ObjectiveThis study aimed to enhance the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) for disorders of consciousness (DoC) by developing a two-dimensional model differentiating cognition and motor function.MethodsWe analyzed 124 DoC patients retrospectively and validated findings using five multicenter datasets (n = 420). CRS-R subscores were decomposed into Consciousness_x (awareness) and Consciousness_y (arousal/motor function) using Projective Non-negative Matrix Factorization. Logistic regression established diagnostic thresholds, evaluated by accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score.ResultsThe model achieved high accuracy (0.94), precision (0.92), and recall (0.99). Patients with minimally conscious state (MCS) or emerged MCS showed significantly higher scores than vegetative state (VS) patients (p < 0.05). The four-quadrant framework revealed distinct clinical profiles: Quadrant I (high awareness/arousal) identified patients for cognitive rehabilitation; Quadrant II (low awareness/high arousal) suggested arousal-enhancing therapies; Quadrant III (low awareness/arousal) indicated VS requiring basic support; Quadrant IV (high awareness/low arousal) highlighted needs for sensorimotor integration.ConclusionsThe two-dimensionally reduced representation of CRS-R scores maintains diagnostic accuracy while improving DoC classification. The four-quadrant model enables personalized interventions.Trial registrationOur study has been verified by the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the registration number: ChiCTR2400085855, and the registration date is June 19, 2024.
Over 280 million people worldwide suffer from depression, with approximately 21 million individuals affected in the U.S. working-age population. In creative fields like fashion design, the ability to innovate is essential, and designers are expected to solve design problems effectively. Given the significant relationship between depression, life satisfaction, and work performance, this study aimed to explore how factors such as effort, challenges, personal expressiveness, harmonious passion, and the state of flow influence the creative processes of fashion designers. An online survey of 180 U.S. fashion designers evaluated their design processes, personal expressiveness, life satisfaction, depression, passion, and flow using validated scales. Participants rated their efforts and challenges in design, with all variables demonstrating strong reliability (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.80). The study revealed that higher life satisfaction enhances designers' engagement in iterative processes, flow, and personal expressiveness, while lower levels of depression improve overall design effectiveness. This research highlighted the crucial role that psychological factors, such as life satisfaction and depression, played in the creative design process. It emphasized the positive relationship between well-being and design engagement, thereby extending the existing literature on the benefits of artistic activities for mental health. The study also suggested some practical implications for educators and the fashion industry.
Abstract Complex displays that comprise multiple behavioral elements play an essential role in the communication of group-living animals. One of them is a greeting display. Greeting is performed during the reunion after a separation, and is known for maintaining social bonds in mammals and pair bonds in monogamous fish. Greeting displays have been documented in birds, but lack functional studies. Java sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora) are gregarious and long-term monogamous songbird species, exhibiting a complex greeting display consisting of a sequence of four repetitive behavioral elements. We hypothesized that Java sparrow greetings function as between-pair communication in social contexts. In particular, we expected that pair-bonded partners would greet more after experiencing longer separation. In addition, we also predicted that they greet more when other conspecific individuals are nearby; as it is more important for them to confirm and advertise their commitment relationships. To test these ideas, we conducted separation-reunion tests using pair-bonded Java sparrows with different separation times (long vs. short) and different social conditions (with vs. without the presence of conspecifics). We calculated and compared the sequential complexity of the greeting displays. We showed that subject pairs performed a greater number of greeting display bouts after longer separation times. In the presence of conspecifics, greeting displays were more frequent, longer, and more complex. Our finding supports the idea that greeting displays in birds are crucial to pair-bond maintenance, contributing to understanding the evolution of complex communications in birds.
Abstract We report six experiments that examine how two essential components of a category-learning paradigm, training and feedback, can be manipulated to maximize learning and transfer of real-world, complex concepts. Some subjects learned through classification and were asked to classify hypothetical experiment scenarios as either true or non-true experiments; others learned through observation, wherein these same scenarios were presented along with the corresponding category label. Additionally, some subjects were presented correct-answer feedback (the category label), whereas others were presented explanation feedback (the correct answer and a detailed explanation). For classification training, this feedback was presented after each classification judgment; for observation training this feedback was presented simultaneously with the hypothetical experiment. After the learning phase, subjects completed a posttest that included one task that involved classifying novel hypothetical scenarios and another task comprising multiple-choice questions about novel scenarios, in which subjects had to specify the issue with the scenario or indicate how it could be fixed. The posttest either occurred immediately after the learning phase (Experiments 1–2), 10 min later (Experiments 3–4), two days later (Experiment 5), or one week later (Experiment 6). Explanation feedback generally led to better learning and transfer than correct-answer feedback. However, although subjects showed clear evidence of learning and transfer, posttest performance did not differ between classification and observation training. Critically, various learning theories and principles (e.g., retrieval practice, generation, active learning) predict a classification advantage. Our results thus call into question the extent to which such theories and principles extend to the transfer of learning.
