Higher Number Of Correct Responses Research Articles

Knowledge of the workers of the construction industry about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and associated factors.

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) transmitted by biological, socioeconomic and cultural factors that increase the vulnerability of certain population groups such as civil construction workers. To evaluate the knowledge of workers in the construction industry about infection by HIV and associated factors. A cross-sectional, analytical study was conducted, including 381 construction workers, in the cities of João Pessoa, Cabedelo, and Santa Rita, in the State of Paraíba, Brazil, performed through interviews, using a data collection instrument with social demographic variables and the HIV Knowledge Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive measures, and for comparison between the categories the Kruskal-Wallis test was used, with margin of error of 5%. A predominance of male workers was observed (97.4%) among 381 workers; aged 30-39 (34.1%); married (81.4%); with up to eight years of education (66.6%); family income of up to 2x the minimum wage (52.8%) and coming from the country (43.8%). The average of correct responses was 63.3%, with higher indices (70.0%) related to transmission and forms of prevention. There were higher percentages of hits among those who had studied for 12 years or more. Workers from the capital of Paraíba presented a higher number of correct responses (67.44%). There is a low index of knowledge of construction workers about HIV, highlighting their consequent vulnerability to acquiring this infection.

Quiet eye training-based intervention can ameliorate inhibitory control but not visuospatial working memory in children with ADHD.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of quiet eye training (QET) on inhibitory control, visuospatial working memory (WM), and tonic attention in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Forty-eight children with ADHD aged 9-12 years were randomly assigned to QET and control (CON) groups. The QET group practiced targeted hand-eye tasks within a QET protocol developed to optimize controlled attention and gaze through eye fixations. We used the go/no-go (GNG) test, the Corsi test, and the reaction test of alertness (RTA) to verify the effects of QET on inhibition control, WM, and tonic attention. QET group showed significantly shorter reaction times, a higher number of correct responses, and a lower number of omissions in the GNG inhibition test after QET as compared to the pre-measurements, whereas the CON group did not demonstrate significant changes in this test. The measures of WM (Corsi test) and tonic attention (RTA) did not change significantly with the QET-based intervention. The study demonstrated that the QET protocol, which includes instructions and a video demonstration to optimize eye fixation on a target during aiming tasks, is acceptable and usable for children with ADHD. Overall, a short-term, 5-week visuomotor training intervention based on the quiet eye paradigm was shown to be effective in improving inhibitory control and focused visual attention, but not visuospatial WM and intrinsic attention in 9-12-year-old children with inattentive or combined ADHD.

Effects of long-term individual housing of middle-aged female Octodon degus on spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task.

Prolonged social isolation is a form of passive chronic stress that has consequences on human and animal behavior. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether the long-term isolation would precipitate age-related changes in anxiety and spatial learning and memory in degus. We investigated the effects of long-term social isolation on anxiety levels in the light-dark test, and spatial orientation abilities in the Barnes maze. Middle-aged female Octodon degus were allocated to either group-housed (3 animals per cage) or individually-housed for 5 months. Under this experimental condition, there were no significant group differences in the anxiety level tested in the light-dark test and in the motivation to escape from the Barnes maze. There were no significant differences in cortisol levels between individually- and group-housed animals. On the last acquisition training day of spatial learning, individually- housed animals had a significantly higher number of correct responses and a smaller number of reference and working memory errors than the group-housed animals. In addition, isolated animals showed a tendency for reference and working memory impairment on the retention trial, while group-housed degus showed improvement in these parameters. The present study indicates that prolonged social isolation during adulthood in female degus has a dual effect on spatial orientation. Specifically, it results in a significant improvement in acquisition skills but a slight impairment in memory retention. The obtained cognitive changes were not accompanied by modification in anxiety and cortisol levels.

