Spacing between study trials of an item increases the probability that item will be recalled. This article presents a new model for spacing based on the SAM theory of memory developed by Raaijmakers and Shiffrin (1980, 1981). The model is a generalization of the SAM model as applied to interference paradigms (Mensink & Raaijmakers, 1988, 1989) and may be viewed as a mathematical version of the Component‐Levels theory proposed by Glenberg (1979). It is assumed that on a second presentation of (...) an item, information is added to an existing trace if the episodic memory image corresponding to that item is retrieved. If it is not retrieved, a new image is stored. It is shown that the model predicts many standard findings including the lack of a spacing effect for the recall of at least one of two items each presented once (Ross & Landauer, 1978). (shrink)

T2 in an attentional blink paradigm served as a high- or low-frequency prime word for a subsequent repeated target. Consistent with research in visual word identification, only reported primes facilitated the identification of a target repeated approximately 8 s after RSVP. Priming was greater for low- than high-frequency words. Analogous with masked priming, a blinked T2 facilitated report of a repeated target occurring 318 ms after T2 in RSVP. The blinked repetition priming effect was additive with target frequency. (...) These results indicate that: the outcomes of processing prime words are a key factor in repetition priming effects, with blinked and reported T2s behaving like masked and unmasked primes, respectively, there may be different sources of repetition effects, there is a consistent cross-paradigm pattern of repetition effects that occurs as a function of prime–target interval and the ability to identify the word on its first and second presentation. (shrink)

BackgroundHigh frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has shown significant efficiency in the treatment of resistant depression. However in healthy subjects, the effects of rTMS remain unclear.ObjectiveOur aim was to determine the impact of 10 sessions of rTMS applied to the DLPFC on mood and emotion recognition in healthy subjects.DesignIn a randomised double-blind study, 20 subjects received 10 daily sessions of active or sham rTMS. The TMS coil was positioned on the left DLPFC through neuronavigation. (...) Several dimensions of mood and emotion processing were assessed at baseline and after rTMS with clinical scales, visual analogue scales, and the Ekman 60 faces test.ResultsThe 10 rTMS sessions targeting the DLPFC were well tolerated. No significant difference was found between the active group and the control group for clinical scales and the Ekman 60 faces test. Compared to the control group, the active rTM... (shrink)

A decrease in cortical excitability tends to be easily followed by an increase induced by external stimuli via a mechanism aimed at restoring it; this phenomenon is called “homeostatic plasticity.” In recent years, although intervention methods aimed at promoting motor learning using this phenomenon have been studied, an optimal intervention method has not been established. In the present study, we examined whether subsequent motor learning can be promoted further by a repetitive passive movement, which reduces the excitability of the primary (...) motor cortex before motor learning tasks. We also examined the relationship between motor learning and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Forty healthy subjects participated. Subjects were divided into two groups of 20 individuals each. The first group was assigned to perform the motor learning task after an intervention consisting in the passive adduction–abduction movement of the right index finger at 5 Hz for 10 min, while the second group was assigned to perform the task without the passive movement. The motor learning task consisted in the visual tracking of the right index finger. The results showed that the corticospinal excitability was transiently reduced after the passive movement in the RPM condition, whereas it was increased to the level detected in the control condition after the motor learning task. Furthermore, the motor learning ability was decreased immediately after the passive movement; however, the motor performance finally improved to the level observed in the control condition. In individuals carrying the Val/Val genotype, higher motor learning was also found to be related to the more remarkable changes in corticospinal excitability caused by the RPM condition. This study revealed that the implementation of a passive movement before a motor learning tasks did not affect M1 excitatory changes and motor learning efficiency; in contrast, in subjects carrying the Val/Val polymorphism, the more significant excitatory changes in the M1 induced by the passive movement and motor learning task led to the improvement of motor learning efficiency. Our results also suggest that homeostatic plasticity occurring in the M1 is involved in this improvement. (shrink)

