On repression, and avoiding red herrings

In this response to Otgaar et al. (in press) we point out that their concern with the notion of unconscious repression is a classic example of a red herring, as it has never been endorsed as an explanation of recovered memories. We also note that Otgaar et al. have misunderstood the purpose of our article (Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsworth, & McNeilis, 2019). Its aim was to demonstrate that many of the claims made by psychologists about the public’s views on memory do not rest on sound methodology. Beliefs about repression featured as one example, but it was not our objective to establish what the public do think about repression. We welcome Otgaar et al.’s (in press) additional data but regret that they have repeated the basic error we highlighted, the reliance on a single questionnaire item to assess beliefs about highly complex topics. Nevertheless, their and our findings clearly indicate that understanding of the public’s views on repression remains extremely limited, and insufficient to meaningfully contribute to legal processes

Occupational therapists’ views of using a virtual reality interior design application within the pre-discharge home visit process

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: A key role of Occupational Therapists (OTs) is to carry out pre-discharge home visits (PHV) and propose appropriate adaptations to the home environment, to enable patients to function independently after hospital-home discharge. However, research shows that more than 50% of specialist equipment installed as part of home adaptations is not used by patients. A key reason for this is that decisions about home adaptations are often made without adequate collaboration and consultation with the patient. Consequently, there is an urgent need to seek out new and innovative uses of technology to facilitate patient/practitioner collaboration, engagement and shared decision making in the PHV process. Virtual reality interior design applications (VRIDAs) primarily allow users to simulate the home environment and visualise changes prior to implementing them. Customised VRIDAs, which also model specialist occupational therapy equipment, could become a valuable tool to facilitate improved patient/practitioner collaboration if developed effectively and integrated into the PHV process. Objective: To explore the perceptions of occupational therapists with regards to using VRIDAs as an assistive tool within the PHV process. Methods: Task-oriented interactive usability sessions, utilising the think-aloud protocol and subsequent semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven Occupational Therapists who possessed significant experience across a range of clinical settings. Template analysis was carried out on the think-aloud and interview data. Analysis was both inductive and driven by theory, centring around the parameters that impact upon the acceptance, adoption and use of this technology in practice as indicated by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Results: OTs’ perceptions were identified relating to three core themes: (1) perceived usefulness (PU), (2) perceived ease of use (PEoU), and (3) actual use (AU). Regarding PU, OTs believed VRIDAs had promising potential to increase understanding, enrich communications and patient involvement, and improved patient/practitioner shared understanding. However, it was unlikely that VRIDAs would be suitable for use with cognitively impaired patients. For PEoU, all OTs were able to use the software and complete the tasks successfully, however, participants noted numerous specialist equipment items that could be added to the furniture library. AU perceptions were positive regarding use of the application across a range of clinical settings including children/young adults, long-term conditions, neurology, older adults, and social services. However, some “fine tuning” may be necessary if the application is to be optimally used in practice. Conclusions: Participants perceived the use of VRIDAs in practice would enhance levels of patient/practitioner collaboration and provide a much needed mechanism via which patients are empowered to become more equal partners in decisions made about their care. Further research is needed to explore patient perceptions of VRIDAs, to make necessary customisations accordingly, and to explore deployment of the application in a collaborative patient/practitioner-based context

The antisaccade task as an index of sustained goal activation in working memory: modulation by nicotine

The antisaccade task provides a laboratory analogue of situations in which execution of the correct behavioural response requires the suppression of a more prepotent or habitual response. Errors (failures to inhibit a reflexive prosaccade towards a sudden onset target) are significantly increased in patients with damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and patients with schizophrenia. Recent models of antisaccade performance suggest that errors are more likely to occur when the intention to initiate an antisaccade is insufficiently activated within working memory. Nicotine has been shown to enhance specific working memory processes in healthy adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explored the effect of nicotine on antisaccade performance in a large sample (N = 44) of young adult smokers. Minimally abstinent participants attended two test sessions and were asked to smoke one of their own cigarettes between baseline and retest during one session only. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Nicotine reduced antisaccade errors and correct antisaccade latencies if delivered before optimum performance levels are achieved, suggesting that nicotine supports the activation of intentions in working memory during task performance. The implications of this research for current theoretical accounts of antisaccade performance, and for interpreting the increased rate of antisaccade errors found in some psychiatric patient groups are discussed

