Search

Contains fulltext : 228087.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) This study aimed to investigate whether children's advertising literacy activation affects their susceptibility to advertising and if this relationship is moderated by inhibitory control. In an experiment among 48 children aged 10-13 years old, we made a distinction between children's conceptual advertising literacy (i.e., knowledge of advertising) and attitudinal advertising literacy (i.e., critical attitude toward advertising). By using a within-subjects design, participants were primed with either television commercials (advertising condition) or a news broadcast (control condition). Advertising literacy activation was assessed with the Advertising Literacy Activation Task (ALAT), inhibitory control with a Go/No Go Task, and susceptibility with both an Approach-Avoidance Task (to assess implicit desire for the advertised products) and a questionnaire measurement (to assess explicit desire for the advertised products). The results showed that the relation between both conceptual and attitudinal advertising literacy activation and implicit desire for the advertised products was moderated by inhibitory control. Inhibitory control not only diminished the direct positive effect of advertising literacy activation on implicit desire, but even reversed it. No effects of advertising literacy activation and inhibitory control were found on explicit advertised product desire. Our results indicate that inhibitory control plays an important role in countering advertising effects. 31 p.

Research has demonstrated the importance of economic forecasts for financial decisions at the aggregate economic level. However, little is known about the psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms that economic forecasts activate at the level of individual decision-making. In the present study, we used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to test the hypothesis that economic forecasts influence individuals’ internal model of the economy and their subsequent decision behavior. Using a simple economic decision-making game, the Balloon Analogue of Risk Task (BART) and predictive messages about possible economic changes in the game before each block, we test the idea that brain potentials time-locked to decision outcomes can vary as a function of exposure to economic forecasts. Behavioural results indicate that economic forecasts influenced the amount of risk that participants were willing to take. Analyses of brain potentials indicated parametric increases of the N1, P2, P3a, and P3b amplitudes as a function of the level of risk in subsequent inflation steps in the BART. Mismatches between economic forecasts and decision outcomes in the BART (i.e., reward prediction errors) were reflected in the amplitude of the P2, P3a, and P3b, suggesting increased attentional processing of unexpected outcomes. These electrophysiological results corroborate the idea that economic messages may indeed influence people’s beliefs about the economy and bias their subsequent financial decision-making. Our findings present a first important step in the development of a low-level neurophysiological model that may help to explain the self-fulfilling prophecy effect of economic news in the larger economy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.3758/s13415-020-00813-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Contains fulltext : 222400.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The aim of this study was to develop and test an indirect measurement instrument that is able to assess children's advertising literacy activation. Study 1 (N = 24, age: 10-12) describes the development of the Advertising Literacy Activation Task (ALAT) in which participants sort successive words in two categories: advertising or news. Studies 2 and 3 tested the ALAT on usability, reliability, predictive, and construct validity. In study 2 (N = 38, age: 10-12), participants were primed with a story about advertising or about news. Study 3 (N = 114, age: 7-13) used a similar design but with actual television commercials and news broadcast. Frequency and speed of categorizing conceptual and attitudinal words were analyzed with Bayesian statistics investigating effects of priming, dispositional advertising literacy, and their interactions. Results indicate that the ALAT is a usable and reliable measurement instrument with good predictive validity, but with limited construct validity. 33 p.

