Task-related Demands Research Articles

Caricaturing Shapes in Visual Memory.

When representing high-level stimuli, such as faces and animals, we tend to emphasize salient features-such as a face's prominent cheekbones or a bird's pointed beak. Such mental caricaturing leaves traces in memory, which exaggerates these distinctive qualities. How broadly does this phenomenon extend? Here, in six experiments (N = 700 adults), we explored how memory automatically caricatures basic units of visual processing-simple geometric shapes-even without task-related demands to do so. Participants saw a novel shape and then immediately adjusted a copy of that shape to match what they had seen. Surprisingly, participants reconstructed shapes in exaggerated form, amplifying curvature, enlarging salient parts, and so on. Follow-up experiments generalized this bias to new parameters, ruled out strategic responding, and amplified the effects in serial transmission. Thus, even the most basic stimuli we encounter are remembered as caricatures of themselves.

Effective connectivity of the right anterior insula in schizophrenia: The salience network and task-negative to task-positive transition

Triple network dysfunction theory of schizophrenia postulates that the interaction between the default-mode and the fronto-parietal executive network is disrupted by aberrant salience signals from the right anterior insula (rAI). To date, it is not clear how the proposed resting-state disruption translates to task-processing inefficiency in subjects with schizophrenia. Using a contiguous resting and 2-back task performance fMRI paradigm, we quantified the change in effective connectivity that accompanies rest-to-task state transition in 29 clinically stable patients with schizophrenia and 31 matched healthy controls. We found an aberrant task-evoked increase in the influence of the rAI to both executive (Cohen’s d = 1.35, p = 2.8 × 10−6) and default-mode (Cohen’s d = 1.22, p = 1.5 × 10−5) network regions occur in patients when compared to controls. In addition, the effective connectivity from middle occipital gyrus (dorsal visual cortex) to insula is also increased in patients as compared with healthy controls. Aberrant insula to executive network influence is pronounced in patients with more severe negative symptom burden. These findings suggest that control signals from rAI are abnormally elevated and directed towards both task-positive and task-negative brain regions, when task-related demands arise in schizophrenia. This aberrant, undiscriminating surge in salience signalling may disrupt contextually appropriate allocation of resources in the neuronal workspace in patients with schizophrenia.

A neurocognitive model of perceptual decision-making on emotional signals.

Humans make various kinds of decisions about which emotions they perceive from others. Although it might seem like a split‐second phenomenon, deliberating over which emotions we perceive unfolds across several stages of decisional processing. Neurocognitive models of general perception postulate that our brain first extracts sensory information about the world then integrates these data into a percept and lastly interprets it. The aim of the present study was to build an evidence‐based neurocognitive model of perceptual decision‐making on others' emotions. We conducted a series of meta‐analyses of neuroimaging data spanning 30 years on the explicit evaluations of others' emotional expressions. We find that emotion perception is rather an umbrella term for various perception paradigms, each with distinct neural structures that underline task‐related cognitive demands. Furthermore, the left amygdala was responsive across all classes of decisional paradigms, regardless of task‐related demands. Based on these observations, we propose a neurocognitive model that outlines the information flow in the brain needed for a successful evaluation of and decisions on other individuals' emotions.Highlights Emotion classification involves heterogeneous perception and decision‐making tasksDecision‐making processes on emotions rarely covered by existing emotions theoriesWe propose an evidence‐based neuro‐cognitive model of decision‐making on emotionsBilateral brain processes for nonverbal decisions, left brain processes for verbal decisionsLeft amygdala involved in any kind of decision on emotions

School Demands and Coping Resources-Associations with Multiple Measures of Stress in Mid-Adolescent Girls and Boys.

Stress, and stress-related health complaints, are common among young people, especially girls. Since studies have shown that school demands are an important driver of stress in adolescents, identifying if school-based resources can protect against stress is highly relevant. The aim of this study was to analyse task-related demands and task-related coping resources as aspects of the school work environment of potential relevance for stress in mid-adolescent girls and boys. The data came from “The School Stress and Support study” (TriSSS) conducted among students in grades 8 and 9 (aged 14–16 years). Self-reports of demands, coping resources, stress, as well as recurrent pain, were collected through questionnaires (n = 411). A subsample of students (n = 191–198) also provided salivary samples, which were analysed for the stress marker cortisol. Linear (OLS) and binary logistic regression analyses showed that higher demands were associated with more perceived stress, a higher likelihood of recurrent pain, and a lower cortisol awakening response. Greater coping resources were associated with less perceived stress and a lower likelihood of recurrent pain, but there was no association with cortisol. The strength of the associations differed by gender. The findings suggest that schools can promote student wellbeing by providing clear and timely information and teacher support to the students, especially for boys. Identifying specific features of the schoolwork that give rise to stress and to modify these accordingly is also of importance, especially for girls.

