Effects of Relaxing Music on Mental Fatigue Induced by a Continuous Performance Task: Behavioral and ERPs Evidence

Study on the effect of human sympathetic nerve cold stimulation to relieve driving fatigue based on order recurrence plot

Driving fatigue is very likely to cause traffic accidents, seriously threatening the lives and properties of drivers. Therefore, accurate detection and effective mitigation of driving fatigue are crucial for ensuring the personal safety of drivers. This study proposes a method to relieve driving fatigue by properly reducing the temperature to stimulate the human sympathetic nerve. The method uses the intelligent cooling and blowing device on the car seat cushion to achieve cold stimulation of the sympathetic nerve of the driver by reducing the temperature of the driver's hip, back and neck, so as to increase the excitement of the sympathetic nerve, keep the driver alert and achieve the purpose of fighting driving fatigue. In view of the fact that the traditional fatigue detection method is easily affected by environmental factors and individual differences, this study uses the order recurrence plot (ORP) method to detect driving fatigue based on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The results show that ORP textures drawn by EEG signals of the two driving conditions (normal driving condition and sensory cold stimulation driving condition) are significantly different, and the quantization parameters determinism (DET) and average diagonal line length (DLL) values are significantly different. Cold stimulation of the subjects' hips, back and neck to alleviate driving fatigue was the best when the temperature was 21 °C. In addition, compared with the traditional methods of fatigue relief, the sensory cold stimulation method proposed in this study does not easily to produce tolerance and has no damage to the body.

School Burnout and Mind Wandering among Adolescents: The Mediating Roles of Internet Addiction and the Moderating Role of Resilience

School burnout is a worldwide issue that affects adolescents at every academic level. Despite the significant impact of this issue on adolescents' mental health and academic performance, few studies have examined its influence on mind wandering and its underlying mechanisms. This research endeavors to address this knowledge gap by examining the mediating role of Internet addiction in the relationship between school burnout and mind wandering and the moderating role of resilience among 2329 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.9 years, SD = 1.73) through an online questionnaire assessment. Participants completed measures of school burnout, Internet addiction, resilience, and mind wandering, which were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS 23.0 and Mplus 8.0. Results demonstrated that school burnout was positively linked with mind wandering, while Internet addiction mediated this relationship. Additionally, resilience moderated the association between Internet addiction and mind wandering. These findings significantly improve our comprehension of the consequences of mind wandering and offer valuable insights into possible intervention approaches for adolescents experiencing this phenomenon.

Effects of Background Music on Mental Fatigue in Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential-Based BCIs

As a widely used brain–computer interface (BCI) paradigm, steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP)-based BCIs have the advantages of high information transfer rates, high tolerance for artifacts, and robust performance across diverse users. However, the incidence of mental fatigue from prolonged, repetitive stimulation is a critical issue for SSVEP-based BCIs. Music is often used as a convenient, non-invasive means of relieving mental fatigue. This study investigates the compensatory effect of music on mental fatigue through the introduction of different modes of background music in long-duration, SSVEP-BCI tasks. Changes in electroencephalography power index, SSVEP amplitude, and signal-to-noise ratio were used to assess participants’ mental fatigue. The study’s results show that the introduction of exciting background music to the SSVEP-BCI task was effective in relieving participants’ mental fatigue. In addition, for continuous SSVEP-BCI tasks, a combination of musical modes that used soothing background music during the rest interval phase proved more effective in reducing users’ mental fatigue. This suggests that background music can provide a practical solution for long-duration SSVEP-based BCI implementation.