Abstract Optimal foraging theory suggests that animals make decisions which maximize their food intake per unit time when foraging, but the mechanisms animals use to track the value of behavioral alternatives and choose between them remain unclear. Several models for how animals integrate past experience have been suggested. However, these models make differential predictions for the occurrence of spontaneous recovery of choice: a behavioral phenomenon in which a hiatus from the experimental environment results in animals reverting to a behavioral allocation consistent with a reward distribution from the more distant past, rather than one consistent with their most recently experienced distribution. To explore this phenomenon and compare these models, three free-operant experiments with rats were conducted using a serial reversal design. In Phase 1, two responses (A and B) were baited with pellets on concurrent variable interval schedules, favoring option A. In Phase 2, lever baiting was reversed to favor option B. Rats then entered a delay period, where they were maintained at weight in their home cages and no experimental sessions took place. Following this delay, preference was assessed using initial responding in test sessions where levers were presented, but not baited. Models were compared in performance, including an exponentially weighted moving average, the Temporal Weighting Rule, and variants of these models. While the data provided strong evidence of spontaneous recovery of choice, the form and extent of recovery was inconsistent with the models under investigation. Potential interpretations are discussed in relation to both the decision rule and valuation functions employed.
Luke Strickland, Simon Farrell, Micah K. Wilson
et al.
Abstract In a range of settings, human operators make decisions with the assistance of automation, the reliability of which can vary depending upon context. Currently, the processes by which humans track the level of reliability of automation are unclear. In the current study, we test cognitive models of learning that could potentially explain how humans track automation reliability. We fitted several alternative cognitive models to a series of participants’ judgements of automation reliability observed in a maritime classification task in which participants were provided with automated advice. We examined three experiments including eight between-subjects conditions and 240 participants in total. Our results favoured a two-kernel delta-rule model of learning, which specifies that humans learn by prediction error, and respond according to a learning rate that is sensitive to environmental volatility. However, we found substantial heterogeneity in learning processes across participants. These outcomes speak to the learning processes underlying how humans estimate automation reliability and thus have implications for practice.
Maria Niedernhuber,1,2,* Joaquim Streicher,1,3,* Bigna Leggenhager,2,4 Tristan A Bekinschtein1,3 1Cambridge Consciousness and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; 2Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 3Human Experience Dynamics Ltd, London, UK; 4Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tristan A Bekinschtein, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Pl, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK, Email tb419@cam.ac.ukIntroduction: Fluctuations of chronic pain levels are determined by a complex interplay of cognitive, emotional and perceptual variables. We introduce a pain tracking platform composed of wearable neurotechnology and a smartphone application to measure and predict chronic pain levels and its interplay with other dimensions of experience.Methods: Our method measures, dynamically and at home, pain strength, phenomenal and neural time series collected with an online tool and low-density EEG. Here we used data from a single participant who performed an attention task at home for a period of 20 days to investigate the role of attention to different bodily systems in chronic pain.Results: We show a relationship between emotions and pain strength while allocating attention to the heartbeat, the breathing, the affected or the unaffected limb. We found that pain was maximal when attending to the affected limb and decreased when the participant focused on his breathing or his heartbeat. These results provide interesting insights regarding the role of attention to interoceptive signals in chronic pain. We found power changes in the delta, theta, alpha and beta (but not in the gamma) band between the four attention conditions. However, there was no reliable association of these changes to pain intensity ratings. Theta power was higher when attention was directed to the unaffected limb compared to the others. Further, the pain ratings, when attending to unaffected limb, were associated with alpha and theta power band changes.Conclusion: Overall, we demonstrate that our neurophysiology and experience tracking platform can capture how body attention allocation alters the dynamics of subjective measures and its neural correlates. This research approach is proof of concept for the development of personalized clinical assessment tools and a testbed for behavioural, subjective and biomarkers characterization.Keywords: pain, consciousness, EEG, power, CRPS
Thanujeni Pathman, Lina Deker, Puneet Kaur Parmar
et al.
