The speed-accuracy tradeoff: history, physiology, methodology, and behavior

Attenuated responses to attention-modulating drugs in the neuroligin-3R451C mouse model of autism

Attention deficits are frequently reported within the clinical autism population. Despite not being a core diagnostic feature, some aetiological theories place atypical attention at the centre of autism development. Drugs used to treat attention dysfunction are therefore increasingly prescribed to autistic patients, though currently off-label with uncertain efficacy. We utilised a rodent-translated touchscreen test of sustained attention in mice carrying an autism-associated R451C mutation in the neuroligin-3 gene (Nlgn3R451C). In doing so, we replicated their cautious but accurate response profile and probed it using two widely prescribed attention-modulating drugs: methylphenidate (MPH) and atomoxetine (ATO). In wild-type mice, acute administration of MPH (3 mg/kg) promoted impulsive responding at the expense of accuracy, while ATO (3 mg/kg) broadly reduced impulsive responding. These drug effects were absent in Nlgn3R451C mice, other than a small reduction in blank touches to the screen following ATO administration. The absence of drug effects in Nlgn3R451C mice likely arises from their altered behavioural baseline and underlying neurobiology, highlighting caveats to the use of classic attention-modulating drugs across disorders and autism subsets. It further suggests that altered dopaminergic and/or norepinephrinergic systems may drive behavioural differences in the Nlgn3R451C mouse model of autism, supporting further targeted investigation.

Electrophysiological and behavioral differences of general and food-specific inhibitory control in people with different levels of intuitive eating

Intuitive eating influences health-related behaviors (including calorie and nutritional intake) that are modulated by inhibitory control, producing implications for physical, mental, and emotional health. However, little is known about the relationship between intuitive eating habits and inhibitory control. Therefore, we tested intuitive eating's influence on measures of general and food-related inhibitory control using behavioral and event-related potentials (N2 and P3 components). We included 40 healthy participants: 23 had a higher level of intuitive eating, and 17 had a lower level. They participated in food-specific go/no-go and general go/no-go tasks for which we recorded electroencephalogram data. As expected, in the food-specific go/no-go task, the P3 component amplitude in the lower intuitive eating group was significantly larger than in the higher intuitive eating group; there were no significant between-group differences in the N2 amplitudes or behavioral measures. Moreover, there were no ERP or behavioral difference between groups in the general go/no-go task. Further research is needed to understand the role of positive eating behaviors in food-specific inhibitory control.

Bayesian adaptive method for estimating speed-accuracy tradeoff functions of multiple task conditions

The speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) often makes psychophysical data difficult to interpret. Accordingly, the SAT experimental procedure and model were proposed for an integrated account of the speed and accuracy of responses. However, the extensive data collection for a SAT experiment has blocked its popularity. For a quick estimation of SAT function (SATf), we previously developed a Bayesian adaptive SAT method, including an online stimulus selection strategy. By simulations, the method was proved efficient with high accuracy and precision with minimal trials, adequate for practically applying a single condition task. However, it calls for extensions to more general designs with multiple conditions and should be revised to achieve improved estimation performance. It also demands real experimental validation with human participants. In the current study, we suggested an improved method to measure SATfs for multiple task conditions concurrently and to enhance robustness in general designs. The performance was evaluated with simulation studies and a psychophysical experiment using a flanker task. Simulation results revealed that the proposed method with the adaptive stimulus selection strategy efficiently estimated multiple SATfs and improved performance even for cases with an extreme parameter value. In the psychophysical experiment, SATfs estimated by minimal adaptive trials (1/8 of conventional trials) showed high agreement with those by conventional trials required for reliably estimating multiple SATfs. These results indicate that the Bayesian adaptive SAT method is reliable and efficient in estimating SATfs in most experimental settings and may apply to SATf estimation in general behavioral research designs.

Beyond words: Semantic satiation and the mental accessibility of the concept of suicide

Disrupting the accessibility of the mental representation of suicide may be a possible pathway to a strategy for suicide prevention. Our study aims to theoretically evaluate this perspective by examining the impact of temporarily disrupting the concept of suicide on perceptions of suicide. Using a within-subject design, we tested the effects of semantic satiation targeting the word "suicide" on the perceptual judgment of suicide-relevant pictures in 104 young adults. On each trial, participants repeated aloud one of the three words (i.e., "accident," "murder," or "suicide") either three times (priming) or 30 times (satiation) and indicated whether a subsequent picture matched with the word. Results indicated that satiation of the word "suicide" slowed the accurate categorization of pictures related to all three words, and satiation of "murder" and "accident" delayed participants' judgment of suicide-relevant pictures. Our findings support that semantic satiation can render the suicide concept temporarily less accessible, thereby providing preliminary support for the strategy of concept disruption in suicide prevention.