How and for Whom Is Mobile Phone Addiction Associated with Mind Wandering: The Mediating Role of Fatigue and Moderating Role of Rumination

With the increasing prevalence of mobile phone addiction, mobile phone addiction has been considered a prominent risk factor for internalizing or externalizing problems, such as psychological distress and irrational procrastination. However, few studies shed light on the effect of mobile phone addiction on mind wandering and the underlying mechanisms. This study speculated that the direct effect of mobile phone addiction on mind wandering may be linked to fatigue and that the level of an individual's personality characteristics, such as rumination, may influence both the direct and indirect effects of mobile phone addiction on mind wandering. To test these hypotheses, we recruited 1811 college students to complete the self-report questionnaires. The results indicated that mobile phone addiction was positively associated with mind wandering. This direct effect could be mediated by fatigue, and both the direct and indirect effects of mobile phone addiction on mind wandering could be moderated by rumination. Specifically, both the direct and indirect effects were stronger for students with high rumination. These findings enrich our understanding of how, why, and for whom mobile phone addiction is correlated with mind wandering.

ERP Study of Mine Management System Warning Interface under Fatigue

Due to the large volume of monitoring data in mines, concentrating on and reviewing the data for a long period of time will easily cause fatigue. To study the influence of different visual codes of early-warning interfaces on the response of individuals who are fatigued, the changes in the subjective fatigue and corresponding frequency waves are compared before and after a fatigue-inducing task, as well as using event-related potential to study the behavioral data and EEG signals of subjects who participated in an oddball task on an early-warning interface. The results showed that all 14 subjects became fatigued after the fatigue-inducing task, and the amplitude of P200 when text is used in a fatigued state was the largest, with the longest latency. The subjects showed a slower reaction time and a reduced accuracy rate, thus indicating that in designing a warning interface, when text rather than color is used as a visual code, the operating load will be larger, mental load is increased, and attention resources are consumed. The experimental results provide the basis for the design and evaluation of early-warning interfaces of mine management systems.

Study on the Effect of Judgment Excitation Mode to Relieve Driving Fatigue Based on MF-DFA

Driving fatigue refers to a phenomenon in which a driver’s physiological and psychological functions become unbalanced after a long period of continuous driving, and their driving skills decline objectively. The hidden dangers of driving fatigue to traffic safety should not be underestimated. In this work, we propose a judgment excitation mode (JEM), which adds secondary cognitive tasks to driving behavior through dual-channel human–computer interaction, so as to delay the occurrence of driving fatigue. We used multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) to study the dynamic properties of subjects’ EEG, and analyzed the effect of JEM on fatigue retardation by Hurst exponent value and multifractal spectrum width value. The results show that the multifractal properties of the two driving modes (normal driving mode and JEM) are significantly different. The JEM we propose can effectively delay the occurrence of driving fatigue, and has good prospects for future practical applications.

Listening to 15 Hz Binaural Beats Enhances the Connectivity of Functional Brain Networks in the Mental Fatigue State—An EEG Study

Introduction: It is clear that mental fatigue can have many negative impacts on individuals, such as impairing cognitive function or affecting performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of sound interventions in combating mental fatigue. Method: The subjects were assessed on various scales, a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) task, and a 3 min resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG), followed by a 20 min mental fatigue–inducing task (Time Load Dual Back, TloadDback), during which subjects in different condition groups listened to either 15 Hz binaural beats, 40 Hz binaural beats, relaxing music, or a 240 Hz pure tone. After the mental fatigue–inducing task, subjects were again assessed on various scales, a PVT task, and a 3 min resting-state EEG. Results: After the fatigue-inducing task, there was no significant difference between the four groups on the scales or the PVT task performance. In TloadDback, the accuracy rate of the 40 Hz binaural beats group and the relaxing music group decreased in the middle stage of the task, while the 15 Hz binaural beats group and the 240 Hz pure tone group remained unchanged in all stages of the task. The EEG results showed that after fatigue inducement, the average path length of the 15 Hz binaural beats group decreased, and local efficiency showed an increasing tendency, indicating enhanced brain network connectivity. Meanwhile, the 240 Hz pure tone group showed enhanced functional connectivity, suggesting a state of mental fatigue in the group. Conclusions: The results of this study show that listening to 15 Hz binaural beats is a proven intervention for mental fatigue that can contribute to maintaining working memory function, enhancing brain topological structure, and alleviating the decline in brain function that occurs in a mentally fatigued state. As such, these results are of great scientific and practical value.

