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PubMed1997

Spatial disorientation blocks reliable goal location on a plus maze but does not prevent goal location in the Morris maze.

Cue control in spatial learning was investigated in a plus maze and a Morris maze. Rats transported in opaque containers with prior rotation to a plus maze, but not a Morris maze, could not find a goal defined by external cues. Rats transported in clear containers without rotation found the goal in both mazes. In the Morris maze, goal location was readily relearned following cue removal by rats in clear containers but not by rats in the opaque/rotation group. B. L. McNaughton et al.'s (1996) theory that during spatial learning sensory information is bound to preconfigured internal maps in the hippocampus, whose metric is self-motion and whose orientation depends on input from an inertial based head direction system, may explain this study's findings.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Accessing population health information through interactive systems: lessons learned and future directions.

In the mid-1990s, several state and county public health departments implemented interactive software systems that provided easy access to public health-related data for local boards of health, other public health agencies, health care providers, community groups, and other interested members of the public. Based on their experiences with two well-established state interactive systems and one well-established county system, the authors summarize lessons that could prove useful to state and local public health agencies interested in developing new interactive systems or adapting existing ones. The article addresses issues such as: basing interactive systems on a broad definition of health, designing systems to incorporate user preferences, moving from data warehouses to information warehouses, and fostering prevention communities. Finally, the article provides recommendations to assist federal, state, and local public health agencies in developing the next generation of interactive data access systems.

Computer Communication Networks↗

PubMed1987

Carbamazepine plasma concentration. Relationship to cognitive impairment.

Neuropsychological function was assessed before and after carbamazepine monotherapy in children with newly diagnosed complex partial epilepsy. Simultaneous video-electroencephalographic monitoring examined the influence of subclinical abnormal electrical discharges on performance. Total and unbound plasma carbamazepine concentrations were examined in relation to changes in performance at low (carbamazepine level, less than or equal to 32 mumol/L [less than or equal to 7.5 mg/L]) and moderate (carbamazepine level, greater than 34 mumol/L [greater than 8.0 mg/L]) drug levels. The data suggest a mild beneficial effect of carbamazepine on speeded eye-hand coordination and, at low drug levels, more rapid processing of items in memory. Efficiency of learning new information and memory-scanning rate displayed a concentration-dependent relationship with carbamazepine level, with poor performance significantly associated with higher carbamazepine plasma concentrations. Carbamazepine free levels were equivalent to total levels in predicting cognitive side effects.

Carbamazepine↗

PubMed2005

Brief report: errorless versus errorful learning as a memory rehabilitation approach in Alzheimer's Disease.

Previous studies concerned with the use of errorless learning (EL) in memory rehabilitation of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) combined EL with other techniques, such as expanded rehearsal, to facilitate learning. These studies focused on the re-learning of previously familiar information and did not investigate the learning of novel information. The aim of the present study was to investigate if EL provides a better training technique for AD patients than errorful learning (EF). For this purpose, learning of familiar material and learning of novel associations in four patients with probable AD was compared under EL and EF conditions. Combined data analysis demonstrated a significant advantage of EL over EF both for old and novel learning. However, patients also learned significantly in the EF condition and the EL effect was not large enough to reach significance on an individual level. It is suggested that EL may be most beneficial for patients with profound amnesia, and in situations that make effortful processing difficult, but that residual explicit memory capacities may override EL benefits.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Acquired oral reading vocabulary following the onset of amnesia in childhood.

