Preexposure to contextual stimuli: Effects on startle responding in humans

AbstractThe perception of a target depends on other stimuli surrounding it in time and space. This contextual modulation is ubiquitous in visual perception, and is usually quantified by measuring performance on sets of highly similar stimuli. Implicit or explicit comparisons among the stimuli may, however, inadvertently bias responses and conceal strong variability of target appearance. Here, we investigated the influence of contextual stimuli on the perception of a repeating pattern (a line triplet), presented in the visual periphery. In the neutral condition, the triplet was presented a single time to capture its minimally biased perception. In the similar and dissimilar conditions, it was presented within stimulus sets composed of lines similar to the triplet, and distinct shapes, respectively. The majority of observers reported perceiving a line pair in the neutral and dissimilar conditions, revealing ‘redundancy masking’, the reduction of the perceived number of repeating items. In the similar condition, by contrast, the number of lines was overestimated. Our results show that the similar context did not reveal redundancy masking which was only observed in the neutral and dissimilar context. We suggest that the influence of contextual stimuli has inadvertently concealed this crucial aspect of peripheral appearance.

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Beyond the classical receptive field: The effect of contextual stimuli

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/15.9.7 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (9) ◽

pp. 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Lothar Spillmann ◽

Birgitta Dresp-Langley ◽

Chia-huei Tseng

Keyword(s):

Receptive Field ◽

Classical Receptive Field ◽

Contextual Stimuli

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A day in the life of people with severe mental illness living in supported housing

BMC Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12888-020-02896-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Carina Tjörnstrand ◽

Mona Eklund ◽

Ulrika Bejerholm ◽

Elisabeth Argentzell ◽

David Brunt

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Severe Mental Illness ◽

Recovery Process ◽

Supported Housing ◽

Activity Level ◽

Body Of Knowledge ◽

Manifest Content ◽

Participant Experience ◽

Contextual Stimuli ◽

Emotional Balance

Abstract Background People with severe mental illness (SMI) living in supported housing (SH) struggle in everyday life and we currently lack a comprehensive body of knowledge concerning how the residents experience their day. This paper aimed to gain knowledge about how people with SMI describe a day in SH in Sweden, in particular the activities they most frequently engage in and how they experience what they do in or outside their home. Furthermore, it is important to gain knowledge of which activities motivate residents to leave the housing facility and to participate in the community. This new knowledge can help staff to encourage a recovery process among the residents. Methods One hundred thirty-three people living in SH completed a time-use diary and a mixed-methods approach was applied, including calculations of what activity that was most frequently performed and a manifest content analysis addressing experiences of activity. Results The residents had a low activity level and were often alone. Approximately one-half of the reported activities were performed in their own apartments, and generally unaccompanied. A quarter of the activities were performed in the common areas and a further quarter outside the SH. The most frequently performed activities were quiet and tranquil ones, e.g. listening to music and resting. Doing errands and group activities with staff and residents were the main activities that motivated leaving the facility. The participant experience of a day is presented in three categories: “Experiences of chosen and enforced togetherness and overcoming loneliness”, “Environmental change and emotional balance can generate activity”, and “Met and unmet needs for support, friendship and security”. Conclusions The residents were generally satisfied with their quiet and tranquil lifestyle and appeared to demand little of life, which may relate to previous experiences of institutional life and can constitute a challenge for staff. The findings highlight experiences that can help to improve SH. Services need to support individually adjusted contextual stimuli and individualize the support to help residents find a good balance and motivate them to be active in and outside SH, which can support a recovery process.

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Modulation of the acquisition of the rabbit eyeblink conditioned response by conditioned contextual stimuli.

Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes ◽

10.1037/0097-7403.24.1.106 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 106-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jonathan C. Gewirtz ◽

Susan E. Brandon ◽

Allan R. Wagner

Keyword(s):

Conditioned Response ◽

Contextual Stimuli

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Emotion-Based Decision Making in schizophrenia: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale ◽

10.1017/s1121189x0000097x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 104-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Marcella Bellani ◽

Luisa Tomelleri ◽

Paolo Brambilla

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Iowa Gambling Task ◽

Neural System ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Emotional States ◽

