Positive Stimulus Research Articles

Functional role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the modulation of cognitive bias.

Human cognition is often biased. It is a fundamental question in psychology how cognitive bias is modulated in the human brain. Automatic action tendency is a typical cognitive bias. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a crucial area for processing various behavioral tasks. We investigated the functional role of DLPFC in the modulation of cognitive bias by testing the automatic action tendency during automatic and regulated behavioral tasks. Unilateral intermittent or continuous theta burst stimulation (excitatory iTBS or inhibitory cTBS) was used to manipulate the left or right DLPFC excitability and assess the changes in automatic action tendency during a manikin task. An approaching behavior with positive stimulus and avoiding behavior with negative stimulus were performed in an automatic task. An approaching behavior with negative stimulus and avoiding behavior with positive stimulus were performed in a regulated task. Reaction time was measured. We confirmed the automatic action tendency that reaction time for performing an automatic task was shorter than that for performing a regulated task. The automatic action tendency was enhanced after left DLPFC excitatory iTBS and was abolished after left DLPFC inhibitory cTBS stimulation. On the other hand, right DLPFC excitatory iTBS accelerated the avoiding behaviors and right DLPFC inhibitory cTBS accelerated approaching behaviors. The results suggest that left DLPFC modulates the automatic action tendency while the right DLPFC modulates the direction of behavioral tasks. We conclude that left DLPFC and right DLPFC are key nodes in modulating the cognitive bias while their functional roles are different.

DESAIN HUNIAN YANG MENDUKUNG TERCAPAINYA KESADARAN BATIN UNTUK MEMINIMALKAN DAMPAK PSIKOLOGIS PANDEMI COVID-19

Pandemic COVID-19 causes various negative impacts on society. Physical health problems and mental health problems are also significantly increased during pandemics, while anxiety disorder appears to be front liners among all mental health problems during pandemics. In an anxiety disorder treatment, psychologists are familiar with a series of training to help patient achieve mindfulness, and as a result, help patient to deal with anxiety disorder. The research aims to formulate basic house design principles to help the dwellers achieve mindfulness, as an architectural design response to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and minimize COVID-19’s negative impact through preventive and restorative measures. This research is being conducted through the literature review method, through wide-ranging literature from a book and research report published in a scientific journal. The principles are then being examined through an elimination process to formulate an operational design principle in architecture. The result from the elaboration conclude that house design must apply a certain design element to create positive stimulus and engage the senses of the dwellers, the spatial arrangement should be functionally flexible, and the spatial arrangement of the house also needs to be sequentially arranged to make the dweller experience various spatial experience provided by the house design.

Вплив інтраназального введення дофаміну на сприйняття запаху у щурів з нігростріатною недостатністю

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in finding early predictors of Parkinson’s disease. In this regard, it is worth noting the olfactory dysfunction, which is associated with the death of neurons in the structures of the limbic system of the brain and a decrease in dopamine levels in the striatum. It was found that most patients with Parkinson’s disease have a clear olfactory dysfunction in the form of impaired differentiation and identification of odors. It has been suggested that the use of low doses of dopamine in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease will stop the progression of central nervous system disorders. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of intranasal administration of small doses of dopamine on the early manifestations of fine motor skills and olfactory sensory system function in nigrostriatal dysfunction in rats. Materials and methods. The experiments were performed on 2 groups of animals (n=14) with nigrostriatal dysfunction, which was modulated by partial bilateral electrical damage to the compact part of the substantia nigra. Stereotactic coordinates of the substantia nigra area were determined from the brain maps of rats by Fifkova and Marshall (quoted by Buresh), which corresponded to the distance from the point of intersection of the sagittal suture with bregma: F=5.5 mm, L=1.7 mm, H=9.0 mm. Rats of the first group (n=8) were intranasally administered with small doses of dopamine, and rats of the second group (n=6) were a comparison group. The fine motor skills of the forelimbs and the functional state of the olfactory system were studied when rats were presented with different odorants: emotionally positive (isovaleric acid) and emotionally negative (lemon essential oil) odorants. Results and discussion. The dynamics of the development of nigrostriatal dysfunction revealed a decrease in coordinated motor activity of the forelimbs, muscles of the oral pole and tongue and increased olfactory sensitivity to emotionally negative odorant (lemon essential oil) and loss of 40% of animals’ olfactory sensitivity to emotionally positive isovaleric odor. Conclusion. Prolonged intranasal administration of low doses of dopamine for 10 days to rats with nigrostriatal dysfunction resulted in a 26.2% increase in the activity of fine motor skills of the forelimbs, oral poles and tongue. In these rats, recovery of olfactory sensitivity to the perception of the smell of emotionally negative odorant was found. The action of the emotionally positive stimulus of isovaleric acid revealed an increase in olfactory sensitivity in 75% of animals to the level of baseline values and a decrease in the threshold of sensitivity to it, which was reflected in an increase in the number of approaches and time of odorant research

