Incompatible Conditions Research Articles

The Evaluation of a New Lower-Body Reaction Time Test

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of 2 lower-body reaction time (RT) tests to determine the differences in RTs between genders and compatible and incompatible conditions. Fifteen male and female (N = 30; 22.63 ± 2.88 years; 175.31 ± 8.72 cm; 67.33 ± 9.71 kg) sport science students participated in this study. Subjects were required to complete 2 lower-body RT tests responding to an arrow during compatible (same direction) and incompatible (opposite direction) stimulus-response conditions. The "simple" foot RT test required subjects to step quickly on the appropriate mat, as directed by the stimulus, with response time being measured. The "complex" foot RT test required subjects to leap off a force plate to the appropriate mat in response to the stimulus, with RT, movement time (MT), and total movement time (TMT) being measured. Intraclass correlation coefficient, coefficient of variation, and paired samples t-test (p ≤ 0.05) were calculated for all variables. High reliability was observed for both tests between compatible and incompatible conditions. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were observed between genders for RT during the simple RT test. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were observed for MT and TMT during compatible and incompatible conditions for the complex RT test. In conclusion, both tests are reliable to determine lower-body RTs during both conditions. Movement time and TMT during the complex RT test were significantly different, suggesting that MT could be the discriminating factor between conditions and also genders. Examining lower-body RTs during a movement commonly observed in sports may provide coaches more details about the athletes' cognitive and athletic ability, enabling the components of RT to be trained.

A carry-over task rule in task switching: An ERP investigation using a Go/Nogo paradigm

Investigations of executive control using a task-switching paradigm have consistently found longer reaction times for task-switch trials than task-repetition trials. This switch cost may result from interference by a stimulus-response (SR) rule carried over from the preceding alternative task. We examined event-related brain potential (ERP) evidence for such carry-over effects using a combined paradigm of task switching with Go/Nogo; Nogo trials, which require no response execution, should expose carry-over effects from preceding trials. On Go trials, twelve participants performed a button-pressing task in compatible (hand and signal direction consistent) and incompatible conditions, which switched predictably every three trials. Reaction times were longer on switch than on repetition trials. On compatible switch trials, a stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potential (sLRP) for Nogo stimuli revealed a positive dip, suggesting incorrect response activation in the early automatic process that was induced by a SR rule carried over from the preceding task.

The negative association of childhood obesity to cognitive control of action monitoring.

The global epidemic of childhood obesity has become a major public health concern. Yet, evidence regarding the association between childhood obesity and cognitive health has remained scarce. This study examined the relationship between obesity and cognitive control using neuroelectric and behavioral measures of action monitoring in preadolescent children. Healthy weight and obese children performed compatible and incompatible stimulus-response conditions of a modified flanker task, while task performance and the error-related negativity (ERN) were assessed. Analyses revealed that obese children exhibited a longer reaction time (RT) relative to healthy weight children for the incompatible condition, whereas no such difference was observed for the compatible condition. Further, obese children had smaller ERN amplitude relative to healthy weight children with lower post-error response accuracy. In addition, healthy weight children maintained post-error response accuracy between the compatible and incompatible conditions with decreased ERN amplitude in the incompatible condition, whereas obese children exhibited lower post-error response accuracy for the incompatible relative to the compatible condition with no change in ERN amplitude between the compatibility conditions. These results suggest that childhood obesity is associated with a decreased ability to modulate the cognitive control network, involving the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which supports action monitoring.

Motor-language coupling: Direct evidence from early Parkinson’s disease and intracranial cortical recordings

