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In this paper we demonstrate that a target detection taskis facilitated when the background on which the targetis presented is a familiar one, even though the targetappears at a random location. We compare performancein that condition with one where the background israndomly generated and establish a significantdifference between these two versions of the task interms of both d’ and criterion, C. We also go on to lookat the effect of a tDCS procedure that we know to affectdiscrimination performance on this difference,discovering that it seems to reduce or reverse thedifference in criterion for these two conditions. Weascribe this effect to the neurostimulation manipulationshifting the distribution of information used to reach adecision

To improve road safety, it is important to understand theimpact that the contingencies around traffic lights have upondrivers’ behavior. There are formal rules that govern behaviorat UK traffic lights (see The Highway Code, 2015), but whatdoes experience of the contingencies do to us? While a greenlight always cues a go response and a singleton red a stop, thebehavior linked to amber is ambiguous; in the presence of redit cues readiness to start, while on its own it cues"preparation" to stop. Could it be that the contingenciesbetween stimuli and responses lead to implicit learning ofresponses that differ from those suggested by the rules of theroad? This study used an incidental go/no-go task in whichcolored shapes were stochastically predictive of whether aresponse was required. The stimuli encoded the contingenciesbetween traffic lights and their appropriate responses, forexample, stimulus G was a go cue, mimicking the response toa green light. Evidence was found to indicate that G was a gocue, while A (which had the same contingencies as an amberlight) was a weak go cue, and that R (a stop cue) wassurprisingly responded to as a neutral cue.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a prevalent complication among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In these patients, pulmonary vasodilators may be useful but are underused. We describe a group of patients with precapillary PH and advanced CKD treated with pulmonary vasodilators. This was a case series of patients with CKD stage 4 and 5 and precapillary PH (isolated or combined) based on right heart catheterization (RHC) treated with pulmonary vasodilators from 2018 to 2023. Of 263 patients with isolated precapillary or combined PH and advanced CKD, only 17 (6%) were treated with pulmonary vasodilators; 53% (n = 9) with precapillary PH and 47% (n = 8) with combined PH. Most patients (94%, n = 16) received phosphodiesterase‐5 antagonists, while 12% (n = 2) received endothelin receptor antagonists. Adverse clinical outcomes were seen in 35% of patients within a year. The use of pulmonary vasodilator did not prevent adverse outcomes in patients with precapillary PH and advanced CKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During mindfulness-based interventions participants can beinvited to bring aversive stimuli to mind while practicingmindfulness. This is thought to help the stimuli become lessaversive. However, the mechanisms underlying this processare not fully understood. In this study we explored these byexamining the effects of mindfulness practice and stimulusvisualization on stimuli associated with electric shocks.Participants were trained on a discrimination between twovisual stimuli using a standard electrodermal conditioningprocedure, in which one stimulus (CS+) was paired withshock and the other (CS-) was not. They then visualized eitherthe CS+ or CS-, while practicing mindfulness or performing acontrol activity. Following a number of extinction trials, theimpact of these manipulations was assessed during areacquisition test-phase. Both mindfulness and visualizationof the CS+ led to slower reacquisition of the CS+/shockassociation, when measured physiologically, and their effectswere additive. Moreover, these effects dissociated fromparticipants’ expectancy of shock. If confirmed in futurework, these findings may have implications for the treatmentof stimulus-specific anxiety.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with adverse outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Our study suggests mildly elevated pulmonary vascular resistance (> 2 to ≤ 3) is independently associated with major adverse cardiovascular events at 1‐year follow‐up. Early diagnosis of precapillary PH in CKD patients can potentially improve clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task-cuing experiments are usually intended to explore control of task set. But when small stimulus sets are used, they plausibly afford learning of the response associated with a combination of cue and stimulus, without reference to tasks. In 3 experiments we presented the typical trials of a task-cuing experiment: a cue (colored shape) followed, after a short or long interval, by a digit to which 1 of 2 responses was required. In a tasks condition, participants were (as usual) directed to interpret the cue as an instruction to perform either an odd/even or a high/low classification task. In a cue + stimulus ? response (CSR) condition, to induce learning of mappings between cue-stimulus compound and response, participants were, in Experiment 1, given standard task instructions and additionally encouraged to learn the CSR mappings; in Experiment 2, informed of all the CSR mappings and asked to learn them, without standard task instructions; in Experiment 3, required to learn the mappings by trial and error. The effects of a task switch, response congruence, preparation, and transfer to a new set of stimuli differed substantially between the conditions in ways indicative of classification according to task rules in the tasks condition, and retrieval of responses specific to stimulus-cue combinations in the CSR conditions. Qualitative features of the latter could be captured by an associative learning network. Hence associatively based compound retrieval can serve as the basis for performance with a small stimulus set. But when organization by tasks is apparent, control via task set selection is the natural and efficient strategy.