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The topic of abusive supervision in the workplace is among the most studied subjects in different disciplines, including psychology, organizational behavior, and related fields. However, researchers and scholars ignore the mediation effect of organizational commitment in the relationship between abusive supervision and employee work performance. Moreover, there is a lack of studies undertaken on this issue in the public sector. This research data was collected in the Republic of Togo central government institutions and state-owned organizations, which are of particular importance and are filled with civil servants. The random sampling method was applied to collect the data from 214 respondents through structured survey questionnaires. The finding revealed that organizational commitment is mitigating the negative effect of abusive supervision on employees' performance. The results also showed that even though employees with normative commitment are most attached to the organization, they are less productive than individuals with affective and continuous commitment. Finally, the study concluded that civil servant with a strong organizational commitment doesn't show up on their supervisor's behavior but instead bear the character of "good citizenship." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting evidence linking gaze reinstatement—the recapitulation of encoding-related gaze patterns during retrieval—to behavioral measures of memory suggests that eye movements play an important role in mnemonic processing. Yet, the nature of the gaze scanpath, including its informational content and neural correlates, has remained in question. In this study, we examined eye movement and neural data from a recognition memory task to further elucidate the behavioral and neural bases of functional gaze reinstatement. Consistent with previous work, gaze reinstatement during retrieval of freely viewed scene images was greater than chance and predictive of recognition memory performance. Gaze reinstatement was also associated with viewing of informationally salient image regions at encoding, suggesting that scanpaths may encode and contain high-level scene content. At the brain level, gaze reinstatement was predicted by encoding-related activity in the occipital pole and BG, neural regions associated with visual processing and oculomotor control. Finally, cross-voxel brain pattern similarity analysis revealed overlapping subsequent memory and subsequent gaze reinstatement modulation effects in the parahippocampal place area and hippocampus, in addition to the occipital pole and BG. Together, these findings suggest that encoding-related activity in brain regions associated with scene processing, oculomotor control, and memory supports the formation, and subsequent recapitulation, of functional scanpaths. More broadly, these findings lend support to Scanpath Theory's assertion that eye movements both encode, and are themselves embedded in, mnemonic representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior knowledge and long‐term memory can guide our attention to facilitate search for and detection of subtle targets embedded in a complex scene. A number of neuropsychological and experimental studies have investigated this effect, yet results in the field remain mixed, as there is a lack of consensus regarding the neural correlates thought to support memory‐guided attention. The purpose of this systematic review and meta‐analysis was to identify a common set of brain structures involved in memory‐guided attention. Statistical analyses were computed on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that presented participants with a task that required them to detect a target or a change embedded in repeated and novel complex visual displays. After a systematic search, 10 fMRI studies met the selection criteria and were included in the analysis. The results yielded four significant clusters. Activity in right inferior parietal (Brodmann area [BA] 9) and right superior parietal (BA 7) lobes suggests involvement of a fronto‐parietal attention network, while activity in left mid‐cingulate cortex (BA 23) and right middle frontal gyrus (BA 10) suggests involvement of a fronto‐parietal control network. These findings are consistent with the notion that fronto‐parietal circuits are important for interfacing retrieved memories with attentional systems to guide search. This article is categorized under:Psychology > MemoryPsychology > LearningPsychology > Attention [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In criminal investigations, uncooperative witnesses might deny knowing a perpetrator, the location of a murder scene or knowledge of a weapon. We sought to identify markers of recognition in eye fixations and confidence judgments whilst participants told the truth and lied about recognising faces (Experiment 1) and scenes and objects (Experiment 2) that varied in familiarity. To detect recognition we calculated effect size differences in markers of recognition between familiar and unfamiliar items that varied in familiarity (personally familiar, newly learned). Results: In Experiment 1, recognition of personally familiar faces was reliably detected across multiple fixation markers (e.g. fewer fixations, fewer interest areas viewed, fewer return fixations) during honest and concealed recognition. In Experiment 2, recognition of personally familiar non-face items (scenes and objects) was