Language and action systems are functionally coupled in the brain as demonstrated by converging evidence using Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and lesion studies. In particular, this coupling has been demonstrated using the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) in which motor activity and language interact. The ACE task requires participants to listen to sentences that described actions typically performed with an open hand (e.g., clapping), a closed hand (e.g., hammering), or without any hand action (neutral); and to press a large button with either an open hand position or closed hand position immediately upon comprehending each sentence. The ACE is defined as a longer reaction time (RT) in the action-sentence incompatible conditions than in the compatible conditions. Here we investigated direct motor-language coupling in two novel and uniquely informative ways. First, we measured the behavioural ACE in patients with motor impairment (early Parkinson’s disease – EPD), and second, in epileptic patients with direct electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings. In experiment 1, EPD participants with preserved general cognitive repertoire, showed a much diminished ACE relative to non-EPD volunteers. Moreover, a correlation between ACE performance and action-verb processing (kissing and dancing test – KDT) was observed. Direct cortical recordings (ECoG) in motor and language areas (experiment 2) demonstrated simultaneous bidirectional effects: motor preparation affected language processing (N400 at left inferior frontal gyrus and middle/superior temporal gyrus), and language processing affected activity in movement-related areas (motor potential at premotor and M1). Our findings show that the ACE paradigm requires ongoing integration of preserved motor and language coupling (abolished in EPD) and engages motor-temporal cortices in a bidirectional way. In addition, both experiments suggest the presence of a motor-language network which is not restricted to somatotopically defined brain areas. These results open new pathways in the fields of motor diseases, theoretical approaches to language understanding, and models of action-perception coupling.

Music's Impact on the Visual Perception of Emotional Dyadic Interactions

Research showing that emotions can be recognized in point-light displays of human dyadic interactions was extended in the current study by investigating the impact of music on the perception of normal and exaggerated expressions of happiness, contentedness, sadness and anger in such visual stimuli. Sixteen musically untrained participants viewed short video clips of these emotion portrayals, each presented with emotionally compatible (e.g., happy music accompanies a happy interaction) and emotionally incompatible piano music (e.g., sad music accompanies a happy interaction). It was hypothesized that music will increase the accuracy of emotion judgements in displays where auditory and visual information is compatible relative to displays with incompatible audio-visual information. A two-dimensional emotion space was used to record participants' judgements of emotion in only the visual stimuli. Results indicated that music affected the accuracy of emotion judgements. Happiness and sadness were perceived more accurately in compatible than in incompatible conditions, while the opposite was the case for contentedness. Anger was perceived accurately in all conditions. Exaggerated expressions of sadness, which were evaluated more accurately than normal expressions of sadness, were also found to be resistant to the music. These findings can be interpreted in the light of previous research demonstrating that music's cross-modal impact depends on the degree of emotional ambiguity in the visual display. More generally, the results demonstrate that the perception of emotions in biological motion can be affected by music.

Music’s impact on the visual perception of emotional dyadic interactions

Research showing that emotions can be recognized in point-light displays of human dyadic interactions was extended in the current study by investigating the impact of music on the perception of normal and exaggerated expressions of happiness, contentedness, sadness and anger in such visual stimuli. Sixteen musically untrained participants viewed short video clips of these emotion portrayals, each presented with emotionally compatible (e.g., happy music accompanies a happy interaction) and emotionally incompatible piano music (e.g., sad music accompanies a happy interaction). It was hypothesized that music will increase the accuracy of emotion judgements in displays where auditory and visual information is compatible relative to displays with incompatible audio-visual information. A two-dimensional emotion space was used to record participants’ judgements of emotion in only the visual stimuli. Results indicated that music affected the accuracy of emotion judgements. Happiness and sadness were perceived more accurately in compatible than in incompatible conditions, while the opposite was the case for contentedness. Anger was perceived accurately in all conditions. Exaggerated expressions of sadness, which were evaluated more accurately than normal expressions of sadness, were also found to be resistant to the music. These findings can be interpreted in the light of previous research demonstrating that music’s cross-modal impact depends on the degree of emotional ambiguity in the visual display. More generally, the results demonstrate that the perception of emotions in biological motion can be affected by music.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and the Flexible Modulation of Cognitive Control in Preadolescent Children

The influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on the modulation of cognitive control was assessed in preadolescent children separated into higher- and lower-fit groups. Participants completed compatible and incompatible stimulus-response conditions of a modified flanker task, consisting of congruent and incongruent arrays, while ERPs and task performance were concurrently measured. Findings revealed decreased response accuracy for lower- relative to higher-fit participants with a selectively larger deficit in response to the incompatible stimulus-response condition, requiring the greatest amount of cognitive control. In contrast, higher-fit participants maintained response accuracy across stimulus-response compatibility conditions. Neuroelectric measures indicated that higher-fit, relative to lower-fit, participants exhibited global increases in P3 amplitude and shorter P3 latency, as well as greater modulation of P3 amplitude between the compatible and incompatible stimulus-response conditions. Similarly, higher-fit participants exhibited smaller error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes in the compatible condition, and greater modulation of the ERN between the compatible and incompatible conditions, relative to lower-fit participants who exhibited large ERN amplitudes across both conditions. These findings suggest that lower-fit children may have more difficulty than higher-fit children in the flexible modulation of cognitive control processes to meet task demands.

