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In order to achieve an optical signal memory device with read–write functions, a topological Su–Schrieffer–Heeger lattice is proposed. It is found that a transformation between a topological corner state and an edge state occurs under the magneto-optical effect. Without an external magnetic field, the electromagnetic (EM) signal is confined and stored at the corner, which realizes the writing process of a signal. When an external magnetic field is applied, the EM signal is released from the corner to the edge, which realizes the reading process of the signal. The result is expected to provide guidance for the design of high-performance reading–writing EM memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reads The Stone Virgins as a text underlined by an Indigenous poetics that situates the land as a speaking subject and an archive of memory. Its critical foci are African feminist conceptions of the entanglement of human and nonhuman matter and their implications for current conceptions of the archive. The article suggests that, rather than incorporating into the postcolonial national archive the excluded voices of women and ethnic minorities, The Stone Virgins makes legible minority practices of memory making that the archive does not recognize. To account for these practices and their literary representation, the article draws a comparison between the novel's poetics of land and Indigenous poetics across other Anglophone spheres. The comparison is based in the convergence of Black and Indigenous conceptions of the coconstitutionality of the human and nonhuman. The comparison provides a new critical model for reading postcolonial aesthetic formations that engage nonhuman beings. It furthermore speaks to larger conversations regarding the "ontological turn" of criticism oriented to animist and new materialisms, as it addresses a mode of reading the land in African writing attuned to Indigenous systems of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many chemical reactions and molecular processes occur on time scales that are significantly longer than those accessible by direct simulations. One successful approach to estimating dynamical statistics for such processes is to use many short time series of observations of the system to construct a Markov state model, which approximates the dynamics of the system as memoryless transitions between a set of discrete states. The dynamical Galerkin approximation (DGA) is a closely related framework for estimating dynamical statistics, such as committors and mean first passage times, by approximating solutions to their equations with a projection onto a basis. Because the projected dynamics are generally not memoryless, the Markov approximation can result in significant systematic errors. Inspired by quasi-Markov state models, which employ the generalized master equation to encode memory resulting from the projection, we reformulate DGA to account for memory and analyze its performance on two systems: a two-dimensional triple well and the AIB9 peptide. We demonstrate that our method is robust to the choice of basis and can decrease the time series length required to obtain accurate kinetics by an order of magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, physical models of associative memory assume conditions of equilibrium. Here, we consider a prototypical oscillator model of associative memory and study how active noise sources that drive the system out of equilibrium, as well as nonlinearities in the interactions between the oscillators, affect the associative memory properties of the system. Our simulations show that pattern retrieval under active noise is more robust to the number of learned patterns and noise intensity than under passive noise. To understand this phenomenon, we analytically derive an effective energy correction due to the temporal correlations of active noise in the limit of short correlation decay time. We find that active noise deepens the energy wells corresponding to the patterns by strengthening the oscillator couplings, where the more nonlinear interactions are preferentially enhanced. Using replica theory, we demonstrate qualitative agreement between this effective picture and the retrieval simulations. Our work suggests that the nonlinearity in the oscillator couplings can improve memory under nonequilibrium conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the acquisition, retention, and transfer effects of a motor program. Children with autism spectrum disorder participated in a 9-week program that targeted 13 fundamental motor skills based upon the Test of Gross Motor Development-3. Assessments were conducted before and after the program, as well as at 2-month follow-up. Significant improvements were found on not only the trained fundamental motor skills (acquisition) but also the untrained tasks on balance (transfer). The follow-up tests revealed continuous improvement on the trained locomotor skills (retention), as well as the untrained skills on balance (retention + transfer). These findings highlight the importance of continuous support and long-term participation on motor practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generalized master equation (GME) provides a powerful approach to study biomolecular dynamics via non-Markovian dynamic models built from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Previously, we have implemented the GME, namely the quasi Markov State Model (qMSM), where we explicitly calculate the memory kernel and propagate dynamics using a discretized GME. qMSM can be constructed with much shorter MD trajectories than the MSM. However, since qMSM needs to explicitly compute the time-dependent memory kernels, it is heavily affected by the numerical fluctuations of simulation data when applied to study biomolecular conformational changes. This can lead to numerical instability of predicted long-time dynamics, greatly limiting the applicability of qMSM in complicated biomolecules. We present a new method, the Integrative GME (IGME), in which we analytically solve the GME under the condition when the memory kernels have decayed to zero. Our IGME overcomes the challenges of the qMSM by using the time integrations of memory kernels, thereby avoiding the numerical instability caused by explicit computation of time-dependent memory kernels. Using our solutions of the GME, we have developed a new approach to compute long-time dynamics based on MD simulations in a numerically stable, accurate and efficient way. To demonstrate its effectiveness, we have applied the IGME in three biomolecules: the alanine dipeptide, FIP35 WW-domain, and Taq RNA polymerase. In each system, the IGME achieves significantly smaller fluctuations for both memory kernels and long-time dynamics compared to the qMSM. We anticipate that the IGME can be widely applied to investigate biomolecular conformational changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Only 55% of anterior cruciate ligament-reconstructed (ACLR) athletes return to competitive sports. This brings into question the usefulness of current return to sport (RTS) criteria. High cognitive demand of sport environment clarifies the value of incorporating neurocognitive tests when making decisions regarding the time of RTS. This preliminary study aimed to compare the neurocognitive functions between healthy controls and ACLR male athletes who passed or failed RTS criteria. Methods: A total of 45 male football players, including 15 ACLR who passed RTS criteria, 15 ACLR who did not pass, and 15 healthy controls participated in this cross-sectional study. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery was used to measure a battery of neurocognitive tasks, including speed of response, sustained attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and response inhibition. Results: The results revealed that compared with both the ACLR-passed and healthy groups, the ACLR-failed group showed greater values of 5-choice movement time (P =.02, P =.01, respectively) but lower values of stop signal reaction time (P =.03, P =.001, respectively) and proportion of successful stops variables (P =.02). In addition, compared with the healthy group, both the ACLR-failed and ACLR-passed groups indicated greater values in between errors (P <.001, P =.008, respectively) and reaction latency variables (P =.002, P =.01, respectively) but lower values of A′ (P <.001, P =.007, respectively), probability of hit (P <.001, P =.03, respectively), and percent correct trials variables (P =.006, P =.02, respectively). Conclusions: Our findings indicated deficits in neurocognitive functions in ACLR male athletes. In addition, poor performance in sustained attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility measures observed in the ACLR-passed group highlighted the necessity for using a multimodal approach via implementation of neurocognitive measures in conjunction with the functional and muscular assessments when making RTS decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new type of magnetoelectric memory device that stores magnetic easy-axis information or pseudo-magnetization, rather than a definite magnetization direction, in magnetoelectrically coupled heterostructures. Theoretically, we show how a piezoelectric/ferromagnetic (PE/FM) combination can lead to non-volatility in pseudo-magnetization exhibiting overall ferroelectric-like behavior. The pseudo-magnetization can be manipulated by extremely low voltages especially when the FM is a low-barrier nano-magnet. Using a circuit model benchmarked against experiments, we determine the switching energy, delay, switching probability and retention time of the envisioned 1T/1C memory device in terms of magnetic and circuit parameters and discuss its thermal stability in terms of a key parameter called back-voltage vm which is an electrical measure of the strain-induced magnetic field. Taking advantage of ferromagnetic resonance measurements, we experimentally extract values for vm in CoFeB films and circular nano-magnets deposited on Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 which agree well with the theoretical values. Our experimental findings indeed indicate the feasibility of the proposed novel device and confirm the assumed parameters in our modeling effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test (BCTT) is a standard assessment of exercise tolerance utilized for exercise prescription following concussion and to inform decisions regarding return to play. One limitation of the BCTT is that interpretation of test results is dependent on individuals' self-report of symptom exacerbation with exertion. Symptoms following concussion are significantly underreported or unreported. Combining objective neurocognitive assessment with exercise tolerance testing may enable clinicians to objectively identify those requiring further assessment or rehabilitation before return to play. The purpose of this study was to investigate how performance on a neurocognitive assessment battery is affected by provocative exercise testing. Design: Prospective cohort study, pretest/posttest. Methods: A total of 30 participants included 13 women (43.3%), age 23.4 (1.93) years, height 173.56 (10) cm, weight 77.35 (16.3) kg, and 11 (36.7%) with history of concussion. All participants completed a neurocognitive assessment battery, including the Stroop Test and standardized assessments of working memory, attention, and information processing speed/accuracy in single-task (seated position) and dual-task conditions (walking on a treadmill at 2.0 miles per hour). The neurocognitive assessment battery was performed at baseline and after the standard BCTT test protocol. Results: BCTT: Average percentage of heart rate maximum (%HRmax) = 93.97% (4.8%); average maximum rating of perceived exertion = 18.6 (1.5). Time-based performance in single-task and dual-task conditions significantly improved from baseline (P <.05) following maximal exercise testing on the BCTT for the following neurocognitive assessments: concentration-reverse digits, Stroop congruent, and Stroop incongruent. Conclusions: Healthy participants demonstrated improvements across multiple domains of neurocognitive performance following the exercise tolerance testing on the BCTT. Understanding normal responses in neurocognitive performance for healthy individuals following exercise tolerance testing may allow clinicians to more objectively monitor the trajectory of recovery following sports-related concussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory effects are ubiquitous in a wide variety of complex physical phenomena, ranging from glassy dynamics and metamaterials to climate models. The Generalized Langevin Equation (GLE) provides a rigorous way to describe memory effects via the so-called memory kernel in an integro-differential equation. However, the memory kernel is often unknown, and accurately predicting or measuring it via, e.g., a numerical inverse Laplace transform remains a herculean task. Here, we describe a novel method using deep neural networks (DNNs) to measure memory kernels from dynamical data. As a proof-of-principle, we focus on the notoriously long-lived memory effects of glass-forming systems, which have proved a major challenge to existing methods. In particular, we learn the operator mapping dynamics to memory kernels from a training set generated with the Mode-Coupling Theory (MCT) of hard spheres. Our DNNs are remarkably robust against noise, in contrast to conventional techniques. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a network trained on data generated from analytic theory (hard-sphere MCT) generalizes well to data from simulations of a different system (Brownian Weeks–Chandler–Andersen particles). Finally, we train a network on a set of phenomenological kernels and demonstrate its effectiveness in generalizing to both unseen phenomenological examples and supercooled hard-sphere MCT data. We provide a general pipeline, KernelLearner, for training networks to extract memory kernels from any non-Markovian system described by a GLE. The success of our DNN method applied to noisy glassy systems suggests that deep learning can play an important role in the study of dynamical systems with memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The many-body simulation of quantum systems is an active field of research that involves several different methods targeting various computing platforms. Many methods commonly employed, particularly coupled cluster methods, have been adapted to leverage the latest advances in modern high-performance computing. Selected configuration interaction (sCI) methods have seen extensive usage and development in recent years. However, the development of sCI methods targeting massively parallel resources has been explored only in a few research works. Here, we present a parallel, distributed memory implementation of the adaptive sampling configuration interaction approach (ASCI) for sCI. In particular, we will address the key concerns pertaining to the parallelization of the determinant search and selection, Hamiltonian formation, and the variational eigenvalue calculation for the ASCI method. Load balancing in the search step is achieved through the application of memory-efficient determinant constraints originally developed for the ASCI-PT2 method. The presented benchmarks demonstrate near optimal speedup for ASCI calculations of Cr2 (24e, 30o) with 106, 107, and 3 × 108 variational determinants on up to 16 384 CPUs. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the largest variational ASCI calculation to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

10.1063/5.0102669 5 A. Szulc, M. Mungan, and I. Regev, "Cooperative effects driving the multi-periodic dynamics of cyclically sheared amorphous solids", J. Chem. Phys. In the work of Szulc I et al. i ,[5] the authors consider an intriguing aspect of cyclically sheared amorphous solids, which is the presence of limit cycles that are multi-periodic. Due to this "melt memory", the crystallization temperature is higher than in the preceding cycle of crystallization. A polymer melt obtained by heating from its semicrystalline state undergoes crystallization at a higher crystallization temperature upon cooling than in the previous cycle of crystallization. [Extracted from the article]

Starting from the orthogonal dynamics of any given set of variables with respect to the projection variable used to derive the Mori–Zwanzig equation, a set of coupled Volterra equations is obtained that relate the projected time correlation functions between all the variables of interest. This set of equations can be solved using standard numerical inversion methods for Volterra equations, leading to a very convenient yet efficient strategy to obtain any projected time correlation function or contribution to the memory kernel entering a generalized Langevin equation. Using this strategy, the memory kernel related to the diffusion of tagged particles in a bulk Lennard–Jones fluid is investigated up to the long-term regime to show that the repulsive–attractive cross-contribution to memory effects represents a small but non-zero contribution to the self-diffusion coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report on the observation of resistive switching (RS) in the nanocrystalline tellurium oxide (TeO x ) in ITO/TeO x /Ag device configuration. The TeO x films grown in an O2/Ar environment have dominant β -TeO2 along with other polymorphs and amorphous TeO2. From the RS characteristics, it is suggestive that the β -TeO2 phase promotes the conductive filament formation across the highly insulating amorphous matrix. The memory device demonstrates bipolar RS with excellent endurance, retention and on–off ratio. The device also features formation-free switching with low set and reset voltage (0.6 V and −0.8 V respectively) and displays multilevel switching