Long Short-Term Memory-Based Music Analysis System for Music Therapy

Music can express people's thoughts and emotions. Music therapy is to stimulate and hypnotize the human brain by using various forms of music activities, such as listening, singing, playing and rhythm. With the empowerment of artificial intelligence, music therapy technology has made innovative development in the whole process of "diagnosis, treatment and evaluation." It is necessary to make use of the advantages of artificial intelligence technology to innovate music therapy methods, ensure the accuracy of treatment schemes, and provide more paths for the development of the medical field. This paper proposes an long short-term memory (LSTM)-based generation and classification algorithm for multi-voice music data. A Multi-Voice Music Generation system called MVMG based on the algorithm is developed. MVMG contains two main steps. At first, the music data are modeled to the MDPI and text sequence data by using an autoencoder model, including music features extraction and music clip representation. And then an LSTM-based music generation and classification model is developed for generating and analyzing music in specific treatment scenario. MVMG is evaluated based on the datasets collected by us: the single-melody MIDI files and the Chinese classical music dataset. The experiment shows that the highest accuracy of the autoencoder-based feature extractor can achieve 95.3%. And the average F1-score of LSTM is 95.68%, which is much higher than the DNN-based classification model.

How to Tackle Mental Fatigue: A Systematic Review of Potential Countermeasures and Their Underlying Mechanisms

INTRODUCTION

Mental fatigue (MF) is a psychobiological state that impairs cognitive as well as physical performance in different settings. Recently, numerous studies have sought ways to counteract these negative effects of MF. An overview of the explored countermeasures for MF is, however, lacking.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the different MF countermeasures currently explored in literature. Countermeasures were classified by the timing of application (before, during or after the moment of MF) and type of intervention (behavioural, physiological and psychological).

METHODS

The databases of PubMed (MEDLINE), Web of Science and PsycINFO were searched until March 7, 2022. Studies were eligible when MF was induced using a task with a duration of at least 30 min, when they assessed MF markers in at least two out of the three areas wherein MF markers have been defined (i.e., behavioural, subjective and/or [neuro]physiological) and used a placebo or control group for the countermeasure.

RESULTS

A total of 33 studies investigated one or more countermeasures against MF. Of these, eight studies assessed a behavioural countermeasure, 22 a physiological one, one a psychological countermeasure and two a combination of a behavioural and psychological countermeasure. The general finding was that a vast majority of the countermeasures induced a positive effect on behavioural (e.g., task or sport performance) and/or subjective MF markers (e.g., visual analogue scale for MF or alertness). No definitive conclusion could be drawn regarding the effect of the employed countermeasures on (neuro)physiological markers of MF as only 19 of the included studies investigated these measures, and within these a large heterogeneity in the evaluated (neuro)physiological markers was present.

DISCUSSION

Within the physiological countermeasures it seems that the use of odours during a MF task or caffeine before the MF task are the most promising interventions in combating MF. Promising behavioural (e.g., listening to music) and psychological (e.g., extrinsic motivation) countermeasures of MF have also been reported. The most assumed mechanism through which these countermeasures operate is the dopaminergic system. However, this mechanism remains speculative as (neuro)physiological markers of MF have been scarcely evaluated to date.

CONCLUSION

The present systematic review reveals that a wide range of countermeasures have been found to successfully counteract MF on a subjective, (neuro)physiological and/or behavioural level. Of these, caffeine, odours, music and extrinsic motivation are the most evidenced for countering MF. To provide in-detail practical guidelines for the real-life application of MF countermeasures, more research must be performed into the underlying mechanisms and into the optimal dosage and time of application/intake.