Acute effects of a vigorous-intensity warm-up on response suppression and decision-making of football referees

This study investigates the acute effect of physical exercise simulating a standard pre-competitive warm-up on the response suppression and decision-making of football referees. Thirty-four referees (n = 17 - regional level; n = 17 - national level) participated in the study. A Stop-Signal Task (SST) and a decision-making video test were used to evaluate the referees' perceptual-cognitive functions. The findings revealed that the vigorous aerobic exercise acutely impacted basic cognitive functions, as indicated by decreased reaction time and decreased choice accuracy. However, higher-order cognitive functions such as response suppression and decision-making did not exhibit significant changes post-exercise. Based on these results, there is no evidence to suggest that a vigorous-intensity warm-up is likely to favour response suppression and decision-making factors in the initial phases of the game. National referees showed superior response suppression abilities (shorter stop-signal reaction times and lower probability of responding to the stop-signal) than regional referees, indicating that higher-level referees possess enhanced perceptual-cognitive skills, likely influenced by their experience. Further studies are required to determine whether these variables can be acutely improved through physical exercise. In this regard, our results suggest the need for alternative strategies in pre-competitive referee warm-ups if aiming to improve perceptual-cognitive skills in the initial phases of the game.

People are more error-prone after committing an error

Humans tend to slow down after making an error. A longstanding account of this post-error slowing is that people are simply more cautious. However, accuracy typically does not improve following an error, leading some researchers to suggest that an initial 'orienting' response may initially impair performance immediately following error. Unfortunately, characterizing the nature of this error-based impairment remains a challenge in standard tasks that use free response times. By exerting control over the timing of responses, we reveal the time course of stimulus-response processing. Participants are less accurate after an error even when given ample time to make a response. A computational model of response preparation rules out the possibility that errors lead to slower cognitive processing. Instead, we find that the efficacy of cognitive processing in producing an intended response is impaired following errors. Following an error, participants commit more slips of action that tend to be a repetition of the previous mistake. Rather than a strategic shift along a single speed-accuracy tradeoff function, post-error slowing observed in free response time tasks may be an adaptive response to impaired cognitive processing that reflects an altered relationship between the speed and accuracy of responses.

Threat-induced prosocial behavior: enhanced exogenous attention to protect others from harm

As social animals, humans tend to voluntarily engage in pro-social behavior to prevent harm to others. However, to what extent prosocial behavior can be reflected at the level of less voluntary cognitive processes remains unclear. Here, we examined how threat to others modulates exogenous attention. Fifty-four participants performed an exogenous spatial cueing task where the participant's performance determined whether electric shocks would be delivered either to themselves or to their anonymous co-participant. Threat of shock to the co-participant elicited orienting and reorienting responses that were faster than in the safe condition and did not differ from performance when participants avoided shocks to themselves. This attentional improvement was not due to speed-accuracy trade off and was associated with arousal, i.e., increased pupil dilation in both threat conditions. Together, these findings suggest that pro-social behavior triggers automatic attentional processes which may be relevant for providing immediate help without relying on reflexive processes.

The neural network RTNet exhibits the signatures of human perceptual decision-making

Convolutional neural networks show promise as models of biological vision. However, their decision behaviour, including the facts that they are deterministic and use equal numbers of computations for easy and difficult stimuli, differs markedly from human decision-making, thus limiting their applicability as models of human perceptual behaviour. Here we develop a new neural network, RTNet, that generates stochastic decisions and human-like response time (RT) distributions. We further performed comprehensive tests that showed RTNet reproduces all foundational features of human accuracy, RT and confidence and does so better than all current alternatives. To test RTNet's ability to predict human behaviour on novel images, we collected accuracy, RT and confidence data from 60 human participants performing a digit discrimination task. We found that the accuracy, RT and confidence produced by RTNet for individual novel images correlated with the same quantities produced by human participants. Critically, human participants who were more similar to the average human performance were also found to be closer to RTNet's predictions, suggesting that RTNet successfully captured average human behaviour. Overall, RTNet is a promising model of human RTs that exhibits the critical signatures of perceptual decision-making.

Integrating Intra- and Interindividual Phenomena in Psychological Theories

Psychological science is divided into two distinct methodological traditions. One tradition seeks to understand how people function at the individual level, while the other seeks to understand how people differ from each other. Methodologies that have grown out of these traditions typically rely on different sources of data. While both use statistical models to understand the structure of the data, and these models are often similar, Molenaar (2004) showed that results from one type of analysis rarely transfer to the other, unless unrealistic assumptions hold. This raises the question how we may integrate these approaches. In this paper, we argue that formalized theories can be used to connect intra- and interindividual levels of analysis. This connection is indirect, in the sense that the relationship between theory and data is best understood through the intermediate level of phenomena: robust statistical patterns in empirical data. To illustrate this, we introduce a distinction between intra- and interindividual phenomena, and argue that many psychological theories will have implications for both types of phenomena. Formalization provides us with a methodological tool for investigating what kinds of intra- and interindividual phenomena we should expect to find if the theory under consideration were true.

Cognitive control training with domain-general response inhibition does not change children's brains or behavior

Cognitive control is required to organize thoughts and actions and is critical for the pursuit of long-term goals. Childhood cognitive control relates to other domains of cognitive functioning and predicts later-life success and well-being. In this study, we used a randomized controlled trial to test whether cognitive control can be improved through a pre-registered 8-week intervention in 235 children aged 6-13 years targeting response inhibition and whether this leads to changes in multiple behavioral and neural outcomes compared to a response speed training. We show long-lasting improvements of closely related measures of cognitive control at the 1-year follow-up; however, training had no impact on any behavioral outcomes (decision-making, academic achievement, mental health, fluid reasoning and creativity) or neural outcomes (task-dependent and intrinsic brain function and gray and white matter structure). Bayesian analyses provide strong evidence of absent training effects. We conclude that targeted training of response inhibition does little to change children's brains or their behavior.

