Task Performance Research Articles

Contributions of cortical neuron firing patterns, synaptic connectivity, and plasticity to task performance

Neuronal responses during behavior are diverse, ranging from highly reliable ‘classical’ responses to irregular ‘non-classically responsive’ firing. While a continuum of response properties is observed across neural systems, little is known about the synaptic origins and contributions of diverse responses to network function, perception, and behavior. To capture the heterogeneous responses measured from auditory cortex of rodents performing a frequency recognition task, we use a novel task-performing spiking recurrent neural network incorporating spike-timing-dependent plasticity. Reliable and irregular units contribute differentially to task performance via output and recurrent connections, respectively. Excitatory plasticity shifts the response distribution while inhibition constrains its diversity. Together both improve task performance with full network engagement. The same local patterns of synaptic inputs predict spiking response properties of network units and auditory cortical neurons from in vivo whole-cell recordings during behavior. Thus, diverse neural responses contribute to network function and emerge from synaptic plasticity rules.

Spatial Contextual Information Modulates Affordance Processing and Early Electrophysiological Markers of Scene Perception.

Scene perception allows humans to extract information from their environment and plan navigation efficiently. The automatic extraction of potential paths in a scene, also referred to as navigational affordances, is supported by scene-selective regions (SSRs) that enable efficient human navigation. Recent evidence suggests that the activity of these SSRs can be influenced by information from adjacent spatial memory areas. However, it remains unexplored how these contextual information could influence the extraction of bottom-up information, such as navigational affordances, from a scene and the underlying neural dynamics. Therefore, we analyzed ERPs in 26 young adults performing scene and spatial memory tasks in artificially generated rooms with varying numbers and locations of available doorways. We found that increasing the number of navigational affordances only impaired performance in the spatial memory task. ERP results showed a similar pattern of activity for both tasks, but with increased P2 amplitude in the spatial memory task compared with the scene memory. Finally, we reported no modulation of the P2 component by the number of affordances in either task. This modulation of early markers of visual processing suggests that the dynamics of SSR activity are influenced by a priori knowledge, with increased amplitude when participants have more contextual information about the perceived scene. Overall, our results suggest that prior spatial knowledge about the scene, such as the location of a goal, modulates early cortical activity associated with SSRs, and that this information may interact with bottom-up processing of scene content, such as navigational affordances.

A dynamic graph structural framework for implicit sentiment identification based on complementary semantic and structural information

Implicit sentiment identification has become the classic challenge in text mining due to its lack of sentiment words. Recently, graph neural network (GNN) has made great progress in natural language processing (NLP) because of its powerful feature capture ability, but there are still two problems with the current method. On the one hand, the graph structure constructed for implicit sentiment text is relatively single, without comprehensively considering the information of the text, and it is more difficult to understand the semantics. On the other hand, the constructed initial static graph structure is more dependent on human labor and domain expertise, and the introduced errors cannot be corrected. To solve these problems, we introduce a dynamic graph structure framework (SIF) based on the complementarity of semantic and structural information. Specifically, for the first problem, SIF integrates the semantic and structural information of the text, and constructs two graph structures, structural information graph and semantic information graph, respectively, based on specialized knowledge, which complements the information between the two graph structures, provides rich semantic features for the downstream identification task, and helps to understanding of the contextual information between implicit sentiment semantics. To deal with the second issue, SIF dynamically learns the initial static graph structure to eliminate the noise information in the graph structure, preventing noise accumulation that affects the performance of the downstream identification task. We compare SIF with mainstream natural language processing methods in three publicly available datasets, all of which outperform the benchmark model. The accuracy on the Puns of day dataset, SemEval-2021 task 7 dataset, and Reddit dataset reaches 95.73%, 85.37%, and 65.36%, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate a good application scenario for our proposed method on implicit sentiment identification tasks.

MICK (Mobile Integrated Cognitive Kit) App for Concussion Assessment in a Youth Ice Hockey League.