We investigated the role of contextual knowledge in defensive responses to visual stimuli (spiders and butterflies) looming toward the hand. Human participants responded to tactile stimuli delivered to the same hand at 6 possible locations during an insect's approach. Tactile reaction times were faster when looming stimuli were closer to the hand, especially for spiders, and faster when insects loomed on a collision path than on a near-miss path. This latter finding suggests that human reactions to looming stimuli are not merely automatic reflexes but that contextual knowledge about the trajectory of looming objects is included in predicting their impact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Contains fulltext : 285968.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) San Pedro, a mescaline containing cactus, has been used for thousands of years and is currently popular as a psychedelic substance in ceremonial retreats in Europe. The current research investigates the consciousness altering effects of San Pedro. Forty-two participants who joined ceremonial psychedelic retreats in the Netherlands were investigated with questionnaires probing 11 dimensions of altered states of consciousness (11D-ASC), ego-dissolution, mystical experiences, and challenging experiences. Results tentatively demonstrate the status of San Pedro as a psychedelic, revealing deviations from normal waking consciousness on all 11 subscales of the 11D-ASC, moderate scores of ego-dissolution, and a complete mystical experience in two thirds of the participants. Furthermore, a consciousness profile of San Pedro was constructed, which revealed that spiritual experiences are strongly expressed in ceremonial San Pedro use. Furthermore, the San Pedro experience is characterized by low levels of disembodiment, anxiety, impaired control and cognition, transcendence of space, and relatively higher levels of physical distress and grief in case of (incidental) challenging experiences. Finally, graph network analysis indicated two separate networks of positive and negative altered states of consciousness. Possible interpretations of these findings are discussed in relation to the ceremonial setting, sympathomimetic effects of San Pedro?s alkaloids and variations in affective valence. 05 december 2022 23 p.

Contains fulltext : 232105.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) During a full body illusion (FBI), participants experience a change in self-location towards a body that they see in front of them from a third-person perspective and experience touch to originate from this body. Multisensory integration is thought to underlie this illusion. In the present study we tested the redundant signals effect (RSE) as a new objective measure of the illusion that was designed to directly tap into the multisensory integration underlying the illusion. The illusion was induced by an experimenter who stroked and tapped the participant's shoulder and underarm, while participants perceived the touch on the virtual body in front of them via a head-mounted display. Participants performed a speeded detection task, responding to visual stimuli on the virtual body, to tactile stimuli on the real body and to combined (multisensory) visual and tactile stimuli. Analysis of the RSE with a race model inequality test indicated that multisensory integration took place in both the synchronous and the asynchronous condition. This surprising finding suggests that simultaneous bodily stimuli from different (visual and tactile) modalities will be transiently integrated into a multisensory representation even when no illusion is induced. Furthermore, this finding suggests that the RSE is not a suitable objective measure of body illusions. Interestingly however, responses to the unisensory tactile stimuli in the speeded detection task were found to be slower and had a larger variance in the asynchronous condition than in the synchronous condition. The implications of this finding for the literature on body representations are discussed. 33 p.

Contains fulltext : 236300.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Interoception, or the process of receiving, accessing and appraising internal bodily signals, is critical for health and well-being. However, people can sometimes become unaware of bodily sensations, for instance when they experience embodiment over a virtual body from a third person perspective (3PP) during a body illusion. Here, it was investigated to what degree playing videogames in which an avatar is controlled from a 3PP is similarly associated with a reduction in awareness of bodily sensations, and whether such effects are amplified when embodiment over the virtual body is stronger. Watching video on demand was selected as a conservative control condition. 142 participants who frequently played videogames and frequently watched video-on-demand (VoD; at least once a week) in longer sessions (at least 2 h) completed a survey in which they answered questions about reduced awareness of bodily sensations while playing videogames or watching VoD. As predicted, playing videogames was associated with various forms of reduced awareness of bodily signals, such as being unaware of tiredness and getting less sleep, and this reduced awareness was stronger than when people watch VoD. In addition, as predicted, degree of embodiment was positively related to the amount of reduced awareness, and this relation was descriptively stronger for the VG than the VoD condition. These results show that people may indeed become less aware of bodily sensations such as energy level or sleep when they play videogames. Considerations for health are discussed. 9 p.