Rotation-based formulation for stable matching

We introduce new CP models for the many-to-many stable matching problem. We use the notion of rotation to give a novel encoding that is linear in the input size of the problem. We give extra filtering rules to maintain arc consistency in quadratic time. Our experimental study on hard instances of sex-equal and balanced stable matching shows the efficiency of one of our propositions as compared with the state-of-the-art constraint programming approach

A marine viral halogenase that iodinates diverse substrates

We thank the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013/ERC grant agreement no. 614779 GenoChemetics to R.J.M.G.), Syngenta and Wellcome ISSF (grant no. 204821/Z/16/Z to D.S.G.) for generous financial support.Oceanic cyanobacteria are the most abundant oxygen-generating phototrophs on our planet and are therefore important to life. These organisms are infected by viruses called cyanophages, which have recently shown to encode metabolic genes that modulate host photosynthesis, phosphorus cycling and nucleotide metabolism. Herein we report the characterization of a wild-type flavin-dependent viral halogenase (VirX1) from a cyanophage. Notably, halogenases have been previously associated with secondary metabolism, tailoring natural products. Exploration of this viral halogenase reveals it capable of regioselective halogenation of a diverse range of substrates with a preference for forming aryl iodide species; this has potential implications for the metabolism of the infected host. Until recently, a flavin-dependent halogenase that is capable of iodination in vitro had not been reported. VirX1 is interesting from a biocatalytic perspective as it shows strikingly broad substrate flexibility and a clear preference for iodination, as illustrated by kinetic analysis. These factors together render it an attractive tool for synthesis.PostprintPeer reviewe

Amine functionalization of cholecyst-derived extracellular matrix with generation 1 PAMAM dendrimer

This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Biomacromolecules, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work, see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/bm701055k.A method to functionalize cholecyst-derived extracellular matrix (CEM) with free amine groups was established in an attempt to improve its potential for tethering of bioactive molecules. CEM was incorporated with Generation-1 polyamidoamine (G1 PAMAM) dendrimer by using N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide cross-linking system. The nature of incorporation of PAMAM dendrimer was evaluated using shrink temperature measurements, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) assessment, ninhydrin assay, and swellability. The effects of PAMAM incorporation on mechanical and degradation properties of CEM were evaluated using a uniaxial mechanical test and collagenase degradation assay, respectively. Ninhydrin assay and FTIR assessment confirmed the presence of increasing free amine groups with increasing quantity of PAMAM in dendrimer-incorporated CEM (DENCEM) scaffolds. The amount of dendrimer used was found to be critical in controlling scaffold degradation, shrink temperature, and free amine content. Cell culture studies showed that fibroblasts seeded on DENCEM maintained their metabolic activity and ability to proliferate in vitro. In addition, fluorescence cell staining and scanning electron microscopy analysis of cell-seeded DENCEM showed preservation of normal fibroblast morphology and phenotype

Resource-sharing in multiple component working memory

Working memory research often focuses on measuring the capacity of the system and how it relates to other cognitive abilities. However, research into the structure of working memory is less concerned with an overall capacity measure but rather with the intricacies of underlying components and their contribution to different tasks. A number of models of working memory structure have been proposed, each with different assumptions and predictions, but none of which adequately accounts for the full range of data in the working memory literature. We report 2 experiments that investigated the effects of load manipulations on dual-task verbal temporary memory and spatial processing. Crucially, we manipulated cognitive load around the measured memory span of each individual participant. We report a clear effect of increasing memory load on processing accuracy, but only when memory load is increased above each participant’s measured memory span. However, increasing processing load did not affect memory performance. We argue that immediate verbal memory may rely both on a temporary phonological store and on activated traces in long-term memory, with the latter deployed to support memory performance for supraspan lists and when a high memory load is coupled with a processing task. We propose that future research should tailor the load manipulations to the capacities of individual participants and suggest that contrasts between models of working memory may be more apparent than real

Linguistic foundations of heritage language development from the perspective of romance languages in Germany

This paper discusses the role of different factors determining the linguistic competence of heritage speakers (HSs) based on examples from speakers who speak a Romance language (French, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish) as heritage language (HL) and German as the environmental language. Since the relative amount of contact with the HL and the environmental language may vary during the acquisition process, the role of language dominance (in terms of relative language proficiency) is of particular interest for HL development. In addition to dominance (and related to it), cross-linguistic influence (CLI) may have an influence on the outcome of HL acquisition. Finally, quality and quantity of input also determine HL acquisition and will be discussed in connection with heritage language education.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio