Number processing outside awareness? Systematically testing sensitivities of direct and indirect measures of consciousness

AbstractIn priming research, it is often argued that humans can discriminate stimuli outside consciousness. For example, the semantic meaning of numbers can be processed even when the numbers are so strongly masked that participants are not aware of them. These claims are typically based on a certain pattern of results: Direct measures indicate no conscious awareness of the masked stimuli, while indirect measures show clear priming effects of the same stimuli on reaction times or neurophysiological measures. From this pattern, preserved (unconscious) processing in the indirect task is concluded. However, this widely used standard reasoning is problematic and leads to spurious claims of unconscious processing. Such problems can be avoided by comparing sensitivities of direct and indirect measures. Many studies are affected by these problems, such that a reassessment of the literature is needed. Here, we investigated whether numbers can be processed unconsciously. In three experiments, we replicated and extended well-established effects of number priming over a wide range of stimulus visibilities. We then compared the standard reasoning to a sensitivity analysis, where direct and indirect effects are compared using the same metric. Results show that the sensitivities of indirect measures did not exceed those of direct measures, thereby indicating no evidence for preserved unconscious processing when awareness of the stimuli is low. Instead, it seems that at low visibility there is residual processing that affects direct and indirect measures to a similar degree. This suggests that similar processing modes cause those effects in direct and indirect measures.

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Advances in Triazole Synthesis from Copper-catalyzed Azide-alkyne Cycloadditions (CuAAC) Based on Eco-friendly Procedures

Current Organic Synthesis ◽

10.2174/1570179416666190104141454 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 244-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Marcus Vinicius Nora de Souza ◽

Cristiane França da Costa ◽

Victor Facchinetti ◽

Claudia Regina Brandão Gomes ◽

Paula Mázala Pacheco

Keyword(s):

Biological Activities ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Water Extract ◽

Fish Bone ◽

New Drugs ◽

Bone Powder ◽

Wide Range ◽

Recoverable Catalysts ◽

Egg Shell ◽

Work Up

Background: 1,2,3-triazoles are an important class of organic compounds and because of their aromatic stability, they are not easily reduced, oxidized or hydrolyzed in acidic and basic environments. Moreover, 1,2,3-triazole derivatives are known by their important biological activities and have drawn considerable attention due to their variety of properties. The synthesis of this nucleus, based on the click chemistry concept, through the 1,3-dipolar addition reaction between azides and alkynes is a well-known procedure. This reaction has a wide range of applications, especially on the development of new drugs. Methods: The most prominent eco-friendly methods for the synthesis of triazoles under microwave irradiation published in articles from 2012-2018 were reviewed. Results: In this review, we cover some of the recent eco-friendly CuAAC procedures for the click synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles with remarks to new and easily recoverable catalysts, such as rhizobial cyclic β-1,2 glucan; WEB (water extract of banana); biosourced cyclosophoraose (CyS); egg shell powder (ESP); cyclodextrin (β- CD); fish bone powder; nanoparticle-based catalyst, among others. Conclusion: These eco-friendly procedures are a useful tool for the synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles, providing many advantages on the synthesis of this class, such as shorter reaction times, easier work-up and higher yields when compared to classical procedures. Moreover, these methodologies can be applied to the industrial synthesis of drugs and to other areas.

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ChCl: Gly (DESs) Promote Environmentally Benign Synthesis of Xanthene Derivatives and Their Antitubercular Activity

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26123667 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (12) ◽

pp. 3667

Author(s):

Mashooq A. Bhat ◽

Ahmed M. Naglah ◽

Siddique Akber Ansari ◽

Hanaa M. Al-Tuwajiria ◽

Abdullah Al-Dhfyan

Keyword(s):

Reaction Times ◽

Antitubercular Activity ◽

Antimycobacterial Activity ◽

Environmentally Benign ◽

Reaction Yield ◽

Benign Synthesis ◽

Xanthene Derivatives ◽

Wide Range ◽

Major Application

A ChCl: Gly (DESs) promoted environmentally benign method was developed for the first time using the reaction of aryl aldehydes and dimedone to give excellent yields of xanthene analogues. The major application of this present protocol is the use of green solvent, a wide range of substrate, short reaction times, ease of recovery, the recyclability of the catalyst, high reaction yield, and ChCl: Gly as an alternative catalyst and solvent. In addition to this, all the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antimycobacterial activity against M. tuberculosis H37Ra (MTB) and M. bovis BCG strains. The compounds 3d, 3e, 3f, and 3j showed significant antitubercular activity against MTB and M. bovis strains with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 2.5−15.10 µg/mL and 0.26–14.92 µg/mL, respectively. The compounds 3e, 3f, and 3j were found to be nontoxic against MCF-7, A549, HCT 116, and THP-1 cell lines. All the prepared compounds were confirmed by 1H NMR and 13C NMR analysis.