Visual symptoms are common after concussion. Rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks are simple performance measures that demonstrate worse time scores in the setting of acute or more remote injury. We evaluated the capacity for the Mobile Universal Lexicon Evaluation System (MULES) and Staggered Uneven Number (SUN) testing to be feasibly administered during preseason testing in a cohort of youth ice hockey athletes using a novel computerized app, the Mobile Integrated Cognitive Kit (MICK). Participants from a youth hockey league underwent preseason testing. Among 60 participants, the median age was 13 years (range 6-17). The median best time for the MULES was 49.8 seconds (range = 34.2-141.0) and the median best time for the SUN was 70.1 (range = 36.6-200.0). As is characteristic of timed performance measures, there were learning effects between the first and second trials for both the MULES (median improvement = 10.6 seconds, range = -32.3 to 92.0, P < 0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test) and SUN (median improvement = 2.4 seconds, range= -8.0 to 15.1, P = 0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Age was a predictor of best baseline times, with longer (worse) times for younger participants for MULES (P < 0.001, rs = -0.67) and SUN (P < 0.001, rs = -0.54 Spearman rank correlation). Degrees of learning effect did not vary with age (P > 0.05, rs = -0.2). Vision-based RAN tasks, such as the MULES and SUN, can be feasibly administered using the MICK app during preseason baseline testing in youth sports teams. The results suggest that more frequent baseline tests are necessary for preadolescent athletes because of the relation of RAN task performance to age.

Acute inorganic nitrate ingestion does not impact oral microbial composition, cognitive function, or high-intensity exercise performance in female team-sport athletes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute nitrate (NO3-)-rich beetroot juice ingestion on explosive and high-intensity exercise performance, oral microbiota composition, and cognitive flexibility (i.e., function), before and after maximal intermittent running exercise. Fifteen women team-sport athletes were assigned in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design to consume concentrated NO3--depleted beetroot juice (PL; 0.1mmol NO3-) and NO3--rich beetroot juice (BR; 12.0mmol NO3-) 2.5h prior to performing a battery of exercise performance tasks and cognitive testing before and after the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 (YYIR1) running test. Resting plasma [NO3-] and plasma nitrite ([NO2-]) were elevated following BR (P < 0.001). BR did not impact global composition or relative abundance of taxa in the oral microbiome (P > 0.05) or cognitive flexibility before or after exercise (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in performance during 20-m (PRE, PL: 4.38 ± 0.27 vs. BR: 4.38 ± 0.32s; POST, PL: 4.45 ± 0.29 vs. BR: 4.43 ± 0.35s) and 10-m sprints (PRE, PL 2.78 ± 0.15 vs. BR 2.79 ± 0.18s; POST, PL: 2.82 ± 0.16 vs. BR: 2.81 ± 0.19s), isokinetic handgrip dynamometry, medicine ball throw, horizontal countermovement jump, or YYIR1 (PL: 355 ± 163m vs. BR: 368 ± 184m) between BR and PL (P > 0.05). These findings indicate that acute dietary NO3- may not influence the oral microbiome, explosive and high-intensity exercise performance, or cognitive function in women team-sport athletes.

Learning analytics dashboard design: Workplace learner preferences for reference frames in immersive training in practice

AbstractBackgroundLearning analytics dashboards are increasingly being used to communicate feedback to learners. However, little is known about learner preferences for dashboard designs and how they differ depending on the self‐regulated learning (SRL) phases the dashboards are presented (i.e., forethought, performance, and self‐reflection phases) and SRL skills. Insight into design preferences for dashboards with different reference frames (i.e., progress, social, internal achievement and external achievement) is important because the effectiveness of feedback can depend upon how a learner perceives it.ObjectiveThis study examines workplace learner preferences for four dashboard designs for each SRL phase and how SRL skills relate to these preferences.MethodsSeventy participants enrolled in a chemical process apprenticeship program took part in the study. Preferences were determined using a method of adaptive comparative judgement and SRL skills were measured using a questionnaire. Preferences were tested on four dashboard designs informed by social and temporal comparison theory and goal setting theory. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine the relationship between dashboard preferences and SRL.Results and ConclusionsResults show that the progress reference frame is more preferred before and after task performance, and the social reference frame is less preferred before and after task performance. It was found that the higher the SRL skill score the higher the probability a learner preferred the progress reference frame compared to having no preference before task performance. The results are consistent with other findings, which suggest caution when using social comparison in designing dashboards which provide feedback.