Using a multimethod approach, the current research tested the basic prediction that mindfulness is associated with interpersonal forgiveness. Across 5 studies, we found that mindfulness meditation, trait mindfulness, and an experimental induction of mindfulness, were positively associated with indicators of both dispositional forgiving tendencies, state levels of forgiveness regarding a past offense, and levels of perceived forgiving tendencies as rated by the romantic partner. Two studies examined the roles of perspective taking and rumination as potential mechanisms; results provided most consistent support for the role of perspective taking. The findings are discussed in light of the broader theoretical questions of when and how people forgive and how mindfulness may promote interpersonal functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Contains fulltext : 214590.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Research has found that body illusions may be accompanied by consequences for the real body whereby various somatosensory and homeostatic bodily functions may be impaired. These findings stem from research where an experimenter induced the body illusions. In line with advances in the domains of videogames and virtual reality where the real body is used as a controller we investigate if these consequences also accompany self-generated body illusions. In two preregistered experiments we made use of a head-mounted display set-up to induce the full body illusion (FBI) whereby touch is felt to originate from a 3PP body, and examined effects in the simple detection of supra-threshold vibrotactile stimuli presented to the participants' back and head. Results of both experiments indicate that it is possible to induce a FBI through self-stroking of the neck and that the FBI is accompanied by reduced accuracy and delayed reaction times in detection of somatosensory stimuli. In an additional preregistered control experiment the alternative explanation that a difference in motion presented in the conditions was responsible for these findings was ruled out. Our findings corroborate previous studies that have found body illusions to be accompanied by bodily consequences and further extend these findings to the domain of self-induced body illusions. These results are relevant for video games and VR setups that are geared towards virtual embodiment as they advance our understanding of the conditions and mechanisms in which bodily consequences may express themselves. 14 p.

Contains fulltext : 205902.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have difficulty performing and learning motor skills. Automatic activation of the mirror neuron system (MNS) during action observation and its coupling to the motor output system are important neurophysiological processes that underpin observational motor learning. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that MNS function is disrupted in children with DCD by using sensitive electroencephalography (EEG)-based measures of MNS activation during action observation. Specifically, we predicted reduced mu-suppression and coherence in DCD compared with typically developing children. Neural activation of the motor network was measured by EEG, specifically event-related desynchronization (ERD) of mu rhythms and fronto-parietal coherence. Children (15 DCD/15 controls) were tested under two task conditions: observational learning (imitation of an observed action) and detection (report a deviant movement after observation). EEG-metrics were compared between groups using linear mixed-effects models. As predicted, children with DCD showed lower levels of mu suppression and reduced modulation of coherence during the observational learning task compared with their non-DCD peers. Notably, mu suppression was reduced in DCD over the entire imitation task (repetitions, and both observation and pause intervals). Action observation can be used for the acquisition of new motor skills. This form of learning entails the transposition of the observed action to the existing internal representations of the observer’s own motor system. The present neurophysiological results suggest that this process of learning is impaired in children with DCD. The results are discussed in relation to current hypotheses on mechanisms of DCD. 12 p.

Contains fulltext : 203457.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Objective: Worry is an important perpetuating factor of Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS). Former research has shown that a worry postponement instruction is effective in reducing Subjective Health Complaints (SHC) in non-clinical samples. This study aimed to (1) replicate these findings in a MUS-analogue student-sample and (2) assess alexithymia as a moderator.Design: The current study had an experimental design with two waves of data collection: pre- and post-intervention.Main outcome measures: A MUS-analogue student-sample consisting of 114 undergraduate students with high self-reported health worry and a minimum of two doctor visits in the previous year with no current diagnosis for a (chronic or acute) disease were instructed to register their worry frequency and duration eight times per day via an experience sampling-application on their smartphones. The intervention group additionally postponed their worries to a 30-minute period in the evening. SHC were assessed pre- and post-intervention.Results: The intervention did not have an effect on worry or SHC. Alexithymia did not moderate this effect (ps > .05).Conclusion: Our study did not find evidence for the effectiveness of the worry reduction intervention on SHC in a MUS-analogue student-sample. This finding contributes to several previous studies that have found mixed evidence for the effectiveness of the worry reduction intervention on SHC and suggests that the worry intervention may not be effective in all cases. 18 p.