Minocycline treatment improves cognitive and functional plasticity in a preclinical mouse model of major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a chronic, recurring, and potentially life-threatening illness, which affects over 300 million people worldwide. MDD affects not only the emotional and social domains but also cognition. However, the currently available treatments targeting cognitive deficits in MDD are limited. Minocycline, an antibiotic with anti-inflammatory properties recently identified as a potential antidepressant, has been shown to attenuate learning and memory deficits in animal models of cognitive impairment. Here, we explored whether minocycline recovers the deficits in cognition in a mouse model of depression. C57BL6/J adult male mice were exposed to two weeks of chronic unpredictable mild stress to induce a depressive-like phenotype. Immediately afterward, mice received either vehicle or minocycline for three weeks in standard housing conditions. We measured anhedonia as a depressive-like response, and place learning to assess cognitive abilities. We also recorded long-term potentiation (LTP) as an index of hippocampal functional plasticity and ran immunohistochemical assays to assess microglial proportion and morphology. After one week of treatment, cognitive performance in the place learning test was significantly improved by minocycline, as treated mice displayed a higher number of correct responses when learning novel spatial configurations. Accordingly, minocycline-treated mice displayed higher LTP compared to controls. However, after three weeks of treatment, no difference between treated and control animals was found for behavior, neural plasticity, and microglial properties, suggesting that minocycline has a fast but short effect on cognition, without lasting effects on microglia. These findings together support the usefulness of minocycline as a potential treatment for cognitive impairment associated with MDD.

Cimetidine in the management of colorectal cancer: A survey of the knowledge and opinions of pharmacy students

This survey was conducted at Howard University (HU) College of Pharmacy as part of a Drug Information course, in which First-Year Pharmacy students learn how to perform literature search on a pharmacy topic and run a survey. A total of 42 student respondents participated in the survey. Nearly 64% (n=27) wrongly thought that cimetidine reduces the risk of colon cancer, while 57.1% (n=24) gave a wrong response that, even though cimetidine is FDA-approved for other indications, it can be taken for the prevention of colorectal cancer. Twenty-seven (64.3%) correctly believed that cimetidine is used for other health problems than colorectal cancer. The majority gave the correct response (n=25; 59.5%) that prescription medications are more useful than dietary supplements for the prevention of colorectal cancer. The highest number of correct responses (n=28; 66.7%) was obtained for the question of cimetidine passing through breast milk. The opinions of survey respondents were evenly divided in recommending cimetidine for the prevention of colorectal cancer (50%, n=21), and knowing someone or oneself taken for other than colorectal cancer (50%, n=21). Opinions varied unevenly for the other three opinion-based questions.

Phoneme Monitoring Abilities in Bilingual Adolescents and Young Adults Who Stutter

Introduction: Stuttering occurs when the simultaneous and sequential programming of muscle movements required to produce a continuous flow of speech is disrupted. The generalized phoneme monitoring task, in which subjects detect target phonemes appearing anywhere in the test words, was shown to be sensitive to associative context effects. The aim is to investigate the phoneme monitoring abilities in L2 (English) among bilingual adolescents and young adults who stutter. This was a comparative study. Methods: Twenty-two bilinguals (11 persons with stuttering [PWS] and 11 persons with no stuttering [PWNS]) were considered within the age range of 10-16 years (adolescents) and 17-24 years (young adults). An adaptation of the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) to the Indian context was done on all the participants. The phoneme of English with the highest occurrence was considered. A list of picturable bisyllabic words was made using these target phonemes in initial and medial positions. The audio of targeted phonemes was prerecorded using PRAAT software. In phase 1, PsychoPy software was used to present the targeted phoneme along with the familiarized picture and record the responses of the participants. Keys of the keyboard were assigned to yes/no. In phase 2, the same picture was presented, and the response rate and accuracy in naming the pictures shown were calculated. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were done. Results: The results of the present study showed that bilingual PWNS took more time to identify the presence or absence of the target consonant when compared to bilingual PWS. Bilingual PWNS had a higher number of correct responses than bilingual PWS. With respect to the position of the target phoneme, incorrect responses were similar when the target phoneme was in the medial or initial position. Conclusion: The current study advances the theoretical understanding of the causes of stuttering, particularly by supporting the psycholinguistic causes of stuttering.