Relating, orienting and evoking functions in an IRAP study involving emotional pictographs (emojis) used in electronic messages

The current study investigated the dynamics of arbitrarily applicable relational responding involving emotional pictographs (emojis) used in electronic messages by means of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). College students (N = 41) were trained to establish two classes of equivalent stimuli, each comprising a happy or an angry emoji, and three pseudo-words that presumably became symbols of the emotional pictographs. In a subsequent IRAP test, combinations of symbols (labels) and emojis (targets) generated four trial-types (with the consistent response within parentheses): happy symbol–happy emoji (true); happy symbol–negative emoji (false) negative symbol–happy emoji (false); and negative symbol–negative emoji (true), referred to as trial types 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. A positive score occurred only for trial-type 1 [happy symbol–happy emoji (true)]. Scores for trial-types 2 and 4 were close to zero, and the score for trial-type 3 [negative symbol-happy emoji (false)] was negative. This negative D-IRAP score means that participants were faster to respond true than false for the combination of negative symbol and happy emoji. These results are discussed in terms of the Differential Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding Effects (DAARRE) model. It is hypothesized that the orienting and evoking (functional) properties of the positive target stimulus (happy emoji) and the positive response option (true) had a stronger bearing on participants’ responding in trial type 3 than the relation between the label and target stimuli presented in this trial. We argue that the current study provides an empirical demonstration of a dissonant target trial type effect (DTTTE) that appeared to counter equivalence relations trained within the experimental session and discuss implications for IRAP research.

STRATEGI SELF-MANAGEMENT UNTUK MENGEMBANGKAN STABILITAS EMOSI SISWA

Self-management is a set of techniques for changing behavior, thoughts, and feelings. Self-management can control emotions and control negative emotions and express emotions in the right way without overdoing it. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of counseling services with self-management strategies to develop the emotional stability of class X students. The approach used in this study was a qualitative approach with a descriptive type of research. This research is a case study of one student who has problems in regulating his emotional stability. The results showed that self-management strategies can improve students' emotional stability, seen from the way students manage emotions after being given counseling techniques. Students are able to rearrange the environment as an antecedent to certain responses, as well as present themselves and determine their own positive stimulus that follows the desired response. Keywords: : counselling, self management, emotional stability

Experience of development and management of interprofessional education courses: a case study of an IPE center CHA IPE Bridge.

PurposeSince the World Health Organization began recommending interprofessional education (IPE) in 2007, it has been applied to all fields of health care related education worldwide. There is an emerging need for IPE in Korea in the context of developing strategies for continuous quality control and improvement of medical services in hospitals and especially avoidance of patient safety. However, despite its importance and necessity, IPE in Korea appears to remain in its starting stage. The aim of this study is to introduce “CHA IPE Bridge”, a center for IPE that was established CHA University in Korea in 2018.MethodsAccording to the subject and purpose of this study, I have to conduct a “case study” with “literature search” as a basic research method. After conducting a literature (books and articles) & websites search on the history and trends of IPE in the world and the current status of IPE in Korea, I intend to examine the status and meaning of the CHA IPE Bridge based on those backgrounds.ResultsAccording to Harden’s 11 steps of IPE, IPE courses and programs developed CHA IPE Bridge have reached the level of “multidisciplinary'” belonging to the ninth step. In fact, few cases in Korea have achieved that level of IPE. Furthermore, CHA IPE Bridge develops IPE courses that go beyond the range of doctors and nurses to other occupations related to the field of health care. In view of such differences, the introduction of CHA IPE Bridge is expected to provide a positive stimulus to other universities in Korea.ConclusionThe greatest achievement of this study is that the CHA IPE Bridge’s status in the field of domestic and international medical education and its positive impact has been revealed. Although this case only shows examples of the development and operation of IPE programs at the undergraduate level, it can be seen that even in Korea, if the operation strategy is well established, the application of IPE is never impossible.