Contains fulltext : 194118.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) In today’s world of rapid changes and increasing complexity, understanding and enhancing creativity is of critical importance. Studies investigating EEG correlates of creativity linked power in the alpha frequency band to creativity, and alpha-power has been interpreted as reflecting attention on internal mental representations and inhibition of external sensory input. Thus far, however, there is no direct evidence for the idea that internally directed attention facilitates creativity. The aim of the current study was to experimentally investigate the relationship between eye-closure - a simple and effective means to stimulate internally directed attention - and creativity. Moreover, to test whether the potential beneficial effect of eye-closure is specific for creativity, or whether it improves general cognitive functioning, the current study tested the effect of eye-closure on creativity and on working memory (WM). Participants completed four tasks to measure divergent and convergent creativity (Adapted Alternative Uses (AAU) Test, Remote Associates Test (RAT), Sentence Construction Test, and Word Construction Test), and one task to measure WM (Digit Span Test). For each task, participants had to perform two versions, one version with eyes open and one version with eyes closed. Eye-closure facilitated creative performance on the classical divergent and convergent creativity tasks (AAU Test and RAT). No effect of eye-closure was observed on the WM task. These findings provide a novel and easily applicable means to enhance divergent and convergent creativity through eye-closure. 9 p.

Contains fulltext : 195031.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The mere perception of high-calorie food items can trigger strong action tendencies towards these foods. Go/no-go training has successfully been applied to reduce such action tendencies. This study investigated the electrophysiological mechanisms that may underlie the beneficial effects of go/no-go training on food consumption. EEG was measured while 19 participants passively observed pictures of food and non-food items, both before and after the go/no-go training. During training, 50% of the food and non-food items were consistently paired with a go/no-go response. After training, food items that had been associated with a response induced larger mu desynchronization at electrodes over sensorimotor regions, whereas food items that had been associated with withholding from responding induced larger increases in theta power at frontal midline electrodes. These findings suggest that the exerted cognitive control during go/no-go training with attractive food stimuli may become associated with these stimuli and signal the required level of control during subsequent encounters. 12 p.

Contains fulltext : 140427.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) 4 p.

Contains fulltext : 159937pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) The present research examined the hypothesis that supernatural agency attributions underlie the relation between religion and forgiveness. In two experiments a priming procedure was used to make religious concepts temporarily more salient. In Experiment 1, a religion prime marginally enhanced forgiveness but did not enhance supernatural attributions, compared to a control group. However, correlational support was found for the hypothesis that supernatural attributions were associated with more forgiveness, less punishment and less attributions of responsibility to the offender. In Experiment 2, we attempted to enhance supernatural attributions by first manipulating participants' sense of control (high vs. low) before presenting a religion prime. As expected, in the low control condition, religious priming enhanced the perceived likelihood that a higher power had an influence on violent situations, and enhanced participants' forgiveness towards the offenders. Importantly, mediation analysis further supported the existence of a relation between supernatural agency attributions and participants' ability to forgive. 26 p.

Contains fulltext : 166289.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Given the current debates about the precise functional role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in egocentric and exocentric perspective taking, in the present study we manipulated activity in the rTPJ to investigate the effects on a spatial perspective-taking task. Participants engaged in a mental body transformation task, requiring them to mentally rotate their own body to the position of an avatar, while undergoing anodal, cathodal, or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the rTPJ. As a control task, participants judged the laterality of a stimulus feature with respect to a fixation cross on the screen. For the first half of the experiment (only during online tDCS), a task-selective effect of tDCS was observed, reflected in slower reaction times following anodal than following cathodal and sham tDCS for the mental body transformation task, but not for the control task. The effects of tDCS were most pronounced for stimuli implying a more difficult mental body transformation. No effects of tDCS were observed during the second half of the experiment. The effects of tDCS were most pronounced for participants scoring low on aberrant perceptual beliefs and spiritual transcendence, suggesting a relation between third-person perspective taking and bodily and perceptual experiences. The finding that anodal stimulation of the rTPJ impairs third-person perspective taking indicates a key role of this region in exocentric spatial processing. 15 p.

