Mental Performance Research Articles

Feasibility of a novel neurofeedback system: a parallel randomized single-blinded pilot study

Neurocognitive assessment tools have been proposed to optimize, maintain, and improve perceptual-cognitive performance. Here, we investigated the feasibility and efficacy of a novel neurofeedback system, neuroMoon (nM), on cognitive abilities compared with one of the most popular perceptual-cognitive training (PCT) tools both in sports and rehabilitation called NeuroTracker (NT). Thirty-one young athletes performed a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests from the Vienna Test System before and after a 12-session computer-based cognitive training program using nM (n = 11, age 22.6 ± 3.8 years), nM sham (CON, n = 10, age 20.3 ± 1.2 years) or NT (n = 10, age 20.5 ± 1.7 years) device. A series of repeated-measures ANOVA was performed to detect changes in cognitive abilities in response to the training. Participants had faster median reaction time in both the color-naming and word-reading conditions of the Stroop test (all p < 0.005), regardless of group. Regarding the task switching test, statistical analysis indicated faster working time and mean reaction time of the incongruent stimuli, repetition task, and shifting task (all p < 0.005), nevertheless, these changes were also regardless of group. In addition, we found fewer omitted (pre: 17.5 ± 8.3, post: 6.4 ± 1.5, d = 1.311) and more correct (pre: 261.6 ± 36.1, post: 278.6 ± 38.7, d = − 1.020) post-intervention answers in the determination test, regardless of group. Finally, participants in each group performed the digit span backward test with larger post (6.42 ± 1.54) vs. pre (5.55 ± 1.43) scores following the PCT (d = − 0.801). Overall, PCT with nM as compared with NT induced similar results in cognitive abilities suggesting its potential to be used to achieve and maintain better mental performance. However, considering that the sham stimulation also induced similar improvements in cognitive abilities, future studies should clearly determine the cognitive measures that could benefit from NF training.

A Neuroergonomic Approach Fostered by Wearable EEG for the Multimodal Assessment of Drivers Trainees.

When assessing trainees' progresses during a driving training program, instructors can only rely on the evaluation of a trainee's explicit behavior and their performance, without having any insight about the training effects at a cognitive level. However, being able to drive does not imply knowing how to drive safely in a complex scenario such as the road traffic. Indeed, the latter point involves mental aspects, such as the ability to manage and allocate one's mental effort appropriately, which are difficult to assess objectively. In this scenario, this study investigates the validity of deploying an electroencephalographic neurometric of mental effort, obtained through a wearable electroencephalographic device, to improve the assessment of the trainee. The study engaged 22 young people, without or with limited driving experience. They were asked to drive along five different but similar urban routes, while their brain activity was recorded through electroencephalography. Moreover, driving performance, subjective and reaction times measures were collected for a multimodal analysis. In terms of subjective and performance measures, no driving improvement could be detected either through the driver's subjective measures or through their driving performance. On the other side, through the electroencephalographic neurometric of mental effort, it was possible to catch their improvement in terms of mental performance, with a decrease in experienced mental demand after three repetitions of the driving training tasks. These results were confirmed by the analysis of reaction times, that significantly improved from the third repetition as well. Therefore, being able to measure when a task is less mentally demanding, and so more automatic, allows to deduce the degree of users training, becoming capable of handling additional tasks and reacting to unexpected events.

Molecular mechanisms underlying human spatial cognitive ability revealed with neurotransmitter and transcriptomic mapping.

Mental rotation, one of the cores of spatial cognitive abilities, is closely associated with spatial processing and general intelligence. Although the brain underpinnings of mental rotation have been reported, the cellular and molecular mechanisms remain unexplored. Here, we used magnetic resonance imaging, a whole-brain spatial distribution atlas of 19 neurotransmitter receptors, transcriptomic data from Allen Human Brain Atlas, and mental rotation performances of 356 healthy individuals to identify the genetic/molecular foundation of mental rotation. We found significant associations of mental rotation performance with gray matter volume and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in primary visual cortex, fusiform gyrus, primary sensory-motor cortex, and default mode network. Gray matter volume and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in these brain areas also exhibited significant sex differences. Importantly, spatial correlation analyses were conducted between the spatial patterns of gray matter volume or fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations with mental rotation and the spatial distribution patterns of neurotransmitter receptors and transcriptomic data, and identified the related genes and neurotransmitter receptors associated with mental rotation. These identified genes are localized on the X chromosome and are mainly involved in trans-synaptic signaling, transmembrane transport, and hormone response. Our findings provide initial evidence for the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying spatial cognitive ability.