Impact of repetitive mouse clicking on forearm muscle fatigue and mouse aiming performance

Exercise induced performance fatigue has been shown to impair many aspects of fine motor function in the distal upper limb. However, most fatiguing protocols do not reflect the conditions experienced with computer use. The purpose of this study was to determine how a prolonged, low-force mouse clicking fatigue protocol impacts performance fatigue of the distal upper limb for gamers and non-gamers. Participants completed a total of 1 h of mouse clicking at 5 clicks per second. Muscle fatigue and performance were intermittently assessed. RMS amplitude increased for the forearm flexors throughout the fatigue protocol. Accuracy decreased following the first bout of clicking and returned to baseline values after 40-min. EDC and ECU displayed the greatest muscle activity while aiming, producing 11.4% and 12.9% of MVC, respectively. These findings indicate that mouse clicking may not result in performance fatigue, however, high levels of extensor activity may explain common injuries among gamers.

Balancing accuracy and speed in the development of inhibitory control

Inhibitory control develops rapidly and nonlinearly, making its accurate assessment challenging. This research investigated the developmental dynamics of accuracy and response latency in inhibitory control assessment of 3- to 6-year-old children in a longitudinal study (N = 431; 212 girls; Mage = 4.86 years, SD = 0.99) and a cross-sectional study (N = 135; 71 girls; Mage = 4.24 years, SD = 0.61). We employed a computerized Stroop task to measure inhibitory control, with fluid intelligence serving as a covariate. A growth curve analysis revealed that children who reached an accuracy threshold of 80% earlier demonstrated faster improvements in response latency. Both the cross-sectional and longitudinal findings demonstrated a positive association between response latency in the inhibitory control task and fluid intelligence, but only when participants had achieved and maintained high accuracy. These results suggest that researchers should consider response latency as an indicator of inhibitory control only in children who manage to respond accurately in an inhibitory control task.

The role of sleep in the link between cannabis use and memory function: evidence from a cross-sectional study

Background: It is known that cannabis use affects memory and sleep problems independently. However, to date, how memory and sleep problems may interact as a result of cannabis use remains unknown.Objectives: We performed a secondary analysis of existing data to determine whether sleep quality mediates the association between cannabis use and memory and whether sex moderated these effects.Methods: A total of 141 adults with cannabis use disorder (CUD) (83 men) and 87 without CUD (39 men) participated in this study. Outcome measures included self-reported sleep problems from the past 7 days (Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist), learning and memory performance via the short visual object learning task (sVOLT), short visual object learning task delayed (sVOLTd), and verbal memory via the N-back. Bootstrapped mediation and moderated mediation analyses were run to test if sleep quality mediated the association between cannabis use and memory outcomes and whether sex moderated these effects, respectively.Results: Sleep quality mediated the effect of group (i.e. adults with and without CUD) on sVOLT efficiency scores (indirect effect ß = -.08, 95% CI [-0.14, -0.04]) and sVOLTd efficiency scores (indirect effect ß = -.09, 95% CI [-0.14, -0.04]), where greater sleep difficulties was associated with poorer memory performance (decreased efficiency scores). Sex did not moderate these relationships.Conclusion: These initial findings of a mediating role of sleep in the association between CUD and visual learning memory highlight potential critical downstream effects of disrupted sleep in those with CUD and suggest the importance of investigating sleep in CUD.

Decision uncertainty as a context for motor memory

The current view of perceptual decision-making suggests that once a decision is made, only a single motor programme associated with the decision is carried out, irrespective of the uncertainty involved in decision making. In contrast, we show that multiple motor programmes can be acquired on the basis of the preceding uncertainty of the decision, indicating that decision uncertainty functions as a contextual cue for motor memory. The actions learned after making certain (uncertain) decisions are only partially transferred to uncertain (certain) decisions. Participants were able to form distinct motor memories for the same movement on the basis of the preceding decision uncertainty. Crucially, this contextual effect generalizes to novel stimuli with matched uncertainty levels, demonstrating that decision uncertainty is itself a contextual cue. These findings broaden the understanding of contextual inference in motor memory, emphasizing that it extends beyond direct motor control cues to encompass the decision-making process.

Instructed speed and accuracy affect binding

In the past few decades, binding and retrieval mechanisms have gained increased interest in research on human action control. Recent studies show that these mechanisms also play a role in the control of multiple independent actions. Here, two or more successively executed responses seem to be bound to each other so that repeating one of them can retrieve the other, affecting performance in this second response and resulting in so-called response-response binding effects. Binding effects are typically found in the response time data and, somewhat less reliably, also in the error rates. Whether binding effects show in the response times, the error rates, or both, is likely influenced by the current speed-accuracy settings of the participants, with binding effects more likely showing in error rates under a speed setting, while more likely showing in RTs under an accuracy setting. Alternatively, different speed-accuracy settings might also entail changes in executive control, affecting the size of observed binding effects. In this study, we tested these assumptions by comparing binding effects under different speed-accuracy settings that were induced via instructions focusing on speed, accuracy, or both (ambivalent). Binding effects were observed in response times independent of instructions, while in error rates, they only showed under speed or ambivalent instructions. These findings indicate that binding effects can be affected by instructions regarding speed and accuracy.