detected solely by fewer fixations during honest and concealed recognition; differences in other fixation measures were not consistent. In both experiments, fewer fixations exposed concealed recognition of newly learned faces, scenes and objects, but the same pattern was not observed during honest recognition. Confidence ratings were higher for recognition of personally familiar faces than for unfamiliar faces. Conclusions: Robust memories of personally familiar faces were detected in patterns of fixations and confidence ratings, irrespective of task demands required to conceal recognition. Crucially, we demonstrate that newly learned faces should not be used as a proxy for real-world familiarity, and that conclusions should not be generalised across different types of familiarity or stimulus class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory deficits in aging are characterized by impaired hippocampus‐mediated relational binding—the formation of links between items in memory. By reducing reliance on relational binding, unitization of two items into one concept enhances associative recognition among older adults. Can a similar enhancement be obtained when probing memory with recall? This question has yet to be examined, because recall has been assumed to rely predominantly on relational binding. Inspired by recent evidence challenging this assumption, we investigated individual differences in older adults' recall of unitized and nonunitized associations. Compared with successfully aging individuals, older adults with mild memory deficits, typically mediated by the hippocampus, were impaired in recall of paired‐associates in a task which relies on relational binding (study: "PLAY–TUNNEL"; test: PLAY–T?). In stark contrast, the two groups showed similar performance when items were unitized into a novel compound word (study: "LOVEGIGGLE"; test: LOVEG?). Thus, boosting nonrelational aspects of recall enhances associative memory among aging individuals with subtle memory impairments to comparable levels as successfully aging older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Declarative memory is supported by distributed brain networks in which the medial-temporal lobes (MTLs) and pFC serve as important hubs. Identifying the unique and shared contributions of these regions to successful memory performance is an active area of research, and a growing literature suggests that these structures often work together to support declarative memory. Here, we present data from a context-dependent relational memory task in which participants learned that individuals belonged in a single room in each of two buildings. Room assignment was consistent with an underlying contextual rule structure in which male and female participants were assigned to opposite sides of a building and the side assignment switched between buildings. In two experiments, neural correlates of performance on this task were evaluated using multiple neuroimaging tools: diffusion tensor imaging (Experiment 1), magnetic resonance elastography (Experiment 1), and functional MRI (Experiment 2). Structural and functional data from each individual modality provided complementary and consistent evidence that the hippocampus and the adjacent white matter tract (i.e., fornix) supported relational memory, whereas the ventromedial pFC/OFC (vmPFC/OFC) and the white matter tract connecting vmPFC/OFC to MTL (i.e., uncinate fasciculus) supported memory-guided rule use. Together, these data suggest that MTL and pFC structures differentially contribute to and support contextually guided relational memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hippocampal episodic memory is fundamentally relational, comprising links between events and the spatiotemporal contexts in which they occurred. Such relations are also important over shorter timescales, during online perception. For example, how do we assess the relative spatial positions of objects, their temporal order, or the relationship between their features? Here, we investigate the role of the hippocampus in online relational processing by manipulating attention to different kinds of relations. While undergoing fMRI, participants viewed two images in rapid succession on each trial and performed one of three relational tasks, judging the images' relative: spatial positions, temporal onsets, or sizes. Additionally, they sometimes judged whether one image was tilted, irrespective of the other. This served as a baseline item task with no demands on relational processing. The hippocampus showed reliable deactivation when participants attended to relational vs. item information. Attention to temporal relations was associated with the most robust deactivation. One interpretation of such deactivation is that it reflects hippocampal disengagement. If true, there should be reduced information content and noisier activity patterns for the temporal vs. other tasks. Instead, multivariate pattern analysis revealed more stable hippocampal representations in the temporal task. This increased pattern similarity was not simply a reflection of lower univariate activity. Thus, the hippocampus differentiates between relational and item processing even during online perception, and its representations of temporal relations are particularly robust. These findings suggest that the relational computations of the hippocampus extend beyond long‐term memory, enabling rapid extraction of relational information in perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The facilitation of memory for target stimuli due to the similarity of context in the learning and testing phases is known as the "Context-Effect" (CE). Previous studies reported that TBI affects memory for contextual information when tested directly. However, the indirect effect of contextual information on memory of target (i.e., CE) is preserved. Several studies have demonstrated that CE is composed of multiple, distinct cognitive processes. The present study includes four context conditions to enable identification of the exact process affected by TBI. In addition, eye movements were monitored to test three hypotheses: first, that the TBI group's dwell time on target (DTOT) at encoding would be less than that of controls. Second, that DTOT at encoding would be more highly associated with recognition at test for the control group than for the TBI group. Third, that overall DTOT at encoding on new, as compared to old items ("repetition effect"), would be less pronounced for the TBI group as compared to controls. Methods: Twenty-four patients with mild-to-severe TBI and 23 matched controls participated in this study. We presented participants with photographs of male faces shown wearing distinctive, trial-unique hats (yielding specific Target-Context pairing). Eye movements were recorded throughout the test task. Results: Memory for faces following TBI is impaired compared to that of controls. The magnitude and pattern of CE are the same for both groups. The TBI group has a lower DTOT compared to that of controls. However, the relative length of DTOT in the various conditions is similar in both groups. Conclusions: Behavioral results indicate that although the TBI group has impaired memory for faces, the CE pattern is similar to that of controls. Similarly, in terms of eye movements, although the TBI group focuses less on target, relations between the various conditions are similar in both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lateral portion of the entorhinal cortex is one of the first brain regions affected by tau pathology, an important biomarker for Alzheimer disease. Improving our understanding of this region's cognitive role may help identify better cognitive tests for early detection of Alzheimer disease. Based on its functional connections, we tested the idea that the human anterolateral entorhinal cortex (alERC) may play a role in integrating spatial information into object representations. We recently demonstrated that the volume of the alERC was related to processing the spatial relationships of the features within an object [Yeung, L. K., Olsen, R. K., Bild-Enkin, H. E. P., D'Angelo, M. C., Kacollja, A., McQuiggan, D. A., et al. Anterolateral entorhinal cortex volume predicted by altered intra-item configural processing. Journal of Neuroscience, 37, 5527–5538, 2017]. In this study, we investigated whether the human alERC might also play a role in processing the spatial relationships between an object and its environment using an eye-tracking task that assessed visual fixations to a critical object within a scene. Guided by rodent work, we measured both object-in-place memory, the association of an object with a given context [Wilson, D. I., Langston, R. F., Schlesiger, M. I., Wagner, M., Watanabe, S., & Ainge, J. A. Lateral entorhinal cortex is critical for novel object-context recognition. Hippocampus, 23, 352–366, 2013], and object-trace memory, the memory for the former location of objects [Tsao, A., Moser, M. B., & Moser, E. I. Traces of experience in the lateral entorhinal cortex. Current Biology, 23, 399–405, 2013]. In a group of older adults with varying stages of brain atrophy and cognitive decline, we found that the volume of the alERC and the volume of the parahippocampal cortex selectively predicted object-in-place memory, but not object-trace memory. These results provide support for the notion that the alERC may integrate spatial information into object representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that the hippocampus is critical for memory. Recent evidence suggests that one function of hippocampal memory processing is to optimize how people actively explore the world. Here we demonstrate that the link between the hippocampus and exploration extends even to the moment-to-moment use of eye movements during visuospatial memory encoding. In Experiment 1, we examined relationships between study-phase eye movements in healthy individuals and subsequent performance on a spatial reconstruction test. In addition to quantitative measures of viewing behaviors (e.g., how many fixations or saccades were deployed during study), we used the information–theoretic measure of entropy to assess the amount of randomness or disorganization in participants' scanning behaviors. We found that the use of scanpaths during study that were lower in entropy (e.g., more organized, less random) predicted more accurate spatial reconstruction both within and between participants. Scanpath entropy was a better predictor of reconstruction accuracy than were the quantitative measures of viewing. In Experiment 2, we found that individuals with hippocampal amnesia tended to engage in viewing patterns that were higher in entropy (less organized) relative to healthy comparisons. These findings reveal a critical role of the hippocampus in guiding eye movement exploration to optimize visuospatial relational memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has developed an original approach to the relationship between eye movements and autobiographical memory, by investigating how maintained fixation could influence the characteristics of retrieved memories. We invited participants to retrieve autobiographical memories in two conditions: while fixating a cross at the centre of a screen and while freely exploring the screen. Memories retrieved during the maintained fixation condition were less detailed and contained less visual imagery than those retrieved during the free-gaze condition. Memories retrieved during the maintained fixation condition were retrieved slower and took less time to describe than those retrieved during the free-gaze condition. As for the characteristics of eye movements, analysis showed fewer and longer fixations as well as fewer saccades in the maintained fixation than in the free-gaze condition. Maintaining fixation is likely to tax cognitive resources that are necessary for the reconstruction of autobiographical memory. Our findings demonstrate how maintained fixation may result in a more effortful construction of autobiographical memory and memories with lower spatiotemporal specificity and poorer mental images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory for the items one has recently encountered is sometimes enhanced in divided attention tasks: Attending to behaviorally relevant items, such as a target in a detection task, boosts memory for unrelated background items (e.g., scenes or words). However, a central feature of episodic memory is memory for the spatiotemporal relationship between items and other elements of an event (relational memory), not just the item itself. Three experiments examined whether attending to a behaviorally relevant target-item boosts memory for the relationship between that item, its features, and a background scene. Participants memorized briefly presented scenes. At the same time, they pressed a button if a second unrelated item (a figure or face) was a particular target color (Experiments 1 and 2) or target gender (Experiment 3) rather than a distractor color or gender. Target and distractor items also varied in task-irrelevant features (shape, location, or facial identity). If attending to behaviorally relevant events influences relational memory, then participants should be better able to report both target-defining and irrelevant features of items that appeared with target-paired scenes rather than distractor-paired scenes. This was the case in all experiments: memory was enhanced for the target-paired scenes as well as the association between a scene and features of the paired target-item. Attending to behaviorally relevant moments therefore has broader effects on memory encoding than previously thought. In addition to boosting memory for unrelated background items, attending to targets facilitates relational memory in these tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Preferential viewing of novel stimuli in the Visual Paired Comparison task has provided a useful marker of memory and medial temporal lobe function. We created a portable version of the VPC (P-VPC) and contrasted P-VPC metrics against the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in healthy adults, to assess the validity and reliability of the P-VPC as an indicator of memory function across age. A supplementary case series was conducted with individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias, to provide a preliminary illustration of the P-VPC’s use as a measure in clinical populations. Method: Participants (n = 207) were tested using the P-VPC. Individuals were familiarized with a set of objects, which were each presented alongside a novel object in the test phase. Novelty viewing scores were compared to MoCA scores to index concurrent validity. Item analyses were conducted as a test of internal reliability of the P-VPC. A complementary clinical case series was conducted with AD (n = 4) and dementia (n = 5) participants, who were tested using the P-VPC and further compared to healthy age-matched participants. Results: Preferential viewing decreased with age in healthy participants, and was positively correlated with MoCA scores. Compared to the MoCA, P-VPC scores did not differ based on education and/or whether English was spoken as the native language. Item analyses revealed acceptable internal consistency. P-VPC viewing percentiles of healthy participants were modeled as a function of age, and illustrated that individuals of the clinical case series diagnosed with AD scored in below-average percentiles, while those with dementia did not score below-average. Conclusion: Good concurrent validity and acceptable internal reliability were observed, and P-VPC scores were not confounded by education or language experience. Low performance was observed in individuals with clinically diagnosed AD, suggesting that the P-VPC may be a potential tool for screening memory decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our episodic memory stores what happened when and where in life. Episodic memory requires the rapid formation and flexible retrieval of where things are located in space. Consciousness of the encoding scene is considered crucial for episodic memory formation. Here, we question the necessity of consciousness and hypothesize that humans can form unconscious episodic memories. Participants were presented with subliminal scenes, that is, scenes invisible to the conscious mind. The scenes displayed objects at certain locations for participants to form unconscious