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Nutrients May 2024The main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention in the context of moderate alcohol consumption on... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
The main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention in the context of moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive performance in healthy young adults.
METHODS
We conducted a 10-week HIIT program along with four types of beverages with/without alcohol content. A total of 75 healthy adults (18-40 years old; 46% female) were allocated to either a control Non-Training group or an HIIT program group (2 days/week). Using block randomization, participants in the HIIT group were further allocated to an HIIT-Alcohol group (alcohol beer or sparkling water with vodka added, 5.4%) or an HIIT-NonAlcohol group (sparkling water or non-alcohol beer, 0.0%). The control group was instructed to maintain an active lifestyle but did not undergo any regular training. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was used to evaluate cognitive performance (i.e., memory, working memory, processing speed, inhibitory control, and verbal fluency). Changes from baseline to week 10 were included in the main analyses.
RESULTS
All groups improved in all neuropsychological measures (all ≤ 0.001), independent of sex and alcohol consumption, with no statistical differences between groups (all > 0.05). Furthermore, larger increases in maximal oxygen uptake were associated with greater improvements in processing speed, inhibitory control, and verbal fluency (all < 0.050).
CONCLUSIONS
Although the improvements found in cognitive performance cannot be attributed to the HIIT intervention, no significant impairments in cognitive functions were noted due to moderate alcohol intake. Furthermore, our results confirmed that exercise-induced physical fitness improvements were associated with cognitive performance enhancements in young healthy adults.
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; High-Intensity Interval Training; Cognition; Young Adult; Adult; Alcohol Drinking; Adolescent; Neuropsychological Tests; Oxygen Consumption; Alcoholic Beverages
PubMed: 38892613
DOI: 10.3390/nu16111680 -
PloS One 2024Language is rooted in our ability to compose: We link words together, fusing their meanings. Links are not limited to neighboring words but often span intervening words....
Language is rooted in our ability to compose: We link words together, fusing their meanings. Links are not limited to neighboring words but often span intervening words. The ability to process these non-adjacent dependencies (NADs) conflicts with the brain's sampling of speech: We consume speech in chunks that are limited in time, containing only a limited number of words. It is unknown how we link words together that belong to separate chunks. Here, we report that we cannot-at least not so well. In our electroencephalography (EEG) study, 37 human listeners learned chunks and dependencies from an artificial grammar (AG) composed of syllables. Multi-syllable chunks to be learned were equal-sized, allowing us to employ a frequency-tagging approach. On top of chunks, syllable streams contained NADs that were either confined to a single chunk or crossed a chunk boundary. Frequency analyses of the EEG revealed a spectral peak at the chunk rate, showing that participants learned the chunks. NADs that cross boundaries were associated with smaller electrophysiological responses than within-chunk NADs. This shows that NADs are processed readily when they are confined to the same chunk, but not as well when crossing a chunk boundary. Our findings help to reconcile the classical notion that language is processed incrementally with recent evidence for discrete perceptual sampling of speech. This has implications for language acquisition and processing as well as for the general view of syntax in human language.
Topics: Humans; Electroencephalography; Female; Male; Adult; Language; Young Adult; Speech Perception; Speech; Learning; Brain
PubMed: 38889141
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305333 -
JASA Express Letters Jun 2024Singing is socially important but constrains voice acoustics, potentially masking certain aspects of vocal identity. Little is known about how well listeners extract...
Singing is socially important but constrains voice acoustics, potentially masking certain aspects of vocal identity. Little is known about how well listeners extract talker details from sung speech or identify talkers across the sung and spoken modalities. Here, listeners (n = 149) were trained to recognize sung or spoken voices and then tested on their identification of these voices in both modalities. Learning vocal identities was initially easier through speech than song. At test, cross-modality voice recognition was above chance, but weaker than within-modality recognition. We conclude that talker information is accessible in sung speech, despite acoustic constraints in song.
Topics: Humans; Singing; Male; Female; Adult; Speech Perception; Voice; Young Adult; Recognition, Psychology; Speech
PubMed: 38888432
DOI: 10.1121/10.0026385 -
Tobacco Induced Diseases 2024In this study, we investigate the effects of smoking on pain scores, vital signs, and analgesic consumption in the intraoperative and postoperative period in patients...
