Pre-training Session Research Articles

Measuring Teachers’ Motivation Toward Professional Development through Integration of Mobile Technology

The integration of technology in teacher training is an integral part of motivation in the 21st century. The integration of mobile technology in teacher training and professional development can bring about a meaningful change in their career. This study examines how, in the academic environment of Sindh, Pakistan, in-service training sessions contribute to the professional skill development and motivation of instructors. The study has two primary aims. The first involved examining how teacher training programs affected instructors’ willingness to continue in the classroom and to enroll in training programs. The second involved examining how these sessions affected teachers’ ability to advance their careers and develop their confidence and self-efficacy. Data for the study were gathered using a survey research approach. To gather information from 450 teachers in Sindh, Pakistan—both private and public—a structured questionnaire was created. The information gathered from the survey was examined using statistical analysis. The study’s findings demonstrate that in-service teachers are not as motivated or proficient in their professional development as they should be by training sessions through the integration of mobile technology. The main motivators for the instructors to attend these workshops are their financial and social advantages. According to the study, several essential elements of successful teacher preparation are absent from these in-service training sessions. As a result, the study suggests that training programs abandon their conventional methods and modernize to better meet the demands of teachers today through the use of technology, which most teachers avoid using. More than merely formal meetings, training sessions should be scheduled to prepare instructors for actual learning objectives. Future academics of teacher training programs may find value in the study’s conclusions with the application of mobile technology by providing appropriate pre-training sessions for the use of technology.

Post-exercise hypotension and recreational futsal: Effects of a 3-month intervention and association with resting blood pressure adaptations

ABSTRACT To investigate i) if a recreational futsal (RF) training session elicits post-exercise hypotension (PEH), ii) the impact of a 3-month RF intervention on PEH, and iii) the association between PEH in the early phase of the intervention with resting blood pressure (BP) chronic adaptions in men with treated hypertension. BP was measured before and after a RF training session every 5-min (total of 30-min) in the early (weeks 1–2) and the final phases (weeks 11–12) of a 3-month RF intervention, comprising 3 weekly one-hour sessions. Thirty-three men (48 ± 7 years; mean arterial pressure [MAP]: 96 ± 8 mmHg; BMI: 32.2 ± 4.9 kg/m2) participated. In the intervention early phase, systolic BP ([SBP]; −15.4 mmHg; 95% CI: −10.9, −16.8), diastolic BP ([DBP]; −5.4 mmHg; 95% CI: −7.8, −3.0), and MAP (−8.8 mmHg; 95% CI: −11.2, −6.4) significantly decreased 30-min post- compared to pre-training session (n = 33). In the intervention final phase (n = 24), SBP (−8.1 mmHg; 95% CI: −12.0, −3.9) and MAP (−3.0 mmHg; 95% CI: −5.4, −0.7) significantly decreased 30-min post- compared to pre-training session, but not DBP (−0.5 mmHg; 95% CI: −3.7, 2.7). PEH in the final phase was significantly inferior compared to the early phase. PEH in the early phase of the intervention was not consistently associated with chronic BP changes.

Pre-supplementary Motor Cortex Mediates Learning Transfer from Perceptual to Motor Timing.

When we intensively train a timing skill, such as learning to play the piano, we not only produce brain changes associated with task-specific learning but also improve our performance in other temporal behaviors that depend on these tuned neural resources. Since the neural basis of time learning and generalization is still unknown, we measured the changes in neural activity associated with the transfer of learning from perceptual to motor timing in a large sample of subjects (n = 65; 39 women). We found that intense training in an interval discrimination task increased the acuity of time perception in a group of subjects that also exhibited learning transfer, expressed as a reduction in inter-tap interval variability during an internally driven periodic motor task. In addition, we found subjects with no learning and/or generalization effects. Notably, functional imaging showed an increase in pre-supplementary motor area and caudate-putamen activity between the post- and pre-training sessions of the tapping task. This increase was specific to the subjects that generalized their timing acuity from the perceptual to the motor context. These results emphasize the central role of the cortico-basal ganglia circuit in the generalization of timing abilities between tasks.