Negativity bias: An evolutionary hypothesis and an empirical programme

Across many psychological domains there is evidence of negativity bias: the greater subjective potency of negative events when compared with positive events of the same objective magnitude. Here I propose a general evolutionary explanation for the phenomenon: the concave fitness-state (CFS) hypothesis. The CFS hypothesis proposes, with evidence from feeding, drinking and economic domains, that various motivational, emotional and cognitive states – through which stimuli activate responses – have a concave downwards (diminishing returns) relationship with fitness. Where this is the case it follows that a reduction in state, due to a negative stimulus, reduces fitness more than a positive stimulus of equal objective magnitude increases it, producing – the hypothesis consequently predicts – a negativity bias due to the difference in subjective stimulus potency. In discussing other approaches to understanding the phenomenon I critique the proposal that negativity bias can be explained as an adaptive response to the particular importance and urgency of dealing with threat, by arguing that: (1) where negative stimuli interpretable as threat, and contrasting positive stimuli, cannot be measured in a commensurate manner they cannot be validly tested for negativity bias; and (2) since threat stimuli and positive stimuli generally impact different states a greater potency for threat stimuli should generally be interpreted in terms of motivational competition rather than negativity bias. I suggest two ways of circumventing the problem of incommensurate stimuli when studying stimulus bias. The first is to use the loss aversion paradigm: rating the value of the same stimulus when presented as either a gain or a loss in relation to a reference value. Second, understanding the relative subjective potencies of positive and negative stimuli across a range of objective stimulus magnitudes, even when incommensurate, can be achieved experimentally by finding pairs of positive and negative stimuli which, though measured on different scales of magnitude, are equipotent. That is, they have equal and opposite effects on fitness, well-being or stimulus evaluation. These stimulus pairs constitute a potency equivalence function, which describes the shape of the relationship between equipotent positive and negative stimulus magnitudes.

IMPROVEMENT OF LADIES MANAGEMENT AT THE ESSENTIAL IN BANGLADESH: A ANALYSIS OF ITS FRAME, CONDITIONSAND PERFORMANCE

This paper attempts to unwind the examination question: what were the constructions, settings and cycles that created ladies administration in bangladesh the paper depends on content examination strategy. the discoveries of the examination disentangled that ladies initiative in a nation becomes through different financial, political and legitimate cycles, constructions and settings that permitted ladies playing position of authority. liberal worth framework, vote based administration, headway of schooling, science, data and correspondence advances information and communication technologies, diverse socio-political developments, ladies' associations and systems administration, good enactment and so on, can give positive stimulus to uniting ladies' authority. from a genuine perspective, financial components assumed urgent part for arising ladies initiative in the essential based neighbourhood government in bangladesh. it was apparent that working in non-governmental organizations non-governmental organizations tremendous number of ladies accomplished financial liberation and conscientization by including themselves in different pay creating exercises and created huge social capital at the essential level which buttressed ladies initiative in bangladesh.

Voter Decision-Making in a Context of Low Political Trust: The 2016 UK EU Membership Referendum

Using volunteer writing for Mass Observation, we explore how British citizens decided whether to leave the EU. The 2016 referendum was the biggest decision made by the British electorate in decades, but involved limited voter analysis. Many citizens did not have strong views about EU membership in early 2016. The campaigns did not help to firm up their views, not least because so much information appeared to be in dispute. Voters, often characterised as polarised, were reluctant and uncertain. Many citizens took their duty to decide seriously, but were driven more by hunch than careful analysis. In 2016, voters reacted against elites they did not trust at least as much as they embraced the ideas of trusted elites. This contrasts with the 1975 Referendum on the Common Market, when the vote was driven by elite endorsement. In low-trust contexts, voters use cues from elites as negative rather than positive stimulus.

