No evidence for the reduction of task competition and attentional adjustment during task-switching practice.

Performance in task switching experiments is worse when the current stimulus is associated with different responses in the two tasks (i.e., incongruent condition) than when it is associated with the same response (i.

Executive functions and intelligence from the CHC theory perspective: Investigating the correspondence between the WAIS-IV and the NAB Executive Functions Module.

Substantial overlap between executive functions (EFs) and intelligence has been reported. Yet further research is required with respect to how the specific components of the two constructs are interrelated. The present study was aimed at exploring the relationship between EFs and intelligence by examining the latent structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) and the Executive Functions Module from the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB).

Minimizing Drug Adverse Events by Informing About the Nocebo Effect-An Experimental Study.

Informing patients about potential adverse events as part of the informed consent may facilitate the development of nocebo-driven drug adverse events (nocebo side effects). To investigate whether informing about the nocebo effect using a short information sheet can reduce nocebo side effects. A total of = 44 participants with weekly headaches for at least 6 months were recruited using the cover story of a clinical trial for a headache medicine.

Non-concealed placebo treatment for menopausal hot flushes: Study protocol of a randomized-controlled trial.

Background: Beneficial effects of placebos are high in double-blind hot flush trials. Studies in various conditions suggest that honestly prescribed placebos may elicit symptom improvement.

Objective: To determine whether open label placebo (OLP) treatment is efficacious in alleviating hot flushes among peri- and postmenopausal women.

Independent control processes? Evidence for concurrent distractor inhibition and attentional usage of distractor information.

Interference evoked by a distractor presented prior to a target stimulus is reduced when the distractor-target SOA is increased, suggesting inhibition of distractor-related activation. Distractor processing is also assumed to be (strategically) adjusted to the proportions of congruent and incongruent target-distractor combinations, yielding a larger distractor interference effect when the proportion of congruent trials is higher (i.e.

The time course of distractor-based response activation with predictable and unpredictable target onset.

Electrophysiological recording in a temporal flanker task (i.e., distractors preceding the targets) has demonstrated that distractor processing is adjusted to the overall utility of the distractors.

Multifeature Mismatch Negativity in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Objective: The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related brain potential has been used to examine auditory monitoring in various mental disorders. Previous research with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients has revealed contradictory results. Enhanced as well as diminished MMNs have been obtained.

Selective impairment of attentional set shifting in adults with ADHD.

Background: Task switch protocols are frequently used in the assessment of cognitive control, both in clinical and non-clinical populations. These protocols frequently confound task switch and attentional set shift. The current study investigated the ability of adult ADHD patients to shift attentional set in the context of switching tasks.

Target-distractor congruency: sequential effects in a temporal flanker task.

The Congruency Sequence Effect (CSE) denotes the common finding that distractor-target Congruency Effects are reduced after incongruent compared to after congruent trials. Although the CSE is widely attributed to attentional adjustment (i.e.

Tight upper bounds for semi-online scheduling on two uniform machines with known optimum.

We consider a semi-online version of the problem of scheduling a sequence of jobs of different lengths on two uniform machines with given speeds 1 and . Jobs are revealed one by one (the assignment of a job has to be done before the next job is revealed), and the objective is to minimize the makespan. In the considered variant the optimal offline makespan is known in advance.

Negative emotions in art reception: Refining theoretical assumptions and adding variables to the Distancing-Embracing model.

While covering all commentaries, our response specifically focuses on the following issues: How can the hypothesis of emotional distancing (qua art framing) be compatible with stipulating high levels of felt negative emotions in art reception? Which concept of altogether pleasurable mixed emotions does our model involve? Can mechanisms of predictive coding, social sharing, and immersion enhance the power of our model?

Shifting the set of stimulus selection when switching between tasks.

Switching between tasks associated with different requirements of stimulus selection may suffer interference from persisting attentional settings or processes of reconfiguration, possibly constituting a source of task switch costs (i.e., impaired performance in task switch trials compared to task repetition trials).

Reluctance in international politics: A conceptualization.

Contemporary rising powers have often pursued a hesitant and ambiguous foreign-policy and have belied the expectations of potential followers and established powers who would want them to engage more actively in global and regional governance. The existing analytical toolbox of International Relations does not offer suitable concepts to make sense of the widespread phenomenon of states that pursue hesitant, inconsistent courses of action and do not bring to bear their power resources to coherently manage international crises that potentially affect them. A notion that is frequently employed to describe this peculiar type of foreign policy is that of 'reluctance', but this concept has not been systematically defined, discussed or theorized.