Effects of different speed-accuracy instructions on perception in psychology experiments: evidence from event-related potential and oscillation

Introduction

In cognitive behavioral experiments, we often asked participants to make judgments within a deadline. However, the most common instruction of "do the task quickly and accurately" does not highlight the importance of the balance between being fast and accurate.

Methods

Our research aimed to explore how instructions about speed or accuracy affect perceptual process, focus on event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related oscillations (EROs) of two brain responses for visual stimuli, known as P1 and N1. Additionally, we compared the conventional analysis approach with principal component analysis (PCA) based methods to analyze P1 and N1 ERP amplitude and ERO power.

Results

The results showed that individuals instructed to respond quickly had lower P1 amplitude and alpha ERO than those who prioritized accuracy, using the PCA-based approach. However, these two groups had no differences between groups in the N1 theta band using both methods. The traditional time-frequency analysis method could not detect any ERP or ERO distinctions between groups due to limitations in detecting specific components in time or frequency domains. That means PCA is effective in separating these components.

Discussion

Our findings indicate that the instructions given regarding speed and accuracy impact perceptual process of subjects during cognitive behavioral experiments. We suggest that future researchers should choose their instructions carefully, considering the purpose of study.

Normative evidence weighting and accumulation in correlated environments

The brain forms certain deliberative decisions following normative principles related to how sensory observations are weighed and accumulated over time. Previously we showed that these principles can account for how people adapt their decisions to the temporal dynamics of the observations (Glaze et al., 2015). Here we show that this adaptability extends to accounting for correlations in the observations, which can have a dramatic impact on the weight of evidence provided by those observations. We tested online human participants on a novel visual-discrimination task with pairwise-correlated observations. With minimal training, the participants adapted to uncued, trial-by-trial changes in the correlations and produced decisions based on an approximately normative weighting and accumulation of evidence. The results highlight the robustness of our brain's ability to process sensory observations with respect to not just their physical features but also the weight of evidence they provide for a given decision.

Well-designed manufacturing work improves some cognitive abilities in individuals with cognitive impairments

Introduction

Employment is recognized as a fundamental human right, which correlates with better physical and mental health. Importantly, well-designed work, which considers the physical, social, and psychological impacts of work, can serve to enhance the cognitive abilities of workers. Although often overlooked, work for individuals with disabilities, including cognitive impairments, is equally important for their physical and mental well-being. What has not been established, however, is whether well-designed work can also enhance the cognitive abilities of individuals with cognitive impairments.

Methods

Using a longitudinal study design, we investigated the impact of well-designed work on the cognitive abilities of 60 participants (operators) at the AMIPI Foundation factories, which employ individuals with cognitive impairments to produce electrical cables and harnesses for the automobile industry. The same operators were assessed at three different time points: upon hiring (n = 60), and after working in the factory for 1 year (n = 41, since 19 left the factory) and 2 years (n = 28, since 13 more left the factory). We used five cognitive tests evaluating: (1) finger and manual dexterity, bimanual dexterity, and procedural memory using the Purdue Pegboard; (2) sustained and selective attention using the Symbol Cancellation Task; (3) short- and long-term declarative verbal memory and long-term verbal recognition memory using Rey's Audio-Verbal Learning Test; (4) short- and long-term visual recognition memory using the Continuous Visual Memory Test; and (5) abstract reasoning using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices.

Results

We observed improvements in procedural memory, sustained and selective attention, and short- and long-term visual recognition memory after working in the factory for 1 or 2 years. We did not observe improvements in finger or manual dexterity or bimanual dexterity, nor short- or long-term declarative verbal memory or verbal recognition memory, nor abstract reasoning.

Discussion

We conclude that, in addition to improving physical and mental well-being, well-designed manufacturing work can serve as a training intervention improving some types of cognitive functioning in individuals with cognitive impairments.

Quantification of hand functional recovery in spinal cord injury patients

STUDY DESIGN

A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the use of a circle-tracing task in quantifying hand functional recovery in cervical spinal cord injury patients.

METHODS

Ten cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) patients and 10 healthy age-matched controls performed a circle-tracing task, using a computerized tablet at the beginning of the study and after 4 weeks. Data relative to performance accuracy as well as pen pressure throughout the performances were collected, and clinical assessment for all patients was performed at the beginning and at the end of the study.

RESULTS

Significant differences were found in pen pressure profiles in the SCI patients between the initial assessment and after 4 weeks of assessment. SCI patients, when compared with controls, apply less pressure during the execution, though no significant differences were found for the other parameters. Examination of pen pressure profiles of both controls and SCI patients reveals that, in addition to the lower pressure registered, SCI patients present a more oscillating pressure profile which is direction-dependent. No significant correlations were found between clinical assessments and pen pressure, both within the initial assessment as well as after 4 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS

This study emphasizes the potential of simple computerized means for quantifying upper limb functions in SCI patients. These results of this study could be helpful for both highlighting specific functional deficits in patients as well tailoring specific interventions.