Abstract Free-recall paradigms have greatly influenced our understanding of memory. The majority of this research involves laboratory-based events (e.g., word lists) that are studied and tested within minutes. This literature shows that adults recall events in a temporally organized way, with successive responses often coming from neighboring list positions (i.e., temporal clustering) and with enhanced memorability of items from the end of a list (i.e., recency). Temporal clustering effects are so robust that temporal organization is described as a fundamental memory property. Yet relatively little is known about the development of this temporal structure across childhood, and even less about children’s memory search for real-world events occurring over an extended period. In the present work, children (N = 144; 3 age groups: 4–5-year-olds, 6–7-year-olds, 8–10-year-olds) took part in a 5-day summer camp at a local zoo. The camp involved various dynamic events, including daily animal exhibit visits. On day 5, children were asked to recall all the animals they visited. We found that overall recall performance, in terms of number of animals recalled, improved steadily across childhood. Temporal organization and recency effects showed different developmental patterns. Temporal clustering was evident in the response sequences for all age groups and became progressively stronger across childhood. In contrast, the recency advantage, when characterized as a proportion of total responses, was stable across age groups. Thus, recall dynamics in early childhood parallel that seen in adulthood, with continued development of temporal organization across middle to late childhood.
Esther-Sevil Eigl, Laura Krystin Urban-Ferreira, Manuel Schabus
et al.
BackgroundApproximately one-third of the healthy population suffer from sleep problems, but only a small proportion of those affected receive professional help. Therefore, there is an urgent need for easily accessible, affordable, and efficacious sleep interventions.ObjectiveA randomized controlled study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of a low-threshold sleep intervention consisting of either (i) sleep data feedback plus sleep education or (ii) sleep data feedback alone in comparison with (iii) no intervention.Material and methodsA total of 100 employees of the University of Salzburg (age: 39.51 ± 11.43 years, range: 22–62 years) were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. During the 2-week study period, objective sleep parameters were assessed via actigraphy. In addition, an online questionnaire and a daily digital diary were used to record subjective sleep parameters, work-related factors, as well as mood and well-being. After 1 week, a personal appointment was conducted with participants of both experimental group 1 (EG1) and experimental group 2 (EG2). While the EG2 only received feedback about their sleep data from week 1, the EG1 additionally received a 45-min sleep education intervention containing sleep hygiene rules and recommendations regarding stimulus control. A waiting-list control group (CG) did not receive any feedback until the end of the study.ResultsResults indicate positive effects on sleep and well-being following sleep monitoring over the course of 2 weeks and minimal intervention with a single in-person appointment including sleep data feedback. Improvements are seen in sleep quality, mood, vitality, and actigraphy-measured sleep efficiency (SE; EG1), as well as in well-being and sleep onset latency (SOL) in EG2. The inactive CG did not improve in any parameter.ConclusionResults suggest small and beneficial effects on sleep and well-being in people being continuously monitored and receiving (actigraphy-based) sleep feedback when paired with a single-time personal intervention.
Objective: Sleep behaviors have not been well investigated in individuals with idiopathic scoliosis (IS). This study aimed to investigate sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in individuals with IS and investigate the relationship between sleep parameters and curve magnitude, trunk deformity severity, pain, and emotional status in adolescents with IS.
Material and Methods: Ninety-one participants between the ages of 10 and 19 years with IS were included. Sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and daytime sleepiness was assessed with Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Pain was assessed using the short-form McGill pain questionnaire; the presence or severity of depressive feelings was evaluated using the Beck depression scale.
Results: The majority of the participants (64.8%) had poor sleep quality, while daytime sleepiness was within normal limits in most participants (85.7%).The frequency of participants without pain (52.7%) was similar to participants with pain (47.3%). The prevalence of participants with depressed mood was 35.2%. Participants with poor sleep quality were more likely to have a higher sensorial index (p<0.001), higher total pain scores (p=0.001), and less lumbar axial rotation (p=0.046). Higher pain (r=0.391), depression scores (r=0.234), and lower lumbar axial trunk rotation (r=-0.317) were associated with increased daytime sleepiness.