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Comparing Direct Versus Indirect Measures of the Pedagogical Effectiveness of Team Testing

Journal of Marketing Education ◽

10.1177/0273475311420243 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 348-358 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Donald R. Bacon

Keyword(s):

Individual Performance ◽

Additional Analysis ◽

Future Research ◽

Student Surveys ◽

Substantial Impact ◽

Group Test ◽

Indirect Measures ◽

Direct Measures

Direct measures (tests) of the pedagogical effectiveness of team testing and indirect measures (student surveys) of pedagogical effectiveness of team testing were collected in several sections of an undergraduate marketing course with varying levels of the use of team testing. The results indicate that although students perceived team testing to have a substantial impact on their learning, this pedagogy in fact had no impact on direct measures of learning. In an additional analysis, the performance of the team on the group test was best predicted by the best individual performance on the team. Possible explanations and directions for future research are discussed.

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The Possibility of Manufacturing Long-Length Metal Products with Ultra-Fine Grain Structure by Combination of Strain Effects

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.685.487 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 685 ◽

pp. 487-491 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mikhail Chukin ◽

Marina Polyakova ◽

Alexandr Gulin ◽

Olga Nikitenko

Keyword(s):

Steel Wire ◽

Continuous Method ◽

Grain Structure ◽

Strain Effect ◽

Strain Effects ◽

Fine Grain ◽

Wide Range ◽

Processing Modes ◽

Efficiency Estimation ◽

Metal Products

It is shown that combination of strain effects leads to possessing the ultra-fine grain structure in carbon wire. The continuous method of wire deformation nanostructuring was developed on the basis of simultaneous applying of tension deformation by drawing, bending deformation when going through the system of rolls and torsional deformation on a continuously moving wire. One of the main advantages of the developed method is that various hardware devices and tools already applied for steel wire production can be used to implement this method thus simplifying its introduction to the current industrial equipment. The efficiency estimation of the developed continuous method of deformation nanostructuring was carried out using carbon wire with different carbon content. It is shown that the mechanical properties of the wire after combination of different kinds of strain can vary over a wide range. This method makes it possible to choose such modes of strain effect, which can provide the necessary combination of strength and ductile properties of carbon wire depending on its further processing modes and application.

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Ureido Functionalization through Amine-Urea Transamidation under Mild Reaction Conditions

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13101583 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 1583

Author(s):

Natalia Guerrero-Alburquerque ◽

Shanyu Zhao ◽

Daniel Rentsch ◽

Matthias M. Koebel ◽

Marco Lattuada ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aqueous Media ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Reaction Rates ◽

Secondary Amines ◽

Isocyanic Acid ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Major Disadvantage ◽

Wide Range ◽

Potential Alternative ◽

Full Conversion

Ureido-functionalized compounds play an indispensable role in important biochemical processes, as well as chemical synthesis and production. Isocyanates, and KOCN in particular, are the preferred reagents for the ureido functionalization of amine-bearing compounds. In this study, we evaluate the potential of urea as a reagent to graft ureido groups onto amines at relatively low temperatures (<100 °C) in aqueous media. Urea is an inexpensive, non-toxic and biocompatible potential alternative to KOCN for ureido functionalization. From as early as 1864, urea was the go-to reagent for polyurea polycondensation, before falling into disuse after the advent of isocyanate chemistry. We systematically re-investigate the advantages and disadvantages of urea for amine transamidation. High ureido-functionalization conversion was obtained for a wide range of substrates, including primary and secondary amines and amino acids. Reaction times are nearly independent of substrate and pH, but excess urea is required for practically feasible reaction rates. Near full conversion of amines into ureido can be achieved within 10 h at 90 °C and within 24 h at 80 °C, and much slower reaction rates were determined at lower temperatures. The importance of the urea/amine ratio and the temperature dependence of the reaction rates indicate that urea decomposition into an isocyanic acid or a carbamate intermediate is the rate-limiting step. The presence of water leads to a modest increase in reaction rates, but the full conversion of amino groups into ureido groups is also possible in the absence of water in neat alcohol, consistent with a reaction mechanism mediated by an isocyanic acid intermediate (where the water assists in the proton transfer). Hence, the reaction with urea avoids the use of toxic isocyanate reagents by in situ generation of the reactive isocyanate intermediate, but the requirement to separate the excess urea from the reaction product remains a major disadvantage.