upon varying compliance current. Current-Voltage characterization clarifies the conduction path is indeed filamentary type. The result highlights that TeO x can be a prominent RS material for memory and brain-inspired computing devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory retrieval can become difficult over time, but it is important to note that memories that appear to be forgotten might still be stored in the brain, as shown by their occasional spontaneous retrieval. Histamine in the central nervous system is a promising target for facilitating the recovery of memory retrieval. Our previous study demonstrated that histamine H3 receptor (H3R) inverse agonists/antagonists, activating histamine synthesis and release, enhance activity in the perirhinal cortex and help in retrieving forgotten long-term object recognition memories. However, it is unclear whether enhancing histaminergic activity alone is enough for the recovery of memory retrieval, considering that H3Rs are also located in other neuron types and affect the release of multiple neurotransmitters. In this study, we employed a chemogenetic method to determine whether specifically activating histamine neurons in the tuberomammillary nucleus facilitates memory retrieval. In the novel object recognition test, control mice did not show a preference for objects based on memory 1 week after training, but chemogenetic activation of histamine neurons before testing improved memory retrieval. This selective activation did not affect the locomotor activity or anxiety-related behavior. Administering an H2R antagonist directly into the perirhinal cortex inhibited the recovery of memory retrieval induced by the activation of histamine neurons. Furthermore, we utilized the Barnes maze test to investigate whether chemogenetic activation of histamine neurons influences the retrieval of forgotten spatial memories. Control mice explored all the holes in the maze equally 1 week after training, whereas mice with chemogenetically activated histamine neurons spent more time around the target hole. These findings indicate that chemogenetic activation of histamine neurons in the tuberomammillary nucleus can promote retrieval of seemingly forgotten object recognition and spatial memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I defend the view that episodic memory judgments do not depend on any kind of identification of oneself as the person whose past is being remembered, and are therefore logically (rather than merely de facto) immune from error through misidentification relative to “I”. There are two challenges to this view that have been pressed in the literature. One appeals to the idea of background presuppositions of identity and says that “I am the person from whom my memory impression derives” is a background presupposition of any memory judgment. The other appeals to wh-misidentification and says there are possible cases in which memory goes astray that should be counted as cases of error through wh-misidentification. Although the details are different, the core thought behind both challenges is the same: Shoemaker’s thought that there could be a memory-like relation that one stands in to another’s past. I think this thought is a mistake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regular exercise benefits learning and memory in older adults, but the neural mechanisms mediating these effects remain unclear. Evidence in young adults indicates that acute exercise creates a favourable environment for synaptic plasticity by enhancing cortical disinhibition. As such, we investigated whether plasticity‐related disinhibition mediated the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and memory function in healthy older adults (n = 16, mean age = 66.06). Participants completed a graded maximal exercise test and assessments of visual and verbal memory, followed by two counterbalanced sessions involving 20 min of either high‐intensity interval training exercise or rest. Disinhibition was measured following intermittent theta burst stimulation via paired‐pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. In line with our hypotheses, we observed a positive correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness and verbal memory, which was mediated by plasticity‐related cortical disinhibition. Our novel finding implicates cortical disinhibition as a mechanism through which the effects of acute bouts of exercise may translate to improved memory in older adults. This finding extends current understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying the positive influence of cardiorespiratory fitness for memory function in older adults, and further highlights the importance of promoting exercise engagement to maintain cognitive health in later life. Key points: There are well established benefits of regular exercise for memory function in older adults, but the mechanisms are unclear. Cortical disinhibition is important for laying down new memories, and is enhanced following acute exercise in young adults, suggesting it is a potential mechanism underlying these benefits in ageing.Older adults completed a fitness test and assessments of memory, followed by two sessions involving either 20 min of exercise or rest. Disinhibition was measured following intermittent theta burst stimulation via paired‐pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation.Cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with memory performance. Higher fitness was associated with enhanced cortical disinhibition following acute exercise.Cortical disinhibition completely mediated the relationship between fitness and memory.This novel finding provides a mechanistic account for the positive influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on memory in later life, and emphasises the importance of regular exercise for cognitive health in older populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the synchrony/asynhrony effect on eyewitness memory. Forty-four participants (24 evening-types and 20 morning-types) performed, individually, two online sessions: one in the morning and another in the evening. In each session, each participant visualized two videos (crime and neutral scenes), answered questions related to the videos and completed additional questionnaires. In general, the participants’ memory was better in the synchrony when compared to the asynchrony moment. In the crime videos, participants recalled more central details and in the neutral videos more peripherical details. The pattern of results remains similar when controlled by stress, anxiety, and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of a narrative video game for cognitive training of memory and executive functions in older adults with subjective and objective cognitive impairment is reported along with preliminary results on preferences (Study 1), user interaction experience (Study 2), and efficacy of the game (Study 3). A study of aesthetic preferences in backgrounds and avatars was implemented in 13 older adults, who were asked for their opinion on the acceptability of the plot. After completion of the design, a user interaction study was conducted in a sample of 19 older adults. In addition, a Matched Paired Experimental Design (MPED) was implemented as a preliminary test of the efficacy of the narrative video game in a sample of 22 participants with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Preferences for free violence content in videogames was supported in our sample of low-frequency adult gamers and acceptability of the plot was high. The video game was rated favourably by the older adults in terms of user preferences and acceptability. The results of the preliminary MPED study suggest that the video game could be a useful tool for cognitive training in SCD and MCI older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their natural environment, animals face a variety of ecological and social challenges, which might be linked to the emergence of different cognitive skills. To assess inter-specific variation in cognitive skills, we used ungulates as a study model, testing a total of 26 captive individuals across 5 different species (i.e., dwarf goats, Capra aegagrus hircus, llamas, Lama glama, guanacos, Lama guanicoe, zebras, Equus grevyi, and rhinos, Diceros bicornis michaeli). Across species, we used the same well-established experimental procedures to test individuals' performance in naïve physics tasks, i.e. object permanence, short-term spatial memory, causality, understanding of object properties, and gravity. Our results revealed that study subjects showed object permanence, were able to remember the position of hidden food after up to 60 s, and inferred the position of hidden food from the sound produced or not produced when shaking containers. Moreover, they showed an understanding of basic object properties, being able to locate objects hidden behind occluders based on their size and inclination, and could reliably