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Frontiers in Psychology 2024Previous research has found that business culture has a detrimental impact on interpersonal trust. To understand whether this impact extends to rapid, automatic,...
Previous research has found that business culture has a detrimental impact on interpersonal trust. To understand whether this impact extends to rapid, automatic, bottom-up judgments of facial trustworthiness, we conducted 4 experiments involving 244 participants from economic and non-economic backgrounds. We presented participants with both trustworthy and untrustworthy faces and asked them to make judgments on trustworthiness. The results show that individuals who are engaged in studying economics, work in an economics-related occupation, or are exposed to an imagined business culture evaluate trustworthy faces to be less trustworthy. The findings shed light on why and how business culture affects the formation of interpersonal trust.
PubMed: 38751767
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1356305 -
Pediatric Neurology Jul 2024Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a genetic multisystemic disorder affecting the nervous system. Data on neurocognitive functioning in AT are limited and focused on patients...
BACKGROUND
Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a genetic multisystemic disorder affecting the nervous system. Data on neurocognitive functioning in AT are limited and focused on patients at various stages of disease. Because of the genetic nature of the disorder, parents of patients may also display subtle neurological problems. This study aimed to evaluate neurocognitive functioning in patients with AT and their unaffected parents.
METHODS
The study included 26 patients with AT and 41 parents among which 13 patients and 18 parents were evaluated with neurocognitive tests. Clinical and radiological data were reviewed retrospectively. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics.
RESULTS
The median ages of patients and parents were 12.5 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 9.5) and 38.0 years (IQR = 12.0), respectively. Median intelligence quotients were 62.0 (IQR = 21.3) and 82.5 (IQR = 16.8), respectively, for patients and parents. Rates of intellectual disability for patients and parents were 100.0% and 83.3%, respectively. Areas of impairment in patients in decreasing order of frequency were motor skills, visual perception/memory, visual-manual coordination, spontaneous/focused and sustained attention (100.0% for each), social judgment, as well as vocabulary and arithmetic skills (75.0% for each). Areas of impairment in unaffected parents in decreasing order of frequency were visual-manual coordination (77.8%), working memory (76.5%), and visual perception and motor skills (66.7% for each).
CONCLUSION
Intellectual disabilities, visual-spatial disabilities, and reduced visual-motor coordination seem to be similar in patients with AT and their parents. These results should be replicated with larger samples from multiple centers and may form putative cognitive endophenotypes for the disorder.
Topics: Humans; Ataxia Telangiectasia; Male; Female; Child; Adult; Parents; Adolescent; Retrospective Studies; Cognitive Dysfunction; Neuropsychological Tests; Middle Aged; Intellectual Disability; Young Adult
PubMed: 38733859
DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2024.04.010 -
PloS One 2024Misophonia, a heightened aversion to certain sounds, turns common cognitive and social exercises (e.g., paying attention during a lecture near a pen-clicking classmate,...
Misophonia, a heightened aversion to certain sounds, turns common cognitive and social exercises (e.g., paying attention during a lecture near a pen-clicking classmate, coexisting at the dinner table with a food-chomping relative) into challenging endeavors. How does exposure to triggering sounds impact cognitive and social judgments? We investigated this question in a sample of 65 participants (26 misophonia, 39 control) from the general population. In Phase 1, participants saw faces paired with auditory stimuli while completing a gender judgment task, then reported sound discomfort and identification. In Phase 2, participants saw these same faces with novel ones and reported face likeability and memory. For both oral and non-oral triggers, misophonic participants gave higher discomfort ratings than controls did-especially when identification was correct-and performed slower on the gender judgment. Misophonic participants rated lower likeability than controls did for faces they remembered with high discomfort sounds, and face memory was worse overall for faces originally paired with high discomfort sounds. Altogether, these results suggest that misophonic individuals show impairments on social and cognitive judgments if they must endure discomforting sounds. This experiment helps us better understand the day-to-day impact of misophonia and encourages usage of individualized triggers in future studies.
Topics: Humans; Male; Female; Judgment; Cognition; Adult; Young Adult; Acoustic Stimulation; Memory
PubMed: 38722993
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299698 -
Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology :... May 2024The purpose of this retrospective archival study was to explore the clinical utility of the Judgment subtest of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) in older...
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this retrospective archival study was to explore the clinical utility of the Judgment subtest of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) in older adults who were referred because of cognitive concerns. Specifically, we were interested in how NAB Judgment covaried with other measures of executive functioning.
METHOD
226 adults, aged 61-89 years (48% dementia, 35% mild cognitive impairment, 18% cognitively intact) completed NAB Judgment. They also completed Trail Making Test (TMT) A and B. In addition, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A) informant and self-reports were obtained to measure executive functioning in daily life.
RESULTS
Scores on NAB Judgment did not correlate significantly with BRIEF-A informant ratings. However, there was a statistically significant correlation between BRIEF-A informant ratings and TMT B. Better performance on TMT B was associated with fewer informant concerns. Furthermore, subgroups with versus without informant BRIEF-A Metacognition indices in the range of impairment demonstrated a statistically significant difference on TMT B but not on Judgment.
