Volition in prospective Memory: Evidence against differences between free and fixed target events.

Volition is the extent to which actions are generated as a result of internal states in contrast to responses to external conditions or dictated by external events. Delayed intentions about future action are stored in prospective memory until the intended action has to be formed at a later point in time. It is unknown how voluntary choice affects prospective memory. We compared the difference between freely chosen and fixed targets on the reaction times and task performance in the ongoing task and for the target stimuli in a prospective memory task. The task performance and the reaction time was modelled using a Bayesian hierarchical drift-diffusion model. The analysis showed no differences between self-chosen and fixed prospective memory cues on task responses. The result suggests that volition in choosing the cue to act upon or given a fixed cue does not make a difference for prospective memory task performance.

PsychoPy2: Experiments in behavior made easy.

PsychoPy is an application for the creation of experiments in behavioral science (psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, etc.) with precise spatial control and timing of stimuli. It now provides a choice of interface; users can write scripts in Python if they choose, while those who prefer to construct experiments graphically can use the new Builder interface. Here we describe the features that have been added over the last 10 years of its development. The most notable addition has been that Builder interface, allowing users to create studies with minimal or no programming, while also allowing the insertion of Python code for maximal flexibility. We also present some of the other new features, including further stimulus options, asynchronous time-stamped hardware polling, and better support for open science and reproducibility. Tens of thousands of users now launch PsychoPy every month, and more than 90 people have contributed to the code. We discuss the current state of the project, as well as plans for the future.

Training and transfer effects of N-back training for brain-injured and healthy subjects.

Working memory impairments are prevalent among patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). Computerised training targeting working memory has been researched extensively using samples from healthy populations but this field remains isolated from similar research in ABI patients. We report the results of an actively controlled randomised controlled trial in which 17 patients and 18 healthy subjects completed training on an N-back task. The healthy group had superior improvements on both training tasks (SMD = 6.1 and 3.3) whereas the ABI group improved much less (SMD = 0.5 and 1.1). Neither group demonstrated transfer to untrained tasks. We conclude that computerised training facilitates improvement of specific skills rather than high-level cognition in healthy and ABI subjects alike. The acquisition of these specific skills seems to be impaired by brain injury. The most effective use of computer-based cognitive training may be to make the task resemble the targeted behaviour(s) closely in order to exploit the stimulus-specificity of learning.

Using hypnotic suggestion in the rehabilitation of working memory capacity after acquired brain injury: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: Establishment of effective evidence-based interventions in rehabilitation of working memory (WM) deficits after acquired brain injury (ABI) is sorely needed. Despite robust evidence for the efficiency of clinical hypnosis in a wide range of clinical conditions, and improved understanding of mechanisms underlying its effects, the potential of clinical hypnosis in cognitive rehabilitation is underexplored. A recent study has shown large effects of hypnotic suggestion on WM capacity following ABI. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate and explore the replicability of these findings and examine the generalization of treatment effects. The study will also explore possible mechanisms of change. METHODS: Ninety patients will be recruited from the Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital. Inclusion criteria are nonprogressive ABI, minimum 12-month post-injury, ongoing WM deficits, and age between 18 and 67 years. Patients will be randomized to either (a) an intervention group receiving four weekly 1-h sessions with induction and hypnosis, (b) an active control group receiving four weekly 1-h sessions of induction and mindfulness, or (c) a passive control group without intervention. The targeted procedure consists of suggestions about enhancing WM functions, for example through the instantiation of preinjury WM capacity in the present using age regression or through visualizations of brain plasticity. The non-targeted suggestions contain no explicit mention of ABI- or WM-related abilities. Each participant will be assessed at baseline, immediately after intervention, and 6 months after baseline. The primary outcome is the WM index from WAIS-IV and self- and informant-reported WM subscale from BRIEF-A, a questionnaire exploring executive functioning in everyday life. Secondary outcomes include a cognitive composite score derived from tests measuring processing speed, executive functions, learning capacity and memory, and self-reported measures of emotional distress, quality of life, and community integration. Exploratory measures include self-rated ABI and WM-related self-efficacy. DISCUSSION: Rehabilitation of impaired WM after ABI has hitherto yielded limited transfer effects beyond the training material, i.e., improvement effects on everyday WM capacity, and clinical trials of new interventions are thus warranted. Long-standing empirical evidence demonstrates that hypnosis is an effective therapeutic technique in a wide range of conditions, and recent exploratory research has suggested a high efficacy of hypnosis in improving WM capacity in patients with ABI. However, these extraordinary findings need replication in studies applying scientifically rigorous designs. If successful, our ambition is to provide recommendations and materials to implement hypnotic suggestion as an adjunct treatment following ABI. Study findings may inform future studies exploring the use of clinical hypnosis in other areas of rehabilitation, such as mild TBI, and in other neurological conditions where WM deficit is prominent. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05287542. Registered on March 2022 PROTOCOL VERSION: Protocol version 2.0, December 2023.

The impact of stimulus complexity and frequency swapping on stabilization of binocular rivalry.

Binocular rivalry occurs when an image is presented to one eye while at the same time another, incongruent, image is presented to the other eye in the corresponding retinotopic location and conscious perception alternates spontaneously between the two monocular views. If a short blank period is inserted between intermittent presentations of rivaling stimuli, perception is stabilized and spontaneous alternations are drastically reduced. Whether the complexity of rivaling stimuli plays a role in stabilization is unknown. We replicated previous findings that swapping the stimuli between eyes across presentations abolishes stabilization for Gabors, but for more complex stimuli (a face and a house in our experiment), stabilization is eye-specific and not disrupted. Phase scrambling the rivaling face and house images did not change the stabilization pattern showing that the pattern can be observed without high-level perceptual content. We conclude that overlaps at low visual stages are the most likely cause of the eye-specific stabilization for both stimulus types. Additionally, we examined the impact of swapping the flicker frequency of the images and found a general impact on stabilization not specific to stimulus type. Taken together, the findings indicate that choice of stimulus features impact greatly on the results obtained in stabilization paradigms.