The Dopamine Impels Us to Action as Suggested by the Neuronal Activity in the Ventral Tegmental Area during Avoidance Conditioning

Natalia Yu. Ivlieva,

Natalia O. Timofeeva,

Dmitry A. Ivliev

Published: May 31, 2014

The mesolimbic dopamine system is believed to be a key component in the processing of rewarding information by the brain, although the precise nature of dopamine release remains unknown. Avoidance conditioning combines reward (positive) and aversion (negative) phenomena. Here the activity of 60 neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) was studied in freely moving rabbits during the acquisition and performance of an active avoidance. A total of 48 % of the recorded neurons responded to the conditioned stimulus (CS). A significant predominance of excitatory responses to the (CS) was demonstrated. Two main patterns of cell responses to the CS …

A Genetic Approach to the Study of Simple Cognitive Abilities in Animals

Inga I. Poletaeva,

Zoya A. Zorina

Published: Sept. 26, 2014

One of the urgent problems in cognitive studies and in neurobiology as a whole is to delineate the impact of genetic factors in the variability of animal cognitive abilities. The concept of animal cognition is frequently used in a broad sense to include all phenomena with behavioral manifestations of neural plasticity. The variable phenomena related to animal cognition could be subdivided into two main categories, although only the first of them will be analyzed in this paper. The first category is represented by “basal” cognitive abilities, which embrace spatial cognitive behavior and elementary reasoning (simple logic task solutions). The second …

The Dynamics of Working Memory Load in Insight Problem Solving

Sergei Yu. Korovkin,

Ilya Yu. Vladimirov,

Anna D. Savinova

Published: Jan. 1, 2014

This paper describes the possible methodological techniques of evaluation of the problem solving process as the main task by a secondary probe task. We propose a method of estimation of the microdynamics of thought processes via changes in the dynamics of working memory load in problem solving by a probe monitor. The results of assessment of the dynamics of working memory load in insight and algorithmized problem solving via a two-alternative choice task are shown. There are significant differences between the dynamics of working memory load in insight and algorithmized problem solving in the last stages, which confirm the hypothesis …

Theories of Implicit Learning: Contradictory Approaches to the Same Phenomenon or Consistent Descriptions of Different Types of Learning?

Ivan Ivanchei

Published: Jan. 1, 2014

Almost 50 years ago, Reber described implicit learning as the unintentional and unconscious processing of regularities in the environment. Since then, psychologists have actively investigated this phenomenon. However, there is currently no unambiguous description of the mechanisms of implicit learning. Moreover, the descriptions of implicit learning properties vary depending on the approach to the phenomenon. The main theoretical accounts developed in the last decades are presented in this work. Four types of theories are identified, which differ in how they answer two main questions: 1) How explicit is the knowledge acquired during implicit learning?; and 2) How automatically is it …

Give Me Time to Picture That: Effects of Time and Imageability on Effector-Specific Motor Activation in Idiom Processing

Galina Gradinarova,

Petar Kanchev,

Armina Janyan

Created: Sept. 13, 2022

A great amount of evidence has now been accumulated indicating that many aspects of cognition, including language are closely interconnected with or “grounded” in the sensory-motor modalities. In this respect, an interesting line of research that has not yet been studied in great detail is whether activation of the sensory-motor brain areas can be found when figurative language is processed. Two experiments were conducted to address the following questions: firstly, can evidence of effector-specific motor activation be found in the processing of idioms; secondly, how would such activation unfold in time? We hypothesized that highly imageable idioms are more strongly …

The influences of intentionality and effectiveness of adults’ behavior on infants’ imitation of object-related actions

Tatyana N. Kotova,

Alexey A. Kotov,

Tatyana O. Yudina

Published: Jan. 1, 2014

In the second year of life, infants are actively interested in objects used by adults, despite the number of experienced difficulties in achieving their goals while handling these objects. What causes the child attempt to handle an object for a designated purpose while watching the adult? One of the evident explanations concerns the effectiveness of the adults behavior and the child’s desire to achieve the same result. However, multiple studies have shown that a child is guided not exclusively by the hoped-for result, but also by the adults intention. In our study, we verified the reason guiding a child’s choice …

The Two Eyes of the Blind Mind: Object vs. Spatial Aphantasia?

Olesya Blazhenkova,

Ekaterina Pechenkova

Published: Dec. 8, 2019

Individual variability in imagery experiences has long attracted the interest of philosophers, educators, and psychologists. Since Aristotle’s time, it was assumed that imagery is a universal ability, so everyone possesses it. Galton first measured the vividness of subjective imagery experiences, and discovered that some individuals reported zero imagination. Recent research has coined the term “aphantasia” — an inability to form mental imagery, or having a “blind mind’s eye” (Zeman, Dewar, & Della Sala, 2015). We argue that there maybe more than one type of aphantasia. Substantial behavioral and neuropsychological evidence has demonstrated a distinction between visual-object imagery (mental visualization of …

Chunk Decomposition in Anagram Solving Tasks

Dmitrii Kozlov,

Olga Petseva

Published: Aug. 23, 2019

If a well-known word is a part of an anagram stimulus, it may complicate the process of solving the anagram. This may happen because a word inside the anagram may serve as a semantic prime, or because such a word is a chunk that is difficult to decompose. We manipulated the structural features of word and nonword chunks in anagram stimuli to find out which features of a chunk, semantic or structural, are more influential in anagram solving. The results showed that the semantic but not the structural features of a chunk are more important for five-letter anagrams, while none …

“You’re almost glancing behind a curtain”: HIV care provider perceptions regarding integration and value of pre-visit electronic tablet-based patient-reported outcomes data collection in two North American clinics

Rob Fredericksen,

Duncan Short,

Emma Fitzsimmons,

Divya Korlipara,

Shivali Suri,

Moti Ramgopal,

Brenda Jacobs,

Jean Bacon,

Abigail Kroch,

Alexandra Musten,

Vincent Hodge,

Darrell Tan,

Jeff Berry,

Deborah Yoong,

Mark Naccarato,

Kevin Gough,

Justin Mcreynolds,

William Lober,

Heidi Crane

Published: Jan. 1, 2022

This study was conducted to assess provider perceptions regarding value of tablet-based patient-reported outcome (PRO) assessments in routine care. Patients self-administered a brief PRO assessment of several clinical domains on-site prior to HIV clinic visits. Providers were given succinct summary results. 1:1 interviews were conducted with providers regarding PROs utility and their integration into care, and coded interview transcripts into thematic areas. Providers described how PROs helped prioritize topics for discussion during the visit, and facilitated their identification and ability to address sensitive issues, particularly depression/suicidality, sexual behavior, and intimate partner violence. PROs further facilitated comprehensive identification of other issues …

Intuitive Feeling of Closeness to Solution Preceding Insight in Anagram Tasks

Alexey Medyntsev,

Alena Kogan,

Pavel Sabadosh,

Olga Dyatlova,

Svetlana Nemirova,

Diana Kayutina

Published: Dec. 25, 2019

One of the main research questions related to creativity is the dilemma of specificity vs. non-specificity of the mechanisms underlying insight solutions as compared to analytical solutions of a problem. The first goal of our study was to verify insight solution specificity on solving anagram tasks. The second goal was to test a hypothesis about the existence of unconscious processing prior to insight solutions. We presented two types of stimuli to participants: anagrams and pseudowords. During the experiment, participants had to perform two successive tasks. First they had to judge whether they were being shown an anagram or a pseudoword, …