Probabilistic causal reasoning under time pressure

While causal reasoning is a core facet of our cognitive abilities, its time-course has not received proper attention. As the duration of reasoning might prove crucial in understanding the underlying cognitive processes, we asked participants in two experiments to make probabilistic causal inferences while manipulating time pressure. We found that participants are less accurate under time pressure, a speed-accuracy-tradeoff, and that they respond more conservatively. Surprisingly, two other persistent reasoning errors-Markov violations and failures to explain away-appeared insensitive to time pressure. These observations seem related to confidence: Conservative inferences were associated with low confidence, whereas Markov violations and failures to explain were not. These findings challenge existing theories that predict an association between time pressure and all causal reasoning errors including conservatism. Our findings suggest that these errors should not be attributed to a single cognitive mechanism and emphasize that causal judgements are the result of multiple processes.

Implicit association tests: Stimuli validation from participant responses

The Implicit Association Test (IAT, Greenwald et al., J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 74, 1998, 1464) is a popular instrument for measuring attitudes and (stereotypical) biases. Greenwald et al. (Behav. Res. Methods, 54, 2021, 1161) proposed a concrete method for validating IAT stimuli: appropriate stimuli should be familiar and easy to classify - translating to rapid (response times <800 ms) and accurate (error < 10%) participant responses. We conducted three analyses to explore the theoretical and practical utility of these proposed validation criteria. We first applied the proposed validation criteria to the data of 15 IATs that were available via Project Implicit. A bootstrap approach with 10,000 'experiments' of 100 participants showed that 5.85% of stimuli were reliably valid (i.e., we are more than 95% confident that a stimulus will also be valid in a new sample of 18- to 25-year-old US participants). Most stimuli (78.44%) could not be reliably validated, indicating a less than 5% certainty in the outcome of stimulus (in)validity for a new sample of participants. We then explored how stimulus validity differs across IATs. Results show that only some stimuli are consistently (in)valid. Most stimuli show between-IAT variances, which indicate that stimulus validity differs across IAT contexts. In the final analysis, we explored the effect of stimulus type (images, nouns, names, adjectives) on stimulus validity. Stimulus type was a significant predictor of stimulus validity. Although images attain the highest stimulus validity, raw data show large differences within stimulus types. Together, the results indicate a need for revised validation criteria. We finish with practical recommendations for stimulus selection and (post-hoc) stimulus validation.

Efficacy of Learning Disorder Treatment for Reading or Mathematics Disorders: An Open Study

Objectives

This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of treatment programs for children with reading (RD) or mathematics disorders (MD). Structured treatment programs were developed to improve phonological awareness and number sense among children and adolescents with RD or MD, respectively, and the effectiveness of the learning disorder treatment programs were evaluated.

Methods

We used standardized, objective diagnostic, and evaluation tools not only to recruit participants with RD, MD, or comorbid attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, but also to assess the effectiveness of the treatments regarding both improved core neurocognitive deficits of RD or MD and academic achievement. Forty children with RD or MD received one-on-one treatments from therapists.

Results

In the RD group, treatment effects were observed in all subtests. In the word and paragraph reading tests, the accuracy rates and fluency improved. The results of the phonological working memory test, word-sound correspondence test, and rapid automatic naming tests also improved. In the MD group, the accuracy rate and fluency on the arithmetic test improved. An increase in the accuracy rate in the size and distance comparison tests and a decrease in the error rate in the estimation test were also observed. However, there were no improvements in reaction time in these subtests.

Conclusion

Learning disorder treatment programs that focus on improving phonological awareness or number sense in children with RD or MD improved achievement, phonological awareness, and number sense.

The Bivalent Shape Task in a Dutch primary school population: A pilot study for a first psychometric assessment

OBJECTIVE

The Bivalent Shape Task (BST) tests the ability to suppress interfering information. The purpose of this study was to assess some psychometric properties of the BST in 5-11-year-old children, using multilevel analysis.

METHODS

The present study was initiated in a Dutch primary school in October 2019. The BST was administered as part of a larger neuropsychological assessment. The outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequential lockdown in the Netherlands led to a premature termination of the study in March 2020. Data of 38 children were available. This dataset was analyzed and labeled as pilot.

RESULTS

Significant main effects of age, time components, levels, correct answer, and several interactions were found on the reaction time in the predicted direction. Random effects could also be modeled. A final statistical combination model is described.

CONCLUSION

Despite the small study sample, it seems to be justified to conclude that the BST is a potentially valuable instrument to test interference suppression in 5-11-year-old children. In the analysis of the BST, multilevel analysis has proven to be very rewarding. Since the present study only examined a small part of reliability and validity aspects, further psychometric research is desired.