An improved efficientnet B7 underwater marine organism image classification model based on the spatial group enhancement attention mechanisms

In this paper, we adopt the Efficientnet B7 model, which is an excellent performer in deep learning algorithms, and improve it by combining with the Spatial Group Enhancement attention mechanism to provide an innovative method for underwater biological image classification. After a reasonable division of the dataset, we introduced the improved Efficientnet B7 model for training. By observing the change of the loss curve on the training set, it can be seen that the loss value of the model gradually decreases from 0.6 to 0.05 and tends to be stable, which indicates that the classification prediction of the model is gradually close to the real result, and it can classify the underwater marine organisms images effectively. The accuracy on the training set gradually increases from the initial 80.12% to 98.31%, and the recall also grows from 75.82% to 98.93%, showing that the model predicts well. The performance on the test set shows an accuracy of 84.86%, a recall of 82.40%, and an F1 value of 80.2%, indicating that the model has good generalisation ability. This means that our proposed improved methods and ideas have achieved significant results in the task of underwater biological image classification, providing a useful reference for research in related fields. By comparing the experimental results, it can be seen that the optimisation of the Efficientnet B7 model by introducing the Spatial Group Enhancement attention mechanism achieves better performance in the underwater marine organisms image classification task, which lays the foundation for the future application of deep learning in underwater environments. This study is of positive significance for the promotion of underwater biology research, marine protection and other fields, and provides new ideas and methods for carrying out more in-depth related research.

Влияние пола и когнитивного стиля на особенности движений глаз при навигации по карте

&lt;p&gt;We investigated the effects of sex and cognitive style on performance in the map navigation task with various label types (object labels, verbal labels, no labels) in 40 healthy participants (20 men, 20 women, age 24,3&amp;plusmn;0,8) using eye tracking. The cognitive styles (object, spatial, verbal) were assessed using a questionnaire developed by Blazhenkova and Kozhevnikov [2009]. Only men had a reduced number of fixations during route reproduction compared to route memorization; women had longer saccade durations than men. Participants with spatial cognitive style showed shorter saccade duration compared to object cognitive style. Participants with spatial and verbal cognitive styles had more fixations on maps with verbal labels than on the other maps. Analysis of questionnaire and the number of fixations has demonstrated the link between sex and cognitive style, but the effects of sex and cognitive style are not identical. Sex affects eye movements during the performance of different tasks (map familiarization, route memorization, and route reproduction), while cognitive style determines eye movements during navigation on maps with different types of labels.&lt;/p&gt;

Patient-Perceived Disability Following Transtibial Amputation and Prosthetic Limb Fitting

ABSTRACT Introduction Patients’ perception of their disability following lower-limb amputation is currently measured using patient-reported outcomes (PROs) instruments. The validity is determined by comparing instruments designed to measure patient-perceived impact on amputation-specific health-related quality of life. The goal of this investigation was to compare patient-perceived disability from an outcomes instrument specific to individuals with amputation to a well-accepted outcomes instrument used to measure disability and response to treatment in generic musculoskeletal disease. Materials and Methods Twenty-one patients completed the Prosthesis Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ) and the Short Musculoskeletal Functional Assessment (SMFA) at a minimum of 3 months following transtibial amputation while undergoing prosthetic limb fitting and gait training. A functional measure of their walking ability based on Medicare ambulatory function (Amputee Mobility Predictor [AMP]) was scored by a trained rehabilitation professional. Results The results of the outcomes scores provided initial evidence that the PEQ and SMFA assessments are correlated (i.e., provide some evidence of convergent validity). For every 100-point improvement in patients’ PEQ score, their SMFA Bother score declined by approximately 7 points (b = −6.94; P = 0.001) and Dysfunction score declined by approximately 7 points (b = −6.74; P &lt; 0.001). Conversely, the SMFA and PEQ subscores were not associated with the AMP K-level (all P's &gt; 0.05). Conclusions The findings suggested that the PEQ and SMFA PRO instruments are correlated in their ability to measure impact on health-related quality of life. Additionally, we found that PROs (PEQ and SMFA) did not predict physical ability as measured by the AMP K-level. The value of this investigation suggests that the easy-to-administer SMFA correlates well with the accepted PEQ, making testing both less cumbersome and time-consuming. Neither measure correlated with eventual ambulatory function. Rehabilitation following lower-limb amputation demands patient-specific goals. Available tools appear valuable in assisting the rehabilitation team in developing realistic objective tools for rehabilitation following lower-limb amputation. Clinical Relevance The simple-to-use SMFA appears to be comparable to the more cumbersome PEQ in assessing patient outcomes following transtibial amputations. Neither outcome instrument is correlated with functional task performance in this patient population.

