Facial beauty affects implicit and explicit learning of men and women differently

The present work explores the unconscious and/or conscious nature of learning attractive faces of same and opposite sex, that is, of stimuli that experimental and neuroimaging research has shown to be rewarding and thus highly motivating. To this end, we examined performance of men and women while classifying strings of average and attractive faces for grammaticality in the experimental task of artificial grammar learning (AGL), which reflects both conscious and unconscious processes. Subjective measures were used to assess participants’ conscious and unconscious knowledge. It was found that female attractiveness impaired performance in male participants. In particular, male participants demonstrated the lowest accuracy while classifying beautiful faces of women. Conversely, female attractiveness facilitated performance in female participants. The pattern was similar for conscious and unconscious knowledge. Presumably, objects with high incentive salience, as are beautiful faces, captured resources, which were used in task relevant versus task irrelevant ways by women versus men. The present findings shed light on the relation of conscious and unconscious processing with affective and reward-related stimuli, as well as on gender differences underlying this relation

Role of prior knowledge in implicit and explicit learning of artificial grammars

Artificial grammar learning (AGL) performance reflects both implicit and explicit processes and has typically been modeled without incorporating any influence from general world knowledge. Our research provides a systematic investigation of the implicit vs. explicit nature of general knowledge and its interaction with knowledge types investigated by past AGL research (i.e., rule- and similarity-based knowledge). In an AGL experiment, a general knowledge manipulation involved expectations being either congruent or incongruent with training stimulus structure. Inconsistent observations paradoxically led to an advantage in structural knowledge and in the use of general world knowledge in both explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) cases (as assessed by subjective measures). The above findings were obtained under conditions of reduced processing time and impaired executive resources. Κey findings from our work are that implicit AGL can clearly be affected by general knowledge, and implicit learning can be enhanced by the violation of expectations

Restraint, disinhibition and food-related processing bias

This study examined associations between restraint, disinhibition and food-related processing bias (FPB, assessed by the emotional Stroop task) in males and females in the UK, Greece and Iran. Results showed high restraint was associated with higher FPB. However, high restrained current dieters showed lower FPB that high restrained non-dieters. There was no significant difference in FPB for those showing high versus low disinhibition. Results are discussed in relation to theories of incentive salience and current concerns

Four reasons to prefer Bayesian analyses over significance testing

Inference using significance testing and Bayes factors is compared and contrasted in five case studies based on real research. The first study illustrates that the methods will often agree, both in motivating researchers to conclude that H1 is supported better than H0, and the other way round, that H0 is better supported than H1. The next four, however, show that the methods will also often disagree. In these cases, the aim of the paper will be to motivate the sensible evidential conclusion, and then see which approach matches those intuitions. Specifically, it is shown that a high-powered non-significant result is consistent with no evidence for H0 over H1 worth mentioning, which a Bayes factor can show, and, conversely, that a low-powered non-significant result is consistent with substantial evidence for H0 over H1, again indicated by Bayesian analyses. The fourth study illustrates that a high-powered significant result may not amount to any evidence for H1 over H0, matching the Bayesian conclusion. Finally, the fifth study illustrates that different theories can be evidentially supported to different degrees by the same data; a fact that P-values cannot reflect but Bayes factors can. It is argued that appropriate conclusions match the Bayesian inferences, but not those based on significance testing, where they disagree

The effect of prior knowledge on implicit and explicit concept learning

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN045183 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Genetic expression of cardiomyocytes after left ventricular pressure overload