Kolaborasi Komponen Pendidikan Dalam Mewujudkan Pembelajaran Bermakna Pada Siswa Kelas II Sekolah Dasar

This research aims to describe the form of collaboration application between educational components in realizing learning in grade II elementary school students. The research method used is a qualitative descriptive research method with a phenomenological approach to question natural phenomena. The subjects of this study were 92 people, consisting of 31 students of class II-B, 1 teacher of class II-B, 1 parallel teacher of class II-A, 1 representative of the school in the curriculum field, and 31 parents of students. The primary data of this research are based on the results of direct observations, while the secondary data are from documents related to collaboration, such as lesson plans, teacher research results, and the author's reflections on observations. The research instrument using observation and documentation techniques in the data. The results showed that to improve the quality of students positively and with quality, it is necessary to manage education through good collaboration from the school, family, and community so that positive stimulus through the interaction of educational components can develop aspects of students holistically. This study concludes that there are three forms of collaboration for educational components that can be carried out in realizing classroom learning, namely teacher and student collaboration, teacher collaboration, parallel teachers, and vice principal in curriculum, and teacher and parent collaboration (PaL's).

Biomechanical behavior of an alveolar graft under maxillary therapies.

Cleft lip and palate is a congenital defect that affects the oral cavity. Depending on its severity, alveolar graft surgery and maxillary orthopedic therapies must be carried out as a part of the treatment. It is widely accepted that the therapies should be performed before grafting. Nevertheless, some authors have suggested that mechanical stimuli such as those from the maxillary therapies could improve the success rate of the graft. The aim of this study is to computationally determine the effect of maxillary therapies loads on the biomechanical response of an alveolar graft with different degrees of ossification. We also explore how the transverse width of the cleft affects the graft behavior and compare results with a non-cleft skull. Results suggest that stresses increase within the graft as it ossifies and are greater if maxillary expansion therapy is applied. This has consequences in the bone remodeling processes that are necessary for the graft osseointegration. Maxillary orthopedic therapies after graft surgery could be considered as a part of the treatment since they seem to act as a positive extra stimulus that can benefit the graft.

Deep Neural Networks for Depression Recognition Based on 2D and 3D Facial Expressions Under Emotional Stimulus Tasks.

The proportion of individuals with depression has rapidly increased along with the growth of the global population. Depression has been the currently most prevalent mental health disorder. An effective depression recognition system is especially crucial for the early detection of potential depression risk. A depression-related dataset is also critical while evaluating the system for depression or potential depression risk detection. Due to the sensitive nature of clinical data, availability and scale of such datasets are scarce. To our knowledge, there are few extensively practical depression datasets for the Chinese population. In this study, we first create a large-scale dataset by asking subjects to perform five mood-elicitation tasks. After each task, subjects' audio and video are collected, including 3D information (depth information) of facial expressions via a Kinect. The constructed dataset is from a real environment, i.e., several psychiatric hospitals, and has a specific scale. Then we propose a novel approach for potential depression risk recognition based on two kinds of different deep belief network (DBN) models. One model extracts 2D appearance features from facial images collected by an optical camera, while the other model extracts 3D dynamic features from 3D facial points collected by a Kinect. The final decision result comes from the combination of the two models. Finally, we evaluate all proposed deep models on our built dataset. The experimental results demonstrate that (1) our proposed method is able to identify patients with potential depression risk; (2) the recognition performance of combined 2D and 3D features model outperforms using either 2D or 3D features model only; (3) the performance of depression recognition is higher in the positive and negative emotional stimulus, and females' recognition rate is generally higher than that for males. Meanwhile, we compare the performance with other methods on the same dataset. The experimental results show that our integrated 2D and 3D features DBN is more reasonable and universal than other methods, and the experimental paradigm designed for depression is reasonable and practical.

