1,721,018 research outputs found
Seeing the brain through the architect's eyes: A rejoinder to Gevers and Notebaert
No full textWe welcome Gevers and Notebaert’s note, which
shows how converging efforts are being made by
independent laboratories and from different perspectives,
in the attempt to reach a better understanding
of the relation between Simon and
SNARC (spatial-numerical association of
response codes) effects. We would like to draw
attention to a crucial distinction between number
and space processing on the one hand and
between the processes that are involved in the
Simon and SNARC effects on the other
Facilitation and interference components in the Simon effect
No full textFacilitation and interference components in the Simon effec
Inhibition of return in newborn infants.
Full text linkInhibition of return is a reduced tendency to orient toward a previously attended spatial location, which, in adults, likely reflects an attentional bias toward novel locations. It is indexed by an increased latency and/or a reduction in the probability of an eye movement to the inhibited location. Previous research had indicated that inhibition of return develops between 3 and 6 months of age. We submitted 32 newborns (M age = 72 hours; SD = 0.0) to trials consisting of a pretest phase (a single visual cue shown for 3 s at 30° from fixation), a 2-s interval, and a test phase (two identical stimuli shown simultaneously at 30° for 5 s). We recorded the direction and latency of the first eye movement in both the pretest and test phases as well as the nonnutritive sucking rate. The results showed that eye movements occurred more frequently and with a shorter latency toward the uncued side (i.e., inhibition of return). There was also some indication that inhibition of return occurred only when in the pretest phase the infant shifted gaze toward the cue and nonnutritive sucking rate decreased. It was concluded that inhibition of return is present in the first days after birth. © 1994
Laterality effects for simple and complex geometrical figures, and nonsense patterns.
No full textThree groups of normal, right handed subjects were trained to give same-different responses to pairs of stimuli presented simultaneously to the right or the left side of a fixation point. The subjects exhibited faster reactions (pressing 1 of 2 keys) to stimuli appearing in the right visual field when the stimuli were simple geometrical figures (e.g. triangles and squares) or nonsense patterns. By contrast, drawings subjects showed a left visual field advantage when the stimuli were complex geometrical figures (e.g. 10 and 11 sided regular polygons). These differences in performance for the 2 halves of the visual field are attributed to differential hemispheic specializations. The opposite hemispheric superiorities found with different classes of stimuli are in turn attributed to the discrimination of single features by the left hemisphere and to the use of a spatial strategy by the right hemispher
Psicologia Generale. Dal cervello alla mente
No full textQuesto manuale presenta la psicologia generale secondo una nuova prospettiva. Per tradizione mente e cervello sono stati oggetto di studi separati. Gli autori, invece, partono dall'assunto che non vi è attività mentale che non abbia un correlato nel cervello e affrontano la disciplina illustrando l'intreccio tra lo studio sperimentale dei comportamenti e la descrizione dei correlati neurali corrispondenti a quei comportamenti
Newborns' preference for goal directed actions
No full textThe central role of sensory-motor representations in cognitive functions is almost universally accepted. However, determining the link between motor execution and its sensory counterpart and when, during ontogenesis, this link originates are still under investigation. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether at birth this link is already present and 2-day-old newborns are able to discriminate between visual cues indicating goal-directed or non-goal-directed actions. Here, with a preferential looking technique, a hand grasping a ball was the observed movement and we orthogonally manipulated the three
factors necessary to successfully reach the goal: (a) presence of the ball, (b) direction of the arm movement, and (c) hand shaping. Results indicated that newborns orient more frequently and look longer at a hand shape for whole hand prehension but only when the movement is directed away from the body and toward the external world. In addition,newborns prefer the away from the body movement only when the object is present.
We argue that newborns prefer a movement directed toward the external world only when it may develop into a purposeful movement because of the presence of the to-be-grasped
object. Overall, our results support the existence of primitive sensory-motor associations since the first days after birth
Effects of age on orientation of attention
No full textThe present experiment investigated the influence of age on the magnitude of attentional effects. Subjects were cued to attend to one of two possible stimulus locations horizontally arranged. The instructions were to respond as fast as possible to the occurrence of a visual stimulus, regardless of whether it occurred in a cued or in a non-cued location. When the stimulus occurred in a non-cued location, the subject had to reorient attention to the non-attended, but stimulated, location. Reorienting of attention was directed toward either the left or the right side. The results showed that for the elders, time for reorienting was longer than for younger subjects
- …