An analysis of verbal fluency task performance profiles in patients with vascular brain pathology

Aim: Considering the data on the important role of verbal fluency tasks in neuropsychological diagnosis and the models of hemispherically specialised modulation of processes essential for different types of verbal fluency, we made an attempt to identify differences in correct and incorrect performance of 5 verbal fluency tasks between patients with vascular cerebral pathology, including hypertension, and healthy individuals. We also analysed task performance profiles within the groups. Materials and methods: The study included healthy volunteers (n = 36), hypertensive individuals (n = 33), and patients after left (n = 15) or right hemisphere stroke (n = 30) – 114 subjects in total. We used the Frenchay Aphasia Screening Test (FAST) to exclude patients with significant language difficulties/aphasia. We used 5 verbal fluency tasks: semantic (Animals), phonemic (“k”), verb fluency and two emotional tasks: Joy and Fear. We used general linear models for repeated measures for the analysis of correctly and incorrectly performed tasks. Results: The profiles of correct responses for all 5 tasks were similar in all groups, with quantitative intergroup differences. The highest number of correct responses appeared in the semantic, phonemic and verb fluency tasks, whereas the lowest number in the emotional tasks. Hypertensive individuals scored statistically insignificantly lower than healthy individuals, whereas patients after right/left hemisphere stroke scored significantly lower compared to both these groups. Despite a large number of errors, healthy individuals had the highest scores. Patients after right hemisphere stroke showed little differentiation in the number of correct responses in subsequent tasks. There were no intergroup differences in the level of performance of emotional tasks with different valences (positive and negative). Healthy and hypertensive individuals were characterised by a distinct heterogeneity of correct and incorrect responses in various tasks. Patients with brain pathology, regardless of its lateralisation, performed these tasks at a similar level, with left hemisphere damage resulting in the highest number of errors, mainly in semantic and phonemic tasks, and with right hemisphere pathology associated with errors in all types of tasks. The difficulties in patients with left hemisphere damage may result from weaker phonological and lexical processes, including access to semantic features of a word, while the low scores of patients with right hemisphere damage may be a consequence of impaired attention and executive processes. Conclusions: Patients with vascular pathology of the brain hemispheres achieved significantly lower scores in all types of fluency, while hypertensive individuals scored insignificantly lower than healthy subjects. This means that the method can be useful in differentiating between healthy individuals and patients with central nervous system damage, as well as those at risk. Future research should focus on a detailed analysis of the types of errors made by patients with hemispheric damage in various types of verbal fluency tasks. An analysis of the location of the pathology in the anterior-posterior dimension of each hemisphere could reveal specific features of verbal fluency.

Men's Knowledge of Anticipatory Guidance Topics: Results From a Nationally Representative Survey

1) To describe young men's knowledge of infant routines, discipline, development, safety, sleep, and nutrition, using items assessing the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents. 2) To report differences in knowledge between fathers and non-fathers. 3) To examine factors associated with men's greater knowledge. Participants were men (N=1303) aged 18 to 35 years responding to a cross-sectional survey that was administered to a national panel established through probability sampling of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population. Survey weights allow reporting of nationally representative analyses. Participants (mean age=27; 58% white, 36% fathers) correctly answered 52% of the infant knowledge questions. Fathers and non-fathers answered 64% and 46% of the items correctly, respectively. The difference in knowledge between fathers and non-fathers was statistically significant (B=0.16, P< .001). The subscale with the highest number of correct responses was routines (80% accuracy), followed by discipline (59% accuracy), safety (52% accuracy), sleep (51% accuracy), development (50% accuracy), and nutrition (40% accuracy). Multivariate analyses showed that depressive symptoms (B=-0.07, P < .05) were associated with lower infant knowledge, while higher education (B=0.06, P < .05) and current employment (B=0.06, P < .01) were associated with higher infant knowledge. Significant gaps exist in men's knowledge of infant development. Pediatric health care providers can address gaps in parenting knowledge by providing anticipatory guidance to fathers.