CONCLUSIONS
Executive functioning in older adults should not be assessed using NAB Judgment alone. Such an evaluation should be supplemented with other in-person tests as well as informant ratings of daily functioning.
PubMed: 38712367
DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acae035 -
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) May 2024Perceptual decision-making is affected by uncertainty arising from the reliability of incoming sensory evidence (perceptual uncertainty) and the categorization of that...
Perceptual decision-making is affected by uncertainty arising from the reliability of incoming sensory evidence (perceptual uncertainty) and the categorization of that evidence relative to a choice boundary (categorical uncertainty). Here, we investigated how these factors impact the temporal dynamics of evidence processing during decision-making and subsequent metacognitive judgments. Participants performed a motion discrimination task while electroencephalography was recorded. We manipulated perceptual uncertainty by varying motion coherence, and categorical uncertainty by varying the angular offset of motion signals relative to a criterion. After each trial, participants rated their desire to change their mind. High uncertainty impaired perceptual and metacognitive judgments and reduced the amplitude of the centro-parietal positivity, a neural marker of evidence accumulation. Coherence and offset affected the centro-parietal positivity at different time points, suggesting that perceptual and categorical uncertainty affect decision-making in sequential stages. Moreover, the centro-parietal positivity predicted participants' metacognitive judgments: larger predecisional centro-parietal positivity amplitude was associated with less desire to change one's mind, whereas larger postdecisional centro-parietal positivity amplitude was associated with greater desire to change one's mind, but only following errors. These findings reveal a dissociation between predecisional and postdecisional evidence processing, suggesting that the CPP tracks potentially distinct cognitive processes before and after a decision.
Topics: Humans; Male; Female; Decision Making; Young Adult; Electroencephalography; Metacognition; Adult; Uncertainty; Judgment; Motion Perception; Brain; Photic Stimulation; Visual Perception
PubMed: 38706138
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae179 -
PloS One 2024Whenever we are confronted with action opportunities in everyday life, e.g., when passing an opening, we rely on our ability to precisely estimate our own bodily...
Whenever we are confronted with action opportunities in everyday life, e.g., when passing an opening, we rely on our ability to precisely estimate our own bodily capabilities in relation to the environmental conditions. So-called affordance judgments can be affected after brain damage. Previous studies with healthy adults showed that such judgments appeared to be trainable within one session. In the current study, we examined whether stroke patients with either right brain damage (n = 30) or left brain damage (n = 30) may similarly profit from training in an aperture task. Further, the role of neuropsychological deficits in trainability was investigated. In the administered task, stroke patients decided whether their hand would fit into a presented opening with varying horizontal width (Aperture Task). During one training session, patients were asked to try to fit their hand into the opening and received feedback on their decisions. We analyzed accuracy and the detection theory parameters perceptual sensitivity and judgment tendency. Both patients with right brain damage and patients with left brain damage showed improved performance during training as well as post training. High variability with differential profiles of trainability was revealed in these patients. Patients with impaired performance in a visuo-spatial or motor-cognitive task appeared to profit considerably from the target-driven action phase with feedback, but the performance increase in judgments did not last when the action was withdrawn. Future studies applying lesion analysis with a larger sample may shed further light on the dissociation in the trainability of affordance judgments observed in patients with versus without visuo-spatial or motor-cognitive deficits.
Topics: Humans; Male; Stroke; Female; Middle Aged; Judgment; Aged; Functional Laterality; Psychomotor Performance; Adult
PubMed: 38701086
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299705 -
Psychogeriatrics : the Official Journal... Jul 2024Drivers with dementia are at a higher risk of motor vehicle accidents. The characteristics of driving behaviour of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and...
Alterations in driving ability and their relationship with morphometric magnetic resonance imaging indicators in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
BACKGROUND
Drivers with dementia are at a higher risk of motor vehicle accidents. The characteristics of driving behaviour of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have not been fully elucidated. We investigated driving ability and its relationship with cognitive function and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) morphometry indicators.
METHODS
The driving abilities of 19 patients with AD and 11 with amnestic MCI (aMCI) were evaluated using a driving simulator. The association between each driving ability parameter and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score or voxel-based specific regional analysis system for AD (VSRAD) was assessed.
RESULTS
Patients with AD made a significantly higher number of operational errors than those with aMCI in attention allocation in the complex task test (P = 0.0008). The number of operational errors in attention allocation in the complex task test significantly and negatively correlated with MMSE scores in all participants (r = -0.4354, P = 0.0162). The decision time in the selective reaction test significantly and positively correlated with the severity and extent of medial temporal structural atrophy (r = 0.4807, P = 0.0372; r = 0.4862, P = 0.0348; respectively).
CONCLUSION
An increase in the operational errors for attention allocation in the complex task test could be a potential indicator of progression from aMCI to AD. Atrophy of the medial temporal structures could be a potential predictor of impaired judgement in driving performance in aMCI and AD. A driving simulator could be useful for evaluating the driving abilities of individuals with aMCI and AD.
