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Biomedical subjects

M Boltz

Publications and source records attributed to M Boltz.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Temporal accent structure and the remembering of filmed narratives.

Effects of temporal accent structure on the remembering of filmed narratives were examined by varying the placement and number of commercial breaks. Commercials either highlighted a story's underlying organization by occurring between major episode boundaries (i.e., at breakpoint locations) or obscured this structural arrangement by occurring within episodes (i.e., at nonbreakpoints). Relative to the accentuation of nonbreakpoints, results indicated that the attentional highlighting of episode boundaries yielded higher recall and recognition performance and better memory for temporal order information and details from the story's plot. Selective recall and recognition of breakpoint scenes was significantly higher than that of nonbreakpoints, suggesting that people use episode boundaries as referents for attending and remembering. These findings illustrate certain structural invariants across environmental events and ways in which event structure can be used in remembering.

Attention↗
PubMed1992

Age-related alterations in calbindin-D28K induction by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in primary cultures of rat renal tubule cells.

In vivo studies have indicated that renal calbindin-D28K protein and mRNA levels decrease in adult and old rats, and this decrease parallels the age-associated decline in serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] levels. However, diminished renal responsiveness to 1,25-(OH)2D3 with advancing age could also contribute to decreased calbindin-D28K expression. To study renal responsiveness with age, primary cell cultures were established from the kidney cortices of young (1 month old), adult (10-12 months old), and old (20-24 months old) rats. Cells were incubated in medium K-1 containing 2% fetal calf serum. Calbindin-D28K protein levels were determined by Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In young animals, the levels of calbindin-D28K declined from 12.1 +/- 1.3 micrograms/mg protein in the intact kidney to 1.6 +/- 0.07 micrograms/mg protein in cells that had been cultured for 3 days in the absence of 1,25-(OH)2D3. This sharp decline in calbindin-D28K protein concentration moderated by days 6-8. The continuous presence of 10(-7) M 1,25-(OH)2D3 in the medium did not abolish the decline. The low levels of calbindin-D28K in the cells cultured in the absence of 1,25-(OH)2D3 provided an excellent experimental system in which to compare the response of the cells to 1,25-(OH)2D3 between age groups. In cultured cells treated with 1,25-(OH)2D3 for 72 h, calbindin-D28K induction was greater in cells from adult and old animals compared to cells from young animals. The ratios of calbindin-D28K content (with vitamin D/without vitamin D) were 2.2 +/- 0.2, 4.7 +/- 0.5, and 7.1 +/- 1.5 for young, adult, and old cells, respectively. These studies suggested that the observed in vivo decrease in renal calbindin-D28K with age is primarily due to the lowered circulating 1,25-(OH)2D3.

Aging↗
PubMed1991

Effects of background music on the remembering of filmed events.

The use of background music within films provides a naturalistic setting in which to investigate certain issues of schematic processing. Here, the relative placement of music was manipulated such that music either accompanied a scene's outcome, and thereby accentuated its affective meaning, or foreshadowed the same scene, and thereby created expectancies about the future course of events. In addition, background music was either congruent or incongruent with the affect of an episode's outcome. When subjects were later asked to recall the series of filmed episodes, results showed that expectancy violations arising from mood-incongruent relations led to better memory in the foreshadowing condition, while mood-congruent relations led to better performance in the accompanying condition. Results from a recognition task further revealed that scenes unavailable for recall could be recognized when cued by background music. These overall findings are discussed in terms of selective-attending processes that are differentially directed as a function of background music.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Some structural determinants of melody recall.

Sophisticated musicians were asked to recall, using musical notation, a set of unfamiliar folk tunes that varied in rhythmic structure and referents of tonality. The results showed that memory was facilitated by tonic triad members marking phrase endings, but only when their presence was highlighted by a corresponding pattern of temporal accents. Conversely, recall significantly declined when tonal information was either absent or obscured by rhythmic structure. Error analyses further revealed that the retention of overall pitch contour and information at phrase ending points varied as a function of these manipulations. The results are discussed in terms of a framework that links the acts of perceiving and remembering to a common attentional scheme.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Time estimation and attentional perspective.

The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate whether the filled interval effect is influenced by different attentional perspectives of the same event. Musically sophisticated listeners were asked to compare the duration of paired melodies that varied both in lower order contour changes and the relative timing of higher order phrase periodicities. Results indicated that a given pair of melodies could produce over- or underestimations, depending on which hierarchical level of structure was selectively tracked. These findings are discussed in terms of a framework that links event coherence and dynamic attending modes to time-estimation activities.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

Perceiving the end: effects of tonal relationships on melodic completion.

Two experiments examined listeners' sensitivity to the structural markers of melodic completion. In Experiment 1, both musicians and nonmusicians were asked to rate the ending of folk melodies for their degree of "completeness" and "tonal appropriateness." Results showed that melodies ending with the conventional leading tone-to-tonic progression were rated the most complete and tonally appropriate to the underlying key, more so than melodies ending with the submediant-to-tonic or the tonic-to-dominant progressions. Conversely, melodies ending on the leading tone seemed the most incomplete and tonally inappropriate. In Experiment 2, the perceptual salience of certain pitch functions was enhanced significantly by the pattern of rhythmic accentuation within a melody's context and the presence of the rare tritone interval. The results illustrate an interactive influence of pitch and temporal variables on musical perception and thereby highlight the need to incorporate dynamic pattern factors into internal representations of tonality.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Expression of calbindin-D decreases with age in intestine and kidney.

