Habitual Strategies Research Articles

Are Habitual Hydration Strategies of Female Rugby League Players Sufficient to Maintain Fluid Balance and Blood Sodium Concentration During Training and Match-Play? A Research Note From the Field.

Limited data exist on the hydration status of female athletes, with no data available on female rugby players. The objective of this study was to investigate the habitual hydration status on arrival, sweat loss, fluid intake, sweat Na loss, and blood [Na+] during field training and match-play in 10 international female rugby league players. Urine osmolality on arrival to match-play (382 ± 302 mOsmol·kg(-1)) and training (667 ± 260 mOsmol·kg(-1)) was indicative of euhydration. Players experienced a body mass loss of 0.50 ± 0.45 and 0.56 ± 0.53% during match-play and training, respectively. During match-play, players consumed 1.21 ± 0.43 kg of fluid and had a sweat loss of 1.54 ± 0.48 kg. During training, players consumed 1.07 ± 0.90 kg of fluid, in comparison with 1.25 ± 0.83 kg of sweat loss. Blood [Na+] was well regulated (Δ-0.7 ± 3.4 and Δ-0.4 ± 2.6 mmol·L(-1)), despite sweat [Na+] of 47.8 ± 5.7 and 47.2 ± 6.3 mmol·L(-1) during match-play and training. The findings of this study show mean blood [Na+] that seems to be well regulated despite losses of Na in sweat and electrolyte-free fluid consumption. For the duration of the study, players did not experience a body mass loss (dehydration >2%) indicative of a reduction in exercise performance, thus habitual hydration strategies seem adequate. Practitioners should evaluate the habitual hydration status of athletes to determine whether interventions above habitual strategies are warranted.

Multi-Joint Compensatory Effects of Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty During High-Demand Tasks.

Patients with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) demonstrate quadriceps weakness and functional limitations 1year after surgery during daily tasks such as walking and stair climbing. Most biomechanical analyses of patients after TKA focus on quadriceps function and rarely investigate other lower-extremity muscles or high-demand ambulatory activities of daily living. The purpose of this investigation was to quantify lower-extremity muscle forces in patients with unilateral TKA during high-demand tasks of pivoting and descending stairs. Five patients with unilateral TKA and five age and sex-matched controls performed three bilateral high-demand tasks: (1) step down from an 8-inch platform, (2) inside pivot: 90° direction change toward planted limb, and (3) outside pivot: 90° direction change away from planted limb. Subject-specific musculoskeletal simulations were created in OpenSim to determine joint angles, moments, and lower-extremity muscle forces. The results indicate that patients with TKA adopt compensatory strategies at both the hip and knee. Patients with TKA demonstrated increased hip external rotation, decreased knee flexion, decreased quadriceps force, and decreased hip abductor force in all three tasks. These strategies are likely a result of quadriceps avoidance, which may stem from instability after TKA or a habitual strategy developed during the late stages of osteoarthritis.

Objective Analysis of Performance of Activities of Daily Living in People With Central Field Loss

People with central visual field loss (CFL) adopt various strategies to complete activities of daily living (ADL). Using objective movement analysis, we compared how three ADLs were completed by people with CFL compared with age-matched, visually healthy individuals. Fourteen participants with CFL (age 81 ± 10 years) and 10 age-matched, visually healthy (age 75 ± 5 years) participated. Three ADLs were assessed: pick up food from a plate, pour liquid from a bottle, and insert a key in a lock. Participants with CFL completed each ADL habitually (as they would in their home). Data were compared with visually healthy participants who were asked to complete the tasks as they would normally, but under specified experimental conditions. Movement kinematics were compared using three-dimension motion analysis (Vicon). Visual functions (distance and near acuities, contrast sensitivity, visual fields) were recorded. All CFL participants were able to complete each ADL. However, participants with CFL demonstrated significantly (P < 0.05) longer overall movement times, shorter minimum viewing distance, and, for two of the three ADL tasks, needed more online corrections in the latter part of the movement. Results indicate that, despite the adoption of various habitual strategies, participants with CFL still do not perform common daily living tasks as efficiently as healthy subjects. Although indices suggesting feed-forward planning are similar, they made more movement corrections and increased time for the latter portion of the action, indicating a more cautious/uncertain approach. Various kinematic indices correlated significantly to visual function parameters including visual acuity and midperipheral visual field loss.

