EasyDIAg: A tool for easy determination of interrater agreement

Reliable measurements are fundamental for the empirical sciences. In observational research, measurements often consist of observers categorizing behavior into nominalscaled units. Since the categorization is the outcome of a complex judgment process, it is important to evaluate the extent to which these judgments are reproducible, by having multiple observers independently rate the same behavior. A challenge in determining interrater agreement for timed-event sequential data is to develop clear objective criteria to determine whether two raters’ judgments relate to the same event (the linking problem). Furthermore, many studies presently report only raw agreement indices, without considering the degree to which agreement can occur by chance alone. Here, we present a novel, free, and open-source toolbox (EasyDIAg) designed to assist researchers with the linking problem, while also providing chance-corrected estimates of interrater agreement. Additional tools are included to facilitate the development of coding schemes and rater training

Functional and structural brain differences associated with mirror-touch synaesthesia

Observing touch is known to activate regions of the somatosensory cortex but the interpretation of this finding is controversial (e.g. does it reflect the simulated action of touching or the simulated reception of touch?). For most people, observing touch is not linked to reported experiences of feeling touch but in some people it is (mirror-touch synaesthetes). We conducted an fMRI study in which participants (mirror-touch synaesthetes, controls) watched movies of stimuli (face, dummy, object) being touched or approached. In addition we examined whether mirror touch synaesthesia is associated with local changes of grey and white matter volume in the brain using VBM (voxel-based morphometry). Both synaesthetes and controls activated the somatosensory system (primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, SI and SII) when viewing touch, and the same regions were activated (by a separate localiser) when feeling touch — i.e. there is a mirror system for touch. However, when comparing the two groups, we found evidence that SII seems to play a particular important role in mirror-touch synaesthesia: in synaesthetes, but not in controls, posterior SII was active for watching touch to a face (in addition to SI and posterior temporal lobe); activity in SII correlated with subjective intensity measures of mirror-touch synaesthesia (taken outside the scanner), and we observed an increase in grey matter volume within the SII of the synaesthetes' brains. In addition, the synaesthetes showed hypo-activity when watching touch to a dummy in posterior SII. We conclude that the secondary somatosensory cortex has a key role in this form of synaesthesia

Assessing acute itch intensity : general labelled magnitude scale is more reliable than classic visual analogue scale

The reliable measurement of itch intensity is crucial, both in research as well as clinical contexts. For example, when the reliability of a measurement scale is unknown, it is impossible to determine whether a patient has changed sufficiently to be confident that the change is beyond that which could be attributed to measurement error (1). One factor that might influence the reliability of measurements is the type of rating scale used to assess itch intensity. Previous research (2-4) has documented the retest reliability of different rating scales for assessing chronic itch intensity. However, a retest reliability analysis of rating scales for acute experimental itch, induced using substances such as histamine or cowhage, is currently lacking. Here, we compare the test-retest reliability of three rating scales commonly used for this purpose. First, we considered the visual analogue scale in its classic form (cVAS), where participants indicate itch intensity on a line ranging from 0 (no itch) to 100 (the most intense itch imaginable). Second, we included a variant of the VAS, where an additional ‘Scratch Threshold’ marker is set at 33% (tVAS,5), defined as itching strong enough to be scratched (6). Finally, we considered the general Labelled Magnitude Scale (gLMS,7), where participants judge the magnitude of itch on a line with quasilogarithmically placed labels of “no sensation” at 0, “barely detectable” at 1, “weak” at 6, “moderate” at 17, “strong” at 35, “very strong” at 53 and “strongest imaginable sensation” at 100. Thus, all three scales have an identical range, but differ in the type and number of verbal labels provided

Brain oxygenation patterns during the execution of tool use demonstration, tool use pantomime, and body-part-as-object tool use

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Divergent findings exist whether left and right hemispheric pre- and postcentral cortices contribute to the production of tool use related hand movements. In order to clarify the neural substrates of tool use demonstrations with tool in hand, tool use pantomimes without tool in hand, and body-part-as-object presentations of tool use (BPO) in a naturalistic mode of execution, we applied functional Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in twenty-three right-handed participants. Functional NIRS techniques allow for the investigation of brain oxygenation during the execution of complex hand movements with an unlimited movement range. Brain oxygenation patterns were retrieved from 16 channels of measurement above pre- and postcentral cortices of each hemisphere. The results showed that tool use demonstration with tool in hand leads to increased oxygenation as compared to tool use pantomimes in the left hemispheric somatosensory gyrus. Left hand executions of the demonstration of tool use, pantomime of tool use, and BPO of tool use led to increased oxygenation in the premotor and somatosensory cortices of the left hemisphere as compared to right hand executions of either condition. The results indicate that the premotor and somatosensory cortices of the left hemisphere constitute relevant brain structures for tool related hand movement production when using the left hand, whereas the somatosensory cortex of the left hemisphere seems to provide specific mental representations when performing tool use demonstrations with the tool in hand

Contagious scratching: shared feelings but not shared body locations

A commentary on: The neural basis of contagious itch and why some people are more prone to it by Holle, H., Warne, K., Seth, A. K., Critchley, H. D., and Ward, J. (2012). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109, 19816–19821