A renewable amine for photochemical reduction of CO2

Photochemical reduction of CO₂ (to produce formic acid) can be seen both as a method to produce a transportable hydrogen-based fuel and also to reduce levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere. However, an often overlooked necessity for photochemical CO₂ reduction is the need for a sacrificial electron donor, usually a tertiary amine. Here, we describe a new strategy for coupling the photochemical reduction of CO₂ to photochemical water splitting, and illustrate this with a prototype example. Instead of seeking to eliminate the use of an external reducing agent altogether, our alternative strategy makes the reducing agent recyclable. This has two potential advantages over the direct coupling of CO₂ reduction and water oxidation. First, it allows the two redox reactions to be carried out with existing chemistry, and second, it permits these reactions to be conducted under mutually incompatible conditions.

Evidence for a Role of the Responding Agent in the Joint Compatibility Effect

The present study explored the role of the responding agent in a social context. To do so, we developed a compatibility task with socially relevant but task-irrelevant stimuli (own face, neutral face, and a friend's face). Participants were required to perform naming responses to coloured diamonds, while the faces were presented as irrelevant stimuli. We observed faster responses in face-name compatible than in incompatible conditions. When the task was distributed among two friends, we observed a compatibility effect in a joint go/no-go condition, in which both participants performed their go/no-go tasks together. In contrast, no compatibility effect was obtained in an individual go/no-go condition. Further, the experiment showed that this joint compatibility effect was based on the compatibility between the irrelevant face and the responding agent. This result demonstrates that features of the responding agent play a crucial role in the joint compatibility effect.

Scaling the transport of firebrands by wind-blown plumes

The possibility of using a reduced-scale model based on the Froude-scaling technique to study the transport of spherical, cylindrical and disk-shaped firebrands by a wind-blown plume was investigated theoretically. The cases of hot particles produced by arcing copper power lines and burning sparks produced by arcing aluminium power lines were also considered. In each case, scaling relationships were derived for mass, linear-momentum, angular momentum and energy transport equations of the firebrands, using well-established models. The analysis shows that, in the case of cylindrical firebrands, incompatible conditions on brand diameter are obtained to scale both the linear-momentum equation and the mass and energy equations. It also shows that all physical processes scale correctly for hot copper particles as well as spherical and disk-shaped burning embers with the exception of the conservation of angular momentum in the case of disks. Despite this drawback, numerical results, obtained using an integral model representing a wind-blown plume, show that the mass and spatial distributions for both types of firebrands can be satisfactorily reproduced down to a scale of 1:5.

Central correlates of peripheral autonomic responses in mental health and psychiatric disorder

This study tested whether compatibility or incompatibility between body posture and emotion was beneficial for creativity. In Study 1, participants were asked to solve the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) problems when performing open or closed body posture in positive or negative emotional state respectively. The results showed that originality of AUT performance was higher in the compatible conditions (i.e., open-positive and closed-negative) than in the incompatible conditions (i.e., closed-positive and open-negative). In Study 2, the compatibility effect was replicated in both the AUT and the Realistic Presented Problem test (i.e., RPP). Moreover, it was revealed that participants exhibited the highest associative flexibility in the open-positive condition, and the highest persistence in the closed-negative condition. These findings indicate that compatibility between body posture and emotion is beneficial for creativity. This may be because when the implicit emotions elicited by body posture match explicit emotions, the effects of emotions on creativity are enhanced, therefore promoting creativity through the flexibility or the persistence pathway respectively.

Auditory processing leading to conscious perception: A unique window to central auditory processing opened by the mismatch negativity (MMN) and related responses

This study tested whether compatibility or incompatibility between body posture and emotion was beneficial for creativity. In Study 1, participants were asked to solve the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) problems when performing open or closed body posture in positive or negative emotional state respectively. The results showed that originality of AUT performance was higher in the compatible conditions (i.e., open-positive and closed-negative) than in the incompatible conditions (i.e., closed-positive and open-negative). In Study 2, the compatibility effect was replicated in both the AUT and the Realistic Presented Problem test (i.e., RPP). Moreover, it was revealed that participants exhibited the highest associative flexibility in the open-positive condition, and the highest persistence in the closed-negative condition. These findings indicate that compatibility between body posture and emotion is beneficial for creativity. This may be because when the implicit emotions elicited by body posture match explicit emotions, the effects of emotions on creativity are enhanced, therefore promoting creativity through the flexibility or the persistence pathway respectively.

