistic integration of experimental material synthesis and characterization with predictive computational modeling and optimization. This paper reviews how this paradigm creates the possibility to develop materials according to specific, rational designs from the molecular to the macroscopic scale. We discuss promising techniques in experimental small-scale material synthesis and large-scale fabrication methods to manipulate atomistic or macroscale structures, which can be designed by computational modeling. These include recombinant protein technology to produce peptides and proteins with tailored sequences encoded by recombinant DNA, self-assembly processes induced by conformational transition of proteins, additive manufacturing for designing complex structures, and qualitative and quantitative characterization of materials at different length scales. We describe important material characterization techniques using numerous methods of spectroscopy and microscopy. We detail numerous multi-scale computational modeling techniques that complements these experimental techniques: DFT at the atomistic scale; fully atomistic and coarse-grain molecular dynamics at the molecular to mesoscale; continuum modeling at the macroscale. Additionally, we present case studies that utilize experimental and computational approaches in an integrated manner to broaden our understanding of the properties of two-dimensional materials and materials based on silk and silk-elastin-like proteins.

Proposal of a critical test of the Navier-Stokes-Fourier paradigm for compressible fluid continua.

PubMed

Brenner, Howard

2013-01-01

A critical, albeit simple experimental and/or molecular-dynamic (MD) simulation test is proposed whose outcome would, in principle, establish the viability of the Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) equations for compressible fluid continua. The latter equation set, despite its longevity as constituting the fundamental paradigm of continuum fluid mechanics, has recently been criticized on the basis of its failure to properly incorporate volume transport phenomena-as embodied in the proposed bivelocity paradigm [H. Brenner, Int. J. Eng. Sci. 54, 67 (2012)]-into its formulation. Were the experimental or simulation results found to accord, even only qualitatively, with bivelocity predictions, the temperature distribution in a gas-filled, thermodynamically and mechanically isolated circular cylinder undergoing steady rigid-body rotation in an inertial reference frame would not be uniform; rather, the temperature would be higher at the cylinder wall than along the axis of rotation. This radial temperature nonuniformity contrasts with the uniformity of the temperature predicted by the NSF paradigm for these same circumstances. Easily attainable rates of rotation in centrifuges and readily available tools for measuring the expected temperature differences render experimental execution of the proposed scheme straightforward in principle. As such, measurement-via experiment or MD simulation-of, say, the temperature difference ΔT between the gas at the wall and along the axis of rotation would provide quantitative tests of both the NSF and bivelocity hydrodynamic models, whose respective solutions for the stated set of circumstances are derived in this paper. Independently of the correctness of the bivelocity model, any temperature difference observed during the proposed experiment or simulation, irrespective of magnitude, would preclude the possibility of the NSF paradigm being correct for fluid continua, except for incompressible flows.

The Failure of Deactivating Intentions: Aftereffects of Completed Intentions in the Repeated Prospective Memory Cue Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walser, Moritz; Fischer, Rico; Goschke, Thomas

2012-01-01

We used a newly developed experimental paradigm to investigate aftereffects of completed intentions on subsequent performance that required the maintenance and execution of new intentions. Participants performed an ongoing number categorization task and an additional prospective memory (PM) task, which required them to respond to PM cues that…

Schema-Driven Facilitation of New Hierarchy Learning in the Transitive Inference Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kumaran, Dharshan

2013-01-01

Prior knowledge, in the form of a mental schema or framework, is viewed to facilitate the learning of new information in a range of experimental and everyday scenarios. Despite rising interest in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying schema-driven facilitation of new learning, few paradigms have been developed to examine this issue in…

The synthesis paradigm in genetics.

PubMed

Rice, William R

2014-02-01

Experimental genetics with model organisms and mathematically explicit genetic theory are generally considered to be the major paradigms by which progress in genetics is achieved. Here I argue that this view is incomplete and that pivotal advances in genetics--and other fields of biology--are also made by synthesizing disparate threads of extant information rather than generating new information from experiments or formal theory. Because of the explosive expansion of information in numerous "-omics" data banks, and the fragmentation of genetics into numerous subdisciplines, the importance of the synthesis paradigm will likely expand with time.

A new paradigm for transcription factor TFIIB functionality

PubMed Central

Gelev, Vladimir; Zabolotny, Janice M.; Lange, Martin; Hiromura, Makoto; Yoo, Sang Wook; Orlando, Joseph S.; Kushnir, Anna; Horikoshi, Nobuo; Paquet, Eric; Bachvarov, Dimcho; Schaffer, Priscilla A.; Usheva, Anny

2014-01-01

Experimental and bioinformatic studies of transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II (RNAP2) have revealed a mechanism of RNAP2 transcription initiation less uniform across gene promoters than initially thought. However, the general transcription factor TFIIB is presumed to be universally required for RNAP2 transcription initiation. Based on bioinformatic analysis of data and effects of TFIIB knockdown in primary and transformed cell lines on cellular functionality and global gene expression, we report that TFIIB is dispensable for transcription of many human promoters, but is essential for herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) gene transcription and replication. We report a novel cell cycle TFIIB regulation and localization of the acetylated TFIIB variant on the transcriptionally silent mitotic chromatids. Taken together, these results establish a new paradigm for TFIIB functionality in human gene expression, which when downregulated has potent anti-viral effects. PMID:24441171

Cancer research in need of a scientific revolution: Using 'paradigm shift' as a method of investigation.

PubMed

Wion, Didier; Appaix, Florence; Burruss, Meriwether; Berger, Francois; van der Sanden, Boudewijn

2015-09-01

Despite important human and financial resources and considerable accumulation of scientific publications, patents, and clinical trials, cancer research has been slow in achieving a therapeutic revolution similar to the one that occurred in the last century for infectious diseases. It has been proposed that science proceeds not only by accumulating data but also through paradigm shifts. Here, we propose to use the concept of 'paradigm shift' as a method of investigation when dominant paradigms fail to achieve their promises. The first step in using the 'paradigm shift' method in cancer research requires identifying its founding paradigms. In this review, two of these founding paradigms will be discussed: (i) the reification of cancer as a tumour mass and (ii) the translation of the concepts issued from infectious disease in cancer research. We show how these founding paradigms can generate biases that lead to over-diagnosis and over-treatment and also hamper the development of curative cancer therapies. We apply the 'paradigm shift' method to produce perspective reversals consistent with current experimental evidence. The 'paradigm shift' method enlightens the existence of a tumour physiologic-prophylactic-pathologic continuum. It integrates the target/antitarget concept and that cancer is also an extracellular disease. The 'paradigm shift' method has immediate implications for cancer prevention and therapy. It could be a general method of investigation for other diseases awaiting therapy.

NOSTOS: a paper-based ubiquitous computing healthcare environment to support data capture and collaboration.

PubMed

Bång, Magnus; Larsson, Anders; Eriksson, Henrik

2003-01-01

In this paper, we present a new approach to clinical workplace computerization that departs from the window-based user interface paradigm. NOSTOS is an experimental computer-augmented work environment designed to support data capture and teamwork in an emergency room. NOSTOS combines multiple technologies, such as digital pens, walk-up displays, headsets, a smart desk, and sensors to enhance an existing paper-based practice with computer power. The physical interfaces allow clinicians to retain mobile paper-based collaborative routines and still benefit from computer technology. The requirements for the system were elicited from situated workplace studies. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of augmenting a paper-based clinical work environment.

NOSTOS: A Paper–Based Ubiquitous Computing Healthcare Environment to Support Data Capture and Collaboration

PubMed Central

Bång, Magnus; Larsson, Anders; Eriksson, Henrik

2003-01-01

In this paper, we present a new approach to clinical workplace computerization that departs from the window–based user interface paradigm. NOSTOS is an experimental computer–augmented work environment designed to support data capture and teamwork in an emergency room. NOSTOS combines multiple technologies, such as digital pens, walk–up displays, headsets, a smart desk, and sensors to enhance an existing paper–based practice with computer power. The physical interfaces allow clinicians to retain mobile paper–based collaborative routines and still benefit from computer technology. The requirements for the system were elicited from situated workplace studies. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of augmenting a paper–based clinical work environment. PMID:14728131

Attending to Eye Movements and Retinal Eccentricity: Evidence for the Activity Distribution Model of Attention Reconsidered

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turk-Browne, Nicholas B.; Pratt, Jay

2005-01-01

When testing between spotlight and activity distribution models of visual attention, D. LaBerge, R. L. Carlson, J. K. Williams, and B. G. Bunney (1997) used an experimental paradigm in which targets are embedded in 3 brief displays. This paradigm, however, may be confounded by retinal eccentricity effects and saccadic eye movements. When the…

One Size Doesn't Fit All: Reopening Discussion of the Research-Practice Connection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoonmaker, Frances

2007-01-01

Research in the early part of the 20th century focused on finding scientific proofs for justification of practice and drew on educational psychology for its methods. Critics charged the quantitative, experimental paradigm with being seriously flawed. By the end of the 20th century, a new paradigm emerged as a variety of methodologies drawn from…

Update in the methodology of the chronic stress paradigm: internal control matters

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

To date, the reliability of induction of a depressive-like state using chronic stress models is confronted by many methodological limitations. We believe that the modifications to the stress paradigm in mice proposed herein allow some of these limitations to be overcome. Here, we discuss a variant of the standard stress paradigm, which results in anhedonia. This anhedonic state was defined by a decrease in sucrose preference that was not exhibited by all animals. As such, we propose the use of non-anhedonic, stressed mice as an internal control in experimental mouse models of depression. The application of an internal control for the effects of stress, along with optimized behavioural testing, can enable the analysis of biological correlates of stress-induced anhedonia versus the consequences of stress alone in a chronic-stress depression model. This is illustrated, for instance, by distinct physiological and molecular profiles in anhedonic and non-anhedonic groups subjected to stress. These results argue for the use of a subgroup of individuals who are negative for the induction of a depressive phenotype during experimental paradigms of depression as an internal control, for more refined modeling of this disorder in animals. PMID:21524310

Update in the methodology of the chronic stress paradigm: internal control matters.

PubMed

Strekalova, Tatyana; Couch, Yvonne; Kholod, Natalia; Boyks, Marco; Malin, Dmitry; Leprince, Pierre; Steinbusch, Harry Mw

2011-04-27

To date, the reliability of induction of a depressive-like state using chronic stress models is confronted by many methodological limitations. We believe that the modifications to the stress paradigm in mice proposed herein allow some of these limitations to be overcome. Here, we discuss a variant of the standard stress paradigm, which results in anhedonia. This anhedonic state was defined by a decrease in sucrose preference that was not exhibited by all animals. As such, we propose the use of non-anhedonic, stressed mice as an internal control in experimental mouse models of depression. The application of an internal control for the effects of stress, along with optimized behavioural testing, can enable the analysis of biological correlates of stress-induced anhedonia versus the consequences of stress alone in a chronic-stress depression model. This is illustrated, for instance, by distinct physiological and molecular profiles in anhedonic and non-anhedonic groups subjected to stress. These results argue for the use of a subgroup of individuals who are negative for the induction of a depressive phenotype during experimental paradigms of depression as an internal control, for more refined modeling of this disorder in animals.

Experimental evidence for inherent Lévy search behaviour in foraging animals

PubMed Central

Kölzsch, Andrea; Alzate, Adriana; Bartumeus, Frederic; de Jager, Monique; Weerman, Ellen J.; Hengeveld, Geerten M.; Naguib, Marc; Nolet, Bart A.; van de Koppel, Johan

2015-01-01

Recently, Lévy walks have been put forward as a new paradigm for animal search and many cases have been made for its presence in nature. However, it remains debated whether Lévy walks are an inherent behavioural strategy or emerge from the animal reacting to its habitat. Here, we demonstrate signatures of Lévy behaviour in the search movement of mud snails (Hydrobia ulvae) based on a novel, direct assessment of movement properties in an experimental set-up using different food distributions. Our experimental data uncovered clusters of small movement steps alternating with long moves independent of food encounter and landscape complexity. Moreover, size distributions of these clusters followed truncated power laws. These two findings are characteristic signatures of mechanisms underlying inherent Lévy-like movement. Thus, our study provides clear experimental evidence that such multi-scale movement is an inherent behaviour rather than resulting from the animal interacting with its environment. PMID:25904671

Coping with unemployment: the impact of unemployment on mental health, personality, and social interaction skills.

PubMed

Pelzer, B; Schaffrath, S; Vernaleken, Ingo

2014-01-01

Unemployment is known to be associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. However, there is ambiguity about the direction of this association. Different to large surveys, the present pilot-study focuses on a detailed characterization of unemployed and strictly matched employed subjects. Besides depressive symptoms and personality factors, their level of social and communicative skills was determined by an experimental behavioral paradigm. Ninety-two subjects were screened; 62 showed relevant exclusion criteria or failed the matching procedure. Finally, 30 subjects (15 employed, 15 unemployed) participated. The experimental group-paradigm consisted of a complex standardized challenge situation, which demands communicative and social skills for a successful solution. This was followed by an individualized video-based behavioral analysis. Expectedly, unemployed subjects showed more depressive symptoms than employed subjects but did not show higher levels of susceptible personality traits. There were no differences between employed and unemployed subjects in social and communicative competencies; these skills however correlated positively with the level of depression. Unemployment is an important stressor, affecting mental health. The absence of susceptible traits and skills deficits suggests that depressive syndromes are rather resulting than cause of unemployment. Social skills do not prevent depressive reactions during unemployment.

Understanding Mixed Emotions: Paradigms and Measures

PubMed Central

Kreibig, Sylvia D.; Gross, James J.

2017-01-01

In this review, we examine the paradigms and measures available for experimentally studying mixed emotions in the laboratory. For eliciting mixed emotions, we describe a mixed emotions film library that allows for the repeated elicitation of a specific homogeneous mixed emotional state and appropriately matched pure positive, pure negative, and neutral emotional states. For assessing mixed emotions, we consider subjective and objective measures that fall into univariate, bivariate, and multivariate measurement categories. As paradigms and measures for objectively studying mixed emotions are still in their early stages, we conclude by outlining future directions that focus on the reliability, temporal dynamics, and response coherence of mixed emotions paradigms and measures. This research will build a strong foundation for future studies and significantly advance our understanding of mixed emotions. PMID:28804752

Understanding Mixed Emotions: Paradigms and Measures.

PubMed

Kreibig, Sylvia D; Gross, James J

2017-06-01

In this review, we examine the paradigms and measures available for experimentally studying mixed emotions in the laboratory. For eliciting mixed emotions, we describe a mixed emotions film library that allows for the repeated elicitation of a specific homogeneous mixed emotional state and appropriately matched pure positive, pure negative, and neutral emotional states. For assessing mixed emotions, we consider subjective and objective measures that fall into univariate, bivariate, and multivariate measurement categories. As paradigms and measures for objectively studying mixed emotions are still in their early stages, we conclude by outlining future directions that focus on the reliability, temporal dynamics, and response coherence of mixed emotions paradigms and measures. This research will build a strong foundation for future studies and significantly advance our understanding of mixed emotions.

Can the problem of the observability of other minds be solved in the lab?. Comment on "Seeing mental states: An experimental strategy for measuring the observability of other minds" by Cristina Becchio et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puusepp, Vivian

2018-03-01

In the area of social cognition, several questions that were first discussed by philosophers, have inspired empirical scientists to invent new experimental paradigms in order to tackle related issues. The results of experiments conducted within these paradigms have in turn contributed to theoretical discussions. For example, the first false belief task [1] was developed after three philosophers, Dennett, Bennett, and Harman [2-4] independently argued that possession of the concept of belief is crucial to understanding others' mental states.

A Reaction Time Experiment on Adult Attachment: The Development of a Measure for Neurophysiological Settings

PubMed Central

Wichmann, Theresia; Buchheim, Anna; Menning, Hans; Schenk, Ingmar; George, Carol; Pokorny, Dan

2016-01-01

In the last few decades, there has been an increase of experimental research on automatic unconscious processes concerning the evaluation of the self and others. Previous research investigated implicit aspects of romantic attachment using self-report measures as explicit instruments for assessing attachment style. There is a lack of experimental procedures feasible for neurobiological settings. We developed a reaction time (RT) experiment using a narrative attachment measure with an implicit nature and were interested to capture automatic processes, when the individuals’ attachment system is activated. We aimed to combine attachment methodology with knowledge from implicit measures by using a decision RT paradigm. This should serve as a means to capture implicit aspects of attachment. This experiment evaluated participants’ response to prototypic attachment sentences in association with their own attachment classification, measured with the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). First the AAP was administered as the standardized interview procedure to 30 healthy participants, which were classified into a secure or insecure group. In the following experimental session, both experimenter and participants were blind with respect to classifications. One hundred twenty eight prototypically secure or insecure sentences related to the eight pictures of the AAP were presented to the participants. Their response and RTs were recorded. Based on the response (accept, reject) a continuous security scale was defined. Both the AAP classification and security scale were related to the RTs. Differentiated study hypotheses were confirmed for insecure sentences, which were accepted faster by participants from the insecure attachment group (or with lower security scale), and rejected faster by participants from secure attachment group (or with higher security scale). The elaborating unconscious processes were more activated by insecure sentences with potential attachment conflicts. The introduced paradigm is able to contribute to an experimental approach in attachment research. The RT analysis with the narrative procedure might be of interest for a broader variety of questions in experimental and neurophysiological settings to capture unconscious processes in association with internal working models of attachment. An electrophysiological model based on preliminary research is proposed for assessing the preconscious neuronal network related to secure or insecure attachment representations. PMID:27853426

Input-based structure-specific proficiency predicts the neural mechanism of adult L2 syntactic processing.

PubMed

Deng, Taiping; Zhou, Huixia; Bi, Hong-Yan; Chen, Baoguo

2015-06-12

This study used Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to explore the role of input-based structure-specific proficiency in L2 syntactic processing, using English subject-verb agreement structures as the stimuli. A pre-test/trainings/post-test paradigm of experimental and control groups was employed, and Chinese speakers who learned English as a second language (L2) participated in the experiment. At pre-test, no ERP component related to the subject-verb agreement structures violations was observed in either group. At training session, the experimental group learned the subject-verb agreement structures, while the control group learned other syntactic structures. After two continuously intensive input trainings, at post-test, a significant P600 component related to the subject-verb agreement structures violations was elicited in the experimental group, but not in the control group. These findings suggest that input training improves structure-specific proficiency, which is reflected in the neural mechanism of L2 syntactic processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computational Approaches to Nucleic Acid Origami.

PubMed

Jabbari, Hosna; Aminpour, Maral; Montemagno, Carlo

2015-10-12

Recent advances in experimental DNA origami have dramatically expanded the horizon of DNA nanotechnology. Complex 3D suprastructures have been designed and developed using DNA origami with applications in biomaterial science, nanomedicine, nanorobotics, and molecular computation. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) origami has recently been realized as a new approach. Similar to DNA, RNA molecules can be designed to form complex 3D structures through complementary base pairings. RNA origami structures are, however, more compact and more thermodynamically stable due to RNA's non-canonical base pairing and tertiary interactions. With all these advantages, the development of RNA origami lags behind DNA origami by a large gap. Furthermore, although computational methods have proven to be effective in designing DNA and RNA origami structures and in their evaluation, advances in computational nucleic acid origami is even more limited. In this paper, we review major milestones in experimental and computational DNA and RNA origami and present current challenges in these fields. We believe collaboration between experimental nanotechnologists and computer scientists are critical for advancing these new research paradigms.

Computational Methods to Predict Protein Interaction Partners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valencia, Alfonso; Pazos, Florencio

In the new paradigm for studying biological phenomena represented by Systems Biology, cellular components are not considered in isolation but as forming complex networks of relationships. Protein interaction networks are among the first objects studied from this new point of view. Deciphering the interactome (the whole network of interactions for a given proteome) has been shown to be a very complex task. Computational techniques for detecting protein interactions have become standard tools for dealing with this problem, helping and complementing their experimental counterparts. Most of these techniques use genomic or sequence features intuitively related with protein interactions and are based on "first principles" in the sense that they do not involve training with examples. There are also other computational techniques that use other sources of information (i.e. structural information or even experimental data) or are based on training with examples.

Discriminating evidence accumulation from urgency signals in speeded decision making.

PubMed

Hawkins, Guy E; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan; Ratcliff, Roger; Brown, Scott D

2015-07-01

The dominant theoretical paradigm in explaining decision making throughout both neuroscience and cognitive science is known as “evidence accumulation”--The core idea being that decisions are reached by a gradual accumulation of noisy information. Although this notion has been supported by hundreds of experiments over decades of study, a recent theory proposes that the fundamental assumption of evidence accumulation requires revision. The "urgency gating" model assumes decisions are made without accumulating evidence, using only moment-by-moment information. Under this assumption, the successful history of evidence accumulation models is explained by asserting that the two models are mathematically identical in standard experimental procedures. We demonstrate that this proof of equivalence is incorrect, and that the models are not identical, even when both models are augmented with realistic extra assumptions. We also demonstrate that the two models can be perfectly distinguished in realistic simulated experimental designs, and in two real data sets; the evidence accumulation model provided the best account for one data set, and the urgency gating model for the other. A positive outcome is that the opposing modeling approaches can be fruitfully investigated without wholesale change to the standard experimental paradigms. We conclude that future research must establish whether the urgency gating model enjoys the same empirical support in the standard experimental paradigms that evidence accumulation models have gathered over decades of study. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

A Within-subjects Experimental Protocol to Assess the Effects of Social Input on Infant EEG.

PubMed

St John, Ashley M; Kao, Katie; Chita-Tegmark, Meia; Liederman, Jacqueline; Grieve, Philip G; Tarullo, Amanda R

2017-05-03

Despite the importance of social interactions for infant brain development, little research has assessed functional neural activation while infants socially interact. Electroencephalography (EEG) power is an advantageous technique to assess infant functional neural activation. However, many studies record infant EEG only during one baseline condition. This protocol describes a paradigm that is designed to comprehensively assess infant EEG activity in both social and nonsocial contexts as well as tease apart how different types of social inputs differentially relate to infant EEG. The within-subjects paradigm includes four controlled conditions. In the nonsocial condition, infants view objects on computer screens. The joint attention condition involves an experimenter directing the infant's attention to pictures. The joint attention condition includes three types of social input: language, face-to-face interaction, and the presence of joint attention. Differences in infant EEG between the nonsocial and joint attention conditions could be due to any of these three types of input. Therefore, two additional conditions (one with language input while the experimenter is hidden behind a screen and one with face-to-face interaction) were included to assess the driving contextual factors in patterns of infant neural activation. Representative results demonstrate that infant EEG power varied by condition, both overall and differentially by brain region, supporting the functional nature of infant EEG power. This technique is advantageous in that it includes conditions that are clearly social or nonsocial and allows for examination of how specific types of social input relate to EEG power. This paradigm can be used to assess how individual differences in age, affect, socioeconomic status, and parent-infant interaction quality relate to the development of the social brain. Based on the demonstrated functional nature of infant EEG power, future studies should consider the role of EEG recording context and design conditions that are clearly social or nonsocial.

Assessing the validity of subjective reports in the auditory streaming paradigm.

PubMed

Farkas, Dávid; Denham, Susan L; Bendixen, Alexandra; Winkler, István

2016-04-01

While subjective reports provide a direct measure of perception, their validity is not self-evident. Here, the authors tested three possible biasing effects on perceptual reports in the auditory streaming paradigm: errors due to imperfect understanding of the instructions, voluntary perceptual biasing, and susceptibility to implicit expectations. (1) Analysis of the responses to catch trials separately promoting each of the possible percepts allowed the authors to exclude participants who likely have not fully understood the instructions. (2) Explicit biasing instructions led to markedly different behavior than the conventional neutral-instruction condition, suggesting that listeners did not voluntarily bias their perception in a systematic way under the neutral instructions. Comparison with a random response condition further supported this conclusion. (3) No significant relationship was found between social desirability, a scale-based measure of susceptibility to implicit social expectations, and any of the perceptual measures extracted from the subjective reports. This suggests that listeners did not significantly bias their perceptual reports due to possible implicit expectations present in the experimental context. In sum, these results suggest that valid perceptual data can be obtained from subjective reports in the auditory streaming paradigm.

Beyond the “urge to move”: objective measures for the study of agency in the post-Libet era

PubMed Central

Rowe, James B.

2014-01-01

The investigation of human volition is a longstanding endeavor from both philosophers and researchers. Yet because of the major challenges associated with capturing voluntary movements in an ecologically relevant state in the research environment, it is only in recent years that human agency has grown as a field of cognitive neuroscience. In particular, the seminal work of Libet et al. (1983) paved the way for a neuroscientific approach to agency. Over the past decade, new objective paradigms have been developed to study agency, drawing upon emerging concepts from cognitive and computational neuroscience. These include the chronometric approach of Libet’s study which is embedded in the “intentional binding” paradigm, optimal motor control theory and most recent insights from active inference theory. Here we review these principal methods and their application to the study of agency in health and the insights gained from their application to neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that the neuropsychological paradigms that are based upon these new approaches have key advantages over traditional experimental designs. We propose that these advantages, coupled with advances in neuroimaging, create a powerful set of tools for understanding human agency and its neurobiological basis. PMID:24999325

Beyond the "urge to move": objective measures for the study of agency in the post-Libet era.

PubMed

Wolpe, Noham; Rowe, James B

2014-01-01

The investigation of human volition is a longstanding endeavor from both philosophers and researchers. Yet because of the major challenges associated with capturing voluntary movements in an ecologically relevant state in the research environment, it is only in recent years that human agency has grown as a field of cognitive neuroscience. In particular, the seminal work of Libet et al. (1983) paved the way for a neuroscientific approach to agency. Over the past decade, new objective paradigms have been developed to study agency, drawing upon emerging concepts from cognitive and computational neuroscience. These include the chronometric approach of Libet's study which is embedded in the "intentional binding" paradigm, optimal motor control theory and most recent insights from active inference theory. Here we review these principal methods and their application to the study of agency in health and the insights gained from their application to neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that the neuropsychological paradigms that are based upon these new approaches have key advantages over traditional experimental designs. We propose that these advantages, coupled with advances in neuroimaging, create a powerful set of tools for understanding human agency and its neurobiological basis.

Determining an Effective Interactive Multimedia Arabic Language Courseware for Malaysian Primary School Children: An Alternative Paradigm for Learning in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faryadi, Qais; Bakar, Zainab Abu; Maidinsah, Hamidah

2007-01-01

The prime purpose of this experimental research was to determine whether learning Arabic as a foreign language can be effectively enhanced through traditional methodology. As such, this research carefully investigated and critically analyzed the effectiveness of the traditional paradigm in teaching Arabic as a foreign language to 3rd grade primary…

Cost per quality-adjusted life year and disability-adjusted life years: the need for a new paradigm.

PubMed

Bevan, Gwyn; Hollinghurst, Sandra

2003-08-01

Two different paradigms have been proposed for setting priorities for access to healthcare: cost per quality-adjusted life year based on interventions, and disability-adjusted life years based on the burden of disease in a population. These formal paradigms make explicit the assumptions made implicitly every day in delivering and hence rationing access to healthcare. This paper outlines each paradigm's methodological problems and argues that each paradigm is incomplete in terms of providing the information necessary for making budgetary decisions on healthcare. It argues that a scientific revolution is required to create a new paradigm by combining the strengths of each.

Continuous- and discrete-time stimulus sequences for high stimulus rate paradigm in evoked potential studies.

PubMed

Wang, Tao; Huang, Jiang-hua; Lin, Lin; Zhan, Chang'an A

2013-01-01

To obtain reliable transient auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) from EEGs recorded using high stimulus rate (HSR) paradigm, it is critical to design the stimulus sequences of appropriate frequency properties. Traditionally, the individual stimulus events in a stimulus sequence occur only at discrete time points dependent on the sampling frequency of the recording system and the duration of stimulus sequence. This dependency likely causes the implementation of suboptimal stimulus sequences, sacrificing the reliability of resulting AEPs. In this paper, we explicate the use of continuous-time stimulus sequence for HSR paradigm, which is independent of the discrete electroencephalogram (EEG) recording system. We employ simulation studies to examine the applicability of the continuous-time stimulus sequences and the impacts of sampling frequency on AEPs in traditional studies using discrete-time design. Results from these studies show that the continuous-time sequences can offer better frequency properties and improve the reliability of recovered AEPs. Furthermore, we find that the errors in the recovered AEPs depend critically on the sampling frequencies of experimental systems, and their relationship can be fitted using a reciprocal function. As such, our study contributes to the literature by demonstrating the applicability and advantages of continuous-time stimulus sequences for HSR paradigm and by revealing the relationship between the reliability of AEPs and sampling frequencies of the experimental systems when discrete-time stimulus sequences are used in traditional manner for the HSR paradigm.

Maximizing potential impact of experimental research into cognitive processes in health psychology: A systematic approach to material development.

PubMed

Hughes, Alicia M; Gordon, Rola; Chalder, Trudie; Hirsch, Colette R; Moss-Morris, Rona

2016-11-01

There is an abundance of research into cognitive processing biases in clinical psychology including the potential for applying cognitive bias modification techniques to assess the causal role of biases in maintaining anxiety and depression. Within the health psychology field, there is burgeoning interest in applying these experimental methods to assess potential cognitive biases in relation to physical health conditions and health-related behaviours. Experimental research in these areas could inform theoretical development by enabling measurement of implicit cognitive processes that may underlie unhelpful illness beliefs and help drive health-related behaviours. However, to date, there has been no systematic approach to adapting existing experimental paradigms for use within physical health research. Many studies fail to report how materials were developed for the population of interest or have used untested materials developed ad hoc. The lack of protocol for developing stimuli specificity has contributed to large heterogeneity in methodologies and findings. In this article, we emphasize the need for standardized methods for stimuli development and replication in experimental work, particularly as it extends beyond its original anxiety and depression scope to other physical conditions. We briefly describe the paradigms commonly used to assess cognitive biases in attention and interpretation and then describe the steps involved in comprehensive/robust stimuli development for attention and interpretation paradigms using illustrative examples from two conditions: chronic fatigue syndrome and breast cancer. This article highlights the value of preforming rigorous stimuli development and provides tools to aid researchers engage in this process. We believe this work is worthwhile to establish a body of high-quality and replicable experimental research within the health psychology literature. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Cognitive biases (e.g., tendencies to attend to negative information and/or interpret ambiguous information in negative ways) have a causal role in maintaining anxiety and depression. There is mixed evidence of cognitive biases in physical health conditions and chronic illness; one reason for this may be the heterogeneous stimuli used to assess attention and interpretation biases in these conditions. What does this study add? Steps for comprehensive/robust stimuli development for attention and interpretation paradigms are presented. Illustrative examples are provided from two conditions: chronic fatigue syndrome and breast cancer. We provide tools to help researchers develop condition-specific materials for experimental studies. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Neuroblastoma, a Paradigm for Big Data Science in Pediatric Oncology

PubMed Central

Salazar, Brittany M.; Balczewski, Emily A.; Ung, Choong Yong; Zhu, Shizhen

2016-01-01

Pediatric cancers rarely exhibit recurrent mutational events when compared to most adult cancers. This poses a challenge in understanding how cancers initiate, progress, and metastasize in early childhood. Also, due to limited detected driver mutations, it is difficult to benchmark key genes for drug development. In this review, we use neuroblastoma, a pediatric solid tumor of neural crest origin, as a paradigm for exploring “big data” applications in pediatric oncology. Computational strategies derived from big data science–network- and machine learning-based modeling and drug repositioning—hold the promise of shedding new light on the molecular mechanisms driving neuroblastoma pathogenesis and identifying potential therapeutics to combat this devastating disease. These strategies integrate robust data input, from genomic and transcriptomic studies, clinical data, and in vivo and in vitro experimental models specific to neuroblastoma and other types of cancers that closely mimic its biological characteristics. We discuss contexts in which “big data” and computational approaches, especially network-based modeling, may advance neuroblastoma research, describe currently available data and resources, and propose future models of strategic data collection and analyses for neuroblastoma and other related diseases. PMID:28035989

Neuroblastoma, a Paradigm for Big Data Science in Pediatric Oncology.

PubMed

Salazar, Brittany M; Balczewski, Emily A; Ung, Choong Yong; Zhu, Shizhen

2016-12-27

Pediatric cancers rarely exhibit recurrent mutational events when compared to most adult cancers. This poses a challenge in understanding how cancers initiate, progress, and metastasize in early childhood. Also, due to limited detected driver mutations, it is difficult to benchmark key genes for drug development. In this review, we use neuroblastoma, a pediatric solid tumor of neural crest origin, as a paradigm for exploring "big data" applications in pediatric oncology. Computational strategies derived from big data science-network- and machine learning-based modeling and drug repositioning-hold the promise of shedding new light on the molecular mechanisms driving neuroblastoma pathogenesis and identifying potential therapeutics to combat this devastating disease. These strategies integrate robust data input, from genomic and transcriptomic studies, clinical data, and in vivo and in vitro experimental models specific to neuroblastoma and other types of cancers that closely mimic its biological characteristics. We discuss contexts in which "big data" and computational approaches, especially network-based modeling, may advance neuroblastoma research, describe currently available data and resources, and propose future models of strategic data collection and analyses for neuroblastoma and other related diseases.

Perception-action map learning in controlled multiscroll systems applied to robot navigation.

PubMed

Arena, Paolo; De Fiore, Sebastiano; Fortuna, Luigi; Patané, Luca

2008-12-01

In this paper a new technique for action-oriented perception in robots is presented. The paper starts from exploiting the successful implementation of the basic idea that perceptual states can be embedded into chaotic attractors whose dynamical evolution can be associated with sensorial stimuli. In this way, it can be possible to encode, into the chaotic dynamics, environment-dependent patterns. These have to be suitably linked to an action, executed by the robot, to fulfill an assigned mission. This task is addressed here: the action-oriented perception loop is closed by introducing a simple unsupervised learning stage, implemented via a bio-inspired structure based on the motor map paradigm. In this way, perceptual meanings, useful for solving a given task, can be autonomously learned, based on the environment-dependent patterns embedded into the controlled chaotic dynamics. The presented framework has been tested on a simulated robot and the performance have been successfully compared with other traditional navigation control paradigms. Moreover an implementation of the proposed architecture on a Field Programmable Gate Array is briefly outlined and preliminary experimental results on a roving robot are also reported.

Paradigm Change: Alternate Approaches to Constitutive and Necking Models for Sheet Metal Forming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoughton, Thomas B.; Yoon, Jeong Whan

2011-08-01

This paper reviews recent work proposing paradigm changes for the currently popular approach to constitutive and failure modeling, focusing on the use of non-associated flow rules to enable greater flexibility to capture the anisotropic yield and flow behavior of metals using less complex functions than those needed under associated flow to achieve that same level of fidelity to experiment, and on the use of stress-based metrics to more reliably predict necking limits under complex conditions of non-linear forming. The paper discusses motivating factors and benefits in favor of both associated and non-associated flow models for metal forming, including experimental, theoretical, and practical aspects. This review is followed by a discussion of the topic of the forming limits, the limitations of strain analysis, the evidence in favor of stress analysis, the effects of curvature, bending/unbending cycles, triaxial stress conditions, and the motivation for the development of a new type of forming limit diagram based on the effective plastic strain or equivalent plastic work in combination with a directional parameter that accounts for the current stress condition.

A machine learning approach for automated wide-range frequency tagging analysis in embedded neuromonitoring systems.

PubMed

Montagna, Fabio; Buiatti, Marco; Benatti, Simone; Rossi, Davide; Farella, Elisabetta; Benini, Luca

2017-10-01

EEG is a standard non-invasive technique used in neural disease diagnostics and neurosciences. Frequency-tagging is an increasingly popular experimental paradigm that efficiently tests brain function by measuring EEG responses to periodic stimulation. Recently, frequency-tagging paradigms have proven successful with low stimulation frequencies (0.5-6Hz), but the EEG signal is intrinsically noisy in this frequency range, requiring heavy signal processing and significant human intervention for response estimation. This limits the possibility to process the EEG on resource-constrained systems and to design smart EEG based devices for automated diagnostic. We propose an algorithm for artifact removal and automated detection of frequency tagging responses in a wide range of stimulation frequencies, which we test on a visual stimulation protocol. The algorithm is rooted on machine learning based pattern recognition techniques and it is tailored for a new generation parallel ultra low power processing platform (PULP), reaching performance of more that 90% accuracy in the frequency detection even for very low stimulation frequencies (<1Hz) with a power budget of 56mW. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differential neural responses to acupuncture revealed by MEG using wavelet-based time-frequency analysis: a pilot study.

PubMed

You, Youbo; Bai, Lijun; Dai, Ruwei; Xue, Ting; Zhong, Chongguang; Feng, Yuanyuan; Wang, Hu; Liu, Zhenyu; Tian, Jie

2011-01-01

Acupoint specificity, lying at the core of the Traditional Chinese Medicine, still faces many controversies. As previous neuroimaging studies on acupuncture mainly adopted relatively low time-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology and inappropriate block-designed experimental paradigm due to sustained effect, in the current study, we employed a single block-designed paradigm together with high temporal-resolution magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology. We applied time-frequency analysis based upon Morlet wavelet transforming approach to detect differential oscillatory brain dynamics induced by acupuncture at Stomach Meridian 36 (ST36) using a nearby nonacupoint (NAP) as control condition. We observed that frequency power changes were mainly restricted to delta band for both ST36 group and NAP group. Consistently increased delta band power in contralateral temporal regions and decreased power in the counterparts of ipsilateral hemisphere were detected following stimulation at ST36 on the right leg. Compared with ST36, no significant delta ranges were found in temporal regions in NAP group, illustrating different oscillatory brain patterns. Our results may provide additional evidence to support the specificity of acupuncture modulation effects.

A general formula for computing maximum proportion correct scores in various psychophysical paradigms with arbitrary probability distributions of stimulus observations.

PubMed

Dai, Huanping; Micheyl, Christophe

2015-05-01

Proportion correct (Pc) is a fundamental measure of task performance in psychophysics. The maximum Pc score that can be achieved by an optimal (maximum-likelihood) observer in a given task is of both theoretical and practical importance, because it sets an upper limit on human performance. Within the framework of signal detection theory, analytical solutions for computing the maximum Pc score have been established for several common experimental paradigms under the assumption of Gaussian additive internal noise. However, as the scope of applications of psychophysical signal detection theory expands, the need is growing for psychophysicists to compute maximum Pc scores for situations involving non-Gaussian (internal or stimulus-induced) noise. In this article, we provide a general formula for computing the maximum Pc in various psychophysical experimental paradigms for arbitrary probability distributions of sensory activity. Moreover, easy-to-use MATLAB code implementing the formula is provided. Practical applications of the formula are illustrated, and its accuracy is evaluated, for two paradigms and two types of probability distributions (uniform and Gaussian). The results demonstrate that Pc scores computed using the formula remain accurate even for continuous probability distributions, as long as the conversion from continuous probability density functions to discrete probability mass functions is supported by a sufficiently high sampling resolution. We hope that the exposition in this article, and the freely available MATLAB code, facilitates calculations of maximum performance for a wider range of experimental situations, as well as explorations of the impact of different assumptions concerning internal-noise distributions on maximum performance in psychophysical experiments.

An experimental paradigm for team decision processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Serfaty, D.; Kleinman, D. L.

1986-01-01

The study of distributed information processing and decision making is presently hampered by two factors: (1) The inherent complexity of the mathematical formulation of decentralized problems has prevented the development of models that could be used to predict performance in a distributed environment; and (2) The lack of comprehensive scientific empirical data on human team decision making has hindered the development of significant descriptive models. As a part of a comprehensive effort to find a new framework for multihuman decision making problems, a novel experimental research paradigm was developed involving human terms in decision making tasks. Attempts to construct parts of an integrated model with ideas from queueing networks, team theory, distributed estimation and decentralized resource management are described.

Perceptual crossing: the simplest online paradigm

PubMed Central

Auvray, Malika; Rohde, Marieke

2012-01-01

Researchers in social cognition increasingly realize that many phenomena cannot be understood by investigating offline situations only, focusing on individual mechanisms and an observer perspective. There are processes of dynamic emergence specific to online situations, when two or more persons are engaged in a real-time interaction that are more than just the sum of the individual capacities or behaviors, and these require the study of online social interaction. Auvray et al.'s (2009) perceptual crossing paradigm offers possibly the simplest paradigm for studying such online interactions: two persons, a one-dimensional space, one bit of information, and a yes/no answer. This study has provoked a lot of resonance in different areas of research, including experimental psychology, computer/robot modeling, philosophy, psychopathology, and even in the field of design. In this article, we review and critically assess this body of literature. We give an overview of both behavioral experimental research and simulated agent modeling done using the perceptual crossing paradigm. We discuss different contexts in which work on perceptual crossing has been cited. This includes the controversy about the possible constitutive role of perceptual crossing for social cognition. We conclude with an outlook on future research possibilities, in particular those that could elucidate the link between online interaction dynamics and individual social cognition. PMID:22723776

Linking neuroscience and psychoanalysis from a developmental perspective: why and how?

PubMed

Ouss-Ryngaert, Lisa; Golse, Bernard

2010-12-01

This paper aims to develop the rational to support why and how we should link neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Many of these points are derived from child development and child psychiatry. Neuroscience investigates developmental questions in a different way than psychoanalysis, while psychoanalysis itself has shifted towards new developmental paradigms. The rapprochement between neuroscience and psychoanalysis allows a new understanding of some concepts, including embodiment of mind, consciousness and attachment. The "double reading" paradigm allows a better understanding of symptomatic configurations. Linking neuroscience and psychoanalysis may improve treatments and result in new experimental neuroscientific paradigms involving changing the research object, changing the state of the research object, and investigating the structural changes in the brain following psychotherapy. The last aim is to create an epistemology of the articulation between the theoretical frameworks through phenomenology, "complementarism" and neuropsychoanalysis. We argue that it is necessary for clinicians to be aware of the advancements in each field. This is not only an epistemological question; we assume that new findings in neuroscience will change the way psychoanalysts think and approach treatment of their patients. We hope the present research will contribute to change the way that neuroscientists think and will provide new options to their set of experimental paradigms. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lexical Retrieval is not by Competition: Evidence from the Blocked Naming Paradigm

PubMed Central

Navarrete, Eduardo; Del Prato, Paul; Peressotti, Francesca; Mahon, Bradford Z.

2014-01-01

A central issue in research on speech production is whether or not the retrieval of words from the mental lexicon is a competitive process. An important experimental paradigm to study the dynamics of lexical retrieval is the blocked naming paradigm, in which participants name pictures of objects that are grouped by semantic category (‘homogenous’ or ‘related’ blocks) or not grouped by semantic category (‘heterogeneous’ or ‘unrelated’ blocks). Typically, pictures are repeated multiple times (or cycles) within both related and unrelated blocks. It is known that participants are slower in related than in unrelated blocks when the data are collapsed over all within-block repetitions. This semantic interference effect, as observed in the blocked naming task, is the strongest empirical evidence for the hypothesis of lexical selection by competition. Here we show, contrary to the accepted view, that the default polarity of semantic context effects in the blocked naming paradigm is facilitation, rather than interference. In a series of experiments we find that interference arises only when items repeat within a block, and only because of that repetition: What looks to be ‘semantic interference’ in the blocked naming paradigm is actually less repetition priming in related compared to unrelated blocks. These data undermine the theory of lexical selection by competition and indicate a model in which the most highly activated word is retrieved, regardless of the activation levels of nontarget words. We conclude that the theory of lexical selection by competition, and by extension the important psycholinguistic models based on that assumption, are no longer viable, and frame a new way to approach the question of how words are retrieved in spoken language production. PMID:25284954

Neonatal corticosterone administration in rodents as a tool to investigate the maternal programming of emotional and immune domains.

PubMed

Macrì, Simone

2017-02-01

Neonatal experiences exert persistent influences on individual development. These influences encompass numerous domains including emotion, cognition, reactivity to external stressors and immunity. The comprehensive nature of the neonatal programming of individual phenotype is reverberated in the large amount of experimental data collected by many authors in several scientific fields: biomedicine, evolutionary and molecular biology. These data support the view that variations in precocious environmental conditions may calibrate the individual phenotype at many different levels. Environmental influences have been traditionally addressed through experimental paradigms entailing the modification of the neonatal environment and the multifactorial (e.g. behaviour, endocrinology, cellular and molecular biology) analysis of the developing individual's phenotype. These protocols suggested that the role of the mother in mediating the offspring's phenotype is often associated with the short-term effects of environmental manipulations on dam's physiology. Specifically, environmental manipulations may induce fluctuations in maternal corticosteroids (corticosterone in rodents) which, in turn, are translated to the offspring through lactation. Herein, I propose that this mother-offspring transfer mechanism can be leveraged to devise experimental protocols based on the exogenous administration of corticosterone during lactation. To support this proposition, I refer to a series of studies in which these protocols have been adopted to investigate the neonatal programming of individual phenotype at the level of emotional and immune regulations. While these paradigms cannot replace traditional studies, I suggest that they can be considered a valid complement.