Eye-Tracking in Physical Human-Robot Interaction: Mental Workload and Performance Prediction.

In Physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI), the need to learn the robot's motor-control dynamics is associated with increased cognitive load. Eye-tracking metrics can help understand the dynamics of fluctuating mental workload over the course of learning. The aim of this study was to test eye-tracking measures' sensitivity and reliability to variations in task difficulty, as well as their performance-prediction capability, in physical human-robot collaboration tasks involving an industrial robot for object comanipulation. Participants (9M, 9F) learned to coperform a virtual pick-and-place task with a bimanual robot over multiple trials. Joint stiffness of the robot was manipulated to increase motor-coordination demands. The psychometric properties of eye-tracking measures and their ability to predict performance was investigated. Stationary Gaze Entropy and pupil diameter were the most reliable and sensitive measures of workload associated with changes in task difficulty and learning. Increased task difficulty was more likely to result in a robot-monitoring strategy. Eye-tracking measures were able to predict the occurrence of success or failure in each trial with 70% sensitivity and 71% accuracy. The sensitivity and reliability of eye-tracking measures was acceptable, although values were lower than those observed in cognitive domains. Measures of gaze behaviors indicative of visual monitoring strategies were most sensitive to task difficulty manipulations, and should be explored further for the pHRI domain where motor-control and internal-model formation will likely be strong contributors to workload. Future collaborative robots can adapt to human cognitive state and skill-level measured using eye-tracking measures of workload and visual attention.

Positive psychological intervention and Morita therapy in alleviating mood disorders of salespeople under economic development

BackgroundWith the rapid development of the market economy, the competition between enterprises has become increasingly fierce, and the pressure on sales management personnel has become even greater. Most sales management personnel generally suffer from psychological disorders, which will have a negative impact on corporate performance. In response to this psychological problem, the study proposed a combination of positive psychological intervention and Morita therapy.Subjects and MethodsA total of 1600 experimental subjects were selected from the sales management of 100 small and medium-sized enterprises and divided into two groups based on the average number of people. The experimental group received positive psychological intervention combined with Morita therapy, while the control group received traditional psychological disorder treatment. The entire treatment period was 6 months. After completion, the Symptom Checklist SCL-90 was used to evaluate the symptoms of all personnel, and SPSS23.0 software was used to statistically analyze the results.ResultsThe statistical results show that the experimental group of students showed significant improvements in their ideological cognition, emotional control, and work attitude. The negative emotions of management personnel decreased by about 34%。ConclusionsThe research results indicate that positive psychological intervention combined with Morita therapy has a significant therapeutic effect on mood disorders in management personnel, which can improve their mental health level and work performance. It is recommended that enterprises strengthen positive psychological intervention and the application of Morita therapy in employee mental health management.

Assessment of Superior Hand on Mental Maze Performance and Learning Bilateral Neural Transmission

Assessment of Superior Hand on Mental Maze Performance and Learning Bilateral Neural Transmission

Establishing accounting efficiency mechanism in SMEs on workplace anxiety disorders analysis

BackgroundWorkplace anxiety disorder has a negative impact on the mental health and work performance of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises. The research aims to explore the impact of establishing financial accounting management efficiency mechanisms on workplace anxiety disorder in small and medium-sized enterprises.Subjects and MethodsThe study focused on small and medium-sized enterprise employees and divided them into an experimental group and a control group. The employees in the experimental group have established a financial accounting management efficiency mechanism, including standardized financial systems, clear accounting processes, and effective internal controls. The control group maintained traditional financial accounting management methods. The study used a questionnaire survey method to obtain data on employees’ workplace anxiety disorder scores, and used software Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS) for data processing and analysis.ResultsThe study found that the workplace anxiety disorder scores of the experimental group employees were significantly lower than those of the control group. The average anxiety score of the experimental group employees was 3.25, while that of the control group was 4.62. The t-test and analysis of variance were used to verify the statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group.ConclusionsResults shown that small and medium-sized enterprises can significantly reduce workplace anxiety disorders by establishing financial accounting management efficiency mechanisms. Standardized financial systems, clear accounting processes, and effective internal controls can help alleviate employees’ anxiety.

Automated mental arithmetic performance detection using quantum pattern- and triangle pooling techniques with EEG signals

Automated mental arithmetic performance detection using quantum pattern- and triangle pooling techniques with EEG signals

Knowledge translation and the untapped resource: Exploring the value of a community of practice for mental performance consultants.