Motor-Respiratory Coupling Improves Endurance Performance during Rhythmic Isometric Handgrip Exercise.

This study aimed to evaluate whether motor-respiratory coupling exists in rhythmic isometric handgrip exercises and its effect on endurance performance. In addition, the mechanism underlying observed effects was to be investigated if higher motor-respiratory coupling rate could enhance endurance performance. Eleven subjects completed three rhythmic isometric handgrip trials to task failure in a randomized manner. After one pretraining session to determine personal grip frequency, one trial was performed without respiration requirement (CON), and two trials were performed with inspiration-motor coupling (IMC) or expiration-motor coupling. Changes in maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and EMG were used to measure neuromuscular fatigue. Force data during test were used to assess exercise intensity. Another 10 subjects completed electrical stimulation-induced finger flexion and extension during normal inspiration, normal expiration, fast inspiration, fast expiration, and breath holding. Force changes of different breathing conditions were compared. Normalized exercise time to exhaustion was significantly longer in IMC (1.27 ± 0.23) compared with expiration-motor coupling (0.82 ± 0.18) and CON (0.91 ± 0.18, P < 0.001). ΔMVC, grip frequency, force, and EMG indices were not different among conditions (all P > 0.05). Electrical stimulation-induced finger extensor force was significant higher during fast inspiration (1.11 ± 0.09) than normal respiration (1.00 ± 0.05) and fast expiration (0.94 ± 0.08, P < 0.05). IMC is an effective way to improve endurance performance of rhythmic handgrip exercise. This is likely due to a reduction in the energy consumption of motion control, as evidenced by similar peripheral fatigue in different conditions and modulation of corticospinal excitability by respiration.

Measuring the Immediate Effects of High-Intensity Functional Training on Motor, Cognitive and Physiological Parameters in Well-Trained Adults.

The importance of physical activity has been widely demonstrated both in clinics and in sports. One of the new frontier training programs is high-intensity functional training (HIFT). The immediate effects of HIFT on the psychomotor and cognitive performance of well-trained people are still not clear. This paper aims to evaluate the immediate effects induced by HIFT on blood lactate levels, physical performance in terms of body stability and jump ability, and cognitive performance in terms of reaction time. Nineteen well-trained participants were enrolled in the experimental studies and asked to execute six repetitions of a circuit training. Data were gathered both in a pre-training session and after each one of the circuit repetitions. An immediate significant increase with respect to the baseline was observed during the first repetition, with a further increase after the third one. No effects on jump ability were found, whereas a deterioration in body stability was found. Positive immediate effects on cognitive performance in terms of accuracy and speed in task execution were assessed. The findings can be exploited by trainers during coaching to optimize the design of training programs.

Filter Bank Networks for Few-Shot Class-Incremental Learning

Deep Convolution Neural Networks (DCNNs) can capture discriminative features from large datasets. However, how to incrementally learn new samples without forgetting old ones and recognize novel classes that arise in the dynamically changing world, e.g., classifying newly discovered fish species, remains an open problem. We address an even more challenging and realistic setting of this problem where new class samples are insufficient, i.e., Few-Shot Class-Incremental Learning (FSCIL). Current FSCIL methods augment the training data to alleviate the overfitting of novel classes. By contrast, we propose Filter Bank Networks (FBNs) that augment the learnable filters to capture fine-detailed features for adapting to future new classes. In the forward pass, FBNs augment each convolutional filter to a virtual filter bank containing the canonical one, i.e., itself, and multiple transformed versions. During back-propagation, FBNs explicitly stimulate fine-detailed features to emerge and collectively align all gradients of each filter bank to learn the canonical one. FBNs capture pattern variants that do not yet exist in the pretraining session, thus making it easy to incorporate new classes in the incremental learning phase. Moreover, FBNs introduce model-level prior knowledge to efficiently utilize the limited few-shot data. Extensive experiments on MNIST, CIFAR100, CUB200, and Mini-ImageNet datasets show that FBNs consistently outperform the baseline by a significant margin, reporting new state-of-the-art FSCIL results. In addition, we contribute a challenging FSCIL benchmark, Fishshot1K, which contains 8261 underwater images covering 1000 ocean fish species. The code is included in the supplementary materials.