Impaired down-regulation of negative emotion in self-referent social situations in bipolar disorder: A pilot study of a novel experimental paradigm.

PubMed

Kjærstad, Hanne L; Vinberg, Maj; Goldin, Philippe R; Køster, Nicolai; Støttrup, Mette Marie D; Knorr, Ulla; Kessing, Lars V; Miskowiak, Kamilla W

2016-04-30

Emotion dysregulation is a core feature of bipolar disorder (BD) that persists into periods of remission. Neuroimaging studies show aberrant neural responses during emotion regulation (ER) in patients with BD relative to healthy controls, but behavioural evidence for ER deficits is sparse and conflicting. This study aimed to explore ER in BD using a novel, personally relevant experimental paradigm. Twenty patients with BD and 20 patients with unipolar disorder (UD), in full or partial remission, and 20 healthy controls were given a novel computerised test. Participants were instructed to react naturally or dampen their emotional response to positive and negative social scenarios and associated self-beliefs. They were also given an established experimental task for comparison, involving reappraisal of negative affective picture stimuli, as well as a questionnaire of habitual ER strategies. BD patients showed reduced ability to down-regulate emotional responses in negative, but not positive, social scenarios relative to healthy controls and UD patients. In contrast, there were no between-group differences in the established ER task or in self-reported habitual reappraisal strategies. Findings highlight the novel social scenario paradigm as a sensitive test for detection of ER difficulties in BD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Why the Evidence-Based Paradigm in Early Childhood Education and Care Is Anything but Evident

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandenbroeck, Michel; Roets, Griet; Roose, Rudi

2012-01-01

Praxeological research is a necessary contribution to the research field in early childhood education and care, which is currently dominated by an evidence-based paradigm that tends to consider the measurement of predefined outcomes as the most valid form of research. We analyse the history of the evidence-based paradigm in the field of medicine…

Empirical approaches to metacommunities: a review and comparison with theory.

PubMed

Logue, Jürg B; Mouquet, Nicolas; Peter, Hannes; Hillebrand, Helmut

2011-09-01

Metacommunity theory has advanced understanding of how spatial dynamics and local interactions shape community structure and biodiversity. Here, we review empirical approaches to metacommunities, both observational and experimental, pertaining to how well they relate to and test theoretical metacommunity paradigms and how well they capture the realities of natural ecosystems. First, we show that the species-sorting and mass-effects paradigms are the most commonly tested and supported paradigms. Second, the dynamics observed can often be ascribed to two or more of the four non-exclusive paradigms. Third, empirical approaches relate only weakly to the concise assumptions and predictions made by the paradigms. Consequently, we suggest major avenues of improvement for empirical metacommunity approaches, including the integration across theoretical approaches and the incorporation of evolutionary and meta-ecosystem dynamics. We hope for metacommunity ecology to thereby bridge existing gaps between empirical and theoretical work, thus becoming a more powerful framework to understand dynamics across ecosystems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ephus: Multipurpose Data Acquisition Software for Neuroscience Experiments

PubMed Central

Suter, Benjamin A.; O'Connor, Timothy; Iyer, Vijay; Petreanu, Leopoldo T.; Hooks, Bryan M.; Kiritani, Taro; Svoboda, Karel; Shepherd, Gordon M. G.

2010-01-01

Physiological measurements in neuroscience experiments often involve complex stimulus paradigms and multiple data channels. Ephus (http://www.ephus.org) is an open-source software package designed for general-purpose data acquisition and instrument control. Ephus operates as a collection of modular programs, including an ephys program for standard whole-cell recording with single or multiple electrodes in typical electrophysiological experiments, and a mapper program for synaptic circuit mapping experiments involving laser scanning photostimulation based on glutamate uncaging or channelrhodopsin-2 excitation. Custom user functions allow user-extensibility at multiple levels, including on-line analysis and closed-loop experiments, where experimental parameters can be changed based on recently acquired data, such as during in vivo behavioral experiments. Ephus is compatible with a variety of data acquisition and imaging hardware. This paper describes the main features and modules of Ephus and their use in representative experimental applications. PMID:21960959

Reconnaissance blind multi-chess: an experimentation platform for ISR sensor fusion and resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, Andrew J.; Richardson, Casey L.; Kain, Sean M.; Stankiewicz, Paul G.; Guseman, Paul R.; Schreurs, Blake A.; Dunne, Jeffrey A.

2016-05-01

This paper introduces the game of reconnaissance blind multi-chess (RBMC) as a paradigm and test bed for understanding and experimenting with autonomous decision making under uncertainty and in particular managing a network of heterogeneous Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors to maintain situational awareness informing tactical and strategic decision making. The intent is for RBMC to serve as a common reference or challenge problem in fusion and resource management of heterogeneous sensor ensembles across diverse mission areas. We have defined a basic rule set and a framework for creating more complex versions, developed a web-based software realization to serve as an experimentation platform, and developed some initial machine intelligence approaches to playing it.

[Reconstituting evaluation methods based on both qualitative and quantitative paradigms].

PubMed

Miyata, Hiroaki; Okubo, Suguru; Yoshie, Satoru; Kai, Ichiro

2011-01-01

Debate about the relationship between quantitative and qualitative paradigms is often muddled and confusing and the clutter of terms and arguments has resulted in the concepts becoming obscure and unrecognizable. In this study we conducted content analysis regarding evaluation methods of qualitative healthcare research. We extracted descriptions on four types of evaluation paradigm (validity/credibility, reliability/credibility, objectivity/confirmability, and generalizability/transferability), and classified them into subcategories. In quantitative research, there has been many evaluation methods based on qualitative paradigms, and vice versa. Thus, it might not be useful to consider evaluation methods of qualitative paradigm are isolated from those of quantitative methods. Choosing practical evaluation methods based on the situation and prior conditions of each study is an important approach for researchers.

Laser Spot Detection Based on Reaction Diffusion.

PubMed

Vázquez-Otero, Alejandro; Khikhlukha, Danila; Solano-Altamirano, J M; Dormido, Raquel; Duro, Natividad

2016-03-01

Center-location of a laser spot is a problem of interest when the laser is used for processing and performing measurements. Measurement quality depends on correctly determining the location of the laser spot. Hence, improving and proposing algorithms for the correct location of the spots are fundamental issues in laser-based measurements. In this paper we introduce a Reaction Diffusion (RD) system as the main computational framework for robustly finding laser spot centers. The method presented is compared with a conventional approach for locating laser spots, and the experimental results indicate that RD-based computation generates reliable and precise solutions. These results confirm the flexibility of the new computational paradigm based on RD systems for addressing problems that can be reduced to a set of geometric operations.

Shock treatment: using immersive digital realism to restage and re-examine milgram's 'obedience to authority' research.

PubMed

Haslam, S Alexander; Reicher, Stephen D; Millard, Kathryn

2015-01-01

Attempts to revisit Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' (OtA) paradigm present serious ethical challenges. In recent years new paradigms have been developed to circumvent these challenges but none involve using Milgram's own procedures and asking naïve participants to deliver the maximum level of shock. This was achieved in the present research by using Immersive Digital Realism (IDR) to revisit the OtA paradigm. IDR is a dramatic method that involves a director collaborating with professional actors to develop characters, the strategic withholding of contextual information, and immersion in a real-world environment. 14 actors took part in an IDR study in which they were assigned to conditions that restaged Milgrams's New Baseline ('Coronary') condition and four other variants. Post-experimental interviews also assessed participants' identification with Experimenter and Learner. Participants' behaviour closely resembled that observed in Milgram's original research. In particular, this was evidenced by (a) all being willing to administer shocks greater than 150 volts, (b) near-universal refusal to continue after being told by the Experimenter that "you have no other choice, you must continue" (Milgram's fourth prod and the one most resembling an order), and (c) a strong correlation between the maximum level of shock that participants administered and the mean maximum shock delivered in the corresponding variant in Milgram's own research. Consistent with an engaged follower account, relative identification with the Experimenter (vs. the Learner) was also a good predictor of the maximum shock that participants administered.

Regenerative memory in time-delayed neuromorphic photonic resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romeira, B.; Avó, R.; Figueiredo, José M. L.; Barland, S.; Javaloyes, J.

2016-01-01

We investigate a photonic regenerative memory based upon a neuromorphic oscillator with a delayed self-feedback (autaptic) connection. We disclose the existence of a unique temporal response characteristic of localized structures enabling an ideal support for bits in an optical buffer memory for storage and reshaping of data information. We link our experimental implementation, based upon a nanoscale nonlinear resonant tunneling diode driving a laser, to the paradigm of neuronal activity, the FitzHugh-Nagumo model with delayed feedback. This proof-of-concept photonic regenerative memory might constitute a building block for a new class of neuron-inspired photonic memories that can handle high bit-rate optical signals.

Optical implementation of a feature-based neural network with application to automatic target recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, Tien-Hsin; Stoner, William W.

1993-01-01

An optical neural network based on the neocognitron paradigm is introduced. A novel aspect of the architecture design is shift-invariant multichannel Fourier optical correlation within each processing layer. Multilayer processing is achieved by feeding back the ouput of the feature correlator interatively to the input spatial light modulator and by updating the Fourier filters. By training the neural net with characteristic features extracted from the target images, successful pattern recognition with intraclass fault tolerance and interclass discrimination is achieved. A detailed system description is provided. Experimental demonstrations of a two-layer neural network for space-object discrimination is also presented.

Automatic target recognition using a feature-based optical neural network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, Tien-Hsin

1992-01-01

An optical neural network based upon the Neocognitron paradigm (K. Fukushima et al. 1983) is introduced. A novel aspect of the architectural design is shift-invariant multichannel Fourier optical correlation within each processing layer. Multilayer processing is achieved by iteratively feeding back the output of the feature correlator to the input spatial light modulator and updating the Fourier filters. By training the neural net with characteristic features extracted from the target images, successful pattern recognition with intra-class fault tolerance and inter-class discrimination is achieved. A detailed system description is provided. Experimental demonstration of a two-layer neural network for space objects discrimination is also presented.

Problem of lunar mascons: An alternative approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barenbaum, A. A.; Shpekin, M. I.

2018-01-01

The origin of lunar mascons is discussed on the base of results of the orbital experimental exploration of the Moon by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions. We lead the discussion on the basis of representations of Galactocentric paradigm which links processes in the Solar System and on its planets with the Galaxy influences. The article describes a new approach to the interpretation of the crater data, which takes into account the quasi-periodic bombardments of the Moon by galactic comets. We present a preliminary evaluation of the age of mascons as well as of craters and mares on the Moon based on this approach.

Environmental proteomics: a paradigm shift in characterizing microbial activities at the molecular level.

PubMed

Keller, Martin; Hettich, Robert

2009-03-01

The increase in sequencing capacity led to a new wave of metagenomic projects, enabling and setting the prerequisite for the application of environmental proteomics technologies. This review describes the current status of environmental proteomics. It describes sample preparation as well as the two major technologies applied within this field: two-dimensional electrophoresis-based environmental proteomics and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based environmental proteomics. It also highlights current publications and describes major scientific findings. The review closes with a discussion of critical improvements in the area of integrating experimental mass spectrometry technologies with bioinformatics as well as improved sample handling.

Coding visual features extracted from video sequences.

PubMed

Baroffio, Luca; Cesana, Matteo; Redondi, Alessandro; Tagliasacchi, Marco; Tubaro, Stefano

2014-05-01

Visual features are successfully exploited in several applications (e.g., visual search, object recognition and tracking, etc.) due to their ability to efficiently represent image content. Several visual analysis tasks require features to be transmitted over a bandwidth-limited network, thus calling for coding techniques to reduce the required bit budget, while attaining a target level of efficiency. In this paper, we propose, for the first time, a coding architecture designed for local features (e.g., SIFT, SURF) extracted from video sequences. To achieve high coding efficiency, we exploit both spatial and temporal redundancy by means of intraframe and interframe coding modes. In addition, we propose a coding mode decision based on rate-distortion optimization. The proposed coding scheme can be conveniently adopted to implement the analyze-then-compress (ATC) paradigm in the context of visual sensor networks. That is, sets of visual features are extracted from video frames, encoded at remote nodes, and finally transmitted to a central controller that performs visual analysis. This is in contrast to the traditional compress-then-analyze (CTA) paradigm, in which video sequences acquired at a node are compressed and then sent to a central unit for further processing. In this paper, we compare these coding paradigms using metrics that are routinely adopted to evaluate the suitability of visual features in the context of content-based retrieval, object recognition, and tracking. Experimental results demonstrate that, thanks to the significant coding gains achieved by the proposed coding scheme, ATC outperforms CTA with respect to all evaluation metrics.

Real behavior in virtual environments: psychology experiments in a simple virtual-reality paradigm using video games.

PubMed

Kozlov, Michail D; Johansen, Mark K

2010-12-01

The purpose of this research was to illustrate the broad usefulness of simple video-game-based virtual environments (VEs) for psychological research on real-world behavior. To this end, this research explored several high-level social phenomena in a simple, inexpensive computer-game environment: the reduced likelihood of helping under time pressure and the bystander effect, which is reduced helping in the presence of bystanders. In the first experiment, participants had to find the exit in a virtual labyrinth under either high or low time pressure. They encountered rooms with and without virtual bystanders, and in each room, a virtual person requested assistance. Participants helped significantly less frequently under time pressure but the presence/absence of a small number of bystanders did not significantly moderate helping. The second experiment increased the number of virtual bystanders, and participants were instructed to imagine that these were real people. Participants helped significantly less in rooms with large numbers of bystanders compared to rooms with no bystanders, thus demonstrating a bystander effect. These results indicate that even sophisticated high-level social behaviors can be observed and experimentally manipulated in simple VEs, thus implying the broad usefulness of this paradigm in psychological research as a good compromise between experimental control and ecological validity.

Information physics fundamentals of nanophotonics.

PubMed

Naruse, Makoto; Tate, Naoya; Aono, Masashi; Ohtsu, Motoichi

2013-05-01

Nanophotonics has been extensively studied with the aim of unveiling and exploiting light-matter interactions that occur at a scale below the diffraction limit of light, and recent progress made in experimental technologies--both in nanomaterial fabrication and characterization--is driving further advancements in the field. From the viewpoint of information, on the other hand, novel architectures, design and analysis principles, and even novel computing paradigms should be considered so that we can fully benefit from the potential of nanophotonics. This paper examines the information physics aspects of nanophotonics. More specifically, we present some fundamental and emergent information properties that stem from optical excitation transfer mediated by optical near-field interactions and the hierarchical properties inherent in optical near-fields. We theoretically and experimentally investigate aspects such as unidirectional signal transfer, energy efficiency and networking effects, among others, and we present their basic theoretical formalisms and describe demonstrations of practical applications. A stochastic analysis of light-assisted material formation is also presented, where an information-based approach provides a deeper understanding of the phenomena involved, such as self-organization. Furthermore, the spatio-temporal dynamics of optical excitation transfer and its inherent stochastic attributes are utilized for solution searching, paving the way to a novel computing paradigm that exploits coherent and dissipative processes in nanophotonics.

Murburn Concept: A Molecular Explanation for Hormetic and Idiosyncratic Dose Responses.

PubMed

Parashar, Abhinav; Gideon, Daniel Andrew; Manoj, Kelath Murali

2018-01-01

Recently, electron transfers and catalyses in a bevy of redox reactions mediated by hemeproteins were explained by murburn concept. The term "murburn" is abstracted from " mur ed burn ing " or " m ild u n r estricted burn ing " and connotes a novel " m olecule- u nbound ion- r adical " interaction paradigm. Quite unlike the genetic regulations and protein-level affinity-based controls that govern order and specificity/selectivity in conventional treatments, murburn concept is based on stochastic/thermodynamic regulatory principles. The novel insight necessitates a "reactivity outside the active-site" perspective, because select redox enzymatic activity is obligatorily mediated via diffusible radical/species. Herein, reactions employing key hemeproteins (as exemplified by CYP2E1) establish direct experimental connection between "additive-influenced redox catalysis" and "unusual dose responses" in reductionist and physiological milieu. Thus, direct and conclusive molecular-level experimental evidence is presented, supporting the mechanistic relevance of murburn concept in "maverick" concentration-based effects brought about by additives. Therefore, murburn concept could potentially explain several physiological hormetic and idiosyncratic dose responses.

A System Computational Model of Implicit Emotional Learning

PubMed Central

Puviani, Luca; Rama, Sidita

2016-01-01

Nowadays, the experimental study of emotional learning is commonly based on classical conditioning paradigms and models, which have been thoroughly investigated in the last century. Unluckily, models based on classical conditioning are unable to explain or predict important psychophysiological phenomena, such as the failure of the extinction of emotional responses in certain circumstances (for instance, those observed in evaluative conditioning, in post-traumatic stress disorders and in panic attacks). In this manuscript, starting from the experimental results available from the literature, a computational model of implicit emotional learning based both on prediction errors computation and on statistical inference is developed. The model quantitatively predicts (a) the occurrence of evaluative conditioning, (b) the dynamics and the resistance-to-extinction of the traumatic emotional responses, (c) the mathematical relation between classical conditioning and unconditioned stimulus revaluation. Moreover, we discuss how the derived computational model can lead to the development of new animal models for resistant-to-extinction emotional reactions and novel methodologies of emotions modulation. PMID:27378898

A System Computational Model of Implicit Emotional Learning.

PubMed

Puviani, Luca; Rama, Sidita

2016-01-01

Nowadays, the experimental study of emotional learning is commonly based on classical conditioning paradigms and models, which have been thoroughly investigated in the last century. Unluckily, models based on classical conditioning are unable to explain or predict important psychophysiological phenomena, such as the failure of the extinction of emotional responses in certain circumstances (for instance, those observed in evaluative conditioning, in post-traumatic stress disorders and in panic attacks). In this manuscript, starting from the experimental results available from the literature, a computational model of implicit emotional learning based both on prediction errors computation and on statistical inference is developed. The model quantitatively predicts (a) the occurrence of evaluative conditioning, (b) the dynamics and the resistance-to-extinction of the traumatic emotional responses, (c) the mathematical relation between classical conditioning and unconditioned stimulus revaluation. Moreover, we discuss how the derived computational model can lead to the development of new animal models for resistant-to-extinction emotional reactions and novel methodologies of emotions modulation.

What is information?

PubMed

Barbieri, Marcello

2016-03-13

Molecular biology is based on two great discoveries: the first is that genes carry hereditary information in the form of linear sequences of nucleotides; the second is that in protein synthesis a sequence of nucleotides is translated into a sequence of amino acids, a process that amounts to a transfer of information from genes to proteins. These discoveries have shown that the information of genes and proteins is the specific linear order of their sequences. This is a clear definition of information and there is no doubt that it reflects an experimental reality. What is not clear, however, is the ontological status of information, and the result is that today we have two conflicting paradigms in biology. One is the 'chemical paradigm', the idea that 'life is chemistry', or, more precisely, that 'life is an extremely complex form of chemistry'. The other is the 'information paradigm', the view that chemistry is not enough, that 'life is chemistry plus information'. This implies that there is an ontological difference between information and chemistry, a difference which is often expressed by saying that information-based processes like heredity and natural selection simply do not exist in the world of chemistry. Against this conclusion, the supporters of the chemical paradigm have argued that the concept of information is only a linguistic metaphor, a word that summarizes the result of countless underlying chemical reactions. The supporters of the information paradigm insist that information is a real and fundamental component of the living world, but have not been able to prove this point. As a result, the chemical view has not been abandoned and the two paradigms both coexist today. Here, it is shown that a solution to the ontological problem of information does exist. It comes from the idea that life is artefact-making, that genes and proteins are molecular artefacts manufactured by molecular machines and that artefacts necessarily require sequences and coding rules in addition to the quantities of physics and chemistry. More precisely, it is shown that the production of artefacts requires new observables that are referred to as nominable entities because they can be described only by naming their components in their natural order. From an ontological point of view, in conclusion, information is a nominable entity, a fundamental but not-computable observable. © 2016 The Author(s).

Accuracy of Nonverbal Communication as Determinant of Interpersonal Expectancy Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuckerman, Miron; And Others

1978-01-01

The person perception paradigm was used to address the effects of experimenters' ability to encode nonverbal cues and subjects' ability to decode nonverbal cues on magnitude of expectancy effects. Greater expectancy effects were obtained when experimenters were better encoders and subjects were better decoders of nonverbal cues. (Author)

Defining body deception and its role in peer based social comparison theories of body dissatisfaction.

PubMed

Hildebrandt, Tom; Shiovitz, Rachel; Alfano, Lauren; Greif, Rebecca

2008-09-01

The purpose of the current study was to operationalize the phenomenon of body deception, describe its theoretical importance, and validate its existence in an experimental paradigm. The definition of body deception includes the intentional misrepresentation of information about appearance to others. The present study examined body deception in a controlled experimental study of male and female same-sex peer groups using a series of hierarchical linear models. Ninety male and 90 female undergraduates were randomized to an experimental same-sex peer group or individual control condition. The results suggested that both men and women used body deception among peers, but men's body deception was muscularity driven whereas women's was thinness driven. Body dissatisfaction was significantly predictive of the degree of body deception used by both genders and it was significantly related to peer group membership. An integrated model for the role of body deception in body image disturbance is proposed.

A new concept of a unified parameter management, experiment control, and data analysis in fMRI: application to real-time fMRI at 3T and 7T.

PubMed

Hollmann, M; Mönch, T; Mulla-Osman, S; Tempelmann, C; Stadler, J; Bernarding, J

2008-10-30

In functional MRI (fMRI) complex experiments and applications require increasingly complex parameter handling as the experimental setup usually consists of separated soft- and hardware systems. Advanced real-time applications such as neurofeedback-based training or brain computer interfaces (BCIs) may even require adaptive changes of the paradigms and experimental setup during the measurement. This would be facilitated by an automated management of the overall workflow and a control of the communication between all experimental components. We realized a concept based on an XML software framework called Experiment Description Language (EDL). All parameters relevant for real-time data acquisition, real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) statistical data analysis, stimulus presentation, and activation processing are stored in one central EDL file, and processed during the experiment. A usability study comparing the central EDL parameter management with traditional approaches showed an improvement of the complete experimental handling. Based on this concept, a feasibility study realizing a dynamic rtfMRI-based brain computer interface showed that the developed system in combination with EDL was able to reliably detect and evaluate activation patterns in real-time. The implementation of a centrally controlled communication between the subsystems involved in the rtfMRI experiments reduced potential inconsistencies, and will open new applications for adaptive BCIs.

Experimental evidence for inherent Lévy search behaviour in foraging animals.

PubMed

Kölzsch, Andrea; Alzate, Adriana; Bartumeus, Frederic; de Jager, Monique; Weerman, Ellen J; Hengeveld, Geerten M; Naguib, Marc; Nolet, Bart A; van de Koppel, Johan

2015-05-22

Recently, Lévy walks have been put forward as a new paradigm for animal search and many cases have been made for its presence in nature. However, it remains debated whether Lévy walks are an inherent behavioural strategy or emerge from the animal reacting to its habitat. Here, we demonstrate signatures of Lévy behaviour in the search movement of mud snails (Hydrobia ulvae) based on a novel, direct assessment of movement properties in an experimental set-up using different food distributions. Our experimental data uncovered clusters of small movement steps alternating with long moves independent of food encounter and landscape complexity. Moreover, size distributions of these clusters followed truncated power laws. These two findings are characteristic signatures of mechanisms underlying inherent Lévy-like movement. Thus, our study provides clear experimental evidence that such multi-scale movement is an inherent behaviour rather than resulting from the animal interacting with its environment. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Horizon Mission Methodology - A tool for the study of technology innovation and new paradigms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, John L.

1993-01-01

The Horizon Mission (HM) methodology was developed to provide a means of identifying and evaluating highly innovative, breakthrough technology concepts (BTCs) and for assessing their potential impact on advanced space missions. The methodology is based on identifying new capabilities needed by hypothetical 'horizon' space missions having performance requirements that cannot be met even by extrapolating known space technologies. Normal human evaluation of new ideas such as BTCs appears to be governed (and limited) by 'inner models of reality' defined as paradigms. Thus, new ideas are evaluated by old models. This paper describes the use of the HM Methodology to define possible future paradigms that would provide alternatives to evaluation by current paradigms. The approach is to represent a future paradigm by a set of new BTC-based capabilities - called a paradigm abstract. The paper describes methods of constructing and using the abstracts for evaluating BTCs for space applications and for exploring the concept of paradigms and paradigm shifts as a representation of technology innovation.

Mass sensing based on deterministic and stochastic responses of elastically coupled nanocantilevers.

PubMed

Gil-Santos, Eduardo; Ramos, Daniel; Jana, Anirban; Calleja, Montserrat; Raman, Arvind; Tamayo, Javier

2009-12-01

Coupled nanomechanical systems and their entangled eigenstates offer unique opportunities for the detection of ultrasmall masses. In this paper we show theoretically and experimentally that the stochastic and deterministic responses of a pair of coupled nanocantilevers provide different and complementary information about the added mass of an analyte and its location. This method allows the sensitive detection of minute quantities of mass even in the presence of large initial differences in the active masses of the two cantilevers. Finally, we show the fundamental limits in mass detection of this sensing paradigm.

A New Paradigm of Fatigue Variability Behavior and Implications for Life Prediction (Preprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-01

turbine engine materials is discussed. These were: the α+β titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo (Ti- 6 -2- 4 - 6 ) and a powder metallurgy (P/M) processed...MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The materials in this study were an α+β titanium alloy, Ti- 6 -2- 4 - 6 and a P/M processed nickel-based superalloy. Two...and correlations between microstructure and loading variables vs. the mean behavior have been established in many cases [ 6 -9]. In α+β titanium alloys

Mesoscopic Free Path of Nonthermalized Photogenerated Carriers in a Ferroelectric Insulator.

PubMed

Gu, Zongquan; Imbrenda, Dominic; Bennett-Jackson, Andrew L; Falmbigl, Matthias; Podpirka, Adrian; Parker, Thomas C; Shreiber, Daniel; Ivill, Mathew P; Fridkin, Vladimir M; Spanier, Jonathan E

2017-03-03

We show how finite-size scaling of a bulk photovoltaic effect-generated electric field in epitaxial ferroelectric insulating BaTiO_{3}(001) films and a photo-Hall response involving the bulk photovoltaic current reveal a large room-temperature mean free path of photogenerated nonthermalized electrons. Experimental determination of mesoscopic ballistic optically generated carrier transport opens a new paradigm for hot electron-based solar energy conversion, and for facile control of ballistic transport distinct from existing low-dimensional semiconductor interfaces, surfaces, layers, or other structures.

Cerebral specialization. [greater performance efficiency for certain mental abilities or processes by one cerebral hemisphere over another

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Robin D.; Hopkins, William D.; Rumbaugh, Duane M.

1991-01-01

The concept of greater performance efficiency for certain mental abilities or processes in one cerebral hemisphere rather than the other is referred to as 'cerebral lateralization'. The experimental paradigm for lateralization research involves the study of patients with one damaged hemisphere, which prevents their performance of a certain task or function; this approach, however, presents many difficulties in extrapolating to brain function in normal patients. Attention is presently given to gender differences in lateralization, cerebral asymmetries in other species, and the evolutionary bases of hemispheric specialization.

Permutation tests for goodness-of-fit testing of mathematical models to experimental data.

PubMed

Fişek, M Hamit; Barlas, Zeynep

2013-03-01

This paper presents statistical procedures for improving the goodness-of-fit testing of theoretical models to data obtained from laboratory experiments. We use an experimental study in the expectation states research tradition which has been carried out in the "standardized experimental situation" associated with the program to illustrate the application of our procedures. We briefly review the expectation states research program and the fundamentals of resampling statistics as we develop our procedures in the resampling context. The first procedure we develop is a modification of the chi-square test which has been the primary statistical tool for assessing goodness of fit in the EST research program, but has problems associated with its use. We discuss these problems and suggest a procedure to overcome them. The second procedure we present, the "Average Absolute Deviation" test, is a new test and is proposed as an alternative to the chi square test, as being simpler and more informative. The third and fourth procedures are permutation versions of Jonckheere's test for ordered alternatives, and Kendall's tau(b), a rank order correlation coefficient. The fifth procedure is a new rank order goodness-of-fit test, which we call the "Deviation from Ideal Ranking" index, which we believe may be more useful than other rank order tests for assessing goodness-of-fit of models to experimental data. The application of these procedures to the sample data is illustrated in detail. We then present another laboratory study from an experimental paradigm different from the expectation states paradigm - the "network exchange" paradigm, and describe how our procedures may be applied to this data set. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A review on the neural bases of episodic odor memory: from laboratory-based to autobiographical approaches

PubMed Central

Saive, Anne-Lise; Royet, Jean-Pierre; Plailly, Jane

2014-01-01

Odors are powerful cues that trigger episodic memories. However, in light of the amount of behavioral data describing the characteristics of episodic odor memory, the paucity of information available on the neural substrates of this function is startling. Furthermore, the diversity of experimental paradigms complicates the identification of a generic episodic odor memory network. We conduct a systematic review of the literature depicting the current state of the neural correlates of episodic odor memory in healthy humans by placing a focus on the experimental approaches. Functional neuroimaging data are introduced by a brief characterization of the memory processes investigated. We present and discuss laboratory-based approaches, such as odor recognition and odor associative memory, and autobiographical approaches, such as the evaluation of odor familiarity and odor-evoked autobiographical memory. We then suggest the development of new laboratory-ecological approaches allowing for the controlled encoding and retrieval of specific multidimensional events that could open up new prospects for the comprehension of episodic odor memory and its neural underpinnings. While large conceptual differences distinguish experimental approaches, the overview of the functional neuroimaging findings suggests relatively stable neural correlates of episodic odor memory. PMID:25071494

Computational study of AuSi{sub n} (n=1-9) nanoalloy clusters invoking DFT based descriptors

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

Ranjan, Prabhat; Kumar, Ajay; Chakraborty, Tanmoy, E-mail: tanmoy.chakraborty@jaipur.manipal.edu, E-mail: tanmoychem@gmail.com

2016-04-13

Nanoalloy clusters formed between Au and Si are topics of great interest today from both scientific and technological point of view. Due to its remarkable catalytic, electronic, mechanical and magnetic properties Au-Si nanoalloy clusters have extensive applications in the field of microelectronics, catalysis, biomedicine, and jewelry industry. Density Functional Theory (DFT) is a new paradigm of quantum mechanics, which is very much popular to study the electronic properties of materials. Conceptual DFT based descriptors have been invoked to correlate the experimental properties of nanoalloy clusters. In this venture, we have systematically investigated AuSi{sub n} (n=1-9) nanoalloy clusters in the theoreticalmore » frame of the B3LYP exchange correlation. The experimental properties of AuSi{sub n} (n=1-9) nanoalloy clusters are correlated in terms of DFT based descriptors viz. HOMO-LUMO gap, Electronegativity (χ), Global Hardness (η), Global Softness (S) and Electrophilicity Index (ω). The calculated HOMO-LUMO gap exhibits interesting odd-even alteration behaviour, indicating that even numbered clusters possess higher stability as compare to their neighbour odd numbered clusters. This study also reflects a very well agreement between experimental bond length and computed data.« less

A simplified conjoint recognition paradigm for the measurement of gist and verbatim memory.

PubMed

Stahl, Christoph; Klauer, Karl Christoph

2008-05-01

The distinction between verbatim and gist memory traces has furthered the understanding of numerous phenomena in various fields, such as false memory research, research on reasoning and decision making, and cognitive development. To measure verbatim and gist memory empirically, an experimental paradigm and multinomial measurement model has been proposed but rarely applied. In the present article, a simplified conjoint recognition paradigm and multinomial model is introduced and validated as a measurement tool for the separate assessment of verbatim and gist memory processes. A Bayesian metacognitive framework is applied to validate guessing processes. Extensions of the model toward incorporating the processes of phantom recollection and erroneous recollection rejection are discussed.

Advancing Clinical Proteomics via Analysis Based on Biological Complexes: A Tale of Five Paradigms.

PubMed

Goh, Wilson Wen Bin; Wong, Limsoon

2016-09-02

Despite advances in proteomic technologies, idiosyncratic data issues, for example, incomplete coverage and inconsistency, resulting in large data holes, persist. Moreover, because of naïve reliance on statistical testing and its accompanying p values, differential protein signatures identified from such proteomics data have little diagnostic power. Thus, deploying conventional analytics on proteomics data is insufficient for identifying novel drug targets or precise yet sensitive biomarkers. Complex-based analysis is a new analytical approach that has potential to resolve these issues but requires formalization. We categorize complex-based analysis into five method classes or paradigms and propose an even-handed yet comprehensive evaluation rubric based on both simulated and real data. The first four paradigms are well represented in the literature. The fifth and newest paradigm, the network-paired (NP) paradigm, represented by a method called Extremely Small SubNET (ESSNET), dominates in precision-recall and reproducibility, maintains strong performance in small sample sizes, and sensitively detects low-abundance complexes. In contrast, the commonly used over-representation analysis (ORA) and direct-group (DG) test paradigms maintain good overall precision but have severe reproducibility issues. The other two paradigms considered here are the hit-rate and rank-based network analysis paradigms; both of these have good precision-recall and reproducibility, but they do not consider low-abundance complexes. Therefore, given its strong performance, NP/ESSNET may prove to be a useful approach for improving the analytical resolution of proteomics data. Additionally, given its stability, it may also be a powerful new approach toward functional enrichment tests, much like its ORA and DG counterparts.

Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis - Towards a new paradigm.

PubMed

Blaschke, Thomas; Hay, Geoffrey J; Kelly, Maggi; Lang, Stefan; Hofmann, Peter; Addink, Elisabeth; Queiroz Feitosa, Raul; van der Meer, Freek; van der Werff, Harald; van Coillie, Frieke; Tiede, Dirk

2014-01-01

The amount of scientific literature on (Geographic) Object-based Image Analysis - GEOBIA has been and still is sharply increasing. These approaches to analysing imagery have antecedents in earlier research on image segmentation and use GIS-like spatial analysis within classification and feature extraction approaches. This article investigates these development and its implications and asks whether or not this is a new paradigm in remote sensing and Geographic Information Science (GIScience). We first discuss several limitations of prevailing per-pixel methods when applied to high resolution images. Then we explore the paradigm concept developed by Kuhn (1962) and discuss whether GEOBIA can be regarded as a paradigm according to this definition. We crystallize core concepts of GEOBIA, including the role of objects, of ontologies and the multiplicity of scales and we discuss how these conceptual developments support important methods in remote sensing such as change detection and accuracy assessment. The ramifications of the different theoretical foundations between the ' per-pixel paradigm ' and GEOBIA are analysed, as are some of the challenges along this path from pixels, to objects, to geo-intelligence. Based on several paradigm indications as defined by Kuhn and based on an analysis of peer-reviewed scientific literature we conclude that GEOBIA is a new and evolving paradigm.

Cultural competence, evidence-based medicine, and evidence-based practices.

PubMed

Whitley, Rob

2007-12-01

Cultural competence and evidence-based medicine are two powerful discourses that have become core components of contemporary psychiatry. Evidence-based medicine has particularly influenced psychiatry by spawning the enthusiastic creation and adoption of evidence-based practices. Despite their prominence, these paradigms have stood somewhat in isolation from each other. This Open Forum explores the relationship between these two conceptual paradigms, paying particular attention to implications for evidence-based practices. The author aims to stimulate a greater degree of mutual engagement and integration of these paradigms by examining epistemological, philosophical, and methodological overlap and discrepancy. Both paradigms can stretch and enrich each other in a positive manner. This could help achieve a situation where cultural competency becomes more evidence based and evidence-based medicine becomes more culturally competent. Such action would help bring to fruition a shared aim of both discourses-more humane, just, and effective patient-centered care.

A dynamic, embodied paradigm to investigate the role of serotonin in decision-making

PubMed Central

Asher, Derrik E.; Craig, Alexis B.; Zaldivar, Andrew; Brewer, Alyssa A.; Krichmar, Jeffrey L.

2013-01-01

Serotonin (5-HT) is a neuromodulator that has been attributed to cost assessment and harm aversion. In this review, we look at the role 5-HT plays in making decisions when subjects are faced with potential harmful or costly outcomes. We review approaches for examining the serotonergic system in decision-making. We introduce our group’s paradigm used to investigate how 5-HT affects decision-making. In particular, our paradigm combines techniques from computational neuroscience, socioeconomic game theory, human–robot interaction, and Bayesian statistics. We will highlight key findings from our previous studies utilizing this paradigm, which helped expand our understanding of 5-HT’s effect on decision-making in relation to cost assessment. Lastly, we propose a cyclic multidisciplinary approach that may aid in addressing the complexity of exploring 5-HT and decision-making by iteratively updating our assumptions and models of the serotonergic system through exhaustive experimentation. PMID:24319413

Creative foraging: An experimental paradigm for studying exploration and discovery

PubMed Central

Mayo, Avraham E.; Mayo, Ruth; Rozenkrantz, Liron; Tendler, Avichai; Alon, Uri; Noy, Lior

2017-01-01

Creative exploration is central to science, art and cognitive development. However, research on creative exploration is limited by a lack of high-resolution automated paradigms. To address this, we present such an automated paradigm, the creative foraging game, in which people search for novel and valuable solutions in a large and well-defined space made of all possible shapes made of ten connected squares. Players discovered shape categories such as digits, letters, and airplanes as well as more abstract categories. They exploited each category, then dropped it to explore once again, and so on. Aligned with a prediction of optimal foraging theory (OFT), during exploration phases, people moved along meandering paths that are about three times longer than the shortest paths between shapes; when exploiting a category of related shapes, they moved along the shortest paths. The moment of discovery of a new category was usually done at a non-prototypical and ambiguous shape, which can serve as an experimental proxy for creative leaps. People showed individual differences in their search patterns, along a continuum between two strategies: a mercurial quick-to-discover/quick-to-drop strategy and a thorough slow-to-discover/slow-to-drop strategy. Contrary to optimal foraging theory, players leave exploitation to explore again far before categories are depleted. This paradigm opens the way for automated high-resolution study of creative exploration. PMID:28767668

Keypress-Based Musical Preference Is Both Individual and Lawful.

PubMed

Livengood, Sherri L; Sheppard, John P; Kim, Byoung W; Malthouse, Edward C; Bourne, Janet E; Barlow, Anne E; Lee, Myung J; Marin, Veronica; O'Connor, Kailyn P; Csernansky, John G; Block, Martin P; Blood, Anne J; Breiter, Hans C

2017-01-01

Musical preference is highly individualized and is an area of active study to develop methods for its quantification. Recently, preference-based behavior, associated with activity in brain reward circuitry, has been shown to follow lawful, quantifiable patterns, despite broad variation across individuals. These patterns, observed using a keypress paradigm with visual stimuli, form the basis for relative preference theory (RPT). Here, we sought to determine if such patterns extend to non-visual domains (i.e., audition) and dynamic stimuli, potentially providing a method to supplement psychometric, physiological, and neuroimaging approaches to preference quantification. For this study, we adapted our keypress paradigm to two sets of stimuli consisting of seventeenth to twenty-first century western art music (Classical) and twentieth to twenty-first century jazz and popular music (Popular). We studied a pilot sample and then a separate primary experimental sample with this paradigm, and used iterative mathematical modeling to determine if RPT relationships were observed with high R 2 fits. We further assessed the extent of heterogeneity in the rank ordering of keypress-based responses across subjects. As expected, individual rank orderings of preferences were quite heterogeneous, yet we observed mathematical patterns fitting these data similar to those observed previously with visual stimuli. These patterns in music preference were recurrent across two cohorts and two stimulus sets, and scaled between individual and group data, adhering to the requirements for lawfulness. Our findings suggest a general neuroscience framework that predicts human approach/avoidance behavior, while also allowing for individual differences and the broad diversity of human choices; the resulting framework may offer novel approaches to advancing music neuroscience, or its applications to medicine and recommendation systems.

Coding Local and Global Binary Visual Features Extracted From Video Sequences.

PubMed

Baroffio, Luca; Canclini, Antonio; Cesana, Matteo; Redondi, Alessandro; Tagliasacchi, Marco; Tubaro, Stefano

2015-11-01

Binary local features represent an effective alternative to real-valued descriptors, leading to comparable results for many visual analysis tasks while being characterized by significantly lower computational complexity and memory requirements. When dealing with large collections, a more compact representation based on global features is often preferred, which can be obtained from local features by means of, e.g., the bag-of-visual word model. Several applications, including, for example, visual sensor networks and mobile augmented reality, require visual features to be transmitted over a bandwidth-limited network, thus calling for coding techniques that aim at reducing the required bit budget while attaining a target level of efficiency. In this paper, we investigate a coding scheme tailored to both local and global binary features, which aims at exploiting both spatial and temporal redundancy by means of intra- and inter-frame coding. In this respect, the proposed coding scheme can conveniently be adopted to support the analyze-then-compress (ATC) paradigm. That is, visual features are extracted from the acquired content, encoded at remote nodes, and finally transmitted to a central controller that performs the visual analysis. This is in contrast with the traditional approach, in which visual content is acquired at a node, compressed and then sent to a central unit for further processing, according to the compress-then-analyze (CTA) paradigm. In this paper, we experimentally compare the ATC and the CTA by means of rate-efficiency curves in the context of two different visual analysis tasks: 1) homography estimation and 2) content-based retrieval. Our results show that the novel ATC paradigm based on the proposed coding primitives can be competitive with the CTA, especially in bandwidth limited scenarios.

Coding Local and Global Binary Visual Features Extracted From Video Sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baroffio, Luca; Canclini, Antonio; Cesana, Matteo; Redondi, Alessandro; Tagliasacchi, Marco; Tubaro, Stefano

2015-11-01

Binary local features represent an effective alternative to real-valued descriptors, leading to comparable results for many visual analysis tasks, while being characterized by significantly lower computational complexity and memory requirements. When dealing with large collections, a more compact representation based on global features is often preferred, which can be obtained from local features by means of, e.g., the Bag-of-Visual-Word (BoVW) model. Several applications, including for example visual sensor networks and mobile augmented reality, require visual features to be transmitted over a bandwidth-limited network, thus calling for coding techniques that aim at reducing the required bit budget, while attaining a target level of efficiency. In this paper we investigate a coding scheme tailored to both local and global binary features, which aims at exploiting both spatial and temporal redundancy by means of intra- and inter-frame coding. In this respect, the proposed coding scheme can be conveniently adopted to support the Analyze-Then-Compress (ATC) paradigm. That is, visual features are extracted from the acquired content, encoded at remote nodes, and finally transmitted to a central controller that performs visual analysis. This is in contrast with the traditional approach, in which visual content is acquired at a node, compressed and then sent to a central unit for further processing, according to the Compress-Then-Analyze (CTA) paradigm. In this paper we experimentally compare ATC and CTA by means of rate-efficiency curves in the context of two different visual analysis tasks: homography estimation and content-based retrieval. Our results show that the novel ATC paradigm based on the proposed coding primitives can be competitive with CTA, especially in bandwidth limited scenarios.

Keypress-Based Musical Preference Is Both Individual and Lawful

PubMed Central

Livengood, Sherri L.; Sheppard, John P.; Kim, Byoung W.; Malthouse, Edward C.; Bourne, Janet E.; Barlow, Anne E.; Lee, Myung J.; Marin, Veronica; O'Connor, Kailyn P.; Csernansky, John G.; Block, Martin P.; Blood, Anne J.; Breiter, Hans C.

2017-01-01

Musical preference is highly individualized and is an area of active study to develop methods for its quantification. Recently, preference-based behavior, associated with activity in brain reward circuitry, has been shown to follow lawful, quantifiable patterns, despite broad variation across individuals. These patterns, observed using a keypress paradigm with visual stimuli, form the basis for relative preference theory (RPT). Here, we sought to determine if such patterns extend to non-visual domains (i.e., audition) and dynamic stimuli, potentially providing a method to supplement psychometric, physiological, and neuroimaging approaches to preference quantification. For this study, we adapted our keypress paradigm to two sets of stimuli consisting of seventeenth to twenty-first century western art music (Classical) and twentieth to twenty-first century jazz and popular music (Popular). We studied a pilot sample and then a separate primary experimental sample with this paradigm, and used iterative mathematical modeling to determine if RPT relationships were observed with high R2 fits. We further assessed the extent of heterogeneity in the rank ordering of keypress-based responses across subjects. As expected, individual rank orderings of preferences were quite heterogeneous, yet we observed mathematical patterns fitting these data similar to those observed previously with visual stimuli. These patterns in music preference were recurrent across two cohorts and two stimulus sets, and scaled between individual and group data, adhering to the requirements for lawfulness. Our findings suggest a general neuroscience framework that predicts human approach/avoidance behavior, while also allowing for individual differences and the broad diversity of human choices; the resulting framework may offer novel approaches to advancing music neuroscience, or its applications to medicine and recommendation systems. PMID:28512395

Biologic and plastic effects of experimental traumatic brain injury treatment paradigms and their relevance to clinical rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Garcia, Alexandra N.; Shah, Mansi A.; Dixon, C. Edward; Wagner, Amy K.; Kline, Anthony E.

2011-01-01

Neuroplastic changes, whether induced by traumatic brain injury (TBI) or therapeutic interventions, alter neurobehavioral outcome. Here we present several treatment strategies that have been evaluated using experimental TBI models and discuss potential mechanisms of action (i.e., plasticity) and how such changes affect function. PMID:21703575

Charge Transport in Nonaqueous Liquid Electrolytes: A Paradigm Shift

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-18

that provide inadequate descriptions of experimental data, often using empirical equations whose fitting parameters have no physical significance...provide inadequate descriptions of experimental data, often using empirical equations whose fitting parameters have no physical significance...Ea The hydrodynamic model, utilizing the Stokes equation describes isothermal conductivity, self-diffusion coefficient, and the dielectric

Experimentally Evoking Nonbelieved Memories for Childhood Events

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Otgaar, Henry; Scoboria, Alan; Smeets, Tom

2013-01-01

We report on the 1st experimental elicitation of nonbelieved memories for childhood events in adults (Study 1) and children (Study 2) using a modified false memory implantation paradigm. Participants received true (trip to a theme park) and false (hot air balloon ride) narratives and recalled these events during 2 interviews. After debriefing, 13%…

A quantum theoretical approach to information processing in neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barahona da Fonseca, José; Barahona da Fonseca, Isabel; Suarez Araujo, Carmen Paz; Simões da Fonseca, José

2000-05-01

A reinterpretation of experimental data on learning was used to formulate a law on data acquisition similar to the Hamiltonian of a mechanical system. A matrix of costs in decision making specifies values attributable to a barrier that opposed to hypothesis formation about decision making. The interpretation of the encoding costs as frequencies of oscillatory phenomena leads to a quantum paradigm based in the models of photoelectric effect as well as of a particle against a potential barrier. Cognitive processes are envisaged as complex phenomena represented by structures linked by valence bounds. This metaphor is used to find some prerequisites to certain types of conscious experience as well as to find an explanation for some pathological distortions of cognitive operations as they are represented in the context of the isolobal model. Those quantum phenomena are understood as representing an analogue programming for specific special purpose computations. The formation of complex chemical structures within the context of isolobal theory is understood as an analog quantum paradigm for complex cognitive computations.

[Visual representation of natural scenes in flicker changes].

PubMed

Nakashima, Ryoichi; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2010-08-01

Coherence theory in scene perception (Rensink, 2002) assumes the retention of volatile object representations on which attention is not focused. On the other hand, visual memory theory in scene perception (Hollingworth & Henderson, 2002) assumes that robust object representations are retained. In this study, we hypothesized that the difference between these two theories is derived from the difference of the experimental tasks that they are based on. In order to verify this hypothesis, we examined the properties of visual representation by using a change detection and memory task in a flicker paradigm. We measured the representations when participants were instructed to search for a change in a scene, and compared them with the intentional memory representations. The visual representations were retained in visual long-term memory even in the flicker paradigm, and were as robust as the intentional memory representations. However, the results indicate that the representations are unavailable for explicitly localizing a scene change, but are available for answering the recognition test. This suggests that coherence theory and visual memory theory are compatible.

Feature Selection for Speech Emotion Recognition in Spanish and Basque: On the Use of Machine Learning to Improve Human-Computer Interaction

PubMed Central

Arruti, Andoni; Cearreta, Idoia; Álvarez, Aitor; Lazkano, Elena; Sierra, Basilio

2014-01-01

Study of emotions in human–computer interaction is a growing research area. This paper shows an attempt to select the most significant features for emotion recognition in spoken Basque and Spanish Languages using different methods for feature selection. RekEmozio database was used as the experimental data set. Several Machine Learning paradigms were used for the emotion classification task. Experiments were executed in three phases, using different sets of features as classification variables in each phase. Moreover, feature subset selection was applied at each phase in order to seek for the most relevant feature subset. The three phases approach was selected to check the validity of the proposed approach. Achieved results show that an instance-based learning algorithm using feature subset selection techniques based on evolutionary algorithms is the best Machine Learning paradigm in automatic emotion recognition, with all different feature sets, obtaining a mean of 80,05% emotion recognition rate in Basque and a 74,82% in Spanish. In order to check the goodness of the proposed process, a greedy searching approach (FSS-Forward) has been applied and a comparison between them is provided. Based on achieved results, a set of most relevant non-speaker dependent features is proposed for both languages and new perspectives are suggested. PMID:25279686

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses.

PubMed

Bonino, Angela Yarnell; Leibold, Lori J

2017-01-23

Collecting reliable behavioral data from toddlers and preschoolers is challenging. As a result, there are significant gaps in our understanding of human auditory development for these age groups. This paper describes an observer-based procedure for measuring hearing sensitivity with a two-interval, two-alternative forced-choice paradigm. Young children are trained to perform a play-based, motor response (e.g., putting a block in a bucket) whenever they hear a target signal. An experimenter observes the child's behavior and makes a judgment about whether the signal was presented during the first or second observation interval; the experimenter is blinded to the true signal interval, so this judgment is based solely on the child's behavior. These procedures were used to test 2 to 4 year-olds (n = 33) with no known hearing problems. The signal was a 1,000 Hz warble tone presented in quiet, and the signal level was adjusted to estimate a threshold corresponding to 71%-correct detection. A valid threshold was obtained for 82% of children. These results indicate that the two-interval procedure is both feasible and reliable for use with toddlers and preschoolers. The two-interval, observer-based procedure described in this paper is a powerful tool for evaluating hearing in young children because it guards against response bias on the part of the experimenter.

Shock Treatment: Using Immersive Digital Realism to Restage and Re-examine Milgram’s ‘Obedience to Authority’ Research

PubMed Central

Haslam, S. Alexander; Reicher, Stephen D.; Millard, Kathryn

2015-01-01

Attempts to revisit Milgram’s ‘Obedience to Authority’ (OtA) paradigm present serious ethical challenges. In recent years new paradigms have been developed to circumvent these challenges but none involve using Milgram’s own procedures and asking naïve participants to deliver the maximum level of shock. This was achieved in the present research by using Immersive Digital Realism (IDR) to revisit the OtA paradigm. IDR is a dramatic method that involves a director collaborating with professional actors to develop characters, the strategic withholding of contextual information, and immersion in a real-world environment. 14 actors took part in an IDR study in which they were assigned to conditions that restaged Milgrams’s New Baseline (‘Coronary’) condition and four other variants. Post-experimental interviews also assessed participants’ identification with Experimenter and Learner. Participants’ behaviour closely resembled that observed in Milgram’s original research. In particular, this was evidenced by (a) all being willing to administer shocks greater than 150 volts, (b) near-universal refusal to continue after being told by the Experimenter that “you have no other choice, you must continue” (Milgram’s fourth prod and the one most resembling an order), and (c) a strong correlation between the maximum level of shock that participants administered and the mean maximum shock delivered in the corresponding variant in Milgram’s own research. Consistent with an engaged follower account, relative identification with the Experimenter (vs. the Learner) was also a good predictor of the maximum shock that participants administered. PMID:25730318

Psychophysical spectro-temporal receptive fields in an auditory task.

PubMed

Shub, Daniel E; Richards, Virginia M

2009-05-01

Psychophysical relative weighting functions, which provide information about the importance of different regions of a stimulus in forming decisions, are traditionally estimated using trial-based procedures, where a single stimulus is presented and a single response is recorded. Everyday listening is much more "free-running" in that we often must detect randomly occurring signals in the presence of a continuous background. Psychophysical relative weighting functions have not been measured with free-running paradigms. Here, we combine a free-running paradigm with the reverse correlation technique used to estimate physiological spectro-temporal receptive fields (STRFs) to generate psychophysical relative weighting functions that are analogous to physiological STRFs. The psychophysical task required the detection of a fixed target signal (a sequence of spectro-temporally coherent tone pips with a known frequency) in the presence of a continuously presented informational masker (spectro-temporally random tone pips). A comparison of psychophysical relative weighting functions estimated with the current free-running paradigm and trial-based paradigms, suggests that in informational-masking tasks subjects' decision strategies are similar in both free-running and trial-based paradigms. For more cognitively challenging tasks there may be differences in the decision strategies with free-running and trial-based paradigms.

The Underlying Social Dynamics of Paradigm Shifts.

PubMed

Rodriguez-Sickert, Carlos; Cosmelli, Diego; Claro, Francisco; Fuentes, Miguel Angel

2015-01-01

We develop here a multi-agent model of the creation of knowledge (scientific progress or technological evolution) within a community of researchers devoted to such endeavors. In the proposed model, agents learn in a physical-technological landscape, and weight is attached to both individual search and social influence. We find that the combination of these two forces together with random experimentation can account for both i) marginal change, that is, periods of normal science or refinements on the performance of a given technology (and in which the community stays in the neighborhood of the current paradigm); and ii) radical change, which takes the form of scientific paradigm shifts (or discontinuities in the structure of performance of a technology) that is observed as a swift migration of the knowledge community towards the new and superior paradigm. The efficiency of the search process is heavily dependent on the weight that agents posit on social influence. The occurrence of a paradigm shift becomes more likely when each member of the community attaches a small but positive weight to the experience of his/her peers. For this parameter region, nevertheless, a conservative force is exerted by the representatives of the current paradigm. However, social influence is not strong enough to seriously hamper individual discovery, and can act so as to empower successful individual pioneers who have conquered the new and superior paradigm.

The Underlying Social Dynamics of Paradigm Shifts

PubMed Central

Claro, Francisco; Fuentes, Miguel Angel

2015-01-01

We develop here a multi-agent model of the creation of knowledge (scientific progress or technological evolution) within a community of researchers devoted to such endeavors. In the proposed model, agents learn in a physical-technological landscape, and weight is attached to both individual search and social influence. We find that the combination of these two forces together with random experimentation can account for both i) marginal change, that is, periods of normal science or refinements on the performance of a given technology (and in which the community stays in the neighborhood of the current paradigm); and ii) radical change, which takes the form of scientific paradigm shifts (or discontinuities in the structure of performance of a technology) that is observed as a swift migration of the knowledge community towards the new and superior paradigm. The efficiency of the search process is heavily dependent on the weight that agents posit on social influence. The occurrence of a paradigm shift becomes more likely when each member of the community attaches a small but positive weight to the experience of his/her peers. For this parameter region, nevertheless, a conservative force is exerted by the representatives of the current paradigm. However, social influence is not strong enough to seriously hamper individual discovery, and can act so as to empower successful individual pioneers who have conquered the new and superior paradigm. PMID:26418255

How and Why Affective and Reactive Virtual Agents Will Bring New Insights on Social Cognitive Disorders in Schizophrenia? An Illustration with a Virtual Card Game Paradigm

PubMed Central

Oker, Ali; Prigent, Elise; Courgeon, Matthieu; Eyharabide, Victoria; Urbach, Mathieu; Bazin, Nadine; Amorim, Michel-Ange; Passerieux, Christine; Martin, Jean-Claude; Brunet-Gouet, Eric

2015-01-01

In recent decades, many studies have shown that schizophrenia is associated with severe social cognitive impairments affecting key components, such as the recognition of emotions, theory of mind, attributional style, and metacognition. Most studies investigated each construct separately, precluding analysis of the interactive and immersive nature of real-life situation. Specialized batteries of tests are under investigation to assess social cognition, which is thought now as a link between neurocognitive disorders and impaired functioning. However, this link accounts for a limited part of the variance of real-life functioning. To fill this gap, advances in virtual reality and affective computing have made it possible to carry out experimental investigations of naturalistic social cognition, in controlled conditions, with good reproducibility. This approach is illustrated with the description of a new paradigm based on an original virtual card game in which subjects interpret emotional displays from a female virtual agent, and decipher her helping intentions. Independent variables concerning emotional expression in terms of valence and intensity were manipulated. We show how several useful dependant variables, ranging from classic experimental psychology data to metacognition or subjective experiences records, may be extracted from a single experiment. Methodological issues about the immersion into a simulated intersubjective situation are considered. The example of this new flexible experimental setting, with regards to the many constructs recognized in social neurosciences, constitutes a rationale for focusing on this potential intermediate link between standardized tests and real-life functioning, and also for using it as an innovative media for cognitive remediation. PMID:25870549

How and why affective and reactive virtual agents will bring new insights on social cognitive disorders in schizophrenia? An illustration with a virtual card game paradigm.

PubMed

Oker, Ali; Prigent, Elise; Courgeon, Matthieu; Eyharabide, Victoria; Urbach, Mathieu; Bazin, Nadine; Amorim, Michel-Ange; Passerieux, Christine; Martin, Jean-Claude; Brunet-Gouet, Eric

2015-01-01

In recent decades, many studies have shown that schizophrenia is associated with severe social cognitive impairments affecting key components, such as the recognition of emotions, theory of mind, attributional style, and metacognition. Most studies investigated each construct separately, precluding analysis of the interactive and immersive nature of real-life situation. Specialized batteries of tests are under investigation to assess social cognition, which is thought now as a link between neurocognitive disorders and impaired functioning. However, this link accounts for a limited part of the variance of real-life functioning. To fill this gap, advances in virtual reality and affective computing have made it possible to carry out experimental investigations of naturalistic social cognition, in controlled conditions, with good reproducibility. This approach is illustrated with the description of a new paradigm based on an original virtual card game in which subjects interpret emotional displays from a female virtual agent, and decipher her helping intentions. Independent variables concerning emotional expression in terms of valence and intensity were manipulated. We show how several useful dependant variables, ranging from classic experimental psychology data to metacognition or subjective experiences records, may be extracted from a single experiment. Methodological issues about the immersion into a simulated intersubjective situation are considered. The example of this new flexible experimental setting, with regards to the many constructs recognized in social neurosciences, constitutes a rationale for focusing on this potential intermediate link between standardized tests and real-life functioning, and also for using it as an innovative media for cognitive remediation.

External misattribution of internal thoughts and proneness to auditory hallucinations: the effect of emotional valence in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm

PubMed Central

Kanemoto, Mari; Asai, Tomohisa; Sugimori, Eriko; Tanno, Yoshihiko

2013-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that a tendency to externalize internal thought is related to auditory hallucinations or even proneness to auditory hallucinations (AHp) in the general population. However, although auditory hallucinations are related to emotional phenomena, few studies have investigated the effect of emotional valence on the aforementioned relationship. In addition, we do not know what component of psychotic phenomena relate to externalizing bias. The current study replicated our previous research, which suggested that individual differences in auditory hallucination-like experiences are strongly correlated with the external misattribution of internal thoughts, conceptualized in terms of false memory, using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. We found a significant relationship between experimental performance and total scores on the Launay–Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS). Among the LSHS factors, only vivid mental image, which is said to be a predictor of auditory hallucinations, was significantly related to experimental performance. We then investigated the potential effect of emotional valence using the DRM paradigm. The results indicate that participants with low scores on the LSHS (the low-AHp group in the current study) showed an increased discriminability index (d′) for positive words and a decreased d′ for negative words. However, no effects of emotional valence were found for participants with high LSHS scores (high-AHp group). This study indicated that external misattribution of internal thoughts predicts AHp, and that the high-AHp group showed a smaller emotional valence effect in the DRM paradigm compared with the low-AHp group. We discuss this outcome from the perspective of the dual-process activation-monitoring framework in the DRM paradigm in regard to emotion-driven automatic thought in false memory. PMID:23847517

Inter-individual variability in response to non-invasive brain stimulation paradigms.

PubMed

López-Alonso, Virginia; Cheeran, Binith; Río-Rodríguez, Dan; Fernández-Del-Olmo, Miguel

2014-01-01

Non-invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) paradigms are unique in their ability to safely modulate cortical plasticity for experimental or therapeutic applications. However, increasingly, there is concern regarding inter-individual variability in the efficacy and reliability of these paradigms. Inter-individual variability in response to NIBS paradigms would be better explained if a multimodal distribution was assumed. In three different sessions for each subject (n = 56), we studied the Paired Associative Stimulation (PAS25), Anodal transcranial DC stimulation (AtDCS) and intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) protocols. We applied cluster analysis to detect distinct patterns of response between individuals. Furthermore, we tested whether baseline TMS measures (such as short intracortical inhibition (SICI), resting motor threshold (RMT)) or factors such as time of day could predict each individual's response pattern. All three paradigms show similar efficacy over the first hour post stimulation--there is no significant effect on excitatory or inhibitory circuits for the whole sample, and AtDCS fares no better than iTBS or PAS25. Cluster analysis reveals a bimodal response pattern--but only 39%, 45% and 43% of subjects responded as expected to PAS25, AtDCS, and iTBS respectively. Pre-stimulation SICI accounted for 10% of the variability in response to PAS25, but no other baseline measures were predictive of response. Finally, we report implications for sample size calculation and the remarkable effect of sample enrichment. The implications of the high rate of 'dose-failure' for experimental and therapeutic applications of NIBS lead us to conclude that addressing inter-individual variability is a key area of concern for the field. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatiotemporal coding in the cortex: information flow-based learning in spiking neural networks.

PubMed

Deco, G; Schürmann, B

1999-05-15

We introduce a learning paradigm for networks of integrate-and-fire spiking neurons that is based on an information-theoretic criterion. This criterion can be viewed as a first principle that demonstrates the experimentally observed fact that cortical neurons display synchronous firing for some stimuli and not for others. The principle can be regarded as the postulation of a nonparametric reconstruction method as optimization criteria for learning the required functional connectivity that justifies and explains synchronous firing for binding of features as a mechanism for spatiotemporal coding. This can be expressed in an information-theoretic way by maximizing the discrimination ability between different sensory inputs in minimal time.

Enhancing Scientific Foundations to Ensure Reproducibility: A New Paradigm.

PubMed

Hsieh, Terry; Vaickus, Max H; Remick, Daniel G

2018-01-01

Progress in science is dependent on a strong foundation of reliable results. The publish or perish paradigm in research, coupled with an increase in retracted articles from the peer-reviewed literature, is beginning to erode the trust of both the scientific community and the public. The NIH is combating errors by requiring investigators to follow new guidelines addressing scientific premise, experimental design, biological variables, and authentication of reagents. Herein, we discuss how implementation of NIH guidelines will help investigators proactively address pitfalls of experimental design and methods. Careful consideration of the variables contributing to reproducibility helps ensure robust results. The NIH, investigators, and journals must collaborate to ensure that quality science is funded, explored, and published. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Investigative Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tactile and bone-conduction auditory brain computer interface for vision and hearing impaired users.

PubMed

Rutkowski, Tomasz M; Mori, Hiromu

2015-04-15

The paper presents a report on the recently developed BCI alternative for users suffering from impaired vision (lack of focus or eye-movements) or from the so-called "ear-blocking-syndrome" (limited hearing). We report on our recent studies of the extents to which vibrotactile stimuli delivered to the head of a user can serve as a platform for a brain computer interface (BCI) paradigm. In the proposed tactile and bone-conduction auditory BCI novel multiple head positions are used to evoke combined somatosensory and auditory (via the bone conduction effect) P300 brain responses, in order to define a multimodal tactile and bone-conduction auditory brain computer interface (tbcaBCI). In order to further remove EEG interferences and to improve P300 response classification synchrosqueezing transform (SST) is applied. SST outperforms the classical time-frequency analysis methods of the non-linear and non-stationary signals such as EEG. The proposed method is also computationally more effective comparing to the empirical mode decomposition. The SST filtering allows for online EEG preprocessing application which is essential in the case of BCI. Experimental results with healthy BCI-naive users performing online tbcaBCI, validate the paradigm, while the feasibility of the concept is illuminated through information transfer rate case studies. We present a comparison of the proposed SST-based preprocessing method, combined with a logistic regression (LR) classifier, together with classical preprocessing and LDA-based classification BCI techniques. The proposed tbcaBCI paradigm together with data-driven preprocessing methods are a step forward in robust BCI applications research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stochastic Time Models of Syllable Structure

PubMed Central

Shaw, Jason A.; Gafos, Adamantios I.

2015-01-01

Drawing on phonology research within the generative linguistics tradition, stochastic methods, and notions from complex systems, we develop a modelling paradigm linking phonological structure, expressed in terms of syllables, to speech movement data acquired with 3D electromagnetic articulography and X-ray microbeam methods. The essential variable in the models is syllable structure. When mapped to discrete coordination topologies, syllabic organization imposes systematic patterns of variability on the temporal dynamics of speech articulation. We simulated these dynamics under different syllabic parses and evaluated simulations against experimental data from Arabic and English, two languages claimed to parse similar strings of segments into different syllabic structures. Model simulations replicated several key experimental results, including the fallibility of past phonetic heuristics for syllable structure, and exposed the range of conditions under which such heuristics remain valid. More importantly, the modelling approach consistently diagnosed syllable structure proving resilient to multiple sources of variability in experimental data including measurement variability, speaker variability, and contextual variability. Prospects for extensions of our modelling paradigm to acoustic data are also discussed. PMID:25996153

Taboo: A Novel Paradigm to Elicit Aphasia-Like Trouble-Indicating Behaviour in Normally Speaking Individuals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meffert, Elisabeth; Tillmanns, Eva; Heim, Stefan; Jung, Stefanie; Huber, Walter; Grande, Marion

2011-01-01

Two important research lines in neuro- and psycholinguistics are studying natural or experimentally induced slips of the tongue and investigating the symptom patterns of aphasic individuals. Only few studies have focused on explaining aphasic symptoms by provoking aphasic symptoms in healthy speakers. While all experimental techniques have so far…

Selecting Effective Interventions to Increase Math Computation Fluency via Brief Experimental Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reisener, Carmen D.; Dufrene, Brad A.; Clark, Chelsi R.; Olmi, D. Joe; Tingstrom, Daniel H.

2016-01-01

In a response to intervention RtI paradigm, the use of brief experimental analyses (BEAs) for identifying effective interventions for elementary and middle school students struggling with math is a relatively new area of research. This investigation includes two studies, both of which employed a brief multielement design and an extended analysis…

Are visual threats prioritized without awareness? A critical review and meta-analysis involving 3 behavioral paradigms and 2696 observers.

PubMed

Hedger, Nicholas; Gray, Katie L H; Garner, Matthew; Adams, Wendy J

2016-09-01

Given capacity limits, only a subset of stimuli give rise to a conscious percept. Neurocognitive models suggest that humans have evolved mechanisms that operate without awareness and prioritize threatening stimuli over neutral stimuli in subsequent perception. In this meta-analysis, we review evidence for this 'standard hypothesis' emanating from 3 widely used, but rather different experimental paradigms that have been used to manipulate awareness. We found a small pooled threat-bias effect in the masked visual probe paradigm, a medium effect in the binocular rivalry paradigm and highly inconsistent effects in the breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm. Substantial heterogeneity was explained by the stimulus type: the only threat stimuli that were robustly prioritized across all 3 paradigms were fearful faces. Meta regression revealed that anxiety may modulate threat-biases, but only under specific presentation conditions. We also found that insufficiently rigorous awareness measures, inadequate control of response biases and low level confounds may undermine claims of genuine unconscious threat processing. Considering the data together, we suggest that uncritical acceptance of the standard hypothesis is premature: current behavioral evidence for threat-sensitive visual processing that operates without awareness is weak. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effect of Visual Task Difficulty on the Fixation-Related Lambda Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-02-01

than limiting eye movements in experimental paradigms. The lambda response, a prominent neural signature of the fixation-related potential, has been...release; distribution is unlimited. v List of Figures Fig. 1 Task layout. The left image shows the layout of the experimental environment while a...on an invisible 7 × 7 grid. Fig. 1 Task layout. The left image shows the layout of the experimental environment while a participant performs the

Optimized Motor Imagery Paradigm Based on Imagining Chinese Characters Writing Movement.

PubMed

Qiu, Zhaoyang; Allison, Brendan Z; Jin, Jing; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Xingyu; Li, Wei; Cichocki, Andrzej

2017-07-01

motor imagery (MI) is a mental representation of motor behavior. The MI-based brain computer interfaces (BCIs) can provide communication for the physically impaired. The performance of MI-based BCI mainly depends on the subject's ability to self-modulate electroencephalogram signals. Proper training can help naive subjects learn to modulate brain activity proficiently. However, training subjects typically involve abstract motor tasks and are time-consuming. to improve the performance of naive subjects during motor imagery, a novel paradigm was presented that would guide naive subjects to modulate brain activity effectively. In this new paradigm, pictures of the left or right hand were used as cues for subjects to finish the motor imagery task. Fourteen healthy subjects (11 male, aged 22-25 years, and mean 23.6±1.16) participated in this study. The task was to imagine writing a Chinese character. Specifically, subjects could imagine hand movements corresponding to the sequence of writing strokes in the Chinese character. This paradigm was meant to find an effective and familiar action for most Chinese people, to provide them with a specific, extensively practiced task and help them modulate brain activity. results showed that the writing task paradigm yielded significantly better performance than the traditional arrow paradigm (p < 0.001). Questionnaire replies indicated that most subjects thought that the new paradigm was easier. the proposed new motor imagery paradigm could guide subjects to help them modulate brain activity effectively. Results showed that there were significant improvements using new paradigm, both in classification accuracy and usability.

[Nursing knowledge: the evolution of scientific philosophies and paradigm trends].

PubMed

Hung, Hsuan-Man; Wang, Hui-Ling; Chang, Yun-Hsuan; Chen, Chung-Hey

2010-02-01

Different aspects of philosophy are derived from different paradigms that contain various main points, some of which are repeated or overlap. Belief and practice are two components of a paradigm that provide perspective and framework and lead to nursing research. Changes in healthcare have popularized empirical and evidence-based research in the field of nursing research. However, the evidence-base study approach has given rise to a certain level of debate. Until now, no standard paradigm has been established for the nursing field, as different professionals use different paradigms in their studies. Such provides certain limitations as well as advantages. The quantitative aspects of a nursing paradigm were developed by Peplau and Henderson (1950) and Orem (1980). Such remained the standard until 1990, when Guba and Parse proposed qualitative viewpoints in contextual features. Therefore, the nursing paradigm has made great contributions to the development of knowledge in nursing care, although debate continues due to incomplete knowledge attributable to the presentation of knowledge and insight within individually developed paradigms. It is better to apply multiple paradigms to different research questions. It is suggested that better communication amongst experts regarding their individual points of view would help nursing members to integrate findings within the global pool of knowledge and allow replication over multiple studies.

Effort-Based Decision-Making Paradigms for Clinical Trials in Schizophrenia: Part 1—Psychometric Characteristics of 5 Paradigms

PubMed Central

Reddy, L. Felice; Horan, William P.; Barch, Deanna M.; Buchanan, Robert W.; Dunayevich, Eduardo; Gold, James M.; Lyons, Naomi; Marder, Stephen R.; Treadway, Michael T.; Wynn, Jonathan K.; Young, Jared W.; Green, Michael F.

2015-01-01

Impairments in willingness to exert effort contribute to the motivational deficits characteristic of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of 5 new or adapted paradigms to determine their suitability for use in clinical trials of schizophrenia. This study included 94 clinically stable participants with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls. The effort-based decision-making battery was administered twice to the schizophrenia group (baseline, 4-week retest) and once to the control group. The 5 paradigms included 1 that assesses cognitive effort, 1 perceptual effort, and 3 that assess physical effort. Each paradigm was evaluated on (1) patient vs healthy control group differences, (2) test-retest reliability, (3) utility as a repeated measure (ie, practice effects), and (4) tolerability. The 5 paradigms showed varying psychometric strengths and weaknesses. The Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task showed the best reliability and utility as a repeated measure, while the Grip Effort Task had significant patient-control group differences, and superior tolerability and administration duration. The other paradigms showed weaker psychometric characteristics in their current forms. These findings highlight challenges in adapting effort and motivation paradigms for use in clinical trials. PMID:26142081

A Novel Distributed Privacy Paradigm for Visual Sensor Networks Based on Sharing Dynamical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luh, William; Kundur, Deepa; Zourntos, Takis

2006-12-01

Visual sensor networks (VSNs) provide surveillance images/video which must be protected from eavesdropping and tampering en route to the base station. In the spirit of sensor networks, we propose a novel paradigm for securing privacy and confidentiality in a distributed manner. Our paradigm is based on the control of dynamical systems, which we show is well suited for VSNs due to its low complexity in terms of processing and communication, while achieving robustness to both unintentional noise and intentional attacks as long as a small subset of nodes are affected. We also present a low complexity algorithm called TANGRAM to demonstrate the feasibility of applying our novel paradigm to VSNs. We present and discuss simulation results of TANGRAM.

High-throughput search for caloric materials: the CaloriCool approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zarkevich, N. A.; Johnson, D. D.; Pecharsky, V. K.

2018-01-01

The high-throughput search paradigm adopted by the newly established caloric materials consortium—CaloriCool®—with the goal to substantially accelerate discovery and design of novel caloric materials is briefly discussed. We begin with describing material selection criteria based on known properties, which are then followed by heuristic fast estimates, ab initio calculations, all of which has been implemented in a set of automated computational tools and measurements. We also demonstrate how theoretical and computational methods serve as a guide for experimental efforts by considering a representative example from the field of magnetocaloric materials.

Determining What We Stand for Will Guide What We Do: Community Priorities, Ethical Research Paradigms, and Research With Vulnerable Populations

PubMed Central

Treadwell, Henrie M.

2009-01-01

Prisoners, ex-offenders, and the communities they belong to constitute a distinct and highly vulnerable population, and research must be sensitive to their priorities. In light of recent suggestions that scientific experimentation involving prisoners be reconsidered, community-based participatory research can be a valuable tool for determining the immediate concerns of prisoners, such as the receipt of high-quality and dignified health care inside and outside prisons. In building research agendas, more must be done to ensure the participation of communities affected by the resulting policies. PMID:19141599

Optical implementation of neocognitron and its applications to radar signature discrimination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, Tien-Hsin; Stoner, William W.

1991-01-01

A feature-extraction-based optoelectronic neural network is introduced. The system implementation approach applies the principle of the neocognitron paradigm first introduced by Fukushima et al. (1983). A multichannel correlator is used as a building block of a generic single layer of the neocognitron for shift-invariant feature correlation. Multilayer processing is achieved by iteratively feeding back the output of the feature correlator to the input spatial light modulator. Successful pattern recognition with intraclass fault tolerance and interclass discrimination is achieved using this optoelectronic neocognitron. Detailed system analysis is described. Experimental demonstration of radar signature processing is also provided.

High-throughput search for caloric materials: the CaloriCool approach

DOE PAGES

Zarkevich, Nikolai A.; Johnson, Duane D.; Pecharsky, V. K.

2017-12-13

The high-throughput search paradigm adopted by the newly established caloric materials consortium—CaloriCool ®—with the goal to substantially accelerate discovery and design of novel caloric materials is briefly discussed. Here, we begin with describing material selection criteria based on known properties, which are then followed by heuristic fast estimates, ab initio calculations, all of which has been implemented in a set of automated computational tools and measurements. We also demonstrate how theoretical and computational methods serve as a guide for experimental efforts by considering a representative example from the field of magnetocaloric materials.

One-dimensional swarm algorithm packaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebedev, Boris K.; Lebedev, Oleg B.; Lebedeva, Ekaterina O.

2018-05-01

The paper considers an algorithm for solving the problem of onedimensional packaging based on the adaptive behavior model of an ant colony. The key role in the development of the ant algorithm is the choice of representation (interpretation) of the solution. The structure of the solution search graph, the procedure for finding solutions on the graph, the methods of deposition and evaporation of pheromone are described. Unlike the canonical paradigm of an ant algorithm, an ant on the solution search graph generates sets of elements distributed across blocks. Experimental studies were conducted on IBM PC. Compared with the existing algorithms, the results are improved.

An Extended Passive Motion Paradigm for Human-Like Posture and Movement Planning in Redundant Manipulators

PubMed Central

Tommasino, Paolo; Campolo, Domenico

2017-01-01

A major challenge in robotics and computational neuroscience is relative to the posture/movement problem in presence of kinematic redundancy. We recently addressed this issue using a principled approach which, in conjunction with nonlinear inverse optimization, allowed capturing postural strategies such as Donders' law. In this work, after presenting this general model specifying it as an extension of the Passive Motion Paradigm, we show how, once fitted to capture experimental postural strategies, the model is actually able to also predict movements. More specifically, the passive motion paradigm embeds two main intrinsic components: joint damping and joint stiffness. In previous work we showed that joint stiffness is responsible for static postures and, in this sense, its parameters are regressed to fit to experimental postural strategies. Here, we show how joint damping, in particular its anisotropy, directly affects task-space movements. Rather than using damping parameters to fit a posteriori task-space motions, we make the a priori hypothesis that damping is proportional to stiffness. This remarkably allows a postural-fitted model to also capture dynamic performance such as curvature and hysteresis of task-space trajectories during wrist pointing tasks, confirming and extending previous findings in literature. PMID:29249954

Experimental Realization of a Reflections-Free Compact Delay Line Based on a Photonic Topological Insulator

PubMed Central

Lai, Kueifu; Ma, Tsuhsuang; Bo, Xiao; Anlage, Steven; Shvets, Gennady

2016-01-01

Electromagnetic (EM) waves propagating through an inhomogeneous medium are generally scattered whenever the medium’s electromagnetic properties change on the scale of a single wavelength. This fundamental phenomenon constrains how optical structures are designed and interfaced with each other. Recent theoretical work indicates that electromagnetic structures collectively known as photonic topological insulators (PTIs) can be employed to overcome this fundamental limitation, thereby paving the way for ultra-compact photonic structures that no longer have to be wavelength-scale smooth. Here we present the first experimental demonstration of a photonic delay line based on topologically protected surface electromagnetic waves (TPSWs) between two PTIs which are the EM counterparts of the quantum spin-Hall topological insulators in condensed matter. Unlike conventional guided EM waves that do not benefit from topological protection, TPSWs are shown to experience multi-wavelength reflection-free time delays when detoured around sharply-curved paths, thus offering a unique paradigm for compact and efficient wave buffers and other devices. PMID:27345575

Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis – Towards a new paradigm

PubMed Central

Blaschke, Thomas; Hay, Geoffrey J.; Kelly, Maggi; Lang, Stefan; Hofmann, Peter; Addink, Elisabeth; Queiroz Feitosa, Raul; van der Meer, Freek; van der Werff, Harald; van Coillie, Frieke; Tiede, Dirk

2014-01-01

The amount of scientific literature on (Geographic) Object-based Image Analysis – GEOBIA has been and still is sharply increasing. These approaches to analysing imagery have antecedents in earlier research on image segmentation and use GIS-like spatial analysis within classification and feature extraction approaches. This article investigates these development and its implications and asks whether or not this is a new paradigm in remote sensing and Geographic Information Science (GIScience). We first discuss several limitations of prevailing per-pixel methods when applied to high resolution images. Then we explore the paradigm concept developed by Kuhn (1962) and discuss whether GEOBIA can be regarded as a paradigm according to this definition. We crystallize core concepts of GEOBIA, including the role of objects, of ontologies and the multiplicity of scales and we discuss how these conceptual developments support important methods in remote sensing such as change detection and accuracy assessment. The ramifications of the different theoretical foundations between the ‘per-pixel paradigm’ and GEOBIA are analysed, as are some of the challenges along this path from pixels, to objects, to geo-intelligence. Based on several paradigm indications as defined by Kuhn and based on an analysis of peer-reviewed scientific literature we conclude that GEOBIA is a new and evolving paradigm. PMID:24623958

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

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

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

DOE PAGES

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.; ...

2017-05-08

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

Can (should) theories of crowding be unified?

PubMed Central

Agaoglu, Mehmet N.; Chung, Susana T. L.

2016-01-01

Objects in clutter are difficult to recognize, a phenomenon known as crowding. There is little consensus on the underlying mechanisms of crowding, and a large number of models have been proposed. There have also been attempts at unifying the explanations of crowding under a single model, such as the weighted feature model of Harrison and Bex (2015) and the texture synthesis model of Rosenholtz and colleagues (Balas, Nakano, & Rosenholtz, 2009; Keshvari & Rosenholtz, 2016). The goal of this work was to test various models of crowding and to assess whether a unifying account can be developed. Adopting Harrison and Bex's (2015) experimental paradigm, we asked observers to report the orientation of two concentric C-stimuli. Contrary to the predictions of their model, observers' recognition accuracy was worse for the inner C-stimulus. In addition, we demonstrated that the stimulus paradigm used by Harrison and Bex has a crucial confounding factor, eccentricity, which limits its usage to a very narrow range of stimulus parameters. Nevertheless, reporting the orientations of both C-stimuli in this paradigm proved very useful in pitting different crowding models against each other. Specifically, we tested deterministic and probabilistic versions of averaging, substitution, and attentional resolution models as well as the texture synthesis model. None of the models alone was able to explain the entire set of data. Based on these findings, we discuss whether the explanations of crowding can (should) be unified. PMID:27936273

Something old, something new and something borrowed: emerging paradigm of insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor (IGF-1R) signaling regulation.

PubMed

Girnita, Leonard; Worrall, Claire; Takahashi, Shin-Ichiro; Seregard, Stefan; Girnita, Ada

2014-07-01

The insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor (IGF-1R) plays a key role in the development and progression of cancer; however, therapeutics targeting it have had disappointing results in the clinic. As a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), IGF-1R is traditionally described as an ON/OFF system, with ligand stabilizing the ON state and exclusive kinase-dependent signaling activation. Newly added to the traditional model, ubiquitin-mediated receptor downregulation and degradation was originally described as a response to ligand/receptor interaction and thus inseparable from kinase signaling activation. Yet, the classical model has proven over-simplified and insufficient to explain experimental evidence accumulated over the last decade, including kinase-independent signaling, unbalanced signaling, or dissociation between signaling and receptor downregulation. Based on the recent findings that IGF-1R "borrows" components of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling, including β-arrestins and G-protein-related kinases, we discuss the emerging paradigm for the IGF-1R as a functional RTK/GPCR hybrid, which integrates the kinase signaling with the IGF-1R canonical GPCR characteristics. The contradictions to the classical IGF-1R signaling concept as well as the design of anti-IGF-1R therapeutics treatment are considered in the light of this paradigm shift and we advocate recognition of IGF-1R as a valid target for cancer treatment.

Utility of the Hebb-Williams Maze Paradigm for Translational Research in Fragile X Syndrome: A Direct Comparison of Mice and Humans.

PubMed

Boutet, Isabelle; Collin, Charles A; MacLeod, Lindsey S; Messier, Claude; Holahan, Matthew R; Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth; Gandhi, Reno M; Kogan, Cary S

2018-01-01

To generate meaningful information, translational research must employ paradigms that allow extrapolation from animal models to humans. However, few studies have evaluated translational paradigms on the basis of defined validation criteria. We outline three criteria for validating translational paradigms. We then evaluate the Hebb-Williams maze paradigm (Hebb and Williams, 1946; Rabinovitch and Rosvold, 1951) on the basis of these criteria using Fragile X syndrome (FXS) as model disease. We focused on this paradigm because it allows direct comparison of humans and animals on tasks that are behaviorally equivalent (criterion #1) and because it measures spatial information processing, a cognitive domain for which FXS individuals and mice show impairments as compared to controls (criterion #2). We directly compared the performance of affected humans and mice across different experimental conditions and measures of behavior to identify which conditions produce comparable patterns of results in both species. Species differences were negligible for Mazes 2, 4, and 5 irrespective of the presence of visual cues, suggesting that these mazes could be used to measure spatial learning in both species. With regards to performance on the first trial, which reflects visuo-spatial problem solving, Mazes 5 and 9 without visual cues produced the most consistent results. We conclude that the Hebb-Williams mazes paradigm has the potential to be utilized in translational research to measure comparable cognitive functions in FXS humans and animals (criterion #3).

The Senses of Agency and Ownership: A Review.

PubMed

Braun, Niclas; Debener, Stefan; Spychala, Nadine; Bongartz, Edith; Sörös, Peter; Müller, Helge H O; Philipsen, Alexandra

2018-01-01

Usually, we do not question that we possess a body and act upon the world. This pre-reflective awareness of being a bodily and agentive self can, however, be disrupted by different clinical conditions. Whereas sense of ownership (SoO) describes the feeling of mineness toward one's own body parts, feelings or thoughts, sense of agency (SoA) refers to the experience of initiating and controlling an action. Although SoA and SoO naturally coincide, both experiences can also be made in isolation. By using many different experimental paradigms, both experiences have been extensively studied over the last years. This review introduces both concepts, with a special focus also onto their interplay. First, current experimental paradigms, results and neurocognitive theories about both concepts will be presented and then their clinical and therapeutic relevance is discussed.

The Senses of Agency and Ownership: A Review

PubMed Central

Braun, Niclas; Debener, Stefan; Spychala, Nadine; Bongartz, Edith; Sörös, Peter; Müller, Helge H. O.; Philipsen, Alexandra

2018-01-01

Usually, we do not question that we possess a body and act upon the world. This pre-reflective awareness of being a bodily and agentive self can, however, be disrupted by different clinical conditions. Whereas sense of ownership (SoO) describes the feeling of mineness toward one’s own body parts, feelings or thoughts, sense of agency (SoA) refers to the experience of initiating and controlling an action. Although SoA and SoO naturally coincide, both experiences can also be made in isolation. By using many different experimental paradigms, both experiences have been extensively studied over the last years. This review introduces both concepts, with a special focus also onto their interplay. First, current experimental paradigms, results and neurocognitive theories about both concepts will be presented and then their clinical and therapeutic relevance is discussed. PMID:29713301

Region based Brain Computer Interface for a home control application.

PubMed

Akman Aydin, Eda; Bay, Omer Faruk; Guler, Inan

2015-08-01

Environment control is one of the important challenges for disabled people who suffer from neuromuscular diseases. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) provides a communication channel between the human brain and the environment without requiring any muscular activation. The most important expectation for a home control application is high accuracy and reliable control. Region-based paradigm is a stimulus paradigm based on oddball principle and requires selection of a target at two levels. This paper presents an application of region based paradigm for a smart home control application for people with neuromuscular diseases. In this study, a region based stimulus interface containing 49 commands was designed. Five non-disabled subjects were attended to the experiments. Offline analysis results of the experiments yielded 95% accuracy for five flashes. This result showed that region based paradigm can be used to select commands of a smart home control application with high accuracy in the low number of repetitions successfully. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference was not observed between the level accuracies.

Multiparametric imaging with heterogeneous radiofrequency fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cloos, Martijn A.; Knoll, Florian; Zhao, Tiejun; Block, Kai T.; Bruno, Mary; Wiggins, Graham C.; Sodickson, Daniel K.

2016-08-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an unrivalled medical diagnostic technique able to map tissue anatomy and physiology non-invasively. MRI measurements are meticulously engineered to control experimental conditions across the sample. However, residual radiofrequency (RF) field inhomogeneities are often unavoidable, leading to artefacts that degrade the diagnostic and scientific value of the images. Here we show that, paradoxically, these artefacts can be eliminated by deliberately interweaving freely varying heterogeneous RF fields into a magnetic resonance fingerprinting data-acquisition process. Observations made based on simulations are experimentally confirmed at 7 Tesla (T), and the clinical implications of this new paradigm are illustrated with in vivo measurements near an orthopaedic implant at 3T. These results show that it is possible to perform quantitative multiparametric imaging with heterogeneous RF fields, and to liberate MRI from the traditional struggle for control over the RF field uniformity.

24-Month-Olds Use Conceptual Similarity to Solve New Problems after a Delay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayne, Harlene; Gross, Julien

2015-01-01

In this experiment, we used the deferred imitation paradigm to assess 24-month-olds' ability to use conceptual similarity to solve new problems after a delay. Infants in the experimental condition participated in four sessions that were each separated by 24 h. In Session 1, the experimenter modeled three target actions using one set of stimuli and…

Mimicking Aphasic Semantic Errors in Normal Speech Production: Evidence from a Novel Experimental Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodgson, Catherine; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

2008-01-01

Semantic errors are commonly found in semantic dementia (SD) and some forms of stroke aphasia and provide insights into semantic processing and speech production. Low error rates are found in standard picture naming tasks in normal controls. In order to increase error rates and thus provide an experimental model of aphasic performance, this study…

Comparison of Co-Temporal Modeling Algorithms on Sparse Experimental Time Series Data Sets.