While the neuropsychological literature includes few cases of child-onset amnesia, 2 previous case studies suggest that these patients may be able to learn new information of a semantic or academic nature. The previous studies were, in large part, based on neuropsychological testing performed during adulthood and a retrospective review of academic achievement test scores during childhood. We present patient A.C., who acquired severe anterograde amnesia at age 10 years but demonstrated average levels of performance on tests of reading, spelling and arithmetic upon examination at age 19 years. Episodic and semantic memory test scores were severely impaired, but near normal performances were found on tests of implicit and procedural memory. In a prospective study, A.C. learned to read new irregular and pseudowords and retained this learning over a 1-month period, similar to the performance of age-matched controls. This demonstration of postmorbid, acquired oral reading vocabulary supports a previous conclusion that oral reading can progress in childhood following the onset of severe anterograde amnesia. The data also suggest that this new learning probably reflects nondeclarative memory processes rather than preservation of semantic memory, as was proposed in an earlier case study.

Amnesia↗

PubMed1999

Information theoretical performance measure for associative memories and its application to neural networks.

We present a general performance measure (information loss) for associative memories based on information theoretical concepts. This performance measure can be estimated, provided that mean values of observables have been determined for the associative memory. Then the estimation guarantees a minimal association quality. The formalism allows the application of the performance measure to complex systems where the relation between input and output of the associative memory is not explicitly known. Here we apply our formalism to the Hopfield model and estimate the storage capacity alpha(c) from the numerically determined information loss. In contrast to other numerical methods the whole overlap distribution is taken into account. Our numerical value alpha(c)=0.1379(4) for the storage capacity in the Hopfield model is below numerical values obtained previously. This indicates that the consideration of small remnant overlaps lowers the storage capacity of the Hopfield model.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMed2025

Opportunities for machine learning to predict cross-neutralization in FMDV serotype O.

Accurately estimating cross-neutralization between serotype O foot-and-mouth disease viruses (FMDVs) is critical for guiding vaccine selection and disease management. In this study, we developed a machine learning approach to estimate r1 values-an established measure of antigenic similarity-using VP1 sequence data and published virus neutralization titer (VNT) results. Our dataset comprised 108 serum-virus pairs representing 73 distinct FMDV strains. We applied Boruta feature selection and random forest classifiers, optimizing model performance through tenfold cross-validation and sub-sampling to address class imbalance. Predictors included pairwise amino acid distances, site-specific polymorphisms, and differences in potential N-glycosylation sites. Using a 0.3 r1 threshold to define cross-neutralization, the final model achieved high accuracy (0.96), sensitivity (0.93), and specificity (0.96) in training, and performed robustly on independent test sets - accuracy was 0.75 (95% CI 0.60 and 0.90), F1 score 0.86% and PPV 0.77. Importantly, key VP1 residues-positions 48, 100, 135, 150, and 151-emerged as strong predictors of antigenic relationships. Our results demonstrate the utility of integrating routinely generated genomic data with machine learning to inform vaccine candidate selection and anticipate immune interactions among circulating FMDV strains. This approach offers a practical tool for accelerating vaccine decision-making and can be adapted to other FMDV serotypes. The latest version of the r1 predictive model is available for access via a Shiny dashboard (https://dmakau.shinyapps.io/PredImmune-FMD/).

Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of previously acquired knowledge on memory for textual information.

The present experiment was designed to examine how the semantic memory store of previously acquired knowledge affects the ability of young and old adults to retain textual information. The participants were presented with a series of biographical passages and were told they concerned either a famous historical character or a fictitious character. In an immediate recognition test, both young and old adults were able to discriminate between test and distractor sentences. However, in the delayed recognition condition, older adults had considerable difficulty in differentiating between target and distractor sentences, particularly in the famous character story condition. It was thought that as the older adults' episodic memory for the story deteriorated, they were unable to discriminate successfully between their store of previously acquired knowledge and the recently learned textual information.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1988

The role of emotions in the development and organization of personality.