Intimacy Effects on Action Regulation: Retrieval of Observationally Acquired Stimulus-Response Bindings in Romantically Involved Interaction Partners Versus Strangers.

Previous research has shown that stimulus–response (SR) binding and retrieval processes also occur when responses are only observed in another person (Giesen et al., 2014). Importantly, this effect depends on the two individuals interacting interdependently during the task (e.g., competition or cooperation). Interdependence, however, must not necessarily result from task-related demands, but can also reflect an intrinsic feature of a given relationship. The present study examines whether observing responses of one’s romantic partner also produces stimulus-based retrieval of observed responses even if the task itself does not involve interdependence. Participants performed a task pairwise, either with their romantic partner or with a stranger. In a sequential prime-probe design, both participants of a pair gave color responses themselves (actors) or merely observed these (observers) in alternating fashion. As expected, stimulus-based retrieval of observationally acquired SR-bindings occurred only in romantically involved pairs; participants interacting with a stranger showed no retrieval effects. We conclude that mental representations of self and other are more closely intertwined in romantic couples, which produces automatic retrieval of observationally acquired SR binding effects even independently of the task itself.

Differences in steady-state glutamate levels and variability between ‘non-task-active’ conditions: Evidence from 1H fMRS of the prefrontal cortex

Proton functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H fMRS) is a noninvasive neuroimaging technique capable of detecting dynamic changes in glutamate related to task-related demands at a temporal resolution under 1 min. Several recent 1H fMRS studies demonstrated elevated steady-state levels of glutamate of 2% or greater during different ‘task-active’ conditions, relative to a ‘non-task-active’ control condition. However, the ‘control’ condition from these studies does vary with respect to the degree of constraining behavior, which may lead to different glutamate levels or variability between ‘control’ conditions. The purpose of this 1H fMRS study was to compare the steady-state levels and variability of glutamate in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) of 16 healthy adults across four different putative ‘non-task-active’ conditions: relaxed with eyes closed, passive visual fixation crosshair, visual flashing checkerboard, and finger tapping. Results showed significantly lower glutamate levels during the passive visual fixation crosshair than the visual flashing checkerboard and the finger tapping conditions. Moreover, glutamate was significantly less variable during the passive visual fixation crosshair and the visual flashing checkerboard than the relaxed eyes closed condition. Of the four conditions, the passive visual fixation crosshair condition demonstrated the lowest and least variable glutamate levels potentially reflecting the least dlPFC engagement, but greatest behavioral constraint. These results emphasize the importance of selecting a proper ‘control’ condition to reflect accurately a ‘non-task-active’ steady-state level of glutamate with minimal variability during 1H MRS investigations.

The effect of cerebral asymmetries and eye scanning on pseudoneglect for a visual search task

Pseudoneglect is the tendency for the general population to over-attend to the left. While pseudoneglect is classically demonstrated using line bisection, it also occurs for visual search. The current study explored the influence of eye movements and functional cerebral asymmetry on asymmetries for visual search. In Experiment 1, 24 participants carried out a conjunction search for a target within a rectangular array. A leftward advantage for detecting targets was observed when the eyes were free to move, but not when they were restricted by short exposure durations. In Experiment 2, the effect of functional cerebral asymmetry was explored by comparing 20 right-handers and 19 left-handers. Results showed a stronger leftward bias for the right-handers, consistent with a mechanism related to cerebral asymmetry. In Experiment 3, an eye-tracker directly controlled eye movements in 25 participants. A leftward advantage emerged when the eyes were still, but not when they were free to move. Experiments 1 and 3 produced contradictory results in relation to eye movements, which may be related to task-related demands. On balance, the data suggest that asymmetries in visual search can occur in the absence of eye movements and that they are related to right hemisphere specialisation for spatial attention.

Quantitative work demands, emotional demands, and cognitive stress symptoms in surgery nurses

In surgery, cognitive stress symptoms, including problems in concentrating, deciding, memorising, and reflecting are risks to patient safety. Recent evidence points to social stressors as antecedents of cognitive stress symptoms in surgery personnel. The current study tests whether cognitive stress symptoms are positively associated with emotional abuse, emotional- and task-related demands and resources in surgery work. Forty-eight surgery nurses from two hospitals filled out the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire in its German version. Task-related and emotional demands were positively related to cognitive stress symptoms. In a stepwise, multiple, linear regression of cognitive stress symptoms on task-related and emotional demands, emotional abuse and emotional demands were unique predictors (p < .05). Efforts to increase patient safety should address emotional abuse, emotional demands, and, therefore, communication and cooperation team climate in surgery personnel.

