Visuospatial bootstrapping: spatialized displays enhance digit and nonword sequence learning

Visuospatial bootstrapping describes the observation that performance on a verbal memory task is enhanced by presenting the to‐be‐remembered material in a format with additional embedded spatial information. Thus far, it has only been reported in short‐term memory tasks. Here, we report two experiments assessing the impact of spatial information on the learning of sequences in long‐term memory. Experiment 1 used digits presented within a familiar numeric keypad as stimuli compared against single digits presented in one location. Experiment 2 used novel nonwords, which were either presented in an unchanging arrangement permitting the building‐up of location knowledge or in a constantly changing arrangement. Both experiments demonstrated strong evidence that reliable spatial information facilitated sequence learning, particularly in later sequence positions. It is concluded that the incidental availability of spatialized information during study can facilitate learning of sequences of digits and nonwords. Furthermore, the spatial information can be learned during the task itself and does not need to be preexistent in long‐term knowledge

Modality specificity and integration in working memory: Insights from visuospatial bootstrapping

The question of how meaningful associations between verbal and spatial information might be utilized to facilitate working memory performance is potentially highly instructive for models of memory function. The present study explored how separable processing capacities within specialized domains might each contribute to this, by examining the disruptive impacts of simple verbal and spatial concurrent tasks on young adults’ recall of visually presented digit sequences encountered either in a single location or within a meaningful spatial “keypad” configuration. The previously observed advantage for recall in the latter condition (the “visuospatial bootstrapping effect”) consistently emerged across 3 experiments, indicating use of familiar spatial information in boosting verbal memory. The magnitude of this effect interacted with concurrent activity; articulatory suppression during encoding disrupted recall to a greater extent when digits were presented in single locations (Experiment 1), while spatial tapping during encoding had a larger impact on the keypad condition and abolished the visuospatial bootstrapping advantage (Experiment 2). When spatial tapping was performed during recall (Experiment 3), no task by display interaction was observed. Outcomes are discussed within the context of the multicomponent model of working memory, with a particular emphasis on cross-domain storage in the episodic buffer (Baddeley, 2000)

On the Right Track? Investigating the Effect of Path Characteristics on Visuospatial Bootstrapping in Verbal Serial Recall

Visuospatial bootstrapping (VSB) occurs when memory for verbal material is enhanced via association with meaningful visuospatial information. Sequences of digits are visually presented either in the center of the screen or within a keypad layout in which the digits may be arranged identically to familiar pin pad and mobile phone layouts, or randomly. Recall is consistently higher when digits are presented in the familiar layout. This “bootstrapping” could involve primarily long-term knowledge of the layout, primarily short-term memory of the unique spatial path, or may depend on both. We manipulated the path complexity of sequences to test whether the VSB effect depends on the quality of spatial representations in conjunction with the familiarity of the spatial layout in two experiments. We consistently observed both VSB effects and path complexity effects on verbal serial recall, but never observed any interaction between these factors, even when articulatory suppression was imposed. Analysis of recall by serial position revealed that the VSB effect was focused on the end-of-list items. Our finding of pervasive path complexity effects on verbal serial recall suggests incidental encoding of spatial path occurs during visually-presented verbal tasks regardless of layout familiarity, confirming that spatial factors can affect verbal recall, but ruling out the notion that incidental spatial paths are uniquely and voluntarily encoded with familiar layouts

Stereotactically guided breast biopsy: a review

The aims of this review are to compare and contrast the available stereotactic equipment, and to describe the variety of needle types used and their affect on pathological results and subsequent patient management. Initial stereotactic devices were “added-on” to analogue mammography units and have been replaced by prone or ducubitus equipment using digital image acquisition. Biopsies use either 14-G core biopsy (CB) needles or vacuum-assisted biopsies (VAB). Vacuum-assisted biopsy systems consistently out-perform 14-G CB with reduced need for diagnostic or multi-treatment surgery. The false-negative rate is 8% for 14-G CB compared with 0.7% for VAB. There is a risk of underestimating the disease present for lesions of uncertain malignant potential (Cat B3) and suspicious of malignancy (Cat B4) results with 25% of patients with a B3 biopsy found to have cancer at subsequent surgery and 66% of those with a B4 biopsy. A CB diagnosis of in situ malignancy is upgraded to invasive disease at surgery in 15-36% of patients undergoing CB and of the order of 10% with VAB. A high degree of diagnostic accuracy and hence safe patient care can only be achieved by meticulous attention to technique and multi-disciplinary cooperation