Multimodal Plasticity in Dorsal Striatum While Learning a Lateralized Navigation Task.

Growing evidence supports a critical role for the dorsal striatum in cognitive as well as motor control. Both lesions and in vivo recordings demonstrate a transition in the engaged dorsal striatal subregion, from dorsomedial to dorsolateral, as skill performance shifts from an attentive phase to a more automatic or habitual phase. What are the neural mechanisms supporting the cognitive and behavioral transitions in skill learning? To pursue this question, we used T-maze training during which rats transition from early, attentive (dorsomedial) to late habitual (dorsolateral) performance. Following early or late training, we performed the first direct comparison of bidirectional synaptic plasticity in striatal brain slices, and the first evaluation of striatal synaptic plasticity by hemisphere relative to a learned turn. Consequently, we find that long-term potentiation and long-term depression are independently modulated with learning rather than reciprocally linked as previously suggested. Our results establish that modulation of evoked synaptic plasticity with learning depends on striatal subregion, training stage, and hemisphere relative to the learned turn direction. Exclusive to the contralateral hemisphere, intrinsic excitability is enhanced in dorsomedial relative to dorsolateral medium spiny neurons early in training and population responses are dampened late in training. Neuronal reconstructions indicate dendritic remodeling after training, which may represent a novel form of pruning. In conclusion, we describe region- and hemisphere-specific changes in striatal synaptic, intrinsic, and morphological plasticity which correspond to T-maze learning stages, and which may play a role in the cognitive transition between attentive and habitual strategies. Significance statement: We investigated neural plasticity in dorsal striatum from rats that were briefly or extensively trained on a directional T-maze task. Our results demonstrate that both the extent of training and the direction a rat learns to turn control the location and type of change in synaptic plasticity. In addition, brief training produces changes in neuron excitability only within one striatal subregion, whereas all training produces widespread changes in dendritic morphology. Our results suggest that activity in dorsomedial striatum strengthens the rewarded turn after brief training, whereas activity in dorsolateral striatum suppresses unrewarded turns after extensive training. This study illuminates how plasticity mediates learning using a task recognized for transitioning subjects from attentive to automatic performance.

Multienzymatic synthesis of nucleic acid derivatives: a general perspective

Living cells are most perfect synthetic factory. The surprising synthetic efficiency of biological systems is allowed by the combination of multiple processes catalyzed by enzymes working sequentially. In this sense, biocatalysis tries to reproduce nature's synthetic strategies to perform the synthesis of different organic compounds using natural catalysts such as cells or enzymes. Nowadays, the use of multienzymatic systems in biocatalysis is becoming a habitual strategy for the synthesis of organic compounds that leads to the realization of complex synthetic schemes. By combining several steps in one pot, a significant step economy can be realized and the potential for environmentally benign synthesis is improved. Using this sustainable synthetic system, several work-up steps can be avoided and pure products are ideally isolated after a series of reactions in one single vessel after just one straightforward purification step. In recent years, enzymatic methodology for the preparation of nucleic acid derivatives (NADs) has become a standard technique for the synthesis of a wide variety of natural NADs. Enzymatic methods have been shown to be an efficient alternative for the synthesis of nucleoside and nucleotide analogs to the traditional multistep chemical methods, since chemical glycosylation reactions include several protection-deprotection steps and the use of chemical reagents and organic solvents that are expensive and environmentally harmful. In this minireview, we want to illustrate what we consider the most current relevant examples of in vivo and in vitro multienzymatic systems used for the synthesis of nucleic acid derivatives showing advantages and disadvantages of each methodology. Finally, a detailed perspective about the impact of -omics in multienzymatic systems has been described.

