Eye movements and pupil dilation during event perception

Human observers segment ongoing activities into events that are reliable across observers [Newtson and Engquist 1976]. Segments can be small ("fine") or large ("coarse") with clusters of fine-grained segments relating hierarchically to coarse segments. Segmentation behaviour occurs even without instruction indicated by neural activity in the Medial Temporal complex (MT+)and Frontal Eye Field (FEF). Similar activation is observed during active segmentation [Zacks et al. 2001]. These two brain regions are known to be active during the processing of visual motion (MT+) and guiding saccadic eye movements (FEF). This, along with behavioural evidence [Zacks 2004], indicates that visual motion may play an important role in identifying events

Metformin Decouples Phospholipid Metabolism in Breast Cancer Cells

Funding: This work was funded by the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The trauma memory quality questionnaire:Preliminary development and validation of a measure of trauma memory characteristics for children and adolescents

It has been suggested that post-traumatic stress is related to the nature of an individual's trauma memories. While this hypothesis has received support in adults, few studies have examined this in children and adolescents. This article describes the development and validation of a measure of the nature of children's trauma memories, the Trauma Memory Quality Questionnaire (TMQQ), that might test this hypothesis and be of clinical use. The measure was standardised in two samples, a cross-sectional sample of non-clinic referred secondary school pupils (n=254), and a sample participating in a prospective study of children and adolescents who had attended a hospital Accident and Emergency department following an assault or a road traffic accident (n=106). The TMQQ was found to possess good internal consistency, criterion validity, and construct validity, but test-retest reliability has yet to be established

The world's most deprived: Characteristics and causes of extreme poverty and hunger

Poverty, Poor, Statistics, Hunger,

Population phenomena inflate genetic associations of complex social traits

Heritability, genetic correlation, and genetic associations estimated from samples of unrelated individuals are often perceived as confirmation that genotype causes the phenotype(s). However, these estimates can arise from indirect mechanisms due to population phenomena including population stratification, dynastic effects, and assortative mating. We introduce these, describe how they can bias or inflate genotype-phenotype associations, and demonstrate methods that can be used to assess their presence. Using data on educational achievement and parental socioeconomic position as an exemplar, we demonstrate that both heritability and genetic correlation may be biased estimates of the causal contribution of genotype. These results highlight the limitations of genotype-phenotype estimates obtained from samples of unrelated individuals. Use of these methods in combination with family-based designs may offer researchers greater opportunities to explore the mechanisms driving genotype-phenotype associations and identify factors underlying bias in estimates

Deglaciation and neotectonics in South East Raasay, Scottish Inner Hebrides

The authors greatly appreciate the help and advice which they have received from: Dr Nicol Morton, who read an early version of the manuscript and provided advice and permission to reproduce the geological map in Figure 3; Dr Iain Stewart for earlier discussions on the geology of Raasay; Dr Alison Macleod for her advice on the magnetic susceptibility of sediments; Dr Adrian Hall, for his advice on the Quaternary geology of the area; Mrs Rebecca Mackay for her advice on the correct Gaelic spelling for place names and Dr Stephan Harrison and Professor Michael Tooley for their help in the field. We are grateful for the comments of the two referees, whose evidently complementary knowledge of the area was most illuminating.Peer reviewedPostprin

Looking back at Waldo: Oculomotor inhibition of return does not prevent return fixations

Inhibition of Return (IOR) is a difficulty in processing stimuli presented at recently attended locations. IOR is widely believed to facilitate foraging of a visual scene by decreasing the probability that gaze will return to previously fixated locations. However, there is a lack of clear evidence in support of the foraging facilitator hypothesis during scene search. The original R. M. Klein and W. J. MacInnes' (1999) Where's Waldo study reported a forward bias in the distribution of fixations that was taken as evidence for the foraging facilitator hypothesis. The present study was designed to replicate R. M. Klein and W. J. MacInnes' (1999) but include detailed analysis of fixation distributions in order to test the precise predictions of the foraging facilitator hypothesis. The results indicate that latencies of saccades returning to 1-back (and possibly 2-back) locations during visual search are elevated. However, there is no evidence that the probability of returning to these locations is significantly less than control locations. Eye movement behavior during search of visual scenes does not support the view that IOR facilitates foraging