PubMed

Allen, Edward E; Norris, James L; John, David J; Thomas, Stan J; Turkett, William H; Fetrow, Jacquelyn S

2010-01-01

Multiple approaches for reverse-engineering biological networks from time-series data have been proposed in the computational biology literature. These approaches can be classified by their underlying mathematical algorithms, such as Bayesian or algebraic techniques, as well as by their time paradigm, which includes next-state and co-temporal modeling. The types of biological relationships, such as parent-child or siblings, discovered by these algorithms are quite varied. It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various algorithms and time paradigms on actual experimental data. We assess how well the co-temporal implementations of three algorithms, continuous Bayesian, discrete Bayesian, and computational algebraic, can 1) identify two types of entity relationships, parent and sibling, between biological entities, 2) deal with experimental sparse time course data, and 3) handle experimental noise seen in replicate data sets. These algorithms are evaluated, using the shuffle index metric, for how well the resulting models match literature models in terms of siblings and parent relationships. Results indicate that all three co-temporal algorithms perform well, at a statistically significant level, at finding sibling relationships, but perform relatively poorly in finding parent relationships.

In Support of a Distinction between Voluntary and Stimulus-Driven Control: A Review of the Literature on Proportion Congruent Effects.

PubMed

Bugg, Julie M; Crump, Matthew J C

2012-01-01

Cognitive control is by now a large umbrella term referring collectively to multiple processes that plan and coordinate actions to meet task goals. A common feature of paradigms that engage cognitive control is the task requirement to select relevant information despite a habitual tendency (or bias) to select goal-irrelevant information. At least since the 1970s, researchers have employed proportion congruent (PC) manipulations to experimentally establish selection biases and evaluate the mechanisms used to control attention. PC manipulations vary the frequency with which irrelevant information conflicts (i.e., is incongruent) with relevant information. The purpose of this review is to summarize the growing body of literature on PC effects across selective attention paradigms, beginning first with Stroop, and then describing parallel effects in flanker and task-switching paradigms. The review chronologically tracks the expansion of the PC manipulation from its initial implementation at the list-wide level, to more recent implementations at the item-specific and context-specific levels. An important theoretical aim is demonstrating that PC effects at different levels (e.g., list-wide vs. item or context-specific) support a distinction between voluntary forms of cognitive control, which operate based on anticipatory information, and relatively automatic or reflexive forms of cognitive control, which are rapidly triggered by the processing of particular stimuli or stimulus features. A further aim is to highlight those PC manipulations that allow researchers to dissociate stimulus-driven control from other stimulus-driven processes (e.g., S-R responding; episodic retrieval). We conclude by discussing the utility of PC manipulations for exploring the distinction between voluntary control and stimulus-driven control in other relevant paradigms.

In Support of a Distinction between Voluntary and Stimulus-Driven Control: A Review of the Literature on Proportion Congruent Effects

PubMed Central

Bugg, Julie M.; Crump, Matthew J. C.

2012-01-01

Cognitive control is by now a large umbrella term referring collectively to multiple processes that plan and coordinate actions to meet task goals. A common feature of paradigms that engage cognitive control is the task requirement to select relevant information despite a habitual tendency (or bias) to select goal-irrelevant information. At least since the 1970s, researchers have employed proportion congruent (PC) manipulations to experimentally establish selection biases and evaluate the mechanisms used to control attention. PC manipulations vary the frequency with which irrelevant information conflicts (i.e., is incongruent) with relevant information. The purpose of this review is to summarize the growing body of literature on PC effects across selective attention paradigms, beginning first with Stroop, and then describing parallel effects in flanker and task-switching paradigms. The review chronologically tracks the expansion of the PC manipulation from its initial implementation at the list-wide level, to more recent implementations at the item-specific and context-specific levels. An important theoretical aim is demonstrating that PC effects at different levels (e.g., list-wide vs. item or context-specific) support a distinction between voluntary forms of cognitive control, which operate based on anticipatory information, and relatively automatic or reflexive forms of cognitive control, which are rapidly triggered by the processing of particular stimuli or stimulus features. A further aim is to highlight those PC manipulations that allow researchers to dissociate stimulus-driven control from other stimulus-driven processes (e.g., S-R responding; episodic retrieval). We conclude by discussing the utility of PC manipulations for exploring the distinction between voluntary control and stimulus-driven control in other relevant paradigms. PMID:23060836

The Art of Strategic Management: A Case-Based Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maranville, Steven

2011-01-01

This article contends that the strategic thinking process is composed of two joint, but paradigmatically distinct, activities--analysis and synthesis. Analysis represents the scientific paradigm, whereas synthesis represents the artistic paradigm. Nevertheless, the Strategic Management course is dominated by the scientific paradigm, even though…

Adding Pluggable and Personalized Natural Control Capabilities to Existing Applications

PubMed Central

Lamberti, Fabrizio; Sanna, Andrea; Carlevaris, Gilles; Demartini, Claudio

2015-01-01

Advancements in input device and sensor technologies led to the evolution of the traditional human-machine interaction paradigm based on the mouse and keyboard. Touch-, gesture- and voice-based interfaces are integrated today in a variety of applications running on consumer devices (e.g., gaming consoles and smartphones). However, to allow existing applications running on desktop computers to utilize natural interaction, significant re-design and re-coding efforts may be required. In this paper, a framework designed to transparently add multi-modal interaction capabilities to applications to which users are accustomed is presented. Experimental observations confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed framework and led to a classification of those applications that could benefit more from the availability of natural interaction modalities. PMID:25635410

Adding pluggable and personalized natural control capabilities to existing applications.

PubMed

Lamberti, Fabrizio; Sanna, Andrea; Carlevaris, Gilles; Demartini, Claudio

2015-01-28

Advancements in input device and sensor technologies led to the evolution of the traditional human-machine interaction paradigm based on the mouse and keyboard. Touch-, gesture- and voice-based interfaces are integrated today in a variety of applications running on consumer devices (e.g., gaming consoles and smartphones). However, to allow existing applications running on desktop computers to utilize natural interaction, significant re-design and re-coding efforts may be required. In this paper, a framework designed to transparently add multi-modal interaction capabilities to applications to which users are accustomed is presented. Experimental observations confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed framework and led to a classification of those applications that could benefit more from the availability of natural interaction modalities.

Panel manipulation in social stress testing: The Bath Experimental Stress Test for Children (BEST-C).

PubMed

Cheetham, Tara J; Turner-Cobb, Julie M

2016-01-01

Whilst acute stress paradigms in adults make use of adult panel members, similar paradigms modified for child participants have not manipulated the panel. Most work has utilised an audience of adult confederates, regardless of the age of the population being tested. The aim of this study was to trial a social stress test for children that provided a meaningful environment using age-matched child peers as panel actors. Thirty-three participants (7-11 years) underwent the Bath Experimental Stress Test for Children (BEST-C). Based on the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), it comprises a shortened six-minute public speaking task and four-minute maths challenge. It differs from previous stress tests by using age-matched children on the panel, pre-recorded and presented as a live feed, and includes an expanded manipulation check of subjective experience. Salivary cortisol was assessed at four time points, pre-post stress testing; life events, daily hassles and coping strategies were measured through questionnaires. A simple numerical coding scheme was applied to post-test interview data. The BEST-C generated a typical stress and adaptation response in salivary cortisol (p=.032). Age and gender differences were observed during recovery. Cortisol responses mapped directly onto three distinct subjective response patterns: (i) expected response and recovery; (ii) expected response, no recovery; (iii) no response. The BEST-C, utilising child confederates of participant target age is a meaningful social stress test for children. This is the first social stress test developed specifically for children that manipulates panel characteristics by using child confederates and a pre-recorded sham panel. Greater cortisol responses to the test were also found to match subjective verbal accounts of the experience. It offers a meaningful acute stress paradigm with potential applications to other child and adolescent age groups. Furthermore, it leads the way in the use of panel manipulation in social stress testing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effort-Based Decision-Making Paradigms for Clinical Trials in Schizophrenia: Part 1—Psychometric Characteristics of 5 Paradigms.

PubMed

Reddy, L Felice; Horan, William P; Barch, Deanna M; Buchanan, Robert W; Dunayevich, Eduardo; Gold, James M; Lyons, Naomi; Marder, Stephen R; Treadway, Michael T; Wynn, Jonathan K; Young, Jared W; Green, Michael F

2015-09-01

Impairments in willingness to exert effort contribute to the motivational deficits characteristic of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of 5 new or adapted paradigms to determine their suitability for use in clinical trials of schizophrenia. This study included 94 clinically stable participants with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls. The effort-based decision-making battery was administered twice to the schizophrenia group (baseline, 4-week retest) and once to the control group. The 5 paradigms included 1 that assesses cognitive effort, 1 perceptual effort, and 3 that assess physical effort. Each paradigm was evaluated on (1) patient vs healthy control group differences, (2) test-retest reliability, (3) utility as a repeated measure (ie, practice effects), and (4) tolerability. The 5 paradigms showed varying psychometric strengths and weaknesses. The Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task showed the best reliability and utility as a repeated measure, while the Grip Effort Task had significant patient-control group differences, and superior tolerability and administration duration. The other paradigms showed weaker psychometric characteristics in their current forms. These findings highlight challenges in adapting effort and motivation paradigms for use in clinical trials. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center 2015.

Restrictive Food Intake As A Choice – A Paradigm for Study

PubMed Central

Steinglass, Joanna; Foerde, Karin; Kostro, Katrina; Shohamy, Daphna; Timothy Walsh, B.

2014-01-01

Objective: Inadequate intake and preference for low-calorie foods are salient behavioral features of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). The neurocognitive mechanisms underlying pathological food choice have not been characterized. This study aimed to develop a new paradigm for experimentally modeling maladaptive food choice in AN. Method: Individuals with AN (n=22) and healthy controls (HC, n=20) participated in a computer-based Food Choice Task, adapted for individuals with eating disorders. Participants first rated 43 food images (including high-fat and low-fat items) for Healthiness and Tastiness; an item rated neutral on both blocks was then selected as the Reference item. On each of 42 subsequent trials participants were asked to choose between the food item presented and the Reference item. Results: The AN group was less likely to choose high-fat foods relative to HC, as evidenced both in multilevel logistic regression (z=2.59, p=0.009) and ANOVA (F(1,39)=7.80, p=0.008) analyses. Health ratings influenced choice significantly more in AN relative to HC (z=2.7, p=0.006), and were more related to Taste among AN (χ2=4.10, p=0.04). Additionally, Taste ratings declined with duration of illness(r=−0.50, p=0.02). Conclusions: The Food Choice Task captures the preference for low-fat foods among individuals with AN. The findings suggest that the experience of tastiness changes over time and may contribute to perpetuation of illness. By providing an experimental quantitative measure of food restriction, this task opens the door to new experimental investigations into the cognitive, affective and neural factors contributing to maladaptive food choices characteristic of AN. PMID:25130380

Restrictive food intake as a choice--a paradigm for study.

PubMed

Steinglass, Joanna; Foerde, Karin; Kostro, Katrina; Shohamy, Daphna; Walsh, B Timothy

2015-01-01

Inadequate intake and preference for low-calorie foods are salient behavioral features of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). The neurocognitive mechanisms underlying pathological food choice have not been characterized. This study aimed to develop a new paradigm for experimentally modeling maladaptive food choice in AN. Individuals with AN (n = 22) and healthy controls (HC, n = 20) participated in a computer-based Food Choice Task, adapted for individuals with eating disorders. Participants first rated 43 food images (including high-fat and low-fat items) for Healthiness and Tastiness; an item rated neutral on both blocks was then selected as the Reference item. On each of 42 subsequent trials participants were asked to choose between the food item presented and the Reference item. The AN group was less likely to choose high-fat foods relative to HC, as evidenced both in multilevel logistic regression (z = 2.59, p = .009) and ANOVA (F(1,39) = 7.80, p = .008) analyses. Health ratings influenced choice significantly more in AN relative to HC (z = 2.7, p = .006), and were more related to Taste among AN (χ(2) = 4.10, p = .04). Additionally, taste ratings declined with duration of illness (r = -.50, p = .02). The Food Choice Task captures the preference for low-fat foods among individuals with AN. The findings suggest that the experience of tastiness changes over time and may contribute to perpetuation of illness. By providing an experimental quantitative measure of food restriction, this task opens the door to new experimental investigations into the cognitive, affective, and neural factors contributing to maladaptive food choices characteristic of AN. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Intuition and Insight: Two Processes That Build on Each Other or Fundamentally Differ?

PubMed

Zander, Thea; Öllinger, Michael; Volz, Kirsten G

2016-01-01

Intuition and insight are intriguing phenomena of non-analytical mental functioning: whereas intuition denotes ideas that have been reached by sensing the solution without any explicit representation of it, insight has been understood as the sudden and unexpected apprehension of the solution by recombining the single elements of a problem. By face validity, the two processes appear similar; according to a lay perspective, it is assumed that intuition precedes insight. Yet, predominant scientific conceptualizations of intuition and insight consider the two processes to differ with regard to their (dis-)continuous unfolding. That is, intuition has been understood as an experience-based and gradual process, whereas insight is regarded as a genuinely discontinuous phenomenon. Unfortunately, both processes have been investigated differently and without much reference to each other. In this contribution, we therefore set out to fill this lacuna by examining the conceptualizations of the assumed underlying cognitive processes of both phenomena, and by also referring to the research traditions and paradigms of the respective field. Based on early work put forward by Bowers et al. (1990, 1995), we referred to semantic coherence tasks consisting of convergent word triads (i.e., the solution has the same meaning to all three clue words) and/or divergent word triads (i.e., the solution means something different with respect to each clue word) as an excellent kind of paradigm that may be used in the future to disentangle intuition and insight experimentally. By scrutinizing the underlying mechanisms of intuition and insight, with this theoretical contribution, we hope to launch lacking but needed experimental studies and to initiate scientific cooperation between the research fields of intuition and insight that are currently still separated from each other.

Intuition and Insight: Two Processes That Build on Each Other or Fundamentally Differ?

PubMed Central

Zander, Thea; Öllinger, Michael; Volz, Kirsten G.

2016-01-01

Intuition and insight are intriguing phenomena of non-analytical mental functioning: whereas intuition denotes ideas that have been reached by sensing the solution without any explicit representation of it, insight has been understood as the sudden and unexpected apprehension of the solution by recombining the single elements of a problem. By face validity, the two processes appear similar; according to a lay perspective, it is assumed that intuition precedes insight. Yet, predominant scientific conceptualizations of intuition and insight consider the two processes to differ with regard to their (dis-)continuous unfolding. That is, intuition has been understood as an experience-based and gradual process, whereas insight is regarded as a genuinely discontinuous phenomenon. Unfortunately, both processes have been investigated differently and without much reference to each other. In this contribution, we therefore set out to fill this lacuna by examining the conceptualizations of the assumed underlying cognitive processes of both phenomena, and by also referring to the research traditions and paradigms of the respective field. Based on early work put forward by Bowers et al. (1990, 1995), we referred to semantic coherence tasks consisting of convergent word triads (i.e., the solution has the same meaning to all three clue words) and/or divergent word triads (i.e., the solution means something different with respect to each clue word) as an excellent kind of paradigm that may be used in the future to disentangle intuition and insight experimentally. By scrutinizing the underlying mechanisms of intuition and insight, with this theoretical contribution, we hope to launch lacking but needed experimental studies and to initiate scientific cooperation between the research fields of intuition and insight that are currently still separated from each other. PMID:27679592

A data mining paradigm for identifying key factors in biological processes using gene expression data.

PubMed

Li, Jin; Zheng, Le; Uchiyama, Akihiko; Bin, Lianghua; Mauro, Theodora M; Elias, Peter M; Pawelczyk, Tadeusz; Sakowicz-Burkiewicz, Monika; Trzeciak, Magdalena; Leung, Donald Y M; Morasso, Maria I; Yu, Peng

2018-06-13

A large volume of biological data is being generated for studying mechanisms of various biological processes. These precious data enable large-scale computational analyses to gain biological insights. However, it remains a challenge to mine the data efficiently for knowledge discovery. The heterogeneity of these data makes it difficult to consistently integrate them, slowing down the process of biological discovery. We introduce a data processing paradigm to identify key factors in biological processes via systematic collection of gene expression datasets, primary analysis of data, and evaluation of consistent signals. To demonstrate its effectiveness, our paradigm was applied to epidermal development and identified many genes that play a potential role in this process. Besides the known epidermal development genes, a substantial proportion of the identified genes are still not supported by gain- or loss-of-function studies, yielding many novel genes for future studies. Among them, we selected a top gene for loss-of-function experimental validation and confirmed its function in epidermal differentiation, proving the ability of this paradigm to identify new factors in biological processes. In addition, this paradigm revealed many key genes in cold-induced thermogenesis using data from cold-challenged tissues, demonstrating its generalizability. This paradigm can lead to fruitful results for studying molecular mechanisms in an era of explosive accumulation of publicly available biological data.

Has the Education Paradigm Begun to Shift?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chadwick, Clifton B.

2014-01-01

The author reviews various elements of what may be considered as evidence that the long-awaited shift in the education paradigm is actually happening. Concepts like student-centered learning, attainment-based evaluation, knowledge-based constructivism, and effort-based intelligence are growing, are being more widely recognized as important, and…

Toward an Implementation Paradigm of Educational Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berman, Paul

Besides identifying current problems in educational change research, this document describes the inadequate paradigm on which past research has been based and outlines a currently emerging paradigm of educational innovation. The author asserts that previous research findings have been inconsistent and not comparable. Basic to the research problems…

The Soil Carbon Paradigm Shift: Triangulating Theories, Measurements, and Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blankinship, J. C.; Crow, S. E.; Schimel, J.; Sierra, C. A.; Schaedel, C.; Plante, A. F.; Thompson, A.; Berhe, A. A.; Druhan, J. L.; Heckman, K. A.; Keiluweit, M.; Lawrence, C. R.; Marin-Spiotta, E.; Rasmussen, C.; Wagai, R.; Wieder, W. R.

2016-12-01

Predicting global responses of soil carbon (C) to environmental change remains confounded by a number of paradigms that have emerged from separate approaches. A prevailing paradigm in biogeochemistry interprets soil C as discrete pools based on estimated or measured turnover times (e.g., CENTURY model). An alternative is emerging that envisions the stabilization of soil C in tension between decomposition by microbial agents and protection by physical and chemical mechanisms. We propose an approach to bridge the gap between different paradigms, and to improve soil C forecasting by conceptualizing each paradigm as a triangle composed of three nodes: theory, analytical measurement, and numerical model. Paradigms tend to emerge from what can either be represented in models or measured using analytical instruments. But they gain power when all three elements are integrated in a balanced trinity. Our goal was to compare how theory, measurement, and model fit together in our understanding of soil C to learn from past successes, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of current paradigms, and guide development of new understanding. We used a case-study approach to analyze each corner of the paradigm-triangle: i) paradigms that have strong theory but are constrained by weak linkages with measurements or models, ii) paradigms with robust models that have weak linkages with theory or measurements, and iii) paradigms with many measurements but little theoretical support or ability to be parameterized in numerical models. We conclude that established models like CENTURY dominate because theory and measurements that underlie the model form strong linkages that previously created a balanced triangle. Evolving paradigms based on physical protection and microbial agency are still struggling to gain traction because the theory is challenging to represent in models. The explicit examination of the strengths of emerging paradigms can, therefore, help refine and accelerate our ability to constrain projections of soil C dynamics.

Adolescents' prosocial responses to ostracism: an experimental study.

PubMed

Coyne, Sarah M; Gundersen, Nicola; Nelson, David A; Stockdale, Laura

2011-01-01

Ostracism can lead to strong behavioral responses, including diminished prosocial behavior. To date, experimental research examining this effect has only been conducted with adults. The current study consisted of 40 adolescents, half of whom were experimentally ostracized using the Cyberball paradigm. Participants' subsequent levels of pronounced prosocial behavior were measured, and personality traits were examined as possible moderators in participant behavioral responses. Results revealed that, compared to controls, ostracized adolescents showed less prosocial behavior, and this was moderated by having an "open" personality.

Spatial cognition in a virtual reality home-cage extension for freely moving rodents

PubMed Central

Kaupert, Ursula; Frei, Katja; Bagorda, Francesco; Schatz, Alexej; Tocker, Gilad; Rapoport, Sophie; Derdikman, Dori

2017-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) environments are a powerful tool to investigate brain mechanisms involved in the behavior of animals. With this technique, animals are usually head fixed or secured in a harness, and training for cognitively more complex VR paradigms is time consuming. A VR apparatus allowing free animal movement and the constant operator-independent training of tasks would enable many new applications. Key prospective usages include brain imaging of animal behavior when carrying a miniaturized mobile device such as a fluorescence microscope or an optetrode. Here, we introduce the Servoball, a spherical VR treadmill based on the closed-loop tracking of a freely moving animal and feedback counterrotation of the ball. Furthermore, we present the complete integration of this experimental system with the animals’ group home cage, from which single individuals can voluntarily enter through a tunnel with radio-frequency identification (RFID)-automated access control and commence experiments. This automated animal sorter functions as a mechanical replacement of the experimenter. We automatically trained rats using visual or acoustic cues to solve spatial cognitive tasks and recorded spatially modulated entorhinal cells. When electrophysiological extracellular recordings from awake behaving rats were performed, head fixation can dramatically alter results, so that any complex behavior that requires head movement is impossible to achieve. We circumvented this problem with the use of the Servoball in open-field scenarios, as it allows the combination of open-field behavior with the recording of nerve cells, along with all the flexibility that a virtual environment brings. This integrated home cage with a VR arena experimental system permits highly efficient experimentation for complex cognitive experiments. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Virtual reality (VR) environments are a powerful tool for the investigation of brain mechanisms. We introduce the Servoball, a VR treadmill for freely moving rodents. The Servoball is integrated with the animals’ group home cage. Single individuals voluntarily enter using automated access control. Training is highly time-efficient, even for cognitively complex VR paradigms. PMID:28077665

Dynamically protected cat-qubits: a new paradigm for universal quantum computation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirrahimi, Mazyar; Leghtas, Zaki; Albert, Victor V.; Touzard, Steven; Schoelkopf, Robert J.; Jiang, Liang; Devoret, Michel H.

2014-04-01

We present a new hardware-efficient paradigm for universal quantum computation which is based on encoding, protecting and manipulating quantum information in a quantum harmonic oscillator. This proposal exploits multi-photon driven dissipative processes to encode quantum information in logical bases composed of Schrödinger cat states. More precisely, we consider two schemes. In a first scheme, a two-photon driven dissipative process is used to stabilize a logical qubit basis of two-component Schrödinger cat states. While such a scheme ensures a protection of the logical qubit against the photon dephasing errors, the prominent error channel of single-photon loss induces bit-flip type errors that cannot be corrected. Therefore, we consider a second scheme based on a four-photon driven dissipative process which leads to the choice of four-component Schrödinger cat states as the logical qubit. Such a logical qubit can be protected against single-photon loss by continuous photon number parity measurements. Next, applying some specific Hamiltonians, we provide a set of universal quantum gates on the encoded qubits of each of the two schemes. In particular, we illustrate how these operations can be rendered fault-tolerant with respect to various decoherence channels of participating quantum systems. Finally, we also propose experimental schemes based on quantum superconducting circuits and inspired by methods used in Josephson parametric amplification, which should allow one to achieve these driven dissipative processes along with the Hamiltonians ensuring the universal operations in an efficient manner.

Aging and magnetism: Presenting a possible new holistic paradigm for ameliorating the aging process and the effects thereof, through externally applied physiologic PicoTesla magnetic fields.

PubMed

Jacobson, Jerry; Sherlag, Benjamin

2015-09-01

A new holistic paradigm is proposed for slowing our genomic-based biological clocks (e.g. regulation of telomere length), and decreasing heat energy exigencies for maintenance of physiologic homeostasis. Aging is considered the result of a progressive slow burn in small volumes of tissues with increase in the quantum entropic states; producing desiccation, microscopic scarring, and disruption of cooperative coherent states. Based upon piezoelectricity, i.e. photon-phonon transductions, physiologic PicoTesla range magnetic fields may decrease the production of excessive heat energy through target specific, bio molecular resonant interactions, renormalization of intrinsic electromagnetic tissue profiles, and autonomic modulation. Prospectively, we hypothesize that deleterious effects of physical trauma, immunogenic microbiological agents, stress, and anxiety may be ameliorated. A particle-wave equation is cited to ascertain magnetic field parameters for application to the whole organism thereby achieving desired homeostasis; secondary to restoration of structure and function on quantum levels. We hypothesize that it is at the atomic level that physical events shape the flow of signals and the transmission of energy in bio molecular systems. References are made to experimental data indicating the aspecific efficacy of non-ionizing physiologic magnetic field profiles for treatment of various pathologic states. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Rodent-versus-wild Snake Paradigm as a Model for Studying Anxiety- and Panic-like Behaviors: Face, Construct and Predictive Validities.

PubMed

Paschoalin-Maurin, Tatiana; Dos Anjos-Garcia, Tayllon; Falconi-Sobrinho, Luiz Luciano; de Freitas, Renato Leonardo; Coimbra, Jade Pissamiglio Cysne; Laure, Carlos Júlio; Coimbra, Norberto Cysne

2018-01-15

Using an innovative approach to study the neural bases of psychiatric disorders, this study investigated the behavioral, morphological and pharmacological bases of panic attack-induced responses in a prey-versus-coral snake paradigm. Mesocricetus auratus was chronically treated with intraperitoneal administration of the selective serotonin uptake inhibitor paroxetine or the gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)/benzodiazepine receptor agonist alprazolam at three different doses and were then confronted with a venomous coral snake (Micrurus frontalis, Reptilia, Elapidae). The threatened rodents exhibited defensive attention, flat back approaches, defensive immobility, and escape defensive responses in the presence of the venomous snake, followed by increases in Fos protein in limbic structure neurons. Chronic administration of both paroxetine and alprazolam decreased these responses with morphological correlates between the panicolytic effect of both drugs administered at the highest dose and decreases in Fos protein-immunolabeled perikarya found in the amygdaloid complex, hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray matter columns, which are structures that make up the encephalic aversion system. These findings provide face, construct and predictive validities of this new experimental model of anxiety- and panic attack-like behavioral responses displayed by threatened prey confronted with venomous coral snakes. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disentangling the adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder endophenotype: parametric measurement of attention.

PubMed

Finke, Kathrin; Schwarzkopf, Wolfgang; Müller, Ulrich; Frodl, Thomas; Müller, Hermann J; Schneider, Werner X; Engel, Rolf R; Riedel, Michael; Möller, Hans-Jürgen; Hennig-Fast, Kristina

2011-11-01

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists frequently into adulthood. The decomposition of endophenotypes by means of experimental neuro-cognitive assessment has the potential to improve diagnostic assessment, evaluation of treatment response, and disentanglement of genetic and environmental influences. We assessed four parameters of attentional capacity and selectivity derived from simple psychophysical tasks (verbal report of briefly presented letter displays) and based on a "theory of visual attention." These parameters are mathematically independent, quantitative measures, and previous studies have shown that they are highly sensitive for subtle attention deficits. Potential reductions of attentional capacity, that is, of perceptual processing speed and working memory storage capacity, were assessed with a whole report paradigm. Furthermore, possible pathologies of attentional selectivity, that is, selection of task-relevant information and bias in the spatial distribution of attention, were measured with a partial report paradigm. A group of 30 unmedicated adult ADHD patients and a group of 30 demographically matched healthy controls were tested. ADHD patients showed significant reductions of working memory storage capacity of a moderate to large effect size. Perceptual processing speed, task-based, and spatial selection were unaffected. The results imply a working memory deficit as an important source of behavioral impairments. The theory of visual attention parameter working memory storage capacity might constitute a quantifiable and testable endophenotype of ADHD.

Perceived trustworthiness shapes neural empathic responses toward others' pain.

PubMed

Sessa, Paola; Meconi, Federica

2015-12-01

As might be expected, neural empathic responses toward someone in pain are shaped by the affective/social relationship between the observer and the suffering person. Brain activity associated with empathy is sensitive to previous knowledge on the other's social conduct, such that, for instance, an unfair person in pain elicits in the observer reduced activations of empathy-related brain regions compared to a fair person. We conjectured that even in the absence of information on the personality and social behavior of an individual, empathy might be modulated by the 'first impression' based on other's physical facial features, such that the other is perceived as trustworthy or untrustworthy. By means of event-related potentials technique, we monitored in two experiments the neural empathic responses associated with the pain of trustworthy and untrustworthy faces, either computerized and parametrically manipulated (Experiment 1) and real faces (Experiment 2) in a cue-based paradigm. We observed P3 empathic reactions towards individuals looking trustworthy whereas the reactions towards individuals looking untrustworthy were negligible, if not null. An additional experiment (Experiment 3) was conducted in order to substantiate our conclusions by demonstrating that the experimental paradigm we designed did very likely activate an empathic response. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Processing of angular motion and gravity information through an internal model.

PubMed

Laurens, Jean; Straumann, Dominik; Hess, Bernhard J M

2010-09-01

The vestibular organs in the base of the skull provide important information about head orientation and motion in space. Previous studies have suggested that both angular velocity information from the semicircular canals and information about head orientation and translation from the otolith organs are centrally processed in an internal model of head motion, using the principles of optimal estimation. This concept has been successfully applied to model behavioral responses to classical vestibular motion paradigms. This study measured the dynamic of the vestibuloocular reflex during postrotatory tilt, tilt during the optokinetic afternystagmus, and off-vertical axis rotation. The influence of otolith signal on the VOR was systematically varied by using a series of tilt angles. We found that the time constants of responses varied almost identically as a function of gravity in these paradigms. We show that Bayesian modeling could predict the experimental results in an accurate and consistent manner. In contrast to other approaches, the Bayesian model also provides a plausible explanation of why these vestibulooculo motor responses occur as a consequence of an internal process of optimal motion estimation.

Unifying the field: developing an integrative paradigm for behavior therapy.

PubMed

Eifert, G H; Forsyth, J P; Schauss, S L

1993-06-01

The limitations of early conditioning models and treatments have led many behavior therapists to abandon conditioning principles and replace them with loosely defined cognitive theories and treatments. Systematic theory extensions to human behavior, using new concepts and processes derived from and built upon the basic principles, could have prevented the divisive debates over whether psychological dysfunctions are the results of conditioning or cognition and whether they should be treated with conditioning or cognitive techniques. Behavior therapy could also benefit from recent advances in experimental cognitive psychology that provide objective behavioral methods of studying dysfunctional processes. We suggest a unifying paradigm for explaining abnormal behavior that links and integrates different fields of study and processes that are frequently believed to be incompatible or antithetical such as biological vulnerability variables, learned behavioral repertoires, and that also links historical and current antecedents of the problem. An integrative paradigmatic behavioral approach may serve a unifying function in behavior therapy (a) by promoting an understanding of the dysfunctional processes involved in different disorders and (b) by helping clinicians conduct functional analyses that lead to theory-based, individualized, and effective treatments.

High-Speed Photonic Reservoir Computing Using a Time-Delay-Based Architecture: Million Words per Second Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larger, Laurent; Baylón-Fuentes, Antonio; Martinenghi, Romain; Udaltsov, Vladimir S.; Chembo, Yanne K.; Jacquot, Maxime

2017-01-01

Reservoir computing, originally referred to as an echo state network or a liquid state machine, is a brain-inspired paradigm for processing temporal information. It involves learning a "read-out" interpretation for nonlinear transients developed by high-dimensional dynamics when the latter is excited by the information signal to be processed. This novel computational paradigm is derived from recurrent neural network and machine learning techniques. It has recently been implemented in photonic hardware for a dynamical system, which opens the path to ultrafast brain-inspired computing. We report on a novel implementation involving an electro-optic phase-delay dynamics designed with off-the-shelf optoelectronic telecom devices, thus providing the targeted wide bandwidth. Computational efficiency is demonstrated experimentally with speech-recognition tasks. State-of-the-art speed performances reach one million words per second, with very low word error rate. Additionally, to record speed processing, our investigations have revealed computing-efficiency improvements through yet-unexplored temporal-information-processing techniques, such as simultaneous multisample injection and pitched sampling at the read-out compared to information "write-in".

Kernel Method Based Human Model for Enhancing Interactive Evolutionary Optimization

PubMed Central

Zhao, Qiangfu; Liu, Yong

2015-01-01

A fitness landscape presents the relationship between individual and its reproductive success in evolutionary computation (EC). However, discrete and approximate landscape in an original search space may not support enough and accurate information for EC search, especially in interactive EC (IEC). The fitness landscape of human subjective evaluation in IEC is very difficult and impossible to model, even with a hypothesis of what its definition might be. In this paper, we propose a method to establish a human model in projected high dimensional search space by kernel classification for enhancing IEC search. Because bivalent logic is a simplest perceptual paradigm, the human model is established by considering this paradigm principle. In feature space, we design a linear classifier as a human model to obtain user preference knowledge, which cannot be supported linearly in original discrete search space. The human model is established by this method for predicting potential perceptual knowledge of human. With the human model, we design an evolution control method to enhance IEC search. From experimental evaluation results with a pseudo-IEC user, our proposed model and method can enhance IEC search significantly. PMID:25879050

Neural architecture underlying classification of face perception paradigms.

PubMed

Laird, Angela R; Riedel, Michael C; Sutherland, Matthew T; Eickhoff, Simon B; Ray, Kimberly L; Uecker, Angela M; Fox, P Mickle; Turner, Jessica A; Fox, Peter T

2015-10-01

We present a novel strategy for deriving a classification system of functional neuroimaging paradigms that relies on hierarchical clustering of experiments archived in the BrainMap database. The goal of our proof-of-concept application was to examine the underlying neural architecture of the face perception literature from a meta-analytic perspective, as these studies include a wide range of tasks. Task-based results exhibiting similar activation patterns were grouped as similar, while tasks activating different brain networks were classified as functionally distinct. We identified four sub-classes of face tasks: (1) Visuospatial Attention and Visuomotor Coordination to Faces, (2) Perception and Recognition of Faces, (3) Social Processing and Episodic Recall of Faces, and (4) Face Naming and Lexical Retrieval. Interpretation of these sub-classes supports an extension of a well-known model of face perception to include a core system for visual analysis and extended systems for personal information, emotion, and salience processing. Overall, these results demonstrate that a large-scale data mining approach can inform the evolution of theoretical cognitive models by probing the range of behavioral manipulations across experimental tasks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implementations of clinical functional magnetic resonance imaging using character-based paradigms for the prediction of Chinese language dominance.

PubMed

Liu, Ho-Ling; Wu, Chien-Te; Chen, Jian-Chuan; Hsu, Yuan-Yu; Wai, Yau-Yau; Wan, Yung-Liang

2003-01-01

Recently, functional MRI (fMRI) using word generation (WG) tasks has been shown to be effective for mapping the Chinese language-related brain areas. In clinical applications, however, patients' performance cannot be easily monitored during WG tasks. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of a word choice (WC) paradigm in the clinical setting and compared the results with those from WG tasks. Intrasubject comparisons of fMRI with both WG and WC paradigms were performed on six normal human subjects and two tumor patients. Subject responses in the WC paradigm, based on semantic judgments, were recorded. Activation strength, extent, and laterality were evaluated and compared. Our results showed that fMRI with the WC paradigm evoked weaker neuronal activation than that with the WG paradigm in Chinese language-related brain areas. It was sufficient to reveal language laterality for clinical use, however. In addition, it resulted in less nonlanguage-specific brain activation. Results from the patient data demonstrated strong evidence for the necessity of incorporating response monitoring during fMRI studies, which suggested that fMRI with the WC paradigm is more appropriate to be implemented for the prediction of Chinese language dominance in clinical environments.

Using family paradigms to improve evidence-based practice.

PubMed

Hidecker, Mary Jo Cooley; Jones, Rebecca S; Imig, David R; Villarruel, Francisco A

2009-08-01

Evidence-based practice (EBP) describes clinical decision making using research, clinical experience, and client values. For family-centered practices, the client's family is integral to this process. This article proposes that using family paradigms, a family science framework, may help elicit and understand client/family values within family-centered EBP. This article describes the family paradigms framework: 4 classic paradigms of "closed," "random," "open," and "synchronous." Its applicability to family-centered EBP is proposed using augmentative and alternative communication examples. A family-centered approach to EBP requires families to be an integral part of clinical decision making, but some families may need assistance in enumerating their views and values. Family paradigms (which consider how a family uses its resources of time, space, energy, and material in the pursuit of its goals of control, affect, meaning, and content) may be a way to elicit family values and preferences relevant to clinical decisions. Family and client values can be incorporated throughout the EBP steps. Considering family paradigms may increase awareness and understanding of how families' views of their goals and resources affect clinical decisions. Further research is needed into both the processes and effectiveness of using family paradigms to conduct family-centered EBP.

Deja Vu in Unilateral Temporal-Lobe Epilepsy Is Associated with Selective Familiarity Impairments on Experimental Tasks of Recognition Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Chris B.; Mirsattari, Seyed M.; Pruessner, Jens C.; Pietrantonio, Sandra; Burneo, Jorge G.; Hayman-Abello, Brent; Kohler, Stefan

2012-01-01

In deja vu, a phenomenological impression of familiarity for the current visual environment is experienced with a sense that it should in fact not feel familiar. The fleeting nature of this phenomenon in daily life, and the difficulty in developing experimental paradigms to elicit it, has hindered progress in understanding deja vu. Some…

School Reform: Community, Corporatism, and the Social Good

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verdugo, Richard R.

2013-01-01

Paradigms are important. Since the early part of the 20th century, a corporatist paradigm has influenced education policy and structure. A corporatist view is based on two assumptions: Schools are like businesses; therefore, sound business practices will improve schools. Another paradigm that has received only minimal attention in formulating…

Pavlovian Conditioning of Larval Drosophila: An Illustrated, Multilingual, Hands-On Manual for Odor-Taste Associative Learning in Maggots

PubMed Central

Michels, Birgit; Saumweber, Timo; Biernacki, Roland; Thum, Jeanette; Glasgow, Rupert D. V.; Schleyer, Michael; Chen, Yi-chun; Eschbach, Claire; Stocker, Reinhard F.; Toshima, Naoko; Tanimura, Teiichi; Louis, Matthieu; Arias-Gil, Gonzalo; Marescotti, Manuela; Benfenati, Fabio; Gerber, Bertram

2017-01-01

Larval Drosophila offer a study case for behavioral neurogenetics that is simple enough to be experimentally tractable, yet complex enough to be worth the effort. We provide a detailed, hands-on manual for Pavlovian odor-reward learning in these animals. Given the versatility of Drosophila for genetic analyses, combined with the evolutionarily shared genetic heritage with humans, the paradigm has utility not only in behavioral neurogenetics and experimental psychology, but for translational biomedicine as well. Together with the upcoming total synaptic connectome of the Drosophila nervous system and the possibilities of single-cell-specific transgene expression, it offers enticing opportunities for research. Indeed, the paradigm has already been adopted by a number of labs and is robust enough to be used for teaching in classroom settings. This has given rise to a demand for a detailed, hands-on manual directed at newcomers and/or at laboratory novices, and this is what we here provide. The paradigm and the present manual have a unique set of features: The paradigm is cheap, easy, and robust; The manual is detailed enough for newcomers or laboratory novices; It briefly covers the essential scientific context; It includes sheets for scoring, data analysis, and display; It is multilingual: in addition to an English version we provide German, French, Japanese, Spanish and Italian language versions as well. The present manual can thus foster science education at an earlier age and enable research by a broader community than has been the case to date. PMID:28469564

Towards a symbiotic brain-computer interface: exploring the application-decoder interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verhoeven, T.; Buteneers Wiersema, P., Jr.; Dambre, J.; Kindermans, PJ

2015-12-01

Objective. State of the art brain-computer interface (BCI) research focuses on improving individual components such as the application or the decoder that converts the user’s brain activity to control signals. In this study, we investigate the interaction between these components in the P300 speller, a BCI for communication. We introduce a synergistic approach in which the stimulus presentation sequence is modified to enhance the machine learning decoding. In this way we aim for an improved overall BCI performance. Approach. First, a new stimulus presentation paradigm is introduced which provides us flexibility in tuning the sequence of visual stimuli presented to the user. Next, an experimental setup in which this paradigm is compared to other paradigms uncovers the underlying mechanism of the interdependence between the application and the performance of the decoder. Main results. Extensive analysis of the experimental results reveals the changing requirements of the decoder concerning the data recorded during the spelling session. When few data is recorded, the balance in the number of target and non-target stimuli shown to the user is more important than the signal-to-noise rate (SNR) of the recorded response signals. Only when more data has been collected, the SNR becomes the dominant factor. Significance. For BCIs in general, knowing the dominant factor that affects the decoder performance and being able to respond to it is of utmost importance to improve system performance. For the P300 speller, the proposed tunable paradigm offers the possibility to tune the application to the decoder’s needs at any time and, as such, fully exploit this application-decoder interaction.

High-intensity Aerobic Exercise Blocks the Facilitation of iTBS-induced Plasticity in the Human Motor Cortex.

PubMed

Smith, Ashleigh E; Goldsworthy, Mitchell R; Wood, Fiona M; Olds, Timothy S; Garside, Tessa; Ridding, Michael C

2018-03-01

Acute exercise studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can provide important insights into the mechanisms underpinning the positive relationship between regular engagement in physical activity and cortical neuroplasticity. Emerging evidence indicates that a single session of aerobic exercise can promote the response to an experimentally induced suppressive neuroplasticity paradigm; however, little is known about the neuroplasticity response to facilitatory paradigms, including intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS). To more fully characterize the effects of exercise on brain plasticity we investigated if a single 30 min bout of high-intensity cycling (80% predicted heart rate reserve) modulated the response to an iTBS paradigm compared to rest. In 18 participants (9 females; 25.5 ± 5.0 years, range: 18-35 years) iTBS was applied using standard repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques immediately following exercise or 30 min of rest. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right first dorsal interosseous muscle at baseline, after the exercise/rest period but before iTBS, and at 5 time points following iTBS (0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 min). Contrary to our hypothesis, MEPs were suppressed following iTBS after a single 30 min bout of lower limb aerobic exercise compared to rest. These results indicate that acute aerobic exercise may not always enhance the response to an experimentally induced neuroplasticity paradigm. Further investigation of the factors that influence the relationship between exercise and neuroplasticity is warranted. Copyright © 2018 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A computational framework to empower probabilistic protein design

PubMed Central

Fromer, Menachem; Yanover, Chen

2008-01-01

Motivation: The task of engineering a protein to perform a target biological function is known as protein design. A commonly used paradigm casts this functional design problem as a structural one, assuming a fixed backbone. In probabilistic protein design, positional amino acid probabilities are used to create a random library of sequences to be simultaneously screened for biological activity. Clearly, certain choices of probability distributions will be more successful in yielding functional sequences. However, since the number of sequences is exponential in protein length, computational optimization of the distribution is difficult. Results: In this paper, we develop a computational framework for probabilistic protein design following the structural paradigm. We formulate the distribution of sequences for a structure using the Boltzmann distribution over their free energies. The corresponding probabilistic graphical model is constructed, and we apply belief propagation (BP) to calculate marginal amino acid probabilities. We test this method on a large structural dataset and demonstrate the superiority of BP over previous methods. Nevertheless, since the results obtained by BP are far from optimal, we thoroughly assess the paradigm using high-quality experimental data. We demonstrate that, for small scale sub-problems, BP attains identical results to those produced by exact inference on the paradigmatic model. However, quantitative analysis shows that the distributions predicted significantly differ from the experimental data. These findings, along with the excellent performance we observed using BP on the smaller problems, suggest potential shortcomings of the paradigm. We conclude with a discussion of how it may be improved in the future. Contact: fromer@cs.huji.ac.il PMID:18586717

Negative pressure darwinism: survival of the fittest paradigm.

PubMed

Miller, Michael; Bybordi, Farhad

2009-07-01

The use of negative pressure for wound healing has been based on a set of parameters and devices that until recently were combined into a single paradigm. Despite historical and more recent evidence providing viable alternative considerations, it is only recently that this paradigm and its tenets have come into question. As the understanding of the limits of the current paradigm and specific instances of its benefits and drawbacks are identified, shifts in the paradigm must take place if the therapy is to evolve, develop, and continue to be efficacious. The pertinence of the concept of survival of the fittest is used to explore the need for a paradigm shift in negative pressure wound therapy.

Exploring the relationship between object realism and object-based attention effects.