Mental Fatigue Prior to Aerobic Exercise Reduces Exercise Pleasure and Negatively Affects Implicit Attitudes Toward Future Exercise

We investigated the effects of mental fatigue (MF) on affective responses during an aerobic exercise session at moderate intensity. We submitted 12 insufficiently active adults (50% women; M age = 24.9 years, SD = 3.0; M BMI = 24.3 kg/m2; SD = 2.6) to two 30-minute pre-exercise conditions: an MF condition (Stroop Color-Word task) and a control condition (watching a documentary) prior to their performance of 20 minutes of aerobic treadmill exercise at 40–59% of heart rate reserve. The minimum washout interval between conditions was two days. Perceived MF and motivation to perform physical exercise were assessed before and after conditions with a visual analog scale of 100 mm. We assessed participants’ affective and exertion responses with the Feeling Scale, Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and heart rate during every two minutes of physical exercise. Implicit attitudes toward physical exercise were assessed by the Implicit Association Test before the MF and control conditions and after the physical exercise session. The participants in the MF condition reported lower pleasure ( M difference = −1.57, 95% CI = −2.64 to −0.50, d = 0.93, p = .008) and higher exertion (RPE) ( M difference = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.04 to 2.27, d = 0.66, p = .043) compared to those in the control condition. Participants who experienced MF also reported a more negative implicit attitude toward physical exercise than in the control condition ( β = −0.47, 95% CI= −0.73 to −0.21, d = 1.41, p < .001). While these findings should be cross-validated in subsequent research with a larger and more diverse participant sample, there appears to be value in minimizing pre-exercise mental fatigue to avoid negative MF effects on the exercisers’ affective experience.

Physical Activity and Music to Counteract Mental Fatigue

Mental fatigue impairs both cognitive and physical performance. Bioactive substances (e.g., caffeine) have been used to counteract mental fatigue but could have side effects. The present study aimed to test two non-bioactive strategies to counteract mental fatigue: physical activity and listening to music. The participants first performed an arm-pointing task, then carried out a 32-min cognitively demanding task to induce mental fatigue (TLDB task), followed by another arm-pointing task at the end of the experiment. Between the end of the cognitively demanding task and the last arm-pointing task, 20 min went during which participants performed either 15 min of physical activity, of listening to music or of discussion (control). The subjective feeling of mental fatigue was assessed before each arm-pointing task and after the cognitively demanding task. For "physical activity" and "listening to music" groups, EEG was recorded at rest after each evaluation of subjective feeling of mental fatigue and during the cognitively demanding task. An increase in alpha power during the cognitively demanding task evidenced the presence of mental fatigue, without recovery during the following 20-min period. In the control condition, the arm-pointing task performance was deteriorated 20-min after the cognitively demanding task, while it remained stable after both physical activity and listening to music. Furthermore, recovery on the subjective feeling of mental fatigue was similar for both groups. The present results suggested that practicing physical activity and listening to music could be efficient strategies to counteract the negative effects of mental fatigue on motor performances.

Effects of mento-physical exercises on mental fatigue of shift work

Objectives. This study aims to investigate whether mento-physical exercises can decrease mental fatigue during shift work. Methods. Research subjects including the control room staff of an urban train system were chosen randomly, for whom mental fatigue was assessed before and after rest breaks for control and experimental groups. A new protocol was applied in the experimental group, including breathing exercises, isometric and isotonic exercises, and progressive relaxation during the inter-shift break. A designed questionnaire and the Stroop test were used to evaluate fatigue and the reaction time, respectively. Results. Pre and post-test results showed that mental, visual and physical fatigue and reaction time decreased by 14.48, 49.22, 26.85 and 8.35% in the control group and 36.42, 48.48, 76.37 and 20.56% in the experimental group, respectively. Conclusions. At the 5% α level, Student's t test showed that mento-physical exercises effectively decreased mental and physical fatigue as well as reaction time in the experimental group compared to the control group.