In this chapter I have attempted to introduce a model of personality development that emphasizes the important contribution of emotional experiences, specifically differential emotional experiences. I have suggested that in the course of development children acquire affect-specific emotional organizations that then influence the way they subsequently engage the world. The attachment literature has led in establishing that early, formative social interactions with caregivers affect, in consequential ways, the nature of the subsequent parent-child bond and the child's social competence and cognitive skills. The discrete-emotions analysis undertaken here suggests it may be informative to learn more about the specific types of emotional exchanges that go on between infants and their caregivers. From this we may be able to understand more about differential personality development. In this chapter I also attempted to establish the case for the existence of emotional biases in adults and to show that these emotional biases appear to have rudimentary counterparts in infants and young children. I suggested that differential emotional biases are acquired developmentally in the context of differential social ecologies that elicit and emphasize certain emotions over others. Several mechanisms were proposed to account for the consolidation of emotional biases over time, including social learning principles, contagion and self-regulation, language, and the formation of cognitively mediated emotion loops. Once these kinds of ideoaffective organizations (Tomkins, 1963) or affective-cognitive structures (Izard, 1977) that are embodied in emotional organizations have taken shape, they tend to be self-sustaining without further "emotion socialization" from caregivers and other family members, although the wider social environment may continue to reinforce emotional biases, as is evident in the Dodge et al. (1986) study. Does this mean that emotional organizations established early in life will resist subsequent change? I suggest that cognition and feeling experience are capable of contributing to either further consolidation of emotional organizations and their dominance in personality and behavior or the forging of a new developmental path. Although emotion and cognition tend to sustain one another within emotion organizations, experience teaches that one can discover one's own "modes of states of mind" and deploy this information in the service of enlightened self-management (although there may be limitations on this ability, especially if the organization is of the more inflexible form found in psychopathology [Malatesta & Wilson, 1988]).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Child↗

PubMed2002

Newborns' recognition of changing and unchanging aspects of schematic faces.

The present study investigated newborns' ability to discriminate, recognize, and learn visual information embedded in the schematic face-like patterns preferred at birth. Four experiments were carried out using the visual-paired comparison paradigm. Results indicated that newborns discriminated face-like stimuli relying on their internal features (Experiments 1 and 4) and recognized a perceptual invariance between face-like configurations in conditions of low (Experiment 2) and high-perceptual variability (Experiment 3) of their inner elements. Altogether, data show that the presence of the preferred structure that schematically defines a face, displaying a triplet of elements in the correct locations for eyes and mouth, does not constitute a limit that constrains newborns' face learning processes.

Discrimination, Psychological↗

PubMed2006

Learning from each other: The social work role as an integrated part of the hospital disaster response.

Australian social workers in health care have become important members of hospital disaster response teams. The development of the role and its integration into the mainstream disaster response has progressed over the last two decades. Recent international events have given affirmation to the importance of this role. The development of national and state based Disaster Management Plans in Australia began in the mid 1970's. Recognition of the need for experienced, skilled workers to provide emotional support, practical assistance and grief and bereavement counselling has resulted in the inclusion of social workers in several key parts of the disaster management response including the specialised area of Disaster Victim Identification. Following the Bali Bombing in October 2002, social workers worked with the Police Missing Persons Unit to provide support to families and facilitate the collection of ante mortem information. The process by which new services come about can be intricate and complex. In the field of health social work, the contribution of international programs such as the Mt Sinai Leadership Enhancement Program cannot be underestimated. As the Social Work Director of Westmead Hospital, one of the largest hospital social work departments in the country, participating in this program provided opportunities to share professional experience with international colleagues, many of whom are experts in their field. The social work role in disaster response has become internationally recognised and is an example of how collaboration and shared information and learning, can result in a profession working together to support key principles and values of practice for the benefit of those in need.