Phasic alerting in visual search tasks

Many tasks require one to search for and find important objects in the visual environment. Visual search is strongly supported by cues indicating target objects to mechanisms of selective attention, which enable one to prioritise targets and ignore distractor objects. Besides selective attention, a major influence on performance across cognitive tasks is phasic alertness, a temporary increase of arousal induced by warning stimuli (alerting cues). Alerting cues provide no specific information on whose basis selective attention could be deployed, but have nevertheless been found to speed up perception and simple actions. It is still unclear, however, how alerting affects visual search. Therefore, in the present study, participants performed a visual search task with and without preceding visual alerting cues. Participants had to report the orientation of a target among several distractors. The target saliency was low in Experiment 1 and high in Experiment 2. In both experiments, we found that visual search was faster when a visual alerting cue was presented before the target display. Performance benefits occurred irrespective of how many distractors had been presented along with the target. Taken together, the findings reveal that visual alerting supports visual search independently of the complexity of the search process and the demands for selective attention.

Regional differences in field dependent-independent cognitive styles in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUNDS

The primary aim of this study was two-fold: to assess the reliability of the Leuven Embedded Figure Test (L-EFT) in Saudi Arabia (Study 1), and to explore regional differences in independent-interdependent cognitive styles among adults in various regions of Saudi Arabia (Study 2).

METHOD

Both Study-1 and Study-2 were structured cross-sectionally. Study 1 involved 360 participants (97 % female) with a median age of 22.51 ± 3.45. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the L-EFT task. The mean response time for accurate responses, speed-accuracy trade-off, Cronbach's alpha reliability, Guttman split-half coefficient, and 2 × 2 ANOVA (to examine the influence of specialty and age) were evaluated using SPSS 24. In Study 2, the authors compared these evaluations between residents of Riyadh (60 participants) and Al-Kharj (60 participants) in Saudi Arabia.

RESULTS

In Study-1, the L-EFT demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties (α = 0.79, Guttman-split-half = 0.72), with item-test correlations for all items exceeding 0.15. Study-1 found no significant impact of academic specialty on mean response time, regardless of their major (scientific studies:M = 6.68, SD = 2.54) humanities:M = 6.81, SD = 2.11). In Study 2, no significant differences were observed in mean response times between individuals residing in Riyadh and those in Al-Kharj [t(112) = 1.68, p = 0.09, 95 % CI (-0.06, 0.73)].

CONCLUSION

The scale demonstrates suitability for use in the Saudi Arabian population. However, further research is needed to compare L-EFT scores across different cultures. Moreover, future studies could also explore the influence of various socio-cultural factors on field-dependent-independent cognitive styles.

Response to Difficulty Drives Variation in IQ Test Performance

In a large (N = 300), pre-registered experiment and data analysis model, we find that individual variation in overall performance on Raven's Progressive Matrices is substantially driven by differential strategizing in the face of difficulty. Some participants choose to spend more time on hard problems while others choose to spend less and these differences explain about 42% of the variance in overall performance. In a data analysis jointly predicting participants' reaction times and accuracy on each item, we find that the Raven's task captures at most half of participants' variation in time-controlled ability (48%) down to almost none (3%), depending on which notion of ability is assumed. Our results highlight the role that confounding factors such as motivation play in explaining individuals' differential performance in IQ testing.

Reduced attentional control in individuals with a history of suicide attempts compared to those with suicidal ideation: Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Neurocognitive profiles may be especially useful to identify factors that facilitate transitioning from contemplating suicide to attempting suicide. Generally, those who attempt suicide show greater disruptions in neurocognitive ability compared to those who think about suicide but do not proceed to attempt. The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to test whether this pattern is observed with attentional control.

METHODS

We systematically searched PubMed, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and Google Scholar to find pertinent studies. All included studies compared attentional functioning using neutral stimuli. Each sample featured adults with a history of suicidal ideation (SI) and no history of suicide attempts (SA) compared to those with a history of SA.

RESULTS

We identified 15 studies with 32 effect sizes (N = 931; n = 506 with SI only; n = 425 with SA). SA groups, compared to SI groups, exhibited worse accuracy yet similar reaction time, suggesting a comparatively blunted speed-accuracy tradeoff. Relative to SI, SA groups performed worse on Stroop-like and Go/NoGo tasks. SA performed better than SI on Trail Making Test B, but not A.

LIMITATIONS

There were few available studies. Most samples were small. We did not differentiate current vs. past SI or high vs. low lethality SA. Only English and Spanish language articles were included.

CONCLUSIONS

Disrupted attentional control may convey risk for transitioning to SA from SI. More work is needed to determine which components of attention are most associated with suicide risk.

Dual-tasking modulates movement speed but not value-based choices during walking

Value-based decision-making often occurs in multitasking scenarios relying on both cognitive and motor processes. Yet, laboratory experiments often isolate these processes, thereby neglecting potential interactions. This isolated approach reveals a dichotomy: the cognitive process by which reward influences decision-making is capacity-limited, whereas the influence of motor cost is free of such constraints. If true, dual-tasking should predominantly impair reward processing but not affect the impact of motor costs. To test this hypothesis, we designed a decision-making task in which participants made choices to walk toward targets for rewards while navigating past an obstacle. The motor cost to reach these rewards varied in real-time. Participants either solely performed the decision-making task, or additionally performed a secondary pitch-recall task. Results revealed that while both reward and motor costs influenced decision-making, the secondary task did not affect these factors. Instead, dual-tasking slowed down participants' walking, thereby reducing the overall reward rate. Hence, contrary to the prediction that the added cognitive demand would affect the weighing of reward or motor cost differentially, these processes seem to be maintained at the expense of slowing down the motor system. This slowdown may be indicative of interference at the locomotor level, thereby underpinning motor-cognitive interactions during decision-making.

