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Scientific Reports Jan 2021The majority of human behaviors are composed of automatic movements (e.g., walking or finger-tapping) which are learned during nurturing and can be performed...
The majority of human behaviors are composed of automatic movements (e.g., walking or finger-tapping) which are learned during nurturing and can be performed simultaneously without interfering with other tasks. One critical and yet to be examined assumption is that the attention system has the innate capacity to modulate automatic movements. The present study tests this assumption. Setting no deliberate goals for movement, we required sixteen participants to perform personalized and well-practiced finger-tapping movements in three experiments while focusing their attention on either different component fingers or away from movements. Using cutting-edge pose estimation techniques to quantify tapping trajectory, we showed that attention to movement can disrupt movement automaticity, as indicated by decreased inter-finger and inter-trial temporal coherence; facilitate the attended and inhibit the unattended movements in terms of tapping amplitude; and re-organize the action sequence into distinctive patterns according to the focus of attention. These findings demonstrate compelling evidence that attention can modulate automatic movements and provide an empirical foundation for theories based on such modulation in controlling human behavior.
Topics: Adult; Attention; Female; Fingers; Humans; Learning; Male; Motor Activity; Psychomotor Performance; Young Adult
PubMed: 33436938
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80296-z -
Psychological Research Mar 2021An emerging literature has suggested that self-relevance automatically enhances stimulus processing (i.e., the self-prioritization effect). Specifically, during... (Review)
Review
An emerging literature has suggested that self-relevance automatically enhances stimulus processing (i.e., the self-prioritization effect). Specifically, during shape-label matching tasks, geometric shapes associated with the self are identified more rapidly than comparable stimuli paired with other targets (e.g., friend, stranger). Replicating and extending work that challenges the putative automaticity of this effect, here we hypothesized that self-relevance facilitates stimulus processing only when task sets draw attention to previously formed shape-label associations in memory. The results of a shape-classification task confirmed this prediction. Compared to shapes associated with a friend, those paired with the self were classified more rapidly when participants were required to report who the stimulus denoted (i.e., self or friend). In contrast, self-relevance failed to facilitate performance when participants judged either what the shape was (i.e., triangle or square, diamond or circle) or where it was located on the screen (i.e., above or below fixation). These findings further elucidate the conditions under which self-relevance does-and does not-influence stimulus processing.
Topics: Adult; Auditory Perception; Female; Humans; Male; Psychomotor Performance; Recognition, Psychology; Self Concept; Social Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 31919569
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01283-2 -
Nutrients Sep 2020Recent anti-aging interventions have shown contradictory impacts of (poly)phenols regarding the prevention of cognitive decline and maintenance of brain function. These... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Recent anti-aging interventions have shown contradictory impacts of (poly)phenols regarding the prevention of cognitive decline and maintenance of brain function. These discrepancies have been linked to between-study differences in supplementation protocols. This subgroup analysis and meta-regression aimed to (i) examine differential effects of moderator variables related to participant characteristics and supplementation protocols and (ii) identify practical recommendations to design effective (poly)phenol supplementation protocols for future anti-aging interventions.
METHODS
Multiple electronic databases (Web of Science; PubMed) searched for relevant intervention published from inception to July 2019. Using the PICOS criteria, a total of 4303 records were screened. Only high-quality studies ( = 15) were included in the final analyses. Random-effects meta-analysis was used, and we calculated standard differences in means (SDM), effect size (ES), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for two sufficiently comparable items (i.e., psychomotor function and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)). When significant heterogeneity was computed ( > 50%), a subgroup and meta-regression analysis were performed to examine the moderation effects of participant characteristics and supplementation protocols.
RESULTS
The reviewed studies support the beneficial effect of (poly)phenols-rich supplementation on psychomotor functions (ES = -0.677, = 0.001) and brain plasticity (ES = 1.168, = 0.028). Subgroup analysis revealed higher beneficial impacts of (poly)phenols (i) in younger populations compared to older (SDM = -0.89 vs. -0.47 for psychomotor performance, and 2.41 vs. 0.07 for BDNF, respectively), (ii) following an acute compared to chronic supplementation (SDM = -1.02 vs. -0.43 for psychomotor performance), and (iii) using a phenolic compound with medium compared to low bioavailability rates (SDM = -0.76 vs. -0.68 for psychomotor performance and 3.57 vs. 0.07 for DBNF, respectively). Meta-regressions revealed greater improvement in BDNF levels with lower percentages of female participants (Q = 40.15, df = 6, < 0.001) and a skewed scatter plot toward a greater impact using higher (poly)phenols doses.
CONCLUSION
This review suggests that age group, gender, the used phenolic compounds, their human bioavailability rate, and the supplementation dose as the primary moderator variables relating to the beneficial effects of (poly)phenol consumption on cognitive and brain function in humans. Therefore, it seems more advantageous to start anti-aging (poly)phenol interventions in adults earlier in life using medium (≈500 mg) to high doses (≈1000 mg) of phenolic compounds, with at least medium bioavailability rate (≥9%).