PubMed

Roque, Nelson; Boot, Walter R

2015-09-01

Visual attention prioritizes processing of locations in space, and evidence also suggests that the benefits of attention can be shaped by the presence of objects (object-based attention). However, the prevalence of object-based attention effects has been called into question recently by evidence from a large-sampled study employing classic attention paradigms (Pilz et al., 2012). We conducted two experiments to explore factors that might determine when and if object-based attention effects are observed, focusing on the degree to which the concreteness and realism of objects might contribute to these effects. We adapted the classic attention paradigm first reported by Egly, Driver, and Rafal (1994) by replacing abstract bar stimuli in some conditions with objects that were more concrete and familiar to participants: items of silverware. Furthermore, we varied the realism of these items of silverware, presenting either cartoon versions or photo-realistic versions. Contrary to predictions, increased realism did not increase the size of object-based effects. In fact, no clear object-based effects were observed in either experiment, consistent with previous failures to replicate these effects in similar paradigms. While object-based attention may exist, and may have important influences on how we parse the visual world, these and other findings suggest that the two-object paradigm typically relied upon to study object-based effects may not be the best paradigm to investigate these issues. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evidence for age-related equivalence in the directed forgetting paradigm.

PubMed

Gamboz, Nadia; Russo, Riccardo

2002-01-01

The directed forgetting paradigm involves, under particular experimental circumstances, inhibitory mechanisms, which operate to the successful forgetting of irrelevant words. The item-by-item cueing method (e.g., Basden & Basden, 1996) was used to investigate the directed forgetting effect in young and old adults. Processing of the experimental words was manipulated between subjects by asking participants to perform either a deep or a shallow orienting task on each word of the study list before the occurrence of the cue (to remember of to forget). Results indicated that the instruction to process deeply both to-be-remembered and to-be-forgotten words led to equivalent directed forgetting effects in young and old adults. These results are discussed with respect to the implications they have for the Inhibitory Deficit theory (e.g., Hasher & Zacks, 1988), which suggests that cognitive aging is mainly characterized by a reduction in the efficiency of inhibitory processes.

Signal persistence and amplification in cancer development and possible, related opportunities for novel therapies.

PubMed

Ford, Shea A; Blanck, George

2015-01-01

Research in cancer biology has been largely driven by experimental approaches whereby discreet inputs are used to assess discreet outputs, for example, gene-knockouts to assess cancer occurrence. However, cancer hallmarks are only rarely, if ever, exclusively dependent on discreet regulatory processes. Rather, cancer-related regulatory factors affect multiple cancer hallmarks. Thus, novel approaches and paradigms are needed for further advances. Signal pathway persistence and amplification, rather than signal pathway activation resulting from an on/off switch, represent emerging paradigms for cancer research, closely related to developmental regulatory paradigms. In this review, we address both mechanisms and effects of signal pathway persistence and amplification in cancer settings; and address the possibility that hyper-activation of pro-proliferative signal pathways in certain cancer settings could be exploited for therapy. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Advanced image based methods for structural integrity monitoring: Review and prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farahani, Behzad V.; Sousa, Pedro José; Barros, Francisco; Tavares, Paulo J.; Moreira, Pedro M. G. P.

2018-02-01

There is a growing trend in engineering to develop methods for structural integrity monitoring and characterization of in-service mechanical behaviour of components. The fast growth in recent years of image processing techniques and image-based sensing for experimental mechanics, brought about a paradigm change in phenomena sensing. Hence, several widely applicable optical approaches are playing a significant role in support of experiment. The current review manuscript describes advanced image based methods for structural integrity monitoring, and focuses on methods such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC), Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA), Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) and Speckle Pattern Shearing Interferometry (Shearography). These non-contact full-field techniques rely on intensive image processing methods to measure mechanical behaviour, and evolve even as reviews such as this are being written, which justifies a special effort to keep abreast of this progress.

Cognitive structure, flexibility, and plasticity in human multitasking-An integrative review of dual-task and task-switching research.

PubMed

Koch, Iring; Poljac, Edita; Müller, Hermann; Kiesel, Andrea

2018-06-01

Numerous studies showed decreased performance in situations that require multiple tasks or actions relative to appropriate control conditions. Because humans often engage in such multitasking activities, it is important to understand how multitasking affects performance. In the present article, we argue that research on dual-task interference and sequential task switching has proceeded largely separately using different experimental paradigms and methodology. In our article we aim at organizing this complex set of research in terms of three complementary research perspectives on human multitasking. One perspective refers to structural accounts in terms of cognitive bottlenecks (i.e., critical processing stages). A second perspective refers to cognitive flexibility in terms of the underlying cognitive control processes. A third perspective emphasizes cognitive plasticity in terms of the influence of practice on human multitasking abilities. With our review article we aimed at highlighting the value of an integrative position that goes beyond isolated consideration of a single theoretical research perspective and that broadens the focus from single experimental paradigms (dual task and task switching) to favor instead a view that emphasizes the fundamental similarity of the underlying cognitive mechanisms across multitasking paradigms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationship disruption stress in human infants: a validation study with experimental and control groups.

PubMed

Haley, David W

2011-09-01

The current study examined whether the psychological stress of the still-face (SF) task (i.e. stress resulting from a parent's unresponsiveness) is a valid laboratory stress paradigm for evaluating infant cortisol reactivity. Given that factors external to the experimental paradigm, such as arriving at a new place, may cause an elevation in cortisol secretion; we tested the hypothesis that infants would show a cortisol response to the SF task but not to a normal FF task (control). Saliva was collected for cortisol measurement from 6-month-old infants (n = 31) randomly assigned to either a repeated SF task or to a continuous FF task. Parent-infant dyads were videotaped. Salivary cortisol concentration was measured at baseline, 20, and 30 min after the start of the procedure. Infant salivary cortisol concentrations showed a significant increase over time for the SF task but not for the FF task. The results provide new evidence that the repeated SF task provides a psychological challenge that is due to the SF condition rather than to some non-task related factor; these results provide internal validity for the paradigm. The study offers new insight into the role of parent-infant interactions in the activation of the infant stress response system.

Secure Publish-Subscribe Protocols for Heterogeneous Medical Wireless Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Picazo-Sanchez, Pablo; Tapiador, Juan E.; Peris-Lopez, Pedro; Suarez-Tangil, Guillermo

2014-01-01

Security and privacy issues in medical wireless body area networks (WBANs) constitute a major unsolved concern because of the challenges posed by the scarcity of resources in WBAN devices and the usability restrictions imposed by the healthcare domain. In this paper, we describe a WBAN architecture based on the well-known publish-subscribe paradigm. We present two protocols for publishing data and sending commands to a sensor that guarantee confidentiality and fine-grained access control. Both protocols are based on a recently proposed ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) scheme that is lightweight enough to be embedded into wearable sensors. We show how sensors can implement lattice-based access control (LBAC) policies using this scheme, which are highly appropriate for the eHealth domain. We report experimental results with a prototype implementation demonstrating the suitability of our proposed solution. PMID:25460814

A new paradigm for the molecular basis of rubber elasticity

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

Hanson, David E.; Barber, John L.

The molecular basis for rubber elasticity is arguably the oldest and one of the most important questions in the field of polymer physics. The theoretical investigation of rubber elasticity began in earnest almost a century ago with the development of analytic thermodynamic models, based on simple, highly-symmetric configurations of so-called Gaussian chains, i.e. polymer chains that obey Markov statistics. Numerous theories have been proposed over the past 90 years based on the ansatz that the elastic force for individual network chains arises from the entropy change associated with the distribution of end-to-end distances of a free polymer chain. There aremore » serious philosophical objections to this assumption and others, such as the assumption that all network nodes undergo affine motion and that all of the network chains have the same length. Recently, a new paradigm for elasticity in rubber networks has been proposed that is based on mechanisms that originate at the molecular level. Using conventional statistical mechanics analyses, quantum chemistry, and molecular dynamics simulations, the fundamental entropic and enthalpic chain extension forces for polyisoprene (natural rubber) have been determined, along with estimates for the basic force constants. Concurrently, the complex morphology of natural rubber networks (the joint probability density distributions that relate the chain end-to-end distance to its contour length) has also been captured in a numerical model. When molecular chain forces are merged with the network structure in this model, it is possible to study the mechanical response to tensile and compressive strains of a representative volume element of a polymer network. As strain is imposed on a network, pathways of connected taut chains, that completely span the network along strain axis, emerge. Although these chains represent only a few percent of the total, they account for nearly all of the elastic stress at high strain. Here we provide a brief review of previous elasticity theories and their deficiencies, and present a new paradigm with an emphasis on experimental comparisons.« less

A new paradigm for the molecular basis of rubber elasticity

DOE PAGES

Hanson, David E.; Barber, John L.

2015-02-19

The molecular basis for rubber elasticity is arguably the oldest and one of the most important questions in the field of polymer physics. The theoretical investigation of rubber elasticity began in earnest almost a century ago with the development of analytic thermodynamic models, based on simple, highly-symmetric configurations of so-called Gaussian chains, i.e. polymer chains that obey Markov statistics. Numerous theories have been proposed over the past 90 years based on the ansatz that the elastic force for individual network chains arises from the entropy change associated with the distribution of end-to-end distances of a free polymer chain. There aremore » serious philosophical objections to this assumption and others, such as the assumption that all network nodes undergo affine motion and that all of the network chains have the same length. Recently, a new paradigm for elasticity in rubber networks has been proposed that is based on mechanisms that originate at the molecular level. Using conventional statistical mechanics analyses, quantum chemistry, and molecular dynamics simulations, the fundamental entropic and enthalpic chain extension forces for polyisoprene (natural rubber) have been determined, along with estimates for the basic force constants. Concurrently, the complex morphology of natural rubber networks (the joint probability density distributions that relate the chain end-to-end distance to its contour length) has also been captured in a numerical model. When molecular chain forces are merged with the network structure in this model, it is possible to study the mechanical response to tensile and compressive strains of a representative volume element of a polymer network. As strain is imposed on a network, pathways of connected taut chains, that completely span the network along strain axis, emerge. Although these chains represent only a few percent of the total, they account for nearly all of the elastic stress at high strain. Here we provide a brief review of previous elasticity theories and their deficiencies, and present a new paradigm with an emphasis on experimental comparisons.« less

Beyond maximum speed—a novel two-stimulus paradigm for brain-computer interfaces based on event-related potentials (P300-BCI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaufmann, Tobias; Kübler, Andrea

2014-10-01

Objective. The speed of brain-computer interfaces (BCI), based on event-related potentials (ERP), is inherently limited by the commonly used one-stimulus paradigm. In this paper, we introduce a novel paradigm that can increase the spelling speed by a factor of 2, thereby extending the one-stimulus paradigm to a two-stimulus paradigm. Two different stimuli (a face and a symbol) are presented at the same time, superimposed on different characters and ERPs are classified using a multi-class classifier. Here, we present the proof-of-principle that is achieved with healthy participants. Approach. Eight participants were confronted with the novel two-stimulus paradigm and, for comparison, with two one-stimulus paradigms that used either one of the stimuli. Classification accuracies (percentage of correctly predicted letters) and elicited ERPs from the three paradigms were compared in a comprehensive offline analysis. Main results. The accuracies slightly decreased with the novel system compared to the established one-stimulus face paradigm. However, the use of two stimuli allowed for spelling at twice the maximum speed of the one-stimulus paradigms, and participants still achieved an average accuracy of 81.25%. This study introduced an alternative way of increasing the spelling speed in ERP-BCIs and illustrated that ERP-BCIs may not yet have reached their speed limit. Future research is needed in order to improve the reliability of the novel approach, as some participants displayed reduced accuracies. Furthermore, a comparison to the most recent BCI systems with individually adjusted, rapid stimulus timing is needed to draw conclusions about the practical relevance of the proposed paradigm. Significance. We introduced a novel two-stimulus paradigm that might be of high value for users who have reached the speed limit with the current one-stimulus ERP-BCI systems.

Experimental and clinical usefulness of crossmodal paradigms in psychiatry: an illustration from emotional processing in alcohol-dependence

PubMed Central

Maurage, Pierre; Campanella, Salvatore

2013-01-01

Crossmodal processing (i.e., the construction of a unified representation stemming from distinct sensorial modalities inputs) constitutes a crucial ability in humans' everyday life. It has been extensively explored at cognitive and cerebral levels during the last decade among healthy controls. Paradoxically however, and while difficulties to perform this integrative process have been suggested in a large range of psychopathological states (e.g., schizophrenia and autism), these crossmodal paradigms have been very rarely used in the exploration of psychiatric populations. The main aim of the present paper is thus to underline the experimental and clinical usefulness of exploring crossmodal processes in psychiatry. We will illustrate this proposal by means of the recent data obtained in the crossmodal exploration of emotional alterations in alcohol-dependence. Indeed, emotional decoding impairments might have a role in the development and maintenance of alcohol-dependence, and have been extensively investigated by means of experiments using separated visual or auditory stimulations. Besides these unimodal explorations, we have recently conducted several studies using audio-visual crossmodal paradigms, which has allowed us to improve the ecological validity of the unimodal experimental designs and to offer new insights on the emotional alterations among alcohol-dependent individuals. We will show how these preliminary results can be extended to develop a coherent and ambitious research program using crossmodal designs in various psychiatric populations and sensory modalities. We will finally end the paper by underlining the various potential clinical applications and the fundamental implications that can be raised by this emerging project. PMID:23898250

Bioinformatics by Example: From Sequence to Target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kossida, Sophia; Tahri, Nadia; Daizadeh, Iraj

2002-12-01

With the completion of the human genome, and the imminent completion of other large-scale sequencing and structure-determination projects, computer-assisted bioscience is aimed to become the new paradigm for conducting basic and applied research. The presence of these additional bioinformatics tools stirs great anxiety for experimental researchers (as well as for pedagogues), since they are now faced with a wider and deeper knowledge of differing disciplines (biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science). This review targets those individuals who are interested in using computational methods in their teaching or research. By analyzing a real-life, pharmaceutical, multicomponent, target-based example the reader will experience this fascinating new discipline.

QUEST/Ada: Query utility environment for software testing of Ada

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, David B.

1989-01-01

Results of research and development efforts are presented for Task 1, Phase 2 of a general project entitled, The Development of a Program Analysis Environment for Ada. A prototype of the QUEST/Ada system was developed to collect data to determine the effectiveness of the rule-based testing paradigm. The prototype consists of five parts: the test data generator, the parser/scanner, the test coverage analyzer, a symbolic evaluator, and a data management facility, known as the Librarian. These components are discussed at length. Also presented is an experimental design for the evaluations, an overview of the project, and a schedule for its completion.

Multi-scale computation methods: Their applications in lithium-ion battery research and development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siqi, Shi; Jian, Gao; Yue, Liu; Yan, Zhao; Qu, Wu; Wangwei, Ju; Chuying, Ouyang; Ruijuan, Xiao

2016-01-01

Based upon advances in theoretical algorithms, modeling and simulations, and computer technologies, the rational design of materials, cells, devices, and packs in the field of lithium-ion batteries is being realized incrementally and will at some point trigger a paradigm revolution by combining calculations and experiments linked by a big shared database, enabling accelerated development of the whole industrial chain. Theory and multi-scale modeling and simulation, as supplements to experimental efforts, can help greatly to close some of the current experimental and technological gaps, as well as predict path-independent properties and help to fundamentally understand path-independent performance in multiple spatial and temporal scales. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51372228 and 11234013), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2015AA034201), and Shanghai Pujiang Program, China (Grant No. 14PJ1403900).

Experimental demonstration of anomalous Floquet topological insulator for sound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Yu-Gui; Qin, Cheng-Zhi; Zhao, De-Gang; Shen, Ya-Xi; Xu, Xiang-Yuan; Bao, Ming; Jia, Han; Zhu, Xue-Feng

2016-11-01

Time-reversal invariant topological insulator is widely recognized as one of the fundamental discoveries in condensed matter physics, for which the most fascinating hallmark is perhaps a spin-based topological protection, the absence of scattering of conduction electrons with certain spins on matter surface. Recently, it has created a paradigm shift for topological insulators, from electronics to photonics, phononics and mechanics as well, bringing about not only involved new physics but also potential applications in robust wave transport. Despite the growing interests in topologically protected acoustic wave transport, T-invariant acoustic topological insulator has not yet been achieved. Here we report experimental demonstration of anomalous Floquet topological insulator for sound: a strongly coupled metamaterial ring lattice that supports one-way propagation of pseudo-spin-dependent edge states under T-symmetry. We also demonstrate the formation of pseudo-spin-dependent interface states due to lattice dislocations and investigate the properties of pass band and band gap states.

Experimental Internet Environment Software Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maddux, Gary A.

1998-01-01

Geographically distributed project teams need an Internet based collaborative work environment or "Intranet." The Virtual Research Center (VRC) is an experimental Intranet server that combines several services such as desktop conferencing, file archives, on-line publishing, and security. Using the World Wide Web (WWW) as a shared space paradigm, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) presents users with images of a lunar colony. Each project has a wing of the colony and each wing has a conference room, library, laboratory, and mail station. In FY95, the VRC development team proved the feasibility of this shared space concept by building a prototype using a Netscape commerce server and several public domain programs. Successful demonstrations of the prototype resulted in approval for a second phase. Phase 2, documented by this report, will produce a seamlessly integrated environment by introducing new technologies such as Java and Adobe Web Links to replace less efficient interface software.

Experimental demonstration of anomalous Floquet topological insulator for sound

PubMed Central

Peng, Yu-Gui; Qin, Cheng-Zhi; Zhao, De-Gang; Shen, Ya-Xi; Xu, Xiang-Yuan; Bao, Ming; Jia, Han; Zhu, Xue-Feng

2016-01-01

Time-reversal invariant topological insulator is widely recognized as one of the fundamental discoveries in condensed matter physics, for which the most fascinating hallmark is perhaps a spin-based topological protection, the absence of scattering of conduction electrons with certain spins on matter surface. Recently, it has created a paradigm shift for topological insulators, from electronics to photonics, phononics and mechanics as well, bringing about not only involved new physics but also potential applications in robust wave transport. Despite the growing interests in topologically protected acoustic wave transport, T-invariant acoustic topological insulator has not yet been achieved. Here we report experimental demonstration of anomalous Floquet topological insulator for sound: a strongly coupled metamaterial ring lattice that supports one-way propagation of pseudo-spin-dependent edge states under T-symmetry. We also demonstrate the formation of pseudo-spin-dependent interface states due to lattice dislocations and investigate the properties of pass band and band gap states. PMID:27834375

The Development of the Foundations of Modern Pedagogy: Paradigmal and Methodological Aspects of Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dmitrenko, ?amara ?.; Lavryk, Tatjana V.; Yaresko, Ekaterina V.

2015-01-01

Changes in the various fields of knowledge influenced the pedagogical science. The article explains the structure of the foundations of modern pedagogy through paradigmal and methodological aspects. Bases of modern pedagogy include complex of paradigms, object and subject of science, general and specific principles, methods and technologies.…

Common Ground of Two Paradigms: Incorporating Critical Theory into Current Art Therapy Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nolan, Emily

2013-01-01

Clinical art therapy and studio-based community art therapy represent two major paradigms in art therapy practice. This viewpoint explores how critical theory can be incorporated into both paradigms and result in common ground between them. Critical theory encompasses an understanding of oppression in psychological, social, and cultural contexts…

Treatment of Children with Speech Oral Placement Disorders (OPDs): A Paradigm Emerges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahr, Diane; Rosenfeld-Johnson, Sara

2010-01-01

Epidemiological research was used to develop the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). The SDCS is an important speech diagnostic paradigm in the field of speech-language pathology. This paradigm could be expanded and refined to also address treatment while meeting the standards of evidence-based practice. The article assists that process…

The Self-Managing School: A Matter of Being and of Becoming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beavis, Allan K.

This paper explores possibilities within a paradigm that is an alternative to the reductionist, mechanistic paradigm of school-based management. The use of a "sporting team" concept (from a dynamic, holistic paradigm) rather than a "ship's crew" model (from a reductionist approach) is advocated. Using research on the governance…

Paradigms in epidemiology textbooks: in the footsteps of Thomas Kuhn.

PubMed Central

Bhopal, R

1999-01-01

This article attempts to contribute to the debate on the future of epidemiology by combining Thomas Kuhn's ideas on scientific paradigms with the author's observations on some epidemiology textbooks. The author's interpretations were based on his readings of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, epidemiology textbooks, and papers on the future of epidemiology. Thomas Kuhn's view is that sciences mostly work with a single paradigm driven by exemplars of successful work, and that proposals for paradigm change are resisted. Sciences that are maturing or changing do not have a dominant paradigm. Epidemiology textbooks showed diversity in their concepts, content, and approach. Most exemplars related to etiologic research rather than public health practice. One key focus of the recent controversy regarding the role of epidemiology has been the increasing inability of epidemiology to solve socially based public health problems. Kuhn's views help explain the polarization of views expressed. Kuhn's philosophy of science offers insights into controversies such as whether a paradigm shift is needed or imminent and the gap between epidemiology and public health practice. Interaction between science philosophers, epidemiologists, and public health practitioners may be valuable. PMID:10432899

Paradigms in epidemiology textbooks: in the footsteps of Thomas Kuhn.

PubMed

Bhopal, R

1999-08-01

This article attempts to contribute to the debate on the future of epidemiology by combining Thomas Kuhn's ideas on scientific paradigms with the author's observations on some epidemiology textbooks. The author's interpretations were based on his readings of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, epidemiology textbooks, and papers on the future of epidemiology. Thomas Kuhn's view is that sciences mostly work with a single paradigm driven by exemplars of successful work, and that proposals for paradigm change are resisted. Sciences that are maturing or changing do not have a dominant paradigm. Epidemiology textbooks showed diversity in their concepts, content, and approach. Most exemplars related to etiologic research rather than public health practice. One key focus of the recent controversy regarding the role of epidemiology has been the increasing inability of epidemiology to solve socially based public health problems. Kuhn's views help explain the polarization of views expressed. Kuhn's philosophy of science offers insights into controversies such as whether a paradigm shift is needed or imminent and the gap between epidemiology and public health practice. Interaction between science philosophers, epidemiologists, and public health practitioners may be valuable.

Neural control of magnetic suspension systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gray, W. Steven

1993-01-01

The purpose of this research program is to design, build and test (in cooperation with NASA personnel from the NASA Langley Research Center) neural controllers for two different small air-gap magnetic suspension systems. The general objective of the program is to study neural network architectures for the purpose of control in an experimental setting and to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. The specific objectives of the research program are: (1) to demonstrate through simulation and experimentation the feasibility of using neural controllers to stabilize a nonlinear magnetic suspension system; (2) to investigate through simulation and experimentation the performance of neural controllers designs under various types of parametric and nonparametric uncertainty; (3) to investigate through simulation and experimentation various types of neural architectures for real-time control with respect to performance and complexity; and (4) to benchmark in an experimental setting the performance of neural controllers against other types of existing linear and nonlinear compensator designs. To date, the first one-dimensional, small air-gap magnetic suspension system has been built, tested and delivered to the NASA Langley Research Center. The device is currently being stabilized with a digital linear phase-lead controller. The neural controller hardware is under construction. Two different neural network paradigms are under consideration, one based on hidden layer feedforward networks trained via back propagation and one based on using Gaussian radial basis functions trained by analytical methods related to stability conditions. Some advanced nonlinear control algorithms using feedback linearization and sliding mode control are in simulation studies.

Inducing and modulating intrusive emotional memories: a review of the trauma film paradigm.

PubMed

Holmes, Emily A; Bourne, Corin

2008-03-01

Highly affect-laden memory intrusions are a feature of several psychological disorders with intrusive images of trauma especially associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The trauma film paradigm provides a prospective experimental tool for investigating analogue peri-traumatic cognitive mechanisms underlying intrusion development. We review several historical papers and some more recent key studies that have used the trauma film paradigm. A heuristic diagram is presented, designed to simplify predictions about analogue peri-traumatic processing and intrusion development, which can also be related to the processing elements of recent cognitive models of PTSD. Results show intrusions can be induced in the laboratory and their frequency amplified/attenuated in line with predictions. Successful manipulations include competing task type (visuospatial vs. verbal) and use of a cognitive coping strategy. Studies show that spontaneous peri-traumatic dissociation also affects intrusion frequency although attempts to manipulate dissociation have failed. It is hoped that further use of this paradigm may lead to prophylactic training for at risk groups and an improved understanding of intrusions across psychopathologies.

Ghost and self: Jung's paradigm shift and a response to Zinkin.

PubMed

Rowland, Susan

2009-11-01

Zinkin's lucid challenge to Jung makes perfect sense. Indeed, it is the implications of this 'making sense' that this paper addresses. For Zinkin's characterization of the 'self' takes it as a 'concept' requiring coherence; a variety of abstract non-contextual knowledge that itself has a mythical heritage. Moreover, Zinkin's refinement of Jung seeks to make his work fit for the scientific paradigm of modernity. In turn, modernity's paradigm owes much to Newton's notion of knowledge via reductionism. Here knowledge or investigation is divided up into the smallest possible units with the aim of eventually putting it all together into 'one' picture of scientific truth. Unfortunately, 'reductionism' does not do justice to the resonant possibilities of Jung's writing. These look forward to a new scientific paradigm of the twenty-first century, of the interactive 'field', emergence and complexity theory. The paper works paradoxically by discovering Zinkin's 'intersubjective self' after all, in two undervalued narratives by Jung, his doctoral thesis and a short late ghost story. However, in the ambivalences and radical fictional experimentation of these fascinating texts can be discerned an-Other self, one both created and found.

Appetitive Pavlovian-instrumental Transfer: A review.

PubMed

Cartoni, Emilio; Balleine, Bernard; Baldassarre, Gianluca

2016-12-01

Reward-related cues are an important part of our daily life as they often influence and guide our actions. This paper reviews one of the experimental paradigms used to study the effects of cues, the Pavlovian to Instrumental Transfer paradigm. In this paradigm, cues associated with rewards through Pavlovian conditioning alter motivation and choice of instrumental actions. The first transfer experiments date back to the 1940s, but only in the last decade has it been fully recognised that there are two types of transfer, specific and general. This paper presents a systematic review of both the neural substrates and the behavioral factors affecting both types of transfer. It also examines the recent application of the paradigm to study the effect of cues on human participants, both in normal and pathological conditions, and the interactions of transfer with drugs of abuse. Finally, the paper analyses the theoretical aspects of transfer to build an overall picture of the phenomenon, from early theories to recent hierarchical accounts. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Crustal layering, simplicity, and the oil industry: The alteration of an epistemic paradigm by a commercial environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anduaga, Aitor

This paper proposes that the gradual alteration of the predominant epistemic paradigm in crustal seismology in the interwar period-namely, simplicity-came about because of the strong influence of a particular commercial environment, i.e. the oil industry. I begin by demonstrating the interwar predominance of Jeffreys' 'simplicity postulate' and his probabilistic epistemology, highlighting the espousal by several seismologists (Bullen, Stoneley, Byerly), whose crustal models drew on mathematical idealisations. Next, I demonstrate that the renunciation of simplicity in the 1930s came about too quickly, and, above all, too heterodoxically to have been the result of new geological evidence. Rather, I argue, the paradigm shift among seismologists was a result of the significant rise in seismic exploration generated by the oil industry. Driven by market demands, American petroleum companies pioneered new technologies, organised research initiatives, and trained young geophysicists who, through the fusion of experimentalism and field experience, brought about fundamental progress in earthquake seismology. Remarkably, historians of science have almost entirely failed to recognise the interwar primacy of the simplicity paradigm as well as its subsequent renunciation. More importantly, they have failed to acknowledge the role the oil industry played in contributing to this renunciation and to the development of new paradigms in seismology.

Paradigm shift in lead design.

PubMed

Irnich, W

1999-09-01

During the past 30 years there has been a tremendous development in electrode technology from bulky (90 mm2) to pin-sized (1.0 mm2) electrodes. Simultaneously, impedance has increased from 110 Ohms to >1 kOhms, which has been termed a "paradigm shift" in lead design. If current is responsible for stimulation, why is its impedance a key factor in saving energy? Further, what mechanism is behind this development based on experimental findings and what conclusion can be drawn from it to optimize electrode size? If it is assumed that there is always a layer of nonexcitable tissue between the electrode surface and excitable myocardium and that the electric field (potential gradient) produced by the electrode at this boundary is reaching threshold level, then a formula can be derived for the voltage threshold that completely describes the electrophysiology and electrophysics of a hemispherical electrode. Assuming that the mean chronic threshold for porous steroid-eluting electrodes is 0.6 V with 0.5-ms pulse duration, thickness of nonexcitable tissue can be estimated to be 1.5 mm. Taking into account this measure and the relationship between chronaxie and electrode area, voltage threshold, impedance, and energy as a function of surface area can be calculated. The lowest voltage for 0.5-ms pulse duration is reached with r(o) = 0.5 d, yielding a surface area of 4 mm2 and a voltage threshold of 0.62 V, an impedance of 1 kOhms, and an energy level of 197 nJ. It can be deduced from our findings that a further reduction of surface areas below 1.6 mm2 will not diminish energy threshold substantially, if pulse duration remains at 0.5 ms. Lowest energy is reached with t = chronaxie, yielding an energy level <100 nJ with surface areas < or =1.5 mm2. It is striking to see how well the theoretically derived results correspond to the experimental findings. It is also surprising that the hemispheric model so accurately approximates experimental results with differently shaped electrodes that it can be concluded that electrode shape seems to play a minor role in electrode efficiency. Further energy reduction can only be achieved by reducing the pulse duration to chronaxie. A real paradigm shift will occur only if the fundamentals of electrostimulation in combination with electrophysics are accepted by the pacing community.

Towards an integrated flood management approach to address trade-offs between ecosystem services: Insights from the Dutch and German Rhine, Hungarian Tisza, and Chinese Yangtze basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halbe, Johannes; Knüppe, Kathrin; Knieper, Christian; Pahl-Wostl, Claudia

2018-04-01

The utilization of ecosystem services in flood management is challenged by the complexity of human-nature interactions and practical implementation barriers towards more ecosystem-based solutions, such as riverine urban areas or technical infrastructure. This paper analyses how flood management has dealt with trade-offs between ecosystem services and practical constrains towards more ecosystem-based solutions. To this end, we study the evolution of flood management in four case studies in the Dutch and German Rhine, the Hungarian Tisza, and the Chinese Yangtze basins during the last decades, focusing on the development and implementation of institutions and their link to ecosystem services. The complexity of human-nature interactions is addressed by exploring the impacts on ecosystem services through the lens of three management paradigms: (1) the control paradigm, (2) the ecosystem-based paradigm, and (3) the stakeholder involvement paradigm. Case study data from expert interviews and a literature search were structured using a database approach prior to qualitative interpretation. Results show the growing importance of the ecosystem-based and stakeholder involvement paradigms which has led to the consideration of a range of regulating and cultural ecosystem services that had previously been neglected. We detected a trend in flood management practice towards the combination of the different paradigms under the umbrella of integrated flood management, which aims at finding the most suitable solution depending on the respective regional conditions.

KeyWare: an open wireless distributed computing environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shpantzer, Isaac; Schoenfeld, Larry; Grindahl, Merv; Kelman, Vladimir

1995-12-01

Deployment of distributed applications in the wireless domain lack equivalent tools, methodologies, architectures, and network management that exist in LAN based applications. A wireless distributed computing environment (KeyWareTM) based on intelligent agents within a multiple client multiple server scheme was developed to resolve this problem. KeyWare renders concurrent application services to wireline and wireless client nodes encapsulated in multiple paradigms such as message delivery, database access, e-mail, and file transfer. These services and paradigms are optimized to cope with temporal and spatial radio coverage, high latency, limited throughput and transmission costs. A unified network management paradigm for both wireless and wireline facilitates seamless extensions of LAN- based management tools to include wireless nodes. A set of object oriented tools and methodologies enables direct asynchronous invocation of agent-based services supplemented by tool-sets matched to supported KeyWare paradigms. The open architecture embodiment of KeyWare enables a wide selection of client node computing platforms, operating systems, transport protocols, radio modems and infrastructures while maintaining application portability.

The Biopsychology-Toolbox: a free, open-source Matlab-toolbox for the control of behavioral experiments.

PubMed

Rose, Jonas; Otto, Tobias; Dittrich, Lars

2008-10-30

The Biopsychology-Toolbox is a free, open-source Matlab-toolbox for the control of behavioral experiments. The major aim of the project was to provide a set of basic tools that allow programming novices to control basic hardware used for behavioral experimentation without limiting the power and flexibility of the underlying programming language. The modular design of the toolbox allows portation of parts as well as entire paradigms between different types of hardware. In addition to the toolbox, this project offers a platform for the exchange of functions, hardware solutions and complete behavioral paradigms.

Assessing health risks of synthetic vitreous fibers: an integrative approach.

PubMed

McClellan, R O

1994-12-01

This paper reviews a tiered approach to acquiring information from multiple experimental systems to understand and assess the potential human health risks of exposure to airborne synthetic fibers. The approach is grounded in the now widely accepted research-risk assessment-risk management paradigm. It involves the acquisition of information that will provide mechanistic linkages within the exposure-dose-response paradigm. It advocates the use of the inhalation route of exposure for developing relevant information for assessing human health risks and calls attention to serious problems encountered using nonphysiologic routes of administration to assess human health risks.

Teaching thermal physics in the paradigms project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roundy, David

2011-10-01

Thermal physics is probably the most disliked course in the physics major curriculum, with students feeling that they are being led through a mathematical maze, leading to an unsatisfactory conclusion. Classical thermodynamics involves scary derivatives, while statistical mechanics leads to lengthy summations and is difficult to apply to interacting systems. It is unsurprising that students find themselves failing to see the physics for the math. In this talk, I will discuss my experiences teaching the Energy and Entropy paradigm, and will introduce materials we have developed to aide student understanding of partial derivatives and their relationship to experimental observables.

Transforming Classrooms into Learning Studios: What Does It Take to Make Classrooms a Living Space?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aslan, Sinem; Reigeluth, Charles M.; Mete, Sinem Emine

2016-01-01

In this article, the authors start with a description of the learner-centered paradigm of education. The key tenets of the paradigm are outlined as: Competency-based student progress, competency-based student assessment and records, personal learning plans, project-based learning, just-in-time instructional support, student as self-directed…

Scholars and Their Inquiry Paradigms: Exploring a Conceptual Framework for Classifying Inquiry and Inquirers Based upon Paradigmatic Assumptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toma, J. Douglas

This paper examines whether the social science-based typology of Yvonne Lincoln and Egon Guba (1994), in which social science scholars are divided into positivist, postpositivist, critical, and constructivist paradigms based on ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions in the discipline, can be adapted to the academic discipline…

Adoption of a time-based competition paradigm into the health care industry.

PubMed

Ozatalay, S; Proenca, E J; Rosko, M D

1997-01-01

Market and regulatory pressures are requiring health care organizations to find new ways to compete. This article introduces the concept of time-based competition, a strategy adopted by firms in the manufacturing sector to strengthen their competitive positions, as a new strategy for health care organizations. The Just-in-Time technique and set-up time reduction activities are used to demonstrate the adoption of this paradigm by health care organizations. A case study comparing the movement of elderly patient through the health care delivery system under traditional and time-based competition practices is used to illustrate gains from adopting the new paradigm.

Fuzzy Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive Paradigm (FHDRP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sarmadi, Hengameth

2004-01-01

This work aims to introduce a new concept for incorporating fuzzy sets in hybrid deliberative/reactive paradigm. After a brief review on basic issues of hybrid paradigm the definition of agent-based fuzzy hybrid paradigm, which enables the agents to proceed and extract their behavior through quantitative numerical and qualitative knowledge and to impose their decision making procedure via fuzzy rule bank, is discussed. Next an example performs a more applied platform for the developed approach and finally an overview of the corresponding agents architecture enhances agents logical framework.

Activity Theory and the Transformation of Pedagogic Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamazumi, Katsuhiro

2006-01-01

Today, work and other societal practices are experiencing accelerating paradigm shifts from mass-production-based systems toward new systems based on networking between organizations, collaboration, and partnerships. This shift requires new paradigms in the fields of education, learning, and development. As human activity quickly changes to…

Redefining Leadership Education in Graduate Public Health Programs: Prioritization, Focus, and Guiding Principles

PubMed Central

Oxendine, Jeffrey S.

2015-01-01

Public health program graduates need leadership skills to be effective in the complex, changing public health environment. We propose a new paradigm for schools of public health in which technical and leadership skills have equal priority as core competencies for graduate students. Leadership education should focus on the foundational skills necessary to effect change independent of formal authority, with activities offered at varying levels of intensity to engage different students. Leadership development initiatives should be practice based, process focused, interdisciplinary, diversity based, adaptive, experimental, innovative, and empowering, and they should encourage authenticity. Leadership training in graduate programs will help lay the groundwork for public health professionals to have an immediate impact in the workforce and to prioritize continuous leadership development throughout their careers. PMID:25706021

Eighteen-Month-Old Infants Show False Belief Understanding in an Active Helping Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buttelmann, David; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael

2009-01-01

Recently, several studies have claimed that soon after their first birthday infants understand others' false beliefs. However, some have questioned these findings based on criticisms of the looking-time paradigms used. Here we report a new paradigm to test false belief understanding in infants using a more active behavioral response: helping.…

A Tutoring and Student Modelling Paradigm for Gaming Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burton, Richard R.; Brown, John Seely

This paper describes a paradigm for tutorial systems capable of automatically providing feedback and hints in a game environment. The paradigm is illustrated by a tutoring system for the PLATO game "How the West Was Won." The system uses a computer-based "Expert" player to evaluate a student's moves and construct a "differential model" of the…

Of Metaphors and Paradigms: Rejecting the "Commonsense" View of Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weaver, Constance

For many years, methods of teaching reading have been based upon a mechanistic paradigm that something can be understood by reducing it to its most basic parts. This scientific paradigm has led to several misconceptions about reading: (1) that comprehension can be reduced to separately identifiable parts, (2) that meaning is contained within the…

Educational Paradigm: Implementation of the Competence-Based Approach to the Higher School System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kunanbayeva, Salima S.

2016-01-01

The educational system of Kazakhstan is now characterized by certain gradual changes of an educational paradigm. The educational paradigm is understood as framework of key provisions and the ideas which are acknowledged by the pedagogical public during the concrete time period and are the cornerstone of scientific research. Change of an…

Air pollution and neuroendocrine stress-mediated systemic metabolic and inflammatory response

EPA Science Inventory

New experimental evidence involving the role of neuroendocrine activation challenges an accepted mechanistic paradigm of how irritant air pollutants induce systemic metabolic impairment and lung injury/inflammation. We focus on recent air pollution studies highlighting how the re...

Neuropsychological Studies of Linguistic and Affective Facial Expressions in Deaf Signers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corina, David P.; Bellugi, Ursula; Reilly, Judy

1999-01-01

Presents two studies that explore facial expression production in deaf signers. An experimental paradigm uses chimeric stimuli of American Sign Language linguistic and facial expressions to explore patterns of productive asymmetries in brain-intact signers. (Author/VWL)

A new learning paradigm: learning using privileged information.

PubMed

Vapnik, Vladimir; Vashist, Akshay

2009-01-01

In the Afterword to the second edition of the book "Estimation of Dependences Based on Empirical Data" by V. Vapnik, an advanced learning paradigm called Learning Using Hidden Information (LUHI) was introduced. This Afterword also suggested an extension of the SVM method (the so called SVM(gamma)+ method) to implement algorithms which address the LUHI paradigm (Vapnik, 1982-2006, Sections 2.4.2 and 2.5.3 of the Afterword). See also (Vapnik, Vashist, & Pavlovitch, 2008, 2009) for further development of the algorithms. In contrast to the existing machine learning paradigm where a teacher does not play an important role, the advanced learning paradigm considers some elements of human teaching. In the new paradigm along with examples, a teacher can provide students with hidden information that exists in explanations, comments, comparisons, and so on. This paper discusses details of the new paradigm and corresponding algorithms, introduces some new algorithms, considers several specific forms of privileged information, demonstrates superiority of the new learning paradigm over the classical learning paradigm when solving practical problems, and discusses general questions related to the new ideas.

Experimentally measured susceptibility to peer influence and adolescent sexual behavior trajectories: A preliminary study.

PubMed

Choukas-Bradley, Sophia; Giletta, Matteo; Widman, Laura; Cohen, Geoffrey L; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2014-09-01

A performance-based measure of peer influence susceptibility was examined as a moderator of the longitudinal association between peer norms and trajectories of adolescents' number of sexual intercourse partners. Seventy-one 9th grade adolescents (52% female) participated in an experimental "chat room" paradigm involving "e-confederates" who endorsed sexual risk behaviors. Changes in participants' responses to risk scenarios before versus during the "chat room" were used as a performance-based measure of peer influence susceptibility. Participants reported their perceptions of popular peers' number of sexual intercourse partners at baseline and self-reported their number of sexual intercourse partners at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months later. Susceptibility was examined as a moderator of the longitudinal association between perceptions of popular peers' number of sexual intercourse partners and trajectories of adolescents' own numbers of partners. High perceptions of the number of popular peers' sexual intercourse partners combined with high peer influence susceptibility predicted steeper longitudinal trajectories of adolescents' number of partners. Results provide novel preliminary evidence regarding the importance of peer influence susceptibility in adolescents' development of sexual behaviors.

Studying Sexual Aggression: A Review of the Evolution and Validity of Laboratory Paradigms

PubMed Central

Davis, Kelly Cue; George, William H.; Nagayama Hall, Gordon C.; Parrott, Dominic J.; Tharp, Andra Teten; Stappenbeck, Cynthia A.

2018-01-01

Objective Researchers have endeavored for decades to develop and implement experimental assessments of sexual aggression and its precursors to capitalize on the many scientific advantages offered by laboratory experiments, such as rigorous control of key variables and identification of causal relationships. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of and commentary on the evolution of these laboratory-based methods. Conclusions To date, two primary types of sexual aggression laboratory studies have been developed: those that involve behavioral analogues of sexual aggression and those that assess postulated precursors to sexually aggressive behavior. Although the study of sexual aggression in the laboratory is fraught with methodological challenges, validity concerns, and ethical considerations, advances in the field have resulted in greater methodological rigor, more precise dependent measures, and improved experimental validity, reliability, and realism. Because highly effective sexual aggression prevention strategies remain elusive, continued laboratory-based investigation of sexual aggression coupled with translation of critical findings to the development and modification of sexual aggression prevention programs remains an important task for the field. PMID:29675289

Decision Making: New Paradigm for Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wales, Charles E.; And Others

1986-01-01

Defines education's new paradigm as schooling based on decision making, the critical thinking skills serving it, and the knowledge base supporting it. Outlines a model decision-making process using a hypothetical breakfast problem; a late riser chooses goals, generates ideas, develops an action plan, and implements and evaluates it. (4 references)…

A Paradigm Shift toward Evidence-Based Clinical Practice: Developing a Performance Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wentworth, Nancy; Erickson, Lynnette B.; Lawrence, Barbara; Popham, J. Aaron; Korth, Byran

2009-01-01

The Clinical Practice Assessment System (CPAS), developed in response to teacher preparation program accreditation requirements, represents a paradigm shift of one university toward data-based decision-making in teacher education programs. The new assessment system is a scale aligned with INTASC Standards, which allows for observation and…

Biosemiotics: a new understanding of life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbieri, Marcello

2008-07-01

Biosemiotics is the idea that life is based on semiosis, i.e., on signs and codes. This idea has been strongly suggested by the discovery of the genetic code, but so far it has made little impact in the scientific world and is largely regarded as a philosophy rather than a science. The main reason for this is that modern biology assumes that signs and meanings do not exist at the molecular level, and that the genetic code was not followed by any other organic code for almost four billion years, which implies that it was an utterly isolated exception in the history of life. These ideas have effectively ruled out the existence of semiosis in the organic world, and yet there are experimental facts against all of them. If we look at the evidence of life without the preconditions of the present paradigm, we discover that semiosis is there, in every single cell, and that it has been there since the very beginning. This is what biosemiotics is really about. It is not a philosophy. It is a new scientific paradigm that is rigorously based on experimental facts. Biosemiotics claims that the genetic code (1) is a real code and (2) has been the first of a long series of organic codes that have shaped the history of life on our planet. The reality of the genetic code and the existence of other organic codes imply that life is based on two fundamental processes—copying and coding—and this in turn implies that evolution took place by two distinct mechanisms, i.e., by natural selection (based on copying) and by natural conventions (based on coding). It also implies that the copying of genes works on individual molecules, whereas the coding of proteins operates on collections of molecules, which means that different mechanisms of evolution exist at different levels of organization. This review intends to underline the scientific nature of biosemiotics, and to this purpose, it aims to prove (1) that the cell is a real semiotic system, (2) that the genetic code is a real code, (3) that evolution took place by natural selection and by natural conventions, and (4) that it was natural conventions, i.e., organic codes, that gave origin to the great novelties of macroevolution. Biological semiosis, in other words, is a scientific reality because the codes of life are experimental realities. The time has come, therefore, to acknowledge this fact of life, even if that means abandoning the present theoretical framework in favor of a more general one where biology and semiotics finally come together and become biosemiotics.

