Subjective Ratings Research Articles

The effect of latency, speed and task on remote operation of vehicles

IntroductionAlthough self-driving vehicle technology has been developing rapidly in recent years, there are still many challenges left before full autonomy can possibly be achieved. Remote operation could facilitate the development of autonomous vehicles in a safe and efficient manner by putting a human in the loop without the need for the human to be physically present in the vehicle. In the current experiment, three aspects of remote driving have been investigated in a driving simulator to evaluate the effect of i) latency, ii) type of task to perform, and iii) speed on a number of performance measures. MethodThirty-one participants drove in simulated rural (high-speed) and urban (low-speed) scenarios. Five hazards were created for each scenario and the participants drove each scenario three times with different latencies (baseline, +100 ms, and +200 ms). The latency condition was masked for the participants. The hazards were designed with the intention of creating challenging traffic situations. For example, in hazard one (H1) a car parked next to the road activates their turn indicators and then cuts into the participant’s lane close in front of the ego vehicle, forcing the participant to either brake or veer. Latency, type of hazard, and scenarios (high- and low-speed) were all within participants’ variables. Objective simulator data collected included variables such as reaction time, post-encroachment time, speed variation, distance to hazard, collisions, etc. Subjective data was gathered through questionnaires between each of the balanced latency conditions to assess trust, perceived control, realism of scenarios, and workload etc. After the completed drive, participants were asked to rate in which order they believed they had been subjected to the different latencies. The participants were divided into two groups, experienced drivers and experienced gamers. ResultThe results of the simulator study show that for some of the hazards, but not all, there were significant differences in the latency conditions and there were interaction effects between participant groups and environment/speed. For example, in H1 the effect on the reaction time was significantly larger than the added latency. Overall, the experienced gamers drove with larger safety margins although they had not been told that the latency was varied. Speed, latency, and group characteristics were interacting in significant ways and affected performance measures. The subjective ratings show that participants experienced less control of the vehicle during higher latency conditions, even though they were not told in which order they had been subjected to the latency conditions. The separate tasks to perform were affected differently by the independent measures. The number of collisions was not affected by latency. ConclusionThere seems to be a certain level of adaptivity among the participants, although they were not told that the latency varied between scenarios, and they could also not guess in which order they drove with the different conditions. In some situations, they drove with larger safety margins, especially experienced gamers in the high-speed scenario. Moreover, the subjective ratings show that participants felt less in control of the vehicle at higher latencies without being able to pinpoint what it was that affected their driving.

Evaluating Gesture Generation in a Large-scale Open Challenge: The GENEA Challenge 2022

This article reports on the second GENEA Challenge to benchmark data-driven automatic co-speech gesture generation. Participating teams used the same speech and motion dataset to build gesture-generation systems. Motion generated by all these systems was rendered to video using a standardised visualisation pipeline and evaluated in several large, crowdsourced user studies. Unlike when comparing different research articles, differences in results are here only due to differences between methods, enabling direct comparison between systems. The dataset was based on 18 hours of full-body motion capture, including fingers, of different persons engaging in a dyadic conversation. Ten teams participated in the challenge across two tiers: full-body and upper-body gesticulation. For each tier, we evaluated both the human-likeness of the gesture motion and its appropriateness for the specific speech signal. Our evaluations decouple human-likeness from gesture appropriateness, which has been a difficult problem in the field. The evaluation results show some synthetic gesture conditions being rated as significantly more human-like than 3D human motion capture. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been demonstrated before. On the other hand, all synthetic motion is found to be vastly less appropriate for the speech than the original motion-capture recordings. We also find that conventional objective metrics do not correlate well with subjective human-likeness ratings in this large evaluation. The one exception is the Fréchet gesture distance (FGD), which achieves a Kendall’s tau rank correlation of around -0.5. Based on the challenge results we formulate numerous recommendations for system building and evaluation.