과학·수학 영재를 위한 온라인 멘토링 프로그램의 개발 및 적용

The purpose of this study was to develop and implement an online mentoring program for gifted in science lower elementary students. The process of program development followed ADDIE(Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) which is a systematic instructional design model. The subjects of this study were 15 lower elementary students(1st and 2nd graders), and selected based on their dynamic assessment evaluation on science and math performance. During the mentoring program, the students participated in various online science and math activities with mentors who were students in a university of education. The mentors had to participated in pre-training sessions on scientific and mathematical concepts, hands-on activities, and general understanding of gifted students in science and mathematics. Since the program was designed to be a flipped learning, the participants had read stories in science- or mathematics-themed books before the online programs. Then, during the online sessions, the participants engaged in hands-on activities related to the stories that they had read in advance. The college mentors provided instructional guides to the conceptual understanding as well as hands-on activities. After the program, the online survey on students’ improvement and program satisfaction was conducted with mentors and parents of the participants, in order to verify effectiveness of the program. The participating students were able to engage in the program without difficulty, and the expected effects of the program were observed. In conclusion, it is expected that online mentoring programs for gifted students in early childhood would be developed variously and appropriately.

Acute and chronic effects of cross fit training on the kinetics of the IGF-I / IGFBPs system in young adults

The components of the IGF-I/IGFBPs system constitute a group of growth factors that are directly related to somatic and tissue growth in many species, and exercise programs are related to this anabolic function. The aim of this study was to verify the kinetics of the IGF-I/IGFBPs system in young adults during a CrossFit training program. Eight young adults were evaluated before and after the execution of a standardized training session (Acute effect), during the initial, intermediate and final phases of the CrossFit training program (Chronic effect). To analyze the kinetics of the IGF-I/IGFBPs system throughout the training program, two non-parametric statistical methods were used: the Kruskall-Wallis test for one factor and the Wilcoxon test. The significance level adopted was 0.05. No significant changes were found in the concentrations of IGF-I (p=0.73) and IGFBP-3 (p=0.23) between the initial, intermediate and final phases of the training program. There were also no significant differences in the IGF-I and IGFBP-3 concentrations between the pre and post training sessions in the initial, intermediate and final phases. Even though the standard session was classified between

Different training sessions impact on serum protein profile of Saudi professional soccer players.

Serum proteins serve as biomarkers for athletes and recreationally active individuals; they reflect the positive nitrogen growth balance alongside the onset of fatigue. To investigate the impact of training sessions on serum proteins is crucial to monitor their impact on athletes' future performance. A cross-sectional study to compare serum blood protein biomarker (albumin blood, blood urea nitrogen, total protein, uric acid, and creatinine), in 43 young Saudi professional soccer players in Riyadh, levels were measured pre- and post-training sessions across a 3-day period. Significant differences were found between training sessions from day 1 to day 3 in addition to the significant differences between post- and pre-training sessions with P > 0.05. Creatinine levels increased significantly in the players' blood samples post-training on all 3 days of training (P = 0.01). Albumin was the only serum protein biomarker that showed no significant changes pre- and post-training, while albumin levels varied by a statistically significant amount (P = 0.02) between pre-training (day 1 and day 2) and post-training (day 1 and day 3) periods. As biomarkers, serum proteins may provide good indicators that can be used to organize training schedules to achieve optimal outcomes. In this study, creatinine was the most sensitive biomarker measured post-training; it can be considered a critical biomarker while blood urea was the least sensitive.