Biosemiotics: a new understanding of life.

PubMed

Barbieri, Marcello

2008-07-01

Biosemiotics is the idea that life is based on semiosis, i.e., on signs and codes. This idea has been strongly suggested by the discovery of the genetic code, but so far it has made little impact in the scientific world and is largely regarded as a philosophy rather than a science. The main reason for this is that modern biology assumes that signs and meanings do not exist at the molecular level, and that the genetic code was not followed by any other organic code for almost four billion years, which implies that it was an utterly isolated exception in the history of life. These ideas have effectively ruled out the existence of semiosis in the organic world, and yet there are experimental facts against all of them. If we look at the evidence of life without the preconditions of the present paradigm, we discover that semiosis is there, in every single cell, and that it has been there since the very beginning. This is what biosemiotics is really about. It is not a philosophy. It is a new scientific paradigm that is rigorously based on experimental facts. Biosemiotics claims that the genetic code (1) is a real code and (2) has been the first of a long series of organic codes that have shaped the history of life on our planet. The reality of the genetic code and the existence of other organic codes imply that life is based on two fundamental processes--copying and coding--and this in turn implies that evolution took place by two distinct mechanisms, i.e., by natural selection (based on copying) and by natural conventions (based on coding). It also implies that the copying of genes works on individual molecules, whereas the coding of proteins operates on collections of molecules, which means that different mechanisms of evolution exist at different levels of organization. This review intends to underline the scientific nature of biosemiotics, and to this purpose, it aims to prove (1) that the cell is a real semiotic system, (2) that the genetic code is a real code, (3) that evolution took place by natural selection and by natural conventions, and (4) that it was natural conventions, i.e., organic codes, that gave origin to the great novelties of macroevolution. Biological semiosis, in other words, is a scientific reality because the codes of life are experimental realities. The time has come, therefore, to acknowledge this fact of life, even if that means abandoning the present theoretical framework in favor of a more general one where biology and semiotics finally come together and become biosemiotics.

Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer: A new paradigm to assess pathological mechanisms with regard to the use of Internet applications.

PubMed

Vogel, Verena; Kollei, Ines; Duka, Theodora; Snagowski, Jan; Brand, Matthias; Müller, Astrid; Loeber, Sabine

2018-07-16

At present, there is a considerable lack of human studies that investigated the impact of conditioned cues on instrumental responding although these processes are considered as core mechanisms contributing to the development and maintenance of addictive behaviours. No studies are available that assessed these processes with regard to Internet gaming or Internet shopping applications. We thus developed a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT)-Paradigm implementing appetitive stimuli related to Internet gaming and Internet shopping applications and investigated whether an outcome-specific PIT-Effect is observed. In addition, we assessed whether the problematic use of gaming or shopping applications, personality traits and stress would affect the acquisition of knowledge of the experimental contingencies during Pavlovian training and the impact of conditioned stimuli on instrumental responding. A PIT-Paradigm, screenings for Internet gaming disorder and Internet shopping disorder (s-IAT), and questionnaires on personality traits (NEO-FFI, BIS-15) and perceived stress (PSQ20) were administered to sixty-six participants. The PIT-Paradigm demonstrated the effects of stimuli conditioned to rewards related to Internet gaming and Internet shopping applications on instrumental responding to obtain such rewards. Findings also indicated that severity of problematic Internet gaming, but not Internet shopping, contributed to the acquisition of knowledge of the experimental contingencies. Stress, extraversion, neuroticism and gender emerged as further predictors. The strength of expectancy of the different reinforcers affected the 'gaming PIT'-Effect; however, none of the variables assessed in the present study showed any effect on the 'shopping PIT'-Effect. Future studies including participants with pathological use patterns that can be classified as internet use disorder are warranted to extend these findings. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel manipulation method of human body ownership using an fMRI-compatible master-slave system.

PubMed

Hara, Masayuki; Salomon, Roy; van der Zwaag, Wietske; Kober, Tobias; Rognini, Giulio; Nabae, Hiroyuki; Yamamoto, Akio; Blanke, Olaf; Higuchi, Toshiro

2014-09-30

Bodily self-consciousness has become an important topic in cognitive neuroscience aiming to understand how the brain creates a unified sensation of the self in a body. Specifically, full body illusion (FBI) in which changes in bodily self-consciousness are experimentally introduced by using visual-tactile stimulation has led to improve understanding of these mechanisms. This paper introduces a novel approach to the classic FBI paradigm using a robotic master-slave system which allows us to examine interactions between action and the sense of body ownership in behavioral and MRI experiments. In the proposed approach, the use of the robotic master-slave system enables unique stimulation in which experimental participants can administer tactile cues on their own back using active self-touch. This active self-touch has never been employed in FBI experiments and it allows to test the role of sensorimotor integration and agency (the feeling of control over our actions) in FBI paradigms. The objective of this study is to propose a robotic-haptic platform allowing a new FBI paradigm including the active self-touch in MRI environments. This paper, first, describes the design concept and the performance of the prototype device in the fMRI environment (for 3T and 7T MRI scanners). In addition, the prototype device is applied to a classic FBI experiment, and we verify that the use of the prototype device succeeded in inducing the FBI. These results indicate that the proposed approach has a potential to drive advances in our understanding of human body ownership and agency by allowing novel manipulation and paradigms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Language Research Center's Computerized Test System for environmental enrichment and psychological assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Washburn, D. A.; Rumbaugh, D. M.; Richardson, W. K.

1992-01-01

In the spring of 1987, we undertook to provide environmental enrichment to nonhuman primate subjects in ways that would complement and even contribute to the bio-behaviorial science that justified the monkeys' captivity. Of course, the psychological well-being of captive primates--and indeed all research species-- has been an area of intense research activity since the 1985 amendment of the Animal Welfare Act. This mandate for researchers to ensure the psychological, as well as physical, fitness of experimental animals catalyzed the humane and scientific interests of the research community. The contemporary literature is replete with proposed means both of assaying and of providing enrichment and well-being. Notwithstanding, consensus on either assessment or intervention has yet to be reached. The paradigm we employed was modelled after successful efforts with chimpanzees. An automated test system was constructed in which subjects responded to computer tasks by manipulating a joystick. The tasks, interactive game-like versions of many of the classic testing paradigms of cognitive and comparative psychology, permitted the controlled presentation of stimuli and demands without the required presence of a human experimenter. Despite significant barriers to the success, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and a variety of other primate species (including, of course, humans) have mastered the skills necessary for testing in this paradigm. Previous experiments have illustrated the utility of the test system for addressing questions of learning, memory, attention, perception, and motivation. Additional data have been reported to support the contention that the Language Research Center's Computerized Test System (LRC-CTS) serves its other raison d'etre--providing environmental enrichment and assessing psychological well-being. This paper is designed to augment previous descriptions of the technology and the paradigm for scientists and caretakers interested in environmental enrichment and performance assessment with primates.

Transition path time distribution and the transition path free energy barrier.

PubMed

Pollak, Eli

2016-10-19

The recent experimental measurement of the transition path time distributions of proteins presents several challenges to theory. Firstly, why do the fits of the experimental data to a theoretical expression lead to barrier heights which are much lower than the free energies of activation of the observed transitions? Secondly, there is the theoretical question of determining the transition path time distribution, without invoking the Smoluchowski limit. In this paper, we derive an exact expression for a transition path time distribution which is valid for arbitrary memory friction using the normal mode transformation which underlies Kramers' rate theory. We then recall that for low barriers, there is a noticeable difference between the transition path time distribution obtained with absorbing boundary conditions and free boundary conditions. For the former, the transition times are shorter, since recrossings of the boundaries are disallowed. As a result, if one uses the distribution based on absorbing boundary conditions to fit the experimental data, one will find that the transition path barrier will be larger than the values found based on a theory with free boundary conditions. We then introduce the paradigm of a transition path barrier height, and show that one should always expect it to be much smaller than the activation energy.

Predicting Adverse Drug Effects from Literature- and Database-Mined Assertions.

PubMed

La, Mary K; Sedykh, Alexander; Fourches, Denis; Muratov, Eugene; Tropsha, Alexander

2018-06-06

Given that adverse drug effects (ADEs) have led to post-market patient harm and subsequent drug withdrawal, failure of candidate agents in the drug development process, and other negative outcomes, it is essential to attempt to forecast ADEs and other relevant drug-target-effect relationships as early as possible. Current pharmacologic data sources, providing multiple complementary perspectives on the drug-target-effect paradigm, can be integrated to facilitate the inference of relationships between these entities. This study aims to identify both existing and unknown relationships between chemicals (C), protein targets (T), and ADEs (E) based on evidence in the literature. Cheminformatics and data mining approaches were employed to integrate and analyze publicly available clinical pharmacology data and literature assertions interrelating drugs, targets, and ADEs. Based on these assertions, a C-T-E relationship knowledge base was developed. Known pairwise relationships between chemicals, targets, and ADEs were collected from several pharmacological and biomedical data sources. These relationships were curated and integrated according to Swanson's paradigm to form C-T-E triangles. Missing C-E edges were then inferred as C-E relationships. Unreported associations between drugs, targets, and ADEs were inferred, and inferences were prioritized as testable hypotheses. Several C-E inferences, including testosterone → myocardial infarction, were identified using inferences based on the literature sources published prior to confirmatory case reports. Timestamping approaches confirmed the predictive ability of this inference strategy on a larger scale. The presented workflow, based on free-access databases and an association-based inference scheme, provided novel C-E relationships that have been validated post hoc in case reports. With refinement of prioritization schemes for the generated C-E inferences, this workflow may provide an effective computational method for the early detection of potential drug candidate ADEs that can be followed by targeted experimental investigations.

Performance improvement of ERP-based brain-computer interface via varied geometric patterns.

PubMed

Ma, Zheng; Qiu, Tianshuang

2017-12-01

Recently, many studies have been focusing on optimizing the stimulus of an event-related potential (ERP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI). However, little is known about the effectiveness when increasing the stimulus unpredictability. We investigated a new stimulus type of varied geometric pattern where both complexity and unpredictability of the stimulus are increased. The proposed and classical paradigms were compared in within-subject experiments with 16 healthy participants. Results showed that the BCI performance was significantly improved for the proposed paradigm, with an average online written symbol rate increasing by 138% comparing with that of the classical paradigm. Amplitudes of primary ERP components, such as N1, P2a, P2b, N2, were also found to be significantly enhanced with the proposed paradigm. In this paper, a novel ERP BCI paradigm with a new stimulus type of varied geometric pattern is proposed. By jointly increasing the complexity and unpredictability of the stimulus, the performance of an ERP BCI could be considerably improved.

Multifunctional energy landscape for a DNA G-quadruplex: An evolved molecular switch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cragnolini, Tristan; Chakraborty, Debayan; Šponer, Jiří; Derreumaux, Philippe; Pasquali, Samuela; Wales, David J.

2017-10-01

We explore the energy landscape for a four-fold telomere repeat, obtaining interconversion pathways between six experimentally characterised G-quadruplex topologies. The results reveal a multi-funnel system, with a variety of intermediate configurations and misfolded states. This organisation is identified with the intrinsically multi-functional nature of the system, suggesting a new paradigm for the classification of such biomolecules and clarifying issues regarding apparently conflicting experimental results.

Analyzing How Formalist, Cognitive-Processing, and Literacy Practices Learning Paradigms are Shaping the Implementation of the Common Core State Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Richard

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes the influence of three different learning paradigms for learning literacy--formalist, cognitive-processing, and literacy practices--on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. It argues that the Common Core State Standards are based largely on a formalist paradigm as evident in the emphasis on teaching text…

Reconceptualizing Learning as a Dynamical System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ennis, Catherine D.

1992-01-01

Dynamical systems theory can increase our understanding of the constantly evolving learning process. Current research using experimental and interpretive paradigms focuses on describing the attractors and constraints stabilizing the educational process. Dynamical systems theory focuses attention on critical junctures in the learning process as…

PID Controller Design for FES Applied to Ankle Muscles in Neuroprosthesis for Standing Balance

PubMed Central

Rouhani, Hossein; Same, Michael; Masani, Kei; Li, Ya Qi; Popovic, Milos R.

2017-01-01

Closed-loop controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES) applied to the lower limb muscles can be used as a neuroprosthesis for standing balance in neurologically impaired individuals. The objective of this study was to propose a methodology for designing a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for FES applied to the ankle muscles toward maintaining standing balance for several minutes and in the presence of perturbations. First, a model of the physiological control strategy for standing balance was developed. Second, the parameters of a PID controller that mimicked the physiological balance control strategy were determined to stabilize the human body when modeled as an inverted pendulum. Third, this PID controller was implemented using a custom-made Inverted Pendulum Standing Apparatus that eliminated the effect of visual and vestibular sensory information on voluntary balance control. Using this setup, the individual-specific FES controllers were tested in able-bodied individuals and compared with disrupted voluntary control conditions in four experimental paradigms: (i) quiet-standing; (ii) sudden change of targeted pendulum angle (step response); (iii) balance perturbations that simulate arm movements; and (iv) sudden change of targeted angle of a pendulum with individual-specific body-weight (step response). In paradigms (i) to (iii), a standard 39.5-kg pendulum was used, and 12 subjects were involved. In paradigm (iv) 9 subjects were involved. Across the different experimental paradigms and subjects, the FES-controlled and disrupted voluntarily-controlled pendulum angle showed root mean square errors of <1.2 and 2.3 deg, respectively. The root mean square error (all paradigms), rise time, settle time, and overshoot [paradigms (ii) and (iv)] in FES-controlled balance were significantly smaller or tended to be smaller than those observed with voluntarily-controlled balance, implying improved steady-state and transient responses of FES-controlled balance. At the same time, the FES-controlled balance required similar torque levels (no significant difference) as voluntarily-controlled balance. The implemented PID parameters were to some extent consistent among subjects for standard weight conditions and did not require prolonged individual-specific tuning. The proposed methodology can be used to design FES controllers for closed-loop controlled neuroprostheses for standing balance. Further investigation of the clinical implementation of this approach for neurologically impaired individuals is needed. PMID:28676739

Use of epidemiologic data in Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessments

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

Persad, Amanda S.; Cooper, Glinda S.

2008-11-15

In human health risk assessment, information from epidemiologic studies is typically utilized in the hazard identification step of the risk assessment paradigm. However, in the assessment of many chemicals by the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), epidemiologic data, both observational and experimental, have also been used in the derivation of toxicological risk estimates (i.e., reference doses [RfD], reference concentrations [RfC], oral cancer slope factors [CSF] and inhalation unit risks [IUR]). Of the 545 health assessments posted on the IRIS database as of June 2007, 44 assessments derived non-cancer or cancer risk estimates based on human data. RfD and RfC calculationsmore » were based on a spectrum of endpoints from changes in enzyme activity to specific neurological or dermal effects. There are 12 assessments with IURs based on human data, two assessments that extrapolated human inhalation data to derive CSFs and one that used human data to directly derive a CSF. Lung or respiratory cancer is the most common endpoint for cancer assessments based on human data. To date, only one chemical, benzene, has utilized human data for derivation of all three quantitative risk estimates (i.e., RfC, RfD, and dose-response modeling for cancer assessment). Through examples from the IRIS database, this paper will demonstrate how epidemiologic data have been used in IRIS assessments for both adding to the body of evidence in the hazard identification process and in the quantification of risk estimates in the dose-response component of the risk assessment paradigm.« less

Operator assistant systems - An experimental approach using a telerobotics application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boy, Guy A.; Mathe, Nathalie

1993-01-01

This article presents a knowledge-based system methodology for developing operator assistant (OA) systems in dynamic and interactive environments. This is a problem both of training and design, which is the subject of this article. Design includes both design of the system to be controlled and design of procedures for operating this system. A specific knowledge representation is proposed for representing the corresponding system and operational knowledge. This representation is based on the situation recognition and analytical reasoning paradigm. It tries to make explicit common factors involved in both human and machine intelligence, including perception and reasoning. An OA system based on this representation has been developed for space telerobotics. Simulations have been carried out with astronauts and the resulting protocols have been analyzed. Results show the relevance of the approach and have been used for improving the knowledge representation and the OA architecture.

Life Before RNA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sowerby, Stephen J.; Petersen, George B.

2002-08-01

The hypothesis that life originated and evolved from linear informational molecules capable of facilitating their own catalytic replication is deeply entrenched. However, widespread acceptance of this paradigm seems oblivious to a lack of direct experimental support. Here, we outline the fundamental objections to the de novo appearance of linear, self-replicating polymers and examine an alternative hypothesis of template-directed coding of peptide catalysts by adsorbed purine bases. The bases (which encode biological information in modern nucleic acids) spontaneously self-organize into two-dimensional molecular solids adsorbed to the uncharged surfaces of crystalline minerals; their molecular arrangement is specified by hydrogen bonding rules between adjacent molecules and can possess the aperiodic complexity to encode putative protobiological information. The persistence of such information through self-reproduction, together with the capacity of adsorbed bases to exhibit enantiomorphism and effect amino acid discrimination, would seem to provide the necessary machinery for a primitive genetic coding mechanism.

Visual attention capacity: a review of TVA-based patient studies.

PubMed

Habekost, Thomas; Starrfelt, Randi

2009-02-01

Psychophysical studies have identified two distinct limitations of visual attention capacity: processing speed and apprehension span. Using a simple test, these cognitive factors can be analyzed by Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention (TVA). The method has strong specificity and sensitivity, and measurements are highly reliable. As the method is theoretically founded, it also has high validity. TVA-based assessment has recently been used to investigate a broad range of neuropsychological and neurological conditions. We present the method, including the experimental paradigm and practical guidelines to patient testing, and review existing TVA-based patient studies organized by lesion anatomy. Lesions in three anatomical regions affect visual capacity: The parietal lobes, frontal cortex and basal ganglia, and extrastriate cortex. Visual capacity thus depends on large, bilaterally distributed anatomical networks that include several regions outside the visual system. The two visual capacity parameters are functionally separable, but seem to rely on largely overlapping brain areas.

Viewing the art and the science of pediatric nursing through the lens of paradigms: the impact on hope for the future.

PubMed

Bally, Jill M G

2012-07-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the strengths and limitations of common research paradigms used in the study of the hope of parents who have children with a variety of illnesses. Research findings on parental hope extracted from only one paradigm present limitations to related knowledge development. To take into account the contributions from each paradigm and to allow for a multidimensional understanding of parental hope, a multiparadigmatic approach is needed. The complementary findings from multiple research paradigms can lead to a comprehensive base of knowledge that can guide future research and develop effective, family-centered pediatric nursing care. © 2012, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Borderline Personality Features, Anger, and Intimate Partner Violence: An Experimental Manipulation of Rejection.

PubMed

Armenti, Nicholas A; Babcock, Julia C

2018-04-01

Individuals with borderline personality features may be susceptible to react to situational stressors with negative and interpersonally maladaptive emotionality (e.g., anger) and aggression. The current study attempted to test two moderated mediation models to investigate dispositional risk factors associated with borderline personality features and intimate partner violence (IPV). Results from an experimental rejection induction paradigm were examined using moderated regression to observe contextual reactions to imagined romantic rejection from a current romantic partner among individuals with borderline personality features. An ethnically diverse sample of 218 undergraduates at a large public university in the southwestern United States was recruited. Participants responded to demographic questions and self-report measures, and engaged in an experimental rejection induction paradigm. Borderline personality features was positively associated with rejection sensitivity, physical assault, and psychological aggression. Contrary to initial hypotheses, rejection sensitivity did not serve as a mediator of the relations between borderline personality features and physical assault and psychological aggression. However, trait anger mediated the relation between borderline personality features and psychological aggression. As such, trait anger may be an important explanatory variable in the relation between borderline personality features and psychological aggression specifically. Results of the rejection induction paradigm indicated that, for individuals who were asked to imagine an ambiguous rejection, the relation between borderline personality features and state anger post-rejection was strengthened. For individuals who imagined a critical rejection, there was no significant relation between borderline personality features and state anger post-rejection. Findings suggest that trait anger may be an important dispositional factor in the link between borderline personality features and IPV. In addition, contextual factors, such as ambiguous rejection by an intimate partner, may be especially relevant in activating anger or aggression in individuals with borderline personality features.

Endogenous Opioid Antagonism in Physiological Experimental Pain Models: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Werner, Mads U.; Pereira, Manuel P.; Andersen, Lars Peter H.; Dahl, Jørgen B.

2015-01-01

Opioid antagonists are pharmacological tools applied as an indirect measure to detect activation of the endogenous opioid system (EOS) in experimental pain models. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the effect of mu-opioid-receptor (MOR) antagonists in placebo-controlled, double-blind studies using ʻinhibitoryʼ or ʻsensitizingʼ, physiological test paradigms in healthy human subjects. The databases PubMed and Embase were searched according to predefined criteria. Out of a total of 2,142 records, 63 studies (1,477 subjects [male/female ratio = 1.5]) were considered relevant. Twenty-five studies utilized ʻinhibitoryʼ test paradigms (ITP) and 38 studies utilized ʻsensitizingʼ test paradigms (STP). The ITP-studies were characterized as conditioning modulation models (22 studies) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation models (rTMS; 3 studies), and, the STP-studies as secondary hyperalgesia models (6 studies), ʻpainʼ models (25 studies), summation models (2 studies), nociceptive reflex models (3 studies) and miscellaneous models (2 studies). A consistent reversal of analgesia by a MOR-antagonist was demonstrated in 10 of the 25 ITP-studies, including stress-induced analgesia and rTMS. In the remaining 14 conditioning modulation studies either absence of effects or ambiguous effects by MOR-antagonists, were observed. In the STP-studies, no effect of the opioid-blockade could be demonstrated in 5 out of 6 secondary hyperalgesia studies. The direction of MOR-antagonist dependent effects upon pain ratings, threshold assessments and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP), did not appear consistent in 28 out of 32 ʻpainʼ model studies. In conclusion, only in 2 experimental human pain models, i.e., stress-induced analgesia and rTMS, administration of MOR-antagonist demonstrated a consistent effect, presumably mediated by an EOS-dependent mechanisms of analgesia and hyperalgesia. PMID:26029906

Developing Competency-Based Advising Practices in Response to Paradigm Shifts in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Giovanna

2016-01-01

Competency-based programs have gained prominence in recent years for two primary reasons. First, more students are seeking ways to apply nonclassroom learning experiences toward a degree. Second, a paradigm shift in higher education encourages postsecondary curriculum developers to accept nonclassroom experiences as demonstrations of skills and…

Protocol for Short- and Longer-term Spatial Learning and Memory in Mice

PubMed Central

Willis, Emily F.; Bartlett, Perry F.; Vukovic, Jana

2017-01-01

Studies on the role of the hippocampus in higher cognitive functions such as spatial learning and memory in rodents are reliant upon robust and objective behavioral tests. This protocol describes one such test—the active place avoidance (APA) task. This behavioral task involves the mouse continuously integrating visual cues to orientate itself within a rotating arena in order to actively avoid a shock zone, the location of which remains constant relative to the room. This protocol details the step-by-step procedures for a novel paradigm of the hippocampal-dependent APA task, measuring acquisition of spatial learning during a single 20-min trial (i.e., short-term memory), with spatial memory encoding and retrieval (i.e., long-term memory) assessed by trials conducted over consecutive days. Using the APA task, cognitive flexibility can be assessed using the reversal learning paradigm, as this increases the cognitive load required for efficient performance in the task. In addition to a detailed experimental protocol, this paper also describes the range of its possible applications, the expected key results, as well as the analytical methods to assess the data, and the pitfalls/troubleshooting measures. The protocol described herein is highly robust and produces replicable results, thus presenting an important paradigm that enables the assessment of subtle short-term changes in spatial learning and memory, such as those observed for many experimental interventions. PMID:29089878

Impact of exogenous cortisol on the formation of intrusive memories in healthy women.

PubMed

Rombold, Felicitas; Wingenfeld, Katja; Renneberg, Babette; Schwarzkopf, Friederike; Hellmann-Regen, Julian; Otte, Christian; Roepke, Stefan

2016-12-01

Stress hormones such as cortisol are involved in modulating emotional memory. However, little is known about the influence of cortisol on the formation of intrusive memories after a traumatic event. The aim of this study was to examine whether cortisol levels during encoding and consolidation of an intrusion-inducing trauma film paradigm would influence subsequent intrusion formation. In an experimental, double-blind, placebo-controlled study a trauma film paradigm was used to induce intrusions in 60 healthy women. Participants received a single dose of either 20 mg hydrocortisone or placebo before watching a trauma film. Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase as well as blood pressure were measured during the experiment. The consecutive number of intrusions, the vividness of intrusions, and the degree of distress evoked by the intrusions resulting from the trauma film were assessed throughout the following seven days. Hydrocortisone administration before the trauma film resulted in increased salivary cortisol levels but did not affect the consecutive number of intrusions, the vividness of intrusions, and the degree of distress evoked by the intrusions throughout the following week. These results indicate that pharmacologically increased cortisol levels during an experimental trauma film paradigm do not influence consecutive intrusive memories. Current data do not support a prominent role of exogenous cortisol on intrusive memories, at least in healthy young women after a relatively mild trauma equivalent. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Software development: A paradigm for the future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basili, Victor R.

1989-01-01

A new paradigm for software development that treats software development as an experimental activity is presented. It provides built-in mechanisms for learning how to develop software better and reusing previous experience in the forms of knowledge, processes, and products. It uses models and measures to aid in the tasks of characterization, evaluation and motivation. An organization scheme is proposed for separating the project-specific focus from the organization's learning and reuse focuses of software development. The implications of this approach for corporations, research and education are discussed and some research activities currently underway at the University of Maryland that support this approach are presented.

Neuroticism and negative affect influence the reluctance to engage in destructive obedience in the Milgram paradigm.

PubMed

Zeigler-Hill, Virgil; Southard, Ashton C; Archer, Lindsey M; Donohoe, Patrick L

2013-01-01

The present study employed a variation of Milgram's (1963, 1965, 1974) obedience paradigm that required undergraduate participants (N = 33) to administer noise blasts rather than electric shocks. We found that the individuals who were the most reluctant to obey the commands of the experimenter to continue with the procedure were those with low levels of neuroticism who reported the highest levels of negative affect during the session. This suggests that our procedure may offer a relatively benign means for examining the mechanisms underlying destructive obedience as well as individual differences in the willingness to obey authority.

Relational frame theory: A new paradigm for the analysis of social behavior

PubMed Central

Roche, Bryan; Barnes-Holmes, Yvonne; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot; Stewart, Ian; O'Hora, Denis

2002-01-01

Recent developments in the analysis of derived relational responding, under the rubric of relational frame theory, have brought several complex language and cognitive phenomena within the empirical reach of the experimental analysis of behavior. The current paper provides an outline of relational frame theory as a new approach to the analysis of language, cognition, and complex behavior more generally. Relational frame theory, it is argued, also provides a suitable paradigm for the analysis of a wide variety of social behavior that is mediated by language. Recent empirical evidence and theoretical interpretations are provided in support of the relational frame approach to social behavior. PMID:22478379

Extracellular Neural Microstimulation May Activate Much Larger Regions than Expected by Simulations: A Combined Experimental and Modeling Study

PubMed Central

Joucla, Sébastien; Branchereau, Pascal; Cattaert, Daniel; Yvert, Blaise

2012-01-01

Electrical stimulation of the central nervous system has been widely used for decades for either fundamental research purposes or clinical treatment applications. Yet, very little is known regarding the spatial extent of an electrical stimulation. If pioneering experimental studies reported that activation threshold currents (TCs) increase with the square of the neuron-to-electrode distance over a few hundreds of microns, there is no evidence that this quadratic law remains valid for larger distances. Moreover, nowadays, numerical simulation approaches have supplanted experimental studies for estimating TCs. However, model predictions have not yet been validated directly with experiments within a common paradigm. Here, we present a direct comparison between experimental determination and modeling prediction of TCs up to distances of several millimeters. First, we combined patch-clamp recording and microelectrode array stimulation in whole embryonic mouse spinal cords to determine TCs. Experimental thresholds did not follow a quadratic law beyond 1 millimeter, but rather tended to remain constant for distances larger than 1 millimeter. We next built a combined finite element – compartment model of the same experimental paradigm to predict TCs. While theoretical TCs closely matched experimental TCs for distances <250 microns, they were highly overestimated for larger distances. This discrepancy remained even after modifications of the finite element model of the potential field, taking into account anisotropic, heterogeneous or dielectric properties of the tissue. In conclusion, these results show that quadratic evolution of TCs does not always hold for large distances between the electrode and the neuron and that classical models may underestimate volumes of tissue activated by electrical stimulation. PMID:22879886

Using an abstract geometry in virtual reality to explore choice behaviour: visual flicker preferences in honeybees.

PubMed

Van De Poll, Matthew N; Zajaczkowski, Esmi L; Taylor, Gavin J; Srinivasan, Mandyam V; van Swinderen, Bruno

2015-11-01

Closed-loop paradigms provide an effective approach for studying visual choice behaviour and attention in small animals. Different flying and walking paradigms have been developed to investigate behavioural and neuronal responses to competing stimuli in insects such as bees and flies. However, the variety of stimulus choices that can be presented over one experiment is often limited. Current choice paradigms are mostly constrained as single binary choice scenarios that are influenced by the linear structure of classical conditioning paradigms. Here, we present a novel behavioural choice paradigm that allows animals to explore a closed geometry of interconnected binary choices by repeatedly selecting among competing objects, thereby revealing stimulus preferences in an historical context. We used our novel paradigm to investigate visual flicker preferences in honeybees (Apis mellifera) and found significant preferences for 20-25 Hz flicker and avoidance of higher (50-100 Hz) and lower (2-4 Hz) flicker frequencies. Similar results were found when bees were presented with three simultaneous choices instead of two, and when they were given the chance to select previously rejected choices. Our results show that honeybees can discriminate among different flicker frequencies and that their visual preferences are persistent even under different experimental conditions. Interestingly, avoided stimuli were more attractive if they were novel, suggesting that novelty salience can override innate preferences. Our recursive virtual reality environment provides a new approach to studying visual discrimination and choice behaviour in animals. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Pseudodiagnosticity Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crupi, Vincenzo; Tentori, Katya; Lombardi, Luigi

2009-01-01

In the psychology of reasoning and judgment, the pseudodiagnosticity task has been a major tool for the empirical investigation of people's ability to search for diagnostic information. A novel normative analysis of this experimental paradigm is presented, by which the participants' prevailing responses turn out not to support the generally…

Community Involvement in School Development: Modifying School Improvement Concepts to the Needs of South African Township Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prew, Martin

2009-01-01

The article posits a paradigm for school development (SD) in the context of a developing country, which is somewhat different from the dominant SD and school improvement (SI) paradigm in the West. Within this paradigm the norm of a school-parent engagement over pedagogical issues as in the West is replaced by imperatives based on full community…

Bayesian accounts of covert selective attention: A tutorial review.

PubMed

Vincent, Benjamin T

2015-05-01

Decision making and optimal observer models offer an important theoretical approach to the study of covert selective attention. While their probabilistic formulation allows quantitative comparison to human performance, the models can be complex and their insights are not always immediately apparent. Part 1 establishes the theoretical appeal of the Bayesian approach, and introduces the way in which probabilistic approaches can be applied to covert search paradigms. Part 2 presents novel formulations of Bayesian models of 4 important covert attention paradigms, illustrating optimal observer predictions over a range of experimental manipulations. Graphical model notation is used to present models in an accessible way and Supplementary Code is provided to help bridge the gap between model theory and practical implementation. Part 3 reviews a large body of empirical and modelling evidence showing that many experimental phenomena in the domain of covert selective attention are a set of by-products. These effects emerge as the result of observers conducting Bayesian inference with noisy sensory observations, prior expectations, and knowledge of the generative structure of the stimulus environment.

Studying action representation in children via motor imagery.

PubMed

Gabbard, Carl

2009-12-01

The use of motor imagery is a widely used experimental paradigm for the study of cognitive aspects of action planning and control in adults. Furthermore, there are indications that motor imagery provides a window into the process of action representation. These notions complement internal model theory suggesting that such representations allow predictions (estimates) about the mapping of the self to parameters of the external world; processes that enable successful planning and execution of action. The ability to mentally represent action is important to the development of motor control. This paper presents a critical review of motor imagery research conducted with children (typically developing and special populations) with focus on its merits and possible shortcomings in studying action representation. Included in the review are age-related findings, possible brain structures involved, experimental paradigms, and recommendations for future work. The merits of this review are associated with the apparent increasing attraction for using and studying motor imagery to understand the developmental aspects of action processing in children.

Differences in Risk Aversion between Young and Older Adults.

PubMed

Albert, Steven M; Duffy, John

2012-01-15

Research on decision-making strategies among younger and older adults suggests that older adults may be more risk averse than younger people in the case of potential losses. These results mostly come from experimental studies involving gambling paradigms. Since these paradigms involve substantial demands on memory and learning, differences in risk aversion or other features of decision-making attributed to age may in fact reflect age-related declines in cognitive abilities. In the current study, older and younger adults completed a simpler, paired lottery choice task used in the experimental economics literature to elicit risk aversion. A similar approach was used to elicit participants' discount rates. The older adult group was more risk averse than younger adults (p < .05) and also had a higher discount rate (15.6-21.0% vs. 10.3-15.5%, p < .01), indicating lower expected utility from future income. Risk aversion and implied discount rates were weakly correlated. It may be valuable to investigate developmental changes in neural correlates of decision-making across the lifespan.

Differences in Risk Aversion between Young and Older Adults

PubMed Central

Albert, Steven M.; Duffy, John

2013-01-01

Research on decision-making strategies among younger and older adults suggests that older adults may be more risk averse than younger people in the case of potential losses. These results mostly come from experimental studies involving gambling paradigms. Since these paradigms involve substantial demands on memory and learning, differences in risk aversion or other features of decision-making attributed to age may in fact reflect age-related declines in cognitive abilities. In the current study, older and younger adults completed a simpler, paired lottery choice task used in the experimental economics literature to elicit risk aversion. A similar approach was used to elicit participants' discount rates. The older adult group was more risk averse than younger adults (p < .05) and also had a higher discount rate (15.6-21.0% vs. 10.3-15.5%, p < .01), indicating lower expected utility from future income. Risk aversion and implied discount rates were weakly correlated. It may be valuable to investigate developmental changes in neural correlates of decision-making across the lifespan. PMID:24319671

Perceptual awareness and its neural basis: bridging experimental and theoretical paradigms

PubMed Central

Raffone, Antonino; Srinivasan, Narayanan; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-01-01

Understanding consciousness is a major scientific challenge of our times, and perceptual awareness is an integral part of that challenge. This Theme Issue aims to provide a timely focus on crucial insights from leading scientists on perceptual awareness and its neural basis. The issue refers to key research questions and findings in perceptual awareness research and aims to be a catalyst for further research, by bringing together the state-of-the-art. It shows how bridges are being built between empirical and theoretical research and proposes new directions for the study of multisensory awareness and the role of the states of the body therein. In this introduction, we highlight crucial problems that have characterized the development of the study of perceptual awareness. We then provide an overview of major experimental and theoretical paradigms related to perceptual awareness and its neural basis. Finally, we present an overview of the Theme Issue, with reference to the contributed articles and their relationships. PMID:24639576

A novel channel selection method for optimal classification in different motor imagery BCI paradigms.

PubMed

Shan, Haijun; Xu, Haojie; Zhu, Shanan; He, Bin

2015-10-21

For sensorimotor rhythms based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems, classification of different motor imageries (MIs) remains a crucial problem. An important aspect is how many scalp electrodes (channels) should be used in order to reach optimal performance classifying motor imaginations. While the previous researches on channel selection mainly focus on MI tasks paradigms without feedback, the present work aims to investigate the optimal channel selection in MI tasks paradigms with real-time feedback (two-class control and four-class control paradigms). In the present study, three datasets respectively recorded from MI tasks experiment, two-class control and four-class control experiments were analyzed offline. Multiple frequency-spatial synthesized features were comprehensively extracted from every channel, and a new enhanced method IterRelCen was proposed to perform channel selection. IterRelCen was constructed based on Relief algorithm, but was enhanced from two aspects: change of target sample selection strategy and adoption of the idea of iterative computation, and thus performed more robust in feature selection. Finally, a multiclass support vector machine was applied as the classifier. The least number of channels that yield the best classification accuracy were considered as the optimal channels. One-way ANOVA was employed to test the significance of performance improvement among using optimal channels, all the channels and three typical MI channels (C3, C4, Cz). The results show that the proposed method outperformed other channel selection methods by achieving average classification accuracies of 85.2, 94.1, and 83.2 % for the three datasets, respectively. Moreover, the channel selection results reveal that the average numbers of optimal channels were significantly different among the three MI paradigms. It is demonstrated that IterRelCen has a strong ability for feature selection. In addition, the results have shown that the numbers of optimal channels in the three different motor imagery BCI paradigms are distinct. From a MI task paradigm, to a two-class control paradigm, and to a four-class control paradigm, the number of required channels for optimizing the classification accuracy increased. These findings may provide useful information to optimize EEG based BCI systems, and further improve the performance of noninvasive BCI.

Social Neuroscience and Hyperscanning Techniques: Past, Present and Future

PubMed Central

Babiloni, Fabio; Astolfi, Laura

2012-01-01

This paper reviews the published literature on the hyperscanning methodologies using hemodynamic or neuro-electric modalities. In particular, we describe how different brain recording devices have been employed in different experimental paradigms to gain information about the subtle nature of human interactions. This review also included papers based on single-subject recordings in which a correlation was found between the activities of different (non-simultaneously recorded) participants in the experiment. The descriptions begin with the methodological issues related to the simultaneous measurements and the descriptions of the results generated by such approaches will follow. Finally, a discussion of the possible future uses of such new approaches to explore human social interactions will be presented. PMID:22917915

Boron supercapacitors

DOE PAGES

Zhan, Cheng; Zhang, Pengfei; Dai, Sheng; ...

2016-11-16

Supercapacitors based on the electric double-layer mechanism use porous carbons or graphene as electrodes. To move beyond this paradigm, we propose boron supercapacitors to leverage two-dimensional (2D) boron sheets’ metallicity and low weight. Six 2D boron sheets from both previous theoretical design and experimental growth are chosen as test electrodes. By applying joint density functional theory (JDFT) to the electrode–electrolyte system, we examine how the 2D boron sheets charge up against applied potential. JDFT predicts that these 2D boron sheets exhibit specific capacitance on the order of 400 F/g, about four times that of graphene. As a result, our workmore » suggests that 2D boron sheets are promising electrodes for supercapacitor applications.« less

Boron supercapacitors

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

Zhan, Cheng; Zhang, Pengfei; Dai, Sheng

Supercapacitors based on the electric double-layer mechanism use porous carbons or graphene as electrodes. To move beyond this paradigm, we propose boron supercapacitors to leverage two-dimensional (2D) boron sheets’ metallicity and low weight. Six 2D boron sheets from both previous theoretical design and experimental growth are chosen as test electrodes. By applying joint density functional theory (JDFT) to the electrode–electrolyte system, we examine how the 2D boron sheets charge up against applied potential. JDFT predicts that these 2D boron sheets exhibit specific capacitance on the order of 400 F/g, about four times that of graphene. As a result, our workmore » suggests that 2D boron sheets are promising electrodes for supercapacitor applications.« less

A network of molecular switches controls the activation of the two-component response regulator NtrC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanatta, Dan K.; Shukla, Diwakar; Lawrenz, Morgan; Pande, Vijay S.

2015-06-01

Recent successes in simulating protein structure and folding dynamics have demonstrated the power of molecular dynamics to predict the long timescale behaviour of proteins. Here, we extend and improve these methods to predict molecular switches that characterize conformational change pathways between the active and inactive state of nitrogen regulatory protein C (NtrC). By employing unbiased Markov state model-based molecular dynamics simulations, we construct a dynamic picture of the activation pathways of this key bacterial signalling protein that is consistent with experimental observations and predicts new mutants that could be used for validation of the mechanism. Moreover, these results suggest a novel mechanistic paradigm for conformational switching.

Goals and Habits in the Brain

PubMed Central

Dolan, Ray J.; Dayan, Peter

2013-01-01

An enduring and richly elaborated dichotomy in cognitive neuroscience is that of reflective versus reflexive decision making and choice. Other literatures refer to the two ends of what is likely to be a spectrum with terms such as goal-directed versus habitual, model-based versus model-free or prospective versus retrospective. One of the most rigorous traditions of experimental work in the field started with studies in rodents and graduated via human versions and enrichments of those experiments to a current state in which new paradigms are probing and challenging the very heart of the distinction. We review four generations of work in this tradition and provide pointers to the forefront of the field’s fifth generation. PMID:24139036

Non-Hermitian photonics based on parity-time symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Liang; El-Ganainy, Ramy; Ge, Li

2017-12-01

Nearly one century after the birth of quantum mechanics, parity-time symmetry is revolutionizing and extending quantum theories to include a unique family of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. While conceptually striking, experimental demonstration of parity-time symmetry remains unexplored in quantum electronic systems. The flexibility of photonics allows for creating and superposing non-Hermitian eigenstates with ease using optical gain and loss, which makes it an ideal platform to explore various non-Hermitian quantum symmetry paradigms for novel device functionalities. Such explorations that employ classical photonic platforms not only deepen our understanding of fundamental quantum physics but also facilitate technological breakthroughs for photonic applications. Research into non-Hermitian photonics therefore advances and benefits both fields simultaneously.

Body size and shape misperception and visual adaptation: An overview of an emerging research paradigm.

PubMed

Challinor, Kirsten L; Mond, Jonathan; Stephen, Ian D; Mitchison, Deborah; Stevenson, Richard J; Hay, Phillipa; Brooks, Kevin R

2017-12-01

Although body size and shape misperception (BSSM) is a common feature of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and muscle dysmorphia, little is known about its underlying neural mechanisms. Recently, a new approach has emerged, based on the long-established non-invasive technique of perceptual adaptation, which allows for inferences about the structure of the neural apparatus responsible for alterations in visual appearance. Here, we describe several recent experimental examples of BSSM, wherein exposure to "extreme" body stimuli causes visual aftereffects of biased perception. The implications of these studies for our understanding of the neural and cognitive representation of human bodies, along with their implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Recollection and familiarity for words and faces: a study comparing Remember-Know judgements and the Process Dissociation Procedure.

PubMed

Espinosa-García, María; Vaquero, Joaquín M M; Milliken, Bruce; Tudela, Pío

2017-01-01

Measures of recollection and familiarity often differ depending on the paradigm utilised. Remember-Know (R-K) and Process Dissociation Procedure (PDP) methods have been commonly used but rarely compared within a single study. In the current experiments, R-K and PDP were compared by examining the effect of attention at study and time to respond at test on recollection and familiarity using the same experimental procedures for each paradigm. We also included faces in addition to words to test the generality of the findings often obtained using words. The results from the R-K paradigm revealed that recollection and familiarity were similarly affected by attention at study and time to respond at test. However, in the case of PDP, the measures of recollection and familiarity showed a different pattern of results. The effects observed for recollection were similar to those obtained with the R-K method, whereas familiarity was affected by time to respond but not by attention at study. These results are discussed in relation to the controlled-automatic processing distinction and the contribution of each paradigm to research on recognition memory.

Choice in experiential learning: True preferences or experimental artifacts?

PubMed

Ashby, Nathaniel J S; Konstantinidis, Emmanouil; Yechiam, Eldad

2017-03-01

The rate of selecting different options in the decisions-from-feedback paradigm is commonly used to measure preferences resulting from experiential learning. While convergence to a single option increases with experience, some variance in choice remains even when options are static and offer fixed rewards. Employing a decisions-from-feedback paradigm followed by a policy-setting task, we examined whether the observed variance in choice is driven by factors related to the paradigm itself: Continued exploration (e.g., believing options are non-stationary) or exploitation of perceived outcome patterns (i.e., a belief that sequential choices are not independent). Across two studies, participants showed variance in their choices, which was related (i.e., proportional) to the policies they set. In addition, in Study 2, participants' reported under-confidence was associated with the amount of choice variance in later choices and policies. These results suggest that variance in choice is better explained by participants lacking confidence in knowing which option is better, rather than methodological artifacts (i.e., exploration or failures to recognize outcome independence). As such, the current studies provide evidence for the decisions-from-feedback paradigm's validity as a behavioral research method for assessing learned preferences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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.

Speech planning happens before speech execution: online reaction time methods in the study of apraxia of speech.

