Response Effects Research Articles

Inflamed but not impulsive: Acute inflammatory cytokine response does not impact prepotent response inhibition

BackgroundPrior evidence has linked inflammation with impulsivity, but most of this evidence is cross-sectional. In this study, we provoked an acute inflammatory cytokine response to see whether it lowered prepotent response inhibition on three cognitive tasks. MethodThis study features secondary analyses from a randomized crossover trial in which 171 postmenopausal breast cancer survivors (Stage I-IIIA) each received a typhoid capsular polysaccharide vaccination and a saline placebo injection in a random sequence at two separate visits at least one month apart. Participants completed the Stroop Color-Discrepant Task, the 2-back, and the Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT) on the computer between 5 and 7 h after the injections. They had their blood drawn once before and repeatedly after the injection to measure interleukin-1 receptor antagonist and interleukin-6 responses. ResultsWomen committed marginally fewer errors on the Stroop color-discrepant trials after the typhoid vaccine (M = 0.36, SE = 0.08), compared to placebo (M = 0.54, SE = 0.09, p = .076). Injection type did not predict 2-back accuracy (p = .80) or CPT commission errors (p = .47). Inflammatory cytokine responses were also unrelated to the outcomes of interest (ps>.16). ConclusionWe found no evidence that an acute inflammatory cytokine response provokes response disinhibition – an important facet of impulsivity. In fact, our only marginally non-significant result suggested that women were better able to inhibit their prepotent responses on the Stroop after receiving the typhoid vaccine, compared to placebo. Further experimental tests of the acute inflammatory cytokine response's effect on other aspects of impulsivity are warranted. LimitationsThe sample was female, primarily White, highly educated cancer survivors, and recruitment was not premised on impulsive traits or diagnosis with an impulsive-related disorder. Also, there are many facets of impulsivity, and this study only measured response inhibition.

Youth Participation and Disaster: Examining Suggestions on Disaster Risk Reduction Management in Metro Manila, Philippines

Communication is critical in all areas of disaster risk reduction management (DRRM). Efficient and comprehensive information is essential to minimize unanticipated and unexpected economic and social repercussions and increase the response's effectiveness. Furthermore, the local government unit should discuss youth involvement in DRRM to develop inclusive policies. Thus, this study examines 752 typhoon-and-flood-related textual suggestions of youth leaders and volunteers from different typhoon and flood communities in Metro Manila, Philippines to discuss emerging themes on DRRM. Using Google Forms, this study gathers suggestions regarding the disaster governance measures of the participant's respective communities. Youth leaders' and volunteers' suggestions for better disaster preparedness revealed seven thematic recommendations including the need for more robust early warning systems, information campaigns, capacity building and tactics for increasing personal preparedness. Filipino values such as damayan (to give sympathetic support), pakikipagkapwa (having a sense of shared identity) and bayanihan (a spirit of communal unity) have also emerged from the suggestions. The role of women and persons with disability was also a repeated theme that will empower them in times of disaster. Overall, this study provides initial insight into youths' role in increasing inclusivity in local government and communities' decision-making processes on disaster risk reduction management.

Is there hierarchical generalization in response-effect learning?

Ideomotor theory is an influential approach to understand goal-directed behavior. In this framework, response-effect (R-E) learning is assumed as a prerequisite for voluntary action: Once associations between motor actions and their effects in the environment have been formed, the anticipation of these effects will automatically activate the associated motor pattern. R-E learning is typically investigated with (induction) experiments that comprise an acquisition phase, where R-E associations are presumably learned, and a subsequent test phase, where the previous effects serve as stimuli for a response. While most studies used stimuli in the test phase that were identical to the effects in the acquisition phase, one study reported generalization from exemplars to their superordinate category (Hommel et al., Vis Cogn 10:965–986, 2003, Exp. 1). However, studies on so-called R-E compatibility did not report such generalization. We aimed to conceptually replicate Experiment 1 of Hommel et al. (Vis Cogn 10:965–986, 2003) with a free-choice test phase. While we did observe effects consistent with R-E learning when the effects in the acquisition phase were identical to the stimuli in the test phase, we did not observe evidence for generalization. We discuss this with regard to recent studies suggesting that individual response biases might rather reflect rapidly inferred propositional knowledge instead of learned R-E associations.

Motivation(s) from control: response-effect contingency and confirmation of sensorimotor predictions reinforce different levels of selection.