Humans exhibit enhanced memory performance when information is encoded by physically enacting it, as opposed to passively reading or hearing the same information; an effect referred to as “enactment effect.” The present study explored the effects of language (native vs. non-native) and semantic repetition (repeated vs. non-repeated) on the enactment effect in action memory. Forty-eight subjects learned action phrases either by enacting or by reading the items. Results showed (i) better memory for enacted phrases, (ii) better (...) memory for non-native repeated phrases that were only read, (iii) no difference in memory between repeated and non-repeated phrases that were enacted, and (iv) that semantic repetition affected memory of phrases that were read but not of those that were enacted. Partly in line with the multimodal theory, findings support that enacting action phrases can enhance item-specific processing and that this is insensitive to cognitive strategies like semantic repetition. (shrink)

ObjectiveThe effects and possible mechanisms of cerebellar high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on swallowing-related neural networks were studied using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.MethodA total of 23 healthy volunteers were recruited, and 19 healthy volunteers were finally included for the statistical analysis. Before stimulation, the cerebellar hemisphere dominant for swallowing was determined by the single-pulse TMS. The cerebellar representation of the suprahyoid muscles of this hemisphere was selected as the target for stimulation with 10 Hz rTMS, 100% resting motor threshold, (...) and 250 pulses, with every 1 s of stimulation followed by an interval of 9 s. The motor evoked potential amplitude of the suprahyoid muscles in the bilateral cerebral cortex was measured before and after stimulation to evaluate the cortical excitability. Forty-eight hours after elution, rTMS was reapplied on the dominant cerebellar representation of the suprahyoid muscles with the same stimulation parameters. Rs-fMRI was performed before and after stimulation to observe the changes in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and regional homology at 0.01–0.08 Hz, 0.01–0.027 Hz, and 0.027–0.073 Hz.ResultsAfter cerebellar high-frequency rTMS, MEP recorded from swallowing-related bilateral cerebral cortex was increased. The results of rs-fMRI showed that at 0.01–0.08 Hz, ALFF was increased at the pons, right cerebellum, and medulla and decreased at the left temporal lobe, and ReHo was decreased at the left insular lobe, right temporal lobe, and corpus callosum. At 0.01–0.027 Hz, ALFF was decreased at the left temporal lobe, and ReHo was decreased at the right temporal lobe, left putamen, and left supplementary motor area.ConclusionRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the swallowing cortex in the dominant cerebellar hemisphere increased the bilateral cerebral swallowing cortex excitability and enhanced pontine, bulbar, and cerebellar spontaneous neural activity, suggesting that unilateral high-frequency stimulation of the cerebellum can excite both brainstem and cortical swallowing centers. These findings all provide favorable support for the application of cerebellar rTMS in the clinical practice. (shrink)

The article focuses on the philosophical issues surrounding the establishment of revolution as a concept in its modern sense, as an intervention of something new that breaks from the past and produces a gap between tradition and innovation. The common interpretation of this process implies a linear conception of time, while at the same time describing the event of revolution as an implementation of this conception in a political sense. The article refers to the two prevailing works on the subject, (...) that being of Hannah Arendt and of Reinhart Koselleck. While Arendt describes the French Revolution as an event resulting in “newness” being injected into politics and thus opening history up to its future disavowing the repetition, where as Koselleck promoted the notion of universal history disavowing chance. In any case, both believe that it is due to the phenomenon of revolution being invented as history. But the concept was not pulled out of thin air. Arendt’s and Koselleck’s analysis involves philological accounts of the etymology and history of the word “revolution,” showing its radical change in meaning. Initially revolution meant exactly what was subsequently excluded from the notion of history, though also established as a result of revolution, repetition and chance. The article aims to demonstrate that this traditional interpretation misses another idea of repetition which doesn’t contradict “newness” but, on the contrary, produces it. Thus it is not simply a denial of repetition that constitutes revolution, but displacement of repetition understood as a cycle and coming to the forefront of the repetition which we interpret as a chance. (shrink)