Shift Work System Analysis of Store Employee Fatigue Using the Subjective Self Rating Test and Independent Sample T Test Methods (Case of Sports Station Plaza Surabaya)

This study analyzed the initial symptoms of fatigue and measured the level of fatigue with the subjective self rating test method as the subjective method, the CVL (Cardiovascular Load) method as the objective, and the independent sample t test at the Plaza Surabaya sports station. shop. Shift work in the workshop has the potential to pose health risks in the form of fatigue due to differences in physical workload experienced in each shift. Sports Station Plaza Surabaya outlets face work activity problems that are at risk of ergonomics, with several worker complaints due to work shifts that only do rotating shifts per month and unclear employee jobdesk placements. The Subjective Self Rating Test method is used to identify early symptoms of employee fatigue by filling out a questionnaire, the CVL method is used to measure pulse to obtain the level of physical workload fatigue experienced by employees. While the independent sample t test test is to find out whether there is a significant difference in the level of shift fatigue at the Sports Station Plaza Surabaya store. get the highest classification value in shift 1, for the independent t test test method get a significance value of 0.01 which means there is a significant difference in the level of worker fatigue in shift 1 and shift 2.

Preoperative subjective assessment of disease-specific quality of life significantly influenced the likelihood of achieving the minimal clinically important difference after surgical stabilization for recurrent lateral patellar instability.

To evaluate which factors exert a predictive value for not reaching the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in patients who underwent a tailored operative treatment for recurrent lateral patellar dislocation(RLPD). A total of 237 patients (male/female 71/166; 22.4 ± 6.8 years) were included. The Banff Patellofemoral Instability Instrument 2.0 (BPII 2.0) and subjective rating of knee function and pain (numeric analogue scale [NAS]; 0-10) were used to evaluate patients' outcomes from pre- to postoperatively. Gender, age at the time of surgery, body mass index (BMI), nicotine abuse, psychiatric diseases, cartilage statusand pathoanatomic risk factors were evaluated as potential predictors for achieving the MCID using univariate logistic regression analysis. The MCID for the BPII 2.0was calculated at 9.5 points. Although the BPII 2.0 and NAS for knee function and pain improved significantly in the total cohort from pre- to postoperatively (all p < 0.001), 29 patients did not reach the MCID at the final follow-up. The analysis yielded that only the preoperative NAS for function and BPII 2.0 score values were significant predictors for reaching the MCID postoperatively. The optimal threshold was calculated at 7 (NAS function) and 65.2 points (BPII 2.0). Age at the time of surgery should be considered for patients with a preoperative BPII 2.0 score >62.5. The probability of reaching BPII 2.0 MCID postoperatively depends only on the preoperative BPII 2.0 value and subjective rating of knee function, as well as age at the time of surgery for patients undergoing surgical treatment of RLPD. Here, presented results can assist clinicians in advising and presenting patients with potential outcomes following treatment for this often complex and multifactorial pathology. Level III.

Clinical Validation of a Handheld Deep Learning Tool for Identification of Glaucoma Medications.

To validate a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based smartphone application for the identification of glaucoma eye drop medications in patients with normal and impaired vision. Sixty-eight patients with visual acuity (VA) of 20/70 or worse in at least one eye who presented to an academic glaucoma clinic from January 2021 through August 2022 were included. Non-English-speaking patients were excluded. Enrolled subjects participated in an activity in which they identified a predetermined and preordered set of six topical glaucoma medications, first without the CNN and then with the CNN for a total of six sequential measurements per subject. Responses to a standardized survey were collected during and after the activity. Primary quantitative outcomes were medication identification accuracy and time. Primary qualitative outcomes were subjective ratings of ease of smartphone application use. Topical glaucoma medication identification accuracy (OR = 12.005, P 0.001) and time (OR = 0.007, P 0.001) both independently improved with CNN use. CNN use significantly improved medication accuracy in patients with glaucoma (OR = 4.771, P = 0.036) or VA 20/70 in at least one eye (OR = 4.463, P = 0.013) and medication identification time in patients with glaucoma (OR = 0.065, P = 0.017). CNN use had a significant positive association with subject-reported ease of medication identification (X2(1) = 66.117, P 0.001). Our CNN-based smartphone application is efficacious at improving glaucoma eye drop identification accuracy and time. This tool can be used in the outpatient setting to avert preventable vision loss by improving medication adherence in patients with glaucoma.

Listening Effort Measured With Pupillometry in Cochlear Implant Users Depends on Sound Level, But Not on the Signal to Noise Ratio When Using the Matrix Test.