Knowledge translation and the untapped resource: Exploring the value of a community of practice for mental performance consultants.

Factors Predicting Intentions of Adoption and Continued Use of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots for Mental Health: Examining the Role of UTAUT Model, Stigma, Privacy Concerns, and Artificial Intelligence Hesitancy.

Background: Artificial intelligence-based chatbots (AI chatbots) can potentially improve mental health care, yet factors predicting their adoption and continued use are unclear. Methods: We conducted an online survey with a sample of U.S. adults with symptoms of depression and anxiety (N = 393) in 2021 before the release of ChatGPT. We explored factors predicting the adoption and continued use of AI chatbots, including factors of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, stigma, privacy concerns, and AI hesitancy. Results: Results from the regression indicated that for nonusers, performance expectancy, price value, descriptive norm, and psychological distress are positively related to the intention of adopting AI chatbots, while AI hesitancy and effort expectancy are negatively associated with adopting AI chatbots. For those with experience in using AI chatbots for mental health, performance expectancy, price value, descriptive norm, and injunctive norm are positively related to the intention of continuing to use AI chatbots. Conclusions: Understanding the adoption and continued use of AI chatbots among adults with symptoms of depression and anxiety is essential given that there is a widening gap in the supply and demand of care. AI chatbots provide new opportunities for quality care by supporting accessible, affordable, efficient, and personalized care. This study provides insights for developing and deploying AI chatbots such as ChatGPT in the context of mental health care. Findings could be used to design innovative interventions that encourage the adoption and continued use of AI chatbots among people with symptoms of depression and anxiety and who have difficulty accessing care.

Unraveling the effects of occupational identity verification, self-esteem and identity salience on managers’ mental health: examining psychological distress and depression in the workplace

Purpose Managers play a crucial role in organizations. They make decisions that directly influence organizational success and significantly impact employees’ mental health, development and performance. They are responsible for ensuring the financial well-being and long-term sustainability of organizations. However, their mental health is often overlooked, which can negatively affect employees and organizations. This study aims to address managers’ mental health at work, by examining specifically the direct and indirect effects of identity verification on their psychological distress and depression through self-esteem at work. The study also aims to examine the moderating as well as moderated mediation effects of identity salience. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 314 Canadian managers working in 56 different companies was studied, using multilevel analyses. Findings The findings showed that the verification of managers’ identity vis-à-vis recognition is positively associated with psychological distress and depression. Self-esteem completely mediates the association between low identity verification vis-à-vis work control and psychological distress, and also the association between low identity verification vis-à-vis work control and superior support and depression, while it partially mediates the association between low identity verification vis-à-vis recognition and depression. Practical implications This study can also help both managers and human resource management practitioners in understanding the role of workplaces in the identity verification process and developing relevant interventions to prevent mental health issues among managers at work. Originality/value This study proposed a relatively unexplored approach to the study of managers’ mental health at work. Its integration of identity theory contributes to expanding research on management and workplace mental health issues.

Sleep quality and duration: A key to life satisfaction among military students.

Military service is a demanding profession that requires high physical preparedness and mental endurance. At the same time, the demands of military duties often require early rising and shortened sleep duration. Such a reduction in sleep can reduce physical and mental performance, and these changes can be reflected in life satisfaction. For this reason, soldiers' life satisfaction is a crucial variable for their success and long-term service. This study examined the relationship between sleep quality, sleep duration, and life satisfaction in military medical students. The results on 35 military students showed that greater sleep quality corresponded to greater life satisfaction; this relationship was moderate and significant (r = -460, p = .005). Notably, participants (n = 17) who began to wake up without the use of an alarm clock reported an average of 11% higher life satisfaction than the participants who woke to an alarm clock; this difference between participants was statistically significant (p = .011, Cohen's d = .911). Pre- and post-intervention showed that sleep hygiene education could be a suitable solution to prevent sleep deprivation and positively impact life satisfaction. Our findings emphasize the importance of increased sleep hygiene education, especially in preparing future military officers and during military exercises. Prioritizing sleep hygiene in these ways can significantly increase soldiers' life satisfaction.