INTRODUCTION
In this study, we investigate the effects of smoking on pain scores, vital signs, and analgesic consumption in the intraoperative and postoperative period in patients undergoing tympanomastoidectomy surgery.
METHODS
A total of 100 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists I-II status, aged 18-55 years, and who were planned to undergo tympanomastoidectomy surgery were divided into two groups: smokers (Group 1) and non-smokers (Group 2). The patients were compared for preoperative, intraoperative, and 24-hour postoperative carboxyhemoglobin, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, heart rate, pain intensity and verbal numerical rating scales, the extent of patient-controlled tramadol dose, nausea, and vomiting.
RESULTS
There were 50 individuals in each group. Postoperative analgesic consumption and pain scores were higher in Group 1, and the first postoperative pain was felt earlier. Furthermore, in Group 1, preoperative carboxyhemoglobin levels and postoperative nausea were statistically higher before, after, and at the tenth minute after induction, whereas oxygen saturation was lower. The two groups had no statistical difference regarding intraoperative and postoperative vital signs. Postoperative analgesic consumption was not affected by age or gender.
CONCLUSIONS
Smoking changes postoperative pain management, especially for this kind of operation, and these patients feel more pain and need more postoperative analgesic doses. Therefore, effective postoperative pain control should take account of smoking behavior, and analgesic doses may need to be adjusted for patients who smoke.
PubMed: 38887600
DOI: 10.18332/tid/189301 -
Journal of the American Medical... Jun 2024The main objectives of this research are (1) to uniquely design assistive behaviors for socially assistive robots using the principles of persuasion from behavioral...
OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of this research are (1) to uniquely design assistive behaviors for socially assistive robots using the principles of persuasion from behavioral psychology, and (2) to investigate caregivers' perspectives and opinions on the use of these behaviors to engage and motivate older adults in cognitive activities.
DESIGN
We developed 10 unique robot persuasive assistive behavior strategies for the social robot Pepper using both verbal and nonverbal communication modes. Robot verbal behaviors were designed using Cialdini's principles of persuasion; nonverbal behaviors included expansive movements of the body. Care providers' perceptions of the quality, strength, and persuasiveness of these robot persuasive behaviors were assessed based on the Perceived Argument Strength Likert scale.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
Eighteen formal and informal care providers caring for older adults including those living with mild cognitive impairments participated.
METHODS
An online survey was designed consisting of short videos of the Pepper robot displaying each behavior. After viewing each video, care providers completed the Perceived Argument Strength Likert scale to evaluate 6 attributes for each behavior. They also provided comments.
RESULTS
Results show robot assistive behaviors using praise with emotion, along with emotion with commitment were the most positively rated by care providers. Qualitative responses indicate robot body language and speech quality were influencing factors in how a person perceives assistance in human-robot interactions.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Our findings provide new insights into incorporating persuasive strategies into the design of assistive social robot behaviors with the aim of engaging and motivating older adults in an activity. The majority of care providers rated the robot persuasive behaviors positively. In designing a persuasive socially assistive robot for older adults, it is beneficial to display a combination of persuasive strategies, such as praise and commitment with emotion, to address individual users' needs and cognitive levels.
PubMed: 38880121
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2024.105084 -
JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive... Jun 2024People with intellectual and sensory or sensory-motor disabilities tend to have problems performing multistep tasks. To alleviate their problems, technological solutions...
BACKGROUND
People with intellectual and sensory or sensory-motor disabilities tend to have problems performing multistep tasks. To alleviate their problems, technological solutions have been developed that provide task-step instructions. Instructions are generally delivered at people's request (eg, as they touch an area of a computer or tablet screen) or automatically, at preset intervals.
OBJECTIVE
This study carried out a preliminary assessment of a new tablet-based technology system that presented task-step instructions when participants with intellectual and sensory disabilities walked close to the tablet (ie, did not require participants to perform fine motor responses on the tablet screen).