Visual feedback of finger writing in a patient with sensory aphasia: a case report and theoretical considerations

ABSTRACT Through cognitive task performance, we examined the functional role of finger writing (kūsho) in a Japanese patient with moderate sensory aphasia and reading difficulties. We hypothesized that the visual feedback of kūsho would improve visual language processing, which we tested with a “kanji construction task” using character subparts. Results showed a higher number of correct responses 1) when the patient used kūsho and 2) when visual feedback of finger movements was available. The results suggest that kūsho may not improve the retrieval of phonological information but does aid the visual processing necessary to assemble character subparts.

A specific dietary fibre supplementation improves cognitive performance-an exploratory randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

The impact of the microbiota on the gut-brain axis is increasingly appreciated. A growing body of literature demonstrates that use of dietary fibre and prebiotics can manipulate the microbiota and affect host health. However, the influence on cognition and acute stress response is less well understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a dietary fibre, polydextrose (PDX), in improving cognitive performance and acute stress responses through manipulation of the gut microbiota in a healthy population. In this double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover design study, 18 healthy female participants received 12.5 g Litesse®Ultra (> 90% PDX polymer) or maltodextrin for 4 weeks. Cognitive performance, mood, acute stress responses, microbiota composition, and inflammatory markers were assessed pre- and post-intervention. PDX improved cognitive flexibility as evidenced by the decrease in the number of errors made in the Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IED) task. A better performance in sustained attention was observed through higher number of correct responses and rejections in the Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) task. Although there was no change in microbial diversity, abundance of Ruminiclostridium 5 significantly increased after PDX supplementation compared with placebo. PDX supplementation attenuated the increase of adhesion receptor CD62L on classical monocytes observed in the placebo group. Supplementation with the PDX resulted in a modest improvement in cognitive performance. The results indicate that PDX could benefit gut-to-brain communication and modulate behavioural responses.

Look back at text or rely on memory? Efficacy of reading comprehension strategies in good and poor oral comprehenders

BackgroundReading comprehension is a multifactorial process, but one of its features has been relatively under‐investigated: it is the strategy used when answering reading comprehension questions. In order to find the correct answer, children can either respond to questions about a text relying on their text memory or look back at the written text. This study analyses (i) which strategy, memory or look‐back is more frequently adopted in primary school children according to grade level and type of text (expository vs narrative) and (ii) the preferred (most frequently used) and more efficient (higher number of correct responses) strategy for poor oral comprehenders. Poor oral comprehenders were selected for having adequate nonword decoding skills but impaired oral comprehension, compared with good oral comprehenders.MethodsThe total sample comprised 1,417 primary school children. A standardised test assessing reading and comprehension of oral and written language was administered.ResultsIn the comparison among children attending different grades, older children showed a more frequent use of the look‐back strategy for the expository text, whereas no age‐related difference emerged for the narrative text. Poor oral comprehenders (n = 88) showed a different pattern, compared with matched good oral comprehenders (n = 88), for both preference and efficiency of strategies. Despite having a globally poorer performance in reading comprehension, poor oral comprehenders were more accurate than good oral comprehenders when using the look‐back strategy.ConclusionsThe complex pattern of results obtained reinforces the idea that intervention strategies should be personalised based on individual characteristics and specific for the type of task and text.

Smoking behavior and secondhand smoke exposure among university students in northern Portugal: Relations with knowledge on tobacco use and attitudes toward smoking

ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of active smoking and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among college students in the north of Portugal, and analyze the relationship between knowledge about tobacco use and attitudes toward smoking. Materials and methodsThis a cross-sectional study with a representative sample of college students (n=840) in one university in Portugal. A validated self-reported questionnaire was administered to a proportional stratified random sample during the academic year of 2018/2019. We evaluated associations between smoking status, SHS exposure, smokers peers, knowledge and attitudes toward smoking and sociodemographic variables. ResultsThe results showed that 20.1% of the students surveyed were current smokers (7.3% occasional smokers, 2.9% regular smokers and 9.9% daily smokers). Most current smokers started smoking before the age of 17 (61.4%) and reported never having tried to quit smoking (59.7%). Only 34.4% of students reported (almost) not having been in enclosed spaces with smokers in the past 7 days. Exposure to SHS and having smoker friends contributes to the prevalence of tobacco use. In general, students showed favorable attitudes toward smoking, especially those who are smokers, have smoking friends and are more exposed to SHS. The level of knowledge about tobacco was moderate, with a higher number of correct responses by former smokers. ConclusionsThese results suggests an urgent need for socio-educational programs for counseling on smoking cessation. In addition, is also strongly recommended that, throughout academic training, students develop personal and social skills for dealing with the tobacco epidemic.

