Verbal working memory: magnetic resonance morphometric analysis and a psychophysiological model

Neuropsychological characteristics of verbal working memory (memory capacity, permanency, and different types of memory errors) of 43 healthy subjects of older age were compared with the anatomical characteristics of their brain structures (volume of the hippocampi and the caudate nuclei, size of the cingulate-cortex regions of both hemispheres). The obtained data demonstrate a correlation between the permanency of verbal-information maintenance and left caudate-nucleus volume and a positive correlation between associative-memory capacity and left hippocampus volume. A decline in the number of verbal-memory errors (confabulations) is related to the increased size of the left anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, verbal working-memory capacity and permanency correlate negatively with the size of the left posterior dorsal cingulate cortex, whereas the number of fluctuations and word replacements correlate positively with the increased size of this brain region. We suggest a psychophysiological model of verbalstimulus maintenance in working memory based on the results of our study and published research data. Keywords: magnetic resonance morphometric analysis, working memory, verbal memory, caudate nucleus, cingulate cortex, hippocampus, working-memory model Neurophysiological mechanisms of verbal information processing are traditionally related to the functioning of the temporal cortex of the left hemisphere of the brain. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that a lesion in this brain region usually causes trouble in speech perception, as well as other problems with audio-verbal information processing, including severe verbal-memory impairment. However, the temporal cortex is not the only brain structure that takes part in this cognitive process; moreover, from all appearances, verbal memory is related to the combined functioning of several brain regions. It has been revealed that verbal memory is related to the hippocampus, which is a part of the limbic system of the brain. According to the results of fMRI studies, the hippocampus is activated during the performance of verbal-memory tasks. Furthermore, it is activated more frequently in the stage of information retrieval than in the stage of its consolidation (Karlsgodt, Shirinyan, van Erp, Cohen, & Can

dataset TB-Sch

Data of a behavioral experiment on temporal binding in patients with schizophreni

Verbal working memory: magnetic resonance, morphometric analysis and a psychophisiological model

Neuropsychological characteristics of verbal working memory (memory capacity, permanency, and different types of memory errors) of 43 healthy subjects of older age were compared with the anatomical characteristics of their brain structures (volume of the hippocampi and the caudate nuclei, size of the cingulate-cortex regions of both hemispheres). The obtained data demonstrate a correlation between the permanency of verbal- information maintenance and left caudate-nucleus volume and a positive correlation between associative-memory capacity and left hippocampus volume. A decline in the number of verbal-memory errors (confabulations) is related to the increased size of the left anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, verbal working-memory capacity and permanency correlate negatively with the size of the left posterior dorsal cingulate cortex, whereas the number of fluctuations and word replacements correlate positively with the increased size of this brain region. We suggest a psychophysiological model of verbalstimulus maintenance in working memory based on the results of our study and published research data

Self-other distinction modulates the social softness illusion

The social softness illusion (i.e., the tendency to perceive another person's skin as softer than our own) is thought to promote the sharing of social-emotional experiences because of the rewarding properties of receiving and giving social affective touch. Here we investigated whether the ability to distinguish someone else’s body from our own modulates the social softness illusion. In particular, we tested whether the spatial perspective taken by the participants and seeing or not the touched arms could alter this illusion. Pairs of female participants were assigned the roles of either the giver (i.e., delivering the touches) or the receiver (i.e., being touched). We manipulated the location of the touch (palm or forearm), the spatial perspective of the receiver’s body with respect to the giver’s body (egocentric or allocentric perspective), and the vision of the touched body part (the giver could either see both her own and the receiver’s body part, or she was blindfolded). Consistently with previous findings, the skin of another person was perceived as softer than the own one. Additionally, the illusion was present for both the forearm and the palm, and it was stronger in allocentric compared to the egocentric perspective (i.e., when the self-other distinction was clearer). These findings show that the mechanisms underpinning the ability to represent another person’s body as distinct from our own modulates the social softness illusion, and thus support the role of the social softness illusion in fostering social relationships. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00426-021-01549-8

Changing your body changes your eating attitudes: embodiment of a slim virtual avatar induces avoidance of high-calorie food

The virtual-reality full-body illusion paradigm has been suggested to not only trigger the illusory ownership of the avatar's body but also the attitudinal and behavioral components stereotypically associated to that kind of virtual body. In the present study, we investigated whether this was true for stereotypes related to body size: body satisfaction and eating control behavior. Healthy participants underwent the full-body illusion paradigm with an avatar having either a larger or a slimmer body than their own, and were assessed for implicit attitudes towards body image and food calorie content at baseline and after each full-body illusion session. Results showed that the illusion emerged regardless of the avatar's body size, whereas the perceived dimension of the own body size changed according to the avatar's body size (i.e., participants felt to be slimmer after embodying their slim avatar and larger after embodying their large avatar). Crucially, we found that implicit attitudes towards food, but not those towards one's own body, were modulated by the size of the virtual body. Compared to baseline, ownership of a slimmer avatar increased the avoidance of high-calorie food, whereas ownership of a larger avatar did not induce changes. Our findings suggest that the illusory feeling of being slimmer drives also the food-related stereotypes associated with that body size, increasing the regulation of eating behaviors