Olly: A tangible for togetherness

• Olly is a sonic e-textile tangible to foster social play and self-regulation. • Olly was tested with a group of children with autism who like music for an average of 24 minutes, once per week, over five weeks in specialized school. • Olly's affordance eased children to gather together around one artifact and interact with each other. • Olly offered open-ended playful opportunities within a semi-structured environment that were positively experienced by the children. This research explores how tangible interactive technology might offer opportunities for socialization and sensory regulation. We present a study carried out in an educational setting during leisure activities with a small group of children with autism who like music. We introduce Όλοι (pronounced Olly), a sonic textile Tangible User Interface (TUI) designed around the observations of five minimally verbal children with autism aged between 5-10 years. The TUI was tested for an average of 24 minutes once per week, over a period of five weeks in a specialized school based in North-East London, UK. We propose a methodological approach that embraces diversity and promotes designs that support repetitive movements and self-regulation to provide the children with a favorable environment and tools to socialize with peers. The findings show positive outcomes with regards to spontaneous social interactions between peers particularly when children interacted with or around Olly. These were observed in the form of eye-contact, turn-taking, sharing (of the space, the object and experience), and more complex social play dynamics like associative and cooperative play. We illustrate how the TUI was a positive stimulus of social behaviors and discuss design implications for novel technologies that aim to foster shared experiences between children with autism.

Financial Well-Being Resilience : Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion Toward Financial Attitude

Discussion of this research to analyze the resilience of financial well-being derived from financial literacy and the impact of financial inclusion through financial attitudes. A total of 239 respondents were distributed to MSME businesses, especially with data collection techniques in the form of questionnaires and interviews. SEM-PLS compound path analysis was used in this study for data from path analysis mediated by financial attitude on financial well-being resilience. The results of the study there is a positive correlation between the direct relationship of financial literacy and financial inclusion in financial attitudes, as well as positive relationships between financial literacy and financial inclusion through financial attitudes on financial well-being resilience. Then there is the direct positive contribution of financial attitudes to financial security resilience. This study explained that the contribution of financial attitudes can provide positive stimulus in measuring financial well-being resilience from indicators of perception, strength, inadequacy, retention contained in financial attitudes

Staff perspectives on the role of physical environment in long-term care facilities on dementia care in Canada and Sweden.

This study aimed to explore staff perspectives of the physical environment in supporting their care practices for residents living with dementia in Canadian and Swedish long-term care facilities. An exploratory, descriptive, qualitative research design based on focus groups was used. A total of 24 staff members who worked closely with the residents such as nurses or care aides participated in the focus group interviews from four facilities, two in Sweden and two in Canada. Focus group interview was held at each selected care facility once and a total of four times were conducted. Broad questions were asked about the effect of physical environment on care practice, job satisfaction, and interaction with residents. Data were analyzed by thematic analysis. This study identified three environmental themes that have substantial effect on the social interaction and care practice: (i) design ambience enables and limits social and care interaction, (ii) space arrangements facilitate and hinder the effectiveness of care delivery, and (iii) sensory stimuli have direct impact on residents. The findings demonstrate that well-designed environment qualities such as homelike ambience, an open layout, and stimulating courtyard positively stimulate the emotion of staff as well as residents, which also leads to build trust and relationship and to increase job satisfaction. The study found that the appropriate level of sound or familiar music for residents with dementia is a positive stimulus. When the staff felt comfortable and supported by good care unit's ambience, they can be motivated to care for their residents, leading to better care practices. The study also found that the closed floor plan in an institutional setting could increase staff fatigue by obstructing the view of residents' behaviors and movement and by increasing walking loads. This study highlights the complexities of how care was organized and influenced by the physical environment of the setting. The variations in the physical environmental characteristics and quality of care suggest the value of comparative research in identifying and exploring the possible causes and consequences. Future development in long-term care facilities requires a better understanding of staff experiences and staff involvement in the physical design of care settings.