We investigated whether listening effort is dependent on task difficulty for cochlear implant (CI) users when using the Matrix speech-in-noise test. To this end, we measured peak pupil dilation (PPD) at a wide range of signal to noise ratios (SNR) by systematically changing the noise level at a constant speech level, and vice versa. A group of mostly elderly CI users performed the Dutch/Flemish Matrix test in quiet and in multitalker babble at different SNRs. SNRs were set relative to the speech-recognition threshold (SRT), namely at SRT, and 5 and 10 dB above SRT (0 dB, +5 dB, and +10 dB re SRT). The latter 2 conditions were obtained by either varying speech level (at a fixed noise level of 60 dBA) or by varying noise level (with a fixed speech level). We compared these PPDs with those of a group of typical hearing (TH) listeners. In addition, listening effort was assessed with subjective ratings on a Likert scale. PPD for the CI group did not significantly depend on SNR, whereas SNR significantly affected PPDs for TH listeners. Subjective effort ratings depended significantly on SNR for both groups. For CI users, PPDs were significantly larger, and effort was rated higher when speech was varied, and noise was fixed for CI users. By contrast, for TH listeners effort ratings were significantly higher and performance scores lower when noise was varied, and speech was fixed. The lack of a significant effect of varying SNR on PPD suggests that the Matrix test may not be a feasible speech test for measuring listening effort with pupillometric measures for CI users. A rating test appeared more promising in this population, corroborating earlier reports that subjective measures may reflect different dimensions of listening effort than pupil dilation. Establishing the SNR by varying speech or noise level can have subtle, but significant effects on measures of listening effort, and these effects can differ between TH listeners and CI users.

The Effort of Repairing a Misperceived Word Can Impair Perception of Following Words, Especially for Listeners With Cochlear Implants.

In clinical and laboratory settings, speech recognition is typically assessed in a way that cannot distinguish accurate auditory perception from misperception that was mentally repaired or inferred from context. Previous work showed that the process of repairing misperceptions elicits greater listening effort, and that this elevated effort lingers well after the sentence is heard. That result suggests that cognitive repair strategies might appear successful when testing a single utterance but fail for everyday continuous conversational speech. The present study tested the hypothesis that the effort of repairing misperceptions has the consequence of carrying over to interfere with perception of later words after the sentence. Stimuli were open-set coherent sentences that were presented intact or with a word early in the sentence replaced with noise, forcing the listener to use later context to mentally repair the missing word. Sentences were immediately followed by digit triplets, which served to probe carryover effort from the sentence. Control conditions allowed for the comparison to intact sentences that did not demand mental repair, as well as to listening conditions that removed the need to attend to the post-sentence stimuli, or removed the post-sentence digits altogether. Intelligibility scores for the sentences and digits were accompanied by time-series measurements of pupil dilation to assess cognitive load during the task, as well as subjective rating of effort. Participants included adults with cochlear implants (CIs), as well as an age-matched group and a younger group of listeners with typical hearing for comparison. For the CI group, needing to repair a missing word during a sentence resulted in more errors on the digits after the sentence, especially when the repair process did not result in a coherent sensible perception. Sentences that needed repair also contained more errors on the words that were unmasked. All groups showed substantial increase of pupil dilation when sentences required repair, even when the repair was successful. Younger typical hearing listeners showed clear differences in moment-to-moment allocation of effort in the different conditions, while the other groups did not. For CI listeners, the effort of needing to repair misperceptions in a sentence can last long enough to interfere with words that follow the sentence. This pattern could pose a serious problem for regular communication but would go overlooked in typical testing with single utterances, where a listener has a chance to repair misperceptions before responding. Carryover effort was not predictable by basic intelligibility scores, but can be revealed in behavioral data when sentences are followed immediately by extra probe words such as digits.

Association between sleep state misperception and bedtime behavior in patients with chronic insomnia

Previous studies on sleep state misperception have objectively evaluated sleep status in special environments using polysomnography. There is a paucity of data from studies that evaluated habitual sleep status in home environments. The present study aimed to investigate sleep state misperception in the home environment of patients with chronic insomnia using a lumbar-worn actigraphy to identify sleep habits associated with sleep state misperception severity. Thirty-one patients and 42 healthy volunteers were included in the insomnia and non-insomnia group, respectively. Participants recorded subjective assessments in sleep diaries, objective assessments with an actigraphy worn for 14 days, and self-assessments using questionnaires. Both groups had similar objective sleep ratings; however, insomnia group had significantly worse subjective ratings (total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, and sleep onset latency). A significant correlation was found between subjective and objective total sleep time scores in non-insomnia group but not in insomnia group. Insomnia group had earlier bedtimes, significantly longer bedtimes, and impaired daytime functioning (Sheehan Disability Scale score); additionally, they underestimated their total sleep time, particularly with earlier bedtimes and longer laying durations. Monitoring the sleep status and habits of individuals in home environments could be instrumental in identifying key points for targeted interventions on sleep hygiene and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Fatigued or bored? Investigating the effect of different types of mental fatigue on 3 km running performance

