Differences In Reaction Time Research Articles

Effects of gamma frequency binaural beats on attention and anxiety

Binaural beats (BB) are an auditory phenomenon produced from a combination of two sine waves with slightly different frequencies presented to each ear. Previous research has implicated the role of BBs through brainwave entrainment in potentially giving rise to benefits ranging from enhanced memory and attention to reduced anxiety and stress. Here, we investigated the effect of gamma (40-Hz) BBs on attention using the attention network test (ANT), a previously unused task that assesses three subtypes of attention: Alerting, Orienting, and Executive Control.Fifty-eight healthy adults performed the ANT remotely under the exposure of 340-Hz BBs and a 380-Hz control tone. All completed a rating scale for levels of anxiety before and after each exposure. Performance on the ANT task (reaction time and error rates) between BB and control groups was evaluated using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.We found no significant differences in Reaction Time (RT), Error Rate (ER), or the efficacy of the Attention Networks (AN) between the experimental and control conditions (p > 0.05). We found no effect of BB on self-rated measures of anxiety. Our findings do not provide evidence for improvement in attention with gamma BB.

The Influence of Protective Headgear on the Peripheral Vision Reaction Time of Recreational-Level Skiers

Alpine skiing is characterized by specific and dynamic conditions and demands constant processing of visual information and fast decision-making. A fast response time is necessary for protective movements which reduce the number and severity of additional head impacts. The apparent detriments to visual performance caused by protective headgear are concerning and should be considered moving forward in recreational alpine skiing. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of wearing the three most common combinations of protective headgear in skiing on the timing of visual stimuli perception and adequate response when simulating on-the-slope situations. The sample consisted of 45 recreational-level skiers (27 M, 18 F; age 30.6 ± 8.19 years) who had finished basic alpine skiing school, had been skiing 6–10 years continuously, and were students of Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. They did not report any serious medical conditions regarding vision. The overall testing was conducted in the winter season during January and February of 2022. Reaction time on perceived visual stimuli was observed in a way that a skier was approaching behind a participant’s back from both the left and right side. A 2 × 3 (helmet*condition) mixed-model repeated-measures ANOVA was used to determine differences between helmet users and non-users in each tested condition. When observing the results, it was confirmed that the response time of the participants was the slowest when wearing a ski helmet and goggles combined. Furthermore, one of the most important findings was the determined differences in reaction time between helmet users and non-users, i.e., prior helmet users tended to react faster to the upcoming visual stimuli when wearing combined ski helmet and goggles. In the design and construction of the goggles, it is also necessary to pay attention to reducing the thickness of the frame in order to reduce the distance between the eye and the lens, which consequently reduces interference in the peripheral parts of the field of vision. In future studies, the same testing protocol with all the possible combinations of wearing a ski cap, a helmet, sunglasses, and goggles is necessary to gain a clearer insight into the effect of each item of headgear separately and in various combinations.

The relationship between musical training and the processing of audiovisual correspondences: Evidence from a reaction time task.

Numerous studies have reported both cortical and functional changes for visual, tactile, and auditory brain areas in musicians, which have been attributed to long-term training induced neuroplasticity. Previous investigations have reported advantages for musicians in multisensory processing at the behavioural level, however, multisensory integration with tasks requiring higher level cognitive processing has not yet been extensively studied. Here, we investigated the association between musical expertise and the processing of audiovisual crossmodal correspondences in a decision reaction-time task. The visual display varied in three dimensions (elevation, symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude), while the auditory stimulus varied in pitch. Congruency was based on a set of newly learned abstract rules: "The higher the spatial elevation, the higher the tone", "the more dots presented, the higher the tone", and "the higher the number presented, the higher the tone", and accuracy and reaction times were recorded. Musicians were significantly more accurate in their responses than non-musicians, suggesting an association between long-term musical training and audiovisual integration. Contrary to what was hypothesized, no differences in reaction times were found. The musicians' advantage on accuracy was also observed for rule-based congruency in seemingly unrelated stimuli (pitch-magnitude). These results suggest an interaction between implicit and explicit processing-as reflected on reaction times and accuracy, respectively. This advantage was generalised on congruency in otherwise unrelated stimuli (pitch-magnitude pairs), suggesting an advantage on processes requiring higher order cognitive functions. The results support the notion that accuracy and latency measures may reflect different processes.