Increased ACE activity and mRNA expression are observed in rat hearts with pressure or volume-overload induced left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). ACE-inhibitors induce the regression and prevent the development of LVH. Tumor supressive gene p53 up- regulates the cellular renin-angiotensin system, resulting in ANG II synthesis, which activates p53 creating a positive feed back loop. Methods and results: Γ14 rabbits were separated into 4 groups.Animals in Group A (n=6) served as the controls, while in Group B (n=36) underwent a sham operation. In Group C and D (n=36 each) a 60% stenosis of the ascending aorta was performed. In Group D animals were treated with enalapril. Animals in Groups B, C and D were divided in 6 subgroups according to the time of the terminal study (15, 45, 90, 180 min, 7 and 28 days post-surgery). LVH was estimated from the weight of the free wall of the left ventricle of the animals. For determination of p53, LV specimens were examined with Western blot analysis. Furthermore, in groups A, B, C, an immunohistochemical study was performed for the estimation of p53 expression. LVH was higher (p<0.05) in animals of Group C at 7 and 28 days compared to other Groups and the values between the two time points were no significant. p53 expression levels were elevated (p<0.05) in all Groups compared to Group A and were consistently higher at all time points in Groups B and C with the exception of Group D where they were decreased (p<0.05) at 180 min, 7 and 28 days. p53 immunoreactivity was present at all experimental phases except for Group A. Conclusions: LVH was induced to a significant degree at 7 and 28 days after aortic stenosis with no difference between the two periods while enalapril prevented hypertrophy. p53 was transcriptionally activated and immunoreactively present after acute pressure overload and in sham-operated groups in animal model. Enalapril decreased p53 expression at 180 min, 7 and 28 days aortic stenosis, but the precise mechanism of action remains to be explored.Αυξημένη δραστηριότητα του μετατρεπτικού ένζυμου της αγγειοτασίνης (ΜΕΑ) και της έκφρασης του mRNA παρατηρούνται στο μυοκάρδιο μετά από πειραματική πρόκληση υπερτροφίας της αριστερής κοιλίας (YAK) συνέπεια αιμοδυναμικής υπερφόρτισης πίεσης ή όγκου. Οι αναστολείς του ΜΕΑ υποστρέφουν την YAK και παρεμποδίζουν την ανάπτυξη αυτής. Το ογκοκατασταλτικό γονίδιο ρ53 ρυθμίζει ανοδικά το κυτταρικό σύστημα ρενίνης-αγγειοτασίνης, με αποτέλεσμα τη σύνθεση της αγγειοτασίνης II, που ενεργοποιεί το ρ53, δημιουργώντας ένα θετικό ανατροφοδοτικό κύκλωμα.Μέθοδοι και αποτελέσματα: 114 κόνικλοι χωρίστηκαν σε 4 ομάδες. Την ομάδα A (n=6) αποτέλεσαν φυσιολογικά ζώα, ενώ η ομάδα Β (η=36) χαρακτηρίστηκε ομάδα ελέγχου. Στις ομάδες Γ και Δ (η=36 σε καθεμιά) πραγματοποιήθηκε 60% στένωση της ανιούσας αορτής. Στην ομάδα Δ χορηγήθηκε στα ζώα εναλαπρίλη. Τα ζώα των ομάδων Β, Γ και Δ χωρίστηκαν σε 6 υποομάδες σύμφωνα με το χρόνο της τελικής μελέτης (15, 45, 90, 180 λεπτά, 7 και 28 ημέρες μετεγχειρητικά). Η YAK υπολογίστηκε από το βάρος του ελεύθερου τοιχώματος της αριστερής κοιλίας των ζώων. Για τον προσδιορισμό του ρ53, τα δείγματα της αριστερής κοιλίας εξετάστηκαν με Western blot ανάλυση. Επιπλέον, στις ομάδες A, Β και Γ, πραγματοποιήθηκε ανοσοϊστοχημι- κή μελέτη για την εκτίμηση της έκφρασης του ρ53.Η YAK ήταν μεγαλύτερη (ρ<0.05) στα ζώα της ομάδας Γ στις 7 και 28 ημέρες συγκρινόμενη με αυτή των άλλων ομάδων και οι τιμές μεταξύ των δύο χρονικών φάσεων δεν ήταν στατιστικά σημαντικές. Τα επίπεδα έκφρασης του ρ53 ήταν αυξημένα (ρ<0.05) σε όλες τις ομάδες συγκρινόμενα με της ομάδας A και ήταν σταθερά υψηλότερα σε όλες τις χρονικές στιγμές στις ομάδες Β και Γ, με εξαίρεση την ομάδα Δ όπου ήταν μειωμένα (ρ<0.05) στα 180 λεπτά, 7 και 28 ημέρες. Η ανοσοδραστικότητα του ρ53 ήταν παρούσα σε όλες τις πειραματικές φάσεις εκτός από την ομάδα Α.Συμπεράσματα: Στις 7 και 28 ημέρες μετά από αορτική στένωση προ- κλήθηκε YAK σε σημαντικό βαθμό χωρίς καμιά διαφορά μεταξύ των δύο χρονικών περιόδων, ενώ η εναλαπρίλη εμπόδισε την υπερτροφία. Το ρ53 ήταν μεταγραφικά ενεργοποιημένο και ανοσοδραστικά παρόν τόσο στις ομάδες οξείας υπερφόρτισης πίεσης όσο και στην ομάδα ελέγχου των ζώων. Η εναλαπρίλη μείωσε την έκφραση του ρ53 στα 180 λεπτά, 7 και 28 ημέρες μετά από αορτική στένωση αλλά ο ακριβής μηχανισμός δράσης παραμένει υπό διερεύνηση