Prosocial decision making in an operant box paradigm promotes visual communication and complex behavioral sequences in adolescent rat dyads

The adolescence period is marked by intense social play behavior in rats, shown to influence social, cognitive, and emotional processes. The goal of this study was to assess the ability of adolescent rats to display prosocial behaviors through a sharing task and to learn prosociality from vicarious observation. The paradigm involved a pretraining phase, using a two-chamber operant box with two reward differentiated levers on the actor side, providing one and two sucrose pellets respectively upon pressing. Dyads where actors were not exposed to pretraining session acted as controls. The prosocial phase ensued, where an easy lever pressed dispensed one pellet while a hard lever pressed dispensed one reward to both the actor and observer in the adjacent chamber. Actor and observer rats then switched roles enabling vicarious learning assessment. Findings revealed pretraining to be critical for behavior and task contingency in adolescent rats. Complex behavioral sequences marked by increased visual communication between dyads was observed. Despite the diversity of behaviors, observer rats failed to learn prosocial behaviors. This study shows pretraining to act as a key element promoting behavioral interactions; the thorough behavioral analysis performed highlights the ability for adolescent rats to display a richness of behaviors when paired with a congener. Another interesting finding was the ability for rats to learn prosocial behaviors, but the inability to learn such behaviors by observation. These findings call for further studies to understand prosocial behaviors in rodents and their ability to learn such behaviors from a congener.

Observing errors in a combination of error and correct models favors observational motor learning

BackgroundImitative learning is highly effective from infancy to old age; however, little is known about the effects of observing errors during imitative learning. This study aimed to examine how observing errors affected imitative learning performance to maximize its effect.MethodsIn the pre-training session, participants were instructed to pinch at a target force (8 N) with auditory feedback regarding generated force while they watched videos of someone pinching a sponge at the target force. In the pre-test, participants pinched at the target force and did not view a model or receive auditory feedback. In Experiment 1, in the main training session, participants imitated models while they watched videos of pinching at either the incorrect force (error-mixed condition) or target force (correct condition). Then, the exact force generated was measured without receiving auditory feedback or viewing a model. In Experiment 2, using the same procedures, newly recruited participants watched videos of pinching at incorrect forces (4 and 24 N) as the error condition and the correct force as the correct condition.ResultsIn Experiment 1, the average force was closer to the target force in the error-mixed condition than in the correct condition. In Experiment 2, the average force in the correct condition was closer to the target force than in the error condition.ConclusionOur findings indicated that observing error actions combined with correct actions affected imitation motor learning positively as error actions contained information on things to avoid in the target action. It provides further information to enhance imitative learning in mixed conditions compared to that with correct action alone.

Biomonitoring of urinary metals in athletes according to particulate matter air pollution before and after exercise.

Exposure to air pollution during physical exercise is a health issue because fine particulate matter (dimension < 10 μm; PM10) includes several inhalable toxic metals. Body metal changes in athletes according to air pollution are poorly known. Urinary concentrations of 15 metals: beryllium (Be9), aluminum (Al27), vanadium (V51), chromium (Cr51 + Cr52), manganese (Mn55), cobalt (Co59), nickel (Ni61), copper (Cu63), zinc (Zn61), arsenic (As75), selenium (Se82), cadmium (Cd111 + Cd112), thallium (Tl125), lead (Pb207), and uranium (U238) were measured before and after ten 2-h training sessions in 8 non-professional Italian American-football players (18–28 years old, body mass index 24.2–33.6 kg/m2). Collectively, post-training sessions, urinary concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Tl, and Zn were higher than pre-training sessions; Al, Be, Cr, and U did not change; conversely, V decreased. Subdividing training sessions according to air PM10 levels: low (< 20 μg/m3), medium (20–40 μg/m3), and high (> 40 μg/m3), pre-session and post-session urinary concentrations of Be, Cd, Cu, and Tl were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in more polluted days, whereas V concentrations were lower (p < 0.001). All the remaining metals were unaffected. We first showed that PM10 levels modulate urinary excretion of some toxic metals suggesting an effect of air pollution. The effects of toxic metals inhaled by athletes exercising in polluted air need further studies.