follow the trajectory of falling objects across different conditions. Finally, inter-specific differences were limited to the understanding of object properties, and suggest that domesticated species as goats might perform better than non-domesticated ones in tasks requiring these skills. These results provide new information on the cognitive skills of a still understudied taxon and confirm ungulates as a promising taxon for the comparative study of cognitive evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emojis or emoticons are commonly used to convey emotional status to others in text‐based, online communication. While several studies have investigated the influence of emojis on emotional processing, the influence of emojis on the recognition of messages is less understood. In the present study, we investigated the effects of emojis accompanying a short text message on the emotional impressions and memory of the messages. The results suggested that emojis modulated the emotional processing of the messages; the emotional arousal of the messages increased by adding emojis, and the emotional valence of messages was biased towards the valence of emojis. Furthermore, we found that the memory of the text messages was modulated by emojis; the recognition performance of the positive text messages was improved when they appeared with negative emojis. These results implied that emojis would have an impact on cognitive processing, as well as the emotional processing of text messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory reactivation during sleep is thought to facilitate memory consolidation. Most sleep reactivation research has examined how reactivation of specific facts, objects, and associations benefits their overall retention. However, our memories are not unitary, and not all features of a memory persist in tandem over time. Instead, our memories are transformed, with some features strengthened and others weakened. Does sleep reactivation drive memory transformation? We leveraged the Targeted Memory Reactivation technique in an object category learning paradigm to examine this question. Participants (20 female, 14 male) learned three categories of novel objects, where each object had unique, distinguishing features as well as features shared with other members of its category. We used a real-time EEG protocol to cue the reactivation of these objects during sleep at moments optimized to generate reactivation events. We found that reactivation improved memory for distinguishing features while worsening memory for shared features, suggesting a differentiation process. The results indicate that sleep reactivation does not act holistically on object memories, instead supporting a transformation where some features are enhanced over others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the known behavioral benefits of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, discrete neural oscillatory events in human scalp electroencephalography (EEG) linked with behavior have not been discovered. This knowledge gap hinders mechanistic understanding of the function of sleep, as well as the development of biophysical models and REM-based causal interventions. We designed a detection algorithm to identify bursts of activity in high-density, scalp EEG within theta (4–8 Hz) and alpha (8–13 Hz) bands during REM sleep. Across 38 nights of sleep, we characterized the burst events (i.e., count, duration, density, peak frequency, amplitude) in healthy, young male and female human participants (38; 21F) and investigated burst activity in relation to sleep-dependent memory tasks: hippocampal-dependent episodic verbal memory and nonhippocampal visual perceptual learning. We found greater burst count during the more REM-intensive second half of the night (p < 0.05), longer burst duration during the first half of the night (p < 0.05), but no differences across the night in density or power (p > 0.05). Moreover, increased alpha burst power was associated with increased overnight forgetting for episodic memory (p < 0.05). Furthermore, we show that increased REM theta burst activity in retinotopically specific regions was associated with better visual perceptual performance. Our work provides a critical bridge between discrete REM sleep events in human scalp EEG that support cognitive processes and the identification of similar activity patterns in animal models that allow for further mechanistic characterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unclear whether memory for images of poorer visibility (as low contrast or small size) will be lower due to weak signals elicited in early visual processing stages, or perhaps better since their processing may entail top-down processes (as effort and attention) associated with deeper encoding. We have recently shown that during naturalistic encoding (free viewing without task-related modulations), for image sizes between 3°–24°, bigger images stimulating more visual system processing resources at early processing stages are better remembered. Similar to size, higher contrast leads to higher activity in early visual processing. Therefore, here we hypothesized that during naturalistic encoding, at critical visibility ranges, higher contrast images will lead to higher signal-to-noise ratio and better signal quality flowing downstream and will thus be better remembered. Indeed, we found that during naturalistic encoding higher contrast images were remembered better than lower contrast ones (~ 15% higher accuracy, ~ 1.58 times better) for images at 7.5–60 RMS contrast range. Although image contrast and size modulate early visual processing very differently, our results further substantiate that at poor visibility ranges, during naturalistic non-instructed visual behavior, physical image dimensions (contributing to image visibility) impact image memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Highlights The human central nervous system (CNS) undergoes tremendous changes from childhood to adulthood and this may affect how individuals at different stages of development learn new skills. Here, we studied motor skill learning in children, adolescents, and young adults to test the prediction that differences in the maturation of different learning mechanisms lead to distinct temporal patterns of motor learning during practice and overnight. We found that overall learning did not differ between children, adolescents, and young adults. However, we demonstrate that adult‐like skill learning is characterized by rapid and large improvements in motor performance during practice (i.e., online) that are susceptible to forgetting and decay over time (i.e., offline). On the other hand, child‐like learning exhibits slower and less pronounced improvements in performance during practice, but these improvements are robust against forgetting and lead to gains in performance overnight without further practice. The different temporal dynamics of motor skill learning suggest an engagement of distinct learning mechanisms in the human CNS during development. In conclusion, adult‐like skill learning mechanisms favor online improvements in motor performance whereas child‐like learning mechanisms favors offline behavioral gains. Many essential motor skills, like walking, talking, and writing, are acquired during childhood, and it is colloquially thought that children learn better than adults. We investigated dynamics of motor skill learning in children, adolescents, and young adults. Adults displayed substantial improvements during practice that was susceptible to forgetting over time. Children displayed smaller improvements during practice that were resilient against forgetting. The distinct age‐related characteristics of these processes of acquisition and consolidation suggest that skill learning relies on different mechanisms in the immature and mature central nervous system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypoxia in preterm infants is a clinical condition that has been associated with cognitive and behavioral disturbances for which treatment strategies are strongly required. Melatonin administration following brain insults has been considered a promising therapeutic strategy due to its antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory effects. Not surprisingly, it has been extensively studied for preventing disturbances following brain injury. This study evaluated the effects of melatonin on developmental disturbances, memory disruption, and hippocampal cell loss induced by neonatal anoxia in rats. Neonatal Wistar rats were subjected to anoxia and subsequently treated with melatonin. Later, maturation of physical characteristics, ontogeny of reflexes, learning and memory in the Morris water maze (MWM), and estimates of the number of hippocampal neurons, were evaluated. Melatonin treatment attenuated (1) female anoxia‐induced delay in superior incisor eruption, (2) female anoxia‐induced vibrissae placement reflexes, and (3) male and female