Mental fatigue has been highly cited as having a negative impact on endurance performance. Few, however, have investigated whether different types of mental fatigue, namely active and passive fatigue, might affect endurance performance differently. This study used a repeated-measures design where 11 participants completed a 3 km run after three 32-min conditions: an actively fatiguing task (Task-load Dual-back; TloadDback); a passively fatiguing task (Mackworth Clock); and a control task (Documentary). Subjective ratings and performance on a second task (Flanker task) were taken before and after the 32-min tasks, while ratings of perceived effort, motivation and workload were taken during the 3 km run. Results showed that both fatigue conditions were mentally fatiguing, with the TloadDback rated as more demanding and the Mackworth Clock more boring and less motivating. Performance on subsequent tasks showed different effects: the TloadDback condition had the slowest responses on the post-test Flanker task, while the Mackworth Clock condition had the slowest completion time on the 3 km run, though this difference in completion times was non-significant. These results suggest that different cognitive tasks lead to different types of mental fatigue, which can lead to different outcomes on subsequent cognitive tasks but non-significant differences on subsequent physical tasks. This study highlights that to understand the influence of mental fatigue on physical performance, it is important to understand the cognitive tasks used and how different cognitive and physical tasks interact. Future work should examine whether performance outcomes in other areas commonly affected by mental fatigue, like technical and tactical sporting skills, are affected differently by active and passive fatigue.

The PLET (Portable Laparoscopic Endo-Trainer) study: a randomized controlled trial of home- versus hospital-based surgical training

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to assess the effect of training with a personal, portable laparoscopic endo-trainer (PLET) on residents’ laparoscopic skills.MethodsThe study took place at a tertiary-care academic university hospital in Switzerland. All participants were randomized to either a home- or hospital-based PLET training group, and surgical skill performance was assessed using five laparoscopic exercises. 24 surgical residents, 13 females and 11 males, were enrolled at any training stage. Nine residents completed the assessments. Endpoints consisted of subjective and objective assessment ratings as well as exercise time and qualitative data up to 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the difference in exercise time and secondary outcomes included performance scores as well as qualitative data.ResultsThe hospital-based training group performed exercises number 1, 3 and 4 faster at 12 weeks than at baseline (p = .003, < 0.001 and 0.024). Surgical skill performance was not statistically significantly different in any of the endpoints between the hospital- and home-based training groups at 12 weeks. Both the subjective and objective assessment ratings significantly improved in the hospital-based training group between baseline and 12 weeks (p = .006 and 0.003, respectively). There was no statistically significant improvement in exercise time as well as subjective and objective assessment ratings over time in the home-based training group. The qualitative data suggested that participants who were randomized to the hospital-based training group wished to have the PLET at home and vice versa. Several participants across groups lacked motivation because of their workload or time constraints, though most believed the COVID-19 pandemic had no influence on their motivation or the time they had for training.ConclusionThe PLET enhances laparoscopic surgical skills over time in a hospital-based training setting. In order to understand and optimize motivational factors, further research is needed.Trial registrationThis trial was retrospectively registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06301230).

Collaborative imagination synchronizes representations of the future and fosters social connection in the present

From close friends to people on a first date, imagining a shared future appears fundamental to relationships. Yet, no previous research has conceptualized the act of imagination as a socially constructed process that affects how connected we feel to others. The present studies provide a framework for investigating imagination as a collaborative process in which individuals cocreate shared representations of hypothetical events-what we call collaborative imagination. Across two preregistered studies (N = 244), we provide evidence that collaborative imagination of a shared future fosters social connection in novel dyads-beyond imagining a shared future individually or shared experience in general. Subjective ratings and natural language processing of participants' imagined narratives illuminate the representational features of imagined events shaped by collaborative imagination. Together, the present findings have the potential to shift how we view the structure and function of imagination with implications for better understanding interpersonal relationships and collective cognition.