Post-error slowing predicts for relapse in individuals with alcohol use disorder

BackgroundRelapse characterizes addiction. The cognitive phenotype underlying relapse in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) remain unelucidated. Here we aimed to investigate the potential changes in behavioral adjustment in AUD, and the association with relapse. MethodForty-seven subjects with AUD at Shandong Mental Health Center completed the stop-signal task, the PACS, the Beck Depression Inventory and the State-Trait anxiety questionnaires. Thirty age-matched male healthy subjects served as the control group (HC). In the follow-up, twenty-one subjects remained abstinent, while twenty-six subjects relapsed. Independent sample t-test was applied to measure differences between two groups and logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the potential predictors on relapse. ResultsThe results showed that there were significant differences in stop signal reaction time (SSRT) and trigger failure between the AUD and HC groups. Relapsed group showed longer post-error slowing (PES) when compared to the non-relapsed group. The PES could predict relapse in alcohol use disorder. ConclusionIndividuals with AUD showed impaired inhibitory control, which may predict relapse.

Individual differences in procedural learning are associated with fiber specific white matter microstructure of the superior cerebellar peduncles in healthy adults

Functional neuroimaging has consistently implicated the fronto-basal ganglia-cerebellar circuit in procedural learning-defined as the incidental acquisition of sequence information through repetition. Limited work has probed the role of white matter fiber pathways that connect the regions in this network, such as the superior cerebellar peduncles (SCP) and the striatal premotor tracts (STPMT), in explaining individual differences in procedural learning. High angular diffusion weighted imaging was acquired from 20 healthy adults aged 18-45 years. Fixel-based analysis was performed to extract specific measures of white matter microstructure (fiber density; FD) and macrostructure (fiber cross-section; FC), from the SCP and STPMT. These fixel metrics were correlated with performance on the serial reaction time (SRT) task, and sensitivity to the sequence was indexed by the difference in reaction time between the final block of sequence trials and the randomized block (namely, the 'rebound effect'). Analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between FD and the rebound effect in segments of both the left and right SCP (pFWE < .05). That is, increased FD in these tracts was associated with greater sensitivity to the sequence on the SRT task. No significant associations were detected between fixel metrics in the STPMT and the rebound effect. Our results support the likely role of white matter organization in the basal ganglia-cerebellar circuit in explaining individual differences in procedural learning.

Performance of older adults in a digital change detection task: The role of heterogeneous education

The influence of education on traditional paper-and-pen cognitive assessments is widely reported. However, a minimal amount of evidence is available regarding the role of education in digital tasks. This study aimed to compare the performance of older adults with different educational attainment in a digital change detection task, as well as to relate their performance on the digital task and traditional paper-based tests. Participants (n = 180) were recruited in primary health care settings from a countryside city in the state of Sao Paulo-Brazil and were assigned to three different groups according to their educational background. Traditional paper-based neuropsychological instruments (i.e., ACE-R, Digit Span, Bells test) were used in addition to a digital change detection task. There was no difference in reaction time on the change detection task between the groups; however, participants with higher educational levels performed better than illiterates or lower education groups. The digital test was correlated to ACE-R total score as well as to its language domain. Our results suggested that the performance in the digital task was different for older adults with heterogeneous educational attainment. Technology is a promising pathway in cognitive assessment, and education should be considered in the interpretation of the results.

The effect of response-to-stimulus interval on children’s implicit sequence learning

The current study examined, for the first time in a developmental perspective, the effect of response-to-stimulus interval (RSI) in incidental sequence learning (SL). Children aged 4, 7, and 10 years performed a serial reaction time (SRT) task in which the RSI was systematically manipulated (0, 250, 500, or 750 ms). SL (difference in reaction times between fixed and random blocks) was not observed for the youngest children whatever the RSI condition, whereas the 7-year-olds learned the sequence only in the 250-ms RSI condition and the 10-year-olds exhibited SL in all temporal conditions except the 500-ms RSI condition. Finally, the results suggest that conscious awareness of the sequence emerges only in older children faced with the 500- and 750-ms RSI conditions. The discussion questions the robustness of implicit learning processes in the light of individual and contextual factors.