The Effects of Mental Fatigue on Anaerobic Power and Power Endurance Performance

Mental fatigue has been studied extensively in relation to its impact on aerobic-, strength-, and motor-based tasks, but anaerobic power-based tasks have received limited attention. Interdisciplinary research investigating the underlying mechanisms by which mental fatigue influences physical performance has been called for. In two studies, the effects of mental fatigue on maximal power jump and endurance jump performance as well as kinetics and kinematics during jump performance were examined. Samples of collegiate volleyball players (Study 1; N = 14) and recreationally active students (Study 2; N = 27) completed two 30 min experimental manipulations (high vs. low cognitive control exertion) before performing three maximal power squat jumps followed by 15 repeated countermovement jumps, with measurements of kinetics and kinematics. For Study 1, the maximal power performance was significantly lower under a mentally fatigued condition, but no differences were observed for repeated jump performance, which may have been attributable to alterations in jump mechanics. For Study 2, no between-condition differences were observed for the maximal power performance, although repeated jump performance was significantly lower under a mentally fatigued condition. Collectively, these findings suggest that the impacts of mental fatigue on power-based performance tasks may depend on the task demands as well as the training status of the individual.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ФІЗИЧНОЇ ТЕРАПІЇ У ПРОЦЕСІ РЕАБІЛІТАЦІЇ ОСІБ ПОХИЛОГО ВІКУ З ПОРУШЕННЯМ ФУНЦІЙ ХРЕБТА

According to literary sources, osteochondrosis of the cervical and thoracic spine is one of the most common diseases. This disease affects 22% of the world's population and ranks first in the group of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The main goal of restorative treatment of elderly patients with cervical and thoracic osteochondrosis is to reduce muscle spasticity, decrease the level of heart rate, arterial systolic and diastolic pressure, reduce pain, facilitate the performance of household tasks, etc. In the program of physical therapy, we included therapeutic physical culture, therapeutic massage, and physiotherapeutic means. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to study of the peculiarities of physical therapy in the rehabilitation process of elderly people with osteochondrosis. Research methods. 28 people (12 men and 16 women) with osteochondrosis of the cervical-thoracic spine took part in the study. The average age of the patients was 64.5 years. The pedagogical experiment was aimed at determining the effectiveness of the program of physical therapy developed by us for elderly people with osteochondrosis on indicators of mobility in the cervical spine, intensity of pain sensations. Results and conclusions. The results of the conducted research indicate the positive impact of classes in the complex program of physical therapy for the elderly with cervicothoracic osteochondrosis. Thus, after the completion of the formative study, we established an improvement in the functional state of the cervical spine in elderly persons with cervical-thoracic osteochondrosis. The average group value of the pain intensity index in patients at the end of the study corresponded to the assessment of «very mild pain», while at the beginning of the study it corresponded to the assessment of «pain above average».

Exploring the effect of cognitive load in scenarios of daily driving

AbstractAlthough driving to and from work is an unavoidable part of the working life of many people, little is known about the relationship between work-related and drive-related cognitive load in daily commuting. To explore those relationships, Study 1 examined the effect of a demanding driving period on the performance of a subsequent cognitive task (mimicking a home-to-work commuting scenario). That driving-related higher cognitive load than the control condition was associated with an increased accuracy in the following cognitive task. Study 2 examined the effects of a period of demanding cognitive tasks on the performance of a subsequent driving task (mimicking a work-to-home commuting scenario). Although no reliable effect on speed or lane keeping ability in a virtual motorway scenario was observed, the completion of tasks under the higher cognitive load condition before driving led to a modest increase in the distance kept from the car ahead. The two sets of findings suggest that moderate levels of cognitive load could modulate the performance in timely contiguous tasks. The process underpinning possible spillover effects with such timestamp is unknow but might be linked to the activation of long-lasting attentional processes involving alertness. Hence, this exploratory study can be a catalyst for future studies investigating the interplay between cognitive load and driving in scenarios of daily commuting.