Personalized optimal room temperature and illuminance for maximizing occupant's mental task performance using physiological data

Indoor room temperature and illuminance level are critical factors of indoor environment quality (IEQ), affecting human mental task performance. These effects are reflected in their physiological responses such as heart rate, electrodermal activity, and skin temperature. Occupants' individual preferences, sensitivity, and physiological responses to different combinations of room temperature and illuminance level can differ among individuals. Despite previous studies investigating the individual and combined effects of different IEQ parameters, the limited research on the cross-modal relationship between room temperature and illuminance level and its impact on mental task performance highlights its significance. Moreover, to achieve personalized insights, it is essential to incorporate individual physiological responses, and this necessitates the development of an optimization model to comprehensively examine their impact. To address these issues, this study proposes a personalized model that optimizes room temperature and illuminance levels to enhance mental task performance using occupants' physiological data. Having the random forest algorithm, this study first predicted mental task performance, which includes four mental abilities such as attention, perception, working memory, and thinking ability using the occupant's physiological data. Then, the particle swarm optimization algorithm was employed to optimize room temperature and illuminance level to maximize the predicted mental task performance. The results of the proposed model align with observed values of room temperature and illuminance level during experiments, validating the adoption of a personalized approach. The findings contribute to future insights and guidelines for the design and management of indoor environments to maximize occupants' performance.

Psychocorrective and cardiotropic therapy in young men with hypertension, overweight and androgen deficiency

Men with testosterone deficiency with hypertension and overweight were treated. A reliable result was achieved within six months of treatment with an ACE inhibitor and an "alternative" classical hormone replacement therapy drug Leveton, which has a positive effect on biological age, regulates metabolism, reduces psycho-emotional stress, increases social adaptation, mental performance, improves mood, normalizes sleep. Early detection and timely treatment make it possible to avoid possible complications of cardiovascular diseases, allows to increase the effectiveness of combination therapy with ACE inhibitors and Leveton in men with androgen deficiency and overweight with hypertension at the level of blood pressure, remodeling of the heart, the state of the vascular bed, erectile dysfunction, psychological state.

Impact of a mental training program for pediatric cancer patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or high-dose chemotherapy - Results of a randomized controlled trial.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) or intensive chemotherapy for the treatment of malignant diseases is a highly distressing experience. The affected person's resilience is crucial to coping with this challenging experience. Experience with resilience-enhancing interventions in children and young adults during cancer therapy is scarce. The major objective of this work was developing and evaluating an effective psycho-oncological mental training that complements the standard psychosocial care. In this prospective, randomized single-center study, a total of 30 patients (12 to 22years of age) who underwent HSCT or high-dose chemotherapy received either the standard psychosocial care (control group [CG]) or additionally underwent a novel and specifically developed resilience-enhancing 14-session mental training (therapy group [TG]). The patients were observed over an 8-month period and were screened for distress, thyroid, and immune function parameters, as well as generalized anxiety, affect, and sports orientation. Patients of the TG showed significantly greater improvements in all assessed mental aspects, including anxiety, affect, competitiveness, win orientation, goal orientation, self-optimization, self-blocking, and loss of focus, as well as cortisol levels within 8months, as opposed to patients of the CG (effect size range ξ: 0.74-1.00). Patients who underwent the mental training displayed less anxiety, better affect, and improved mental performance with less self-blocking. This resulted in improved goal orientation, competitiveness, self-optimization, and focus when compared to the CG patients. However, larger prospective trials are necessary to substantiate these findings.

Creative activities as intervention: experiences of well-being and satisfaction with daily living in a mental health context

There is increasing recognition in research of the role of creative activities in mental health recovery empowering the management of daily living and enhancing well-being and personal growth. Creative activities can generate psychological, physiological, and social responses that are themselves causally linked with health outcomes. Purpose This study aimed to explore to what extent and in which way people with severe mental illness experience well-being, performance, and satisfaction with daily living when participating in creative activities as intervention. Materials and methods A sequential mixed-methods design was applied. Data was obtained at two measurement points two-three weeks apart using the WHO-5 questionnaire and COPM questionnaire from a sample of 33 participants participating in interventions with creative activities. In addition, eight of the participants took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews, and data was analysed using content analysis on a manifest level. The quantitative data was processed using descriptive statistics, paired t-tests and Kendall’s tau-b for correlations. Result Participation resulted in improved self-rated well-being (17. 70. p < 0.0001), self-perceived occupational performance of daily living (1.40, p = 0.001), and satisfaction with occupational performance (2.05, p < 0.0001). The changes in well-being and daily living were explained by a work-like content and structure, positive intrapersonal and social acceptability experiences, and greater self-esteem due to the experience of being an artist. Conclusion This study contributes with knowledge about participation in creative activities as intervention even for a short period enables well-being, and performance and satisfaction with daily living for people experiencing severe mental illness.