High and low feather pecking selection lines of laying hens differ in response to a judgment bias test

Feather pecking represents a serious problem in the poultry industry that can negatively affect production as well as the welfare of laying hens. Although feather pecking has been studied from many different angles, there are only a few studies of the relationship between feather pecking and cognition. This study aims to compare the cognitive performance of hens from the high feather pecking (HFP) and the low feather pecking (LFP) lines in a visual discrimination (Go/No-Go) task and to study their decision making under ambiguity using the judgment bias test.Twenty HFP and 20 LFP hens were trained in a visual discrimination task to approach a coloured feeder (white for half of the hens and black for the other half) containing a reward (one mealworm) and to refrain from approaching a feeder with a different colour (colour opposite to positive, i.e. black or white) to avoid punishment (water spraying). During the subsequent judgment bias tests hens were tested in the presence of the positive, negative or ambiguous stimulus (grey coloured feeder), always one type of stimulus at a time. The latencies to reach each of the stimuli were recorded. At the end of the visual discrimination training phase, 36 out of 40 hens successfully discriminated the positive and the negative coloured feeder. There was a slower association of the coloured feeder with the reward in the HFP line and HFP hens did not suppress the response to the negative stimulus as effective as HFP hens, which could be a sign of their high motor impulsiveness. However, in the judgment bias test HFP hens approached the ambiguous feeder significantly faster than LFP hens (HFP 13.59 ± 1.11 s, LFP 16.68 ± 1.10 s, P < 0.05), that can be interpreted as evidence that hens from the HFP line are more optimistic, i.e. that they are in a more positive affective state. The high motor impulsiveness of HFP hens provides another possible explanation for their response to the ambiguous stimulus. However, higher motor activity of the HFP line did not affect the results of the judgment bias test. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in plasma corticosterone levels between the lines, suggesting that differences in stress levels might not explain the results of the judgment bias test.

Rams recognize and prefer the human who regularly brushed them

Brushing produces a relaxing effect and improves the welfare of ewes and lambs and the human-animal relationship. Lambs gently handled during rearing are less fearful to humans in their adulthood, but there are few studies on the development of a positive human-animal relationship in adult animals. The objectives were to compare: 1) the preference of rams toward a familiar person that regularly brushed them and one that had not; 2) the behavioral response of rams to the brushing performed by these two persons. As a control test, we compared the preference of rams toward the caregiver who fed and handled them positively every day to that of another familiar person that had never fed them. Twenty Corriedale rams were brushed for 15 consecutive days by the same previously unknown person. Two independent two-choice tests were conducted one day after the brushing period. In the first test, the preference towards a female brusher (FB) or a familiar female handler (FFH) was compared. In the second test, the preference between a male caregiver (MC), and a familiar man handler (FMH) was compared. Then, the reaction of rams during a brushing session depending of the brusher (FB or FFH) was compared. During the two-choice test, rams entered sooner in the contact zone of FB (P = 0.03), tended to make physical contact sooner with FB (P = 0.1), for longer duration (P = 0.09) and more frequently (P = 0.09) than FFH. They also sniffed FB more times than FFH (P = 0.04). However, rams tended to spend more time in the proximal zone near FFH than that of FB (P = 0.07). Rams sniffed sooner MC than FMH (83 ± 17 s vs 112 ± 17 s; P = 0.05), and tended to look at MC sooner than FMH (P = 0.07). During the brushing session, rams were motionless for longer (FB: 19.4 ± 5.2 s; FFH: 8.5 ± 3.5 s; P = 0.02) and tended to change neck posture less often (FB: 2.8 ± 0.5; FFH: 4.6 ± 1.1; P = 0.07) when brushed by FB than by FFH. Overall, rams preferred the brusher over the familiar handler and they were more relaxed when brushed by the usual brusher than by the familiar handler. Rams displayed a clear preference toward the person that produced a positive stimulus for them. Overall, these results demonstrate that brushing can be an easy strategy to facilitate rams handling, improving also their welfare.