Development, implementation and evaluation of an ECG algorithm for ambulance service

In order to facilitate and accelerate the interpretation of ECG images in preclinical emergency medicine, an algorithm was developed to test this. In an online test, 357 staff of emergency medical service tested the functionality of the analysis procedure. Defibrillation-worthy ECG images are not included in this work because they belong to the resuscitation, has already been extensively published. The development of the algorithm involved three levels: The first was to define the properties of preclinical ECG images based on questions that needed to be answered dichotomically, such as "Are P-waves present?" "Yes" or "No". The answers were summarized in a table, from which the graphic processing of the information in the form of a search tree took place as a second level of development. The algorithmic query always started with the question "Did the patient have a pulse?" And ended with a defined ECG target image. This created a complex primary algorithm. As a third stepp, the primary algorithm was compressed to make it practical. The 11 questions are tested in this study. The study population was guided online through a web-based test. Each study was randomly assigned to the group with or without algorithm. In the case of using the secondary algorithm, it appeared of the screen throughout the duration of the interpretation. The test persons had to interpret 15 ECG images in succession, each with 5 predefined answers. The results of the query were collected in a database and formed the basis of the statistical calculations. From 15.05.2013 to 10.07.2013, a total of 387 people took part in the online survey. n = 357 subjects (92.25%) completed the complete ECG study with input questions and the interpretation of 15 images. All of the following results refer exclusively to the participants with closed interpretation: group without algorithm (μ0) n = 175: correct answers x ̅ = 11,70; σ = 2.024 and total time in sec. x ̅ = 392.35; σ = 294,687. Group with algorithm (μ) n = 182: correct answers x ̅ = 12,17; σ = 2.877 and total time in sec. x ̅ = 316.83; σ = 149.56. The statistical mass consisted of 154 (43.1%) paramedics, 77 (21.6%) paramedics, 63 (17.6%) paramedics and 35 (9.8%) specialists. The remaining participants had a qualification as first responder or fireman. 62.7% of the study participants worked full-time in the rescue service. The average age was 31.6 years. 62.7% interpreted an ECG 1 to 10 times a month, 15.7% 11 to 20 a month. 82.3% of the subjects rated their ECG interpretability as medium good. The hypothesis that the number of correct answers in the interpretation of preclinical ECG images increases with the aid of the algorithm was again rejected in favor of the null hypothesis - for lack of significance α = 0.072. By contrast, the analysis time for ECG interpretation decreases as expected by using the developed algorithm. H1 was retained, with α = 0.003, validated by t-test in independent samples. Neither age nor gender influenced the number of correct answers or interpretation time. Rs = 0.387 with α = 0.05 between the medical qualification and the number of correct answers. Furthermore, with rs = -0.261 and α = 0.05, a correlation between the medical qualification and the analysis time was to be recorded. rp = 0.362; Significance 2-sided α = 0.05 was found in the self-assessment of the subjects. This means that they have generally assessed their ECG interpretation skills correctly. For emergency responders there was a higher number of correct responses with α = 0.05, but no faster interpretation time. The frequency of the ECG interpretation in each case exercised had an influence on the number of correct answers when using the algorithm. rs = 0.362; Significance 2-sided α = 0.05. The time span since the acquisition of the last and highest medical qualification has a highly significant influence of α = 0.005 on the number of correct answers when using the algorithm. That is, the shorter the distance to the end of the training, the more correct answers. In addition, it could be shown that subjects with a low medical qualification using the algorithm were able to increase the number of correct interpretations most strongly (α = 0.05). In summary, the interpretation of preclinically relevant ECG images using the newly developed algorithm is recommended on this data basis. All occupational groups involved in the study benefited from it.

The effects of paired kinesthetic movements on literacy skills acquisition with preschoolers.