Application of Neural Network Modeling to Identify Auditory Processing Disorders in School-Age Children

P300 Auditory Event-Related Potentials (P3AERPs) were recorded in nine school-age children with auditory processing disorders and nine age- and gender-matched controls in response to tone burst stimuli presented at varying rates (1/second or 3/second) under varying levels of competing noise (0 dB, 40 dB, or 60 dB SPL). Neural network modeling results indicated that speed of information processing and task-related demands significantly influenced P3AERP latency in children with auditory processing disorders. Competing noise and rapid stimulus rates influenced P3AERP amplitude in both groups.

Burnout and impaired cognitive functioning: The role of executive control in the performance of cognitive tasks

Burnout patients often report deficits in cognitive control, and there is a need to understand the processes involved. Drawing on recent findings, we hypothesized that emotional exhaustion and task-related demands on executive control would interact in predicting performance in tasks requiring the updating and monitoring of working memory as well as the inhibition of prepotent (dominant or automatic) responses. In accordance with recent conceptualizations of burnout, we focused on emotional exhaustion as the core symptom of burnout. The sample comprised 81 employees recruited from nursing homes for elderly care in Germany, who participated in a laboratory study involving cognitive tasks. Based on a median split, participants were divided into two groups: those with high burnout and those with low burnout. In line with our hypotheses, the high exhaustion participants performed less well than those with low exhaustion only when tasks put high demands on their executive control. As predicted, high levels of emotional exhaustion were associated with more errors and longer reaction times when demands on executive control were high, whereas no performance differences were found when both tasks put low demands on executive control. The implications for practice are discussed.

Conversational Grounding in Younger and Older Adults: The Effect of Partner Visibility and Referent Abstractness in Task-Oriented Dialogue

Many communicative situations present interlocutors with the opportunity to use multiple modalities to establish shared perspectives on conversational referents, a process known as grounding. In the current study, we use a card-matching task to examine how conversational grounding in younger and older adults is influenced both by direct visual access to the conversation partner and by the relative abstractness of task referents. On the whole, mutual visibility failed to moderate more general age-related differences in task performance; overall, dialogues between older adults involved more talk and more explicit negotiation of perspectives. A detailed examination of gaze behavior revealed that use of the visual channel in both older and younger adults was greatly constrained by task-related demands, such as the need to attend to one's cards, particularly when they were more difficult to describe. Even so, individuals in both age groups gazed at their partners more frequently and displayed more mutual gaze during extended negotiations of referential identity. Finally, older adults' rates of partner-directed gaze were strongly correlated with their short-term memory span, suggesting that cognitive capacity may be an important factor in shaping older adults' multimodal interactions with others.

Modulation, adaptation, and control of orofacial pathways in healthy adults

Although the healthy adult possesses a large repertoire of coordinative strategies for oromotor behaviors, a range of nonverbal, speech-like movements can be observed during speech. The extent of overlap among sensorimotor speech and nonspeech neural correlates and the role of neuromodulatory inputs generated during oromotor behaviors are unknown. The focus of this review is to consider the adaptive capacity of the orofacial substrate, and the neural correlates of kinematic parameter encoding at cortical and subcortical levels subserving oromotor behaviors. Special emphasis is directed toward distributed neural networks that are dynamically modulated by environment and task related demands. Learning outcomes Readers will (1) gain a better understanding of healthy adult orofacial pathways, (2) be able to identify orofacial pathway components that contribute to sensorimotor integration, and (3) better understand the flexible connectivity among distributed neural networks subserving oromotor behavior.

Trait anxiety and impoverished prefrontal control of attention

Many neurocognitive models of anxiety emphasize the importance of a hyper-responsive threat-detection system centered on the amygdala, with recent accounts incorporating a role for prefrontal mechanisms in regulating attention to threat. Here we investigated whether trait anxiety is associated with a much broader dysregulation of attentional control. Volunteers performed a response-conflict task under conditions that posed high or low demands on attention. High trait-anxious individuals showed reduced prefrontal activity and slower target identification in response to processing competition when the task did not fully occupy attentional resources. The relationship between trait anxiety and prefrontal recruitment remained after controlling for state anxiety. These findings indicate that trait anxiety is linked to impoverished recruitment of prefrontal attentional control mechanisms to inhibit distractor processing even when threat-related stimuli are absent. Notably, this deficit was observed when ongoing task-related demands on attention were low, potentially explaining the day-to-day difficulties in concentration that are associated with clinical anxiety.