Pattern of protein ingestion to maximise muscle protein synthesis after resistance exercise

Pattern of protein ingestion to maximise muscle protein synthesis after resistance exercise

Resolution of outcome-induced response conflict by humans after extended training

Studies of incongruent discrimination learning, where the outcome event of one response acts as the discriminative stimulus for the opposite response, suggest that humans rely on habitual stimulus-response (S-R) associations when outcome-response (O-R) associations would cause response conflict. Here, two experiments were conducted to investigate the robustness of this habitual strategy. In Experiment 1, we found that extensive instrumental discrimination training supported learning about the incongruent R → O contingencies, as assessed by an outcome devaluation test. Differential representations of the stimulus and the (associatively retrieved) outcome may have allowed for goal-directed incongruent performance. Experiment 2 failed to provide evidence for this possibility; direct presentation as well as associative retrieval of the incongruent events (by Pavlovian stimuli) activated the response that was associated with each event in its role of stimulus as opposed to outcome. We did find that participants successfully acquired explicit knowledge of the incongruent contingencies, which raises the possibility that propositional encoding allowed them to overcome the response conflict caused by O-R associations. Alternative associative and propositional accounts of successful goal-directed incongruent performance with extensive training will be discussed.

Mindfulness-and body-psychotherapy-based group treatment of chronic tinnitus: a randomized controlled pilot study

BackgroundTinnitus, the perception of sound in absence of an external acoustic source, impairs the quality of life in 2% of the population. Since in most cases causal treatment is not possible, the majority of therapeutic attempts aim at developing and strengthening individual coping and habituation strategies. Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular in the treatment of stress-related disorders. Here we conducted a randomized, controlled clinical study to investigate the efficacy of a specific mindfulness- and body-psychotherapy based program in patients suffering from chronic tinnitus.MethodsThirty-six patients were enrolled in this pilot study. The treatment was specifically developed for tinnitus patients and is based on mindfulness and body psychotherapy. Treatment was performed as group therapy at two training weekends that were separated by an interval of 7 weeks (eleven hours/weekend) and in four further two-hour sessions (week 2, 9, 18 and 22). Patients were randomized to receive treatment either immediately or after waiting time, which served as a control condition. The primary study outcome was the change in tinnitus complaints as measured by the German Version of the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ).ResultsANOVA testing for the primary outcome showed a significant interaction effect time by group (F = 7.4; df = 1,33; p = 0.010). Post hoc t-tests indicated an amelioration of TQ scores from baseline to week 9 in both groups (intervention group: t = 6.2; df = 17; p < 0.001; control group: t = 2.5; df = 16; p = 0.023), but the intervention group improved more than the control group. Groups differed at week 7 and 9, but not at week 24 as far as the TQ score was concerned.ConclusionsOur results suggest that this mindfulness- and body-psychotherapy-based approach is feasible in the treatment of tinnitus and merits further evaluation in clinical studies with larger sample sizes.The study is registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01540357).

Diverse Consequences of Negative Emotional Responses Between High and Low Happiness People