The calbindins are Ca-binding proteins whose expression is regulated by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the active metabolite of vitamin D3. The calbindins are found in high amounts in the proximal intestine (calbindin-D-9k) and the kidney (calbindin-D-28k), and they are thought to play a role in Ca transport by these tissues. Ca absorption by the intestine and perhaps the kidney declines with age, and this could be due to decreased expression of calbindin. Therefore, the expression of calbindins-D-9k and -D-28k was measured in F344 rats aged 2, 6, 13, and 24 months. mRNA levels were measured by dot blot hybridization to synthetic cDNA oligonucleotide probes, and protein levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using specific antisera. Intestinal calbindin-D-9k mRNA decreased markedly between 2 and 6 months of age, but it then increased significantly between 13 and 24 months. Calbindin-D-9k protein paralleled the decrease in mRNA between 2 and 6 months, but continued to decline at 13 and 24 months despite the rise in mRNA. In the kidney, calbindin-D-28k mRNA declined between 2 and 13 months and then plateaued. Calbindin-D-28k protein followed a similar pattern. In the same studies expression of calmodulin by the intestine and kidney did not change with age. Plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 correlated well with the expression of calbindin-D-9k in the intestine at 2 and 6 months of age and with the expression of calbindin-D-28k in the kidney at all ages. Decreased expression of calbindin-D with age may contribute to the age-related decrease in Ca transport in intestine and kidney.

Aging↗
PubMed1989

Rhythm and "good endings": effects of temporal structure on tonality judgments.

The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate the influence of rhythmic structure on the perception of tonal relationships marking the end of a melody. Musically sophisticated listeners were asked to rate the degree of resolution in a set of folk tunes that varied in their tonal ending and temporal accent structure. The results indicated that melodies ending on the leading tone-to-tonic progression were judged the most complete, while the least complete were those leaving a listener "hanging" by ending on the leading tone note. These ratings, however, were influenced by the temporal accent structure of a tune. The highest degree of resolution was observed for melodies that ended "on time" through an invariant pattern of temporal/melodic accents. Accent structures that led to endings occurring earlier or later than expected resulted in significantly lower resolution ratings. The present results illustrate the need to incorporate dynamic pattern influences into models of tonal perception.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Time judgments of musical endings: effects of expectancies on the "filled interval effect".

In two experiments, the influence of musical endings on duration judgments was examined. In Experiment 1, subjects were asked to compare the duration of paired folk tunes that could vary in their degree of resolution. Results showed that melodies ending on the leading tone interval were underestimated relative to songs ending on the conventional tonic. Experiment 2 further revealed that time estimates were influenced by a melody's preceding temporal accent structure. Melodies ending earlier than expected were judged significantly shorter, particularly when the tune ended on the leading-tone interval. Conversely, tonic endings were judged substantially longer when they appeared to occur "too late" in time. Results are discussed in terms of a contrast model which emphasizes the role of expectancies on duration judgments.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Modulation of age-related changes in serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone by dietary restriction of Fischer 344 rats.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of food restriction on age-related changes in serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and PTH, two important regulators of Ca metabolism. Starting at 6 wk, male F344 rats were fed a purified diet either ad libitum (non-restricted) or 60% of ad libitum (restricted). Rats from each group were killed at 5, 13, 22 and 28 mo of age. Dietary restriction increased the median lifespan from 24 to 31 mo. It delayed the rapid decrease in serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D from 1.5-5.0 mo in the non-restricted group to 5-13 mo in the restricted group. It also completely suppressed the marked rise in serum PTH which occurred at 22 and 28 mo in the non-restricted group. Dietary restriction had these effects even though both groups of animals consumed the same amount of Ca per gram body weight. Diet had no effect on serum Ca and P, except at 28 mo. These effects of dietary restriction on serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and PTH may result in altered Ca metabolism in dietary restricted F344 rats.

Aging↗
PubMed1984

Some effects of rhythmic context on melody recognition.

The effects of rhythmic context on the ability of listeners to recognize slightly altered versions of 10-tone melodies were examined in three experiments. Listeners judged the melodic equivalence of two auditory patterns when their rhythms were either the same or different. Rhythmic variations produced large effects on a bias measure, indicating that listeners judged melodies to be alike if their rhythms were identical. However, neither rhythm nor pattern rate affected discriminability measures in the first study, in which rhythm was treated as a within subjects variable. The other two studies examined rhythmic context as a between subjects variable. In these, significant effects of temporal uncertainty due to the number and type of rhythms involved in a block of trials, as well as their assignment to standard and comparison melodies on a given trial, were apparent on both discriminability and bias measures. Results were interpreted in terms of the effect of temporal context on the rhythmic targeting of attention.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Enhanced cardiac angiotensinogen gene expression and angiotensin converting enzyme activity in tachypacing-induced heart failure in rats.

The aim of the study was to analyze changes in myocardial angiotensinogen gene expression and myocardial angiotensin converting enzyme activity in slowly progressing low-output failure. In adult, male Wistar rats, acute ventricular tachypacing by 610 to 620 impulses per minute lowered end-diastolic external diameter of the left ventricle by 2.6% (p less than 0.01), but did not lower cardiac output or abolish coronary reserve, since left-ventricular subendocardial blood flow of paced rats increased under dipyridamole (2 mg/kg i.v.) by 56% (p less than 0.01). Systemic neuroendocrine activation and ventricular dilation without enlargement of ventricular mass developed subsequent to chronic tachypacing, but left-ventricular diameter during pacing never exceeded the value of sham rats on sinus rhythm. After 2 weeks, cardiac output was lowered by 14% (p less than 0.001), cardiopulmonary blood volume was elevated by 30% (p less than 0.001), and angiotensinogen mRNA and angiotensin converting enzyme activity in ventricular myocardium were doubled. We conclude that conditions for an enhanced intracardiac angiotensin II-formation developed in tachypacing-induced heart failure, but that enhanced systolic wall stress or myocardial ischemia are not required for this activation of the local cardiac renin-angiotensin system.

Angiotensinogen↗