Item does not contain fulltext 6 p.

Contains fulltext : 169127.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) This study addresses the self-fulfilling prophecy effect, in the domain of economic decision-making. We present experimental data in support of the hypothesis that speculative forecasts of economic change can impact individuals' economic decision behavior, prior to any realized changes. In a within-subjects experiment, participants (N = 40) played 180 trials in a Balloon Analogue Risk Talk (BART) in which they could make actual profit. Simple messages about possible (positive and negative) changes in outcome probabilities of future trials had significant effects on measures of risk taking (number of inflations) and actual profits in the game. These effects were enduring, even though no systematic changes in actual outcome probabilities took place following any of the messages. Risk taking also found to be reflected in reaction times revealing increasing reaction times with riskier decisions. Positive and negative economic forecasts affected reaction times slopes differently, with negative forecasts resulting in increased reaction time slopes as a function of risk. These findings suggest that forecasted positive or negative economic change can bias people's mental model of the economy and reduce or stimulate risk taking. Possible implications for media-fulfilling prophecies in the domain of the economy are considered. 18 p.

In our target paper [1], we have provided an integrative review of the current state of affairs regarding research on the use of conceptual knowledge for action. In short, we argue that humans have developed declarative and procedural knowledge about objects, i.e. action semantics that enable them to use objects in a purposeful and effective manner. We were impressed by both the quantity and the quality of the commentaries on our position paper. We would like to thank the commentators for their valuable contributions, pointing out supportive evidence for our framework, indicating additional and complementary strands of research in this field and raising important conceptual and theoretical challenges for our proposed model. Here we take the opportunity to briefly indicate how additional lines of research could be integrated in our framework and how potentially conflicting findings could be reconciled. Joachim Hermsdorfer suggests that the overlap between the kinematics of pantomimed and object-directed actions points towards the existence of a common motor program, while at the same time task context also modulates the low-level features of action execution [2]. The suggestion that the context may exert both an indirect effect (i.e. through a top-down selection of motor programs) and a direct effect on movement execution (e.g. by providing participants with stronger task constraints and sensory feedback through a direct interaction with an object) provides an excellent illustration of the role of context, as proposed in our model of action semantics. A similar role of context on the activation of motor programs is proposed by Anna Borghi [3], who showed that the context (i.e. provided by the task, the inclusion of other objects, semantic information or the presence of other persons) can have a strong influence on the activation of object affordances.

Contains fulltext : 116844.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Paying attention to thin media models may negatively affect women's self-evaluation. This study aimed to reduce the amount of attention that young women give to appearance-related information by challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance, and studied the moderating role of self-esteem. Seventy-one college women either received norm-confirming, norm-challenging, or no information regarding the sociocultural norms for appearance. Subsequently, participants’ visual attention to appearance-related and neutral advertisements was measured using an eye-tracker. The results demonstrate that when no information or norm-confirming information was received, women with lower self-esteem paid more attention to the appearance-related advertisements than women with higher self-esteem. Importantly however, when norm-challenging information was received, women with lower self-esteem paid significantly less attention to the appearance-related ads than women with lower self-esteem who did not receive this manipulation. These findings indicate that challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance can attenuate the amount of attention women give to appearance-related media.

Contains fulltext : 125501.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Different views on the origin of deficits in action chaining in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been posited, ranging from functional impairments in action planning to internal models supporting motor control. Thirty-one children and adolescents with ASD and twenty-nine matched controls participated in a two-choice reach-to-grasp paradigm wherein participants received cueing information indicating either the object location or the required manner of grasping. A similar advantage for location cueing over grip cueing was found in both groups. Both accuracy and reaction times of the ASD group were indistinguishable from the control group. In contrast, movement times of the ASD group were significantly delayed in comparison with controls. These findings suggest that movement execution rather than action planning is deficient in ASD, and that deficits in action chaining derive from impairments in internal action models supporting action execution. 14 p.