Topics: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; Gene Expression Regulation; Polyphenols; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 32961777
DOI: 10.3390/nu12092872 -
Neuropsychologia Feb 2020Four variants on Tulving's "Remember/Know" paradigm supported a tripartite classification of recollective experience in recognition memory into Remembering (as in...
Four variants on Tulving's "Remember/Know" paradigm supported a tripartite classification of recollective experience in recognition memory into Remembering (as in conscious recollection of a past episode), Knowing (similar to retrieval from semantic memory), and Feeling (a priming-based judgment of familiarity). Recognition-by-knowing and recognition-by-feeling are differentiated by level of processing at the time of encoding (Experiments 1-3), shifts in the criterion for item recognition (Experiment 2), response latencies (Experiments 1-3), and changes in the response window (Experiment 3). False recognition is often accompanied by "feeling", but rarely by "knowing"; d' is higher for knowing than for feeling (Experiments 1-4). Recognition-by-knowing increases with additional study trials, while recognition-by-feeling falls to zero (Experiment 4). In these ways, recognition-by-knowing is distinguished from recognition-by-feeling in much the same way as, in the traditional Remember/Know paradigm, recognition-by-remembering can be distinguished from recognition-without-remembering. Implications are discussed for dual-process theories of memory, and the search for the neural substrates of memory retrieval.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Mental Recall; Metacognition; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Psychological Theory; Psychomotor Performance; Reading; Recognition, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 31811844
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107295 -
The British Journal of Developmental... Jun 2022Detecting an error signals the need for increased cognitive control and behavioural adjustments. Considerable development in performance monitoring and cognitive control...
Detecting an error signals the need for increased cognitive control and behavioural adjustments. Considerable development in performance monitoring and cognitive control is evidenced by lower error rates and faster response times in multi-trial executive function tasks with age. Besides these quantitative changes, we were interested in whether qualitative changes in balancing accuracy and speed contribute to developmental progression during elementary school years. We conducted two studies investigating the temporal and developmental trajectories of post-error slowing in three prominent cognitive conflict tasks (Stroop, Simon, and flanker). We instructed children (8-, 10-, and 12-year-old) and adults to respond as fast and as accurately as possible and measured their response times on four trials after correct and incorrect responses to a cognitive conflict. Results revealed that all age groups had longer response times on post-error versus post-correct trials, reflecting post-error slowing. Critically, slowing on the first post-error trial declined with age, suggesting an age-related reduction in the orienting response towards errors. This age effect diminished on subsequent trials, suggesting more fine-tuned cognitive control adjustments with age. Overall, the consistent pattern across tasks suggests an age-related change from a relatively strong orienting response to more balanced cognitive control adaptations.
Topics: Adult; Child; Cognition; Executive Function; Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time
PubMed: 35040504
DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12403 -
Psychological Research Apr 2023The ability to learn and reproduce sequences is fundamental to every-day life, and deficits in sequential learning are associated with developmental disorders such as...
The ability to learn and reproduce sequences is fundamental to every-day life, and deficits in sequential learning are associated with developmental disorders such as specific language impairment. Individual differences in sequential learning are usually investigated using the serial reaction time task (SRTT), wherein a participant responds to a series of regularly timed, seemingly random visual cues that in fact follow a repeating deterministic structure. Although manipulating inter-cue interval timing has been shown to adversely affect sequential learning, the role of metre (the patterning of salience across time) remains unexplored within the regularly timed, visual SRTT. The current experiment consists of an SRTT adapted to include task-irrelevant auditory rhythms conferring a sense of metre. We predicted that (1) participants' (n = 41) reaction times would reflect the auditory metric structure; (2) that disrupting the correspondence between the learned visual sequence and auditory metre would impede performance; and (3) that individual differences in sensitivity to rhythm would predict the magnitude of these effects. Altering the relationship via a phase shift between the trained visual sequence and auditory metre slowed reaction times. Sensitivity to rhythm was predictive of reaction times over all. In an exploratory analysis, we, moreover, found that approximately half of participants made systematically different responses to visual cues on the basis of the cues' position within the auditory metre. We demonstrate the influence of auditory temporal structures on visuomotor sequential learning in a widely used task where metre and timing are rarely considered. The current results indicate sensitivity to metre as a possible latent factor underpinning individual differences in SRTT performance.