Medicine Ball Throw Responsiveness to Measure Wheelchair Basketball Mobility in Male Players.

Monitoring training loads and consequent fatigue responses are usually a result of personal trainers' experiences and an adaptation of methods used in sports for people without disabilities. Currently, there is little scientific evidence on the relationship between training load and fatigue resulting from training sessions in wheelchair sports. Analogous to the vertical jump, which has been associated with competitive performance and used to assess fatigue in Olympic sports, the medicine ball throw (MBT) is a fast, feasible, and accessible test that might be used to measure performance outcomes in Paralympic athletes. To test the MBT responsiveness to detect meaningful changes after training sessions in beginner wheelchair basketball players (WBP). Cross-sectional study. Rehabilitation Hospital Network, Paralympic Program. Twelve male WBP. The participants performed 3 consecutive days of training sessions involving exercises of wheelchair basketball skills, strength, and power. The MBT test was performed pre and post training sessions. The smallest worthwhile change for MBT was 0.10cm, and the lower and upper limits were 3.54 and 3.75m, respectively. On the first day, the MBT started below the smallest worthwhile change lower limit and increased above the upper limit (3.53 and 3.78m, respectively). On the second day, the MBT pretraining and posttraining session results were near the sample mean (3.62 and 3.59m, respectively). On the third day, the WBP started the MBT test training higher than the upper limit (3.78m) and decreased to near the mean (3.58m). During 3 consecutive days of training sessions, the magnitude-based inference model presented meaningful changes in MBT test performance. The accurate association of the magnitude-based inference model with the MBT allows coaches and sports team staff to interpret the correct magnitude of change in WBP performance.

Improving Airline Pilots’ Visual Scanning and Manual Flight Performance through Training on Skilled Eye Gaze Strategies

Poor cockpit monitoring has been identified as an important contributor to aviation accidents. Improving pilots’ monitoring strategies could therefore help to enhance flight safety. During two different sessions, we analyzed the flight performance and eye movements of professional airline pilots in a full-flight simulator. In a pre-training session, 20 pilots performed a manual approach scenario as pilot flying (PFs) and were classified into three groups according to their flight performance: unstabilized, standard, and most accurate. The unstabilized pilots either under- or over-focused various instruments. Their number of visual scanning patterns was lower than those of pilots who managed to stabilize their approach. The most accurate pilots showed a higher perceptual efficiency with shorter fixation times and more fixations on important primary flight instruments. Approximately 10 months later, fourteen pilots returned for a post-training session. They received a short training program and performed a similar manual approach as during the pre-training session. Seven of them, the experimental group, received individual feedback on their own performance and visual behavior (i.e., during the pre-training session) and a variety of data obtained from the most accurate pilots, including an eye-tracking video showing efficient visual scanning strategies from one of the most accurate pilots. The other seven, the control group, received general guidelines on cockpit monitoring. During the post-training session, the experimental group had better flight performance (compared to the control group), and its visual scanning strategies became more similar to those of the most accurate pilots. In summary, our results suggest that cockpit monitoring underlies manual flight performance and that it can be improved using a training program based mainly on exposure to eye movement examples from highly accurate pilots.

Performance of brazilian university handball players in the vertical jump after maximum strength training