Transnational institution building and the multinational corporation: An emerging field of research

Since the 1980s, the international business and management field has produced a large amount of analysis and research on the multinational corporation (MNC) as an organization. Particularly influential has been the work of Prahalad, Doz and Bartlett (see particularly Doz et al., 1981; Bartlett, 1986; Prahalad & Doz, 1987) who, drawing on contingency theory, developed the integration-responsiveness framework to depict the different environmental forces exerting conflicting demands on MNCs. This literature is concerned, for example, with how organizations respond to task-related demands by centralizing or decentralizing activities. However, the analysis of environmental forces is restricted to the task or technical environment and the effects it has on the structuring of organizations. In contrast to this by and large more strategy-oriented literature, MNCs have not received sustained attention from other organization theorists (see for exceptions, Rosenzweig & Singh, 1991; Morgan et al., 2001, 2005; Westney & Zaheer, 2001; Ghoshal & Westney, 2005). This is surprising; after all, it would seem that MNCs offer great potential for developing and testing organization theories (Evans, 1981) and research on the organizational aspects of MNCs could be enriched by the insights of organization theorists (Ghoshal & Westney, 2005). These arguments apply especially to the different strands of institutional theory which emphasize the relationships between organizations and their institutional environments, namely new institutionalism (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Powell & DiMaggio, 1991; Scott,

Assessing Resource Demands during Sentence Processing in Parkinson's Disease

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have sentence comprehension difficulty, but it is unclear whether this is due to a deficit in grammatical processing or to an executive resource limitation. To assess grammatical processing in PD while minimizing task-related demands, PD patients and healthy control subjects performed a word detection procedure that assesses sensitivity to grammatical agreements in sentences in an “on-line” fashion. With this technique, we found that control subjects and PD patients are equally sensitive to grammatical agreement violations in sentences. A traditional, resource-demanding measure of sentence comprehension was also administered to the same PD patients. In comparison to healthy controls, PD patients were significantly impaired in their relative comprehension of sentences containing object-gap subordinate clauses compared to subject-gap subordinate clauses. Performance on several executive resource measures was also impaired in PD, and this correlated with their comprehension performance. Sensitivity to grammatical agreements with the word detection procedure, in the context of sentence comprehension difficulty on a traditional measure, suggests that PD patients' executive resource limitations contribute to their sentence comprehension difficulty.

Workplace harassment and the self-medication of distress: a conceptual model and case illustrations

Research addressing the social causation of alcohol abuse has alluded to the tension-management or self-medication function of alcohol consumption. The use of alcohol (as well as other substances) can constitute a means to escape from, avoid, or otherwise regulate unpleasant emotions derived from undesirable social experiences (Cooper, Frone, Russell, Mudar,1995; Cooper, Russell, and George, 1988; Pohorecky, 1991; Wilsnack, 1992). This paper addresses the self-medication of distress engendered by relatively understudied forms of chronic stressors; negative interpersonal experiences in the that potentially may be defined as workplace harassment. We first present a critical review of the literature on contributors to the use of alcohol and drugs, arguing that future research should focus greater attention on interpersonal rather than task-related psychosocial stressors. We then present a conceptual framework for initiating this type of research. This framework focuses on the role of societal social constructions, interpersonal support resources, and attributional processes, which are hypothesized to function as mediators between harassment experiences and the use of substances to self-medicate distress. Last, we present case studies illustrating this model and depict an ongoing study designed to test the proposed model empirically. Workplace stressors as etiologic determinants of drinking behaviors Studies embodying the stress and alienation perspectives on alcohol consumption have examined particular attributes of work that may influence drinking for stress-reduction purposes (Fennell, Rodin and Kantor, 1981; Mandell, Eaton, Anthony and Garrison, 1992; Sonnenstuhl and Trice, 1991). Occupational conditions encompassing heavy work demands but limited control over work (Karasek, Baber, Marxer, Ahlbom and Theorell, 1981; Karasek and Theorell, 1990); Crum, Muntaner, Eaton and Anthony, 1995) or job content that is repetitive and monotonous in nature (Parker and Farmer, 1988, 1990) have received major attention. However, many studies have found limited empirical evidence for a link between stressful work conditions and drinking outcomes (Cooper, Russell and George, 1988; Mensch and Kandel, 1988; Seeman, Seeman and Budros, 1988). Other studies have found that heavy work demands coupled with little control over work (Crum, Muntaner, Eaton and Anthony, 1995) or unchallenging work (Lennon, 1987) are predictive of alcohol outcomes in males but not in females. Some researchers have therefore concluded that personality characteristics brought into work environments or problematic social experiences occurring outside of the play more salient roles in the psychosocial etiology of alcohol abuse than do stressful work conditions (Seeman, Seeman and Budros, 1988). Other researchers have suggested that occupational stress constructs have failed to tap all of the salient domains of stressors that affect female as well as male workers (Richman, Flaherty and Rospenda, 1996). Harassment as an additional domain of stress Variability in the extent to which lack of control over work is experienced as stressful may depend on the source and perceived meaning of the lack of control. Some task requirements, such as the pressure of meeting deadlines, may be viewed as inherent to the nature of given occupations. By contrast, lack of control over work linked to harassing or abusive interpersonal interactions rather than to task-related demands may have very different meanings and implications for perceived stress and the self-medication of related distress by workers in a variety of occupational statuses (Richman, Flaherty and Rospenda, 1996). In particular, abusive treatment by an employee's supervisor (or someone else who can affect an employee's job) might have greater deleterious consequences by virtue of engendering particular negative emotional reactions. Research conducted within one occupation (physicians surveyed from medical school entrance through the internship year of training) demonstrated significant links between negative interpersonal aspects of work and deleterious alcohol outcomes (Richman, Flaherty, Rospenda and Christensen, 1992; Richman, Flaherty and Rospenda, 1996). …