Mapping Proprioception across a 2D Horizontal Workspace

Relatively few studies have been reported that document how proprioception varies across the workspace of the human arm. Here we examined proprioceptive function across a horizontal planar workspace, using a new method that avoids active movement and interactions with other sensory modalities. We systematically mapped both proprioceptive acuity (sensitivity to hand position change) and bias (perceived location of the hand), across a horizontal-plane 2D workspace. Proprioception of both the left and right arms was tested at nine workspace locations and in 2 orthogonal directions (left-right and forwards-backwards). Subjects made repeated judgments about the position of their hand with respect to a remembered proprioceptive reference position, while grasping the handle of a robotic linkage that passively moved their hand to each judgement location. To rule out the possibility that the memory component of the proprioceptive testing procedure may have influenced our results, we repeated the procedure in a second experiment using a persistent visual reference position. Both methods resulted in qualitatively similar findings. Proprioception is not uniform across the workspace. Acuity was greater for limb configurations in which the hand was closer to the body, and was greater in a forward-backward direction than in a left-right direction. A robust difference in proprioceptive bias was observed across both experiments. At all workspace locations, the left hand was perceived to be to the left of its actual position, and the right hand was perceived to be to the right of its actual position. Finally, bias was smaller for hand positions closer to the body. The results of this study provide a systematic map of proprioceptive acuity and bias across the workspace of the limb that may be used to augment computational models of sensory-motor control, and to inform clinical assessment of sensory function in patients with sensory-motor deficits

Coupled Systems of Differential-Algebraic and Kinetic Equations with Application to the Mathematical Modelling of Muscle Tissue

We consider a coupled system composed of a linear differential-algebraic equation (DAE) and a linear large-scale system of ordinary differential equations where the latter stands for the dynamics of numerous identical particles. Replacing the discrete particles by a kinetic equation for a particle density, we obtain in the mean-field limit the new class of partially kinetic systems. We investigate the influence of constraints on the kinetic theory of those systems and present necessary adjustments. We adapt the mean-field limit to the DAE model and show that index reduction and the mean-field limit commute. As a main result, we prove Dobrushin's stability estimate for linear systems. The estimate implies convergence of the mean-field limit and provides a rigorous link between the particle dynamics and their kinetic description. Our research is inspired by mathematical models for muscle tissue where the macroscopic behaviour is governed by the equations of continuum mechanics, often discretised by the finite element method, and the microscopic muscle contraction process is described by Huxley's sliding filament theory. The latter represents a kinetic equation that characterises the state of the actin-myosin bindings in the muscle filaments. Linear partially kinetic systems are a simplified version of such models, with focus on the constraints.Comment: 32 pages, 18 figure

Mechanical behaviour and rupture of normal and pathological human ascending aortic wall

The mechanical properties of aortic wall, both healthy and pathological, are needed in order to develop and improve diagnostic and interventional criteria, and for the development of mechanical models to assess arterial integrity. This study focuses on the mechanical behaviour and rupture conditions of the human ascending aorta and its relationship with age and pathologies. Fresh ascending aortic specimens harvested from 23 healthy donors, 12 patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and 14 with aneurysm were tensile-tested in vitro under physiological conditions. Tensile strength, stretch at failure and elbow stress were measured. The obtained results showed that age causes a major reduction in the mechanical parameters of healthy ascending aortic tissue, and that no significant differences are found between the mechanical strength of aneurysmal or BAV aortic specimens and the corresponding age-matched control group. The physiological level of the stress in the circumferential direction was also computed to assess the physiological operation range of healthy and diseased ascending aortas. The mean physiological wall stress acting on pathologic aortas was found to be far from rupture, with factors of safety (defined as the ratio of tensile strength to the mean wall stress) larger than six. In contrast, the physiological operation of pathologic vessels lays in the stiff part of the response curve, losing part of its function of damping the pressure waves from the heart