432 research outputs found
The right visual field advantage and the optimal viewing position effect: On the relation between foveal and parafoveal word recognition
Recent developments on the optimal viewing position (OVP) effect suggest that it may be caused
by the same factors that underlie the right visual field advantage in word recognition. This raises
the question of the relationship between foveal and parafoveal word recognition. Three
experiments are reported in which participants identified tachistoscopically presented words that
were presented randomly in foveal and parafoveal vision. The results show that both the OVP
effect and the right visual field advantage for word recognition are part of a larger extended OVP
curve that has the shape of a Gaussian distribution with the mode shifted to the left of the center of
the stimulus word. The shift of the distribution is a function of word length, but not of presentation
duration; it is also slightly moderated by the information value of word beginning and word end
The right visual field advantage and the optimal viewing position effect: On the relation between foveal and parafoveal word recognition.
The right visual field advantage and the optimal viewing position effect: On the relation between foveal and parafoveal word recognition.
The Vanity of Dogmatizing
Book review: Beyond the formalist-realist divide: The role of politics in judging. Brian Z. Tamanaha. Princeton University Press. 2010. Pp. xii + 252. Reviewed by Marc O. DeGirolami
Post-weaning housing conditions influence freezing during contextual fear conditioning in adult rats
The present study aimed to investigate the influence of housing conditions on contextual fear memory malleability. Male Wistar rats were housed in enriched, standard, or impoverished conditions after weaning and remained in these conditions throughout the entire experiment. After six weeks into those housing conditions, all animals underwent a 3-day protocol including contextual fear conditioning (day 1), memory reactivation followed by systemic administration of midazolam or vehicle (day 2), and a retention test (day 3). Percentage freezing was used as a behavioral measure of contextual fear. There was no evidence for an effect of housing conditions on the sensitivity of contextual fear memory to amnestic effects of post-reactivation midazolam administration, and no indication for amnestic effects of post-reactivation midazolam overall (including in the standard group). The inability to replicate previous demonstrations of post-reactivation amnesia using the same protocol underscores the subtle nature of post-reactivation pharmacological memory interference. Notably, impoverished housing resulted in a decrease in contextual freezing during contextual fear conditioning, reactivation and retention testing, compared to enriched and standard housing conditions. This observation warrants caution when interpreting the results from experiments regarding effects of housing on fear memory processes, particularly when freezing is used as a measure of fear.Fil: Schroyens, Natalie. Katholikie Universiteit Leuven; BĂ©lgicaFil: Bender, Crhistian Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto de FarmacologĂa Experimental de CĂłrdoba. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias QuĂmicas. Instituto de FarmacologĂa Experimental de CĂłrdoba; ArgentinaFil: Alfei Palloni, Joaquin MatĂas. Katholikie Universiteit Leuven; BĂ©lgicaFil: Molina, VĂctor Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto de FarmacologĂa Experimental de CĂłrdoba. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias QuĂmicas. Instituto de FarmacologĂa Experimental de CĂłrdoba; ArgentinaFil: Luyten, Laura. Katholikie Universiteit Leuven; BĂ©lgicaFil: Beckers, Tom. Katholikie Universiteit Leuven; BĂ©lgic
The three Râs of scientific integrity:Replicability, reproducibility, and robustness
It has been proposed that memory retrieval can destabilize consolidated memories, after which they need to be reconsolidated in order to be retained. The presentation of relevant information during memory reconsolidation could then result in the modification of a destabilized memory trace, by allowing the memory trace to be updated before being reconsolidated. In line with this idea, Schiller et al. (2010) have demonstrated that memory retrieval shortly before extinction training can prevent the later recovery of conditioned fear responding that is observed after regular extinction training. Those findings have been the subject of considerable controversy, due in part to theoretical reasons but also due to a number of failures to obtain similar results in conceptual replication attempts. Here, we report the results of a highly powered, direct, independent replication of the critical conditions of Schiller et al. (2010, Experiment 1). Due to misrepresentation of the exclusion criteria in the original Schiller et al. (2010) report, data collection was considerably delayed. When we eventually managed to attain our pre-registered sample size, we found that we could not observe any benefit of reactivation-extinction over regular extinction training in preventing recovery of conditioned fear. The results of the present study, along with the mixed findings in the literature and the misreporting in Schiller et al. (2010), give cause to question whether there is robust evidence that reactivation-extinction prevents the return of fear in humans.status: publishe
- âŠ