Piercarla Cicogna

Morningness-eveningness dimension: is it really a continuum?

Abstract Several self-evaluation instruments have been developed for identifying the individual circadian typology. The use of these instruments suggests the idea that the morningness-eveningness dimension could be considered as a continuum between two extremes. Aim of the present work is to support such an idea by means of external criteria. A sample of 222 subjects was administered the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Six typologies were considered: definitely morning, moderately morning, intermediate-morning, intermediate-evening, moderately evening, and definitely evening. Body temperature, and subjective alertness readings were collected at 08:00, 14:00, and 23:00 in counterbalanced order. As regards subjective alertness a significant interaction (ANOVA) between circadian typology and time of day was found. At 08:00 the recorded values of subjective alertness gradually increased starting from the definitely evening extreme typology to the definitely morning one, vice-versa at 23:00. These results seem to support the idea that the morningness-eveningness dimension could be considered as a continuum between two extremes: morning-evening preference. Nevertheless, this is especially true for subjective alertness. Suggestions about how to use the MEQ are put forward.

Circadian regulation of subjective alertness in morning and evening 'types'

Abstract A sample of 144 Ss (Experiment 1) and 30 Ss (Experiment 2) was administered the Morningness Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). For each typology (morning-, intermediate- and evening-type) scores were computed for the following three dimensions: time of day of maximum efficiency, sleep onset time, awakening time. Statistical analysis (ANOVA with two variables: typologies × percentage values for the three dimensions) showed, in both experiments, a different percentage distribution for the three dimensions of the different circadian typologies. The dimension that differentiates morning-evening typologies is basically the first dimension (time of maximum efficiency). In Experiment 2, body temperature and subjective alertness readings were collected every 2 hr from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The results seem to support the hypothesis that the first dimension is mainly representative of the endogenous circadian pacemaker (ECP) while the second and third are more representative of the sleep/wake cycle (SWC). The results are discussed in relation to current hypotheses on the mechanisms underlying circadian regulation of subjective alertness.

Cognitive efficiency and circadian typologies: a diurnal study

Abstract The aim was to investigate differences between morning and evening types in the performance variations during the day of four different tasks: visual search, logic reasoning, spatial reasoning, mathematical reasoning. Twelve morning-, 24 intermediate-, and 12 evening-types took part in six consecutive experimental sessions from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. at intervals of 3 h, during which they had to carry out the four types of tasks, give an evaluation of their own cognitive efficiency and subjective alertness, and record body temperature. Significantly different circadian trends between morning and evening types emerged only in the visual search task. In the reasoning tasks no significant differences were observed in the whole day, as if tasks requiring a high operational load involved a cognitive and motivational engagement which can compensate, in normal day–night conditions, the efficiency decrease due to alertness changes. The results obtained on self-evaluation efficiency suggest an efficacy intervention of metacognitive processes of performance monitoring for complex tasks only. Different diurnal activation of the left-hemisphere between morning and evening types was posited.

Consciousness during Dreams

Two aspects of consciousness are first considered: consciousness as awareness (phenomenological meaning) and consciousness as strategic control (functional meaning). As to awareness, three types can be distinguished: first, awareness as the phenomenal experiences of objects and events; second, awareness as meta-awareness, i.e., the awareness of mental life itself; third, awareness as self-awareness, i.e., the awareness of being oneself. While phenomenal experience and self-awareness are usually present during dreaming (even if many modifications are possible), meta-awareness is usually absent (apart from some particular experiences of self-reflectiveness) with the major exception of lucid dreaming. Consciousness as strategic control may also be present in dreams. The functioning of consciousness is then analyzed, following a cognitive model of dream production. In such a model, the dream is supposed to be the product of the interaction of three components: (a) the bottom-up activation of mnemonic elements coming from LTM systems, (b) interpretative and elaborative top-down processes, and (c) monitoring of phenomenal experience. A feedback circulation is activated among the components, where the top-down interpretative organization and the conscious monitoring of the oneiric scene elicitates other mnemonic contents, according to the requirements of the dream plot. This dream productive activity is submitted to unconscious and conscious processes.