Humans and other animals live in dynamic environments. To reliably manipulate the environment and attain their goals they would benefit from a constant modification of motor-responding based on responses' current effect on the current environment. It is argued that this is exactly what is achieved by a mechanism that reinforces responses which have led to accurate sensorimotor predictions. We further show that evaluations of a response's effectiveness can occur simultaneously, driven by at least two different processes, each relying on different statistical properties of the feedback and affecting a different level of responding. Specifically, we show the continuous effect of (a) a sensorimotor process sensitive only to the conditional probability of effects given that the agent acted on the environment (i.e., action-effects) and of (b) a more abstract judgement or inference that is also sensitive to the conditional probabilities of occurrence of feedback given no action by the agent (i.e., inaction-effects). The latter process seems to guide action selection (e.g., should I act?) while the former the manner of the action's execution. This study is the first to show that different evaluation processes of a response's effectiveness influence different levels of responding.

Evaluation of visual-motor reaction time and quality of response in rugby sevens players after the application of a neurocognitive training programme

ABSTRACTThis work proposes a neurocognitive training (NCT) programme that seeks to optimise the mechanisms of visual perception, the processing of information and decision making. Also, to evaluate the effects on visual-motor reaction time (VMRT) and effectiveness of response (ER). A system of analysis, evaluation and specific training was applied, followed by comparison using different tests to assess the players’ performance. We evaluated 8 male rugby seven players from the Chilean national team (age: 28.5 ± 2.2 years, height: 179.5 ± 6.5 cm, weight: 92.5 ± 7.8 kg). The results showed that in the two variables, the players show statistically significant average improvements in the RTs of the total actions (total VMRT: 5.1%, 95%CI: 17.3–69.24, p=0.006, ES: 0.49) and in the RTs of attempts that were considered effective (effectiveVMRT: 9.3%, 95%CI: 22.77–77.08, p=0.003, ES: 0.66). In the case of ER, a slight improvement in the quality of the actions is detected (4.1% increase in effectiveness and 4.3% decrease in failed attempts), although the changes are not statistically significant. In conclusion, it can be stated that the neurocognitive training programme used led to an improvement in the performance of the variables VMRT and ER, with a differing degree of effectiveness.

Selective binding of stimulus, response, and effect features.

Responding to a stimulus leads to the integration of the stimulus, the response, and any sensory effect triggered by the response in a mental representation that has been called "event-file" or "instance." Most theoretical models assume that event files are composed of sets of binary bindings between individual stimulus, response, and effect features. Repeating any of the integrated features on a subsequent occasion would then retrieve the entire episode. However, previous studies mainly focused on either stimulus-response (SR) binding or response-effect (RE) binding while not assessing S-R-E episodes in their entirety. Here we analyzed for the first time bindings within entire action episodes including stimulus, response, and effect. We found clear evidence for SR- and RE-binding, but no indication of integration between stimulus and effect. We conclude that representations of actions are structured according to the current task, possibly providing a base for learning mechanisms to draw on.

Action consequences affect the space-time congruency effect on reaction time

According to the metaphoric mapping hypothesis, people code time in terms of space. Consistent with this hypothesis, several reaction time studies have demonstrated that participants respond faster with a left (right) response to stimuli that convey temporal information about the past (future) than when this stimulus-response mapping is reversed (past → right, future → left). The present experiment examines whether the side of the response key or of the (visual) action effect elicited by the response is the crucial factor of this space-time congruency effect. In a response-effect (R-E) compatible group, a response to a temporal stimulus produced a visual action effect on the same side as the response location (left response → left action effect, right response → right action effect). In an R-E incompatible group, however, response and action effect occurred on opposite sides (left response → right action effect, right response → left action effect). A typical space-time congruency effect was obtained in the R-E compatible group, but the congruency effect interacted with group and was descriptively reversed in the R-E incompatible group. This result pattern suggests that the typical congruency effect is determined by the location of the action consequences rather than the location of the response key. Based on this result, we suggest that the space-time congruency effect is based on an abstract spatial mental representation that embraces action events in the external space.

Stimulus-Response and Response-Effect Compatibility With Touchless Gestures and Moving Action Effects

To determine whether response-effect (R-E) compatibility or stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility is more critical for touchless gesture responses. Content on displays can be moved in the same direction (S-R incompatible but R-E compatible) or opposite direction (S-R compatible but R-E incompatible) as the touchless gesture that produces the movement. Previous studies suggested that it is easier to produce a button-press response when it is R-E compatible (and S-R incompatible). However, whether this R-E compatibility effect also occurs for touchless gesture responses is unknown. Experiments 1 and 2 employed an R-E compatibility manipulation in which participants made responses with an upward or downward touchless gesture that resulted in the display content moving in the same (compatible) or opposite (incompatible) direction. Experiment 3 employed an S-R compatibility manipulation in which the stimulus occurred at the upper or lower location on the screen. Overall, only negligible influences of R-E compatibility on performing the touchless gestures were observed (in contrast to button-press responses), whereas S-R compatibility heavily affected the gestural responses. The R-E compatibility obtained in many previous studies with various types of responses appears not to hold for touchless gestures as responses. The results suggest that in the design of touchless interfaces, unique factors may contribute to determining which mappings of gesture and display movements are preferred by users.