PubMed

Maas, Edwin; Mailend, Marja-Liisa

2012-10-01

The purpose of this article is to present an argument for the use of online reaction time (RT) methods to the study of apraxia of speech (AOS) and to review the existing small literature in this area and the contributions it has made to our fundamental understanding of speech planning (deficits) in AOS. Following a brief description of limitations of offline perceptual methods, we provide a narrative review of various types of RT paradigms from the (speech) motor programming and psycholinguistic literatures and their (thus far limited) application with AOS. On the basis of the review of the literature, we conclude that with careful consideration of potential challenges and caveats, RT approaches hold great promise to advance our understanding of AOS, in particular with respect to the speech planning processes that generate the speech signal before initiation. A deeper understanding of the nature and time course of speech planning and its disruptions in AOS may enhance diagnosis and treatment for AOS. Only a handful of published studies on apraxia of speech have used reaction time methods. However, these studies have provided deeper insight into speech planning impairments in AOS based on a variety of experimental paradigms.

Intrinsic Regulation of Thyroid Function by Thyroglobulin

PubMed Central

Sellitti, Donald F.

2014-01-01

Background: The established paradigm for thyroglobulin (Tg) function is that of a high molecular weight precursor of the much smaller thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). However, speculation regarding the cause of the functional and morphologic heterogeneity of the follicles that make up the thyroid gland has given rise to the proposition that Tg is not only a precursor of thyroid hormones, but that it also functions as an important signal molecule in regulating thyroid hormone biosynthesis. Summary: Evidence supporting this alternative paradigm of Tg function, including the up- or downregulation by colloidal Tg of the transcription of Tg, iodide transporters, and enzymes employed in Tg iodination, and also the effects of Tg on the proliferation of thyroid and nonthyroid cells, is examined in the present review. Also discussed in detail are potential mechanisms of Tg signaling in follicular cells. Conclusions: Finally, we propose a mechanism, based on experimental observations of Tg effects on thyroid cell behavior, that could account for the phenomenon of follicular heterogeneity as a highly regulated cycle of increasing and decreasing colloidal Tg concentration that functions to optimize thyroid hormone production through the transcriptional activation or suppression of specific genes. PMID:24251883

Opposite brain laterality in analogous auditory and visual tests.

PubMed

Oltedal, Leif; Hugdahl, Kenneth

2017-11-01

Laterality for language processing can be assessed by auditory and visual tasks. Typically, a right ear/right visual half-field (VHF) advantage is observed, reflecting left-hemispheric lateralization for language. Historically, auditory tasks have shown more consistent and reliable results when compared to VHF tasks. While few studies have compared analogous tasks applied to both sensory modalities for the same participants, one such study by Voyer and Boudreau [(2003). Cross-modal correlation of auditory and visual language laterality tasks: a serendipitous finding. Brain Cogn, 53(2), 393-397] found opposite laterality for visual and auditory language tasks. We adapted an experimental paradigm based on a dichotic listening and VHF approach, and applied the combined language paradigm in two separate experiments, including fMRI in the second experiment to measure brain activation in addition to behavioural data. The first experiment showed a right-ear advantage for the auditory task, but a left half-field advantage for the visual task. The second experiment, confirmed the findings, with opposite laterality effects for the visual and auditory tasks. In conclusion, we replicate the finding by Voyer and Boudreau (2003) and support their interpretation that these visual and auditory language tasks measure different cognitive processes.

A Test of Multisession Automatic Action Tendency Retraining to Reduce Alcohol Consumption Among Young Adults in the Context of a Human Laboratory Paradigm.

PubMed

Leeman, Robert F; Nogueira, Christine; Wiers, Reinout W; Cousijn, Janna; Serafini, Kelly; DeMartini, Kelly S; Bargh, John A; O'Malley, Stephanie S

2018-04-01

Young adult heavy drinking is an important public health concern. Current interventions have efficacy but with only modest effects, and thus, novel interventions are needed. In prior studies, heavy drinkers, including young adults, have demonstrated stronger automatically triggered approach tendencies to alcohol-related stimuli than lighter drinkers. Automatic action tendency retraining has been developed to correct this tendency and consequently reduce alcohol consumption. This study is the first to test multiple iterations of automatic action tendency retraining, followed by laboratory alcohol self-administration. A total of 72 nontreatment-seeking, heavy drinking young adults ages 21 to 25 were randomized to automatic action tendency retraining or a control condition (i.e., "sham training"). Of these, 69 (54% male) completed 4 iterations of retraining or the control condition over 5 days with an alcohol drinking session on Day 5. Self-administration was conducted according to a human laboratory paradigm designed to model individual differences in impaired control (i.e., difficulty adhering to limits on alcohol consumption). Automatic action tendency retraining was not associated with greater reduction in alcohol approach tendency or less alcohol self-administration than the control condition. The laboratory paradigm was probably sufficiently sensitive to detect an effect of an experimental manipulation given the range of self-administration behavior observed, both in terms of number of alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks and measures of drinking topography. Automatic action tendency retraining was ineffective among heavy drinking young adults without motivation to change their drinking. Details of the retraining procedure may have contributed to the lack of a significant effect. Despite null primary findings, the impaired control laboratory paradigm is a valid laboratory-based measure of young adult alcohol consumption that provides the opportunity to observe drinking topography and self-administration of nonalcoholic beverages (i.e., protective behavioral strategies directly related to alcohol use). Copyright © 2018 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Method for enhancing single-trial P300 detection by introducing the complexity degree of image information in rapid serial visual presentation tasks

PubMed Central

Lin, Zhimin; Zeng, Ying; Tong, Li; Zhang, Hangming; Zhang, Chi

2017-01-01

The application of electroencephalogram (EEG) generated by human viewing images is a new thrust in image retrieval technology. A P300 component in the EEG is induced when the subjects see their point of interest in a target image under the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experimental paradigm. We detected the single-trial P300 component to determine whether a subject was interested in an image. In practice, the latency and amplitude of the P300 component may vary in relation to different experimental parameters, such as target probability and stimulus semantics. Thus, we proposed a novel method, Target Recognition using Image Complexity Priori (TRICP) algorithm, in which the image information is introduced in the calculation of the interest score in the RSVP paradigm. The method combines information from the image and EEG to enhance the accuracy of single-trial P300 detection on the basis of traditional single-trial P300 detection algorithm. We defined an image complexity parameter based on the features of the different layers of a convolution neural network (CNN). We used the TRICP algorithm to compute for the complexity of an image to quantify the effect of different complexity images on the P300 components and training specialty classifier according to the image complexity. We compared TRICP with the HDCA algorithm. Results show that TRICP is significantly higher than the HDCA algorithm (Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test, p<0.05). Thus, the proposed method can be used in other and visual task-related single-trial event-related potential detection. PMID:29283998

How acute total sleep loss affects the attending brain: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.

PubMed

Ma, Ning; Dinges, David F; Basner, Mathias; Rao, Hengyi

2015-02-01

Attention is a cognitive domain that can be severely affected by sleep deprivation. Previous neuroimaging studies have used different attention paradigms and reported both increased and reduced brain activation after sleep deprivation. However, due to large variability in sleep deprivation protocols, task paradigms, experimental designs, characteristics of subject populations, and imaging techniques, there is no consensus regarding the effects of sleep loss on the attending brain. The aim of this meta-analysis was to identify brain activations that are commonly altered by acute total sleep deprivation across different attention tasks. Coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of performance on attention tasks during experimental sleep deprivation. The current version of the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) approach was used for meta-analysis. The authors searched published articles and identified 11 sleep deprivation neuroimaging studies using different attention tasks with a total of 185 participants, equaling 81 foci for ALE analysis. The meta-analysis revealed significantly reduced brain activation in multiple regions following sleep deprivation compared to rested wakefulness, including bilateral intraparietal sulcus, bilateral insula, right prefrontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, and right parahippocampal gyrus. Increased activation was found only in bilateral thalamus after sleep deprivation compared to rested wakefulness. Acute total sleep deprivation decreases brain activation in the fronto-parietal attention network (prefrontal cortex and intraparietal sulcus) and in the salience network (insula and medial frontal cortex). Increased thalamic activation after sleep deprivation may reflect a complex interaction between the de-arousing effects of sleep loss and the arousing effects of task performance on thalamic activity. © 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Promoting the experimental dialogue between working memory and chunking: Behavioral data and simulation.

PubMed

Portrat, Sophie; Guida, Alessandro; Phénix, Thierry; Lemaire, Benoît

2016-04-01

Working memory (WM) is a cognitive system allowing short-term maintenance and processing of information. Maintaining information in WM consists, classically, in rehearsing or refreshing it. Chunking could also be considered as a maintenance mechanism. However, in the literature, it is more often used to explain performance than explicitly investigated within WM paradigms. Hence, the aim of the present paper was (1) to strengthen the experimental dialogue between WM and chunking, by studying the effect of acronyms in a computer-paced complex span task paradigm and (2) to formalize explicitly this dialogue within a computational model. Young adults performed a WM complex span task in which they had to maintain series of 7 letters for further recall while performing a concurrent location judgment task. The series to be remembered were either random strings of letters or strings containing a 3-letter acronym that appeared in position 1, 3, or 5 in the series. Together, the data and simulations provide a better understanding of the maintenance mechanisms taking place in WM and its interplay with long-term memory. Indeed, the behavioral WM performance lends evidence to the functional characteristics of chunking that seems to be, especially in a WM complex span task, an attentional time-based mechanism that certainly enhances WM performance but also competes with other processes at hand in WM. Computational simulations support and delineate such a conception by showing that searching for a chunk in long-term memory involves attentionally demanding subprocesses that essentially take place during the encoding phases of the task.

Neutrino oscillations: The rise of the PMNS paradigm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giganti, C.; Lavignac, S.; Zito, M.

2018-01-01

Since the discovery of neutrino oscillations, the experimental progress in the last two decades has been very fast, with the precision measurements of the neutrino squared-mass differences and of the mixing angles, including the last unknown mixing angle θ13. Today a very large set of oscillation results obtained with a variety of experimental configurations and techniques can be interpreted in the framework of three active massive neutrinos, whose mass and flavour eigenstates are related by a 3 × 3 unitary mixing matrix, the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) matrix, parametrized by three mixing angles θ12, θ23, θ13 and a CP-violating phase δCP. The additional parameters governing neutrino oscillations are the squared-mass differences Δ mji2 = mj2 - mi2, where mi is the mass of the ith neutrino mass eigenstate. This review covers the rise of the PMNS three-neutrino mixing paradigm and the current status of the experimental determination of its parameters. The next years will continue to see a rich program of experimental endeavour coming to fruition and addressing the three missing pieces of the puzzle, namely the determination of the octant and precise value of the mixing angle θ23, the unveiling of the neutrino mass ordering (whether m1

D[superscript 4]S[superscript 4]: A Four Dimensions Instructional Strategy for Web-Based and Blended Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdelaziz, Hamdy A.

2012-01-01

Web-based education is facing a paradigm shift under the rapid development of information and communication technology. The new paradigm of learning requires special techniques of course design, special instructional models, and special methods of evaluation. This paper investigates the effectiveness of an adaptive instructional strategy for…

Constraint-based Attribute and Interval Planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jonsson, Ari; Frank, Jeremy

2013-01-01

In this paper we describe Constraint-based Attribute and Interval Planning (CAIP), a paradigm for representing and reasoning about plans. The paradigm enables the description of planning domains with time, resources, concurrent activities, mutual exclusions among sets of activities, disjunctive preconditions and conditional effects. We provide a theoretical foundation for the paradigm, based on temporal intervals and attributes. We then show how the plans are naturally expressed by networks of constraints, and show that the process of planning maps directly to dynamic constraint reasoning. In addition, we de ne compatibilities, a compact mechanism for describing planning domains. We describe how this framework can incorporate the use of constraint reasoning technology to improve planning. Finally, we describe EUROPA, an implementation of the CAIP framework.

Protein Modelling: What Happened to the “Protein Structure Gap”?

PubMed Central

Schwede, Torsten

2013-01-01

Computational modeling and prediction of three-dimensional macromolecular structures and complexes from their sequence has been a long standing vision in structural biology as it holds the promise to bypass part of the laborious process of experimental structure solution. Over the last two decades, a paradigm shift has occurred: starting from a situation where the “structure knowledge gap” between the huge number of protein sequences and small number of known structures has hampered the widespread use of structure-based approaches in life science research, today some form of structural information – either experimental or computational – is available for the majority of amino acids encoded by common model organism genomes. Template based homology modeling techniques have matured to a point where they are now routinely used to complement experimental techniques. With the scientific focus of interest moving towards larger macromolecular complexes and dynamic networks of interactions, the integration of computational modeling methods with low-resolution experimental techniques allows studying large and complex molecular machines. Computational modeling and prediction techniques are still facing a number of challenges which hamper the more widespread use by the non-expert scientist. For example, it is often difficult to convey the underlying assumptions of a computational technique, as well as the expected accuracy and structural variability of a specific model. However, these aspects are crucial to understand the limitations of a model, and to decide which interpretations and conclusions can be supported. PMID:24010712

First Experimental Realization of the Dirac Oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franco-Villafañe, J. A.; Sadurní, E.; Barkhofen, S.; Kuhl, U.; Mortessagne, F.; Seligman, T. H.

2013-10-01

We present the first experimental microwave realization of the one-dimensional Dirac oscillator, a paradigm in exactly solvable relativistic systems. The experiment relies on a relation of the Dirac oscillator to a corresponding tight-binding system. This tight-binding system is implemented as a microwave system by a chain of coupled dielectric disks, where the coupling is evanescent and can be adjusted appropriately. The resonances of the finite microwave system yield the spectrum of the one-dimensional Dirac oscillator with and without a mass term. The flexibility of the experimental setup allows the implementation of other one-dimensional Dirac-type equations.

The fuzzy cube and causal efficacy: representation of concomitant mechanisms in stroke.

PubMed

Jobe, Thomas H.; Helgason, Cathy M.

1998-04-01

Twentieth century medical science has embraced nineteenth century Boolean probability theory based upon two-valued Aristotelian logic. With the later addition of bit-based, von Neumann structured computational architectures, an epistemology based on randomness has led to a bivalent epidemiological methodology that dominates medical decision making. In contrast, fuzzy logic, based on twentieth century multi-valued logic, and computational structures that are content addressed and adaptively modified, has advanced a new scientific paradigm for the twenty-first century. Diseases such as stroke involve multiple concomitant causal factors that are difficult to represent using conventional statistical methods. We tested which paradigm best represented this complex multi-causal clinical phenomenon-stroke. We show that the fuzzy logic paradigm better represented clinical complexity in cerebrovascular disease than current probability theory based methodology. We believe this finding is generalizable to all of clinical science since multiple concomitant causal factors are involved in nearly all known pathological processes.

Photonic Plasmid Stability of Transformed Salmonella Typhimurium: A Comparison of Three Unique Plasmids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Acquiring a highly stable photonic plasmid in transformed Salmonella Typhimurium for use in biophotonic studies of bacterial tracking in vivo is critical to experimental paradigm development. The objective of this study was to determine stability of transformed Salmonella Typhimurium (S....

Experimenting within an Education Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alford, L. Maurice

2016-01-01

Elwyn Richardson's experimental approach to teaching and learning and Oruaiti was officially sanctioned, but the history of education in Aotearoa/New Zealand shows that teachers have been typically conformist. In this article, I suggest that positivist paradigms from the industrial age continue to shape classroom teaching, partly because of norms…

Reconsolidation of a Well-Learned Instrumental Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Exton-McGuinness, Marc T. J.; Patton, Rosemary C.; Sacco, Lawrence B.; Lee, Jonathan L. C.

2014-01-01

Once consolidated, memories are dynamic entities that go through phases of instability in order to be updated with new information, via a process of reconsolidation. The phenomenon of reconsolidation has been demonstrated in a wide variety of experimental paradigms. However, the memories underpinning instrumental behaviors are currently not…

Mindfulness as a strategy for coping with cue-elicited cravings for alcohol: an experimental examination.

PubMed

Murphy, Cara M; MacKillop, James

2014-04-01

Mindfulness has been identified as a promising strategy for managing cravings for alcohol and other drugs, but little controlled experimental research has directly studied whether this approach is effective. The current study systematically examined the effects of an acute mindfulness manipulation on craving for alcohol during prolonged exposure to alcohol cues. Heavy drinkers (N = 84, 50% male) underwent a prolonged alcohol cue exposure paradigm in a simulated bar environment and received either a mindfulness-based strategy, a distraction (DST)-based strategy (active control), or no strategy (passive control) to cope with alcohol cravings and discomfort associated with craving. No baseline differences were present between conditions. Manipulation checks revealed that participants in the 2 active conditions reported using the recommended strategies. Across groups, the initial exposure to alcohol cues was associated with significant increases in craving, urge distress, and heart rate. Mixed analyses of variance on these indices following the experimental manipulation revealed significant differences based on condition over the course of the bar laboratory protocol. The DST strategy was significantly more effective at acutely reducing craving and urge distress than the other 2 conditions, which did not significantly differ from each other. Contrary to our prediction, these findings suggest that an acute DSTstrategy is beneficial for coping with alcohol cravings. The potential importance of protracted mindfulness training to detect significant effects on in vivo craving, additional implications, and methodological considerations are discussed. Copyright © 2013 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Experimental pragmatics: a Gricean turn in the study of language.

PubMed

Noveck, Ira A; Reboul, Anne

2008-11-01

Discerning the meaning of an utterance requires not only mastering grammar and knowing the meanings of words but also understanding the communicative (i.e., pragmatic) features of language. Although it has been an ever present aspect of linguistic analyses and discussions, it is only over the last ten years or so that cognitive scientists have been investigating--in a concerted fashion--the pragmatic features of language experimentally. We begin by highlighting Paul Grice's contributions to ordinary language philosophy and show how it has led to this active area of experimental investigation. We then focus on two exemplary phenomena--'scalar inference' and 'reference resolution'--before considering other topics that fit into the paradigm known as 'experimental pragmatics'.

Paradigms, Exemplars and Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, Hal A.

2009-01-01

Researchers' social-cultural organization influences the scope, quality, quantity, coherence, dissemination, utilization and impact of research-based, theoretically sound knowledge. Five concepts--paradigm, exemplar, segment, network and gatekeeper--are salient to research on researchers' organization. Autobiographical reflections signal these…

Toward a patient-based paradigm for blood transfusion.

PubMed

Farrugia, Albert; Vamvakas, Eleftherios

2014-01-01

The current "manufacturing paradigm" of transfusion practice has detached transfusion from the clinical environment. As an example, fresh whole blood in large-volume hemorrhage may be superior to whole blood reconstituted from multiple components. Multicomponent apheresis can overcome logistical difficulties in matching patient needs with fresh component availability and can deliver the benefits of fresh whole blood. Because of the different transfusion needs of patients in emerging economies and the vulnerability of these blood systems to emerging infections, fresh whole blood and multicomponent apheresis can better meet patient needs when compared with transplants of the "manufacturing paradigm". We propose that patient blood management, along with panels of repeat, paid, accredited apheresis and fresh whole-blood donors can be used in emerging economies to support decentralized blood services. This alternative transfusion-medicine paradigm could eventually also be adopted by established economies to focus transfusion medicine on local patient needs and to alleviate the problem of the aging volunteer donor base.

A Co-Adaptive Brain-Computer Interface for End Users with Severe Motor Impairment

PubMed Central

Faller, Josef; Scherer, Reinhold; Costa, Ursula; Opisso, Eloy; Medina, Josep; Müller-Putz, Gernot R.

2014-01-01

Co-adaptive training paradigms for event-related desynchronization (ERD) based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) have proven effective for healthy users. As of yet, it is not clear whether co-adaptive training paradigms can also benefit users with severe motor impairment. The primary goal of our paper was to evaluate a novel cue-guided, co-adaptive BCI training paradigm with severely impaired volunteers. The co-adaptive BCI supports a non-control state, which is an important step toward intuitive, self-paced control. A secondary aim was to have the same participants operate a specifically designed self-paced BCI training paradigm based on the auto-calibrated classifier. The co-adaptive BCI analyzed the electroencephalogram from three bipolar derivations (C3, Cz, and C4) online, while the 22 end users alternately performed right hand movement imagery (MI), left hand MI and relax with eyes open (non-control state). After less than five minutes, the BCI auto-calibrated and proceeded to provide visual feedback for the MI task that could be classified better against the non-control state. The BCI continued to regularly recalibrate. In every calibration step, the system performed trial-based outlier rejection and trained a linear discriminant analysis classifier based on one auto-selected logarithmic band-power feature. In 24 minutes of training, the co-adaptive BCI worked significantly (p = 0.01) better than chance for 18 of 22 end users. The self-paced BCI training paradigm worked significantly (p = 0.01) better than chance in 11 of 20 end users. The presented co-adaptive BCI complements existing approaches in that it supports a non-control state, requires very little setup time, requires no BCI expert and works online based on only two electrodes. The preliminary results from the self-paced BCI paradigm compare favorably to previous studies and the collected data will allow to further improve self-paced BCI systems for disabled users. PMID:25014055

Reward-based training of recurrent neural networks for cognitive and value-based tasks

PubMed Central

Song, H Francis; Yang, Guangyu R; Wang, Xiao-Jing

2017-01-01

Trained neural network models, which exhibit features of neural activity recorded from behaving animals, may provide insights into the circuit mechanisms of cognitive functions through systematic analysis of network activity and connectivity. However, in contrast to the graded error signals commonly used to train networks through supervised learning, animals learn from reward feedback on definite actions through reinforcement learning. Reward maximization is particularly relevant when optimal behavior depends on an animal’s internal judgment of confidence or subjective preferences. Here, we implement reward-based training of recurrent neural networks in which a value network guides learning by using the activity of the decision network to predict future reward. We show that such models capture behavioral and electrophysiological findings from well-known experimental paradigms. Our work provides a unified framework for investigating diverse cognitive and value-based computations, and predicts a role for value representation that is essential for learning, but not executing, a task. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21492.001 PMID:28084991

A Novel Feature Optimization for Wearable Human-Computer Interfaces Using Surface Electromyography Sensors

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xiong; Zhao, Yacong; Zhang, Yu; Zhong, Xuefei; Fan, Zhaowen

2018-01-01

The novel human-computer interface (HCI) using bioelectrical signals as input is a valuable tool to improve the lives of people with disabilities. In this paper, surface electromyography (sEMG) signals induced by four classes of wrist movements were acquired from four sites on the lower arm with our designed system. Forty-two features were extracted from the time, frequency and time-frequency domains. Optimal channels were determined from single-channel classification performance rank. The optimal-feature selection was according to a modified entropy criteria (EC) and Fisher discrimination (FD) criteria. The feature selection results were evaluated by four different classifiers, and compared with other conventional feature subsets. In online tests, the wearable system acquired real-time sEMG signals. The selected features and trained classifier model were used to control a telecar through four different paradigms in a designed environment with simple obstacles. Performance was evaluated based on travel time (TT) and recognition rate (RR). The results of hardware evaluation verified the feasibility of our acquisition systems, and ensured signal quality. Single-channel analysis results indicated that the channel located on the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) performed best with mean classification accuracy of 97.45% for all movement’s pairs. Channels placed on ECU and the extensor carpi radialis (ECR) were selected according to the accuracy rank. Experimental results showed that the proposed FD method was better than other feature selection methods and single-type features. The combination of FD and random forest (RF) performed best in offline analysis, with 96.77% multi-class RR. Online results illustrated that the state-machine paradigm with a 125 ms window had the highest maneuverability and was closest to real-life control. Subjects could accomplish online sessions by three sEMG-based paradigms, with average times of 46.02, 49.06 and 48.08 s, respectively. These experiments validate the feasibility of proposed real-time wearable HCI system and algorithms, providing a potential assistive device interface for persons with disabilities. PMID:29543737

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm.

PubMed

Davis, Josh P; Maigut, Andreea C; Jolliffe, Darrick; Gibson, Stuart J; Solomon, Chris J

2015-12-24

The paradigm detailed in this manuscript describes an applied experimental method based on real police investigations during which an eyewitness or victim to a crime may create from memory a holistic facial composite of the culprit with the assistance of a police operator. The aim is that the composite is recognized by someone who believes that they know the culprit. For this paradigm, participants view a culprit actor on video and following a delay, participant-witnesses construct a holistic system facial composite. Controls do not construct a composite. From a series of arrays of computer-generated, but realistic faces, the holistic system construction method primarily requires participant-witnesses to select the facial images most closely meeting their memory of the culprit. Variation between faces in successive arrays is reduced until ideally the final image possesses a close likeness to the culprit. Participant-witness directed tools can also alter facial features, configurations between features and holistic properties (e.g., age, distinctiveness, skin tone), all within a whole face context. The procedure is designed to closely match the holistic manner by which humans' process faces. On completion, based on their memory of the culprit, ratings of composite-culprit similarity are collected from the participant-witnesses. Similar ratings are collected from culprit-acquaintance assessors, as a marker of composite recognition likelihood. Following a further delay, all participants--including the controls--attempt to identify the culprit in either a culprit-present or culprit-absent video line-up, to replicate circumstances in which the police have located the correct culprit, or an innocent suspect. Data of control and participant-witness line-up outcomes are presented, demonstrating the positive influence of holistic composite construction on identification accuracy. Correlational analyses are conducted to measure the relationship between assessor and participant-witness composite-culprit similarity ratings, delay, identification accuracy, and confidence to examine which factors influence video line-up outcomes.

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm

PubMed Central

Davis, Josh P.; Maigut, Andreea C.; Jolliffe, Darrick; Gibson, Stuart J.; Solomon, Chris J.

2015-01-01

The paradigm detailed in this manuscript describes an applied experimental method based on real police investigations during which an eyewitness or victim to a crime may create from memory a holistic facial composite of the culprit with the assistance of a police operator. The aim is that the composite is recognized by someone who believes that they know the culprit. For this paradigm, participants view a culprit actor on video and following a delay, participant-witnesses construct a holistic system facial composite. Controls do not construct a composite. From a series of arrays of computer-generated, but realistic faces, the holistic system construction method primarily requires participant-witnesses to select the facial images most closely meeting their memory of the culprit. Variation between faces in successive arrays is reduced until ideally the final image possesses a close likeness to the culprit. Participant-witness directed tools can also alter facial features, configurations between features and holistic properties (e.g., age, distinctiveness, skin tone), all within a whole face context. The procedure is designed to closely match the holistic manner by which humans’ process faces. On completion, based on their memory of the culprit, ratings of composite-culprit similarity are collected from the participant-witnesses. Similar ratings are collected from culprit-acquaintance assessors, as a marker of composite recognition likelihood. Following a further delay, all participants — including the controls — attempt to identify the culprit in either a culprit-present or culprit-absent video line-up, to replicate circumstances in which the police have located the correct culprit, or an innocent suspect. Data of control and participant-witness line-up outcomes are presented, demonstrating the positive influence of holistic composite construction on identification accuracy. Correlational analyses are conducted to measure the relationship between assessor and participant-witness composite-culprit similarity ratings, delay, identification accuracy, and confidence to examine which factors influence video line-up outcomes. PMID:26779673

A Tale of Two Paradigms: The Impact of Psychological Capital and Reinforcing Feedback on Problem Solving and Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luthans, Fred; Youssef, Carolyn M.; Rawski, Shannon L.

2011-01-01

This study drew from two distinct paradigms: the social cognitively based emerging field of positive organizational behavior or POB and the more established behaviorally based area of organizational behavior modification or OB Mod. The intent was to show that both can contribute to complex challenges facing today's organizations. Using a…

Biomass-bioenergy crops in the United States: a changing paradigm

Treesearch

Jane M-F Johnson; Mark D. Coleman; Russ Gesch; Adbullah Jaradat; Rob Mitchell; Don Reicosky; W.W. Wilhelm

2007-01-01

The world energy paradigm is changing from one based on petroleum to one based on a mixture of energy platforms. This change is precipitated by a finite petroleum supply, an expanding global demand, and political instability in areas with major petroleum reserves. The mixed energy platform will include an array of renewable energy sources. The agricultural and forestry...

Measuring New Environmental Paradigm Based on Students' Knowledge about Ecosystem and Locus of Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Putrawan, I. Made

2015-01-01

This research is aimed at obtaining information related to instrument development of Students' New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) based on their knowledge about ecosystem and Locus of Control (LOC). A survey method has been carried out by selecting senior high school students randomly with n = 362 (first stage 2013) and n = 722 (2014). Data analysed…

Relate@IU>>>Share@IU: A New and Different Computer-Based Communications Paradigm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frick, Theodore W.; Roberto, Joseph; Korkmaz, Ali; Oh, Jeong-En; Twal, Riad

The purpose of this study was to examine problems with the current computer-based electronic communication systems and to initially test and revise a new and different paradigm for e-collaboration, Relate@IU. Understanding the concept of sending links to resources, rather than sending the resource itself, is at the core of how Relate@IU differs…

Theoretical and experimental characterization of the first hyperpolarizability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez-Moreno, Javier

We present a theoretical and experimental study of the molecular susceptibilities. The generalized Thomas-Kuhn sum rules are used to characterize the nonlinear response of organic chromophores in terms of fundamental parameters. The nonlinear optical performance of real molecules is evaluated from the calculation of the quantum limits and Hyper-Rayleigh scattering measurements. Different strategies for the enhancement of nonlinear behavior at the molecular and supramolecular level are evaluated and new paradigms for de design of more efficient nonlinear molecules are proposed.

Attributing false beliefs about non-obvious properties at 18 months

PubMed Central

Scott, Rose M.; Baillargeon, Renée; Song, Hyun-joo; Leslie, Alan M.

2010-01-01

Reports that infants in the second year of life can attribute false beliefs to others have all used a search paradigm in which an agent with a false belief about an object’s location searches for the object. The present research asked whether 18-month-olds would still demonstrate false-belief understanding when tested with a novel non-search paradigm. An experimenter shook an object, demonstrating that it rattled, and then asked an agent, “Can you do it?” In response to this prompt, the agent selected one of two test objects. Infants realized that the agent could be led through inference (Experiment 1) or memory (Experiment 2) to hold a false belief about which of the two test objects rattled. These results suggest that 18-month-olds can attribute false beliefs about non-obvious properties to others, and can do so in a non-search paradigm. These and additional results (Experiment 3) help address several alternative interpretations of false-belief findings with infants. PMID:21047625

Photonic plasmid stability of transformed Salmonella typhimurium: A comparison of three unique plasmids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Acquiring a highly stable photonic plasmid in transformed Salmonella typhimurium for use in biophotonic studies of bacterial tracking in vivo is critical to experimental paradigm development. The objective of this study was to determine stability of transformed Salmonella typhimurium (S. typh-lux) u...

The Distribution of Attention Across a Talker's Face

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Laura A.; Malmberg, Jeanne; Goodell, Neil K.; Boring, Ronald L.

2004-01-01

In 2 experiments, a novel experimental paradigm investigated how spatial attention is distributed across a talker's face during auditory-visual speech discourse processing. Dots were superimposed onto several talkers' faces for 17-msec durations on the talker's left side, mouth, right side, and eyebrow area. Participants reported the locations of…

Evidence for Future Cognition in Animals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, William A.

2012-01-01

Evidence concerning the possibility of mental time travel into the future by animals was reviewed. Both experimental laboratory studies and field observations were considered. Paradigms for the study of future anticipation and planning included inhibition of consumption of current food contingent on future receipt of either a larger quantity or…

The Neural Basis of Cognitive Control: Response Selection and Inhibition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goghari, Vina M.; MacDonald, Angus W., III

2009-01-01

The functional neuroanatomy of tasks that recruit different forms of response selection and inhibition has to our knowledge, never been directly addressed in a single fMRI study using similar stimulus-response paradigms where differences between scanning time and sequence, stimuli, and experimenter instructions were minimized. Twelve right-handed…

Control and Interference in Task Switching--A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiesel, Andrea; Steinhauser, Marco; Wendt, Mike; Falkenstein, Michael; Jost, Kerstin; Philipp, Andrea M.; Koch, Iring

2010-01-01

The task-switching paradigm offers enormous possibilities to study cognitive control as well as task interference. The current review provides an overview of recent research on both topics. First, we review different experimental approaches to task switching, such as comparing mixed-task blocks with single-task blocks, predictable task-switching…

Getting "What Works" Working: Building Blocks for the Integration of Experimental and Improvement Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Amelia

2016-01-01

As a systemic approach to improving educational practice through research, "What Works" has come under repeated challenge from alternative approaches, most recently that of improvement science. While "What Works" remains a dominant paradigm for centralized knowledge-building efforts, there is need to understand why this…

Studying Action Representation in Children via Motor Imagery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabbard, Carl

2009-01-01

The use of motor imagery is a widely used experimental paradigm for the study of cognitive aspects of action planning and control in adults. Furthermore, there are indications that motor imagery provides a window into the process of action representation. These notions complement internal model theory suggesting that such representations allow…

Can Clouds Dance? Part 2: An ERP Investigation of Passive Conceptual Expansion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutter, Barbara; Kroger, Soren; Hill, Holger; Windmann, Sabine; Hermann, Christiane; Abraham, Anna

2012-01-01

Conceptual expansion, one of the core operations in creative cognition, was investigated in the present ERP study. An experimental paradigm using novel metaphoric, nonsensical and literal phrases was employed where individual differences in conceptual knowledge organization were accounted for by using participants' responses to categorize the…

A View from Somewhere: Explaining the Paradigms of Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, Hanan A.

2006-01-01

In this paper I ask how educational researchers can believe the subjective perceptions of qualitative participant-observers given the concern for objectivity and generalisability of experimental research in the behavioural and social sciences. I critique the most common answer to this question within the educational research community, which…

Verbal Mediation and Satiation in Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Harold; Smothergill, Daniel

The study demonstrates: (1) the occurrence of verbal mediation with its facilitory effect, and (2) the interfering effect of verbal satiation on mediational processes in a three-state chaining paradigm. 40 preschool children were randomly assigned to either a control (no satiation) or an experimental (satiation) group. The subjects in the control…

d'plus: A program to calculate accuracy and bias measures from detection and discrimination data.

PubMed

Macmillan, N A; Creelman, C D

1997-01-01

The program d'plus calculates accuracy (sensitivity) and response-bias parameters using Signal Detection Theory. Choice Theory, and 'nonparametric' models. is is appropriate for data from one-interval, two- and three-interval forced-choice, same different, ABX, and oddity experimental paradigms.

Inattentional Blindness in 9- to 10-Year-Old Intellectually Gifted Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Hui; Zhang, Xingli; He, Yunfeng; Shi, Jiannong

2016-01-01

Researchers suggest that while intellectually gifted children might not always display adequate focus on their general life, they perform very well on experimental attentional tasks. The current study used inattentional blindness (IB) paradigm to understand better the attentional abilities of intellectually gifted children. Specifically, we…

The effects of subjective loss of control on risk-taking behavior: the mediating role of anger

PubMed Central

Beisswingert, Birgit M.; Zhang, Keshun; Goetz, Thomas; Fang, Ping; Fischbacher, Urs

2015-01-01

Based on the Appraisal Tendency Framework on the antecedents and consequences of emotions two experimental studies examined the relationship between externally caused loss of control experiences and risk-taking behavior, as well as the assumed mediation of this relationship by the emotion anger. An experimental paradigm for inducing externally caused and consequently externally attributed loss of control which should lead to experiences of anger was developed and pretested in a Pilot Study. The relationship between loss of control experiences, anger, and risk-taking behavior was investigated using two separate student samples from Germany (N = 84, 54% female) and China (N = 125; 64% female). In line with our hypotheses, results showed that anger mediated the link between subjective loss of control experiences and increasing risk-taking behavior. Multiple group comparisons revealing similar patterns in both samples affirmed the results’ cross-cultural generalizability. These results implicate that anger makes people less risk averse in the process of economic decision making. PMID:26217244

The Glymphatic-Lymphatic Continuum: Opportunities for Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.

PubMed

Hitscherich, Kyle; Smith, Kyle; Cuoco, Joshua A; Ruvolo, Kathryn E; Mancini, Jayme D; Leheste, Joerg R; Torres, German

2016-03-01

The brain has long been thought to lack a lymphatic drainage system. Recent studies, however, show the presence of a brain-wide paravascular system appropriately named the glymphatic system based on its similarity to the lymphatic system in function and its dependence on astroglial water flux. Besides the clearance of cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid, the glymphatic system also facilitates the clearance of interstitial solutes such as amyloid-β and tau from the brain. As cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid are cleared through the glymphatic system, eventually draining into the lymphatic vessels of the neck, this continuous fluid circuit offers a paradigm shift in osteopathic manipulative medicine. For instance, manipulation of the glymphatic-lymphatic continuum could be used to promote experimental initiatives for nonpharmacologic, noninvasive management of neurologic disorders. In the present review, the authors describe what is known about the glymphatic system and identify several osteopathic experimental strategies rooted in a mechanistic understanding of the glymphatic-lymphatic continuum.

Improving the psychometric properties of dot-probe attention measures using response-based computation.

PubMed

Evans, Travis C; Britton, Jennifer C

2018-09-01

Abnormal threat-related attention in anxiety disorders is most commonly assessed and modified using the dot-probe paradigm; however, poor psychometric properties of reaction-time measures may contribute to inconsistencies across studies. Typically, standard attention measures are derived using average reaction-times obtained in experimentally-defined conditions. However, current approaches based on experimentally-defined conditions are limited. In this study, the psychometric properties of a novel response-based computation approach to analyze dot-probe data are compared to standard measures of attention. 148 adults (19.19 ± 1.42 years, 84 women) completed a standardized dot-probe task including threatening and neutral faces. We generated both standard and response-based measures of attention bias, attentional orientation, and attentional disengagement. We compared overall internal consistency, number of trials necessary to reach internal consistency, test-retest reliability (n = 72), and criterion validity obtained using each approach. Compared to standard attention measures, response-based measures demonstrated uniformly high levels of internal consistency with relatively few trials and varying improvements in test-retest reliability. Additionally, response-based measures demonstrated specific evidence of anxiety-related associations above and beyond both standard attention measures and other confounds. Future studies are necessary to validate this approach in clinical samples. Response-based attention measures demonstrate superior psychometric properties compared to standard attention measures, which may improve the detection of anxiety-related associations and treatment-related changes in clinical samples. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using writing as a vehicle to promote and develop scientific concepts and process skills in fourth-grade students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Disimoni, Katherine Cecilia

The development of conceptual knowledge, particularly at the elementary level, is one area in which researchers and educators have noted remarkable deficiencies. The purpose of this descriptive study was to observe the impact of the use of writing as a thinking tool on the promotion and development of scientific concepts and science process skills in elementary students in the discipline of science. Reports from some of the publications for science research and educational progress cited the direct links of writing effectiveness to the development of skills in critical thinking. The study consisted of 12 fourth-grade students in the control group and their 12 fourth-grade counterparts in the experimental group. The treatment for the study was the use of learning logs by the experimental group to record their written responses to predesigned prompts related to hands-on science experiences during the intervention period. Their counterparts did no writing. Statistical measures used were Student's t tests to determine if significance was present. A pretest and posttest were given that involved written responses to the same prompt. Three judges used a specially designed rubric to evaluate and score the writing. Significant differences were found when the scores of the experimental group were analyzed between pretest and posttest. Also, a standardized test to assess basic process skills was administered prior to and after the intervention. There were no statistical differences found in either group to demonstrate that writing effected the development of process skills. The researcher determined that perhaps writing is not the best way to promote process skills. Rather, engaging in science is the best way. These skills are built separately but used in tandem, particularly when learning about science and mathematics. The implications of this study impact upon several areas of education which make up paradigms leading to good practice based on sound theory. These components include the use of writing as a tool to develop and link conceptual knowledge, use of scientific discourse in collaborative efforts, use of integration of language arts and theme-related content areas, and multiinstructional techniques. Rather than a "change" of paradigms for veteran teachers then, an "addition to" existing paradigms could lead to the changes necessary to revamp curriculum and may aid in meeting the demands of a vastly changing and diverse population of monolingual and multilingual learners experiencing gaps in their construction and demonstration of oral and written knowledge.

Peer Influence, Peer Status, and Prosocial Behavior: An Experimental Investigation of Peer Socialization of Adolescents' Intentions to Volunteer.

PubMed

Choukas-Bradley, Sophia; Giletta, Matteo; Cohen, Geoffrey L; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2015-12-01

Peer influence processes have been documented extensively for a wide range of maladaptive adolescent behaviors. However, peer socialization is not inherently deleterious, and little is known about whether adolescents influence each other's prosocial behaviors, or whether some peers are more influential than others towards positive youth outcomes. This study addressed these questions using an experimental "chat room" paradigm to examine in vivo peer influence of prosocial behavior endorsement. A school-based sample of 304 early adolescents (55% female, 45% male; M(age) = 12.68) believed they were interacting electronically with same-gender grademates (i.e., "e-confederates"), whose peer status was experimentally manipulated. The participants' intent to engage in prosocial behaviors was measured pre-experiment and in subsequent "public" and "private" experimental sessions. Overall, the adolescents conformed to the e-confederates' prosocial responses in public; yet, these peer influence effects were moderated by the peer status of the e-confederates, such that youth more strongly conformed to the high-status e-confederates than to the low-status ones. There also was some evidence that these peer influence effects were maintained in the private session, indicating potential internalization of prosocial peer norms. These findings help bridge the positive youth development and peer influence literatures, with potential implications for campaigns to increase prosocial behaviors.

A New Paradigm of Primary Health Care in Kazakhstan

PubMed Central

Sharman, Almaz

2014-01-01

This paper discusses the need for change from Kazakhstan’s current disease-centric healthcare paradigm to a new primary health and wellness-centric health care paradigm, technology-driven and based on personal relationships within a social context. While many different papers have been published about the importance of prevention and primary health care, few have focused on healthcare transition in Kazakhstan or other countries in Central Asia. The WHO’s historic 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration signed in Kazakhstan promoted the centrality of primary care to the provision of effective, efficient, and equitable health services. Modern technologies such as the Internet, social media, and portable medical devices democratize medicine, providing great opportunities to rethink the Alma-Ata Declaration and reinvent primary health care on an entirely new platform that is knowledge-based and technology-assisted. The new paradigm suggested for the future development of health in Central Asian region emphasizes personal relationships and encourages sustainable solutions created by communities. This paper also introduces HealthCity, a new project in Kazakhstan aiming at introducing private, community-based and standardized primary healthcare that is driven by SmartHealth innovative technology. PMID:29755891

The human dynamic clamp as a paradigm for social interaction.

PubMed

Dumas, Guillaume; de Guzman, Gonzalo C; Tognoli, Emmanuelle; Kelso, J A Scott

2014-09-02

Social neuroscience has called for new experimental paradigms aimed toward real-time interactions. A distinctive feature of interactions is mutual information exchange: One member of a pair changes in response to the other while simultaneously producing actions that alter the other. Combining mathematical and neurophysiological methods, we introduce a paradigm called the human dynamic clamp (HDC), to directly manipulate the interaction or coupling between a human and a surrogate constructed to behave like a human. Inspired by the dynamic clamp used so productively in cellular neuroscience, the HDC allows a person to interact in real time with a virtual partner itself driven by well-established models of coordination dynamics. People coordinate hand movements with the visually observed movements of a virtual hand, the parameters of which depend on input from the subject's own movements. We demonstrate that HDC can be extended to cover a broad repertoire of human behavior, including rhythmic and discrete movements, adaptation to changes of pacing, and behavioral skill learning as specified by a virtual "teacher." We propose HDC as a general paradigm, best implemented when empirically verified theoretical or mathematical models have been developed in a particular scientific field. The HDC paradigm is powerful because it provides an opportunity to explore parameter ranges and perturbations that are not easily accessible in ordinary human interactions. The HDC not only enables to test the veracity of theoretical models, it also illuminates features that are not always apparent in real-time human social interactions and the brain correlates thereof.

An Experimental Examination of Peers’ Influence on Adolescent Girls’ Intent to Engage in Maladaptive Weight-Related Behaviors

PubMed Central

Rancourt, Diana; Choukas-Bradley, Sophia; Cohen, Geoffrey L.; Prinstein, Mitchell J.

2015-01-01

Objective Social psychological theories provide bases for understanding how social comparison processes may impact peer influence. This study examined two peer characteristics that may impact peer influence on adolescent girls’ weight-related behavior intentions: body size and popularity. Method A school-based sample of 66 9th grade girls (12–15 years old) completed an experimental paradigm in which they believed they were interacting with other students (i.e., “e-confederates”). The body size and popularity of the e-confederates were experimentally manipulated. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions in which they were exposed to identical maladaptive weight-related behavior norms communicated by ostensible female peers who were either: (1) Thin and Popular; (2) Thin and Average Popularity; or (3) Heavy and Average Popularity. Participants’ intent to engage in weight-related behaviors was measured pre-experiment and during public and private segments of the experiment. Results A significant effect of condition on public conformity was observed. Participants exposed to peers’ maladaptive weight-related behavior norms in the Heavy and Average condition reported significantly less intent to engage in weight-related behaviors than participants in either of the thin-peer conditions (F(2) = 3.93, p = .025). Peer influence on private acceptance of weight-related behavior intentions was similar across conditions (F(2) = .47, p = .63). Discussion Body size comparison may be the most salient component of peer influence processes on weight-related behaviors. Peer influence on weight-related behavior intention also appears to impact private beliefs. Considering peer norms in preventive interventions combined with dissonance-based approaches may be useful. PMID:24482093

[Reconsidering evaluation criteria regarding health care research: toward an integrative framework of quantitative and qualitative criteria].

