Frontiers in psychology
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2016
Contribution of Visuospatial and Motion-Tracking to Invisible Motion.
People experience an object's motion even when it is occluded. We investigate the processing of invisible motion in three experiments. Observers saw a moving circle passing behind an invisible, irregular hendecagonal polygon and had to respond as quickly as possible when the target had "just reappeared" from behind the occluder. ⋯ The new finding is that, with a fixation mark indicating the center of the invisible trajectory, a linear relationship between the physical and judged occlusion duration is found, but not without it (Experiment 2) or with a fixation mark varying in position from trial to trial (Experiment 3). We interpret the role of central fixation in the differences in distinguishing trajectories smaller than 0.3 deg, by suggesting that it reflects spatiotemporal computation and motion-tracking. These two mechanisms allow visual imagery to form of the point symmetrical to that of the disappearance, with respect to fixation, and then for the occluded moving target to be tracked up to this point.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2016
The Relationship between Expertise in Sports, Visuospatial, and Basic Cognitive Skills.
Team sports place high demands on visuospatial and other cognitive skills. However, there is a lack of research on visuospatial skills of elite athletes and there are heterogeneous results on basic cognitive skills of this population. Therefore, this series of studies tested different cognitive skills in elite team sports athletes. ⋯ Building on this data, in a supplementary analysis (Experiment 4) we tested whether MR and CRTs are correlated with basic cognitive skills. Results show that processing speed is the best predictor for MR, whereas letter readout speed explains most of the variance in CRTs. Finally, we discuss these findings against the backdrop of expertise and offer implications for future studies on mental rotation.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2016
An Investigation of Diagnostic Accuracy and Confidence Associated with Diagnostic Checklists as Well as Gender Biases in Relation to Mental Disorders.
This study examines the utility of checklists in attaining more accurate diagnoses in the context of diagnostic decision-making for mental disorders. The study also aimed to replicate results from a meta-analysis indicating that there is no association between patients' gender and misdiagnoses. To this end, 475 psychotherapists were asked to judge three case vignettes describing patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder. ⋯ The results showed that when checklists were used, fewer incorrect co-morbid diagnoses were made, but clinicians were less likely to diagnose MDD even when the criteria were met. Additionally, checklists improved therapists' confidence with diagnostic decisions, but were not associated with estimations of patients' characteristics. As expected, there were no significant associations between gender and diagnostic decisions.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2016
A Roving Dual-Presentation Simultaneity-Judgment Task to Estimate the Point of Subjective Simultaneity.
The most popular tasks with which to investigate the perception of subjective synchrony are the temporal order judgment (TOJ) and the simultaneity judgment (SJ). Here, we discuss a complementary approach-a dual-presentation (2x) SJ task-and focus on appropriate analysis methods for a theoretically desirable "roving" design. Two stimulus pairs are presented on each trial and the observer must select the most synchronous. ⋯ We found that estimates of prior-entry magnitude correlated across these tasks. Overall, our study establishes the practicality of the roving dual-presentation SJ task, but also illustrates the additional complexity of the procedure. We consider ways in which this task might complement more traditional procedures, particularly when it is important to estimate both PSS and sensory/decisional noise.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2016
ReviewPsychological Treatments and Psychotherapies in the Neurorehabilitation of Pain: Evidences and Recommendations from the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation.
It is increasingly recognized that treating pain is crucial for effective care within neurological rehabilitation in the setting of the neurological rehabilitation. The Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation was constituted with the purpose identifying best practices for us in this context. Along with drug therapies and physical interventions, psychological treatments have been proven to be some of the most valuable tools that can be used within a multidisciplinary approach for fostering a reduction in pain intensity. However, there is a need to elucidate what forms of psychotherapy could be effectively matched with the specific pathologies that are typically addressed by neurorehabilitation teams. ⋯ Psychological interventions and psychotherapies are safe and effective treatments that can be used within an integrated approach for patients undergoing neurological rehabilitation for pain. The different interventions can be specifically selected depending on the disease being treated. A table of evidence and recommendations from the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation is also provided in the final part of the paper.