Defining Criteria for Disease Activity States in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Based on the Systemic Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score.

Our objective was to develop and validate cutoff values in the systemic Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score 10 (sJADAS10) that distinguish the states of inactive disease (ID), minimal disease activity (MDA), moderate disease activity (MoDA), and high disease activity (HDA) in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, based on subjective disease state assessment by the treating pediatric rheumatologist. The cutoff definition cohort was composed of 400 patients enrolled at 30 pediatric rheumatology centers in 11 countries. Using the subjective physician rating as an external criterion, six methods were applied to identify the cutoffs: mapping, calculation of percentiles of cumulative score distribution, the Youden index, 90% specificity, maximum agreement, and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Sixty percent of the patients were assigned to the definition cohort, and 40% were assigned to the validation cohort. Cutoff validation was conducted by assessing discriminative ability. The sJADAS10 cutoffs that separated ID from MDA, MDA from MoDA, and MoDA from HDA were ≤2.9, ≤10, and >20.6, respectively. The cutoffs discriminated strongly among different levels of pain, between patients with and without morning stiffness, and among patients whose parents judged their disease status as remission or persistent activity or flare or were satisfied or not satisfied with current illness outcome. The sJADAS cutoffs revealed good metrologic properties in both definition and validation cohorts and are therefore suitable for use in clinical trials and routine practice.

Measuring aviator workload using EEG: an individualized approach to workload manipulation.

Measuring an operator's physiological state and using that data to predict future performance decrements has been an ongoing goal in many areas of transportation. Regarding Army aviation, the realization of such an endeavor could lead to the development of an adaptive automation system which adapts to the needs of the operator. However, reaching this end state requires the use of experimental scenarios similar to real-life settings in order to induce the state of interest that are able to account for individual differences in experience, exposure, and perception to workload manipulations. In the present study, we used an individualized approach to manipulating workload in order to account for individual differences in response to workload manipulations, while still providing an operationally relevant flight experience. Eight Army aviators participated in the study, where they completed two visits to the laboratory. The first visit served the purpose of identifying individual workload thresholds, with the second visit resulting in flights with individualized workload manipulations. EEG data was collected throughout both flights, along with subjective ratings of workload and flight performance. Both EEG data and workload ratings suggested a high workload. Subjective ratings were higher during the high workload flight compared to the low workload flight (p < 0.001). Regarding EEG, frontal alpha (p = 0.04) and theta (p = 0.01) values were lower and a ratio of beta/(alpha+theta) (p = 0.02) were higher in the baseline flight scenario compared to the high workload scenario. Furthermore, the data were compared to that collected in previous studies which used a group-based approach to manipulating workload. The individualized method demonstrated higher effect sizes in both EEG and subjective ratings, suggesting the use of this method may provide a more reliable way of producing high workload in aviators.

Guided By AI: Navigating Trust, Bias, and Data Exploration in AI‐Guided Visual Analytics

AbstractThe increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in visual analytics (VA) tools raises vital questions about the behavior of users, their trust, and the potential of induced biases when provided with guidance during data exploration. We present an experiment where participants engaged in a visual data exploration task while receiving intelligent suggestions supplemented with four different transparency levels. We also modulated the difficulty of the task (easy or hard) to simulate a more tedious scenario for the analyst. Our results indicate that participants were more inclined to accept suggestions when completing a more difficult task despite the ai's lower suggestion accuracy. Moreover, the levels of transparency tested in this study did not significantly affect suggestion usage or subjective trust ratings of the participants. Additionally, we observed that participants who utilized suggestions throughout the task explored a greater quantity and diversity of data points. We discuss these findings and the implications of this research for improving the design and effectiveness of ai‐guided va tools.