The Association Between the Subjective Exercise Experience of Chinese Women Participating in Square Dance and Group Cohesion: The Mediating Effect of Income

Background: Chinese square dance has become well known worldwide in recent years, and most participants are women who dance with a group in their communities. In particular, middle-aged women may have physical and mental health problems, and participating in square dance may increase women's positive subjective well-being and decrease their negative emotions, which may improve their health over the long term. In addition, participating in square dance can promote group cohesion. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between the subjective exercise experience of participating in square dance and group cohesion and whether some variables (e.g., age, education, duration, income level, and work) play a role as mediators in the association with subjective exercise experience and group cohesion. Methods: In total, 1,468 Chinese women from 31 provinces and 82 cities participated in this study by completing an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a subjective exercise experience questionnaire and a group environment questionnaire. We analyzed the collected data and built a statistical model. Results: (a) Square dance satisfied women's physical and psychological needs partly; (b) positive well-being (PWB) was positively correlated with group cohesion, and fatigue was negatively correlated with group cohesion; and (c) the income level was a partial mediator of the relationship between group cohesion and subjective exercise experience. Conclusion: Chinese women have different motivations for participating in square dance. Because this activity can help meet women's physical and psychological needs, an increasing number of individuals worldwide participate in square dance. As women's subjective well-being increases, group cohesion increases, and vice versa. Moreover, the subjective exercise experience remains a significant predictor of group cohesion after including income level as a mediator, suggesting that the model indicates partial mediation.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Reduces the Negative Impact of Mental Fatigue on Swimming Performance

The issue of using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve sport performance has recently been a topic of interest for researchers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of tDCS over left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on mental fatigue and physical performance in professional swimmers. Fifteen professional swimmers were randomly assigned in a single-blinded, randomized, counterbalanced order to sham, anodal and cathodal stimulation conditions. Mental fatigue was induced by using a 60-min modified Stroop color-word task. Subjective ratings of mental fatigue were measured before and after the stroop task. The results showed that only anodal tDCS of the left DLPFC reduces adverse effects of mental fatigue in 50-meter swimming performance, whereas cathodal stimulation had no significant effect.

Assessment of mental fatigue and stress on electronic sport players with data fusion

Stress and mental fatigue are in existence constantly in daily life, and decrease our productivity while performing our daily routines. The purpose of this study was to analyze the states of stress and mental fatigue using data fusion while e-sport activity. In the study, ten volunteers performed e-sport duty which required both physical and mental effort and skills for 2 min. Volunteers' electroencephalogram (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), heart rate variability (HRV), and eye tracking data were obtained before and during game and then were analyzed. In addition, the effects of e-sports were evaluated with visual analogue scale and d2 attention tests. The d2 tests are performed after the game, and the game has a positive effect on attention and concentration. EEG from the frontal region indicates that the game is partly caused by stress and mental fatigue. HRV analysis showed that the sympathetic and vagal activities created by e-sports on people are different. By evaluating HRV and GSR together, it was seen that the emotional processes of the participants were stressed in some and excited in others. Data fusion can serve a variety of purposes such as determining the effect of e-sports activity on the person and the appropriate game type.

Does a Cognitive Task Promote Implicit or Explicit Motor Learning?

This study examined whether use of an N-back task could promote implicit and explicit motor learning. In Experiment 1, 30 healthy adults were assigned to an N-back task group (NTG) or a control task group (CG). All participants performed the serial reaction time task (SRTT) and generation task after either the N-back or control tasks. The results did not reveal whether the N-back task promoted implicit or explicit motor learning because participants in the NTG noticed a hidden loop in the SRTT and this "awareness" made it difficult to interpret the results in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the N-back task promoted explicit motor learning only using a modified SRTT. Thirty healthy adults were assigned to the NTG or the CG. On day 1, all participants performed the modified SRTT after either the N-back or control tasks. On day 7, all participants repeated the modified SRTT. As a result, the performance on the modified SRTT was faster in the NTG than in the CG on days 1 and 7. In summary, although the N-back task might promote explicit motor learning, the present study could not clearly conclude whether the N-back task promoted implicit and explicit motor learning.