Measuring and monitoring skill learning in closed-loop myoelectric hand prostheses using speed-accuracy tradeoffs

Objective.Closed-loop myoelectric prostheses, which combine supplementary sensory feedback and electromyography (EMG) based control, hold the potential to narrow the divide between natural and bionic hands. The use of these devices, however, requires dedicated training. Therefore, it is crucial to develop methods that quantify how users acquire skilled control over their prostheses to effectively monitor skill progression and inform the development of interfaces that optimize this process.Approach.Building on theories of skill learning in human motor control, we measured speed-accuracy tradeoff functions (SAFs) to comprehensively characterize learning-induced changes in skill-as opposed to merely tracking changes in task success across training-facilitated by a closed-loop interface that combined proportional control and EMG feedback. Sixteen healthy participants and one individual with a transradial limb loss participated in a three-day experiment where they were instructed to perform the box-and-blocks task using a timed force-matching paradigm at four specified speeds to reach two target force levels, such that the SAF could be determined.Main results.We found that the participants' accuracy increased in a similar way across all speeds we tested. Consequently, the shape of the SAF remained similar across days, at both force levels. Further, we observed that EMG feedback enabled participants to improve their motor execution in terms of reduced trial-by-trial variability, a hallmark of skilled behavior. We then fit a power law model of the SAF, and demonstrated how the model parameters could be used to identify and monitor changes in skill.Significance.We comprehensively characterized how an EMG feedback interface enabled skill acquisition, both at the level of task performance and movement execution. More generally, we believe that the proposed methods are effective for measuring and monitoring user skill progression in closed-loop prosthesis control.

Improving the reliability and validity of the IAT with a dynamic model driven by similarity

The Implicit Association Test (IAT), like many behavioral measures, seeks to quantify meaningful individual differences in cognitive processes that are difficult to assess with approaches like self-reports. However, much like other behavioral measures, many IATs appear to show low test-retest reliability and typical scoring methods fail to quantify all of the decision-making processes that generate the overt task performance. Here, we develop a new modeling approach for IATs based on the geometric similarity representation (GSR) model. This model leverages both response times and accuracy on IATs to make inferences about representational similarity between the stimuli and categories. The model disentangles processes related to response caution, stimulus encoding, similarities between concepts and categories, and response processes unrelated to the choice itself. This approach to analyzing IAT data illustrates that the unreliability in IATs is almost entirely attributable to the methods used to analyze data from the task: GSR model parameters show test-retest reliability around .80-.90, on par with reliable self-report measures. Furthermore, we demonstrate how model parameters result in greater validity compared to the IAT D-score, Quad model, and simple diffusion model contrasts, predicting outcomes related to intergroup contact and motivation. Finally, we present a simple point-and-click software tool for fitting the model, which uses a pre-trained neural network to estimate best-fit parameters of the GSR model. This approach allows easy and instantaneous fitting of IAT data with minimal demands on coding or technical expertise on the part of the user, making the new model accessible and effective.

An item response theory analysis of the matrix reasoning item bank (MaRs-IB)

Matrix reasoning tasks are among the most widely used measures of cognitive ability in the behavioral sciences, but the lack of matrix reasoning tests in the public domain complicates their use. Here, we present an extensive investigation and psychometric validation of the matrix reasoning item bank (MaRs-IB), an open-access set of matrix reasoning items. In a first study, we calibrate the psychometric functioning of the items in the MaRs-IB in a large sample of adult participants (N = 1501). Using additive multilevel item structure models, we establish that the MaRs-IB has many desirable psychometric properties: its items span a wide range of difficulty, possess medium-to-large levels of discrimination, and exhibit robust associations between item complexity and difficulty. However, we also find that item clones are not always psychometrically equivalent and cannot be assumed to be exchangeable. In a second study, we demonstrate how experimenters can use the estimated item parameters to design new matrix reasoning tests using optimal item assembly. Specifically, we design and validate two new sets of test forms in an independent sample of adults (N = 600). We find these new tests possess good reliability and convergent validity with an established measure of matrix reasoning. We hope that the materials and results made available here will encourage experimenters to use the MaRs-IB in their research.

Effects of a physical education intervention on attention and inhibitory control in Ecuadorian children with intellectual disabilities

Background: Studies on physical activity interventions indicated a facilitative effect on cognitive performance in persons with intellectual disabilities; however, research is scarce, especially in low/middle-income countries. Aim: We explored the effects of a 6-week enriched physical education program on inhibitory control and attention functions in Ecuadorian children with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Thirty children with mild intellectual disabilities (10-14 years old) were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Before and after the intervention, attention and inhibitory control were measured using computer-based nonverbal tasks. Results: The findings showed significantly more accurate and faster responses in the vigilance task in the intervention group than in the controls. There were no significant intervention-related changes in inhibitory control; however, there were more prominent accuracy tendencies toward improvement in the intervention group. Conclusions: Results provide evidence of the potential of physical activity programs to enhance attention in this population, which could serve as a mediator for inhibitory control.