Students who fail to acquire foundational literacy skills during preschool are more likely to read below grade level average in elementary school and are at a heightened risk for future school failure, poverty, early mortality, and crime. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects and maintenance of and preference for paired kinesthetic movements (KM) to a traditional drill (TD) procedure on letter-sound correspondence and word recognition with 6 preschool children. In 6 of 11 evaluations, participants mastered the KM set in substantially fewer intervention sessions than the TD set. In 5 of 11 evaluations, participants mastered the KM and TD sets with little differentiation between the number of intervention sessions. No participant mastered the control set. Maintenance data demonstrate a higher number of correct responses for the KM condition across all weeks. Preference varied across participants and was not always consistent with the more effective intervention.

Using the delayed spatial alternation task to assess environmentally associated changes in working memory in very young children

BackgroundWorking memory (WM) is critical for problem solving and reasoning. Beginning in infancy, children show WM capacity increasing with age but there are few validated tests of WM in very young children. Because rapid brain development may increase susceptibility to adverse impacts of prenatal neurotoxicant exposure, such as lead, tests of WM in very young children would help to delineate onset of developmental problems and windows of susceptibility. PurposeOur objective was to assess the feasibility of administering a Delayed Spatial Alternation Task (DSAT) to measure WM among 18- and 24-month old children enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort study and compare DSAT performance with age and general cognitive development. We further explored whether prenatal lead exposure impacted DSAT performance. MethodsWe assessed 457 mother-child pairs participating in the Programming Research in Obesity, GRowth, Environment and Social Stressors (PROGRESS) Study in Mexico City. The DSAT and Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III) were administered at 18- and 24-months. Lead was measured in maternal blood collected during pregnancy (MBPb) and in a subsample of children at 24-months (CBPb). We regressed DSAT measures on MBPb and CBPb, child sex, and maternal age, education, socioeconomic status, and household smoking. We compared DSAT performance to BSID-III performance with adjusted residuals. Results24-month children perform better on the DSAT than 18-month children; 24-month subjects reached a higher level on the DSAT (3.3 (0.86) vs. 2.4 (0.97), p < 0.01), and had a higher number of correct responses (20.3 vs. 17.2, p < 0.01). In all DSAT parameters, females performed better than males. Maternal education predicted better DSAT performance; household smoking predicted worse DSAT performance. A higher number of correct responses was associated with higher BSID-III Cognitive scales at 18 months (r = 0.20, p < 0.01) and 24 months (r = 0.27, p < 0.01). MBPb and CPBb did not significantly predict DSAT performance. ConclusionImproved performance on the DSAT with increasing age, the positive correlation with the BSID-III cognitive and language scales and the correlation with common sociodemographic predictors of neurodevelopment demonstrate the validity of the DSAT as a test of infant development.

Feel the noise: Mid-air ultrasound haptics as a novel human-vehicle interaction paradigm

Focussed ultrasound can be used to create the sensation of touch in mid-air. Combined with gestures, this can provide haptic feedback to guide users, thereby overcoming the lack of agency associated with pure gestural interfaces, and reducing the need for vision – it is therefore particularly apropos of the driving domain. In a counter-balanced 2 × 2 driving simulator study, a traditional in-vehicle touchscreen was compared with a virtual mid-air gestural interface, both with and without ultrasound haptics. Forty-eight experienced drivers (28 male, 20 female) undertook representative in-vehicle tasks – discrete target selections and continuous slider-bar manipulations – whilst driving. Results show that haptifying gestures with ultrasound was particularly effective in reducing visual demand (number of long glances and mean off-road glance time), and increasing performance (shortest interaction times, highest number of correct responses and least ‘overshoots’) associated with continuous tasks. In contrast, for discrete, target-selections, the touchscreen enabled the highest accuracy and quickest responses, particularly when combined with haptic feedback to guide interactions, although this also increased visual demand. Subjectively, the gesture interfaces invited higher ratings of arousal compared to the more familiar touch-surface technology, and participants indicated the lowest levels of workload (highest performance, lowest frustration) associated with the gesture-haptics interface. In addition, gestures were preferred by participants for continuous tasks. The study shows practical utility and clear potential for the use of haptified gestures in the automotive domain.