Acute Effects of Mental Recovery Strategies After a Mentally Fatiguing Task

Both daily demands as well as training and competition characteristics in sports can result in a psychobiological state of mental fatigue leading to feelings of tiredness, lack of energy, an increased perception of effort, and performance decrements. Moreover, optimal performance will only be achievable if the balance between recovery and stress states is re-established. Consequently, recovery strategies are needed aiming at mental aspects of recovery. The aim of the study was to examine acute effects of potential mental recovery strategies (MR) on subjective-psychological and on cognitive performance outcomes after a mentally fatiguing task. A laboratory-based randomized cross-over study with twenty-four students (22.8 ± 3.6 years) was applied. Participants were run through a powernap intervention (PN), a systematic breathing intervention (SB), a systematic breathing plus mental imagery intervention (SB+), and a control condition (CC) with one trial a week over four consecutive weeks. Mental fatigue was induced by completion of the 60-min version of the AX-continuous performance test (AX-CPT). The Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS) and Visual Analog Scales (VAS) were assessed to measure effects on perceptual outcomes. Cognitive performance was measured with a reaction time test of the Vienna Test System (VTS). During all three recovery interventions and CC portable polysomnography was applied. Results showed a significant increase from pre-AX-CPT to pre-MR on fatigue states and recovery-stress states indicating that the induction of mental fatigue was effective. Moreover, results underlined that analysis yielded no significant differences between recovery interventions and the control condition but they revealed significant time effects for VAS, SRSS items, and cognitive performance. However, it could be derived that the application of a rest break with 20 min of mental recovery strategies appears to enhance recovery on a mainly mental and emotional level and to reduce perceived mental fatigue.

Persistence of Mental Fatigue on Motor Control

The effects of mental fatigue on both cognitive and physical performance are well described in the literature, but the recovery aspects of mental fatigue have been less investigated. The present study aimed to fill this gap by examining the persistence of mental fatigue on behavior and electrophysiological mechanisms. Fifteen participants performed an arm-pointing task consisting of reaching a target as fast as possible, before carrying out a 32-min cognitively demanding task [Time Load Dual Back (TLDB) task], and immediately, 10 and 20 min after completion of the TLDB task. During the experiment, electroencephalography was continuously recorded. The significant increase in mental fatigue feeling after the TLDB task was followed by a decrease during the 20 min of recovery without returning to premeasurement values. Brain oscillations recorded at rest during the recovery period showed an increase in both theta and alpha power over time, suggesting a persistence of mental fatigue. Arm-pointing movement duration increased gradually over time during the recovery period, indicating that behavioral performance remained impaired 20 min after the end of the cognitively demanding task. To conclude, subjective measurements indicated a partial recovery of mental fatigue following a cognitively demanding task, whereas electrophysiological and behavioral markers suggested that the effects of mental fatigue persisted for at least 20 min. While the subjective evaluation of mental fatigue is a very practical way to attest the presence of mental fatigue, electrophysiological and behavioral measures seem more relevant to evaluate the time course of mental fatigue effects.

Comparison of the Effect of Massage and Music on Fatigue in Mothers With Premature Newborns Admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Randomized Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of massage and music on fatigue in mothers with preterm newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

METHODS

This study was a clinical trial with a crossover design which was conducted in Valiye Asr Hospital, Tehran, Iran. A convenience sample of 41 mothers with hospitalized premature neonates in the NICU were randomly assigned to massage-first or music-first groups. Both groups received music and massage, but in different orders. Fatigue was measured using the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory before and after interventions. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 and repeated-measures analysis of variance.

RESULTS

The mean ± SD Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory scores after music, massage, and control measurements were, respectively, 66.90 ± 6.23, 55.78 ± 6.65, and 54.71 ± 6.81. Results of the analysis of variance indicated that there was a significant difference in mean fatigue score between the control group and after both music and massage (P < .001). However, there was no significant difference between the music and massage groups (P = .780).

CONCLUSION

In this sample of participants, massage and music reduced fatigue in mothers who had preterm newborns in the NICU.