PubMed

Miyata, Hiroaki; Kai, Ichiro

2006-05-01

Debate about the relationship between quantitative and qualitative paradigms is often muddled and confused and the clutter of terms and arguments has resulted in the concepts becoming obscure and unrecognizable. It is therefore very important to reconsider evaluation criteria regarding rigor in social science. As Lincoln & Guba have already compared quantitative paradigms (validity, reliability, neutrality, generalizability) with qualitative paradigms (credibility, dependability, confirmability, transferability), we have discuss use of evaluation criteria based on pragmatic perspective. Validity/Credibility is the paradigm concerned to observational framework, while Reliability/Dependability refer to the range of stability in observations, Neutrality/Confirmability reflect influences between observers and subjects, Generalizability/Transferability have epistemological difference in the way findings are applied. Qualitative studies, however, does not always chose the qualitative paradigms. If we assume the stability to some extent, it is better to use the quantitative paradigm (reliability). Moreover as a quantitative study can not always guarantee a perfect observational framework, with stability in all phases of observations, it is useful to use qualitative paradigms to enhance the rigor in the study.

Interactive rehabilitation system for improvement of balance therapies in people with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Jaume-i-Capó, Antoni; Martínez-Bueso, Pau; Moyà-Alcover, Biel; Varona, Javier

2014-03-01

The present study covers a new experimental system, designed to improve the balance and postural control of adults with cerebral palsy. This system is based on a serious game for balance rehabilitation therapy, designed using the prototype development paradigm and features for rehabilitation with serious games: feedback, adaptability, motivational elements, and monitoring. In addition, the employed interaction technology is based on computer vision because motor rehabilitation consists of body movements that can be recorded, and because vision capture technology is noninvasive and can be used for clients who have difficulties in holding physical devices. Previous research has indicated that serious games help to motivate clients in therapy sessions; however, there remains a paucity of clinical evidence involving functionality. We rigorously evaluated the effects of physiotherapy treatment on balance and gait function of adult subjects with cerebral palsy undergoing our experimental system. A 24-week physiotherapy intervention program was conducted with nine adults from a cerebral palsy center who exercised weekly in 20-min sessions. Findings demonstrated a significant increase in balance and gait function scores resulting in indicators of greater independence for our participating adults. Scores improved from 16 to 21 points in a scale of 28, according to the Tinetti Scale for risk of falls, moving from high fall risk to moderate fall risk. Our promising results indicate that our experimental system is feasible for balance rehabilitation therapy.

Paradigms for machine learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlimmer, Jeffrey C.; Langley, Pat

1991-01-01

Five paradigms are described for machine learning: connectionist (neural network) methods, genetic algorithms and classifier systems, empirical methods for inducing rules and decision trees, analytic learning methods, and case-based approaches. Some dimensions are considered along with these paradigms vary in their approach to learning, and the basic methods are reviewed that are used within each framework, together with open research issues. It is argued that the similarities among the paradigms are more important than their differences, and that future work should attempt to bridge the existing boundaries. Finally, some recent developments in the field of machine learning are discussed, and their impact on both research and applications is examined.

Collecting Response Times using Amazon Mechanical Turk and Adobe Flash

PubMed Central

Simcox, Travis; Fiez, Julie A.

2017-01-01

Crowdsourcing systems like Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) allow data to be collected from a large sample of people in a short amount of time. This use has garnered considerable interest from behavioral scientists. So far, most experiments conducted on AMT have focused on survey-type instruments because of difficulties inherent in running many experimental paradigms over the Internet. This article investigated the viability of presenting stimuli and collecting response times using Adobe Flash to run ActionScript 3 code in conjunction with AMT. First, the timing properties of Adobe Flash were investigated using a phototransistor and two desktop computers running under several conditions mimicking those that may be present in research using AMT. This experiment revealed some strengths and weaknesses of the timing capabilities of this method. Next, a flanker task and a lexical decision task implemented in Adobe Flash were administered to participants recruited with AMT. The expected effects in these tasks were replicated. Power analyses were conducted to describe the number of participants needed to replicate these effects. A questionnaire was used to investigate previously undescribed computer use habits of 100 participants on AMT. We conclude that a Flash program in conjunction with AMT can be successfully used for running many experimental paradigms that rely on response times, although experimenters must understand the limitations of the method. PMID:23670340

Reactivity to interpersonal stress in patients with eating disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies using an experimental paradigm.

PubMed

Monteleone, Alessio Maria; Treasure, Janet; Kan, Carol; Cardi, Valentina

2018-04-01

Reactivity to interpersonal stress in patients with eating disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies using an experimental paradigm. NEUROSCI BIOBEHAV REV XXX-XXX, 2018.- Social difficulties have been implicated in the development and maintenance of eating disorder symptoms. The aim of this work was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies testing patientsö reactivity to interpersonal stress, compared to healthy controls. Thirty-four studies were included. Meta-analyses were conducted on 16 studies and on following outcomes: attention bias and interference to threatening faces, cortisol, heart rate and negative affect before and after exposure to interpersonal stress. Patients showed heightened attention bias and interference to threatening faces. Lower heart rate after exposure to interpersonal stress and greater negative affect before and after interpersonal stress were observed in the clinical group compared to controls. Surprisingly, only a small minority of studies included measures of abnormal eating behaviour and attitudes. This seems a missed opportunity for testing the causal and maintaining role that abnormalities in interpersonal stress response play in eating disorders. Nonetheless, findings corroborate the hypothesis that patients' response to interpersonal stress differs from that of healthy controls. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Glucocorticoid levels after exposure to predator odor and chronic psychosocial stress with dexamethasone application in rats.

PubMed

Starcevic, Ana; Petricevic, Sasa; Radojicic, Zoran; Djulejic, Vuk; Ilankovic, Andrej; Starcevic, Branislav; Filipovic, Branislav

2016-05-01

This study was conducted to explore the effects of specific psychosocial paradigm on predator animal posttraumatic stress model and to test the hypothesis that psychosocially stressed rats would exibit abnormal levels of cortisol and a larger suppression of cortisol levels after the application of dexamethasone. Animals were divided in two groups: experimental and control groups. The experimental group was exposed to two types of stressors: acute immobilization stress, and combined predator stress and daily social stress with application of dexamethasone. Blood sampling was performed at three different times. We found statistically significant results after analyzing the differences between cortisol levels in different times of blood sampling in the group of animals exposed to stress with dexamethasone application. Statistical significance was found when we compared the experimental group with the control group in terms of elevated cortisol levels during blood sampling after stress paradigm exposition. Many significant disruptions in the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis were observed, such as decrease in basal cortisol levels and enhanced dexamethasone-induced inhibition of cortisol levels. These findings are important because their impact can translate to human individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder, which is the most important role of every animal model in research. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Taiwan.

The development of a scale to identify college and university science professors' science-faith paradigms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bundrick, David Ray

The relationship between science and religion in American higher education changed significantly over the past two centuries as empiricism and naturalism became the philosophical underpinnings of the university. This philosophical shift contributed significantly to the secularization of the academy, the context in which philosophers of science during the last half-century have theorized a variety of theoretical patterns for relating science and religion. Evidence suggests that science professors operationalize various science-faith paradigms, but no instrument prior to this research had ever been created to measure the constructs. The purpose of this research was to develop a scale, with at least adequate psychometric properties (good validity and initial reliability), able to identify and discriminate among these various science-faith paradigms (in the Western Christian tradition) in practice among college and university science professors in the United States. The researcher conducted a Web-based electronic survey of a stratified random sample of science professors representing a variety of higher education institution types, science disciplines, and religious affiliation. Principal Components Analysis of the survey data produced five factors predicted by the researcher. These factors correspond to five science-faith paradigms: Conflict---Science over Religion; Conflict---Religion over Science; Compartmentalism; Complementarism; and Concordism. Analysis of items loading on each factor produced a 50-item Science-Faith Paradigm Scale (SFPS) that consists of five sub-scales, each having characteristics of good content validity, construct validity, and initial reliability (Cronbach's alpha ranging from .87 to .95). Preliminary exploratory analysis of differences in SFPS sub-scale scores based on demographic variables indicates that the SFPS is capable of discriminating among groups. This research validates the existence of five science-faith paradigms in practice in the Western Christian tradition, enriches the information base on science-faith paradigms in the academy, and makes possible further research in this subject area. The Science-Faith Paradigm Scale is subject to confirmatory analysis through further research and may be employed voluntarily by science faculty for self-understanding that could lead to more effective communication among science professors and greater appreciation for the diversity of scientific-religious perspectives in American higher education.

Object-based selection in the Baylis and Driver (1993) paradigm is subject to space-based attentional modulation.

PubMed

Müller, Hermann J; O'Grady, Rebecca; Krummenacher, Joseph; Heller, Dieter

2008-11-01

Three experiments re-examined Baylis and Driver's (1993) strong evidence for object-based selection, that making relative apex location judgments is harder between two objects than within a single object, with object (figure-ground) segmentation determined solely by color-based perceptual set. Using variations of the Baylis and Driver paradigm, the experiments replicated a two-object cost. However, they also showed a large part of the two-object cost to be attributable to space-based factors, though there remained an irreducible cost consistent with 'true' object-based selection.

Rule-based programming paradigm: a formal basis for biological, chemical and physical computation.

PubMed

Krishnamurthy, V; Krishnamurthy, E V

1999-03-01

A rule-based programming paradigm is described as a formal basis for biological, chemical and physical computations. In this paradigm, the computations are interpreted as the outcome arising out of interaction of elements in an object space. The interactions can create new elements (or same elements with modified attributes) or annihilate old elements according to specific rules. Since the interaction rules are inherently parallel, any number of actions can be performed cooperatively or competitively among the subsets of elements, so that the elements evolve toward an equilibrium or unstable or chaotic state. Such an evolution may retain certain invariant properties of the attributes of the elements. The object space resembles Gibbsian ensemble that corresponds to a distribution of points in the space of positions and momenta (called phase space). It permits the introduction of probabilities in rule applications. As each element of the ensemble changes over time, its phase point is carried into a new phase point. The evolution of this probability cloud in phase space corresponds to a distributed probabilistic computation. Thus, this paradigm can handle tor deterministic exact computation when the initial conditions are exactly specified and the trajectory of evolution is deterministic. Also, it can handle probabilistic mode of computation if we want to derive macroscopic or bulk properties of matter. We also explain how to support this rule-based paradigm using relational-database like query processing and transactions.

Video Clips for Youtube: Collaborative Video Creation as an Educational Concept for Knowledge Acquisition and Attitude Change Related to Obesity Stigmatization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zahn, Carmen; Schaeffeler, Norbert; Giel, Katrin Elisabeth; Wessel, Daniel; Thiel, Ansgar; Zipfel, Stephan; Hesse, Friedrich W.

2014-01-01

Mobile phones and advanced web-based video tools have pushed forward new paradigms for using video in education: Today, students can readily create and broadcast their own digital videos for others and create entirely new patterns of video-based information structures for modern online-communities and multimedia environments. This paradigm shift…

Emergence of life: Physical chemistry changes the paradigm.

PubMed

Spitzer, Jan; Pielak, Gary J; Poolman, Bert

2015-06-10

Origin of life research has been slow to advance not only because of its complex evolutionary nature (Franklin Harold: In Search of Cell History, 2014) but also because of the lack of agreement on fundamental concepts, including the question of 'what is life?'. To re-energize the research and define a new experimental paradigm, we advance four premises to better understand the physicochemical complexities of life's emergence: (1) Chemical and Darwinian (biological) evolutions are distinct, but become continuous with the appearance of heredity. (2) Earth's chemical evolution is driven by energies of cycling (diurnal) disequilibria and by energies of hydrothermal vents. (3) Earth's overall chemical complexity must be high at the origin of life for a subset of (complex) chemicals to phase separate and evolve into living states. (4) Macromolecular crowding in aqueous electrolytes under confined conditions enables evolution of molecular recognition and cellular self-organization. We discuss these premises in relation to current 'constructive' (non-evolutionary) paradigm of origins research - the process of complexification of chemical matter 'from the simple to the complex'. This paradigm artificially avoids planetary chemical complexity and the natural tendency of molecular compositions toward maximum disorder embodied in the second law of thermodynamics. Our four premises suggest an empirical program of experiments involving complex chemical compositions under cycling gradients of temperature, water activity and electromagnetic radiation.

Receiver psychology turns 20: is it time for a broader approach?

PubMed Central

Miller, Cory T.; Bee, Mark A.

2013-01-01

Twenty years ago, a new conceptual paradigm known as ‘receiver psychology’ was introduced to explain the evolution of animal communication systems. This paradigm advanced the idea that psychological processes in the receiver's nervous system influence a signal's detectability, discriminability and memorability, and thereby serve as powerful sources of selection shaping signal design. While advancing our understanding of signal diversity, more recent studies make clear that receiver psychology, as a paradigm, has been structured too narrowly and does not incorporate many of the perceptual and cognitive processes of signal reception that operate between sensory transduction and a receiver's response. Consequently, the past two decades of research on receiver psychology have emphasized considerations of signal evolution but failed to ask key questions about the mechanisms of signal reception and their evolution. The primary aim of this essay is to advocate for a broader receiver psychology paradigm that more explicitly includes a research focus on receivers' psychological landscapes. We review recent experimental studies of hearing and sound communication to illustrate how considerations of several general perceptual and cognitive processes will facilitate future research on animal signalling systems. We also emphasize how a rigorous comparative approach to receiver psychology is critical to explicating the full range of perceptual and cognitive processes involved in receiving and responding to signals. PMID:24013277

Test-retest paradigm of the forced swimming test in female mice is not valid for predicting antidepressant-like activity: participation of acetylcholine and sigma-1 receptors.

PubMed

Su, Jing; Hato-Yamada, Noriko; Araki, Hiroaki; Yoshimura, Hiroyuki

2013-01-01

The forced swimming test (FST) in mice is widely used to predict the antidepressant activity of a drug, but information describing the immobility of female mice is limited. We investigated whether a prior swimming experience affects the immobility duration in a second FST in female mice and whether the test-retest paradigm is a valid screening tool for antidepressants. Female ICR mice were exposed to the FST using two experimental paradigms: a single FST and a double FST in which mice had experienced FST once 24 h prior to the second trail. The initial FST experience reliably prolonged immobility duration in the second FST. The antidepressants imipramine and paroxetine significantly reduced immobility duration in the single FST, but not in the double FST. Scopolamine and the sigma-1 (σ1) antagonist NE-100 administered before the second trial significantly prevented the prolongation of immobility. Neither a 5-HT1A nor a 5-HT2A receptor agonist affected immobility duration. We suggest that the test-retest paradigm in female mice is not adequate for predicting antidepressant-like activity of a drug; the prolongation of immobility in the double FST is modulated through acetylcholine and σ1 receptors.

The false memory syndrome: Experimental studies and comparison to confabulations

PubMed Central

Mendez, M.F.; Fras, I.A.

2011-01-01

False memories, or recollections that are factually incorrect but strongly believed, remain a source of confusion for both psychiatrists and neurologists. We propose model for false memories based on recent experimental investigations, particularly when analyzed in comparison to confabulations, which are the equivalent of false memories from neurological disease. Studies using the Deese/Roedinger–McDermott experimental paradigm indicate that false memories are associated with the need for complete and integrated memories, self-relevancy, imagination and wish fulfillment, familiarity, emotional facilitation, suggestibility, and sexual content. In comparison, confabulations are associated with the same factors except for emotional facilitation, suggestibility, and sexual content. Both false memories and confabulations have an abnormal sense of certainty for their recollections, and neuroanatomical findings implicate decreased activity in the ventromedial frontal lobe in this certainty. In summary, recent studies of false memories in comparison to confabulations support a model of false memories as internally-generated but suggestible and emotionally-facilitated fantasies or impulses, rather than repressed memories of real events. Furthermore, like confabulations, in order for false memories to occur there must be an attenuation of the normal, nonconscious, right frontal “doubt tag” regarding their certainty. PMID:21177042

Mental Health Promotion in Public Health: Perspectives and Strategies From Positive Psychology

PubMed Central

Seligman, Martin E.P.; Peterson, Christopher; Diener, Ed; Zack, Matthew M.; Chapman, Daniel; Thompson, William

2011-01-01

Positive psychology is the study of what is “right” about people—their positive attributes, psychological assets, and strengths. Its aim is to understand and foster the factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to thrive. Cross-sectional, experimental, and longitudinal research demonstrates that positive emotions are associated with numerous benefits related to health, work, family, and economic status. Growing biomedical research supports the view that positive emotions are not merely the opposite of negative emotions but may be independent dimensions of mental affect. The asset-based paradigms of positive psychology offer new approaches for bolstering psychological resilience and promoting mental health. Ultimately, greater synergy between positive psychology and public health might help promote mental health in innovative ways. PMID:21680918

Effects of sleep loss, time of day, and extended mental work on implicit and explicit learning of sequences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heuer, H.; Spijkers, W.; Kiesswetter, E.; Schmidtke, V.

1998-01-01

Tacit knowledge is part of many professional skills and can be studied experimentally with implicit-learning paradigms. The authors explored the effects of 2 different stressors, loss of sleep and mental fatigue, on implicit learning in a serial-response time (RT) task. In the 1st experiment, 1 night of sleep deprivation was shown to impair implicit but not explicit sequence learning. In the 2nd experiment, no impairment of both types of sequence learning was found after 1.5 hr of mental work. Serial-RT performance, in contrast, suffered from both stressors. These findings suggest that sleep deprivation induces specific risks for automatic, skill-based behavior that are not present in consciously controlled performance.

Neural Bases Of Food Perception: Coordinate-Based Meta-Analyses Of Neuroimaging Studies In Multiple Modalities

PubMed Central

Huerta, Claudia I; Sarkar, Pooja R; Duong, Timothy Q.; Laird, Angela R; Fox, Peter T

2013-01-01

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the results of the three food-cue paradigms most commonly used for functional neuroimaging studies to determine: i) commonalities and differences in the neural response patterns by paradigm; and, ii) the relative robustness and reliability of responses to each paradigm. Design and Methods functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies using standardized stereotactic coordinates to report brain responses to food cues were identified using on-line databases. Studies were grouped by food-cue modality as: i) tastes (8 studies); ii) odors (8 studies); and, iii) images (11 studies). Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was used to identify statistically reliable regional responses within each stimulation paradigm. Results Brain response distributions were distinctly different for the three stimulation modalities, corresponding to known differences in location of the respective primary and associative cortices. Visual stimulation induced the most robust and extensive responses. The left anterior insula was the only brain region reliably responding to all three stimulus categories. Conclusions These findings suggest visual food-cue paradigm as promising candidate for imaging studies addressing the neural substrate of therapeutic interventions. PMID:24174404

A Framework for Image-Based Modeling of Acute Myocardial Ischemia Using Intramurally Recorded Extracellular Potentials.

PubMed

Burton, Brett M; Aras, Kedar K; Good, Wilson W; Tate, Jess D; Zenger, Brian; MacLeod, Rob S

2018-05-21

The biophysical basis for electrocardiographic evaluation of myocardial ischemia stems from the notion that ischemic tissues develop, with relative uniformity, along the endocardial aspects of the heart. These injured regions of subendocardial tissue give rise to intramural currents that lead to ST segment deflections within electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings. The concept of subendocardial ischemic regions is often used in clinical practice, providing a simple and intuitive description of ischemic injury; however, such a model grossly oversimplifies the presentation of ischemic disease-inadvertently leading to errors in ECG-based diagnoses. Furthermore, recent experimental studies have brought into question the subendocardial ischemia paradigm suggesting instead a more distributed pattern of tissue injury. These findings come from experiments and so have both the impact and the limitations of measurements from living organisms. Computer models have often been employed to overcome the constraints of experimental approaches and have a robust history in cardiac simulation. To this end, we have developed a computational simulation framework aimed at elucidating the effects of ischemia on measurable cardiac potentials. To validate our framework, we simulated, visualized, and analyzed 226 experimentally derived acute myocardial ischemic events. Simulation outcomes agreed both qualitatively (feature comparison) and quantitatively (correlation, average error, and significance) with experimentally obtained epicardial measurements, particularly under conditions of elevated ischemic stress. Our simulation framework introduces a novel approach to incorporating subject-specific, geometric models and experimental results that are highly resolved in space and time into computational models. We propose this framework as a means to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of ischemic disease while simultaneously putting in place the computational infrastructure necessary to study and improve ischemia models aimed at reducing diagnostic errors in the clinic.

Caring for patients with kidney disease: shifting the paradigm from evidence-based medicine to patient-centered care

PubMed Central

O'Hare, Ann M.; Rodriguez, Rudolph A.; Bowling, Christopher Barrett

2016-01-01

The last several decades have witnessed the emergence of evidence-based medicine as the dominant paradigm for medical teaching, research and practice. Under an evidence-based approach, populations rather than individuals become the primary focus of investigation. Treatment priorities are largely shaped by the availability, relevance and quality of evidence and study outcomes and results are assumed to have more or less universal significance based on their implications at the population level. However, population-level treatment goals do not always align with what matters the most to individual patients—who may weigh the risks, benefits and harms of recommended treatments quite differently. In this article we describe the rise of evidence-based medicine in historical context. We discuss limitations of this approach for supporting real-world treatment decisions—especially in older adults with confluent comorbidity, functional impairment and/or limited life expectancy—and we describe the emergence of more patient-centered paradigms to address these limitations. We explain how the principles of evidence-based medicine have helped to shape contemporary approaches to defining, classifying and managing patients with chronic kidney disease. We discuss the limitations of this approach and the potential value of a more patient-centered paradigm, with a particular focus on the care of older adults with this condition. We conclude by outlining ways in which the evidence-base might be reconfigured to better support real-world treatment decisions in individual patients and summarize relevant ongoing initiatives. PMID:25637639

Positive Imagery-Based Cognitive Bias Modification as a Web-Based Treatment Tool for Depressed Adults

PubMed Central

Blackwell, Simon E.; Browning, Michael; Mathews, Andrew; Pictet, Arnaud; Welch, James; Davies, Jim; Watson, Peter; Geddes, John R.

2015-01-01

Depression is a global health problem requiring treatment innovation. Targeting neglected cognitive aspects may provide a useful route. We tested a cognitive-training paradigm using positive mental imagery (imagery cognitive bias modification, imagery CBM), developed via experimental psychopathology studies, in a randomized controlled trial. Training was delivered via the Internet to 150 individuals with current major depression. Unexpectedly, there was no significant advantage for imagery CBM compared with a closely matched control for depression symptoms as a whole in the full sample. In exploratory analyses, compared with the control, imagery CBM significantly improved anhedonia over the intervention and improved depression symptoms as a whole for those participants with fewer than five episodes of depression and those who engaged to a threshold level of imagery. Results suggest avenues for improving imagery CBM to inform low-intensity treatment tools for depression. Anhedonia may be a useful treatment target for future work. PMID:25984421

Mixed electrochemical–ferroelectric states in nanoscale ferroelectrics

DOE PAGES

Yang, Sang Mo; Morozovska, Anna N.; Kumar, Rajeev; ...

2017-05-01

Ferroelectricity on the nanoscale has been the subject of much fascination in condensed-matter physics for over half a century. In recent years, multiple reports claiming ferroelectricity in ultrathin ferroelectric films based on the formation of remnant polarization states, local electromechanical hysteresis loops, and pressure-induced switching were made. But, similar phenomena were reported for traditionally non-ferroelectric materials, creating a significant level of uncertainty in the field. We show that in nanoscale systems the ferroelectric state is fundamentally inseparable from the electrochemical state of the surface, leading to the emergence of a mixed electrochemical–ferroelectric state. We explore the nature, thermodynamics, and thicknessmore » evolution of such states, and demonstrate the experimental pathway to establish its presence. Our analysis reconciles multiple prior studies, provides guidelines for studies of ferroelectric materials on the nanoscale, and establishes the design paradigm for new generations of ferroelectric-based devices.« less

Markerless video analysis for movement quantification in pediatric epilepsy monitoring.

PubMed

Lu, Haiping; Eng, How-Lung; Mandal, Bappaditya; Chan, Derrick W S; Ng, Yen-Ling

2011-01-01

This paper proposes a markerless video analytic system for quantifying body part movements in pediatric epilepsy monitoring. The system utilizes colored pajamas worn by a patient in bed to extract body part movement trajectories, from which various features can be obtained for seizure detection and analysis. Hence, it is non-intrusive and it requires no sensor/marker to be attached to the patient's body. It takes raw video sequences as input and a simple user-initialization indicates the body parts to be examined. In background/foreground modeling, Gaussian mixture models are employed in conjunction with HSV-based modeling. Body part detection follows a coarse-to-fine paradigm with graph-cut-based segmentation. Finally, body part parameters are estimated with domain knowledge guidance. Experimental studies are reported on sequences captured in an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at a local hospital. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system in pediatric epilepsy monitoring and seizure detection.

[Neurophysiological Foundations and Practical Realizations of the Brain-Machine Interfaces the Technology in Neurological Rehabilitation].

PubMed

Kaplan, A Ya

2016-01-01

Technology brain-computer interface (BCI) based on the registration and interpretation of EEG has recently become one of the most popular developments in neuroscience and psychophysiology. This is due not only to the intended future use of these technologies in many areas of practical human activity, but also to the fact that IMC--is a completely new paradigm in psychophysiology, allowing test hypotheses about the possibilities of the human brain to the development of skills of interaction with the outside world without the mediation of the motor system, i.e. only with the help of voluntary modulation of EEG generators. This paper examines the theoretical and experimental basis, the current state and prospects of development of training, communicational and assisting complexes based on BCI to control them without muscular effort on the basis of mental commands detected in the EEG of patients with severely impaired speech and motor system.

A quality by design approach to scale-up of high-shear wet granulation process.

PubMed

Pandey, Preetanshu; Badawy, Sherif

2016-01-01

High-shear wet granulation is a complex process that in turn makes scale-up a challenging task. Scale-up of high-shear wet granulation process has been studied extensively in the past with various different methodologies being proposed in the literature. This review article discusses existing scale-up principles and categorizes the various approaches into two main scale-up strategies - parameter-based and attribute-based. With the advent of quality by design (QbD) principle in drug product development process, an increased emphasis toward the latter approach may be needed to ensure product robustness. In practice, a combination of both scale-up strategies is often utilized. In a QbD paradigm, there is also a need for an increased fundamental and mechanistic understanding of the process. This can be achieved either by increased experimentation that comes at higher costs, or by using modeling techniques, that are also discussed as part of this review.

Parsing with logical variables (logic-based programming systems)

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

Finin, T.W.; Stone Palmer, M.

1983-01-01

Logic based programming systems have enjoyed an increasing popularity in applied AI work in the last few years. One of the contributions to computational linguistics made by the logic programming paradigm has been the definite clause grammar. In comparing DCGS with previous parsing mechanisms such as ATNS, certain clear advantages are seen. The authors feel that the most important of these advantages are due to the use of logical variables with unification as the fundamental operation on them. To illustrate the power of the logical variable, they have implemented an experimental atn system which treats atn registers as logical variablesmore » and provides a unification operation over them. They aim to simultaneously encourage the use of the powerful mechanisms available in DCGS and demonstrate that some of these techniques can be captured without reference to a resolution theorem prover. 14 references.« less

Micrometer-Scale Ballistic Transport of Electron Pairs in LaAlO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} Nanowires.

PubMed

Tomczyk, Michelle; Cheng, Guanglei; Lee, Hyungwoo; Lu, Shicheng; Annadi, Anil; Veazey, Joshua P; Huang, Mengchen; Irvin, Patrick; Ryu, Sangwoo; Eom, Chang-Beom; Levy, Jeremy

2016-08-26

High-mobility complex-oxide heterostructures and nanostructures offer new opportunities for extending the paradigm of quantum transport beyond the realm of traditional III-V or carbon-based materials. Recent quantum transport investigations with LaAlO_{3}/SrTiO_{3}-based quantum dots reveal the existence of a strongly correlated phase in which electrons form spin-singlet pairs without becoming superconducting. Here, we report evidence for the micrometer-scale ballistic transport of electron pairs in quasi-1D LaAlO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} nanowire cavities. In the paired phase, Fabry-Perot-like quantum interference is observed, in sync with conductance oscillations observed in the superconducting regime (at a zero magnetic field). Above a critical magnetic field B_{p}, the electron pairs unbind and the conductance oscillations shift with the magnetic field. These experimental observations extend the regime of ballistic electronic transport to strongly correlated phases.

Minimal metabolic pathway structure is consistent with associated biomolecular interactions

PubMed Central

Bordbar, Aarash; Nagarajan, Harish; Lewis, Nathan E; Latif, Haythem; Ebrahim, Ali; Federowicz, Stephen; Schellenberger, Jan; Palsson, Bernhard O

2014-01-01

Pathways are a universal paradigm for functionally describing cellular processes. Even though advances in high-throughput data generation have transformed biology, the core of our biological understanding, and hence data interpretation, is still predicated on human-defined pathways. Here, we introduce an unbiased, pathway structure for genome-scale metabolic networks defined based on principles of parsimony that do not mimic canonical human-defined textbook pathways. Instead, these minimal pathways better describe multiple independent pathway-associated biomolecular interaction datasets suggesting a functional organization for metabolism based on parsimonious use of cellular components. We use the inherent predictive capability of these pathways to experimentally discover novel transcriptional regulatory interactions in Escherichia coli metabolism for three transcription factors, effectively doubling the known regulatory roles for Nac and MntR. This study suggests an underlying and fundamental principle in the evolutionary selection of pathway structures; namely, that pathways may be minimal, independent, and segregated. PMID:24987116

Effort-Based Decision Making in Schizophrenia: Evaluation of Paradigms to Measure Motivational Deficits

PubMed Central

Green, Michael F.; Horan, William P.

2015-01-01

Effort-based decision making requires one to decide how much effort to expend for a certain amount of reward. As the amount of reward goes up most people are willing to exert more effort. This relationship between reward level and effort expenditure can be measured in specialized performance-based tasks that have only recently been applied to schizophrenia. Such tasks provide a way to measure objectively motivational deficits in schizophrenia, which now are only assessed with clinical interviews of negative symptoms. The articles in this theme provide reviews of the relevant animal and human literatures (first 2 articles), and then a psychometric evaluation of 5 effort-based decision making paradigms (last 2 articles). This theme section is intended to stimulate interest in this emerging area among basic scientists developing paradigms for preclinical studies, human experimentalists trying to disentangle factors that contribute to performance on effort-based tasks, and investigators looking for objective endpoints for clinical trials of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. PMID:26108868

False Memories Are Not Surprising: The Subjective Experience of an Associative Memory Illusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpicke, Jeffrey D.; McCabe, David P.; Roediger, Henry L., III

2008-01-01

Four experiments examined subjective experience during retrieval in the DRM false memory paradigm [Deese, J. (1959). "On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall." "Journal of Experimental Psychology," 58, 17-22; Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). "Creating false memories: Remembering words not…

Case Assignment in Typically Developing English-Speaking Children: A Paired Priming Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisman Weil, Lisa Marie

2013-01-01

This study utilized a paired priming paradigm to examine the influence of input features on case assignment in typically developing English-speaking children. The Input Ambiguity Hypothesis (Pelham, 2011) was experimentally tested to help explain why children produce subject pronoun case errors. Analyses of third singular "-s" marking on…

Is All Motivation Good for Learning? Dissociable Influences of Approach and Avoidance Motivation in Declarative Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murty, Vishnu P.; LaBar, Kevin S.; Hamilton, Derek A.; Adcock, R. Alison

2011-01-01

The present study investigated the effects of approach versus avoidance motivation on declarative learning. Human participants navigated a virtual reality version of the Morris water task, a classic spatial memory paradigm, adapted to permit the experimental manipulation of motivation during learning. During this task, participants were instructed…

Cued Dichotic Listening with Right-Handed, Left-Handed, Bilingual and Learning-Disabled Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obrzut, John E.; And Others

This study used cued dichotic listening to investigate differences in language lateralization among right-handed (control), left handed, bilingual, and learning disabled children. Subjects (N=60) ranging in age from 7-13 years were administered a consonant-vowel-consonant dichotic paradigm with three experimental conditions (free recall, directed…

Architectural Principles and Experimentation of Distributed High Performance Virtual Clusters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Younge, Andrew J.

2016-01-01

With the advent of virtualization and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), the broader scientific computing community is considering the use of clouds for their scientific computing needs. This is due to the relative scalability, ease of use, advanced user environment customization abilities, and the many novel computing paradigms available for…

Assessing Impact and Bridging Methodological Divides: Randomized Trials in Countries Affected by Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burde, Dana

2012-01-01

Randomized trials have experienced a marked surge in endorsement and popularity in education research in the past decade. This surge reignited paradigm debates and spurred qualitative critics to accuse these experimental designs of eclipsing qualitative research. This article reviews a current iteration of this debate and examines two randomized…

Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Identification of Positive and Negative Facial Affect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahman, Qazi; Wilson, Glenn D.; Abrahams, Sharon

2004-01-01

Sex and sexual orientation related differences in processing of happy and sad facial emotions were examined using an experimental facial emotion recognition paradigm with a large sample (N=240). Analysis of covariance (controlling for age and IQ) revealed that women (irrespective of sexual orientation) had faster reaction times than men for…

Looking Back To Find a Vision: Exploring the Emancipatory Potential of Teacher Research. Review of Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Patricia A.; Cornett, Jeffrey

2000-01-01

Discusses the limitations of experimental studies of learning and the emergence of alternative paradigms such as constructivism. Examines the growth of teacher research and its historical influences, including Montessori, Dewey's Progressive Movement, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell. Discusses current trends in teacher research, asserting that it is…

The Neural Basis of Insight Problem Solving: An Event-Related Potential Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qiu, Jiang; Li, Hong; Yang, Dong; Luo, Yuejia; Li, Ying; Wu, Zhenzhen; Zhang, Qinglin

2008-01-01

The electrophysiological correlates of successful insight problem solving (Chinese logogriphs) were studied in 18 healthy subjects using high-density event-related potentials (ERPs). A new experimental paradigm (learning-testing model) was adopted in order to make subjects find a solution on their own initiative rather than receive an answer…

Why Traditional Expository Teaching-Learning Approaches May Founder? An Experimental Examination of Neural Networks in Biology Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jun-Ki; Kwon, Yong-Ju

2011-01-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study investigates and discusses neurological explanations for, and the educational implications of, the neural network activations involved in hypothesis-generating and hypothesis-understanding for biology education. Two sets of task paradigms about biological phenomena were designed:…

Psychophysiological and Behavioral Responses to a Novel Intruder Threat Task for Children on the Autism Spectrum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

South, Mikle; Taylor, Katherine M.; Newton, Tiffani; Christensen, Megan; Jamison, Nathan K.; Chamberlain, Paul; Johnston, Oliver; Crowley, Michael J.; Higley, J. Dee

2017-01-01

We measured skin conductance response (SCR) to escalating levels of a direct social threat from a novel, ecologically-relevant experimental paradigm, the Intruder Threat Task. We simultaneously evaluated the contribution of social symptom severity and behavioral movement. Children with AS group showed less psychophysiological reactivity to social…

Biobehavioral Indicators of Social Fear in Young Children with Fragile X Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tonnsen, Bridgette L.; Shinkareva, Svetlana V.; Deal, Sara C.; Hatton, Deborah D.; Roberts, Jane E.

2013-01-01

Anxiety is among the most impairing conditions associated with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and is putatively linked to atypical physiological arousal. However, few studies have examined this association in young children with FXS. The authors examined whether patterns of arousal and behavior during an experimental stranger approach paradigm differ…

The Effects of Elaboration and Rehearsal on Long-Term Retention of Shape Names by Kindergarteners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallimore, Ronald; And Others

1977-01-01

Elaboration and overt rehearsal are compared as instructional paradigms for memory retention. Superior long-term retention was produced in the elaboration condition when the initial acquisition effects were statistically removed. Short-term data suggest acquisition was complexly affected by experimental condition, I.Q., and task. Elaboration…

Cliff or Step? Posture-Specific Learning at the Edge of a Drop-Off

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kretch, Kari S.; Adolph, Karen E.

2013-01-01

Infants require locomotor experience to behave adaptively at a drop-off. However, different experimental paradigms (visual cliff and actual gaps and slopes) have generated conflicting findings regarding what infants learn and the specificity of their learning. An actual, adjustable drop-off apparatus was used to investigate whether learning to…

Experimental paradigm for in-lab proxy aquatic studies under conditions of static, non flow through chemical exposures

EPA Science Inventory

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as 17α ethynylestradiol (EE2), 17β estradiol (E2), estrone (E1) and para-nonylphenol (NP) have been measured in wastewater treatment plant effluents, surface waters, sediments and sludge, and have been shown to induce liver-sp...

A Vodcasted, Cross-Disciplinary, Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory Exercise Investigating the Effects of Methamphetamine on Aggression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shanks, Ryan A.; Southard, E. Megan; Tarnowski, Laura; Bruster, Matthew; Wingate, Stacia W.; Dalman, Nancy; Lloyd, Steven A.

2011-01-01

This article describes a laboratory experience utilizing videos to engage students in hypothesis-driven experimentation in behavioral neuroscience. It provides students with an opportunity to investigate the effects of chronic methamphetamine exposure on aggression in adult mice using a resident-intruder paradigm. Instructors and students only…

The Emergence of Sub-Syllabic Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yongeun; Goldrick, Matthew

2008-01-01

In a variety of experimental paradigms speakers do not treat all sub-syllabic sequences equally. In languages like English, participants tend to group vowels and codas together to the exclusion of onsets (i.e., /bet/=/b/-/et/). Three possible accounts of these patterns are examined. A hierarchical account attributes these results to the presence…

Get Real: Effects of Repeated Simulation and Emotion on the Perceived Plausibility of Future Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szpunar, Karl K.; Schacter, Daniel L.

2013-01-01

People frequently imagine specific interpersonal experiences that might occur in their futures. The present study used a novel experimental paradigm to examine the influence of repeated simulation of future interpersonal experiences on subjective assessments of plausibility for positive, negative, and neutral events. The results demonstrate that…

Substituted-Letter and Transposed-Letter Effects in a Masked Priming Paradigm with French Developing Readers and Dyslexics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lete, Bernard; Fayol, Michel

2013-01-01

The aim of the study was to undertake a behavioral investigation of the development of automatic orthographic processing during reading acquisition in French. Following Castles and colleagues' 2007 study ("Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 97," 165-182) and their lexical tuning hypothesis framework, substituted-letter and…

Integrating Fast and Slow Cognitive Processes

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-01

Stroop’s paradigm." Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , 8(2), 324-330. Chase M. H. & Morales, F. R. (2005). Control of motoneurons during sleep. In M. H... Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , 18, 987-999. Zehr, E. P., & Stein, R. B., Interaction of the Jendrassik maneuver with segmental presnaptic inhibitation. Experimental Brain Research, 124 (4), 474-480. 126

Typological Asymmetries in Round Vowel Harmony: Support from Artificial Grammar Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finley, Sara

2012-01-01

Providing evidence for the universal tendencies of patterns in the world's languages can be difficult, as it is impossible to sample all possible languages, and linguistic samples are subject to interpretation. However, experimental techniques, such as artificial grammar learning paradigms, make it possible to uncover the psychological reality of…

Structural Facilitation: Mere Exposure Effects for Grammatical Acceptability as Evidence for Syntactic Priming in Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luka, B.J.; Barsalou, L.W.

2005-01-01

In five experiments, participants first read grammatical sentences of English and later rated identical, structurally similar, or novel sentences for grammatical acceptability. The experimental method was modeled after ''mere exposure'' and artificial grammar learning paradigms in which preference ratings are enhanced by prior experience with the…

Chimpanzees Know What Others Know, but Not What They Believe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaminski, Juliane; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2008-01-01

There is currently much controversy about which, if any, mental states chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates understand. In the current two studies we tested both chimpanzees' and human children's understanding of both knowledge-ignorance and false belief--in the same experimental paradigm involving competition with a conspecific. We found that…

Measuring the Moral Sense: Morality Tests in Continental Europe between 1910 and 1930

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verplaetse, Jan

2008-01-01

Although historians of psychological and educational sciences have not completely neglected early research in the field of morality testing, European contributions to the measurement of ethical judgement and moral feeling have not received much historical attention. In this paper, two principal, experimental paradigms that emerged in early…

Vibrational soliton: an experimental overview

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

Bigio, I.J.

1986-03-08

To date the most convincing evidence of vibrational solitons in biopolymers has been found in two very disparate systems: Davydov-like excitations in hydrogen-bonded linear chains (acetanilide and N-methylacetamide) which are not biopolymers but plausible structural paradigms for biopolymers, and longitudinal accoustic modes of possibly nonlinear character in biologically viable DNA. 17 refs., 4 figs.

Isolating Neural Components of Threat Bias in Pediatric Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Britton, Jennifer C.; Bar-Haim, Yair; Carver, Frederick W.; Holroyd, Tom; Norcross, Maxine A.; Detloff, Allison; Leibenluft, Ellen; Ernst, Monique; Pine, Daniel S.

2012-01-01

Background: Attention biases toward threat are often detected in individuals with anxiety disorders. Threat biases can be measured experimentally through dot-probe paradigms, in which individuals detect a probe following a stimulus pair including a threat. On these tasks, individuals with anxiety tend to detect probes that occur in a location…

Habituation as a Determinant of Human Food Intake

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epstein, Leonard H.; Temple, Jennifer L.; Roemmich, James N.; Bouton, Mark E.

2009-01-01

Research has shown that animals and humans habituate on a variety of behavioral and physiological responses to repeated presentations of food cues, and habituation is related to amount of food consumed and cessation of eating. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of experimental paradigms used to study habituation, integrate a…

Sleep-Related Improvements in Motor Learning Following Mental Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Debarnot, Ursula; Creveaux, Thomas; Collet, Christian; Gemignani, Angelo; Massarelli, Raphael; Doyon, Julien; Guillot, Aymeric

2009-01-01

A wide range of experimental studies have provided evidence that a night of sleep may enhance motor performance following physical practice (PP), but little is known, however, about its effect after motor imagery (MI). Using an explicitly learned pointing task paradigm, thirty participants were assigned to one of three groups that differed in the…

Simulating Cross-Language Priming with a Dynamic Computational Model of the Lexicon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Xiaowei; Li, Ping

2013-01-01

Cross-language priming is a widely used experimental paradigm in psycholinguistics to study how bilinguals' two languages are represented and organized. Researchers have observed a number of interesting patterns from the priming effects of both translation equivalents and semantically related word pairs across languages. In this study, we…

Detecting gait abnormalities after concussion or mild traumatic brain injury: A systematic review of single-task, dual-task, and complex gait.

PubMed

Fino, Peter C; Parrington, Lucy; Pitt, Will; Martini, Douglas N; Chesnutt, James C; Chou, Li-Shan; King, Laurie A

2018-05-01

While a growing number of studies have investigated the effects of concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on gait, many studies use different experimental paradigms and outcome measures. The path for translating experimental studies for objective clinical assessments of gait is unclear. This review asked 2 questions: 1) is gait abnormal after concussion/mTBI, and 2) what gait paradigms (single-task, dual-task, complex gait) detect abnormalities after concussion. Data sources included MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) accessed on March 14, 2017. Original research articles reporting gait outcomes in people with concussion or mTBI were included. Studies of moderate, severe, or unspecified TBI, and studies without a comparator were excluded. After screening 233 articles, 38 studies were included and assigned to one or more sections based on the protocol and reported outcomes. Twenty-six articles reported single-task simple gait outcomes, 24 reported dual-task simple gait outcomes, 21 reported single-task complex gait outcomes, and 10 reported dual-task complex gait outcomes. Overall, this review provides evidence for two conclusions: 1) gait is abnormal acutely after concussion/mTBI but generally resolves over time; and 2) the inconsistency of findings, small sample sizes, and small number of studies examining homogenous measures at the same time-period post-concussion highlight the need for replication across independent populations and investigators. Future research should concentrate on dual-task and complex gait tasks, as they showed promise for detecting abnormal locomotor function outside of the acute timeframe. Additionally, studies should provide detailed demographic and clinical characteristics to enable more refined comparisons across studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.