This study aimed to analyze the performance of the vertical jump with counter movement (CMJ), in university handball athletes, immediately after the maximum strength training in multiple series and after 10 and 15min of rest. Twelve male athletes participated, age 20.9±2.4 years old, height 1.78±0.05m and Body Mass Index (BMI) 28.74±8.1kg/m2. After the tests and retests of 1 repetition maximum (1RM) for the dominant and non-dominant sides, in the leg extension, the volunteers performed crossover after 48 hours of the training sessions. CMJ measurements were collected before and immediately after each training protocol and after 10 and 15min of rest. Passive recovery between sets was three minutes. The intervals between training protocols were at least 45min. There were no statistical differences for the CMJ between the moments pre-, post-training session, 10 and 15min of rest in the different protocols, but progressive increases in the CMJ variables were observed, extending up to the 15th minute of rest, in all training protocols when comparing the results of the means of the CMJ variables of the moments post-training session, 10 and 15min of rest with the averages of the variables from the pre-training session, being more evident in the alternate unilateral protocol, which, unlike the other protocols of the study, performed series with the two lower limbs. It was evidenced that the training protocols of short duration and with high dynamic efforts, previously performed, influenced the performance of the CMJ, favoring for the transient improvement of the explosive muscular strength of the athletes.

Simple Wearable Device to Reduce Stress When Delivering a Speech without Pre-training.

ObjectivesThere are many occasions in modern life when people must deliver presentations in front of audiences. Most people feel nervous before and while giving a speech. If there were a simple way to ease their stress, speakers would be able to perform better and their quality of life would improve. Consequently, this study aimed to alleviate the stress of speakers giving speeches by regulating breathing using a simple device.MethodsTo achieve this goal, a popular device, the Apple Watch, was chosen. Twenty-eight participants were divided into two groups: the Breathe app group and the non-Breathe app group. The Breathe app group regulated their breathing using the Breathe app installed on an Apple Watch before speech preparation. The non-Breathe app group listened to an explanation of the experiment so that they could not undertake their own stress-easing strategies. Participants prepared speeches about themselves and delivered them in front of the researcher.ResultsThe Breathe app exercise eased stress during the exercise itself and the preparation phase of the speech task based on participants’ cardiac activity. However, stress was not alleviated during speech delivery.ConclusionsBased on the experimental setting and results of this study, together with the findings of previous studies, introducing pre-training sessions and performing stress-easing tasks before and/or during a speech, such as sending vibrations to participants’ wearable devices, might be an effective way to reduce stress when delivering speeches immediately after the breath-regulating task.

Adaptation of the Compensatory Stepping Response Following Predictable and Unpredictable Perturbation Training.

BackgroundEffective training of the backward step response could be beneficial to improve postural stability and prevent falls. Unpredicted perturbation-based balance training (PBT), widely known as compensatory-step training, may enhance the fear of falling and the patterns of postural muscle co-contraction. Contrastingly, PBT with predictable direction or both direction and timing would suppress the fear and the co-contraction patterns during training, but the efficacy of predictable PBT for unpredictable perturbations is still unknown.ObjectiveTo compare the adaptation effects of compensatory-step training with and without predictable perturbations on backward stepping against unpredictable perturbations.MethodsThirty-three healthy young adults were randomly assigned to one of the following step training groups: Unpredicted, Predicted, and Self-initiated. In training sessions, participants were perturbed to induce a compensatory step with (Predicted group) or without (Unpredicted group) knowledge of the perturbation’s direction or while knowing both the direction and timing of the perturbation (Self-initiated group). In test sessions (pre- and post-training), participants were instructed to recover their postural stability in response to an unpredicted perturbation. The margin of stability (MOS), center of mass (COM) shift, and step characteristics were measured during a backward step in both test and training sessions.ResultsAll three groups showed a significant increase in the step length and velocity in the post-training sessions compared to those in the pre-training sessions. Moreover, in the Unpredicted and Predicted groups, but not in the Self-initiated group, the MOS at step contact was significantly increased following the training session. In addition, the Self-initiated group showed a significant increase in COM shift at 50 ms after slip onset during training compared to the Unpredicted and Predicted groups.ConclusionUnpredicted and predicted PBT improve step characteristics during backward stepping against unpredictable perturbations. Moreover, the unpredictable PBT and PBT with direction-predictable perturbations enhance the feedback postural control reflected as the postural stability at step contact.

Experimental Protocol to Assess Neuromuscular Plasticity Induced by an Exoskeleton Training Session.