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the differences of emotional modalities which may make a distinction between high and low happy people in social adaptation and mental health. A large number of Literatures have demonstrated that subjective well being correlates closely with genetics and personality (e.g., extraversion and neuroticism) and interacts with social adaptation, psychological functions and mental health broadly. Further, extraversion is related to more positive emotions and approach behaviors. Neuroticism is linked with more negative emotions, behavioral suppression, and physiological activation. The study hypothesized that, as meeting with adverse situation, the happier people linked with higher extraversion and lower neuroticism would have more changes in emotional experience and expressive behaviors, quicker resilience, and weaker physiological activation. The study also predicted to see the difference in emotion regulation which could be helpful to explain the emotional differences between high low happy people. The study was designed to measure the various emotional changes and the regulation strategies in watching a disgust/fear-inducing film clip between high happiness (H_H) and low happiness (L_H) groups. The H_H group (n=32) and the L_H group (n=34) of were selected with positive emotions (e.g., joy and interest) by DES-IV and validated by two measures of life satisfactory. Both groups then were elicited various negative emotions (e.g., disgust, fear, et. al.,) by watching an amputation film clip in a lab environment, and their emotional responses in modalities of subjective experiences, expressive behaviors, physiological responses and regulation strategies were recorded in the meantime. In addition, the personality traits and habitual strategies of emotion regulation were measured with questionnaires of EPQ and ERQ in advance. The results indicated that: (1) Comparing to the L_H group, the H_H one was higher in extraversion, lower in neuroticism, and better in habitual cognitive reappraisal; (2) During and immediately after watching the amputation film, the L_H group exhibited higher sympathetic physiological activation (e.g., more increased in HR and GSR), reported more inhibition in expressive behaviors, but showed more unspecific expression (e.g., body movement and face touch) in the post film period. On the other hand, H_H group was elicited more disgusting expressive behaviors, stronger displeasure, and recovered more quickly in the post film period. The study suggests that the happier people are more vivid in emotional social interaction and also have better resilience as facing with an adverse situation. By comparison, the less happy people are less likely to express their unpleasant emotions but actually they still keep a higher activation in physiology. It also suggests that the happier people would have a healthier regulation by better cognitive reappraisal in generally. The study is implication for understanding of the individual differences between high and low happiness people in social adaptation and mental health from the perspectives of emotional responses, resilience and emotion regulation.

Dissociable Brain Systems Mediate Vicarious Learning of Stimulus-Response and Action-Outcome Contingencies

Two distinct strategies have been suggested to support action selection in humans and other animals on the basis of experiential learning: a goal-directed strategy that generates decisions based on the value and causal antecedents of action outcomes, and a habitual strategy that relies on the automatic elicitation of actions by environmental stimuli. In the present study, we investigated whether a similar dichotomy exists for actions that are acquired vicariously, through observation of other individuals rather than through direct experience, and assessed whether these strategies are mediated by distinct brain regions. We scanned participants with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed an observational learning task designed to encourage either goal-directed encoding of the consequences of observed actions, or a mapping of observed actions to conditional discriminative cues. Activity in different parts of the action observation network discriminated between the two conditions during observational learning and correlated with the degree of insensitivity to outcome devaluation in subsequent performance. Our findings suggest that, in striking parallel to experiential learning, neural systems mediating the observational acquisition of actions may be dissociated into distinct components: a goal-directed, outcome-sensitive component and a less flexible stimulus-response component.

Integrating cortico-limbic-basal ganglia architectures for learning model-based and model-free navigation strategies

Behavior in spatial navigation is often organized into map-based (place-driven) vs. map-free (cue-driven) strategies; behavior in operant conditioning research is often organized into goal-directed vs. habitual strategies. Here we attempt to unify the two. We review one powerful theory for distinct forms of learning during instrumental conditioning, namely model-based (maintaining a representation of the world) and model-free (reacting to immediate stimuli) learning algorithms. We extend these lines of argument to propose an alternative taxonomy for spatial navigation, showing how various previously identified strategies can be distinguished as “model-based” or “model-free” depending on the usage of information and not on the type of information (e.g., cue vs. place). We argue that identifying “model-free” learning with dorsolateral striatum and “model-based” learning with dorsomedial striatum could reconcile numerous conflicting results in the spatial navigation literature. From this perspective, we further propose that the ventral striatum plays key roles in the model-building process. We propose that the core of the ventral striatum is positioned to learn the probability of action selection for every transition between states of the world. We further review suggestions that the ventral striatal core and shell are positioned to act as “critics” contributing to the computation of a reward prediction error for model-free and model-based systems, respectively.