The Effect of Fatigue on Working Memory and Auditory Perceptual Abilities in Trained Musicians

Purpose Many perceptual processing processes, such as cognition, vision, sensation, and audition, are affected due to fatigue. Musicians are prone to fatigue because of long working hours and demanding profession. The research on assessing working memory abilities in musicians is heterogeneous, as none of the studies has controlled the effect of fatigue. This study was thus designed to assess the effect of fatigue on working memory and auditory perception in trained instrumental musicians. Method Twenty-six trained instrumental musicians and 25 nonmusicians participated in this study. The effect of fatigue was assessed by administering the working memory and auditory perception tests in prefatigue and postfatigue conditions. The fatigue was assessed using a 100-point visual analog scale. The working memory was assessed using Operation Span, Reading Span, and Digit Span (Forward and Backward) tests (Knutson et al., 1991). Auditory perception was assessed using speech-perception-in-noise and temporal integration tests. Results Working memory and speech perception were affected due to fatigue. Musicians, despite having better working memory abilities than nonmusicians, are equally prone to fatigue-related distress. Conclusion The advantage of music training for the working memory abilities may be reduced due to fatigue; hence, measures to reduce fatigue should be employed by the musicians. Fatigue should also be treated as a variable in all future research related to assess cognitive processing in musicians.

Social networking site addiction and undergraduate students' irrational procrastination: The mediating role of social networking site fatigue and the moderating role of effortful control

With the popularity of social networking sites (SNSs), the problems of SNS addiction have been increasing. Research has revealed the association between SNS addiction and irrational procrastination. However, the mechanism underlying this relation is still unclear. The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of social networking site fatigue and the moderating role of effortful control in this link among Chinese undergraduate students. The Social Networking Site Addiction Scale, Social Networking Service Fatigue Scale, Effortful Control Scale and Irrational Procrastination Scale were completed by 1,085 Chinese undergraduate students. Results indicated that SNS addiction, SNS fatigue and irrational procrastination were positively correlated with each other, and negatively correlated with effortful control. Further analyses revealed that, SNS addiction has a direct effect on irrational procrastination. SNS fatigue mediated the relationship between SNS addiction and irrational procrastination. Both direct and indirect effects of SNS addiction on irrational procrastination were moderated by effortful control. Specifically, this effect was stronger for people with lower effortful control. These findings help clarify the mechanism underlying the association between SNS addiction and irrational procrastination, which have potential implications for intervention.

The analgesic effect of music on cold pressor pain responses: The influence of anxiety and attitude toward pain

OBJECTIVE

The analgesic effect of music has been recognized for pain relief, but individual differences and adjuvant methods are poorly understood. This study employed a cold-pressor task (CPT) to observe the effects of music (without considering personal preferences) on pain experience and how this is affected by individuals' general (and pain-specific) anxiety symptomology.

METHODS

Fifty participants were each presented with three conditions (randomized into different orders): music-listening, news-listening, and no sound (control). Pain responses, including pain tolerance time (PT), pain intensity (PI), and pain unpleasantness (PU), were assessed using CPT and compared with a 3x3 crossover design. Participants also completed the anxiety sensitivity index (ASI-16) and pain anxiety symptom scale (PASS-20).

RESULTS

CPT pain responses during the music intervention were significantly different from responses during the news intervention and control conditions, respectively. Among participants with normal anxiety levels, pain responses during the music condition differed significantly from the news and control groups; this was not the case for the anxiety risk group. Pain responses during the music condition for those with normal levels of pain-specific anxiety differed significantly from the control, but this was not the case for the risk group.

CONCLUSIONS

Music appears to influence diminished pain responses relative to the absence of an intervention. However, this was not the case when individuals listened to news stories. These effects were more robust for individuals experiencing normal levels of general and pain-specific anxiety. Thus, music (even outside one's own preferences) was an effective adjuvant method for managing pain, especially among those without significant anxiety symptomology.