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Learning; Reaction Time; Task Performance and Analysis; Cues; Serial Learning
PubMed: 35690927
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01690-y -
Brain and Cognition Mar 2024A primary objective of current human neuropsychological performance research is to define the physiological correlates of adaptive knowledge utilization, in order to... (Review)
Review
A primary objective of current human neuropsychological performance research is to define the physiological correlates of adaptive knowledge utilization, in order to support the enhanced execution of both simple and complex tasks. Within the present article, electroencephalography-based neurophysiological indices characterizing expert psychomotor performance, will be explored. As a means of characterizing fundamental processes underlying efficient psychometric performance, the neural efficiency model will be evaluated in terms of alpha-wave-based selective cortical processes. Cognitive and motor domains will initially be explored independently, which will act to encapsulate the task-related neuronal adaptive requirements for enhanced psychomotor performance associating with the neural efficiency model. Moderating variables impacting the practical application of such neuropsychological model, will also be investigated. As a result, the aim of this review is to provide insight into detectable task-related modulation involved in developed neurocognitive strategies which support heightened psychomotor performance, for the implementation within practical settings requiring a high degree of expert performance (such as sports or military operational settings).
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Electroencephalography; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 38219415
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106132 -
Scientific Reports Feb 2022Many studies have associated mental imagery with motor control mechanisms by showing mutually active brain areas and functions, as well as similar temporal patterns of... (Clinical Trial)
Clinical Trial
Many studies have associated mental imagery with motor control mechanisms by showing mutually active brain areas and functions, as well as similar temporal patterns of imagining and executing the same motor actions. One of the main conjectured mutual mechanisms is the Cerebellar forward-model, commonly believed to generate sensory predictions as part of both motor control and mental imagery processes. Nevertheless, trials to associate one's overall individual mental and motor capacities have shown only mild and inconsistent correlations, hence challenging the mutual mechanism assumption. We hypothesized that one cause to this inconsistency is the forward-model's dominance in the motor-planning stage only when adapting to novel sensorimotor environments, while the inverse-model is gradually taking the lead along the adaptation, and therefore biasing most attempts to measure motor-mental overlapping functions and correlate these measurements under regular circumstances. Our current study aimed to tackle and explore this gap using immersive virtual embodiment, by applying an experience of a fundamental sensorimotor conflict, thereby manipulating the sensory prediction mechanism, and presumably forcing an increased involvement of the forward-model in the motor planning stage throughout the experiment. In the study, two groups of subjects (n = 48) performed mental and manual rotation within an immersive, motion-captured, virtual reality environment, while the sensorimotor dynamics of only the test group were altered by physical-virtual speed re-mapping making the virtual hand move twice as fast as the physical hand controlling it. Individual mental imagery capacities were assessed before and after three blocks of manual-rotation, where motor planning durations were measured as the time until motion onset. The results show that virtual sensorimotor alteration extremely increases the correlation of mental imagery and motor planning (r = 0.9, p < .0001) and leads to higher mental imagery performance improvement following the physical blocks. We particularly show that virtual embodiment manipulation affects the motor planning stage to change and functionally overlap with imagery mechanisms, rather than the other way around, which supports our conjecture of an increased sensory-prediction forward-model involvement. Our results shed new light on the embodied nature of mental imagery, support the view of the predictive forward-model as a key mechanism mutually underlying motor control and imagery, and suggest virtual sensorimotor alteration as a novel methodology to increase physical-mental convergence. These findings also suggest the applicability of using existing motion-tracked virtual environments for continuous cognitive evaluation and treatment, through kinematic analysis of ongoing natural motor behaviors.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Imagination; Male; Middle Aged; Psychomotor Performance; Virtual Reality
PubMed: 35194088
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06800-9 -
Schizophrenia Bulletin Jul 2021
Topics: Biomedical Research; Humans; Mental Disorders; Neurosciences; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 33940630
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbab053 -
Scientific Reports May 2022The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential component indexing processes of performance monitoring during simple stimulus-response tasks: the ERN is...
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential component indexing processes of performance monitoring during simple stimulus-response tasks: the ERN is typically enhanced for error processing and conflicting response representations. Investigations in healthy participants and different patient groups have linked the ERN to the dopamine system and to prefrontal information processing. As in patients with Tourette Syndrome (TS) both dopamine release and prefrontal information processing are impaired, we hypothesized that performance monitoring would be altered, which was investigated with magnetencephalography (MEG). We examined performance monitoring in TS patients by assessing the magnetic equivalent of the ERN (mERN). The mERN was investigated in tic-free trials of eight adult, unmedicated TS patients without clinically significant comorbidity and ten matched healthy controls while performing a Go/NoGo task in selected frontocentral channels. The analysis of the response-related amplitudes of the event-related magnetic field showed that TS patients, in contrast to controls, did not show earlier amplitude modulation (between 70 and 105 ms after response onset) depending on response type (errors or correct responses). In both groups significant mERN amplitudes in the time-window between 105 and 160 ms after response onset were detected thus pointing at only later error processing in TS patients. In TS patients, early error-related processing might be affected by an enhanced motor control triggered by a conflict between the targeted high task performance and tic suppression. TS patients seem to tend to initially process all responses as erroneous responses.
Topics: Adult; Dopamine; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials; Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Tourette Syndrome
PubMed: 35585222
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12156-x