Null subject pronouns in Papiá Kristang (Malacca Creole Portuguese)

This paper investigates variation in the subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Papi&amp;aacute; Kristang (Malacca Creole Portuguese), a language without verb inflection. Previous accounts of Kristang (Baxter, 1988, 2012b; Hancock, 1969, 1973; Knowlton, 1964; R&amp;ecirc;go, 1942) present the language as predominantly displaying overt subject pronouns. However, the overall null subject pronoun rate in the oral corpus contemplated is substantial, registering a frequency of 45.7% (input pr. 0.32). As such, the paper focusses on the distribution of null subject pronouns and the constraints directing that distribution. The study considers the effects of priming, structural location, verb semantic class, and tense-mood-aspect (TMA), and addresses the effect of the individual speaker. It is found that while null subject pronoun use in Papi&amp;aacute; Kristang resembles, with minor differences, many attributes of this mechanism in other languages, it displays one notable trait: TMA particles favor null subject pronoun use. Extralinguistic constraints on SPE within the Papi&amp;aacute; Kristang speech community are seen to concern more the characteristics of individual speakers, and clusters of individuals, rather than predictors based on a pan-community age and gender classification.

The effect of exercise on gastrointestinal symptoms and body composition at different phases of the menstrual cycle

Women commonly experience bloating, stomach cramps, water retention, and weight gain at the beginning of their menstrual cycle, which cause fluctuations in body composition through extracellular changes, this may affect osmotic pressure, leading to gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the menstrual cycle phase on extracellular changes and GI symptoms in females in response to exercise. Seven healthy premenopausal female recreational athletes (maximal O2 consumption: 50 ± 5.8 ml·kg-1) performed two running trials in an experimental crossover design during two distinct phases of the menstrual cycle, early follicular phase (EFP) and the mid-luteal phase (MLP). Each trial consisted of 120 min of running, 60 min at 110% lactate threshold and 60 min at 90%. Determination of cycle was calculated from calendar-based counting and urinary ovulation detection kits. The EFP was determined by self-reporting onset of menses. The day before each trial, participants followed a low FODMAP diet and completed a gastrointestinal symptom rating scale questionnaire. On the morning of the trial, a standard breakfast was consumed, upon arrival at the laboratory, body composition was recorded. Each hour, finger prick samples were taken to measure lactate and ensure performance did not exceed maximum, every 15 minutes, a visual analog scale (VAS) of subjective ratings between 0-10 cm of gut comfort was taken. Data was analysed using mean and standard deviation (subsequent statistical analysis will be conducted if an n = 10 is reached prior to the conference). During exercise, participants experienced a higher prevalence of GI issues throughout the EFP compared with the MLP. The most common complaints reported from the VAS were nausea; EFP 1 ± 1 cm, MLP 0 ± 0 cm. Flatulence; EFP 4 ± 3 cm, MLP 1 ± 1 cm, and stomach cramps; EFP 3 ± 2 cm, MLP 1 ± 1 cm. Total body weight (TBW) differences were noted between the EFP and MLP. TBW EFP pre-exercise was higher than MLP pre-exercise phase EFP pre-exercise: 38.7 ± 2.8 L compared to MLP pre-exercise at 35.8 ±5.5 L. Similar differences were demonstrated with extra cellular water pre-exercise EFP; 16.1 ± 1.1 L MLP; 15.2 ±1.0 L. During the EFP fluid retention is known to be higher than the MLP, and results are as expected. While the data suggests a seemingly minimal variation in Gl symptoms, individually, there appears to be a higher level of difference. More gastrointestinal symptoms were reported during exercise, which is consistent with the findings. There is a slight difference in GI symptoms between the EFP and MLP at this stage, indicating a slight shift in total body water.

Virtual reality assessment of a high-calorie food bias: Replication and food-specificity in healthy participants

BackgroundTheoretical models and behavioural studies indicate faster approach behaviour for high-calorie food (approach bias) among healthy participants. A previous study with Virtual Reality (VR) and online motion-capture quantified this approach bias towards food and non-food cues in a controlled VR environment with hand movements. The aim of this study was to test the specificity of a manual approach bias for high-calorie food in grasp movements compared to low-calorie food and neutral objects of different complexity, namely, simple balls and geometrically more complex office tools. MethodsIn a VR setting, healthy participants (N = 27) repeatedly grasped or pushed high-calorie food, low-calorie food, balls and office tools in randomized order with 30 item repetitions. All objects were rated for valence and arousal. ResultsHigh-calorie food was less attractive and more arousing in subjective ratings than low-calorie food and neutral objects. Movement onset was faster for high-calorie food in push-trials, but overall push responses were comparable. In contrast, responses to high-calorie food relative to low-calorie food and to control objects were faster in grasp trials for later stages of interaction (grasp and collect). Non-parametric tests confirmed an approach bias for high-calorie food. ConclusionA behavioural bias for food was specific to high-calorie food objects. The results confirm the presence of bottom-up advantages in motor-cognitive behaviour for high-calorie food in a non-clinical population. More systematic variations of object fidelity and in clinical populations are outstanding. The utility of VR in assessing approach behaviour is confirmed in this study by exploring manual interactions in a controlled environment.