A diffusion model analysis of the response-effect compatibility effect.

Humans act goal-oriented, and this idea is at the core of ideomotor theory (IT), which claims that actions are selected by mentally anticipating the sensory consequences brought about by the respective bodily movement (i.e., their action effects). Evidence for this effect anticipation mainly derives from the response-effect (R-E) compatibility (REC) paradigm: In the spatial domain, for example, a left response is produced faster (and sometimes less error-prone) if followed by a compatible left rather than an incompatible right action effect. In the present study, we employed the diffusion model to elucidate the reasons for this observation. To this end, we reanalyzed data from the seminal study by Kunde (2001) and from a new experiment. The overall results suggest that REC affects drift rate. This result fits well with conceptualizing REC as an endogenously created case of stimulus-response compatibility (SRC). Several consequences of this view are discussed against the background of available empirical results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

How movement direction shapes the spatial representation of its effects: About the consequence of the ideomotor bidirectional association.

Ideomotor theories assume that action and perception share a common representational system in which a movement and its effect are equally represented and integrated by a bidirectional association. However, there is no mention of how this association leads to influence the representational content of each part. In this article, we investigated the influence of movement properties on the spatial representation of auditory effects. In line with the Action Constrains Theory of space perception, we suggest that changes in the movement direction leads to correlative changes in the spatial representation of the effect. In a pre-experiment, we replicated traditional ideomotor results with a response-effect (R-E) compatibility procedure. In two experiments, we used one condition of this procedure (i.e., the corresponding R-E mapping) to manipulate the movement properties associated to a non-spatialised effect. In the first experiment, the effect was associated with horizontal outward movements or with forward-backward movements. In the second experiment, we tested some alternative explanations for the results obtained in the first experiment. Globally, we showed that rightward movements led to localised auditory effect more on the right space than leftward movements and that backward movements led to localisation of the effect closer from the subjects than forward movements. In accordance with the Action Constrains Theory of space perception, these data suggest that movement shapes the spatial organisation of the effect representation.

Exploring Modality Compatibility in the Response-Effect Compatibility Paradigm.

According to ideomotor theory, action planning is based on anticipatory perceptual representations of action-effects. This aspect of action control has been investigated in studies using the response-effect compatibility (REC) paradigm, in which responses have been shown to be facilitated if ensuing perceptual effects share codes with the response based on dimensional overlap (i.e., REC). Additionally, according to the notion of ideomotor compatibility, certain response-effect (R-E) mappings will be stronger than others because some response features resemble the anticipated sensory response effects more strongly than others (e.g., since vocal responses usually produce auditory effects, an auditory stimulus should be anticipated in a stronger manner following vocal responses rather than following manual responses). Yet, systematic research on this matter is lacking. In the present study, two REC experiments aimed to explore the influence of R-E modality mappings. In Experiment 1, vocal number word responses produced visual effects on the screen (digits vs. number words; i.e., visual-symbolic vs. visual-verbal effect codes). The REC effect was only marginally larger for visual-verbal than for visual-symbolic effects. Using verbal effect codes in Experiment 2, we found that the REC effect was larger with auditory-verbal R-E mapping than with visual-verbal R-E mapping. Overall, the findings support the hypothesis of a role of R-E modality mappings in REC effects, suggesting both further evidence for ideomotor accounts as well as code-specific and modality-specific contributions to effect anticipation.

Joint response–effect compatibility

When performing jointly on a task, human agents are assumed to represent their coactor's share of this task, and research in various joint action paradigms has focused on representing the coactor's stimulus-response assignments. Here we show that the response-effect (R-E) contingencies exploited by a coactor also affect performance, and thus might be represented as if they were used by oneself. Participants performed an R-E compatibility task, with keypresses producing spatially compatible or incompatible action effects. We did not observe any R-E compatibility effects when the task was performed in isolation (individual go-no-go). By contrast, small but reliable R-E compatibility effects emerged when the same task was performed in a joint setting. These results indicate that the knowledge of a coactor's R-E contingencies can influence whether self-produced action effects are used for one's own motor control.