Models of Change in the Psychotherapy of Borderline Personality Disorders

Patients suffering from borderline personality disorders are often difficult to treat, and require specific psychotherapeutic techniques. In current neurobiological models of borderline personality disorder, temperamental factors such as increased emotional reactivity and diminished attentional control figure prominently and account for the psychopathology of this disorder. Here, we follow a different approach and ask the question of how a model of this disorder may account for the modifications of psychotherapy technique that have proven effective in this class of patients. The psychotherapy of this disorder emphasizes work on enriching the semantic repertoire of patients in interpreting their own emotion and other people’s motivation for their actions. Based on current psychometric research on distinct factors contributing to individual effectiveness in attentional control (working memory capacity), we propose that the organization of semantic memory may constitute an important and neglected aspect of a neurobiological model of this disorder. Impulsivity and emotional dysregulation resemble the long-term developmental effects of habitual strategies to determine response, which cognitive studies have characterized in terms of the interplay of attentional control capacity, cognitive and emotional load, and semantic organization. Rather than attributing an exclusive causal role to either increased emotional reactivity or diminished attentional control, we propose an account of this disorder as emerging from a self-reinforcing developmental history in which both these factors are intertwined. After mapping these notions onto specific psychotherapeutic interventions, we propose a model through which specific technical strategies result, in the long term, in structural change.

Chronic Stress Causes Frontostriatal Reorganization and Affects Decision-Making

The ability to shift between different behavioral strategies is necessary for appropriate decision-making. Here, we show that chronic stress biases decision-making strategies, affecting the ability of stressed animals to perform actions on the basis of their consequences. Using two different operant tasks, we revealed that, in making choices, rats subjected to chronic stress became insensitive to changes in outcome value and resistant to changes in action-outcome contingency. Furthermore, chronic stress caused opposing structural changes in the associative and sensorimotor corticostriatal circuits underlying these different behavioral strategies, with atrophy of medial prefrontal cortex and the associative striatum and hypertrophy of the sensorimotor striatum. These data suggest that the relative advantage of circuits coursing through sensorimotor striatum observed after chronic stress leads to a bias in behavioral strategies toward habit.

Bases physiopathologiques et pratiques de la rééducation vestibulaire

Today vestibular rehabilitation has an important place in managing chronic vertigo and balance disorders. It is based on the principle of completing and/or accelerating the physiological processes of central compensation when, for one reason or another, these processes cannot be put in place to offset a vestibular deficit. From a practical point of view, this compensation uses and reinforces the compensatory strategies that are activated spontaneously, but incompletely, by the patient, i.e., adaptation, substitution, and habituation strategies. These techniques call on physical exercises and/or instrumental techniques that should be adapted to the patient based on the clinical workup and paraclinical instrumental assessment done by a trained specialist, which will identify side involved, the central or peripheral character of the disorder, the current degree of central compensation, and the patient's ability to use various sensory inputs. In addition to the acute vestibular deficits, the best indications are chronic dizziness stemming from unilateral or bilateral peripheral vestibular deficit, or a nonprogressive central but stabilized deficit, with incomplete compensation, whatever the patient's age. Measures should be applied to the disorder as the patient describes it, with the number of sessions specified.

Influences of habitual and situational bodily symptom focusing on stress responses

Evidence suggests that focusing on bodily symptoms increases perception of internal states. The interaction between situational (experimentally induced) symptom focusing and a disposition to focus on one's bodily symptoms is unclear. We assumed that situational symptom focusing increases perception of stress symptoms only in persons that usually do not focus on their bodily symptoms. Forty participants were divided into two groups (N=20) according to their disposition towards bodily symptom focusing (habitual symptom focusing, HSF+ and HSF−). Ten participants per group were instructed to focus on their neck muscle tension (situational symptom focusing, SSF+), while the others received a control instruction (SSF−). All participants underwent anticipation of a public speech, representing an emotional and mental stressor. There was a significant HSF×SSF interaction in reports on muscle tension and palpitation under stress. While HSF− participants reported more stress symptoms in the SSF+ condition, HSF+ participants reported less symptoms. However, no interaction was found in physiological measures including neck electromyogram, skin conductance reactions, heart rate and blood pressure. Our results indicate either that symptom perception is adjusted by symptom focusing, or that the instruction to use a habitual coping strategy reduces stress symptoms.