The impairing effects of mental fatigue on response inhibition: An ERP study

Mental fatigue is one of the main reasons for the decline of response inhibition. This study aimed to explore the impairing influence of mental fatigue on a driver's response inhibition. The effects of mental fatigue on response inhibition were assessed by comparing brain activity and behavioral indices when performing a Go/NoGo task before and after a 90-min fatigue manipulation task. Participants in the driving group performed a simulated driving task, while individuals in the control group spent the same time watching movies. We found that participants in the driving group reported higher levels of mental fatigue and had a higher percentage of eye closure and larger lateral deviations from their lane positions, which indicated there was effective manipulation of mental fatigue through a prolonged simulated driving task. After manipulation of mental fatigue, we observed increased reaction time and miss rates, delayed NoGo-N2 latency and Go-P3 latency, and decreased NoGo-P3 amplitude, which indicated that mental fatigue may slow down the speed of the inhibition process, delay the evaluation of visual stimuli and reduce the availability of attentional resources. These findings revealed the underlying neurological mechanisms of how mental fatigue impaired response inhibition.

Heidelberg Neuro-Music Therapy Restores Attention-Related Activity in the Angular Gyrus in Chronic Tinnitus Patients

Background: Tinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound without external acoustic stimulation. Recent tinnitus research suggests a relationship between attention processes and tinnitus-related distress. It has been found that too much focus on tinnitus comes at the expense of the visual domain. The angular gyrus (AG) seems to play a crucial role in switching attention to the most salient stimulus. This study aims to evaluate the involvement of the AG during visual attention tasks in tinnitus sufferers treated with Heidelberg Neuro-Music Therapy (HNMT), an intervention that has been shown to reduce tinnitus-related distress. Methods: Thirty-three patients with chronic tinnitus, 45 patients with recent-onset tinnitus, and 35 healthy controls were tested. A fraction of these (21/21/22) were treated with the "compact" version of the HNMT lasting 1 week with intense treatments, while non-treated participants were included as passive controls. Visual attention was evaluated during functional Magnet-Resonance Imaging (fMRI) by a visual Continous Performance Task (CPT) using letter-based alarm cues ("O" and "X") appearing in a sequence of neutral letters, "A" through "H." Participants were instructed to respond via button press only if the letter "O" was followed by the letter "X" (GO condition), but not to respond if a neutral letter appeared instead (NOGO condition). All participants underwent two fMRI sessions, before and after a 1-week study period. Results: The CPT results revealed a relationship between error rates and tinnitus duration at baseline whereby the occurrence of erroneous "GO omissions" and the reaction time increased with tinnitus duration. Patients with chronic tinnitus who were treated with HNMT had decreasing error rates (fewer GO omissions) compared to treated recent-onset patients. fMRI analyses confirmed greater activation of the AG during CPT in chronic patients after HNMT treatment compared to treated recent-onset patients. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HNMT treatment helps shift the attention from the auditory phantom percept toward visual cues in chronic tinnitus patients and that this shift in attention may involve the AG.

Effects of Canon chord progression on brain activity and motivation are dependent on subjective feelings, not the chord progression per se

A number of studies have indicated that relaxing and pleasant melodies are useful for the treatment of patients with psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, and dementia. However, few studies have investigated what constitutive elements of the music had an effect on brain activity. As Canon chord progression is one of critical elements for pleasant melodies, we sought to examine the effects of Canon chord progression and pitch-shifted Canon chord progression on brain activity using performance on the auditory oddball task during event-related potentials (ERPs) in 30 healthy subjects. Unexpectedly, we found no differences in ERP components between subjects listening to Canon chord progression (n=15) or pitch-shifted Canon chord progression (n=15). Next, we divided participants into two groups: those who found the melody pleasant (n=17) and those who did not (n=13), for both Canon chord progression and pitch-shifted Canon chord progression. The average of P300 amplitude was higher at Fz in subjects found the music pleasant versus those finding it unpleasant. Moreover, subjects who found it pleasant exhibited higher motivation scores than those who felt it was unpleasant, whereas listening to Canon chord progression did not matter. These findings suggest that the effects of Canon chord progression on brain activity and motivation depend on subjective feelings, not the chord progression per se.