Contains fulltext : 162217.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) EEG-biofeedback has been reported to reduce symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in several studies. However, these studies did not control for nonspecific effects of EEG-biofeedback and did not distinguish between participants who succeeded in influencing their own EEG activity and participants who did not. To overcome these methodological shortcomings, this study evaluated the effects of EEG-biofeedback in ASD in a randomized pretest-posttest control group design with blinded active comparator and six months follow-up. Thirty-eight participants were randomly allocated to the EEG-biofeedback, skin conductance (SC)-biofeedback or waiting list group. EEG- and SC-biofeedback sessions were similar and participants were blinded to the type of feedback they received. Assessments pre-treatment, post-treatment, and after 6 months included parent ratings of symptoms of ASD, executive function tasks, and 19-channel EEG recordings. Fifty-four percent of the participants significantly reduced delta and/or theta power during EEG-biofeedback sessions and were identified as EEG-regulators. In these EEG-regulators, no statistically significant reductions of symptoms of ASD were observed, but they showed significant improvement in cognitive flexibility as compared to participants who managed to regulate SC. EEG-biofeedback seems to be an applicable tool to regulate EEG activity and has specific effects on cognitive flexibility, but it did not result in significant reductions in symptoms of ASD. An important finding was that no nonspecific effects of EEG-biofeedback were demonstrated. 12 p.

Item does not contain fulltext Metacognitive assessment of performance has been revealed to be one of the most powerful predictors of human learning success and academic achievement. Yet, little is known about the functional nature of cognitive processes supporting judgments of learning (JOLs). The present study investigated the neural underpinnings of JOLs, using event-related brain potentials. Participants were presented with picture pairs and instructed to learn these pairs. After each pair, participants received a task cue, which instructed them to make a JOL (the likelihood of remembering the target when only presented with the cue) or to make a control judgment. Results revealed that JOLs were accompanied by a positive slow wave over medial frontal areas and a bilateral negative slow wave over occipital areas between 350ms and 700ms following the task cue. The results are discussed with respect to recent accounts on the neural correlates of judgments of learning. 8 p.

Contains fulltext : 102600.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Millions of people worldwide engage in online role-playing with their avatar, a virtual agent that represents the self. Previous behavioral studies have indicated that many gamers identify more strongly with their avatar than with their biological self. Through their avatar, gamers develop social networks and learn new social-cognitive skills. The cognitive neurosciences have yet to identify the neural processes that underlie self-identification with these virtual agents. We applied functional neuroimaging to 22 long-term online gamers and 21 nongaming controls, while they rated personality traits of self, avatar, and familiar others. Strikingly, neuroimaging data revealed greater avatar-referential cortical activity in the left inferior parietal lobe, a region associated with self-identification from a third-person perspective. The magnitude of this brain activity correlated positively with the propensity to incorporate external body enhancements into one's bodily identity. Avatar-referencing furthermore recruited greater activity in the rostral anterior cingulate gyrus, suggesting relatively greater emotional self-involvement with one's avatar. Post-scanning behavioral data revealed superior recognition memory for avatar relative to others. Interestingly, memory for avatar positively covaried with play duration. These findings significantly advance our knowledge about the brain's plasticity to self-identify with virtual agents and the human cognitive-affective potential to live and learn in virtual worlds. 9 p.

Contains fulltext : 174579.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Mindfulness meditation (MM) has often been suggested to induce fundamental changes in the way events in life are experienced and dealt with, presumably leading to alterations in personality. However, the relationship between the practice of MM and personality has not been systematically studied. The aim of this study was to explore this relationship and to investigate the mediating role of mindfulness skills. Thirty-five experienced mindfulness meditators (age range, 31–75 years; meditation experience range, 0.25–35 years; mean, ∼13 years) and 35 age-, gender-, and ethnicity-matched controls (age range, 27–63 years) without any meditation experience completed a personality (NEO-FFI) and mindfulness (KIMS) questionnaire. The practice of MM was positively related to openness and extraversion and negatively related to neuroticism and conscientiousness. Thus, the results of the current study associate the practice of MM with higher levels of curiosity and receptivity to new experiences and experience of positive affect and with less proneness toward negative emotions and worrying and a reduced focus on achievements. Furthermore, the mediating role of specific mindfulness skills in the relationship between the practice of MM and personality traits was shown. 7 p.