A Comparison of Probabilistic Reasoning in Psychology Undergraduates in Italy and Spain: Seeking Cross-national Evidence

A cross-national comparison between Italy and Spain was conducted on probabilistic reasoning performance presented in verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats. This study investigated the similarities and differences in Psychology undergraduates in these two countries (Italy n=290; Spain n=130) and attempted to identify aspects that might enhance the probability of a student belonging to one country. The findings underscored that Spanish students had higher levels of visuospatial abilities, more positive attitudes toward statistics, lower statistical anxiety, and higher confidence in the correctness of their responses. Additionally, they gave a higher number of correct responses to problems presented in a verbal-numerical format. These data suggest interesting insights and highlight the interactions among multiple layers of variables at the collective, contextual, and individual levels.

Boston Naming Test (BNT) original, Brazilian adapted version and short forms: normative data for illiterate and low-educated older adults.

The aims of this study were (1) to describe and compare the performance of illiterate and low-educated older adults, without evidence of cognitive impairment, on different versions of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) original, Brazilian adapted, abbreviated 30-item (even and odd) and 15-item from the CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) battery; (2) to compare performance on the original versus adapted versions of the BNT. A total of 180 healthy older adults (60 years or older) were stratified according to educational level (0, 1-2, and 3-4 years), and age (60-69, 70-79, and ≥ 80 years). The protocol comprised the following instruments: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB), Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the BNT. The illiterate participants had poorer performance than the educated participants. The performance of the two educated groups was similar on all versions of the BNT. A higher number of correct responses were observed on the adapted BNT than on the original BNT in all three education groups. The adapted BNT appears to be the most suitable for use in the low-educated Brazilian population. The present study provided normative data for low-educated elderly on several different versions of the BNT, which may be helpful in diagnosing naming deficits among elderly in these strata of the population.

Legal Professionals' Knowledge of Eyewitness Testimony in China: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

PurposeTo examine legal professionals’ knowledge of a wide range of factors that affect eyewitness accuracy in China.MethodsA total of 812 participants, including 210 judges, 244 prosecutors, 202 police officers, and 156 defense attorneys, were asked to respond to 12 statements about eyewitness testimony and 3 basic demographic questions (i.e., gender, age, and prior experience).ResultsAlthough the judges and the defense attorneys had a somewhat higher number of correct responses than the other two groups, all groups showed limited knowledge of eyewitness testimony. In addition, the participants’ responses to only four items (i.e., weapon focus, attitude and expectations, child suggestibility, and the impact of stress) were roughly unanimous within the four legal professional groups. Legal professionals’ gender showed no significant correlations with their knowledge of eyewitness testimony. Prior experiences were significantly and negatively correlated with the item on the knowledge of forgetting curve among judges but positively correlated with two items (i.e., attitudes and exposure time) among defense attorneys and with 4 statements (i.e., the knowledge of attitudes and expectations, impact of stress, child witness accuracy, and exposure time) among prosecutors.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that knowledge of the factors that influence eyewitness accuracy must be more effectively communicated to legal professionals in the future.

Cholinergic deafferentation of the hippocampus causes non-temporally graded retrograde amnesia in an odor discrimination task

Dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT) is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by loss of hippocampal cholinergic tone and significant memory impairments, specifically for memories acquired prior to disease onset. The nature of this relationship, however, remains debated. The current study used the string pulling task to evaluate the temporal effects of odor discrimination learning in animals with selective cholinergic lesions to determine the role of the septohippocampal cholinergic system in mnemonic function. Rats with 192-IgG-Saporin lesions to the medial septum had a higher number of correct responses in the reversal training when compared to sham rats, suggesting an inability to retrieve the previously learned discrimination; however, no temporal gradient was observed. Furthermore, there were no group differences when learning a novel odor discrimination, demonstrating the ability for all rats to form new memories. These results establish a role for the cholinergic medial septum projections in long-term memory retrieval. The current study provides a behavioral assessment technique to investigate factors that influence mnemonic deficits associated with rodent models of DAT.