Biases in the perceived timing of perisaccadic perceptual and motor events

Subjects typically experience the temporal interval immediately following a saccade as longer than a comparable control interval. One explanation of this effect is that the brain antedates the perceptual onset of a saccade target to around the time of saccade initiation. This could explain the apparent continuity of visual perception across eye movements. Thisantedating account was tested in three experiments in which subjects made saccades of differing extents and then judged either the duration or the temporal order of key events. Postsaccadic stimuli underwent subjective temporal lengthening and had early perceived onsets. A temporally advanced awareness of saccade completion was also found, independently of antedating effects. These results provide convergent evidence supporting antedating and differentiating it from other temporal biases

The role of macrophages in the development of biliary injury in a lipopolysaccharide-aggravated hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion model

Introduction: Endotoxins, in the form of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), are potent inducers of biliary injury. However the mechanism by which injury develops remains unclear. We hypothesized that hepatic macrophages are pivotal in the development of endotoxin-induced biliary injury and that no injury would occur in their absence. Material and methods: Clodronate liposomes were used to deplete macrophages from the liver. Forty-eight rats were equally divided across six study groups: sham operation (sham), liposome treatment and sham operation (liposomes + sham), 1. mg/kg LPS i.p. (LPS), liposome treatment and LPS administration (liposomes + LPS), hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion injury with LPS administration (IRI + LPS) and liposome treatment followed by IRI + LPS (liposomes + IRI + LPS). Following 6. h of reperfusion, blood, bile, and liver tissue was collected for further analysis. Small bile duct injury was assessed, serum liver tests were performed and bile composition was evaluated. The permeability of the blood-biliary barrier (BBB) was assessed using intravenously administered horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Results: The presence of hepatic macrophages was reduced by 90% in LPS and IRI + LPS groups pre-treated with clodronate liposomes (

Efficient Visual Search from Synchronized Auditory Signals Requires Transient Audiovisual Events

BACKGROUND: A prevailing view is that audiovisual integration requires temporally coincident signals. However, a recent study failed to find any evidence for audiovisual integration in visual search even when using synchronized audiovisual events. An important question is what information is critical to observe audiovisual integration. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we demonstrate that temporal coincidence (i.e., synchrony) of auditory and visual components can trigger audiovisual interaction in cluttered displays and consequently produce very fast and efficient target identification. In visual search experiments, subjects found a modulating visual target vastly more efficiently when it was paired with a synchronous auditory signal. By manipulating the kind of temporal modulation (sine wave vs. square wave vs. difference wave; harmonic sine-wave synthesis; gradient of onset/offset ramps) we show that abrupt visual events are required for this search efficiency to occur, and that sinusoidal audiovisual modulations do not support efficient search. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Thus, audiovisual temporal alignment will only lead to benefits in visual search if the changes in the component signals are both synchronized and transient. We propose that transient signals are necessary in synchrony-driven binding to avoid spurious interactions with unrelated signals when these occur close together in time

How Awareness Changes the Relative Weights of Evidence During Human Decision-Making

A combined behavioral and brain imaging study shows how sensory awareness and stimulus visibility can influence the dynamics of decision-making in humans

The relationship between reversed masked priming and the tri-phasic pattern of the lateralised readiness potential.

One of the potential explanations for negative compatibility effects (NCE) in subliminal motor priming tasks has been perceptual prime-target interactions. Here, we investigate whether the characteristic tri-phasic LRP pattern associated with the NCE is caused by these prime-target interactions. We found that both the prime-related phase and the critical reversal phase remain present even on trials where the target is omitted, confirming they are elicited by the prime and mask, not by prime-target interactions. We also report that shape and size of the reversal phase are associated with response speed, consistent with a causal role for the reversal for the subsequent response latency. Additionally, we analysed sequential modulation of the NCE by previous conflicting events, even though such conflict is subliminal. In accordance with previous literature, this modulation is small but significant

Struktura i własności mechaniczne drutów AlMg4.5 i AlMg4.5Mn otrzymanych metodą KoBo