Contains fulltext : 76707.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Previously we demonstrated significant improvement of executive functions and social behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) treated with 40 sessions of EEG neurofeedback in a nonrandomized waiting list control group design. In this paper we extend these findings by reporting the long-term results of neurofeedback treatment in the same group of children with ASD after 12 months. The present study indicates maintenance of improvement of executive functions and social behavior after 12 months in comparison with the immediate outcomes. Neurofeedback mediated suppression of theta power is supposed to promote more flexible functioning of the brain by enhancing activation in the medial prefrontal cortex and improving flexibility of activation in the default mode network supporting the improvement of executive functions and theory of mind in ASD.

Contains fulltext : 77389.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The ability to detect and process errors made by others plays an important role is many social contexts. The capacity to process errors is typically found to rely on sites in the medial frontal cortex. However, it remains to be determined whether responses at these sites are driven primarily by action errors themselves or by the affective consequences normally associated with their commission. Using an experimental paradigm that disentangles action errors and the valence of their affective consequences, we demonstrate that sites in the medial frontal cortex (MFC), including the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), respond to action errors independent of the valence of their consequences. The strength of this response was negatively correlated with the empathic concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. We also demonstrate a main effect of self-identification by showing that errors committed by friends and foes elicited significantly different BOLD responses in a separate region of the middle anterior cingulate cortex (mACC). These results suggest that the way we look at others plays a critical role in determining patterns of brain activation during error observation. These findings may have important implications for general theories of error processing.

Recent research has demonstrated that cortical motor areas are engaged when observing motor actions of others. However, little is known about the possible contribution of the motor system for evaluating the correctness of others' actions. To address this question we designed an MEG experiment in which subjects were executing and observing motor actions with and without errors. In the execution task subjects were asked to make speeded button presses according to instruction cues. During the observation task, they viewed pictures of an actor's hand making button presses which were correct or incorrect according to the cues. Time-frequency representations of the MEG data demonstrated a depression in oscillatory activity in the beta band activity (15-35 Hz) during execution followed by a beta rebound that was stronger for incorrect compared to correct executions. During the observation task, a similar time-course of the beta activity was identified and importantly the modulations were stronger for the observation of incorrect than correct actions. Sources accounting for the difference in beta activity between correct and incorrect actions were localized using a beamforming technique. Both for the execution and observation conditions sources were identified to the dorsal motor areas comprising both primary and pre-motor cortex. Our findings demonstrate that not only is cortical motor activity modulated by action observation, but the modulation increases when the observed action is erroneous. This suggests that the motor system is engaged in evaluating the correctness of the actions of others. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contains fulltext : 56417.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Four experiments investigated activation of semantic information in action preparation. Participants either prepared to grasp and use an object (e.g., to drink from a cup) or to lift a finger in association with the object’s position following a go/no-go lexical-decision task. Word stimuli were consistent to the action goals of the object use (Experiment 1) or to the finger lifting (Experiment 2). Movement onset times yielded a double dissociation of consistency effects between action preparation and word processing. This effect was also present for semantic categorizations (Experiment 3), but disappeared when introducing a letter identification task (Experiment 4). In sum, our findings indicate that action semantics are activated selectively in accordance with the specific action intention of an actor. 11 p.