Fadiga: uma análise do conceito

INTRODUÇÃO: Fadiga é um dos fenômenos mais comumente vivenciados por todos os seres humanos. No entanto, esse conceito é causa de grande confusão na ciência. OBJETIVO: Analisar o conceito de fadiga. MÉTODO: Foi utilizado o método proposto por Walker e Avant (1995). RESULTADOS: São identificados atributos críticos da fadiga e apontados antecedentes, conseqüentes e referências empíricas. Para ilustrar, são apresentados caso-modelo, caso-contrário e caso-ilegítimo. A manifestação de cansaço/canseira ou exaustão associada ao prejuízo no desenvolvimento das atividades usuais do dia-a dia e a falta de resultados das estratégias habituais de recuperação de energia são identificadas como as principais referências empíricas do conceito de fadiga para a área da saúde. CONCLUSÕES: Esta análise conceitual oferece base para o desenvolvimento de uma definição operacional e novos direcionamentos para pesquisas.

Predicting the short-term course of fatigue symptoms: does adjustment of habitual coping strategies matter?

The present study investigated whether adjustment of coping strategies would predict the six-week course of fatigue symptoms in a primary care sample (N = 221) and whether the contribution of adjusting coping strategies would depend on the duration of fatigue at the time. It was hypothesized that the motivation to adjust coping strategies would be most present in people who are confronted with the possibility of their symptoms turning into a chronic condition, and not in people who have been fatigued for either a short period or a very long period. Moreover, it was hypothesized that adjustments in the employment of coping strategies are a better predictor of fatigue course than the continued use of particular coping strategies. Using a prospective design with a six-week follow-up, the results of a multisample LISREL analysis over four groups of participants differing in fatigue duration showed that adjustment of coping strategies is a significant predictor of the course of fatigue symptoms, and that a differential effect related to fatigue duration is present. Findings are discussed in the context of the role of coping in regulating psychosomatic symptoms.

Measuring Thought Control Strategies: The Thought Control Questionnaire and a Look Beyond

The Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ) by Wells and Davies represents a unique measure of habitual strategies to control one's unwanted thoughts, but its psychometric properties have not yet been exhaustively tested. Study 1 assessed 108 nonclinical participants. The relative independence of the five factors constituting the TCQ was confirmed although reliability was unsatisfactory. In Study 2, a clinical sample (n = 208) comprising various anxiety disorders and a healthy control group were investigated. Reliability of the TCQ was again insufficient. Previously found associations with psychopathological variables could be replicated, the TCQ not being specifically linked to single mental disorders or cognitive processes, namely worrying, but rather to psychopathology in general. Implications for a revision of the TCQ and the measurement of thought control strategies in general are discussed.

The New Prince in a New Principality: OCAP and the Toronto Poor

IN THIS PAPER, to understand Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) now, I shall begin by discussing the philosopher himself (not my habitual strategy) and my contradictory situation as a left intellectual within OCAP. While at beginning I experienced that situation only in its immediacy and personality, I soon found that not only had issues — academicism and practical knowledge— been thoroughly explored by Antonio Gramsci in prison, but that he had used these, so petty in my own original conception, to open up, again and again, real issues for a revolutionary political group: social formation and conjuncture, issues of direction and leadership, ideology as a field of struggle, tactics of struggle, and Party, which adapting Machiavelli, Gramsci called the Modern Prince. Moreover, as I read Gramsci and began to recognize roots of Louis Althusser's Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses essay (among other debts), I returned sympathetically to Althusser's late essays in self-criticism and on Machiavelli, and further, believing that Althusserian marxist tradition survives, to work of

The explanation of practice: Why Chinese students copy assignments

Empirical research on copying and cheating in high school and university has typically employed quantitative survey methods. While these methods tell us about the conditions under which it is more and less likely to occur, they tell us less about the reasoning that leads students to copy the work of others. An alternative problem-based methodology (PBM) is presented which treats copying as a student'ssolution to the problem of how to complete an assignment, and investigates it by inquiry into the problem-solving processes that give rise to it. The methodology is employed in a study of copying among a small sample of Chinese university students. Intensive probing of their reasoning revealed the beliefs, motives and contextual conditions that led them to copy. Copying was a habitual strategy of both strong and weak students and was motivated by a wish to obtain the desired grade in the most efficient manner possible. The findings are discussed in terms of explanatory adequacy and implications for intervention.