Role of an Ideomotor Mechanism in Number Processing

The ideomotor principle predicts that the anticipation of expected sensory consequences precedes and controls voluntary goal-directed movements. Recent studies have revealed that an ideomotor mechanism could also support the link between finger movements and number processing. However, it is unknown whether such a mechanism is devoted to number processing per se, that is, without associated movement. In three experiments, we tested whether the ideomotor mechanism was also involved in a verbal number production task without associated goal-directed and motor dimensions. We tested this hypothesis in a response-effect (R-E) paradigm generally used to assess the ideomotor mechanisms. The results of Experiment 1 revealed a compatibility effect both in a stimulus-response task and an R-E task, suggesting the involvement of an ideomotor mechanism during number processing. More importantly, Experiment 2 revealed that performance in a motor imagery task correlated with the R-E compatibility effect, whereas performance in a visual imagery task did not, suggesting a distinct motor imagery contribution to R-E compatibility. Finally, Experiment 3 showed a strong R-E compatibility effect in a verbal word production task, but the correlations with motor or visual imagery tasks were not observed. Altogether, these findings suggest that ideomotor mechanisms play a specific and functional role in number processing.

Modulation of the foreign body response to implanted sensor models through device-based delivery of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, masitinib

The host foreign body response (FBR) adversely effects the performance of numerous implanted biomaterials especially biosensors, including clinically popular glucose-monitoring sensors. Reactive formation of a fibrous capsule around implanted sensors hinders the transport of essential analytes to the sensor from the surrounding tissue, resulting in loss of glucose response sensitivity and eventual sensor failure. Several strategies have sought to mitigate the foreign body response's effects on CGM sensors through the use of local delivery of pharmaceuticals and biomolecules with limited success. This study describes release of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor – masitinib – from the sensor implant to target tissue resident mast cells as key mediators of the FBR. Model implants are coated with a composite polymer hydrophilic matrix that rapidly dissolves upon tissue implantation to deposit slower-degrading polymer microparticles containing masitinib. Matrix dissolution limits coating interference with sensor function while establishing a local controlled-release delivery depot formulation to alter implant tissue pharmacology and addressing the FBR. Drug efficacy was evaluated in a murine subcutaneous pocket implant model. Drug release extends to more than 30 days in vitro. The resulting FBR in vivo, evaluated by implant capsule thickness and inflammatory cell densities at 14, 21, and 28 days, displays statistically significant reduction in capsule thickness around masitinib-releasing implant sites compared to control implant sites.

Finger-Number Interaction

Recent findings have shown that processing numerical magnitude may interact with finger movements through goal-directed movements. Here we tested these number-finger interactions in a response-effect (R-E) paradigm. During a learning phase, participants read meaningless consonant-vowel (CV) syllables immediately followed by unrelated opening or closing finger movements; during a transfer test, they again named these CV syllables in response to processing a small or a large number. The results showed that responding to a large magnitude number during the transfer phase was slower in an incompatible situation, that is, when the answer was the CV syllable that had been associated to a grip closure during the learning phase. This interference effect demonstrates that ideomotor principles can account for the link between the meaning of numbers and the perception of actions through an anticipated-magnitude code.

The Simon task with multi-component responses: two loci of response–effect compatibility

The stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect refers to the phenomenon that responses are faster and more accurate when stimulus and response correspond than when they do not. The phenomenon is robust in that it is observed even when SRC is irrelevant to performing the task, a variant known as the Simon effect. Recent studies also demonstrated that responses are faster when they are spatially compatible with their effects in the environment (action effects) than when they are incompatible. This response-effect (R-E) compatibility effect is thought to stem from the fact that stimuli first activate anticipated effect codes, which then activate corresponding action codes. In the present study, the Simon task was used to examine influences of multiple response components on performance. Three response components were orthogonally manipulated. The results of three experiments indicated that there are two separate processes that are influenced by R-E compatibility; one that is responsible for the SRC effect (S-R translation) and the other that is independent of SRC (action programming). The influence of R-E compatibility on the former process depended on manipulations that varied attentional demands of the task.