Altered Emotion Perception Linked to Structural Brain Differences in Youth With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a genetic disorder that results in hormonal imbalances and decreased brain volumes in regions important for emotional processing. To examine whether emotion perception differs between youth with CAH and control youth, and if these differences relate to brain volumes. In this cross-sectional study of 27 youths with CAH (mean age = 12.63 years, 16 female) and 35 age- and sex-matched controls (mean age = 13.03 years, 20 female), each participant rated picture stimuli and completed a 3T structural brain scan. Valence and arousal ratings and reaction times of 61 affective images were assessed. Gray matter volumes were measured by MRI. Youth with CAH had lower valence ratings for negative (P = .007) and neutral (P = .019) images. Controls showed differences in reaction times and arousal ratings across stimuli conditions, but youth with CAH did not. Brain volumes of the right amygdala (P = .025) and left hippocampus (P = .002) were associated with valence ratings. Left rostral middle frontal (P < .001) and right medial orbitofrontal cortex (P = .002) volumes were negatively related to valence scores only in youth with CAH, whereas left medial orbitofrontal cortex (P < .001) volumes were associated with valence scores positively in youth with CAH and negatively in controls. Findings suggest that youth with CAH perceive emotive stimuli as more unpleasant. Decreased brain volumes in the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex are associated with these measures of altered emotion perception in youth with CAH.

Gender differences in behavioral inhibitory control under evoked acute stress: An event-related potential study.

This study investigated gender differences in behavioral inhibitory control among college students under acute stress state by using event-related potential technique. Acute stress was evoked in 41 college students (22 males and 19 females) using the Trier Social Stress paradigm, and the neutral state was matched using out-of-speech reading, with subjects completing a two-choice Oddball task in each of the two states. In combination with the ERP technique, the area under the stress curve, reaction time, number of errors, and the difference waves between the two stimulus conditions in the frontal-central region N2 wave amplitude and the parietal-central region P3 wave amplitude were compared between the two groups of subjects in the stressful and neutral state. The results revealed that the area under the stress curve was larger under the stress condition compared to the neutral condition, and the area under the stress curve was larger in females than in males. Behavioral results showed no statistically significant differences in reaction time and number of errors between the two genders in the acute stress condition. The ERP results showed that the wave amplitudes of N2 and P3 decreased significantly in both genders in the acute stress state. The decrease in N2 amplitude was greater in females during the transition from neutral to stressful condition, while the difference in P3 amplitude was not statistically significant in both genders. The findings suggest that evoked acute stress can promote behavioral inhibitory control in both genders and that females are more sensitive to acute stress state.

The Development of Working Memory: Sex Differences in Accuracy and Reaction Times

ABSTRACT Small but robust differences in cognition exist between the sexes in adult populations. Studying sex differences in children’s cognition can bring insight into when, where and how these differences might emerge in development. Here, we focus on differences in working memory because of its importance in underpinning a wide range of complex cognitive tasks and developmental outcomes for children. Using two levels of difficulty on a standard test of working memory (N-Back), data from 104 6- to 7-year-olds in Cuba showed that boys have quicker reaction times, but girls provide more accurate responses. With a comparable true positive rate between boys and girls, the sex differences in both accuracy and reaction times were limited to false-positive responses. Sex differences were consistent across levels of task difficulty and persisted after speed-accuracy trade-offs were considered. We argue that avoiding false positives requires a particularly strong role for inhibitory control and that this emerges in development according to a different maturational schedule for girls than it does for boys, underpinned by quantitative and qualitative differences in the development of brain areas that support this function.