anoxia‐induced hippocampal neuronal loss. Melatonin also promoted an increase (5) in swimming speeds in the MWM. In addition, PCA analysis showed positive associations between the acoustic startle, auditory canal open, and free fall righting parameters and negative associations between the male vehicle anoxia group and the male melatonin anoxia group. Therefore, melatonin treatment attenuates both anoxia‐induced developmental deficits and hippocampal neuronal loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectiveMethodResultsConclusionsMenopause is a physiological period characterized by the cessation of ovarian activity. Sequential changes during this transition affect multiple systems, including the brain. Sixty percent of women experience cognitive impairment. The objective of this review is to show the neuroprotective effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) through the different scales and whether there is a benefit of this in women.A search was conducted in six databases. Eligibility criteria included women within 10 years of menopause, receiving HRT controlled with placebo, studies lasting more than 6 months and women without a history of chronic underlying pathology.A total of nine randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria. Regarding memory, two studies reported better performance of HRT with a significant odds ratio (OR) of 0.67; regarding attention, one study reported potential improvement in women receiving HRT with a significant OR of 0.87; and neuroimaging assessment found an increase in ventricular volume compared to placebo over a 3-year period.The early initiation of menopausal HRT in healthy women appears to yield a positive effect on certain cognitive aspects, such as attention and cortical volume in the central nervous system. These findings should be confirmed through future prospective studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroimaging studies have shown that activity in the prefrontal cortex correlates with two critical aspects of normal memory functioning: retrieval of episodic memories and subjective "feelings-of-knowing" about our memory. Brain stimulation can be used to test the causal role of the prefrontal cortex in these processes, and whether the role differs for the left versus right prefrontal cortex. We compared the effects of online High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the left or right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) compared to sham during a proverb-name associative memory and feeling-of-knowing task. There were no significant effects of HD-tDCS on either associative recognition or feeling-of-knowing performance, with Bayesian analyses showing moderate support for the null hypotheses. Despite past work showing effects of HD-tDCS on other memory and feeling-of-knowing tasks, and neuroimaging showing effects with similar tasks, these findings add to the literature of non-significant effects with tDCS. This work highlights the need to better understand factors that determine the effectiveness of tDCS, especially if tDCS is to have a successful future as a clinical intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The memory of the Second World War is a widely debated topic in historiography, which has primarily investigated the channels that formed an indulgent and trivializing image of Italian participation in the conflict, according to the canon of the “good Italian” and the “bad German”. This memory has developed primarily in Italy that did not identify with anti-fascism and tended to be more lenient even in remembering Mussolini’s regime. This essay examines two magazines, Candido and Il Borghese, which are fully part of this anti-anti-fascist galaxy and the anti-communist right. The research was conducted on the periodicals from their first issues – from December 15, 1945, for Candido and from March 15, 1950, for Il Borghese – until 1956, focusing in particular on the interdependence between the memory of fascism and war and the political positions taken by the magazines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the political movements that from the end of the Second World War until 2018 have explicitly inscribed themselves in the tradition of anti-fascism: the women who built nursery schools in Emilia Romagna; the young people with the ‘striped T-shirts’; the students of 1968; the protesters who mobilized on 25 April 1994 to defend the values of the Resistance and the constitution after Silvio Berlusconi’s rise to power; the ‘Panther’. Finally, it will examine a wide arc of political actors – including immigrants – who united anti-racism and anti-fascism after Luca Traini’s 2018 attempted massacre in Macerata. The article highlights how, over the decades, anti-fascism has proven to be a generative resource: it has not only been transmitted to new generations and new social actors, but has also been given new meaning over time to address new questions coming from the present. The fascism evoked has never been an eternal and a-historical phenomenon or a simulacrum of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the entire post-war period up to the present day, the endurance of fascism has remained a significant subject of Italian politics. The neo-fascist party, Movimento Sociale Italiano (M.S.I.), was born immediately after the Second World War. Furthermore, the transition to Republic coexisted with structural continuity with the dictatorship: many elements of fascist state, as the administrative institutions, central bureaucracy and economic ruling class, were maintained. Alongside concrete (both political and institutional) continuities, we can also observe diverse continuities that marked cultures, languages, and political discourses. The shadow of fascism has often invaded the public sphere in ways that condition the political debate and cultural imaginary. Firstly, for all the democratic and progressive parties and movements the Mussolini’s dictatorship has been a constant negative reference point from which they openly distance themselves. Secondly, the spectre of fascism has always been evoked in the political debate with respect to the present and to warn against the return of authoritarianism in new forms. Thirdly, many periodicals, novels, films, comics, and television programmes trivialized the historical experience of Italian fascism, representing it, through recurrent narrative clichés, as a sort of phenomenon only partially corresponding to historical reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic categories can impact visual perception. For instance, learning that two objects have different names can enhance their discriminability. Previous studies have identified a typical pattern of categorical perception, characterized by faster discrimination of stimuli from different categories, a neural mismatch response during early visual processing (100–200 ms), and effects restricted to the right visual field. However, it remains unclear whether language affects perception online or through long‐term changes to mental representations in memory. To address this, we tested the impact of newly learned object categories with and without memory consolidation during sleep. We replicated the canonical pattern of categorical perception for categories that underwent consolidation. Without consolidation, linguistic categories still influenced early visual processing but with distinct neural dynamics. Therefore, we found evidence of both transient and long‐term effects of language on perception and conclude that memory consolidation plays a crucial role in shaping how linguistic categories modulate perception. A one‐page Accessible Summary of this article in nontechnical language is freely available in the Supporting Information online and at https://oasis‐database.org. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not always easy to attend to task-relevant information and ignore task-irrelevant distractions. We investigated the impact of task switching and emotional stimuli on goal-oriented selective attention and subsequent recognition memory. Results from two experiments with different stimulus materials (words and images) found that the memory advantage of task-relevant information over task-irrelevant information (i.e. memory selectivity) was attenuated on task switch trials and emotional distractor trials. In contrast, task repetitions and emotional targets improved memory selectivity. These results suggest that both task switching and emotional distractors divert limited cognitive resources needed for selective attention and selective encoding. Emotional targets likely supported selective encoding through the process of attentional prioritisation of emotional stimuli. The effects of task switching and emotional stimuli did not interact, suggesting distinct mechanisms, although this conclusion remains tentative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on whether source memory is enhanced for emotionally valenced sources yielded inconclusive results. To identify potential boundary conditions, we tested whether encoding instructions that promote affective versus different types of non-affective item-source-processing foster versus hamper source-valence effects. In both experiments, we used neutral words as items superimposed on emotional (positive & negative) or neutral pictures as sources. Source pictures were selected based on valence and arousal ratings collected in a pre-study such that only valence varied across sources. Source memory was measured via multinomial modelling. In Experiment 1, we applied an affective, item-focused orienting task (OT; i.e. word-pleasantness ratings) during item-source encoding and found enhanced source memory for emotionally valenced (positive & negative) compared to neutral sources. In Experiment 2, we systematically manipulated encoding instructions and again found enhanced source memory for emotionally valenced sources with an affective OT. No such effects occurred in the non-affective conditions, where participants were instructed to integrate item and source (item-source-fit judgments), to focus on the item (living-non-living judgments), or to encode the items only, respectively. With intentional item encoding, however, source memory was surprisingly better for positive than negative sources. We conclude that source-valence effects might unfold only under affective processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of Mobile-Assisted-Language-Learning (MALL) apps have been developed to enlarge students' vocabulary. However, few studies have discussed the potential to learn words deeply and productively. Therefore, this study evaluated the effectiveness of a mind mapping MALL app as an aid to assist northern Taiwan EFL participants in learning vocabulary. The research questions aimed to examine changes in vocabulary learning outcomes, and the perspectives the participants held regarding the app. Data were collected through tests (pretest, posttest and delayed posttest), visualized vocabulary knowledge mind mappings, and surveys. The posttest results showed the use of the mind mapping MALL app enhanced EFL vocabulary learning (t = 3.68, p<.05; Cohen's d = 0.81, r = 0.38). In addition, based on the questionnaire responses, experimental participants agreed that not only did the MALL app provide them with a feasible way to move from receptive ways of learning to productive ways of learning, but it also bolstered word consciousness and word retention. Analytical ANCOVA results also verified that learners benefited more from the mind mapping app with respect to learning performance in their delayed posttest (t = 3.45, p<.05; Cohen's d = 0.77, r = 0.36). The findings may be construed as an effective method towards learning foreign words and further exploring the potential of vocabulary learning and MALL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel hyperspectral denoising method is proposed, aiming at restoring clean images from images disturbed by complex noise. Previous denoising methods have mostly focused on exploring the spatial and spectral correlations of hyperspectral data. The performances of these methods are often limited by the effective information of the neighboring bands of the image patches in the spectral dimension, as the neighboring bands often suffer from similar noise interference. On the contrary, this study designed a cross-band non-local attention module with the aim of finding the optimal similar band for the input band. To avoid being limited to neighboring bands, this study also set up a memory library that can remember the detailed information of each input band during denoising training, fully learning the spectral information of the data. In addition, we use dense connected module to extract multi-scale spatial information from images separately. The proposed network is validated on both synthetic and real data. Compared with other recent hyperspectral denoising methods, the proposed method not only demonstrates good performance but also achieves better generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first three decades following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the rapid urbanization in northeastern China and the promotion of atheism education and ethnic integration policies by the Chinese Communist Party pushed Shamanism, the religion of the Manchu ethnic group – a major minority in northeastern China – to the brink of extinction. However, during our investigation of Manchu autonomous villages in Jilin and Liaoning provinces in the Northeast, we discovered an emerging Manchu shamanic group calling themselves "Siden Saman" (Public shaman). They dedicate themselves to restoring Manchu identity and memory and are active in northeastern China. Although they are not the majority of the Shamanic population, they have established their influence in cyberspace. Through our tracking interviews over nearly six months, we believe that the religious practices of the Siden Saman should not be simply understood as an emerging religious force but rather as an effort by them to reconstruct their ethnic narrative. This effort is prominently manifested in their resistance to the history of 'de-Manchurization.' The resurgence of Siden Saman symbolizes the struggle for memory by minority ethnic groups against the backdrop of the long-term implementation of ethnic integration policies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most fundamental distinctions in cognitive psychology is between processing that is "controlled" and processing that is "automatic." The widely held automatic processing account of visualword identification asserts that, among other characteristics, the presentation of a well-formed letter string triggers sublexical, lexical, and semantic activation in the absence of any intention to do so. Instead, the role of intention is seen as independent of stimulus identification and as restricted to selection for action using the products of identification (e.g., braking in response to a sign saying "BRIDGE OUT"). We consider four paradigms with respect to the role of an intention--defined here as a "task set" indicating how to perform in the current situation--when identifying single well-formed letter strings. Contrary to the received automaticity view, the literature regarding each of these paradigms demonstrates that the relation between an intention and stimulus identification is constrained in multiple ways, many of which are not well understood at present. One thing is clear: There is no simple relation between an intention, in the form of a task set, and stimulus identification. Automatic processing of words, if this indeed ever occurs, certainly is not a system default. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the photography of Kris Graves and the circulation of the artist's images on his social media accounts as a way of promoting social progress and racial justice, with a focus on his 2016 A Bleak Reality photoseries for Vanity Fair. The series consists of eight images that address the haunting specters of police brutality against eight African American male citizens who lost their lives at the hands of the state. Looking at Instagram, I posit a threefold claim about the social media photograph. First, I argue against the association of the social photo with the everyday. I examine a photoseries that initially participated in an economy of art but then migrated across a network of social relations in order to enhance its visibility—its dissemination ushering in the social life of the photograph that undergirds Black Lives Matter. Second, I suggest that the affective residues of Instagram's content linger in an indexical trace that transcends the transplatform network's digitally composited, modified, duplicated, and distributed images. This dual focus illuminates how social media function, on the one hand, as a technology of race while they allow Graves, on the other hand, to document instances of police brutality against African Americans. Third, in so doing, this article locates A Bleak Reality within a genealogy of civic media in order to explore how the co-optation of photography's reproductive affordances by African American photographers, artists, scholars, intellectuals, and abolitionists has allowed them to construct a counter-archive of Black cultural production around historical movements for racial justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic constituted tremendous traumatic stress among the frontline healthcare workers. In the present study, we investigated relationships of two types of rumination, namely brooding and reflection, with traumatic stress and post‐traumatic growth and the mediating role of recollective experience in these relationships. A total of 88 healthcare workers (75% female, Mage = 54.91) actively providing service to COVID‐19 patients reported two memories of events that impacted them the most at the first peak of the