Algorithmic Complexity for Short Binary Strings Applied to Psychology: A Primer

Since human randomness production has been studied and widely used to assess executive functions (especially inhibition), many measures have been suggested to assess the degree to which a sequence is random-like. However, each of them focuses on one feature of randomness, leading authors to have to use multiple measures. Here we describe and advocate for the use of the accepted universal measure for randomness based on algorithmic complexity, by means of a novel previously presented technique using the the definition of algorithmic probability. A re-analysis of the classical Radio Zenith data in the light of the proposed measure and methodology is provided as a study case of an application.Comment: To appear in Behavior Research Method

Random number generation in patients with aphasia: a test of executive functions

Randomization performance was studied using the "Mental Dice Task" in 20 patients with aphasia (APH) and 101 elderly normal control subjects (NC). The produced sequences were compared to 100 computer-generated pseudorandom sequences with respect to 7 measures of sequential bias. The performance of APH differed significantly from NC participants, according to all but one measure, i.e. Turning Point Index (points of change between ascending and descending sequences). NC participants differed significantly from the computer generated sequences, according to all measures of randomness. Finally, APH differed significantly from the computer simulator, according to all measures but mean Repetition Gap score (gap between a digit and its reoccurrence). Despite the heterogeneity of our APH group, there were no significant differences in randomization performance between patients with different language impairments. All the APH displayed a distinct performance profile, with more response stereotypy, counting tendencies, and inhibition problems, as hypothesised, while at the same time responding more randomly than NC by showing less of a cycling strategy and more number repetitions

Aphasia and Math: Deficits with Basic Number Comprehension and in Numerical Activities of Daily Living

Objective: In the present study, we explored numerical problems in individuals with aphasia. We investigate whether numerical deficits, usually accompanying aphasia, can be observed on number comprehension tasks that do not necessarily require an oral response. Method: Individuals with aphasia were classified into anterior, posterior, and global subgroups according to the lesion type. To investigate numerical cognition, we used a relatively recent tool, the Numerical Activities of Daily Living (NADL). Results: The results showed that individuals with aphasia have problems with tasks of basic number comprehension as well as in most NADL. In the formal part of the NADL, anterior aphasic patients made comparatively more errors than the posterior aphasic patients. Global aphasic patients presented an invariably poor performance on almost all tasks. Conclusion: The results provide insight into how numerical deficits may impair an individual with aphasia in activities of daily living. This study is a preliminary attempt to start the validation process of the NADL for the Greek population

Functional Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) in the education of patients and family members for the effective management of oropharyngeal dysphagia and recognition of aspiration

Introduction: The aim of this study is to examine the contribution of Functional Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) to the education of patients and family members - caring professionals for the effective management of oropharyngeal dysphagia and recognition of aspiration. Methods: Prospective study of 87 patients and families treated at the swallowing disorders clinic. Primary outcome: recognition of aspiration symptoms (cough, voice change, "secretions" from tracheostomy). Secondary outcome: compensatory positions and swallowing maneuvers performance (patients) recognition of correct application of positions and maneuvers (family members). The clinical treatment protocol involves intensive training during the FEES examination of patients and family members with visual feed-back until they were confident they could follow guidelines or the patient was tired. The study group included hospitalized patients and out patients, patients unable to be mouth fed, patients applying compensatory positions and swallowing maneuvers to eliminate aspiration and patients with swallowing disorders without aspiration.Results: Out of 87 patients 42 experienced aspiration if they would swallow without compensatory positions and swallowing maneuvers. In these subgroup, 40 patients' family members successfully recognized aspiration cough and 37 recognized voice change. Family members overdiagnosed "secretions" from tracheostomy and 79% of them recognized correct application of compensatory positions and swallowing maneuvers. Sixty per cent of the patients were applying correctly the positions and maneuvers after the intensive training.Conclusions: FEES is effective in educating patients and family members in dysphagia management and aspiration recognition

Body mass index and flanker size: Does (over)weight modulate the Baldwin illusion?

Visuospatial processing is a complex process that is vulnerable to bias. Line bisection paradigms are used to help detect the factors that balance left and right hemispatial attention that go beyond the domains of perception and action. For example, studies have indicated the “pseudoneglect” phenomenon in the bisection of horizontally presented lines in healthy subjects. Among the modified versions of the traditional line bisection task is the “Baldwin illusion”. In the Baldwin illusion, the subjective midpoint of a line flanked by squares of different sizes is displaced towards the small square. The goal of the study was two-fold. First, we wanted to investigate whether there is an asymmetry in the Baldwin effect depending on leftward or rightward arrangement of the small square and second whether obesity (as measured by body mass index—BMI) would affect bisection of Baldwin-like flanked lines. Thirty-one healthy, right-handed female subjects (20 normal-weight and 11 overweight) had to repeatedly bisect a horizontal straight line using a series of Baldwin-type stimuli, including a photography of their own and the experimenter’s body. As predicted, this displacement was larger when the small square was on the left end of the line (M = −1.80 mm, SD = 2.71 mm, t = −10.48, p = <0.001) than when it flanked the right end (M = +0.71 mm, SD = 2.90 mm; t = 3.83, p = t = 4.35, p = <0.001). Across all stimulus types (irrespective of the size or type of a flanker), overweight subjects placed the subjective midpoint more leftward than the normal-weight subjects. In 13 out of 16 types the results differed significantly and in the remaining 3 types the tendency was clear (0.074 < p < 0.13). Limitations were addressed. Our results confirmed our asymmetry hypothesis. Also, these preliminary results demonstrated an influence of BMI on line bisection performance, i.e. a larger pseudoneglect for the overweight/obese subjects

Influence of past archipelago configuration on present-day insular biodiversity patterns

Aim: To quantify the influence of past archipelago configuration on present-day insular biodiversity patterns, and to compare the role of long-lasting archipelago configurations over the Pleistocene to configurations of short duration such as at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the present-day. Location: 53 volcanic oceanic islands from 12 archipelagos worldwide - Azores, Canary Islands, Cook Islands, Galápagos, Gulf of Guinea, Hawaii, Madeira, Mascarenes, Pitcairn, Revillagigedo, Samoan Islands, and Tristan da Cunha. Time period: The last 800 Kyr, representing the nine most recent glacial-interglacial cycles. Major taxa studied: Land snails and angiosperms. Methods: Species richness data for land snails and angiosperms were compiled from existing literature and species checklists. We reconstructed archipelago configurations at the following sea-levels: the present-day high interglacial sea-level, the intermediate sea-levels that are representative of the Pleistocene, and the low sea-levels of the LGM. We fitted two alternative linear mixed models for each archipelago configuration on the number of single-island endemic, multiple-island endemic, and native non-endemic species. Model performance was assessed based on the goodness-of-fit of the full model, the variance explained by archipelago configuration, and model parsimony. Results: Single-island endemic richness in both taxonomic groups was best explained by intermediate palaeo-configuration (positively by area change, and negatively by palaeo-connectedness), whereas non-endemic native species richness was poorly explained by palaeo-configuration. Single-island endemic richness was better explained by intermediate archipelago configurations than by the archipelago configurations of the LGM or present-day. Main conclusions: Archipelago configurations at intermediate sea-levels - which are representative of the Pleistocene - have left a stronger imprint on single-island endemic richness patterns on volcanic oceanic islands than extreme archipelago configurations that persisted for only a few thousand years (such as the LGM). In understanding ecological and evolutionary dynamics of insular biota it is essential to consider longer-lasting environmental conditions, rather than extreme situations alone