Conclusion: We observed poor sleep quality and an association with pain in patients with IS. Curve magnitude had no adverse effect on sleep quality or daytime sleepiness. Therefore, the sleep profile and its association with pain should be considered during the rehabilitation process in patients with IS.
Adamantini Hatzipanayioti, Alexia Galati, Marianna Pagkratidou
et al.
In one experiment we examined the organizational structure of spatial memories for familiar environments, comparing it directly with that for unfamiliar environments. Participants in the familiar condition pointed from imagined perspectives towards objects in their own rooms and their performance was compared to that of matched controls in an unfamiliar condition who carried out the same task after studying the same rooms in immersive Virtual Reality. In both conditions, participants were faster and more accurate in pointing from imagined perspectives that were aligned with the geometry of the room (vs. not aligned), suggesting the presence of orientation-dependent representations. Whereas in the unfamiliar condition pointing performance was best along a single axis, performance in the familiar condition was about equal across all 4 orientations that were aligned with the geometric structure of the room. Moreover, performance in the familiar condition was influenced by the orientation from which participants started to preview the room prior to testing; in contrast, in the unfamiliar condition performance was not influenced by the orientation from which encoding started. This finding suggests that post-encoding situational factors (e.g., the starting orientation from which an environment is previewed) can prime the accessibility of information in well-established long-term spatial memories.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the results of all meta-analyses on anomalous cognition conducted between 1989 and 2021 in order to find moderators associated with greater effect sizes. Method: We included all meta-analyses of studies related to anomalous cognition published up to 2021. Results: Our dataset, accumulated over more than 80 years of investigation, refers to 11 meta-analyses related to six different states of consciousness. The evidence clearly shows that anomalous cognition seems possible and its effects can be enhanced by using a combination of some non-ordinary or altered states of consciousness (e.g., dreaming, ganzfeld, etc.), coupled with free-response procedures, or neurophysiological dependent variables. These conditions facilitate an alternative form of cognition seemingly unconstrained by the known biological characteristics of the sense organs and the brain. Conclusion: The accumulated evidence expands our understanding of the mind-brain relation and the nature of the human mind.
The current study examined the reliability and consistency of switching and mixing costs in the language and the color-shape tasks in three pre-existing data sets, to assess whether they are equally well suited for the study of individual differences. Specifically, we considered if the language task is as reliable as the color-shape task – an important question given the wide use of language switching tasks but little information available to address this question. Switching costs had low to moderate reliability and internal consistency, and these were similar for the language and the color-shape tasks. Mixing costs were more reliable in the language task than in the color-shape task when tested twice on the same day and trended in the same direction when tested a week apart. In addition, mixing costs were larger and more consistent than switching costs in all data sets and they were also were more reliable than switching costs in the language task when tested on the same day. These results reveal the language task to be as good as the color-shape task for measuring switching and mixing ability. Low variability of switching costs may decrease their reliability and consistency, in turn interfering with the chance of detecting cross task correlations. We advocate for exploring procedures to increase the variability of switching costs, which might increase reliability and consistency of these measures, and improve the ability to determine if bilingual language use relies on cognitive mechanisms that overlap with those underlying nonlinguistic multi-tasking.
Violet A. Brown, Kristin J. Van Engen, Jonathan E. Peelle
Abstract Identifying speech requires that listeners make rapid use of fine-grained acoustic cues—a process that is facilitated by being able to see the talker’s face. Face masks present a challenge to this process because they can both alter acoustic information and conceal the talker’s mouth. Here, we investigated the degree to which different types of face masks and noise levels affect speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort for young (N = 180) and older (N = 180) adult listeners. We found that in quiet, mask type had little influence on speech intelligibility relative to speech produced without a mask for both young and older adults. However, with the addition of moderate (− 5 dB SNR) and high (− 9 dB SNR) levels of background noise, intelligibility dropped substantially for all types of face masks in both age groups. Across noise levels, transparent face masks and cloth face masks with filters impaired performance the most, and surgical face masks had the smallest influence on intelligibility. Participants also rated speech produced with a face mask as more effortful than unmasked speech, particularly in background noise. Although young and older adults were similarly affected by face masks and noise in terms of intelligibility and subjective listening effort, older adults showed poorer intelligibility overall and rated the speech as more effortful to process relative to young adults. This research will help individuals make more informed decisions about which types of masks to wear in various communicative settings.