object‐in‐space memories. Later, the same scenes were presented supraliminally, that is, visibly, for retrieval testing. Scenes were presented absent the objects and rotated by 90°–270° in perspective to assess the representational flexibility of unconsciously formed memories. During the test phase, participants performed a forced‐choice task that required them to place an object in one of two highlighted scene locations and their eye movements were recorded. Evaluation of the eye tracking data revealed that participants remembered object locations unconsciously, irrespective of changes in viewing perspective. This effect of gaze was related to correct placements of objects in scenes, and an intuitive decision style was necessary for unconscious memories to influence intentional behavior to a significant degree. We conclude that conscious perception is not mandatory for spatial episodic memory formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the nature of the memory effect revealed in eye movements. Chinese characters were processed visually, phonologically or semantically during the study phase. The proportion of viewing time during the subsequent recognition test was compared between characters associated with different types of encoding. To eliminate the influence of response selection on eye movements, participants were asked to select the unstudied character and make the selection after the viewing period ended. Results showed that the proportion of viewing time in the recognition test was larger for visually encoded characters than it was for semantically (Experiment 1) and phonologically encoded (Experiment 3) characters, even after the participants had presumably made the decision. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the proportion of viewing time between phonologically and semantically encoded characters (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that the viewing time change in eye movements during the recognition test is an obligatory consequence of re-processing the visual information encoded during the study phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary research literature indicates that eye movements during the learning and testing phases can predict and affect future recognition processes. Nevertheless, only partial information exists regarding eye movements in the various components of recognition processes: Hits, Correct rejections, Misses and False Alarms (FA). In an attempt to address this issue, participants in this study viewed human faces in a yes/no recognition memory paradigm. They were divided into two groups – one group that carried out the testing phase immediately after the learning phase (n = 30) and another group with a 15-minute delay between phases (n = 28). The results showed that the Immediate group had a lower FA rate than the Delay group, and that no Hit rate differences were observed between the two groups. Eye movements differed between the recognition processes in the learning and the testing phases, and this pattern interacted with the group type. Hence, eye movement measures seem to track memory accuracy during both learning and testing phases and this pattern also interacts with the length of delay between learning and testing. This pattern of results suggests that eye movements are indicative of present and future recognition processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory impairments are often observed in aging. Specifically, older adults have difficulty binding together disparate elements (relational memory). We have recently shown that a cognitive strategy known as unitization can mitigate impaired relational learning in the transverse patterning task (TP) in both amnesia and healthy aging. This strategy allows items to be fused together through an interaction such that one item acts upon another. In the context of TP, unitization is comprised of three component processes: (1) fusion, (2) motion, and (3) semantic comprehension of action/consequence sequences. Here, we examine which of these components are sufficient to mitigate age-related impairments. Four groups of older adults were given either the full unitization strategy or one of the three component strategies. Each group of older adults showed impairments in memory for the relations among items under standard training instructions relative to a threshold that marks learning of a winner-take-all rule (elemental threshold). However, participants who were given either the full unitization strategy or the action/consequence-only strategy showed improved performance, which was maintained following the 1-hour delay. Therefore, semantically rich action/consequence interactions are sufficient to mitigate age-related relational memory impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies of unconscious processing involve comparing a performance measure (e.g., some assessment of perception or memory) with an awareness measure (such as a verbal report or a forced-choice response) taken either concurrently or separately. Unconscious processing is inferred when above-chance performance is combined with null awareness. Often, however, aggregate awareness is better than chance, and data analysis therefore employs a form of extreme group analysis focusing post hoc on participants, trials, or items where awareness is absent or at chance. The pitfalls of this analytic approach are described with particular reference to recent research on implicit learning and subliminal perception. Because of