Sex-based dyad differences on informant reports of participants’ daily functioning

Functional assessment in neurocognitive evaluation is often provided via informant reports. These subjective reports can vary based on the characteristics of informants and their relationships with participants, such as informant sex. However, whether informant sex intersects with participant sex to impact subjective ratings of participants’ daily functioning, and whether such effects mirror observed patterns in neuropsychological performance, has not been adequately examined with ethnoracially diverse samples. We examined differences among participant-informant sex-based dyads on subjective informant reports of participants’ daily functioning (assessed via the Functional Activities Questionnaire [FAQ]), and whether any observed differences on reported functioning corresponded to differences in objective participant performance on neuropsychological performance, among middle-aged and older Hispanic/Latino (n = 543), non-Hispanic Black (NHB; n = 1030), and non-Hispanic White (NHW; n = 5356) adults in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center cohort (n = 6929). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tests revealed significant dyad differences on FAQ scores in the NHB (p<.001) and NHW subsamples (p<.05), but not in the Hispanic/Latino subsample (p>.05). For the Hispanic/Latino and NHB subsamples, ANCOVA tests revealed no significant effects of dyad on neuropsychological performance (ps>.01), whereas for the NHW subsample, ANCOVA tests revealed significant dyad differences on performance in multiple cognitive domains (ps<.01). Nevertheless, the pattern of dyad differences on neuropsychological performance did not mirror the pattern of observed differences on FAQ scores in the NHW subsample. Findings and their implications, including potential contributions of other informant characteristics on observed dyad differences on reported functioning, are discussed.

Subjective Affective Responses to Natural Scenes Require Understanding, Not Spatial Frequency Bands.

It is debated whether emotional processing and response depend on semantic identification or are preferentially tied to specific information in natural scenes, such as global features or local details. The present study aimed to further examine the relationship between scene understanding and affective response while manipulating visual content. To this end, we presented affective and neutral natural scenes which were progressively band-filtered to contain global features (low spatial frequencies) or local details (high spatial frequencies) and assessed both affective response and scene understanding. We observed that, if scene content was correctly reported, subjective ratings of arousal and valence were modulated by the affective content of the scene, and this modulation was similar across spatial frequency bands. On the other hand, no affective modulation of subjective ratings was observed if picture content was not correctly reported. The present results indicate that subjective affective response requires content understanding, and it is not tied to a specific spatial frequency range.

Ingestible pills reveal gastric correlates of emotions.

Although it is generally held that gastrointestinal (GI) signals are related to emotions, direct evidence for such a link is currently lacking. One of the reasons why the internal milieu of the GI system is poorly investigated is because visceral organs are difficult to access and monitor. To directly measure the influence of endoluminal markers of GI activity on the emotional experience, we asked a group of healthy male participants to ingest a pill that measured pH, pressure, and temperature of their GI tract while they watched video clips that consistently induced disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, or a control neutral state. In addition to the objective physiological markers of GI activity, subjective ratings of perceived emotions and visceral (i.e. gastric, respiratory and cardiac) sensations were recorded, as well as changes in heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) and spontaneous eyes blinks as non-gastric behavioral and autonomic markers of the emotional experience. We found that when participants observed fearful and disgusting video clips, they reported to perceive not only cardiac and respiratory sensations but also gastric sensations, such as nausea. Moreover, we found that there was a clear relation between the physiology of the stomach and the perceived emotions. Specifically, when disgusting video clips were displayed, the more acidic the pH, the more participants reported feelings of disgust and fear; the less acidic the pH, the more they reported happiness. Complementing the results found in the deep gastric realm, we found that disgusting stimuli induced a significant increase in HRV compared to the neutral scenarios, and together with fearful video clips a decrease in HR. Our findings suggest that gastric signals contribute to unique emotional states and that ingestible pills may open new avenues for exploring the deep-body physiology of emotions.