Facial Emotion Perception in Young Female Students with Single Panic Attacks

The study aimed to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of facial emotion recognition in a non-clinical group of 13 young female students with single Panic Attacks (PA) compared to 14 matched healthy controls. Subjects were asked to recognize angry, fearful, happy, disgusted, sad and surprised faces, and reaction time and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Significant between-group differences in reaction time were not found, but the PA subjects reacted more slowly to angry and fearful expressions. More distinct between-group differences were observed in the EPRs: the PA subjects demonstrated increased amplitudes of the P100 components in the occipital area. The increased amplitude of the occipital P100 component for threat-related faces suggests that this type of high-arousal negative emotions is particularly meaningful for the PA individuals.

Does aging amplify the rule-based efficiency effect in action selection?

When it comes to the selection of adequate movements, people may apply varying strategies. Explicit if-then rules, compared to implicit prospective action planning, can facilitate action selection in young healthy adults. But aging alters cognitive processes. It is unknown whether older adults may similarly, profit from a rule-based approach to action selection. To investigate the potential effects of aging, the Rule/Plan Motor Cognition (RPMC) paradigm was applied to three different age groups between 31 and 90 years of age. Participants selected grips either instructed by a rule or by prospective planning. As a function of age, we found a general increase in a strategy-specific advantage as quantified by the difference in reaction time between plan- and rule-based action selection. However, in older age groups, these differences went in both directions: some participants initiated rule-based action selection faster, while for others, plan-based action selection seemed more efficient. The decomposition of reaction times into speed of the decision process, action encoding, and response caution components suggests that rule-based action selection may reduce action encoding demands in all age groups. There appears a tendency for the younger and middle age groups to have a speed advantage in the rule task when it comes to information accumulation for action selection. Thus, one influential factor determining the robustness of the rule-based efficiency effect across the lifespan may be presented by the reduced speed of information uptake. Future studies need to further specify the role of these parameters for efficient action selection.

Abstract P370: Implicit Bias Among Vascular Surgeons

Objective: Implicit bias is an unconscious bias that may influence behavior, cognitive processes and decision-making. In clinical settings, implicit bias present in clinicians may influence the treatment that people receive and may be a root cause of health disparities. Our study measured implicit bias among vascular surgeons who participate in the management of individuals with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Methods: Our sampling frame included all vascular surgeons that contribute to the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) registry. We invited these individuals to take the race implicit association test (IAT) used to measure level of unconscious bias. The IAT asks participants to classify items presented on a computer by quickly pressing computer keys. The underpinning of the IAT is that people will match a representative group (images of African American or European American faces) to an attribute (good and bad words, such as excellent and angry) more quickly if there is already an implicit connection. Based on the differences in reaction time from several trials, participants are classified as having a no preference between African American and European Americans or a preference for one or the other. The level of preference can be slight, moderate, or strong. We stratified implicit findings by physician race/ethnicity. Results: Among 2765 vascular surgeons that participate in the VQI, 338 (12%) completed the IAT. Most participants (70%) showed an automatic preference for European Americans over African Americans, with more than half of participants (51%) showing a moderate or strong automatic preference. Of 195 participants who identified as Non-Hispanic White, 25% showed a slight automatic preference for European Americans, 41% showed a moderate automatic preference, and 34% showed a strong automatic preference. Of 16 participants who identified as Non-Hispanic Black, 38% showed an automatic preference for European Americans over African Americans and 31% showed an automatic preference for African Americans. We also found that participants were often unaware of their biases: More than two-thirds (n=64) of the 94 participants who disagreed with a statement asking if they are biased (“I am biased”) had an automatic preference upon testing. Conclusions: Implicit bias was found among vascular surgeons. The next step in our research will focus on the ability of implicit bias scores to predict a surgeon’s actual delivery of guideline care. Pending our findings, training and clinical support tools offer techniques to mitigate the impact of implicit biases on PAD-related health care.