日常の数の大小比較における概数処理の範囲

In everyday situations, people round off multidigit numbers to what they consider an appropriate place. This study examined how many places people rounded to in a situation where they were required to choose between higher payments with long delays and lower payments with short delays. The payments were 4-digit numbers of yen and the ordinal sequences of the digits in the second, third, and fourth places were manipulated. In the compatible conditions, the ordinal direction in the second place of the low-order numbers was the same as that of highest-order numbers, for example 23xx and 48xx yen. In the incompatible conditions, the ordinal direction of the low-order digits was reversed, for example 28xx and 43xx yen. The results showed that rounding to a higher payment was more prevalent in the compatible conditions than in the incompatible conditions for the second place, but there was little effect in the third and fourth places. These results suggest that people compare the first two digits and make little reference to the third or later ones in rounding numbers.

Antecedents of Role Conflict in Compliance-Enhancing Organizations

Compliance-enhancing organizations such as the military and police are characterized by guiding and controlling employees, and they increasingly tend to control and restrict employees' behavior when exposed to external uncertainty. Restrictions on employees' behavior are intended to increase efficiency, safety, and combat readiness through reducing misunderstandings and conflicts. However, many writers have argued that the most natural reaction to external unpredictability and uncertainty is internal flexibility and utilizing the entire range of employees' qualifications. The question raised in this study is whether restrictions imply that employees feel they are subject to incompatible work conditions and are deprived of resources and opportunities to execute their everyday responsibilities and thereby experience role conflict. Hierarchical regression analyses performed on data from 71 police and 71 army officers showed that rules and routines that were perceived as restrictive or coercive better explained role conflict among employees than either leadership loyalty, commitment, and rules or routines that were perceived as enabling.

Dissociation of extrastriate body and biological-motion selective areas by manipulation of visual-motor congruency

To date, several posterior brain regions have been identified that play a role in the visual perception of other people and their movements. The aim of the present study is to understand how these areas may be involved in relating body movements to their visual consequences. We used fMRI to examine the extrastriate body area (EBA), the fusiform body area (FBA), and an area in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) that responds to patterns of human biological motion. Each area was localized in individual participants with independent scans. In the main experiment, participants performed and/or viewed simple, intransitive hand actions while in the scanner. An MR-compatible camera with a near-egocentric view of the participant's hand was used to manipulate the relationship between motor output and the visual stimulus. Participants’ only view of their hands was via this camera. In the Compatible condition, participants viewed their own live hand movements projected onto the screen. In the Incompatible condition, participants viewed actions that were different from the actions they were executing. In pSTS, the BOLD response in the Incompatible condition was significantly higher than in the Compatible condition. Further, the response in the Compatible condition was below baseline, and no greater than that found in a control condition in which hand actions were performed without any visual input. This indicates a strong suppression in pSTS of the response to the visual stimulus that arises from one's own actions. In contrast, in EBA and FBA, we found a large but equivalent response to the Compatible and Incompatible conditions, and this response was the same as that elicited in a control condition in which hand actions were viewed passively, with no concurrent motor task. These findings indicate that, in contrast to pSTS, EBA and FBA are decoupled from motor systems. Instead we propose that their role is limited to perceptual analysis of body-related visual input.

