2,811 research outputs found

    No evidence for embodiment: The motor system is not needed to keep action words in working memory

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    Increasing evidence implicates the sensorimotor systems with high-level cognition, but the extent to which these systems play a functional role remains debated. Using an elegant design, Shebani and Pulvermüller (2013) reported that carrying out a demanding rhythmic task with the hands led to selective impairment of working memory for hand-related words (e.g., clap), while carrying out the same task with the feet led to selective memory impairment for foot-related words (e.g., kick). Such a striking double dissociation is acknowledged even by critics to constitute strong evidence for an embodied account of working memory. Here, we report on an attempt at a direct replication of this important finding. We followed a sequential sampling design and stopped data collection at N=77 (more than five times the original sample size), at which point the evidence for the lack of the critical selective interference effect was very strong (BF01 = 91). This finding constitutes strong evidence against a functional contribution of the motor system to keeping action words in working memory. Our finding fits into the larger emerging picture in the field of embodied cognition that sensorimotor simulations are neither required nor automatic in high-level cognitive processes, but that they may play a role depending on the task. Importantly, we urge researchers to engage in transparent, high-powered, and fully pre-registered experiments like the present one to ensure the field advances on a solid basis

    Help or hindrance : young people's experiences of predictive testing for Huntington's disease

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    Funded by Scottish GovernmentPeer reviewedPublisher PD

    Sensitivity to point-like sources of the ALTO atmospheric particle detector array, designed for 200GeV\rm 200\,GeV--50TeV\rm 50\,TeV γ\gamma-ray astronomy

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    In the context of atmospheric shower arrays designed for γ\gamma-ray astronomy and in the context of the ALTO project, we present: a study of the impact of heavier nuclei in the cosmic-ray background on the estimated γ\gamma-ray detection performance on the basis of dedicated Monte Carlo simulations, a method to calculate the sensitivity to a point-like source, and finally the required observation times to reach a firm detection on a list of known point-like sources.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in JHEAP (Journal of High-Energy Astrophysics

    Entrepreneurship and the Economics of the Firm

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    The study of entrepreneurship and the study of economic organizing lack contact. In fact, the modern theory of the firm virtually ignores entrepreneurship, while the literature on entrepreneurship often sees little value in the economic theory of the firm. In contrast, we argue in this chapter that entrepreneurship theory and the theory of the firm can be usefully integrated, and that doing so would improve both bodies of theory. Adding the entrepreneur to the theory of the firm provides a dynamic view that the overly static analysis of firm organizing cannot support. Moreover, adding the firm to the study of the entrepreneur provides important clues to how we can understand entrepreneurship

    Formation of the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry, SOReg.

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    Obesity surgery is expanding, the quality of care is ever more important, and learning curve assessment should be established. A large registry cohort can show long-term effects on obesity and its comorbidities, complications, and long-term side effects of surgery, as well as changes in health-related quality of life (QoL). Sweden is ideally suited to the task of data collection and audit, with universal use of personal identification numbers, nation-wide registries permitting cross-matching to analyze causes of death, in-hospital care, and health-related absenteeism

    Vascular responses of the extremities to transdermal application of vasoactive agents in Caucasian and African descent individuals

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    This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in European Journal of Applied Physiology on 04/04/2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3164-2 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Purpose: Individuals of African descent (AFD) are more susceptible to non-freezing cold injury than Caucasians (CAU) which may be due, in part, to differences in the control of skin blood flow. We investigated the skin blood flow responses to transdermal application of vasoactive agents. Methods: Twenty-four young males (12 CAU and 12 AFD) undertook three tests in which iontophoresis was used to apply acetylcholine (ACh 1 w/v %), sodium nitroprusside (SNP 0.01 w/v %) and noradrenaline (NA 0.5 mM) to the skin. The skin sites tested were: volar forearm, non-glabrous finger and toe, and glabrous finger (pad) and toe (pad). Results: In response to SNP on the forearm, AFD had less vasodilatation for a given current application than CAU (P = 0.027–0.004). ACh evoked less vasodilatation in AFD for a given application current in the non-glabrous finger and toe compared with CAU (P = 0.043–0.014) with a lower maximum vasodilatation in the non-glabrous finger (median [interquartile], AFD n = 11, 41[234] %, CAU n = 12, 351[451] %, P = 0.011) and non-glabrous toe (median [interquartile], AFD n = 9, 116[318] %, CAU n = 12, 484[720] %, P = 0.018). ACh and SNP did not elicit vasodilatation in the glabrous skin sites of either group. There were no ethnic differences in response to NA. Conclusion: AFD have an attenuated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in non-glabrous sites of the fingers and toes compared with CAU. This may contribute to lower skin temperature following cold exposure and the increased risk of cold injuries experienced by AFD.Published versio
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