Adaptation and Validation of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire into a Portuguese Version

The aim of this study is to adapt and validate the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ) to a Portuguese version (IWPQ-PT) and to evaluate its psychometric properties in a sample of 423 digital sector workers. Two studies were conducted to define the factorial structure. In study 1 (n = 162), the results of an exploratory factor analysis pointed to a three-factor structure (18 items), explaining 55.56% of the variance. In study 2 (n = 261), the results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good model fit (CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06), also reproducing the structure of the original model. The overall scale and subscales demonstrated good reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.72 to 0.88. Correlations between the IWPQ-PT subscales and other instruments revealed that higher task and contextual performance are associated with increased job satisfaction, work engagement, and decreased turnover intention. Conversely, counterproductive work behavior is associated with lower job satisfaction, work engagement, and higher turnover intention. This study underscores the contributions of the IWPQ-PT as a reliable and valid tool for assessing individual work performance in Portuguese organizations and highlights its contributions to the field of employee work performance research as well as human resources practices.

Dual-task costs in speed tasks: a comparison between elite ice hockey, open-skill and closed-skill sports athletes

IntroductionIce hockey is a high pace sports game that requires players to integrate multiple skills. Players face perceptive, cognitive, and motor tasks concurrently; hence, players are regularly exposed to dual- or multi-task demands. Dual-tasking has been shown to lead to decreased performance in one or both performed tasks. The degree of performance reductions might be modulated by the exhaustion of cognitive resources. Literature on dual-task paradigms that combine sport-relevant elements is scarce. Therefore, a novel paradigm combining cyclical speed of the lower extremities and concurrent visuo-verbal speed reading was tested and validated. Additionally, to understand the nature of dual-task costs, the relationship between these costs and cognitive performance was assessed. We hypothesized occurrence of dual-task costs in all athletes without relationship to single task performance. Differences in dual-task cost were expected between open-skill and closed-skill sports, as well as differing expertise levels. Level of cognitive function was expected to explain some variance in dual-task cost.MethodsA total of 322 elite athletes (120 ice hockey, 165 other team sports, 37 closed-skill sports) participated in this study. Each athlete performed a tapping task, a visuo-verbal speed-reading task, and both tasks simultaneously. All ice hockey athletes performed additional cognitive tests assessing processing speed, spatial working memory, sustained attention, two choice reaction time, and motor inhibition.ResultsThe results of paired-sample t-tests confirmed significant dual-task costs for all sport groups (p &amp;lt; 0.001). Single-task performance and dual-task costs correlated weakly in a positive direction. A one-way ANOVA revealed significantly greater costs in closed-skill sports athletes than in ice hockey and other sports athletes. No significant differences in dual-task costs were found between teams of differing expertise levels. Lastly, no significant regression model was found to predict dual-task costs from cognitive test performance.DiscussionOur study suggests that this novel dual-task paradigm was successful in inducing dual-task costs for all elite athletes. Since it distinguishes between closed-skill and open-skill sports athletes, it might be a valuable diagnostic tool for performance and for talent development of open-skill athletes. Dual-task costs could not be relevantly predicted via cognitive performance measures, questioning cognitive resource theories as an explanation for dual-task costs.

Food quality influences behavioural flexibility and cognition in wild house mice

Environmental change is frequent. To adjust and survive, animals need behavioural flexibility. Recently, cognitive flexibility has emerged as a driving force for adjusting to environmental change. Understanding how environmental factors, such as food quality, influence behavioural and/or more costly cognitive flexibility. Here, we investigate the effects of high-quality versus standard food as well as the effects of different housing conditions on both types of flexibility. Our results show that mice that experienced a poorer diet under seminatural conditions showed greater behavioural but not cognitive flexibility. For cage-housed mice, the results were less clear. However, mice fed a poorer diet performed better in innovative problem-solving, thus showing enhanced cognitive flexibility, which was not apparent in the reversal learning paradigm. The observed differences were most likely due to differences in motivation to obtain food rewards. Additionally, animals on poorer diet had lower brain volume, usually related to lower cognitive task performance at the between-species level. Thus, our study emphasises the importance of environmental conditions on behavioural flexibility at the within-species level, highlights that different test paradigms may lead to different conclusions, and finally shows that cage housing of wild animals may lead to patterns that do not necessarily reflect natural conditions.

Brain Endurance Training Improves Dynamic Calisthenic Exercise and Benefits Novel Exercise and Cognitive Performance: Evidence of Performance Enhancement and Near Transfer of Training.