Evaluating a feedback channel based transform domain Wyner–Ziv video codec

Wyner–Ziv (WZ) video coding—a particular case of distributed video coding (DVC)—is a new video coding paradigm based on two major Information Theory results: the Slepian–Wolf and Wyner–Ziv theorems. In recent years, some practical WZ video coding solutions have been proposed with promising results. One of the most popular WZ video coding architectures in the literature uses turbo codes based Slepian–Wolf coding and a feedback channel to perform rate control at the decoder. This WZ video coding architecture has been first proposed by researchers at Stanford University and has been after adopted and improved by many research groups around the world. However, while there are many papers published with changes and improvements to this architecture, the precise and detailed evaluation of its performance, targeting its deep understanding for future advances, has not been made. Available performance results are mostly partial, under unclear and incompatible conditions, using vaguely defined and also sometimes architecturally unrealistic codec solutions. This paper targets the provision of a detailed, clear, and complete performance evaluation of an advanced transform domain WZ video codec derived from the Stanford turbo coding and feedback channel based architecture. Although the WZ video codec proposed for this evaluation is among the best available, the main purpose and novelty of this paper is the solid and comprehensive performance evaluation made which will provide a strong, and very much needed, performance reference for researchers in this WZ video coding field, as well as a solid way to steer future WZ video coding research.

Effects of Semantic Incompatibility on Rating Response

Semantic incompatibility, an error in constructing measuring instruments for rating oneself, others, or objects, refers to the extent to which item wordings are incongruent with, and hence inappropriate for, scale labels and vice versa. This study examines the effects of semantic incompatibility on rating responses. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design with semantic compatibility and scale packedness as the between-subjects factors, 160 university students were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions. Analysis of their responses to a 10-item academic ability self-assessment rating scale shows a significant difference in means between positive-packed and equal-interval conditions when item wordings and scale labels are semantically compatible. The semantically compatible conditions also show smaller variability and a slightly higher internal consistency of responses than the semantically incompatible conditions. The authors conclude that when rating scales are semantically incompatible, respondents tend to ignore the scale labels, use a greater variety of strategies to generate responses, and produce less reliable responses.

Livskvalitet i familier

Life quality in families: close relations and “the good life”The aim of this paper is to explore how aspects and qualities of modern family life influence subjective well-being. Although the patterns of family, work and sexuality have changed dramatically the last four decades, it is here claimed that the family is still an important base of socialization and upbringing. Thus the study of processes within the family can contribute to the understanding of the environment in which many children grow up. In most families, work, partner and family roles are intertwined, and one central hypothesis of this work is that family members influence each other in the individual formation of well-being. The main research question of this study asks: How is life quality affected by the quality of parent-child and the partner relationships and aspects of their shared everyday life? Empirical implications are tested against 2002-data from a representative, Norwegian sample. Analyses conclude that the quality of parent-child and the spousal relationship, and also aspects of families’ everyday life such as work-life balance and time pressure influence the subjective life quality, but mother’s and father’s life quality is affected by differing and partly incompatible conditions.

Compatibility Effects in Stopping and Response Initiation in a Continuous Tracking Task

Two experiments explored stopping performance using a new stimulus-response compatibility effect spanning action initiation and stopping. Participants tracked a sometimes-moving, sometimes-stationary target by controlling the speed of a response marker via a force sensor. In the compatible condition, participants pressed the sensor in response to the target moving and stopped pressing in response to the target stopping. In the incompatible condition, participants stopped pressing in response to the target moving and initiated pressing in response to the target stopping. Response initiation and stopping were found to be faster under compatible than under incompatible conditions, regardless of whether compatible and incompatible trials were blocked or mixed. These findings indicate that stopping, like response initiation, is influenced by stimulus-response properties such as compatibility. This in turn suggests that stopping is governed by constraints similar to those of other behaviours.

A choice reaction-time task in the rat: A new model using air-puff stimuli and lever-release responses

We have developed a two-lever choice reaction-time (RT) task to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms of stimulus–response compatibility in rats. In the task, the rat pressed two levers with its forepaws during the preparation period of each trial, and then quickly responded to an air-puff stimulus on its left or right forepaw by releasing the lever on the same side (compatible condition) or the opposite side (incompatible condition) of the stimulus. Twenty rats successfully learned the task in both the compatible and incompatible conditions. Two stimulus–response compatibility effects were observed: the RT was shorter and the error rate was lower in the compatible condition than in the incompatible condition. The trial sequence also affected the results and a speed-accuracy tradeoff was observed. These results are consistent with those reported for human RT tasks. Furthermore, a lesion in the forepaw-sensorimotor cortex caused increases in the RTs for stimulus detection and/or response movement with the contralateral forepaw, suggesting that the task was mediated by this brain area. We conclude that this instrumental task for rats can be regarded as a model for human RT tasks and can be used to investigate the neural basis of the compatibility effects.