Australia↗

PubMed1998

Attention and verbal learning in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Former neuropsychological studies with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients evaluated a broad range of cognitive functions. Several, but not all, reported subtle attentional and memory impairments suggesting possible mild cerebral involvement. In this study, a battery of attentional tests and a verbal memory task were administered to 20 CFS patients and 22 healthy controls (HC) in order to clarify the specific nature of attention and memory impairment in these patients. The results provide evidence for attentional dysfunction in patients with CFS as compared to HC. CFS patients performed more poorly on a span test measuring attentional capacity and working memory. Speeded attentional tasks with a more complex element of memory scanning and divided attention seem to be a sensitive measure of reduced attentional capacity in these patients. Focused attention, defined as the ability to attend to a single stimulus while ignoring irrelevant stimuli, appears not to be impaired. CFS patients were poorer on recall of verbal information across learning trials, and poor performance on delayed recall may be due to poor initial learning and not only to a retrieval failure.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Disconnection of the basolateral amygdala complex and nucleus accumbens impairs appetitive pavlovian second-order conditioned responses.

There is considerable evidence that the basolateral complex of the amygdala (ABL) is involved in learning about the motivational value of otherwise neutral stimuli. The authors examined the role in this function of the ABL and one of its major efferent structures. the nucleus accumbens. Male Long-Evans rats received either sham, ipsilaterally, or contralaterally placed unilateral lesions of the ABL and accumbens and were trained in an appetitive Pavlovian second-order conditioning task. Sham-lesioned and ipsilaterally lesioned rats acquired the task normally, but contralaterally lesioned rats, in which the ABL and accumbens were functionally disconnected, failed to acquire second-order conditioned responses (although they did acquire second-order conditioned orienting responses). The results suggest that the ABL and accumbens are part of a system critical for processing information about learned motivational value.

Amygdala↗

PubMed2003

Impact of explicit information on implicit motor-sequence learning following middle cerebral artery stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Recovery of motor skills following stroke is supported, in part, by the implicit memory system. However, attempts to guide learning commonly use explicit instructions concerning "how to" perform a movement task. The purpose of this work was to systematically investigate the impact of explicit information (EI) on implicit motor-sequence learning using the ipsilesional arm in people with damage in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) distribution. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Ten people with unilateral stroke in the MCA distribution affecting the sensorimotor cortical areas and 10 people with no known pathology or impairment (control participants) were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group was provided with EI and one group was not (EI and No-EI groups, respectively) as the participants practiced an implicit motor-sequencing task over 3 days, with a retention test on day 4. RESULTS: A 3-way interaction demonstrated that, across days of practice, EI had opposite effects on implicit motor-sequence performance for the 2 groups. Post hoc tests confirmed that EI facilitated the performance of the control participants in the EI group but interfered with the performance of the participants with stroke in the EI group. This interference effect persisted, and was evident during the retention test in the participants with stroke in the EI group. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Explicit information was detrimental for implicit motor-sequence learning following MCA stroke. Rehabilitation outcomes may benefit from consideration of stroke location when determining the degree to which EI can augment implicit motor skill learning.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1998

Why are some verbs learned before other verbs? Effects of input frequency and structure on children's early verb use.

This study investigated the extent to which the nature of verb input accounts for the order in which children acquire verbs. We assessed the nature of verb input using a combined sample of the speech of 57 mothers addressing their Stage I children. We assessed the order of verb acquisition using as our database a combined sample of those children's speech 10 weeks later and using as our measure of order of acquisition the frequency of verb occurrence. The first set of analyses established the validity of this measure of acquisition order by comparing it with order of acquisition data obtained from checklist and diary data. The second set of analyses revealed that three properties of the input were significant predictors of the order of acquisition of the 25 verbs that were the focus of this study. The predictive properties of input were the total frequency, final position frequency, and diversity of syntactic environments in which the verbs appeared. These findings suggest that the way verbs appear in input influences their ease of acquisition. More specifically, the effect of syntactic diversity in input provides support for the syntactic bootstrapping account of how children use structural information to learn the meaning of new verbs.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2004

Perirhinal and postrhinal contributions to remote memory for context.