Modular Open-Core System for Collection and Near Real-Time Processing of High-Resolution Data from Wearable Sensors

Wearable devices, such as smartwatches integrating heart rate and activity sensors, have the potential to transform health monitoring by enabling continuous, near real-time data collection and analytics. In this paper, we present a novel modular architecture for collecting and end-to-end processing of high-resolution signals from wearable sensors. The system obtains minimally processed data directly from the smartwatch and further processes and analyzes the data stream without transmitting it to the device vendor cloud. The standalone operation is made possible by a software stack that provides data cleaning, extraction of physiological metrics, and standardization of the metrics to enable person-to-person and rest-to-activity comparisons. To illustrate the operation of the system, we present examples of datasets from volunteers wearing Garmin Fenix smartwatches for several weeks in free-living conditions. As collected, the datasets contain time series of each interbeat interval and the respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, and step count every 1 min. From the high-resolution datasets, we extract heart rate variability metrics, which are a source of information about the heart’s response to external stressors. These biomarkers can be used for the early detection of a range of diseases and the assessment of physical and mental performance of the individual. The data collection and analytics system has the potential to broaden the use of smartwatches in continuous near to real-time monitoring of health and well-being.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Assistant Coaches’ Understanding and Use of Mental Performance and Mental Health Services

Assistant coaches play an important role in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletic departments and spend substantial amounts of time working with student-athletes, yet no research to date has examined their knowledge of mental performance and mental health services. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to learn about NCAA Division I assistant coaches’ understanding and use of mental performance and mental health services. Thirteen assistant coaches employed at universities with at least one mental performance consultant and one licensed mental health provider were interviewed. Thematic analysis procedures were used, and five themes were constructed: (a) day-to-day responsibilities of the assistant coach, (b) needing both mental performance and mental health services, (c) factors influencing understanding of mental performance and mental health services, (d) factors impacting student-athlete utilization of mental performance and mental health services, and (e) confusion between mental performance and mental health services.

HYGIENIC ASSESSMENT OF VITAMIN CONSUMPTION BY STUDENTS UNDER STRESS

To preserve and strengthen the health of young people, one of the tasks of the state in the field of healthy nutrition is the development of the production of functional food products enriched with essential water- and fat-soluble vitamins; development of additives of biologically active substances and orientation of higher education to improve the level of education of students of the valeological direction, and the introduction of relevant topics, subjects in the educational process of higher educational institutions. The article is devoted to the problem of monitoring vitamins in the nutrition of student youth in modern conditions. With the help of a questionnaire and a method for determining the content of water- and fat-soluble vitamins in the daily diet, non-compliance with the principles of rational nutrition by full-time students was revealed, which negatively affects their health. For all full-time students, there is a deficiency in the intake of vitamins D 70%, C 62.5%, B9 60% and biotin 74%. The average content of vitamin C in diets for girls is 1.03 times lower than the norm, for boys it is 1.27 times lower than the norm. The intake of vitamins B2, B6, B12 and B5 with diets exceeds the recommended values. The study of the quality of diets of junior students showed that the majority of students have a polydeficient diet, unbalanced in terms of water- and fat-soluble vitamins, as well as a lack of a conscious attitude to nutrition. A low level of skills and abilities of students in organizing their own meals was revealed. An insufficient level of knowledge about proper nutrition is a potential factor in the deterioration of health, the emergence of primary and secondary alimentary diseases, and a decrease in mental performance. The ways of increasing the level of knowledge in practical nutrition of students of higher education and ways of solving the problem of balanced nutrition of students as an effective condition for improving their health as an effective condition for improving their health are proposed. It has been established that one of the priority tasks of our time is to increase the level of education of student youth on healthy nutrition.

Gender Differences in Mental Rotational Training Based on Computer Adaptive Tests.

Mental rotation tasks have been widely used to assess individuals' spatial cognition and the ability to mentally manipulate objects. This study employed a computerized adaptive training method to investigate the behavioral performance of participants of different genders in mental rotation tasks with different rotation angles before and after training. A total of 44 Chinese university students participated in the experiment, with the experimental group undergoing a five-day mental rotation training program. During the training phase, a three-down/one-up staircase procedure was used to adjust the stimulus levels (response time) based on participants' responses. The results showed that the training had a facilitative effect on the mental rotation ability of both male and female participants, and it was able to eliminate the gender differences in mental rotation performance. Regarding the angles, we observed that the improvement in the angles involved in the training was significantly higher compared to untrained angles. However, no significant differences in improvement were found among the three trained angles. In summary, these findings demonstrate the effectiveness of computerized adaptive training methods in improving mental rotation ability and highlight the influence of gender and angles on learning outcomes.