Topics: Humans; Alzheimer Disease; Automobile Driving; Male; Cognitive Dysfunction; Female; Aged; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neuropsychological Tests; Aged, 80 and over; Mental Status and Dementia Tests; Amnesia; Attention; Atrophy
PubMed: 38692585
DOI: 10.1111/psyg.13128 -
Early Human Development Jun 2024The study aims to compare neurological soft signs and executive functions between Toxocara-seropositive and seronegative groups in children with...
BACKGROUND
The study aims to compare neurological soft signs and executive functions between Toxocara-seropositive and seronegative groups in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
METHODS
The study included 60 boys with ADHD, aged 7-12. After blood samples were taken, the Stroop Color Word Test and Judgment of Line Orientation test (JLOT) were implemented to measure executive functions. Neurological soft signs were evaluated with Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Signs (PANESS).
RESULTS
Serological tests were positive for Toxocara antibodies in 20 cases. There was no significant difference between Toxocara seropositive and seronegative regarding age, socioeconomic status, developmental stages, and ADHD severity. However, Toxocara-seropositive children had higher Stroop time and Stroop interference scores and lower JLOT scores than Toxocara-seronegative children. Furthermore, Toxocara-seropositive children exhibited more neurological soft signs, such as gait and station abnormalities, dysrhythmia, and a longer total time in timed movements compared to Toxocara-seronegative children.
CONCLUSION
Our study indicates a link between Toxocara-seropositivity and impaired neurological soft signs and executive functions in ADHD. Further research is needed to understand ADHD mechanisms, develop practical treatments considering immunological factors, and thoroughly evaluate how Toxocara seropositivity affects executive functions and motor skills in children with ADHD.
Topics: Humans; Child; Male; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Toxocara; Motor Skills; Executive Function; Animals; Toxocariasis; Attention
PubMed: 38663140
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106017 -
Autism Research : Official Journal of... May 2024Research has shown that children on the autism spectrum and adults with high levels of autistic traits are less sensitive to audiovisual asynchrony compared to their...
Research has shown that children on the autism spectrum and adults with high levels of autistic traits are less sensitive to audiovisual asynchrony compared to their neurotypical peers. However, this evidence has been limited to simultaneity judgments (SJ) which require participants to consider the timing of two cues together. Given evidence of partly divergent perceptual and neural mechanisms involved in making temporal order judgments (TOJ) and SJ, and given that SJ require a more global type of processing which may be impaired in autistic individuals, here we ask whether the observed differences in audiovisual temporal processing are task and stimulus specific. We examined the ability to detect audiovisual asynchrony in a group of 26 autistic adult males and a group of age and IQ-matched neurotypical males. Participants were presented with beep-flash, point-light drumming, and face-voice displays with varying degrees of asynchrony and asked to make SJ and TOJ. The results indicated that autistic participants were less able to detect audiovisual asynchrony compared to the control group, but this effect was specific to SJ and more complex social stimuli (e.g., face-voice) with stronger semantic correspondence between the cues, requiring a more global type of processing. This indicates that audiovisual temporal processing is not generally different in autistic individuals and that a similar level of performance could be achieved by using a more local type of processing, thus informing multisensory integration theory as well as multisensory training aimed to aid perceptual abilities in this population.
Topics: Humans; Male; Judgment; Adult; Visual Perception; Auditory Perception; Young Adult; Autistic Disorder; Photic Stimulation; Cues; Acoustic Stimulation; Time Perception; Adolescent
PubMed: 38661256
DOI: 10.1002/aur.3134 -
ELife Apr 2024The central tendency bias, or contraction bias, is a phenomenon where the judgment of the magnitude of items held in working memory appears to be biased toward the...
The central tendency bias, or contraction bias, is a phenomenon where the judgment of the magnitude of items held in working memory appears to be biased toward the average of past observations. It is assumed to be an optimal strategy by the brain and commonly thought of as an expression of the brain's ability to learn the statistical structure of sensory input. On the other hand, recency biases such as serial dependence are also commonly observed and are thought to reflect the content of working memory. Recent results from an auditory delayed comparison task in rats suggest that both biases may be more related than previously thought: when the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) was silenced, both short-term and contraction biases were reduced. By proposing a model of the circuit that may be involved in generating the behavior, we show that a volatile working memory content susceptible to shifting to the past sensory experience - producing short-term sensory history biases - naturally leads to contraction bias. The errors, occurring at the level of individual trials, are sampled from the full distribution of the stimuli and are not due to a gradual shift of the memory toward the sensory distribution's mean. Our results are consistent with a broad set of behavioral findings and provide predictions of performance across different stimulus distributions and timings, delay intervals, as well as neuronal dynamics in putative working memory areas. Finally, we validate our model by performing a set of human psychophysics experiments of an auditory parametric working memory task.
Topics: Memory, Short-Term; Animals; Humans; Rats; Models, Neurological; Parietal Lobe
PubMed: 38656279
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.86725