The emotional power of poetry: neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles.

It is a common experience-and well established experimentally-that music can engage us emotionally in a compelling manner. The mechanisms underlying these experiences are receiving increasing scrutiny. However, the extent to which other domains of aesthetic experience can similarly elicit strong emotions is unknown.

Stability and Variability in Aesthetic Experience: A Review.

Based on psychophysics' pragmatic dualism, we trace the cognitive neuroscience of stability and variability in aesthetic experience. With regard to different domains of aesthetic processing, we touch upon the relevance of cognitive schemata for aesthetic preference. Attitudes and preferences are explored in detail.

Tears Falling on Goosebumps: Co-occurrence of Emotional Lacrimation and Emotional Piloerection Indicates a Psychophysiological Climax in Emotional Arousal.

This psychophysiological study is the first to examine the relationship between emotional tears and emotional piloerection (i.e., goosebumps).

The Distancing-Embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception.

Why are negative emotions so central in art reception far beyond tragedy? Revisiting classical aesthetics in the light of recent psychological research, we present a novel model to explain this much discussed (apparent) paradox. We argue that negative emotions are an important resource for the arts in general, rather than a special license for exceptional art forms only. The underlying rationale is that negative emotions have been shown to be particularly powerful in securing attention, intense emotional involvement, and high memorability, and hence is precisely what artworks strive for.

Cultural and Species Differences in Gazing Patterns for Marked and Decorated Objects: A Comparative Eye-Tracking Study.

Objects from the Middle Paleolithic period colored with ochre and marked with incisions represent the beginning of non-utilitarian object manipulation in different species of the genus. To investigate the visual effects caused by these markings, we compared humans who have different cultural backgrounds (Namibian hunter-gatherers and German city dwellers) to one species of non-human great apes (orangutans) with respect to their perceptions of markings on objects. We used eye-tracking to analyze their fixation patterns and the durations of their fixations on marked and unmarked stones and sticks.

Changes in room acoustics elicit a Mismatch Negativity in the absence of overall interaural intensity differences.

Changes in room acoustics provide important clues about the environment of sound source-perceiver systems, for example, by indicating changes in the reflecting characteristics of surrounding objects. To study the detection of auditory irregularities brought about by a change in room acoustics, a passive oddball protocol with participants watching a movie was applied in this study. Acoustic stimuli were presented via headphones.

Strategic control over extent and timing of distractor-based response activation.

In choice reaction time (RT) tasks, performance is often influenced by the presence of nominally irrelevant stimuli, referred to as distractors. Recent research provided evidence that distractor processing can be adjusted to the utility of the distractors: Distractors predictive of the upcoming target/response were more attended to and also elicited stronger motor responses. In an event-related potential (ERP) study, we investigated whether not only the extent of distractor processing (as suggested by these previous results), but also the timing of distractor-based response activation is subject to strategic control.

When neutral turns significant: brain dynamics of rapidly formed associations between neutral stimuli and emotional contexts.

The ability to associate neutral stimuli with motivationally relevant outcomes is an important survival strategy. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate brain dynamics of associative emotional learning when participants were confronted with multiple heterogeneous information. Participants viewed 144 different objects in the context of 144 different emotional and neutral background scenes.

Differences in the Visual Perception of Symmetric Patterns in Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) and Two Human Cultural Groups: A Comparative Eye-Tracking Study.

Symmetric structures are of importance in relation to aesthetic preference. To investigate whether the preference for symmetric patterns is unique to humans, independent of their cultural background, we compared two human populations with distinct cultural backgrounds (Namibian hunter-gatherers and German town dwellers) with one species of non-human great apes (Orangutans) in their viewing behavior regarding symmetric and asymmetric patterns in two levels of complexity. In addition, the human participants were asked to give their aesthetic evaluation of a subset of the presented patterns.

It's Sad but I Like It: The Neural Dissociation Between Musical Emotions and Liking in Experts and Laypersons.

Emotion-related areas of the brain, such as the medial frontal cortices, amygdala, and striatum, are activated during listening to sad or happy music as well as during listening to pleasurable music. Indeed, in music, like in other arts, sad and happy emotions might co-exist and be distinct from emotions of pleasure or enjoyment. Here we aimed at discerning the neural correlates of sadness or happiness in music as opposed those related to musical enjoyment.