Effects of control order, augmented feedback, input device and practice on tracking performance and perceived workload

Virtual interfaces to advanced human-machine systems will present operators with a variety of perceptual-motor challenges. To inform the virtual interface design processes, the present experiments examined the effects of track order, level of knowledge of performance, type of control device, and the extent of practice on tracking performance and associated mental workload. Tracking was assessed by root mean square error. Subjective workload was measured using both the NASA Task Load Index (TLX) and the Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT). Results indicated non-linear effects, where tracking error and subjective workload both increased non-proportionally with track order. Trackball use resulted in more accurate performance and was judged to be of lower subjective workload than input using a mouse. Augmented knowledge of performance had little effect on either performance or workload. There was a number of interactions affecting performance that were replicated in perceived workload. Over acquisition trials, second-order tracking exhibited continuous improvement. This capability was retained even after a 30-day rest interval. Decrease a workload followed performance improvement in both initial acquisition and subsequent retention phases. The two subjective workload scales were essentially equivalent in terms of their sensitivity to task manipulations. These results support the direct association between workload and performance and confirms the use of workload in helping to evaluate the influence of diverse task-related demands. The implications for the design of virtual interfaces to real-world systems are examined in the light of these findings.

LINKING DESCRIPTIVE AND EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSES IN THE TREATMENT OF BIZARRE SPEECH

Descriptive and experimental methods were used to analyze the environmental determinants of an adult's bizarre speech. A descriptive analysis of behavior under natural conditions indicated that bizarre vocalizations occurred most often in the presence of task-related demands and in the absence of adult attention. Further, bizarre speech occurring during tasks was followed frequently by the cessation of task demands by staff or the subject's voluntary disengagement from task-related activities; bizarre speech observed during noninteractional periods (i.e., in the absence of adult attention) was frequently followed by staff attention. The escape and attention hypotheses were tested under analogue conditions. Results of the experimental analysis supported only the attention hypothesis; that is, bizarre speech appeared to function as an attention-producing behavior. The functional analysis data were used to select two different yet functionally equivalent treatments. The first treatment provided the subject with noncontingent scheduled attention. The second intervention taught the subject social language skills in the form of initiation and expansion statements. Both interventions were effective in suppressing maladapted speech. Advantages of linking descriptive and experimental analyses are discussed.

BEHAVIORAL MOMENTUM IN THE TREATMENT OF ESCAPE‐MOTIVATED STEREOTYPY

Descriptive and experimental analyses of stereotypy by a woman with severe mental retardation showed that the behavior was maintained by escape from demands. A sequence of high-probability requests issued immediately prior to a task-related request established a momentum of compliance that increased compliance with task-related demands. Increases in compliance were accompanied by collateral reductions in stereotypic behavior. A mechanism of response covariation, called functional incompatibility, and an animal analogue study for testing the validity of this mechanism are proposed.