Evidence for top-down suppression of negative features in the target feature dimension

While searching for a goal-relevant object, an internal representation of the features necessary to identify the to-be-searched-for object (i.e., target) guides attention towards visual stimuli with matching properties. Recent evidence suggests that features that negatively define a target (i.e., negative features) also bias attentional allocation through top-down suppression. Since humans usually know what to look for, it will rarely, if ever, be the case that a negative feature defines a goal-relevant object alone. Thus, to better understand the relevance of top-down suppression, our participants searched for a target conjunctively defined by a positive (e.g., a blue bar) and a negative feature (e.g., a nonred bar) with both features realized within the same dimension (color in Experiments 1, 3 and 4, orientation in Experiment 2). Experiments 1 and 2 showed that reaction times were slower if cues with a negative feature preceded the target at the same versus a different position (i.e., validly vs. invalidly cued targets), indicating suppression. In contrast, cues with a task-irrelevant different-dimension feature elicited no significant reaction time difference between validly cued and invalidly cued trials. In addition, Experiment 3 showed that while negative cues were top-down suppressed, cues with a positive feature captured attention. This finding indicated that both positive and negative features guide visual attention through capture and suppression, respectively, during the search for a target defined by the presence of one and the absence of another feature from the same dimension. However, suppression seems to apply to the negative and all nontarget features in the task−relevant dimension. This was shown in Experiment 4, in which participants suppressed cues with a task-irrelevant color similarly to cues with a negative color.

Setting method of exit advance guide signs in mountainous expressway tunnel based on information quantization theory.

Driving behavior in expressway tunnels is more complicated than in common roadbed sections because of differences in illuminance, visual range, speed perception, and reaction time. To explore the setting method of exit advance guide signs in expressway tunnels and improve the effectiveness of drivers' recognition of them, we propose 12 layout forms based on information quantification theory. In experiments, UC-win/Road was used to build a simulation scene, and the recognition reaction time of 12 element combinations of exit advance guide signs of different subjects was collected through an E-Prime simulation experiment. The loading effectiveness of the signs was analyzed based on the subjective workload and comprehensive evaluation scores of different subjects. The results are the following. The width of the exit advance guide sign layout in the tunnel is negatively correlated with the height of Chinese characters and the distance between the characters and the edge of the sign. The larger the height of Chinese characters and the distance between them and the edge of the sign, the smaller the maximum layout width of the sign. Considering the driver's reaction time, subjective workload, sign recognition, amount of sign information, sign accuracy, and sign safety of 12 different information combinations, we suggest that exit advance guide signs in tunnels should be laid out as Chinese/English place name + distance + guide arrow.

Quantity Processing in Object Counting Task Based on Event-Related Potentials

In the preliminary event-dependent potentials study, our team found that the neural mechanism of Chinese singular and plural picture naming is different, and explained that the differences might lie in the different numbers of quantitative processing. However, previous studies have lacked separate neural processing of objects in singular-plural pictures. This study intends to explore the neural differences in quantity processing in singular and plural pictures by using an object counting task and combining Event-related potential (ERP). It is expected to prove that the neural differences of naming Chinese single and plural pictures found in our previous ERP research are neural processing differences of different quantities, further demonstrating that the quantity processing in Chinese singular and plural picture naming is automatic. The experimental results showed no significant differences in object counting accuracy (P=0.139) and reaction time (P=0.231) between the singular and plural groups. However, there was a noticeable difference in ERPs between the two groups (P<0.05) and statistical analysis showed that the P1 effect of the parieto-occipital lobe was greater in plural pictures than in singular pictures (140-180ms) and the P2 effect of the parieto-occipital lobe was more significant in singular pictures than in plural pictures (200-320ms). There are differences in the quantity processing of healthy adults in object counting tasks. These differences are similar to the neural differences in Chinese singular-plural picture naming, indicating that the quantity is automatically processed in this process.

The Impact of Age, Sex, and Position on Visual-Motor Processing Speed and Reaction Time as Measured by the Vision CoachTM

Occupational therapists are in a unique position to screen and evaluate fitness to drive with both visual-motor processing speed and reaction time being important factors to consider when determining fitness to drive. This study uses the Vision CoachTM to investigate the differences in visual-motor processing speed and reaction time across age and sex of healthy adults. It also explores whether the position of sitting or standing made any difference. The results showed no difference between male/female or standing/sitting positions. However, there was a statistically significant difference between age groups, with older adults demonstrating slower visual-motor processing speed and reaction times. These findings can be used for future studies to explore the impact of injury or disease on visual-motor processing speed and reaction times and its relation to fitness to drive.