Differential access to memory traces in the production of mental experience

Two experiments were performed to determine the nature of the memory traces used in the production of mental experiences (dreams, daydreams). Free associations with dreams, collected upon experimental awakenings in Sleep Onset and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, were classified as strict episodes, abstract self-references, or semantic traces, adapting Tulvings model (Experiment 1). Results showed that associations with Sleep Onset dreams were mainly strict episodes while REM associations were evenly distributed: that represents a psychophysiological state-dependency of the access to memory traces. A comparison of free associations with dream, daydreams, and films (Experiment 2) showed a similarity between access to memory traces in daydreaming and Sleep Onset dreaming. Physiological condition was not a discriminating factor. This homogeneity suggests that cognitive processes involved in the creation of original narrative sequences may be similar in sleep and waking. These findings and their interpretation tend to support a unitary theory of the mind rather than dichotomous models which, in dream research, have often been misleading.

Episodic future thinking as a predictor of children’s prospective memory

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the relationship among retrospective memory, episodic future thinking, and event-based prospective memory performance in preschool, first-grade, and second-grade children. A total of 160 children took part in the experiment. The study included participants from four age groups: 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and 7-year-olds. Participants were administered a recognition memory task, a task to test the ability to pre-experience future events, and an event-based prospective memory task. Data were submitted to correlational analyses, analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and logistic regression analyses. Results showed that, overall, all of these abilities improve with age and are significantly correlated with one another. However, when partialling out age and retrospective memory, episodic future thinking and prospective memory performance remained correlated. Logistic regression further showed that age and episodic future thinking abilities were significant predictors of prospective memory performance independent of retrospective memory abilities.

Epileptic seizures during card games and draughts.

Summary: This paper presents a case of epileptic seizures occurring during card games and draughts. The patient was a 26‐year‐old man who complained of “arrests of thought” while playing cards or draughts or solving mathematical problems. The attacks, which were very rare in other situations, had begun at the age of 14. Between the ages of 14 and 21 he had had occasional tonic‐clonic seizures. Protracted EEG recording showed bursts of 3 Hz spike‐wave discharges during the day. Such discharges were much more frequent when the patient was playing cards or draughts and only these circumstances were subjectively experienced as lapses of consciousness. Various explanations can be advanced for this case.

Time-based prospective remembering: Interference and facilitation in a dual task

The aim of this study was to analyse prospective memory behaviour when people have to fulfil two different intentions whose retention intervals partially overlapped. More specifically, the purpose of the study was to explore the effects of a secondary PM task (either time-based or event-based) on performance of a main time-based PM task. Four embedded conditions were tested: two event-based ones and two time-based ones. The time- and event-based interpolated tasks differed in how closely their target time was to the 20-minute response required by the main time-based task (16th and 19th min., respectively). The results indicated that when a main time-based prospective memory task shares a portion of the retention interval with a second time-based prospective task, this overlapping facilitated performance on the main task. However, the interpolated tasks appeared to be affected by the moment in which they were administered during the execution of the main time-based task. More specifically, a decrease in the interpolated task performance was observed when this was time-based and had to be executed very closely to the target time of the main task. On the contrary, when the two tasks were different (event-based vs. time-based), there was neither interference, nor facilitation.

Bizarreness of size and shape in dream images

Bizarreness in dreams is defined as an unusual combination of features in the phenomenal unified consciousness, that is, an incoherent simulation of the waking world. The present study investigated the specific mechanisms underlying dream image production and the phenomenal unity of consciousness by focusing on size and shape bizarreness. Data were derived from a Dream Data Bank of experimental dream studies. Analyses revealed that feature distortion was quite infrequent. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive processes proposed in a dream production model. Theoretical cognitive constructs, such as Kosslyns imagery model, memory systems functioning, and binding, were used to speculate about these two specific types of bizarreness.

Temporal Reference of the Mnemonic Sources of Dreams

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the temporal reference of elements which served as the mnemonic basis for dreams. Free associations with REM and Sleep Onset dreams were collected to determine the quality of the memories presumably activated during the production of the two types of dream. Associations referring to particular episodes of the dreamers life were classified, according to their temporal dating, into Day residues, Recent residues, Remote residues. The hypothesis that there are differences in the temporal reference of the mnemonic sources of REM and sleep onset dreams has been confirmed. Day residues are significantly more associated with sleep onset than REM dreams. Moreover, in sleep onset, Day residues are significantly more frequent than Remote residues, while this is not true for REM dreams. Day residues are more easily available to sleep onset than REM dreaming because of the recent encoding which characterizes this kind of memory traces. In both sleep phases recent residues are more frequently used in constructing the dream.