pandemic and rated their recollective experience (i.e., phenomenological characteristics of memories). We used structural equation modelling to test whether recollective experience mediated the link of brooding and reflection with post‐trauma reactions of stress and growth. The findings showed that brooding and reflection were associated with higher levels of traumatic stress and post‐traumatic growth. Importantly, recollective experience mediated the relationship of rumination with traumatic stress but this differed for the type of rumination. Higher brooding was associated with greater traumatic stress and that relationship was independent of how well the memories were recollected, while for reflection, high reflection was associated with stronger recollective experience, which predicted higher traumatic stress and post‐traumatic growth. The present study shows the functional dimensions of reflective rumination and presents novel findings that demonstrates the discrete mnemonic mechanisms underlying the association between brooding, reflection, and post‐trauma reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preterm birth (< 37 weeks gestation) has been associated with memory deficits, which has prompted investigation of possible alterations in hippocampal volume in this population. However, existing literature reports varying effects of premature birth on hippocampal volume. Specifically, it is unclear whether smaller hippocampal volume in preterm-born individuals is merely reflective of smaller total brain volume. Further, it is not clear if hippocampal volume is associated with episodic memory functioning in preterm-born individuals. Meta-analysis was used to investigate the effects of premature birth on hippocampal volume and episodic memory from early development to young adulthood (birth to 26). PubMed, PsychINFO, and Web of Science were searched for English peer-reviewed articles that included hippocampal volume of preterm and term-born individuals. Thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. Separate meta-analyses were used to evaluate standardized mean differences between preterm and term-born individuals in uncorrected and corrected hippocampal volume, as well as verbal and visual episodic memory. Both uncorrected and corrected hippocampal volume were smaller in preterm-born compared to term-born individuals. Although preterm-born individuals had lower episodic memory performance than term-born individuals, the limited number of studies only permitted a qualitative review of the association between episodic memory performance and hippocampal volume. Tested moderators included mean age, pre/post-surfactant era, birth weight, gestational age, demarcation method, magnet strength, and slice thickness. With this meta-analysis, we provide novel evidence of the effects of premature birth on hippocampal volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Verbal working memory is poorer for children with hearing loss than for peers with normal hearing (NH), even with cochlear implantation and early intervention. Poor verbal working memory can affect academic performance, especially in higher grades, making this deficit a significant problem. This study examined the stability of verbal working memory across middle childhood, tested working memory in adolescents with NH or cochlear implants (CIs), explored whether signal enhancement can improve verbal working memory, and tested two hypotheses proposed to explain the poor verbal working memory of children with hearing loss: (a) Diminished auditory experience directly affects executive functions, including working memory; (b) degraded auditory inputs inhibit children’s abilities to recover the phonological structure needed for encoding verbal material into storage. Design: Fourteen-year-olds served as subjects: 55 with NH; 52 with CIs. Immediate serial recall tasks were used to assess working memory. Stimuli consisted of nonverbal, spatial stimuli and four kinds of verbal, acoustic stimuli: nonrhyming and rhyming words, and nonrhyming words with two kinds of signal enhancement: audiovisual and indexical. Analyses examined (a) stability of verbal working memory across middle childhood, (b) differences in verbal and nonverbal working memory, (c) effects of signal enhancement on recall, (d) phonological processing abilities, and (e) source of the diminished verbal working memory in adolescents with cochlear implants. Results: Verbal working memory remained stable across middle childhood. Adolescents across groups performed similarly for nonverbal stimuli, but those with CIs displayed poorer recall accuracy for verbal stimuli; signal enhancement did not improve recall. Poor phonological sensitivity largely accounted for the group effect. Conclusions: The central executive for working memory is not affected by hearing loss or cochlear implantation. Instead, the phonological deficit faced by adolescents with CIs denigrates the representation in storage and augmenting the signal does not help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with a range of cognitive-communicative deficits that interfere with everyday communication and social interaction. Considerable effort has been directed at characterizing the nature and scope of cognitive-communication disorders in TBI, yet the underlying mechanisms of impairment are largely unspecified. The present research examines sensitivity to a common communicative cue, disfluency, and its impact on memory for spoken language in TBI. Method: Fifty-three participants with moderate–severe TBI and 53 non-injured comparison participants listened to a series of sentences, some of which contained disfluencies. A subsequent memory test probed memory for critical words in the sentences. Results: Participants with TBI successfully remembered the spoken words (b = 1.57, p < .0001) at a similar level to non-injured comparison participants. Critically, participants with TBI also exhibited better recognition memory for words preceded by disfluency compared to words from fluent sentences (b = 0.57, p = .02). Conclusions: These findings advance mechanistic accounts of cognitive-communication disorder by revealing that, when isolated for experimental study, individuals with moderate–severe TBI are sensitive to attentional orienting cues in speech and exhibit enhanced recognition of individual words preceded by disfluency. These results suggest that some aspects of cognitive-communication disorders may not emerge from an inability to perceive and use individual communication cues, but rather from disruptions in managing (i.e., attending, weighting, integrating) multiple cognitive, communicative, and social cues in complex and dynamic interactions. This hypothesis warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Nonword repetition (NWR) has been described as a clinical marker of developmental language disorder (DLD), as NWR tasks consistently discriminate between DLD and typical development (TD) cross-linguistically, with Cantonese as the only reported exception. This study reexamines whether NWR is able to generate TD/DLD group differences in Cantonese-speaking children by reporting on a novel set of NWR stimuli that take into account factors known to affect NWR performance and group differentiation, including lexicality, sublexicality, length, and syllable complexity. Method: Sixteen Cantonese-speaking children with DLD and 16 age-matched children with TD repeated two sets of high-lexicality nonwords, where all constituent syllables are morphemic in Cantonese but meaningless when combined, and one set of low-lexicality nonwords, where all constituent syllables are nonmorphemic. Low-lexicality nonwords were further classified on sublexicality in terms of consonant–vowel (CV) combination attestedness (whether or not CV combinations in nonword syllables occur in real Cantonese words). Results: Children with DLD scored significantly below their peers with TD. Effect sizes showed that high-lexicality nonwords and nonword syllables with attested CV combinations offered the greatest TD/DLD group differentiation. Nonword length and syllable complexity did not affect TD/DLD group differentiation. Conclusions: NWR can capture TD/DLD group differences in Cantonese speaking children. Lexicality and sublexicality effects must be considered in designing NWR stimuli for TD/DLD group differentiation. Future studies should replicate the present study on a larger sample size and a younger population as well as examine the diagnostic accuracy of this NWR test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Teleneuropsychology, which includes the remote application of neuropsychological tests to patients via telephone or videoconferencing, can expand access to health services for patients who reside in distant areas or have mobility restrictions. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the use of teleneuropsychology in cognitive assessment. In this review, the aim was to critically review the results of studies conducted in the field of teleneuropsychology and the fundamental principles related to teleneuropsychological assessment. Additionally, the "guideline for homebased teleneuropsychology" developed for Türkiye's practices is outlined in this review. Method: A literature search was conducted using the Web of Science and PubMed databases to include all types of articles related to the subject. Results: The results of studies on in-clinic and home-based teleneuropsychological assessment indicate that tests that assess cognitive functions such as attention, memory, executive functions, and language, particularly those based on verbal administration, can be reliably applied through teleneuropsychological assessment. However, there are factors to consider when referring patients for teleneuropsychological assessment, selecting tests for assessment, and making ethical considerations. Additionally, it is important to follow recommended steps for both the clinician and the patient and/or their caregiver before and during the interview in order for the assessment to be carried out effectively. Conclusion: Although direct contact with the patient is an essential element in clinical neuropsychology practice, when necessary, teleneuropsychological assessment performed by trained experts following appropriate application procedures can be a good alternative to face-to-face evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Concerns have been raised regarding the impact of medications that interrupt puberty, given the magnitude and complexity of changes that occur in brain function and structure during this sensitive window of neurodevelopment. This review examines the literature on the impact of pubertal suppression on cognitive and behavioural function in animals and humans. Methods: All studies reporting cognitive impacts of treatment with GnRH agonists/antagonists for pubertal suppression in animals or humans were sought via a systematic search strategy across the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases. Results: Sixteen studies were identified. In mammals, the neuropsychological impacts of puberty blockers are complex and often sex specific (n = 11 studies). There is no evidence that cognitive effects are fully reversible following discontinuation of treatment. No human studies have systematically explored the impact of these treatments on neuropsychological function with an adequate baseline and follow-up. There is some evidence of a detrimental impact of pubertal suppression on IQ in children. Conclusion: Critical questions remain unanswered regarding the nature, extent and permanence of any arrested development of cognitive function associated with puberty blockers. The impact of puberal suppression on measures of neuropsychological function is an urgent research priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exercise training is among the main strategies that have been proposed to promote cognitive and brain health outcomes in older individuals with and without cognitive impairment. The effects of exercise on cognition are mediated, in part, by structural and functional adaptations in the brain, including changes in gray matter volumes and white matter microstructural integrity. Muscular contractions during exercise produce a category of cytokines referred to as myokines, which represent a potential molecular pathway mediating neuroplastic adaptations and associated cognitive improvements in response to exercise. Understanding the ideal combination of exercise training parameters across populations and life stages could lead to interventions that promote greater effects on cognitive and brain health outcomes. Exercise training is an important strategy to counteract cognitive and brain health decline during aging. Evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses supports the notion of beneficial effects of exercise in cognitively unimpaired and impaired older individuals. However, the effects are often modest, and likely influenced by moderators such as exercise training parameters, sample characteristics, outcome assessments, and control conditions. Here, we discuss evidence on the impact of exercise on cognitive and brain health outcomes in healthy aging and in individuals with or at risk for cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration. We also review neuroplastic adaptations in response to exercise and their potential neurobiological mechanisms. We conclude by highlighting goals for future studies, including addressing unexplored neurobiological mechanisms and the inclusion of under-represented populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language models are a rapidly developing field of artificial intelligence with enormous potential to improve our understanding of human cognition. However, many popular language models are cognitively implausible on multiple fronts. For language models to offer plausible insights into human cognitive processing, they should implement a transparent and cognitively plausible learning mechanism, train on a quantity of text that is achievable in a human's lifetime of language exposure, and not assume to represent all of word meaning. When care is taken to create plausible language models within these constraints, they can be a powerful tool in uncovering the nature and scope of how language shapes semantic knowledge. The distributional relationships between words, which humans represent in memory as linguistic distributional knowledge, allow people to represent and process semantic information flexibly, robustly, and efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Based on the "linked lives" tenant of the life course perspective, this longitudinal study aims to examine the actor and partner effects of social participation on cognitive function in older Chinese couples. Methods A total of 1,706 couples aged 60 and older were included in the final analyses. Social participation was measured using 2 questions regarding types of activities and frequency. Cognitive function was measured using a combination of memory, orientation, visuoconstruction, attention, and calculation. The lagged-dependent APIM was used to model the dyadic associations between social participation and cognitive function. Results The time-averaged actor effects of both husbands' and wives' social participation on their own cognitive function were significant (p <.001 for both). The time-averaged partner effect of husbands' social participation on wives' cognitive function was significant (p <.001) but the reverse—the effect of wives' social participation on husbands' cognitive function—was not (p  = .381). The time-specific actor and partner effects were not significant (p  > .05 for all). Discussion Our findings indicate an asymmetrical pattern of actor–partner interdependence, where husbands' social participation may affect their wives' cognitive function on average, but wives' social participation does not affect their husbands' cognitive function. Clinical practitioners should invite both partners, especially husbands, to participate in social participation interventions to facilitate crossover benefits for wives. Moreover, policymakers should build more facilities to encourage older couples to engage in social activities to prevent cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the cognitive functioning of formerly incarcerated older adults compared to their never-incarcerated counterparts, focusing on immediate and delayed verbal recall. Methods Data are from 2,003 respondents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health—Parent Study (AHPS; ages 47–82, mean age 62). AHPS participants were administered word recall memory exercises to the parent respondent from the Rey Auditory-Verbal administered Learning Test, including (a) 90-s (immediate or short-term verbal memory), (b) 60-s recall tests (delayed or long-term verbal memory), and (c) combined word recall on the 90-s and 60-s tests. Results Adjusting for control variables, respondents who reported prior incarceration had a lower rate of verbal recall on the combined word recall (incidence risk ratio [IRR] = 0.915, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.840, 0.997) and immediate word recall (IRR = 0.902, 95% CI = 0.817, 0.996). When restricting the sample to respondents over age 60, prior incarceration was associated with lower combined word recall (IRR = 0.847, 95% CI = 0.752, 0.954), immediate word recall (IRR = 0.857, 95% CI = 0.762, 0.963), and delayed word recall (IRR = 0.834, 95% CI = 0.713, 0.974). Discussion This study underscores the adverse impact of prior incarceration on cognitive functioning in the older adult population, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions and support for formerly incarcerated older adults. The results reinforce the importance of addressing the long-term consequences of incarceration, especially as individuals enter older adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]