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Severe violations of independence in response inhibition tasks

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.abf4355 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (12) ◽

pp. eabf4355

Author(s):

Patrick G. Bissett ◽

Henry M. Jones ◽

Russell A. Poldrack ◽

Gordon D. Logan

Keyword(s):

Response Inhibition ◽

Theoretical Foundation ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Stop Signal ◽

Experimental Paradigm ◽

Signal Delay ◽

Independence Assumption ◽

Analysis Techniques ◽

Wide Range ◽

Saccadic Responses

The stop-signal paradigm, a primary experimental paradigm for understanding cognitive control and response inhibition, rests upon the theoretical foundation of race models, which assume that a go process races independently against a stop process that occurs after a stop-signal delay (SSD). We show that severe violations of this independence assumption at short SSDs occur systematically across a wide range of conditions, including fast and slow reaction times, auditory and visual stop signals, manual and saccadic responses, and especially in selective stopping. We also reanalyze existing data and show that conclusions can change when short SSDs are excluded. Last, we suggest experimental and analysis techniques to address this violation, and propose adjustments to extant models to accommodate this finding.

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Recent advance in ester synthesis by Multi Component Reactions (MCRs): A Review

Current Organic Chemistry ◽

10.2174/1385272825666210111111805 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

Author(s):

Dhaval B. Patel ◽

Jagruti A. Parmar ◽

Siddharth S. Patel ◽

Unnati J. Naik ◽

Hitesh D. Patel

Keyword(s):

Multicomponent Reactions ◽

Medicinal Chemistry ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Synthetic Methods ◽

Ester Synthesis ◽

One Pot ◽

Wide Range ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Ester Linkage ◽

The One

: The synthesis of ester containing heterocyclic compounds via multicomponent reaction is one of the most preferable process in the synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. Compounds containing ester linkage have a wide range of biological application in the pharmaceutical field. Therefore, many method have been developed for the synthesis of these type of derivatives. However, some of them are carried out in the presence of toxic solvents and catalysts, with lower yields, longer reaction times, low selectivities and by-products. Thus, the development of new synthetic methods for the ester synthesis is required in the medicinal chemistry. As we know, multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are a powerful tool towards the one-pot ester synthesis, so in this article we have reviewed the recent developments in ester synthesis. This work covers selected explanation of methods via multicomponent reactions to explore the methodological development in ester synthesis.

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Functional connectivity of fMRI using differential covariance predicts structural connectivity and behavioral reaction times

10.1101/2021.09.01.458609 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yusi Chen ◽

Qasim Bukhari ◽

Tiger Wutu Lin ◽

Terrence J Sejnowski

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

Magnetic Resonance ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Structural Connectivity ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Human Connectome Project ◽

Wide Range

Recordings from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) reflect the influence of pathways between brain areas. A wide range of methods have been proposed to measure this functional connectivity (FC), but the lack of ''ground truth'' has made it difficult to systematically validate them. Most measures of FC produce connectivity estimates that are symmetrical between brain areas. Differential covariance (dCov) is an algorithm for analyzing FC with directed graph edges. Applied to synthetic datasets, dCov-FC was more effective than covariance and partial correlation in reducing false positive connections and more accurately matching the underlying structural connectivity. When we applied dCov-FC to resting state fMRI recordings from the human connectome project (HCP) and anesthetized mice, dCov-FC accurately identified strong cortical connections from diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) in individual humans and viral tract tracing in mice. In addition, those HCP subjects whose rs-fMRI were more integrated, as assessed by a graph-theoretic measure, tended to have shorter reaction times in several behavioral tests. Thus, dCov-FC was able to identify anatomically verified connectivity that yielded measures of brain integration causally related to behavior.

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Applied Tests of Design Skills—Part 1: Divergent Thinking

Journal of Mechanical Design ◽

10.1115/1.4005594 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 134 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Jami J. Shah ◽

Roger E. Millsap ◽

Jay Woodward ◽

S. M. Smith

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Skills ◽

Divergent Thinking ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Spatial Reasoning ◽

Problem Formulation ◽

Qualitative Reasoning ◽

Indirect Measures ◽

Confirmatory Factor ◽

Design Skills ◽

Direct Measures

A number of cognitive skills relevant to conceptual design were identified previously. They include divergent thinking (DT), visual thinking (VT), spatial reasoning (SR), qualitative reasoning (QR), and problem formulation (PF). A battery of standardized tests is being developed for these design skills. This paper focuses only on the divergent thinking test. This particular test has been given to over 500 engineering students and a smaller number of practicing engineers. It is designed to evaluate four direct measures (fluency, flexibility, originality, and quality) and four indirect measures (abstractability, afixability, detailability, and decomplexability). The eight questions on the test overlap in some measures and the responses can be used to evaluate several measures independently (e.g., fluency and originality can be evaluated separately from the same idea set). The data on the twenty-three measured variables were factor analyzed using both exploratory and confirmatory procedures. A four-factor solution with correlated (oblique) factors was deemed the best available solution after examining solutions with more factors. The indirect measures did not appear to correlate strongly either among themselves or with the other direct measures. The four-factor structure was then taken into a confirmatory factor analytic procedure that adjusted for the missing data. It was found to provide a reasonable fit. Estimated correlations among the four factors (F) ranged from a high of 0.32 for F1 and F2 to a low of 0.06 for F3 and F4. All factor loadings were statistically significant.

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