regression to the mean, the approach can mislead researchers into erroneous conclusions concerning unconscious influences on behavior. Recommendations are made about future use of post hoc selection in research on unconscious cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Episodic memories are comprised of details of “where” and “when”; spatial and temporal relations, respectively. However, evidence from behavioural, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging studies has provided mixed interpretations about how memories for spatial and temporal relations are organised—they may be hierarchical, fully interactive, or independent. In the current study, we examined the interaction of memory for spatial and temporal relations. Using explicit reports and eye-tracking, we assessed younger and older adults’ memory for spatial and temporal relations of objects that were presented singly across time in unique spatial locations. Explicit change detection of spatial relations was affected by a change in temporal relations, but explicit change detection of temporal relations was not affected by a change in spatial relations. Younger and older adults showed eye movement evidence of incidental memory for temporal relations, but only younger adults showed eye movement evidence of incidental memory for spatial relations. Together, these findings point towards a hierarchical organisation of relational memory. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the neural mechanisms that may support such a hierarchical organisation of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In three experiments, we investigated an early memory effect in eye fixations, namely increased durations of the second fixations to known relative to unfamiliar stimuli. This effect occurs even if knowledge of the stimulus is deliberately concealed. In Experiment 1, we found the early memory effect using object materials and a gaze-contingent stimulus presentation that controlled for parafoveal stimulus processing. In Experiment 2a, we looked for the effect under conditions commonly used in the concealed information test (CIT). To this end, participants encoded the 'to-be-concealed' knowledge incidentally while doing a mock crime task, which was followed by a CIT. Beyond the control of parafoveal stimulus processing in Experiment 1, this procedure allowed minimization of influences of carry-over processes associated with the preceding stimulus. Experiment 2b replicated Experiment 2a but applied a 1-week retention interval between the encoding of the to-be-concealed knowledge and the CIT. We observed an early memory effect in all experiments, suggesting that the effect is robust, irrespective of the paradigm, stimulus materials, and retention interval used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual behavior is guided by memories from prior experience and knowledge of the visual scene. The hippocampal system (HC), in particular, has been implicated in the guidance of saccades: Amnesic patients, following damage to the HC, exhibit selective deficits in their gaze patterns. However, the neural circuitry by which mnemonic representations influence the oculomotor system remains unknown. We used a data-driven, network-based approach on directed anatomical connectivity from the macaque brain to reveal an extensive set of polysnaptic pathways spanning the extrastriate, posterior parietal and prefrontal cortices that potentially mediate the exchange of information between the memory and visuo-oculomotor systems. We additionally show how the potential for directed information flow from the hippocampus to oculomotor control areas is exceptionally high. In particular, the dorsolateral pFC and FEF--regions known to be responsible for the cognitive control of saccades--are topologically well positioned to receive information from the hippocampus. Together with neuropsychological evidence of altered gaze patterns following damage to the hippocampus, our findings suggest that a reconsideration of hippocampal involvement in oculomotor guidance is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual search efficiency improves with repetition of a search display, yet the mechanisms behind these processing gains remain unclear. According to Scanpath Theory, memory retrieval is mediated by repetition of the pattern of eye movements or “scanpath” elicited during stimulus encoding. Using this framework, we tested the prediction that scanpath recapitulation reflects relational memory guidance during repeated search events. Younger and older subjects were instructed to find changing targets within flickering naturalistic scenes. Search efficiency (search time, number of fixations, fixation duration) and scanpath similarity (repetition) were compared across age groups for novel (V1) and repeated (V2) search events. Younger adults outperformed older adults on all efficiency measures at both V1 and V2, while the search time benefit for repeated viewing (V1–V2) did not differ by age. Fixation-binned scanpath similarity analyses revealed repetition of initial and final (but not middle) V1 fixations at V2, with older adults repeating more initial V1 fixations than young adults. In young adults only, early scanpath similarity correlated negatively with search time at test, indicating increased efficiency, whereas the similarity of V2 fixations to middle V1 fixations predicted poor search performance. We conclude that scanpath compression mediates increased search efficiency