Contains fulltext : 55131.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Event-related brain potentials were used to study the retrieval of visual semantic information to concrete words, and to investigate possible structural overlap between visual object working memory and concreteness effects in word processing. Subjects performed an object working memory task that involved 5 s retention of simple 4-angled polygons (load 1), complex 10-angled polygons (load 2), and a no-load baseline condition. During the polygon retention interval subjects were presented with a lexical decision task to auditory presented concrete (imageable) and abstract (nonimageable) words, and pseudowords. ERP results are consistent with the use of object working memory for the visualisation of concrete words. Our data indicate a two-step processing model of visual semantics in which visual descriptive information of concrete words is first encoded in semantic memory (indicated by an anterior N400 and posterior occipital positivity), and is subsequently visualised via the network for object working memory (reflected by a left frontal positive slow wave and a bilateral occipital slow wave negativity). Results are discussed in the light of contemporary models of semantic memory.

Contains fulltext : 76795.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Humans are experts in cooperating with each other when trying to accomplish tasks they cannot achieve alone. Recent studies of joint action have shown that when performing tasks together people strongly rely on the neurocognitive mechanisms that they also use when performing actions individually, that is, they predict the consequences of their co-actor’s behavior through internal action simulation. Context-sensitive action monitoring and action selection processes, however, are relatively underrated but crucial ingredients of joint action. In the present paper, we try to correct the somewhat simplified view on joint action by reviewing recent studies of joint action simulation, monitoring, and selection while emphasizing the intricate interrelationships between these processes. We complement our review by defining the contours of a neurologically plausible computational framework of joint action. 13 p.

Item does not contain fulltext Cognitive theories of religion suggest that belief in supernatural agents finds a basis in the human tendency to (over) detect agency in the environment. The present research investigated whether activation of religious concepts enhances the attribution of agency in natural phenomena. In two experiments we administered a religion prime (a religion questionnaire in Experiment 1; a subliminal God prime in Experiment 2) and measured the amount of intentionality and free will that participants ascribed to images of natural phenomena and agents. In both experiments participants ascribed more agency to natural phenomena if they had been presented with a religion prime. Item analyses for both experiments furthermore revealed that the effect of religious priming was most pronounced for items of natural phenomena that were perceived as beyond personal control. These findings provide empirical support for the hypothesized relation between religion and agency detection. 24 p.

Contains fulltext : 129195.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Our capacity to use tools and objects is often considered one of the hallmarks of the human species. Many objects greatly extend our bodily capabilities to act in the physical world, such as when using a hammer or a saw. In addition, humans have the remarkable capability to use objects in a flexible fashion and to combine multiple objects in complex actions. We prepare coffee, cook dinner and drive our car. In this review we propose that humans have developed declarative and procedural knowledge, i.e. action semantics that enables us to use objects in a meaningful way. A state-of-the-art review of research on object use is provided, involving behavioral, developmental, neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies. We show that research in each of these domains is characterized by similar discussions regarding (1) the role of object affordances, (2) the relation between goals and means in object use and (3) the functional and neural organization of action semantics. We propose a novel conceptual framework of action semantics to address these issues and to integrate the previous findings. We argue that action semantics entails both multimodal object representations and modality-specific sub-systems, involving manipulation knowledge, functional knowledge and representations of the sensory and proprioceptive consequences of object use. Furthermore, we argue that action semantics are hierarchically organized and selectively activated and used depending on the action intention of the actor and the current task context. Our framework presents an integrative account of multiple findings and perspectives on object use that may guide future studies in this interdisciplinary domain. 31 p.

Contains fulltext : 116745.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) The present study investigated the effect of sexually objectifying music video exposure on young women's implicit bodily self-perception and the moderating role of self-esteem. Fifty-six college women of normal weight were either exposed to three sexually objectifying music videos or three neutral music videos. Perceived and ideal body size were measured both before and after video exposure, using horizontally stretched and compressed photographs of the participant's own body in swimming garment. As expected, only women low (but not high) in self-esteem were negatively affected by the sexually objectifying content of the music videos: they perceived themselves as bigger and showed an increased discrepancy between their perceived and ideal body size after video exposure. The neutral music videos did not influence women's bodily self-perceptions. These findings suggest that body image is a flexible construct, and that high self-esteem can protect women against the adverse effects of sexually objectifying media. 9 p.