The perirhinal (PER) and postrhinal (POR) cortices, two components of the medial temporal lobe memory system, are reciprocally connected with the hippocampus both directly and via the entorhinal cortex. Damage to PER or POR before or shortly after training on a contextual fear conditioning task causes deficits in the subsequent expression of contextual fear, implicating these regions in the acquisition or expression of contextual memory. Here, we examined the contribution of PER and POR to the processing of remotely learned contextual information. Male Long-Evans rats were trained in an unsignaled contextual fear conditioning paradigm. After training, rats received bilateral neurotoxic lesions to PER or POR or sham control surgeries at three different training-to-lesion intervals: 1, 28, or 100 d after training. Two weeks after surgery, lesioned and control rats were returned to the training context to assess contextual fear as measured by freezing. Rats with PER or POR damage froze significantly less in the training context than control rats but were not different from each other. The severity of the deficit did not differ across training-to-lesion intervals for any group. This pattern of deficits differs from that of posttraining hippocampal lesions, for which longer training-to-lesion intervals produce significantly more fear-conditioned contextual freezing than shorter training-to-lesion intervals. In the absence of such a retrograde gradient in the present study, our interpretation is that PER and POR have an ongoing role in the storage or retrieval of representations for context. Alternatively, these regions may be involved in a more extended consolidation process that becomes apparent beyond 100 d after learning.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Longterm effects of problem-based learning: a comparison of competencies acquired by graduates of a problem-based and a conventional medical school.

BACKGROUND: Problem-based learning (PBL) as an approach to the instruction of medical students has attracted much attention in recent years. However, its effect on the performance of its graduates is the subject of considerable debate. This article presents data from a large-scale study among graduates of a problem-based medical school and those of a conventional medical school to contribute to this discussion. PURPOSE: To study the longterm effects of problem-based medical training on the professional competencies of graduates. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to all graduates since 1980 of a problem-based and a conventional medical school. Participants were requested to rate themselves on 18 professional competencies derived from the literature. RESULTS: The graduates of the PBL school scored higher on 14 of 18 professional competencies. Graduates of the problem-based school rated themselves as having much better interpersonal skills, better competencies in problem solving, self-directed learning and information gathering, and somewhat better task-supporting skills, such as the ability to work and plan efficiently. There were no sizeable differences with regard to general academic competencies, such as conducting research or writing a paper. Graduates from the conventional school rated themselves as having slightly more medical knowledge. The findings were shown to be valid and robust against possible response bias. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that PBL not only affects the typical PBL-related competencies in the interpersonal and cognitive domains, but also the more general work-related skills that are deemed important for success in professional practice.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Hippocampally dependent and independent chronic spatial navigational deficits following parasagittal fluid percussion brain injury in the rat.

Previous reports have documented spatial navigational deficits following experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI), although the majority of the work to date has involved assessment at acute intervals following TBI, and has focused on tasks sensitive to hippocampal dysfunction. The present experiments were designed to investigate the chronic consequences of TBI, and the possible contribution of extrahippocampal dysfunction to TBI-induced spatial navigational deficits, in a moderate parasagittal fluid percussion TBI model. In Experiment 1, animals were pre-trained in a water maze, subjected to TBI or sham procedures, and re-evaluated in the water maze 48 h following the insult. Six to 8 weeks following TBI, the same animals were required to navigate to a different platform location. TBI animals exhibited significant deficits in retention of previously learned spatial information at the 48 h interval, and marginally impaired acquisition of a novel platform location during the chronic test sessions. In Experiment 2, animals were required to navigate to novel spatial locations using cued (to evaluate extrahippocampal function) as well as non-cued variants of the water maze task during the 8 week period following the insult. Injured animals exhibited deficits in both tasks which gradually diminished over the course of testing. The results of these experiments indicate that moderate TBI is accompanied by both retention and acquisition deficits, and that some of the navigational deficits observed in the water maze can be attributed to extrahippocampal damage. The possible recovery of spatial navigational ability following parasagittal TBI at moderate intensities is also discussed.

Acute Disease↗