Exoskeleton gait rehabilitation is an emerging area of research, with potential applications in the elderly and in people with central nervous system lesions, e.g., stroke, traumatic brain/spinal cord injury. However, adaptability of such technologies to the user is still an unmet goal. Despite important technological advances, these robotic systems still lack the fine tuning necessary to adapt to the physiological modification of the user and are not yet capable of a proper human-machine interaction. Interfaces based on physiological signals, e.g., recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) and/or electromyography (EMG), could contribute to solving this technological challenge. This protocol aims to: (1) quantify neuro-muscular plasticity induced by a single training session with a robotic exoskeleton on post-stroke people and on a group of age and sex-matched controls; (2) test the feasibility of predicting lower limb motor trajectory from physiological signals for future use as control signal for the robot. An active exoskeleton that can be set in full mode (i.e., the robot fully replaces and drives the user motion), adaptive mode (i.e., assistance to the user can be tuned according to his/her needs), and free mode (i.e., the robot completely follows the user movements) will be used. Participants will undergo a preparation session, i.e., EMG sensors and EEG cap placement and inertial sensors attachment to measure, respectively, muscular and cortical activity, and motion. They will then be asked to walk in a 15 m corridor: (i) self-paced without the exoskeleton (pre-training session); (ii) wearing the exoskeleton and walking with the three modes of use; (iii) self-paced without the exoskeleton (post-training session). From this dataset, we will: (1) quantitatively estimate short-term neuroplasticity of brain connectivity in chronic stroke survivors after a single session of gait training; (2) compare muscle activation patterns during exoskeleton-gait between stroke survivors and age and sex-matched controls; and (3) perform a feasibility analysis on the use of physiological signals to decode gait intentions.

Effects of an Audiovisual Emotion Perception Training for Schizophrenia: A Preliminary Study

Individuals with schizophrenia show a reduced ability to integrate facial and vocal information in emotion perception. Although emotion perception has been a target for treatment, no study has yet examined the effect of multimodal training on emotion perception in schizophrenia. In the present study, we developed an audiovisual emotion perception training and test in which a voice and a face were simultaneously presented, and subjects were asked to judge whether the emotions of the voice and the face matched. The voices were either angry or happy, and the faces were morphed on a continuum ranging from angry to happy. Sixteen patients with schizophrenia participated in six training sessions and three test sessions (i.e., pre-training, post-training, and generalization). Eighteen healthy controls participated only in pre-training test session. Prior to training, the patients with schizophrenia performed significantly worse than did the controls in the recognition of anger; however, following the training, the patients showed a significant improvement in recognizing anger, which was maintained and generalized to a new set of stimuli. The patients also improved the recognition of happiness following the training, but this effect was not maintained or generalized. These results provide preliminary evidence that a multimodal, audiovisual training may yield improvements in anger perception for patients with schizophrenia.

Undertaking a high stakes virtual OSCE (\u201cVOSCE\u201d) during Covid-19

BackgroundThe Covid pandemic and associated lockdown forced medical schools globally not only to deliver emergency remote teaching, but to consider alternative methods of high stakes assessment. Here we outline our approach to the resit virtual OSCE (“VOSCE”) for final year medical students that we undertook during “lockdown” in the current pandemic.MethodsThe original ‘pre Covid’ examination blueprint was reviewed and modified for the virtual environment in both format and content. In anticipation of the new format delivery, a number of pre-training sessions took place for all parties, and standardised templates were developed.ResultsA total of 9 students undertook the VOSCE, which took the form of a two-part exam (a communication and clinical examination component, and a practical procedures component). The VOSCE was completed by all students, examiners, simulated patients and invigilators on an online digital platform with no issues with regards to technical problems.ConclusionsA total of 6 students passed the VOSCE and as such progressed to graduation. The limitation of assessing some particular types of skills across the remote format (such as practical procedures) was recognised. The training and the templates developed were helpful in case the VOSCE format needs to be adopted in future at short notice and/or expanded in future.