METHODS
The system entailed a tablet and a wireless camera and was programmed to present instructions when participants approached the tablet, that is, when the camera positioned in front of the tablet detected them. Two instructions were available for each task step. One instruction concerned the object(s) that the participants were to collect, and the other instruction concerned the "where" and "how" the object(s) collected would need to be used. For 3 of the six participants, the two instructions were presented in succession, with the second instruction presented once the required object(s) had been collected. For the other 3 participants, the two instructions were presented simultaneously. Instructions consisted of pictorial representations combined with brief verbal phrases. The impact of the system was assessed for each of the 2 groups of participants using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across individuals.
RESULTS
All participants were successful in using the system. Their mean frequency of correct task steps was close to or above 11.5 for tasks including 12 steps. Their level of correct performance tended to be much lower during the baseline phase when they were to receive the task-step instructions from a regular tablet through scrolling responses.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings, which need to be interpreted with caution given the preliminary nature of the study, suggest that the new tablet-based technology system might be useful for helping people with intellectual and sensory disabilities perform multistep tasks.
PubMed: 38865701
DOI: 10.2196/59315 -
PloS One 2024This study aims to investigate the effect of detoxification on acoustic features of Mandarin speech. Speech recordings were collected from 66 male abstinent heroin users...
This study aims to investigate the effect of detoxification on acoustic features of Mandarin speech. Speech recordings were collected from 66 male abstinent heroin users with different durations of drug detoxification, specifically early abstinent users with a detoxification duration of less than 2 years, sustained abstinent users with 2 years of detoxification, and long-term abstinent users with a detoxification duration of more than 2 years. The results of the acoustic analyses showed that early abstinent users exhibited lower loudness, relative energies of F1, F2, and F3, higher H1-A3, and fewer loudness peaks per second, as well as a longer average duration of unvoiced segments, compared to the sustained and long-term abstinent users. The findings suggest that detoxification may lead to a rehabilitation process in the speech production of abstinent heroin users (e.g., less vocal hoarseness). This study not only provides valuable insights into the effect of detoxification on speech production but also provides a theoretical basis for the speech rehabilitation and detoxification treatment of heroin users.
Topics: Humans; Male; Heroin Dependence; Adult; Speech Acoustics; Speech; Young Adult; Language; Inactivation, Metabolic
PubMed: 38865318
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304399 -
Actas Espanolas de Psiquiatria Jun 2024In recent years, the number of adolescents with depression has been increasing annually, with individuals often exhibiting non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior. The...
BACKGROUND
In recent years, the number of adolescents with depression has been increasing annually, with individuals often exhibiting non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate the family (childhood abuse), school (peer victimization), and individual (psychological resilience) factors of adolescents with depression with or without NSSI (the Chinese version of the Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation [C-FASM] scale), and to analyze the correlation between the above psychological and social factors and the frequency of NSSI, to provide a basis for NSSI prevention and intervention in adolescents with depression.
METHODS
We recruited 355 adolescents with depressive symptoms to participate in this study and divided them into Group NSSI (N = 227) and Group no-NSSI (n-NSSI) (N = 128) based on the C-FASM scale. The Short-Form Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF), Multidimensional Peer Visualization Scale (MPVS), and Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents (RISC) scores were compared between two groups of adolescents. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between NSSI frequency and the above scores.