Dallaway, N, Mortimer, H, Gore, A, and Ring, C. Brain endurance training improves dynamic calisthenic exercise and benefits novel exercise and cognitive performance: Evidence of performance enhancement and near transfer of training. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2024-The purpose of this dual study was to evaluate whether brain endurance training (BET)-a mental fatigue countermeasure involving physical and cognitive training-enhanced exercise compared with physical training alone. Two studies (N = 29) used a pretest/training/posttest design, with participants randomized to BET or control groups. During testing, participants performed calisthenic exercises (study 1: press-ups, wall sit, and plank; study 2: burpees, jump squats, leg raises, press-ups, and plank) to failure before and after completing 20-minute cognitive tasks (study 1: memory updating; study 2: memory updating, response inhibition, and nonexecutive functions). Training comprised 3 sessions per week for 4 weeks. In study 1 training sessions, participants completed 2 submaximal exercise sets; each exercise was followed by a 3-minute cognitive task with high (BET) or low (control) cognitive loads. In study 2 training sessions, participants completed 1 submaximal exercise set; after 12-minute cognitive tasks (BET) or rest (control), each exercise was preceded by a 3-minute cognitive task (BET) or rest (control). These cognitive tasks involved response inhibition and memory updating. Performance (exercise repetitions/duration), perceived exertion, and mental fatigue were assessed. In pretesting, exercise performance was matched between groups. In posttesting, BET groups performed more dynamic exercises than control groups but the same number of static exercises. Cognitive task performance was either greater for BET or not different between groups. Neither perceived exertion nor mental fatigue differed between groups and tests. Brain endurance training enhanced dynamic but not static calisthenic exercise performance compared with physical training alongside near transfer of training benefits for novel physical and cognitive task performance.

Self-Leadership and Task, Contextual, and Creative Performance: The Mediating Role of Job Crafting

Employees' work performance is influenced by a number of factors, including the leadership style of their supervisors. However, in certain situations, despite the fact that managers have dysfunctional leadership styles or they avoid managerial responsibilities, followers perform well. A possible explanation is that employees perform well in such situations because they lead themselves, without needing the influence of direct supervisors. In order to test this hypothesis, we investigated the link between self-leadership and three types of performance: task, contextual, and creative performance. Also, we tested the mediating role of job crafting in the relationships between self-leadership and performance. The study was conducted on a sample of 282 employees. The results indicated that self-leadership is positively associated with the three types of performance. Moreover, job crafting mediates the relationships between self-leadership and all three forms of work performance. From a theoretical perspective, this study suggests that employees can have high performances despite ineffective or absent leaders when they adopt self-leadership strategies. From a practical point of view, our results indicate that organizations may use self-leadership interventions in order to stimulate employees’ job crafting behaviors and performance.

Extended High-Frequency Thresholds: Associations With Demographic and Risk Factors, Cognitive Ability, and Hearing Outcomes in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

