Some models of object recognition propose that items from structurally crowded categories (e.g., living things) permit faster access to superordinate semantic information than structurally dissimilar categories (e.g., nonliving things), but slower access to individual object information when naming items. We present four experiments that utilize…

Mild memory impairment was detected in 28% of a sample of healthy community-dwelling older adults using the delayed recall trial of a word list learning task. Statistical analysis revealed that individuals with memory impairment also demonstrated relative deficits on other measures of memory, and tests of executive function, processing speed and…

Moving visual stimuli have been shown to reduce unilateral neglect (ULN), however, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. This study compared lateralised and non-lateralised moving visual stimuli to investigate whether the spatial characteristics or general alerting properties of moving visual stimuli are responsible for…

Two patients with medial frontal lobe damage involving the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) performed a range of cognitive tasks, including tests of executive function and anterior attention. Both patients lesions extended beyond the ACC, therefore caution needs to be exerted in ascribing observed deficits to the ACC alone. Patient performance was…

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential (ERP) experiments were conducted in the same group of subjects and with an identical task paradigm to investigate a possible relationship between hemodynamic and electrophysiological responses within the brain. The subjects were instructed to judge whether visually presented…

This paper questions whether affordances are allied exclusively to dorsal stream processing within the visual system, or whether in fact different affordances are subserved by functionally independent neural pathways. Using case study evidence from patients with various visual pathologies, I argue that affordances can be categorised into type…

In an Internet study unrelated to handedness, 134,317 female and 120,783 male participants answered a graded question as to which hand they preferred for writing. This allowed determination of hand preference patterns across 7 ethnic groups. Sex differences in left-handedness were found in 4 ethnic groups, favoring males, while no significant sex…

This review aims to create a cross-disciplinary framework for understanding the perception of control. Although, the personality trait locus of control, the most common measure of control perception, has traditionally been regarded as a product of social learning, it may have biological antecedents as well. It is suggested that control perception…

Recent findings suggest a right hemispheric dominance in gaze-triggered shifts of attention. The aim of this study was to clarify the dominant hemisphere in the gaze processing that mediates attentional shift. A target localization task, with preceding non-predicative gaze cues presented to each visual field, was undertaken by 44 healthy subjects,…

The spatial knowledge of 18 children with spina bifida and 18 healthy control children (matched according to sex, age, and verbal IQ) was investigated in a computer-simulated environment. All children had to learn a route through a virtual floor system containing 18 landmarks. Controlling for cognitive abilities, the results revealed that children…

The N2 and P3 components have been separately associated with response inhibition in the stop-signal task, and more recently, the N2 has been implicated in the detection of response-conflict. To isolate response inhibition activity from early sensory processing, the present study compared processing of the stop-signal with that of a…

Studies of neurological patients with category-specific agnosia have provided important contributions to our understanding of object recognition, although the meaning of such disorders is still hotly debated. One crucial line of research for our understanding of category effects, is through the examination of category biases in healthy normal…

This study measures the effect of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal aging on the inhibition of prepotent responses. AD patients, normal aged controls, and young subjects were tested with the Hayling task, which measures the ability to inhibit a semantically constrained response, and with the Stroop procedure. AD patients showed a severe deficit…

How "differences" between the two sides of the brain (or "laterality") relate to level of function are important components of theories of the origin and purpose of hemispheric asymmetry, although different measures show different relationships, and this heterogeneity makes discerning any underlying relationships a difficult task. There are some…

Theories of category-specific effects on visual object identification predict easier identification of non-living than living objects. The Sensory-Functional theory credits greater representational weighting of the visual properties of living objects independent of greater weighting of the functional properties of non-living objects. It predicts a…