RESULTS
Emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, and total CTQ-SF score in Group NSSI were significantly higher than those in Group n-NSSI (all p < 0.001). Physical victimization, verbal victimization, social manipulation, attacks on property, and total MPVS score in Group NSSI were significantly higher than those in Group n-NSSI (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.009, p < 0.001, p < 0.001). Goal concentration, emotion regulation, positive perception, family support, interpersonal assistance, and total RISC score in Group NSSI were significantly lower than those in Group n-NSSI (all p < 0.001). The frequency of NSSI was significantly positively correlated with emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, and total CTQ-SF score (r = 0.366, p < 0.001; r = 0.411, p < 0.001; r = 0.554, p < 0.001; r = 0.220, p = 0.001; r = 0.255, p < 0.001; r = 0.673, p < 0.001). The frequency of NSSI was significantly positively correlated with physical victimization, verbal victimization, social manipulation, attacks on property, and total MPVS score (r = 0.418, p < 0.001; r = 0.455, p < 0.001; r = 0.447, p < 0.001; r = 0.555, p = 0.001; r = 0.704, p < 0.001). The frequency of NSSI was significantly negatively correlated with goal concentration, emotion regulation, positive perception, family support, interpersonal assistance, and total RISC score (r = -0.393, p < 0.001; r = -0.341, p < 0.001; r = -0.465, p < 0.001; r = -0.272, p = 0.001; r = -0.160, p = 0.016; r = -0.540, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings highlight the importance of family (childhood abuse), school (peer victimization), and individual (psychological resilience) factors for NSSI in depressed adolescents, and these factors are closely related to NSSI frequency.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Maintaining a good family environment, solving the problem of peer victimization at school, and developing corresponding measures to improve psychological resilience are of great significance for improving the mental health of depressed adolescents and reducing the risk of NSSI.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Self-Injurious Behavior; Male; Female; Child Abuse; Resilience, Psychological; Crime Victims; Depression; Peer Group; Child; Bullying; Correlation of Data
PubMed: 38863041
DOI: 10.62641/aep.v52i3.1650 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2024In the present study, we aimed to assess the cognition of post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) participants in relation to their subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep...
OBJECTIVE
In the present study, we aimed to assess the cognition of post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) participants in relation to their subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI) and to analyse possible moderators of this effect, such as quality of life (European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions, EQ-5D), fatigue (Chadler Fatigue Questionnaire, CFQ), cognitive reserve (Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire, CRC), and subjective cognitive complaints (Memory Failures of Everyday Questionnaire, MFE-30).
METHODS
We included 373 individuals with PCC and 126 healthy controls (HCs) from the NAUTILUS Project (NCT05307549 and NCT05307575) who were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and various questionnaires.
RESULTS
We found that PCC participants with poor sleep quality had a 4.3% greater risk of immediate verbal memory deficits than those with good sleep quality, as indicated by the greater odds ratio (OR) of 1.043 and confidence interval (CI) of 1.023-1.063. Additionally, their risk of immediate verbal memory disorders was multiplied by 2.4 when their EQ-5D score was low (OR 0.33; CI 0.145-0.748), and they had a lower risk of delayed visual memory deficits with a greater CRC (OR 0.963; CI 0.929-0.999). With respect to processing speed, PCC participants with poor sleep quality had a 6.7% greater risk of deficits as the MFE increased (OR 1.059; CI 1.024-1.096), and the risk of slowed processing speed tripled with a lower EQ-5D (OR 0.021; CI 0.003-0.141).
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that poor subjective sleep quality is a potential trigger for cognitive deficits. Therapeutic strategies to maximize sleep quality could include reducing sleep disturbances and perhaps cognitive impairment in PCC individuals.
PubMed: 38860054
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1382875 -
PloS One 2024What is the role of working memory over the course of non-native speech category learning? Prior work has predominantly focused on how working memory might influence...
What is the role of working memory over the course of non-native speech category learning? Prior work has predominantly focused on how working memory might influence learning assessed at a single timepoint. Here, we substantially extend this prior work by examining the role of working memory on speech learning performance over time (i.e., over several months) and leverage a multifaceted approach that provides key insights into how working memory influences learning accuracy, maintenance of knowledge over time, generalization ability, and decision processes. We found that the role of working memory in non-native speech learning depends on the timepoint of learning and whether individuals learned the categories at all. Among learners, across all stages of learning, working memory was associated with higher accuracy as well as faster and slightly more cautious decision making. Further, while learners and non-learners did not have substantially different working memory performance, learners had faster evidence accumulation and more cautious decision thresholds throughout all sessions. Working memory may enhance learning by facilitating rapid category acquisition in initial stages and enabling faster and slightly more careful decision-making strategies that may reduce the overall effort needed to learn. Our results have important implications for developing interventions to improve learning in naturalistic language contexts.
Topics: Humans; Memory, Short-Term; Female; Male; Learning; Individuality; Speech; Young Adult; Adult; Decision Making; Language
PubMed: 38857268
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297917