Inconsistent use of gesture space during abstract pointing impairs language comprehension

Pointing toward concrete objects is a well-known and efficient communicative strategy. Much less is known about the communicative effectiveness of abstract pointing where the pointing gestures are directed to “empty space.” McNeill's (2003) observations suggest that abstract pointing can be used to establish referents in gesture space, without the referents being physically present. Recently, however, it has been shown that abstract pointing typically provides redundant information to the uttered speech thereby suggesting a very limited communicative value (So et al., 2009). In a first approach to tackle this issue we were interested to know whether perceivers are sensitive at all to this gesture cue or whether it is completely discarded as irrelevant add-on information. Sensitivity to for instance a gesture-speech mismatch would suggest a potential communicative function of abstract pointing. Therefore, we devised a mismatch paradigm in which participants watched a video where a female was interviewed on various topics. During her responses, she established two concepts in space using abstract pointing (e.g., pointing to the left when saying Donald, and pointing to the right when saying Mickey). In the last response to each topic, the pointing gesture accompanying a target word (e.g., Donald) was either consistent or inconsistent with the previously established location. Event related brain potentials showed an increased N400 and P600 when gesture and speech referred to different referents, indicating that inconsistent use of gesture space impairs language comprehension. Abstract pointing was found to influence comprehension even though gesture was not crucial to understanding the sentences or conducting the experimental task. These data suggest that a referent was retrieved via abstract pointing and that abstract pointing can potentially be used for referent indication in a discourse. We conclude that abstract pointing has a potential communicative function

Концептуализация идеи академического инновационного университета: проблемы и перспективы

Рассмотрены предпосылки и концептуальные основания процесса становления академического инновационного университета, вызванные нарастающим уровнем сциентизации промышленного производства, индустриализацией науки, глобализацией технологии и экономики. Эти процессы являются тем основанием, на котором возможна эволюция академического инновационного университета как феномена. Актуализация проблемы качественной специфики университетского образования в ХХI веке свидетельствует о динамическом процессе переосмысления как форм, так и самой сущности образования

Acute itch induces attentional avoidance of itch-related information

Attention is known to modulate itch intensity. In contrast, the reverse relationship, i.e. the degree to which the presence of an acute itch affects attention, is currently not well understood. The aims of this study were to investigate whether acute itch induces an attentional bias towards or away from visual itch-related stimuli, and if so, whether it occurs in the early or later stages of processing. A volunteer sample of 60 healthy individuals were subjected to a skin prick (either histamine or placebo), followed by completion of a spatial cueing paradigm using itch-related and neutral words as cues, in order to obtain reaction time estimates of attentional bias. The results suggest that experience of acute itch induces attentional avoidance of visual itch threats. This attentional avoidance occurs at a later processing stage in the form of facilitated disengagement of attention from itch and/or delayed disengagement from neutral information

Gesture Facilitates the Syntactic Analysis of Speech

Recent research suggests that the brain routinely binds together information from gesture and speech. However, most of this research focused on the integration of representational gestures with the semantic content of speech. Much less is known about how other aspects of gesture, such as emphasis, influence the interpretation of the syntactic relations in a spoken message. Here, we investigated whether beat gestures alter which syntactic structure is assigned to ambiguous spoken German sentences. The P600 component of the Event Related Brain Potential indicated that the more complex syntactic structure is easier to process when the speaker emphasizes the subject of a sentence with a beat. Thus, a simple flick of the hand can change our interpretation of who has been doing what to whom in a spoken sentence. We conclude that gestures and speech are integrated systems. Unlike previous studies, which have shown that the brain effortlessly integrates semantic information from gesture and speech, our study is the first to demonstrate that this integration also occurs for syntactic information. Moreover, the effect appears to be gesture-specific and was not found for other stimuli that draw attention to certain parts of speech, including prosodic emphasis, or a moving visual stimulus with the same trajectory as the gesture. This suggests that only visual emphasis produced with a communicative intention in mind (that is, beat gestures) influences language comprehension, but not a simple visual movement lacking such an intention

Can contagious itch be affected by positive and negative suggestions?

Contagious itch can be evoked by observing people scratching. Verbal suggestions about to-be-received itch can influence itch intensity, as shown by placebo research, but it is unknown whether this extends to contagious itch. The current study aimed to replicate prior findings that listening to scratching and rubbing sounds elicits contagious itch, and to investigate whether suggestions can modulate this process. Healthy participants (n= 140) received positive or negative suggestions about itch in response to the sounds (aimed to decrease or increase expected itch, respectively), or no specific suggestions as a control. Participants listened to a number of audio fragments with scratching and rubbing sounds. The amount of expected itch as well as itch sensation after each audio fragment were measured by self-report. Suggestions had no effect on the expected itch. Both rubbing and scratching sounds significantly elicited itch in all groups. Scratching sounds induced more itch than rubbing sounds exclusively in the control group. These findings indicate that short suggestions might be not effective enough to modify the expectations of people regarding contagious itch. Furthermore, suggestions modulate contagious itch to some degree, but not in the hypothesized direction. Potential similarities and differences in the neurobiological mechanisms of contagious itch and nocebo effects are discussed