This study had two objectives: to examine associations between extended high-frequency (EHF) thresholds, demographic factors (age, sex, race/ethnicity), risk factors (cardiovascular, smoking, noise exposure, occupation), and cognitive abilities; and to determine variance explained by EHF thresholds for speech perception in noise, self-rated workload/effort, and self-reported hearing difficulties. This study was a retrospective analysis of a data set from the MUSC Longitudinal Cohort Study of Age-related Hearing Loss. Data from 347 middle-aged adults (45 to 64 years) and 694 older adults (≥ 65 years) were analyzed for this study. Speech perception was quantified using low-context Speech Perception In Noise (SPIN) sentences. Self-rated workload/effort was measured using the effort prompt from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index. Self-reported hearing difficulty was assessed using the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly/Adults. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and the Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test were used to assess selected cognitive abilities. Pure-tone averages representing conventional and EHF thresholds between 9 and 12 kHz (PTA(9 - 12 kHz)) were utilized in simple linear regression analyses to examine relationships between thresholds and demographic and risk factors or in linear regression models to assess the contributions of PTA(9 - 12 kHz) to the variance among the three outcomes of interest. Further analyses were performed on a subset of individuals with thresholds ≤ 25 dB HL at all conventional frequencies to control for the influence of hearing loss on the association between PTA(9 - 12 kHz) and outcome measures. PTA(9 - 12 kHz) was higher in males than females, and was higher in White participants than in racial Minority participants. Linear regression models showed the associations between cardiovascular risk factors and PTA(9 - 12 kHz) were not statistically significant. Older adults who reported a history of noise exposure had higher PTA(9 - 12 kHz) than those without a history, while associations between noise history and PTA(9 - 12 kHz) did not reach statistical significance for middle-aged participants. Linear models adjusting for age, sex, race and noise history showed that higher PTA(9 - 12 kHz) was associated with greater self-perceived hearing difficulty and poorer speech recognition scores in noise for both middle-aged and older participants. Workload/effort was significantly related to PTA(9 - 12 kHz) for middle-aged, but not older, participants, while cognitive task performance was correlated with PTA(9 - 12 kHz) only for older participants. In general, PTA(9 - 12 kHz)did not account for additional variance in outcome measures as compared to conventional pure-tone thresholds, with the exception of self-reported hearing difficulties in older participants. Linear models adjusting for age and accounting for subject-level correlations in the subset analyses revealed no association between PTA(9 - 12 kHz)and outcomes of interest. EHF thresholds show age-, sex-, and race-related patterns of elevation that are similar to what is observed for conventional thresholds. The current results support the need for more research to determine the utility of adding EHF thresholds to routine audiometric assessment with middle-aged and older adults.

Use of cortical hemodynamic responses in digital therapeutics for upper limb rehabilitation in patients with stroke

BackgroundStroke causes long-term disabilities, highlighting the need for innovative rehabilitation strategies for reducing residual impairments. This study explored the potential of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for monitoring cortical activation during rehabilitation using digital therapeutics.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 18 patients with chronic stroke, of whom 13 were men. The mean age of the patients was 67.0 ± 7.1 years. Motor function was evaluated through various tests, including the Fugl–Meyer assessment for upper extremity (FMA-UE), grip and pinch strength test, and box and block test. All the patients completed the digital rehabilitation program (MotoCog®, Cybermedic Co., Ltd., Republic of Korea) while being monitored using fNIRS (NIRScout®, NIRx Inc., Germany). Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was employed to analyze the cortical activation patterns from the fNIRS data. Furthermore, the K-nearest neighbor (K-NN) algorithm was used to analyze task performance and fNIRS data to classify the severity of motor impairment.ResultsThe participants showed diverse task performances in the digital rehabilitation program, demonstrating distinct patterns of cortical activation that correlated with different motor function levels. Significant activation was observed in the ipsilesional primary motor area (M1), primary somatosensory area (S1), and contralateral prefrontal cortex. The activation patterns varied according to the FMA-UE scores. Positive correlations were observed between the FMA-UE scores and SPM t-values in the ipsilesional M1, whereas negative correlations were observed in the ipsilesional S1, frontal lobe, and parietal lobe. The incorporation of cortical hemodynamic responses with task scores in a digital rehabilitation program substantially improves the accuracy of the K-NN algorithm in classifying upper limb functional levels in patients with stroke. The accuracy for tasks, such as the gas stove-operation task, increased from 44.4% using only task scores to 83.3% when these scores were combined with oxy-Hb t-values from the ipsilesional M1.ConclusionsThe results advocated the development of tailored digital rehabilitation strategies by combining the behavioral and cerebral hemodynamic data of patients with stroke. This approach aligns with the evolving paradigm of personalized rehabilitation in stroke recovery, highlighting the need for further extensive research to optimize rehabilitation outcomes.

Cost-benefit Tradeoff Mediates the Rule- to Memory-based Processing Transition during Practice.

Practice not only improves task performance, but also changes task execution from rule- to memory-based processing by incorporating experiences from practice. However, how and when this change occurs is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that strategy transition in task learning results from cost-benefit analysis. Participants learned two task sequences and were then queried about the task type at a cued sequence and position. Behavioral improvement with practice can be accounted for by a computational model implementing cost-benefit analysis. Model-predicted strategy transition points are related to behavioral slowing and changes in fMRI activation patterns in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Strategy transition is also related to increased pattern separation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The cost-benefit analysis model outperforms alternative models (e.g., both strategies racing for being expressed in behavior) in accounting for empirical data. These findings support cost-benefit analysis as a mechanism of practice-induced strategy shift.