by selectively recapitulating encoding fixations that provide goal-relevant input. Extending Scanpath Theory, results suggest that scanpath repetition varies as a function of time and memory integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pupil response discriminates between old and new stimuli, with old stimuli characterized by larger pupil dilation patterns than new stimuli. We sought to explore the cause of the pupil old/new effect and discount the effect of targetness, effort, recollection retrieval, and complexity of the recognition decision. Two experiments are reported in which the pupil response and the eye fixation patterns were measured, while participants identified novel and familiar object stimuli, in two separate tasks, emphasizing either novelty or familiarity detection. In Experiment 1, familiarity and novelty decisions were taken using a rating scale, while in Experiment 2 a simpler yes/no decision was used. In both experiments, we found that detection of target familiar stimuli resulted in greater pupil dilation than the detection of target novel stimuli, while the duration of the first fixation discriminated between familiar and novel stimuli as early as within 320 ms after stimulus onset. Importantly, the pupil response distinguished between the objective (during an earlier temporal component) and the subjective (during a later temporal component) status of the stimulus for misses and false alarms. In the light of previous findings, we suggest that the pupil and fixation old/new effects reflect the distinct neural and cognitive mechanisms involved in the familiarity and novelty decisions. The findings also have important implications for the use of pupil dilation and eye movement patterns to explore explicit and implicit memory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In natural scenes, many objects compete for visual selection. However, it is not always clear why certain objects win this competition. I will demonstrate that the eye movement system lives in a constant state of competition among different oculomotor programs. This competition is not limited to the competition between the current goals of the observer and salient objects in the environment but incorporates independent influences from memory, reward, and emotional systems. These involuntary and automatic biases often overcome the goal-directed selection and expose severe limits in goal-driven control. There is also a striking similarity in the way that these very different sources of bias activate the oculomotor system and compete for representation. The inputs from various information sources are integrated in the common map in the oculomotor system for the sole purpose of improving the efficiency of oculomotor selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored whether object behavioral priming and pupil changes occur in the absence of recognition memory. Experiment 1 found behavioral priming for unrecognized objects (Ms) regardless of whether they had been encoded perceptually or conceptually. Using the same perceptual encoding task, Experiment 2 showed greater pupil dilation for Ms than for correct rejections of unstudied objects (CRs) when reaction times were matched. In Experiment 3, there was relatively less pupil dilation for Ms than for similarly matched CRs when objects had been encoded conceptually. Mean/peak pupil dilation for CRs, but not Ms, increased in Experiment 3, in which novelty expectation was also reduced, and the pupillary time course for both Ms and CRs was distinct in the two experiments. These findings indicate that both behavioral and pupil memory occur for studied, but unrecognized stimuli, and suggest that encoding and novelty expectation modulate pupillary memory responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this chapter, we review literature that examines the association among physical activity, aerobic fitness, cognition, and the brain in elementary school children (ages 7-10 years). Specifically, physical activity and higher levels of aerobic fitness in children have been found to benefit brain structure, brain function, cognition, and school achievement. For example, higher fit children have larger brain volumes in the basal ganglia and hippocampus, which relate to superior performance on tasks of cognitive control and memory, respectively, when compared to their lower fit peers. Higher fit children also show superior brain function during tasks of cognitive control, better scores on tests of academic achievement, and higher performance on a real-world street crossing task, compared to lower fit and less active children. The cross-sectional findings are strengthened by a few randomized, controlled trials, which demonstrate that children randomly assigned to a physical activity intervention group show greater brain and cognitive benefits compared to a control group. Because these findings suggest that the developing brain is plastic and sensitive to lifestyle factors, we also discuss typical structural and functional brain maturation in children to provide context in which to interpret the effects of physical activity and aerobic fitness on the developing brain. This research is important because children are becoming increasingly sedentary, physically inactive, and unfit. An important goal of this review is to emphasize the importance of physical activity and aerobic fitness for the cognitive and brain health of today's youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]