Effects of trial and error and social learning on flavour palatability in nursery pigs

The acquisition of behaviours that enhance the acceptability of new feeds could improve the performance and animal welfare in the pig industry. Pigs may learn individually by trial and error and/or by social learning to consume and prefer new flavoured feeds. However, there is little information regarding the effects of learning on the palatability of those flavours. This study aimed to investigate possible changes in pigs’ hedonic responses, estimated by the mean consumption time per approach (CT/A), for flavours previously learnt through individual experiences (Experiment 1) and socially by a brief interaction with an experienced conspecific (Experiment 2). A total of 96 nursery pigs were used to study their preference, acceptability and palatability for flavours previously learnt about. Flavours were associated with 4% sucrose (Experiment 1) or with a demonstrator that recently consumed the flavour (Experiment 2). Those flavours or positive conditioned stimulus (CS+) were compared with control flavours that were not positively conditioned (CS-). In experiment 1, pigs preferred (P = 0.010) and tended to accept more (P = 0.069) of the CS + than CS- in water solutions. Nevertheless, no palatability differences were found (P = 0.875). In experiment 2, observer animals had a higher intake of CS + following interaction with demonstrators that consumed the same flavoured feed (P = 0.041). Snout to snout interaction time between those demonstrators and observers tended to present a positive correlation with CT/A (r = 0.497, P = 0.1). Thus both individual trial and error learning, and social learning, increased pigs acceptance of, and preference for, food flavours. However, only social learning modified the pattern of consumption with the observation of a correlation between changes in the CT/A ratio and the degree of snout to snout contact time between demonstrators and observers. Thus the mechanisms and effects of social and individual learning appear to differ at least partially. Regardless of mechanism, the fact that associative learning can increase food flavour consumption suggests that interventions based on associative learning may be beneficial for addressing welfare problems in pig production linked to low consumption, in particular with respect to weaning where the low consumption may relate to the inexperience of the animals.

Qualitative Research on the Primary Effect of Fish Pet Ownership Using the Bottleium, a Bottle-Type Aquarium, on Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Japan: A Potential Preventive Measure Towards Social Isolation.

Aging increases the risk of social isolation, which could lead to conditions such as depressive mood. Pet ownership is known to reduce social isolation. However, previous studies have mainly focused on mammals as pets, which could be difficult at old age. A small ornamental fish is relatively easy to culture and might be a suitable alternative. In this research, we aimed to elucidate the possible effects of fish ownership on the psychological state of community-dwelling older adults in Japan. A Bottleium, a bottle-type aquarium, was selected to lower the burden of fish ownership. A workshop was hosted in 2019 and participants brought home their own Bottleium, with fish and water snail inside. Nineteen participants gave consent to the follow-up interview a month later. Five themes, “observation of fish and water snail”, “interaction between the fish and the owner”, “taking care of the fish as pet owner”, “facilitation of interpersonal interaction”, and “development of support system”, emerged from thematic analysis. The promotion of animal-to-human, and human-to-human interaction and development of responsibility could relate to a sense of social inclusion and ikigai-kan, a purpose of life. Fish ownership, when using equipment that suits the physical capability of older adults, could act as a positive stimulus.

Telephone-based communication training in the era of COVID-19.

Introduction: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, alternatives to established and proven formats had to be found in university teaching within a very short time. In the case of the SkillsLab at the Dorothea Erxleben Lernzentrum Halle (Saale) at the Martin Luther University Halle (Saale)-Wittenberg, this meant in relation to the communication courses that a considerable proportion of the simulation participants of advanced age or with pre-existing conditions were suddenly no longer available for conversation simulations in teaching.Project description: In the course of the seminar “Conversation with relatives – dealing with relatives” in the 8th semester, the conversation simulation was therefore adapted at short notice and converted into a telephone conversation. Thus, the simulation subjects were able to participate remotely and the students had the opportunity to test their doctor-patient conversation skills with regard to telephone calls in a safe environment. Results: The focus on nonverbal techniques and the departure from the usual face-to-face setting was perceived by students and simulation subjects alike as a positive stimulus and particularly challenging. The lack of visual impressions had made empathic conversation more difficult. Discussion and Conclusions: The positive experiences from this project should be used to expand the communication curriculum in the future to include telephone-based conversations with simulation subjects. Ideally, it would then be possible for the simulation persons to be present in the future after the conversation for feedback mediation and group discussion.