Sensory information in perceptual-motor sequence learning: visual and/or tactile stimuli

Sequence learning in serial reaction time (SRT) tasks has been investigated mostly with unimodal stimulus presentation. This approach disregards the possibility that sequence acquisition may be guided by multiple sources of sensory information simultaneously. In the current study we trained participants in a SRT task with visual only, tactile only, or bimodal (visual and tactile) stimulus presentation. Sequence performance for the bimodal and visual only training groups was similar, while both performed better than the tactile only training group. In a subsequent transfer phase, participants from all three training groups were tested in conditions with visual, tactile, and bimodal stimulus presentation. Sequence performance between the visual only and bimodal training groups again was highly similar across these identical stimulus conditions, indicating that the addition of tactile stimuli did not benefit the bimodal training group. Additionally, comparing across identical stimulus conditions in the transfer phase showed that the lesser sequence performance from the tactile only group during training probably did not reflect a difference in sequence learning but rather just a difference in expression of the sequence knowledge

Psychologie der Kreativität

Ein kleiner Streifzug durch die psychologische Kreativitätsforschung befasst sich mit den Möglichkeiten der Erfassung kreativer Prozesse, ihrer Manifestation, den Determinanten, der Frage nach der Notwendigkeit zu kreativem Denken und schließlich Erkenntnissen darüber, wie kreatives Denken gefördert werden kann

The consolidation of implicit sequence memory in obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Syndrome is a relatively frequent sleep disorder characterized by disrupted sleep patterns. It is a well-established fact that sleep has beneficial effect on memory consolidation by enhancing neural plasticity. Implicit sequence learning is a prominent component of skill learning. However, the formation and consolidation of this fundamental learning mechanism remains poorly understood in OSA. In the present study we examined the consolidation of different aspects of implicit sequence learning in patients with OSA. We used the Alternating Serial Reaction Time task to measure general skill learning and sequence-specific learning. There were two sessions: a learning phase and a testing phase, separated by a 10-hour offline period with sleep. Our data showed differences in offline changes of general skill learning between the OSA and control group. The control group demonstrated offline improvement from evening to morning, while the OSA group did not. In contrast, we did not observe differences between the groups in offline changes in sequence-specific learning. Our findings suggest that disrupted sleep in OSA differently affects neural circuits involved in the consolidation of sequence learning

Covert Reorganization of Implicit Task Representations by Slow Wave Sleep

There is evidence that slow wave sleep (SWS) promotes the consolidation of memories that are subserved by mediotemporal- and hippocampo-cortical neural networks. In contrast to implicit memories, explicit memories are accompanied by conscious (attentive and controlled) processing. Awareness at pre-sleep encoding has been recognized as critical for the off-line memory consolidation. The present study elucidated the role of task-dependent cortical activation guided by attentional control at pre-sleep encoding for the consolidation of hippocampus-dependent memories during sleep.A task with a hidden regularity was used (Number Reduction Task, NRT), in which the responses that can be implicitly predicted by the hidden regularity activate hippocampo-cortical networks more strongly than responses that cannot be predicted. Task performance was evaluated before and after early-night sleep, rich in SWS, and late-night sleep, rich in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. In implicit conditions, slow cortical potentials (SPs) were analyzed to reflect the amount of controlled processing and the localization of activated neural task representations.During implicit learning before sleep, the amount of controlled processing did not differ between unpredictable and predictable responses, nor between early- and late-night sleep groups. A topographic re-distribution of SPs indicating a spatial reorganization occurred only after early, not after late sleep, and only for predictable responses. These SP changes correlated with the amount of SWS and were covert because off-line RT decrease did not differentiate response types or sleep groups.It is concluded that SWS promotes the neural reorganization of task representations that rely on the hippocampal system despite absence of conscious access to these representations.Original neurophysiologic evidence is provided for the role of SWS in the consolidation of memories encoded with hippocampo-cortical interaction before sleep. It is demonstrated that this SWS-mediated mechanism does not depend critically on explicitness at learning nor on the amount of controlled executive processing during pre-sleep encoding

Learners in a Changing Learning Landscape: Reflections from an Instructional Design Perspective

Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Stoyanov, S. (2008). Learners in a changing learning landscape: Reflections from an instructional design perspective. In J. Visser & M. Visser-Valfrey (Eds.), Learners in a changing learning landscape: Reflections from a dialogue on new roles and expectations (pp. 69-90). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.Both learners and teachers find themselves in a learning landscape that is rapidly changing, along with fast societal and technological developments. This paper discusses the new learning landscape from an instructional design perspective. First, with regard to what is learned, people more than ever need flexible problem-solving and reasoning skills allowing them to deal with new, unfamiliar problem situations in their professional and everyday life. Second, with regard to the context in which learning takes place, learning in technology-rich, informal and professional 24/7 settings is becoming general practice. And third, with regard to the learners themselves, they can more often be characterized as lifelong learners who are mature, bring relevant prior knowledge, and have very heterogeneous expectations and perceptions of learning. High-quality instructional design research should focus on the question which instructional methods and media-method combinations are effective, efficient and appealing in this new learning landscape. Some innovative instructional methods that meet this requirement are discussed

Neural correlates of encoding and expression in implicit sequence learning

In the domain of motor learning it has been difficult to separate the neural substrate of encoding from that of change in performance. Consequently, it has not been clear whether motor effector areas participate in learning or merely modulate changes in performance. Here, using a variant of the serial reaction time task that dissociated these two factors, we report that encoding during procedural motor learning does engage cortical motor areas and can be characterized by distinct early and late encoding phases. The highest correlation between activation and subsequent changes in motor performance was seen in the motor cortex during early encoding, and in the basal ganglia during the late encoding phase. Our results show that rapid encoding during procedural motor learning involves several distinct processes, and is represented primarily within motor system structures.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46543/1/221_2005_Article_2284.pd

Observation of the diphoton decay of the Higgs boson and measurement of its properties

Peer reviewe

Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the production cross section ratio σ(χb2(1P))/σ(χb1(1P))in pp collisions at √s=8TeV

A measurement of the production cross section ratio σ(χb2(1P))/σ(χb1(1P))σ(χb2(1P))/σ(χb1(1P)) is presented. The χb1(1P)χb1(1P) and χb2(1P)χb2(1P) bottomonium states, promptly produced in pp collisions at View the MathML sources=8 TeV, are detected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC through their radiative decays χb1,2(1P)→ϒ(1S)+γχb1,2(1P)→ϒ(1S)+γ. The emitted photons are measured through their conversion to e+e−e+e− pairs, whose reconstruction allows the two states to be resolved. The ϒ(1S)ϒ(1S) is measured through its decay to two muons. An event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.7 fb−120.7 fb−1 is used to measure the cross section ratio in a phase-space region defined by the photon pseudorapidity, |ηγ|<1.0|ηγ|<1.0; the ϒ(1S)ϒ(1S) rapidity, |yϒ|<1.5|yϒ|<1.5; and the ϒ(1S)ϒ(1S) transverse momentum, View the MathML source7<pTϒ<40 GeV. The cross section ratio shows no significant dependence on the ϒ(1S)ϒ(1S) transverse momentum, with a measured average value of View the MathML source0.85±0.07(stat+syst)±0.08(BF), where the first uncertainty is the combination of the experimental statistical and systematic uncertainties and the second is from the uncertainty in the ratio of the χbχb branching fractions