Visual-Motor Processing Speed and Reaction Time Differences between Medically-At-Risk Drivers and Healthy Controls

This cross-sectional study compared visual-motor processing speed and reaction times between medically-at-risk drivers and normal controls to determine if the time in seconds distinguished between drivers who pass, fail, or need restrictions based on a road test. The medically-at-risk drivers’ data (N = 35, 28-89 years) were collected as part of a comprehensive driving evaluation and coded by diagnosis (e.g., cognitive, neurological, medical) and driving outcome. The healthy control (N = 121, 21-79 years) data were collected in previous studies. The Vision Coach™ Full Field 60 task was used to collect reaction times in seconds between the two groups. Independent t-tests showed a significant difference (p < .001) in trial times between healthy controls and medically-at-risk adults. No significant difference (p = .141) was found between the three diagnoses groups. The resulting scores from the Vision Coach™ demonstrated a significant different (p < .001) between those who were determined fit to drive without restrictions and those who were determined not fit to drive after a comprehensive driving evaluation, showing the potential to be used as a screening tool for determining driving risk.

Neural substrates of continuous and discrete inhibitory control

Inhibitory control dysfunctions play an important role in psychiatric disorders but the precise nature of these dysfunctions is still not well understood. Advances in computational modeling of real-time motor control using a proportion–integral–derivative (PID) control framework have parsed continuous motor inhibition into a preemptive drive component (signified by the Kp parameter) and a reactive damping component (signified by the Kd parameter). This investigation examined the relationship between inhibitory control processing during a stop signal task and continuous motor control during a simulated one-dimensional driving task in a transdiagnostic sample of participants. A transdiagnostic psychiatric sample of 492 individuals completed a stop signal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and a simple behavioral motor control task, which was modeled using the PID framework. We examined associations between the Kp and Kd parameters and behavioral indices as well as neural activation on the stop signal task. Individuals with higher damping, controlling for a drive, on the driving task exhibited relatively less strategic adjustment after a stop trial (indexed by the difference in go trial reaction time and by stop trial accuracy) on the stop signal task. Individuals with higher damping, controlling for a drive, additionally exhibited increased activity in the frontal and parietal regions as well as the insula and caudate during response inhibition on the stop signal task. The results suggest that computational indices of motor control performance may serve as behavioral markers of the functioning of neural systems involved in inhibitory control.

Explicit and Implicit Devaluation Effects of Food-Specific Response Inhibition Training.

The overvaluation of reward-associated stimuli such as energy-dense foods can drive compulsive eating behaviours, including overeating. Previous research has shown that training individuals to inhibit their responses towards appetitive stimuli can lead to their devaluation, providing a potential avenue for behaviour change. Over two preregistered experiments, we investigated whether training participants to inhibit their responses to specific foods would be effective in reducing their evaluations when these were assessed using both explicit and implicit measures. Participants completed an online session of go/no-go training with energy-dense foods that were consistently associated with either responding (go) or inhibiting a response (no-go). An 'explicit' devaluation effect was expected as a reduction in self-reported liking from pre-to post-training for no-go items compared to both go items and foods that were not presented during training (untrained items). An 'implicit' devaluation effect was then measured using the affective priming paradigm, by comparing differences in reaction times for congruent and incongruent trials (i.e., priming effects) between food primes. Experiment 1 revealed conclusive evidence for small-to-medium devaluation effects both in terms of explicit ratings and priming effects. We also observed that the priming effect for no-go items was close to zero. Experiment 2 successfully replicated most of the preregistered and exploratory outcomes from Experiment 1 except for the priming effect for untrained items. Potential explanations for this discrepancy are discussed but overall, these findings provide further support for a devaluation effect of response inhibition training. To our knowledge, our study provides the first evidence that training-induced devaluation can potentially be captured by affective priming measures, but more research is needed to further assess their sensitivity before they can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of action underlying devaluation effects.