The influence of the number of extrusion steps in KoBo method (at the same total extrusion ratio of λ = 100) on structure, mechanical properties and work hardening characteristics of AlMg4.5 and AlMg4.5Mn (AA5083) alloys was investigated. It was found that one-step extrusion leads to the formation of recrystallised structure of the material, while the use of two-step extrusion yields a fibrous structure of a “mixed” type, i.e. containing areas where the intensive recovery effects are associated with partially recrystallised structure. As a consequence, the strength properties of the latter extrudate are much higher in both as extruded state and after the subsequent cold rolling. In all cases, the tensile stress-strain curves of the extrudates show the flow stress serrations that are typical for the Portevin - LeChatelier (P-L) effect. In a few tensile tests, the P-L effect was preceded by the plastic flow instability being typical for the occurrence of Lüders bands. Both AlMg4.5 and AlMg4.5Mn extruded wires show a monotonic increase of the work hardening that results from the following cold deformation in the groove rolling.W pracy badano wpływ liczby operacji wyciskania metodą KoBo (z identycznym sumarycznym stopniem przerobu λ = 100) na strukturę, własności mechaniczne i charakterystyki umocnieniowe drutów ze stopów AlMg4.5 i AlMg4.5Mn (AA5083). Stwierdzono, że wyciskanie jednooperacyjne prowadzi w przypadku obu stopów do formowania struktury typowej dla materia- łów zrekrystalizowanych. podczas gdy zastosowanie dwuoperacyjnego wyciskania skutkuje utworzeniem struktury włóknistej o charakterze „mieszanym”, tzn. zawierającej zarówno obszary, w których dominowały procesy intensywnego zdrowienia, jak i rekrystalizacji. W konsekwencji własności wytrzymałościowe tych ostatnich są zdecydowanie wyższe zarówno po wyciskaniu, jak i po późniejszym walcowaniu na zimno. We wszystkich przypadkach na krzywych rozciągania drutów obserwowano sko- kowe oscylacje naprężenia, charakterystyczne dla efektu Portevin - LeChatelier (P-L). W nielicznych próbach rozciągania efekt P-L poprzedzała niestateczność płynięcia plastycznego typowa dla występowania pasma LUdersa. Charakterystyki umocnienia wywołane procesem walcowania wykazywały przebieg monotonicznie rosnący

Structure and Mechanical Properties of AlMg4.5 And AlMg4.5Mn Wires Extruded by Kobo Method

The influence of the number of extrusion steps in KoBo method (at the same total extrusion ratio of λ = 100) on structure, mechanical properties and work hardening characteristics of AlMg4.5 and AlMg4.5Mn (AA5083) alloys was investigated. It was found that one-step extrusion leads to the formation of recrystallised structure of the material, while the use of two-step extrusion yields a fibrous structure of a “mixed” type, i.e. containing areas where the intensive recovery effects are associated with partially recrystallised structure. As a consequence, the strength properties of the latter extrudate are much higher in both as extruded state and after the subsequent cold rolling. In all cases, the tensile stress-strain curves of the extrudates show the flow stress serrations that are typical for the Portevin - LeChatelier (P-L) effect. In a few tensile tests, the P-L effect was preceded by the plastic flow instability being typical for the occurrence of Lüders bands. Both AlMg4.5 and AlMg4.5Mn extruded wires show a monotonic increase of the work hardening that results from the following cold deformation in the groove rolling.W pracy badano wpływ liczby operacji wyciskania metodą KoBo (z identycznym sumarycznym stopniem przerobu λ = 100) na strukturę, własności mechaniczne i charakterystyki umocnieniowe drutów ze stopów AlMg4.5 i AlMg4.5Mn (AA5083). Stwierdzono, że wyciskanie jednooperacyjne prowadzi w przypadku obu stopów do formowania struktury typowej dla materia- łów zrekrystalizowanych. podczas gdy zastosowanie dwuoperacyjnego wyciskania skutkuje utworzeniem struktury włóknistej o charakterze „mieszanym”, tzn. zawierającej zarówno obszary, w których dominowały procesy intensywnego zdrowienia, jak i rekrystalizacji. W konsekwencji własności wytrzymałościowe tych ostatnich są zdecydowanie wyższe zarówno po wyciskaniu, jak i po późniejszym walcowaniu na zimno. We wszystkich przypadkach na krzywych rozciągania drutów obserwowano sko- kowe oscylacje naprężenia, charakterystyczne dla efektu Portevin - LeChatelier (P-L). W nielicznych próbach rozciągania efekt P-L poprzedzała niestateczność płynięcia plastycznego typowa dla występowania pasma LUdersa. Charakterystyki umocnienia wywołane procesem walcowania wykazywały przebieg monotonicznie rosnący