Human Beings ◽

Complex Process ◽

Social Conduct ◽

Contextual Stimuli

The decision making can be defined as the mental process in which a “choice is made after reflecting on the consequences of that choice” (Bechara & Van Der Linden, 2005; Bechara et al., 1997). It is a complex process that involves cognitive as well as emotion-based functions. In fact human beings make fast adaptive decisions in daily life, and that is based on the skill to relate emotion to contextual stimuli in order to anticipate outcomes through activation of emotional states (Bechara et al., 2005). In this regard, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) has been widely recognized to play a key role in the emotional decision making process. The VMPFC includes the medial part of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the more ventral sectors of the medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex (Bechara et al., 1997). In particular the OFC, within the VMPFC, is part of a neural system underpinning decision-making and reward-related behaviours which are thought to be linked to social conduct (Rolls, 2000).

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Smoking-related cue reactivity in a virtual reality setting: association between craving and EEG measures

Psychopharmacology ◽

10.1007/s00213-020-05733-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stefano Tamburin ◽

Denise Dal Lago ◽

Federica Armani ◽

Marco Turatti ◽

Riccardo Saccà ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Cue Reactivity ◽

Food Craving ◽

Alpha Band ◽

New Finding ◽

Smoking Cue Reactivity ◽

Eeg Alpha ◽

Contextual Stimuli ◽

First Time ◽

Analogue Scales

Abstract Background Cue-reactivity is the array of responses that smokers exhibit when exposed to conditioned and contextual stimuli previously associated to substance use. The difficulty to experimentally recreate the complexity of smokers’ spatial experience and context requires more ecological models. Virtual reality (VR) creates a state of immersion close to reality allowing controlled assessments of behavioral responses. To date, no studies investigated brain activation associated to smoking cue-reactivity in VR using electroencephalography (EEG). Aims To investigate whether a VR cue-reactivity paradigm (a) may increase smoking craving, (b) is feasible with EEG recording, and (c) induces craving levels associated to EEG desynchronization. Methods Smokers (N = 20) and non-smokers (N = 20) were exposed to neutral and smoking-related VR scenarios, without and with smoking conditioned stimuli, respectively. EEG was recorded from occipital and parietal leads throughout the sessions to assess alpha band desynchronization. Smoking and food craving and presence visual analogue scales (VAS) were assessed during the session. Results To be smoker, but not non-smoker, significantly influenced smoking craving VAS induced by smoking cue VR but not by neutral VR. No significant food craving changes was observed during the VR sessions. The new finding was that EEG alpha band power in posterior leads was significantly increased by the smoking context scenario only in smokers, and that the degree of smoking (i.e., heavy vs. light) was significantly associated to this neurophysiological measure. Conclusions This study demonstrated, for the first time, the feasibility of EEG recording in a VR setting, suggesting that EEG desynchronization may be a neurophysiological marker of smoking cue-reactivity.

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Telencephalic but not diencephalic noradrenaline depletion enhances behavioural but not endocrine measures of fear conditioning to contextual stimuli

Behavioural Brain Research ◽

10.1016/s0166-4328(05)80064-6 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 139-154 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

N.R.W. Selden ◽

B.J. Everitt ◽

T.W. Robbins

Keyword(s):

Fear Conditioning ◽

Noradrenaline Depletion ◽

Contextual Stimuli

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Effects of Auditory and Visual Priming on the Identification of Spoken Words

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/0031512516684459 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 124 (2) ◽

pp. 549-563 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sumi Shigeno

Keyword(s):

White Noise ◽

Word Identification ◽

Unrelated Word ◽

Visual Context ◽

Top Down ◽

Motor Theory ◽

Visual Priming ◽

Similar Word ◽

Spoken Words ◽

Contextual Stimuli

This study examined the effects of preceding contextual stimuli, either auditory or visual, on the identification of spoken target words. Fifty-one participants (29% males, 71% females; mean age = 24.5 years, SD = 8.5) were divided into three groups: no context, auditory context, and visual context. All target stimuli were spoken words masked with white noise. The relationships between the context and target stimuli were as follows: identical word, similar word, and unrelated word. Participants presented with context experienced a sequence of six context stimuli in the form of either spoken words or photographs. Auditory and visual context conditions produced similar results, but the auditory context aided word identification more than the visual context in the similar word relationship. We discuss these results in the light of top-down processing, motor theory, and the phonological system of language.

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