Hypnosis and learning: Pilot study on a group of students

BackgroundMilton Erickson was the first to introduce hypnosis as a form of therapy during the post-war period. Numerous studies have evaluated the effects of hypnosis on memory, focusing principally on post-hypnotic amnesia, post-hypnotic hypermnesia, faux memories and learning growth.The aim of the present study was to determine if hypnosis can influence visual-spatial memory by increasing its performance and learning; to do this, we chose to utilise the Corsi Test (backward and forward).MethodsThree hundred second-year students enrolled in the psychology faculty at the University of Catania were informed of the research and its modalities, and an e-mail was sent to inquire if they wanted to participate in the experiment.Seventy female students took part in the research; 10 were excluded because they presented a high risk of being influenced under hypnosis.The 60 subjects in the research sample were randomly divided into two groups: the Experimental Group and Control Group.The protocol prescribed administration of the Corsi Test at Time 0 (start) followed by a resting phase of 30 min. The hypnotic state was subsequently introduced, and the Corsi Test was administered again.ResultsThe results of the Corsi Test for the Experimental Group showed statistically significant results (p<0.0004 and p<0.0001), while the results obtained in the Control Group did not show any significance.ConclusionsThese results led us to believe that hypnosis has the capacity to induce a nervous plasticity that supports learning of visual-spatial memory.

Идентичность иранцев в архитектуре X-XII вв

The political environment in Khurasan with the arrival of the Samanid dynasty contributed to an increase in the national identity of Iranians on the one hand and mutual enrichment of cultures in the cosmopolitan climate on the other. The formation of style in the architecture is associated with the visual-spatial memory of Iranians themselves in a direction determined by Muslim religion. Hardly had the Iranian artists appealed to their traditional forms when they transformed them in according to the new Islamic discourse. The study also revealed that there is some evidence to suggest that Iranian art in the first centuries of Islam had its independent development course based on the flexibility of culture and awareness of its own identity.

Visual-Spatial Memory Deficits Are Related to Increased Knee Valgus Angle During a Sport-Specific Sidestep Cut

Background: Identifying athletes at an increased risk of injury is a promising approach to improve the effect of injury prevention interventions; however, it requires first identifying the potential athlete-specific risk factors. Cognitive ability was recently shown to correlate with noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury rates and lower extremity mechanics, marking an underexplored area. A better understanding of how individuals’ cognitive ability is associated with neuromuscular control during sport-specific tasks may improve injury prevention. Hypothesis: Athletes with lower cognitive performance on a standardized cognitive assessment would demonstrate greater increases in knee valgus angle and moment when performing a sidestep cut with soccer ball dribbling versus without. Visual-spatial memory was expected to demonstrate stronger relationships than reaction time or processing speed. Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Methods: Fifteen male collegiate club soccer players participated (mean ± SD: 20.7 ± 2.0 years, 1.78 ± 0.07 m, 76.5 ± 8.9 kg). Participants performed anticipated 45° run-to-cut trials with and without a dual task of dribbling a soccer ball. Peak early-stance knee valgus angle and moment for the plant limb were calculated. Participants also completed a cognitive assessment to evaluate visual memory, verbal memory, reaction time, and processing speed. These composite scores were entered as candidate predictors for a stepwise regression analysis on the dual-task change scores in lower extremity biomechanical parameters (ie, ball handling – non–ball handling). Results: Visual memory composite score (a measure of visual-spatial memory) was the only cognitive outcome significantly associated with the change in biomechanical parameters. Each unit decrease in the visual memory composite score was associated with an increase of 0.21°± 0.05° in peak knee valgus angle during the ball-handling task as compared with the non–ball handling task ( R2 = 52%, P = .003). Conclusion: Visual-spatial memory was associated with neuromuscular control during a sidestep cutting task during soccer ball dribbling, with deficits in this cognitive domain being associated with increased peak knee valgus angle. Clinical Relevance: Assessing visual-spatial memory ability may provide useful information to better understand conditions associated with impaired neuromuscular control and to potentially identify athletes at an elevated risk for musculoskeletal injury.

Implied Motion Language can Influence Visual Memory

How do language and vision interact? Specifically, what impact can language have on visual processing, especially related to spatial memory? What are typically considered errors in visual processing, such as remembering the location of an object to be farther along its motion trajectory than it actually is, can be explained as perceptual achievements that are driven by our ability to anticipate future events. In twohree experiments we tested whether the prior presentation of motion language influences visual spatial memory in ways that afford greater perceptual prediction. Experiment One found that motion language influenced judgments for the spatial memory of an object that implied motion. Experiment Two replicated this finding. A summary analysis comparing Experiment One and Experiment Two shows how motion language influences judgments of spatial memory beyond the implied motion present in the image itself. Our findings support a theory of perception as prediction.