Approach and avoidance as action effects

Numerous studies use arm movements (arm flexion and extension) to investigate the interaction between emotional stimuli and approach/avoidance behaviour. In many experiments, however, these arm movements are ambiguous. Arm flexion can be interpreted either as pulling (approach) or as withdrawing (avoidance). On the contrary, arm extension can be interpreted as reaching (approach) or as pushing (avoidance). This ambiguity can be resolved by regarding approach and avoidance as flexible action plans that are represented in terms of their effects. Approach actions reduce the distance between a stimulus and the self, whereas avoidance actions increase that distance. In this view, action effects are an integral part of the representation of an action. As a result, a neutral action can become an approach or avoidance reaction if it repeatedly results in decreasing or increasing the distance to a valenced stimulus. This hypothesis was tested in the current study. Participants responded to positive and negative words using key-presses. These "neutral" responses (not involving arm flexion or extension) were consistently followed by a stimulus movement toward or away from the participant. Responses to emotional words were faster when the response's effect was congruent with stimulus valence, suggesting that approach/avoidance actions are indeed defined in terms of their outcomes.

Anticipated action effects affect the selection, initiation, and execution of actions.

This study investigated the impact of contingent action effects on response production. In Experiment 1 responses of varying intensity were initiated faster when contingently followed by auditory effects of corresponding rather than of noncorresponding intensity. This response-effect (R-E) compatibility influence was robust with respect to practice, and it was not due to persisting influences of preceding R-E episodes. These results support the conclusion that R-E compatibility reflects the impact of anticipatory effect representations in response production. Experiment 2 showed that anticipatory effect codes have an impact on early processes of response production (response selection) as well as on processes that immediately precede overt responding (response initiation). Finally, they also influence the way the actions are physically performed (response execution). The results support and specify ideo-motor theories of action control that assume movements to be controlled by anticipations of their sensorial effects.

Verbal response-effect compatibility.

Ideomotor theory states that motor responses are activated by an anticipation of their sensory effects. We assumed that anticipated effects would produce response-effect (R-E) compatibility when there is dimensional overlap of effects and responses. In a four-choice task, visual digit stimuli called for verbal responses (color names). Each response produced a written response-effect on the screen. In different groups, the response-effect was a colored color word (e.g., blue in blue), a white color word, or a colored nonword (Xs in blue). In different blocks, the predictable effects were either incompatible (e.g., response "blue" --> effect: green) or compatible with the response. We found faster responses with compatible than with incompatible R-E mappings. The compatibility effect was strongest with colored words, intermediate with white words, and smallest with colored nonwords. We conclude that effect anticipation influences response selection on both a perceptual level (related to the word's color) and a conceptual level (related to the word's meaning).

Rhizobium screening of Stylosanthes species for effectiveness in nitrogen fixation

The Rhizobium strain specificity and effectiveness in nitrogen fixation of 336 accessions of the genus Stylosanthes were determined in glasshouse screening trials. In preliminary screening, against a wide-spectrum strain CB756, 224 accessions were effective (> 50% dry weight of nitrogen control). Sixty-two of these were evaluated subsequently against a spectrum of 22 strains of Rhizobium selected on the basis of host and geographic origins. Thirty-three were effective with 10 or more strains. Seventy-two accessions that were ineffectively nodulated in preliminary tests were also screened against the 22 strains. Fifty-four of these were effective with one or more strains of Rhizobium. A minimum spanning tree (MST) analysis was used to examine the interrelationships between, and the distribution of, accessions according to their effectiveness response (ER) to the 22 strains of Rhizobium. Accessions were classified into six groups, also according to their effectiveness response, by the program MULTBET. Groups I–IV were nodulated effectively by a large number of strains (mean 9.4) and groups V and VI by a limited number of strains (mean 1.3). Significant and wide-ranging Stylosanthes accession x strain of Rhizobium interactions for effectiveness in nitrogen fixation were observed, particularly in S. guianensis and S. hamata. Various reclassifications were made by MULTBET on a reduced number of strains which were selected on the basis of discriminatory powers between groups (eident values), contribution to the classification (Cramér measures) and intuitively on the basis of level of effectiveness specificity and soil pH adaption. Classifications based on Cramér measures gave least (9%) non-conforming accessions, but intuitively selected strains the widest range of effective associations. The majority of non-conforming accessions were found in effectiveness response groups ER-III and ER-IV and were mostly S. guianensis from M–A groups 2 and 14 andS. hamata M–A 28. For future screening programs strains CB 82, CB 159, CB 530, CB 756, CB 1408 and CB 2126 will be used as diagnostic strains for classification of accessions by effectiveness response, and strains CB 82, CB 1650 and CB 2126 as 'key strains' for provision of inocula for experimental purposes.Classification of strains of Rhizobium into six groups was obtained by a MULTCLAS analysis of the data matrix. A principal coordinates analysis suggested distinct clustering of strains on the basis of host specificity for effective nodulation. These corresponded very closely to the six classificatory groups.