Search results for "Psychology and Cognitive Sciences"

Quantifying Intermodal Distraction by Emotion During Math Performance: An Electrophysiological Approach

2019

Emotionally engaging stimuli are powerful competitors for limited attention capacity. In the cognitive neuroscience laboratory, the presence of task-irrelevant emotionally arousing visual distractors prompts decreased performance and attenuated brain responses measured in concurrent visual tasks. The extent to which distraction effects occur across different sensory modalities is not yet established, however. Here, we examined the extent and time course of competition between a naturalistic distractor sound and a visual task stimulus, using dense-array electroencephalography (EEG) recordings from 20 college students. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) were quantified from EEG, e…

Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data in the Study of Feeding Behavior in Male Wistar Rats

2019

The first step in a behavioral study is represented by the organization of a suitable ethogram, that is, a formal description of individual components of the behavior. Then, each component of such a behavioral repertoire can be quantified (e.g., how many times it occurs, its duration, percent distribution, latency, etc.). However, it is our contention that the possibility to describe the behavior of a living being by means of hundreds or even thousands of numbers concerning isolated components, disjointed from the comprehensive behavioral architecture, does not imply the possibility to use those numbers to reconstruct the meaning of behavior. Such a level of comprehension requires a qualita…

2017

The mere presence of a depiction of eyes can elicit a sense of being watched in the perceiver. To this date, the factors affecting the intensity of this sense of being watched, however, have not been investigated. In the present experiment, we tested the impact of two potentially relevant variables: arousal (manipulated using specific musical pieces) and duration of the perceptual episode (manipulated using presentation times of 200 ms and 10 s, respectively). We asked participants to report how intensely they felt being watched while we exposed them to various observation cues ranging from human eyes to surveillance cameras. We found that, on average, reported intensities were higher if pa…

Glucose metabolism and self-regulation — Is insulin resistance a valid proxy of self-control?

2016

Abstract Glucose metabolism has been suggested as an underlying biological factor of self-control stimulating a range of studies exploring the associations between glucose and self-control. Research on interindividual trait-like differences in glucose metabolism and self-control is sparse, as most previous research has focused on associations between state self-control performance and momentary glucose levels. In two experiments in healthy participants (n = 60, mean age 35.2 ± 13.9, 58% women; n = 103, mean age 25.8 ± 6.3, 67% women) consisting of a baseline assessment and a laboratory session, we examined whether trait markers of glucose metabolism (fasting glucose levels, oral glucose tol…

Psychiatric Problems in Adolescence Mediate the Association Between Childhood Learning Disabilities and Later Well-Being

2021

This follow-up study investigated the associations of childhood learning disabilities (LDs) with adult-age anxiety, depression, and unemployment. Psychosocial problems in childhood and psychiatric diagnoses and lack of education in adolescence were studied as potential mediators, and gender and mother’s education were studied as potential moderators of these associations. Data on childhood clinical neuropsychological assessments and lifelong register data on individuals with childhood LD ( n = 430; 301 [70%] males; 20–39 years of age) and matched controls ( n = 2,149) were applied. Mediation analyses were performed using structural equation modeling. Childhood LDs exerted a significant, bu…

The Role of Mental Rigidity and Alcohol Consumption Interaction on Intimate Partner Violence: A Spanish Study

2017

ABSTRACTIntimate partner violence (IPV) has often been linked to alcohol consumption. Alcohol abuse affects cognitive processing through its effects on the prefrontal cortex, generating influence in mental rigidity (MR). This study analyzes the influence of MR as a predisposing factor to violence. The sample consisted of 136 men with a history of IPV. Participants with high MR had lower empathy and perception of the severity of IPV, and higher alcohol consumption and hostile sexism than participants with lower MR. These results should be considered in the development of prevention and intervention programs with the goal of increasing their effectiveness.

Validation of the Cycling Behavior Questionnaire: A tool for measuring cyclists' road behaviors

2018

Abstract Introduction Even though cycling is an activity whose benefits in terms of urban mobility and health are globally recognized, its disproportional growth during the past few decades has led to some unexpected dynamics. In fact, the increasing number of traffic injuries and deaths involving cyclists has a high cost for public health systems. Considering the available empirical evidence, aberrant and positive behaviors on the road constitute relevant predictors for the injuries suffered by road users. Nevertheless, the scarcity of tools that measure and evaluate the behavior of road users, especially in the case of cyclists, constitutes a serious lack in terms of explaining, interveni…

Predictors of visually induced motion sickness in women

2019

Abstract Background Visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) is commonly experienced when visual motion information is in conflict with motion information provided by the vestibular system and/or tactile and kinesthetic senses. According to some studies, women experience higher levels of VIMS than men, whereas other studies do not find this to be the case. Hypothesis This study investigated whether gender differences can be attributed to changes in VIMS-susceptibility due to the menstrual cycle and perceived menstrual pain. We hypothesized that higher perceived menstrual pain correlates positively with VIMS susceptibility. Methods We measured the influence of estimated concentrations of four…

A hidden type of internet addiction? Intense and addictive use of social networking sites in adolescents

2016

Internet Gaming Disorder has been included as a preliminary diagnosis in DSM-5. The question remains, if there are additional internet activities related to addictive use. Especially, use of social networking sites has been discussed to be related to excessive use, but only few empirical studies are available. We wanted to explore, if use of social networking sites is related to addiction symptoms and psychosocial distress and which variables (demography, personality) predict addictive use. A representative sample of n?=?9173 adolescents (12-19 years) was enrolled. Self-report questionnaires assessed demography, frequency of social networking sites use, internet addiction, personality, and …

EEG Data Quality: Determinants and Impact in a Multicenter Study of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (…

2021

Electroencephalography (EEG) represents a widely established method for assessing altered and typically developing brain function. However, systematic studies on EEG data quality, its correlates, and consequences are scarce. To address this research gap, the current study focused on the percentage of artifact-free segments after standard EEG pre-processing as a data quality index. We analyzed participant-related and methodological influences, and validity by replicating landmark EEG effects. Further, effects of data quality on spectral power analyses beyond participant-related characteristics were explored. EEG data from a multicenter ADHD-cohort (age range 6 to 45 years), and a non-ADHD sc…