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The landscape of human memory and event cognition research has witnessed a transformative journey toward the use of naturalistic contexts and tasks. In this review, we track this progression from abrupt, artificial stimuli used in extensively controlled laboratory experiments to more naturalistic tasks and stimuli that present a more faithful representation of the real world. We argue that in order to improve ecological validity, naturalistic study designs must consider the complexity of the cognitive phenomenon being studied. Then, we review the current state of "naturalistic" event segmentation studies and critically assess frequently employed movie stimuli. We evaluate recently developed tools like lifelogging and other extended reality technologies to help address the challenges we identified with existing naturalistic approaches. We conclude by offering some guidelines that can be used to design ecologically valid cognitive neuroscience studies of memory and event cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Several species of the New World monkeys have been used as experimental models in biomedical and neurophysiological research. However, a method for controlled arm reaching tasks has not been developed for these species. New method We have developed a fully automated, pneumatically driven, portable, and reconfigurable experimental apparatus for arm-reaching tasks suitable for these small primates. Results We have utilized the apparatus to train two owl monkeys in a visually-cued arm-reaching task. Analysis of neural recordings demonstrates directional tuning of the M1 neurons. Comparison with existing method(s) Our apparatus allows automated control, freeing the experimenter from manual experiments. Conclusion The presented apparatus provides a valuable tool for conducting neurophysiological research on New World monkeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Due to the difficulty in spinal cord regeneration with biological methods, the microelectronic neural bridge, a new concept based on microelectronic technology, is presented. The microelectronic system has been realized in the forms of hybrid and integrated circuits. The integrated circuits for neural signal detection, stimulation, and regeneration are realized in a CMOS process. In animal experiments with 100 toads, 48 rats, and 3 rabbits, nerve signals have been successfully detected from spinal cords and sciatic nerves, and functional electrical stimulation has been carried out for spinal cords and sciatic nerves. When the microelectronic system is bridged between the controlling and stimulated nerve, the relevant motion of legs and nerve signal waveforms, which are stimulated by the evoked or spontaneous nerve signal through such a system, have been observed. Therefore, the feasibility of the presented method was demonstrated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]