Differential Formation of Motor Cortical Dynamics during Movement Preparation According to the Predictability of Go Timing

The motor cortex not only executes but also prepares movement, as motor cortical neurons exhibit preparatory activity that predicts upcoming movements. In movement preparation, animals adopt different strategies in response to uncertainties existing in nature such as the unknown timing of when a predator will attack-an environmental cue informing "go." However, how motor cortical neurons cope with such uncertainties is less understood. In this study, we aim to investigate whether and how preparatory activity is altered depending on the predictability of "go" timing. We analyze firing activities of the anterior lateral motor cortex in male mice during two auditory delayed-response tasks each with predictable or unpredictable go timing. When go timing is unpredictable, preparatory activities immediately reach and stay in a neural state capable of producing movement anytime to a sudden go cue. When go timing is predictable, preparation activity reaches the movement-producible state more gradually, to secure more accurate decisions. Surprisingly, this preparation process entails a longer reaction time. We find that as preparatory activity increases in accuracy, it takes longer for a neural state to transition from the end of preparation to the start of movement. Our results suggest that the motor cortex fine-tunes preparatory activity for more accurate movement using the predictability of go timing.

Matching provides efficient decisions

How humans and animals distribute their behavior across choice options has been of key interest to economics, psychology, ecology, and related fields. Neoclassical and behavioral economics have provided prescriptions for how decision-makers can maximize their reward or utility, but these formalisms are used by decision-makers rarely. Instead, individuals allocate their behavior in proportion to the worth of their options, a phenomenon captured by the generalized matching law. Why biological decision-makers adopt this strategy has been unclear. To provide insight into this issue, this article evaluates the performance of matching across a broad spectrum of decision situations, using simulations. Matching is found to attain a high or near-optimal gain, and the strategy achieves this level of performance following a single evaluation of the decision options. Thus, matching provides highly efficient decisions across a wide range of choice environments. This result offers a quantitative explanation for the broad adoption of matching by biological decision-makers.

Modality matters: Three auditory conflict tasks to measure individual differences in attention control

Early work on selective attention used auditory-based tasks, such as dichotic listening, to shed light on capacity limitations and individual differences in these limitations. Today, there is great interest in individual differences in attentional abilities, but the field has shifted towards visual-modality tasks. Furthermore, most conflict-based tests of attention control lack reliability due to low signal-to-noise ratios and the use of difference scores. Critically, it is unclear to what extent attention control generalizes across sensory modalities, and without reliable auditory-based tests, an answer to this question will remain elusive. To this end, we developed three auditory-based tests of attention control that use an adaptive response deadline (DL) to account for speed-accuracy trade-offs: Auditory Simon DL, Auditory Flanker DL, and Auditory Stroop DL. In a large sample (N = 316), we investigated the psychometric properties of the three auditory conflict tasks, tested whether attention control is better modeled as a unitary factor or modality-specific factors, and estimated the extent to which unique variance in modality-specific factors contributed incrementally to the prediction of dichotic listening and multitasking performance. Our analyses indicated that the auditory conflict tasks have strong psychometric properties and demonstrate convergent validity with visual tests of attention control. Auditory and visual attention control factors were highly correlated (r = .81)-even after controlling for perceptual processing speed (r = .75). Modality-specific attention control factors accounted for unique variance in modality-matched criterion measures, but the majority of the explained variance was modality-general. The results suggest an interplay between modality-general attention control and modality-specific processing.

Matching provides efficient decisions

How humans and animals distribute their behavior across choice options has been of key interest to economics, psychology, ecology, and related fields. Neoclassical and behavioral economics have provided prescriptions for how decision-makers can maximize their reward or utility, but these formalisms are used by decision-makers rarely. Instead, individuals allocate their behavior in proportion to the worth of their options, a phenomenon captured by the generalized matching law. Why biological decision-makers adopt this strategy has been unclear. To provide insight into this issue, this article evaluates the performance of matching across a broad spectrum of decision situations, using simulations. Matching is found to attain a high or near-optimal gain, and the strategy achieves this level of performance following a single evaluation of the decision options. Thus, matching provides highly efficient decisions across a wide range of choice environments. This result offers a quantitative explanation for the broad adoption of matching by biological decision-makers.

Exploring Working Memory Capacity and Efficiency Processes to Understand Working Memory Training Outcomes in Primary School Children

Despite the abundance of research evaluating working memory training outcomes in children, few studies have examined the underlying cognitive mechanisms. This study aimed to contribute understanding by exploring whether working memory capacity (maximum span) and/or efficiency (basic and cognitive processing speeds), two proposed cognitive mechanisms, are associated with children's working memory performance immediately and 6-months post-intervention. We used data from a previous trial in primary school children (7-11 years) who completed working memory training (n = 52) or an active control (n = 36), comprising 10 sessions (each 20-minutes) in class over two weeks. Children completed five working memory measures at baseline, immediately and 6-months post-intervention: two Backwards Span and two Following Instructions measures (same paradigms as training activities), and one n-back measure (different paradigm). Maximum span, basic and cognitive processing speeds, and performance were calculated for each measure. Associations between change in maximum span, processing speeds and change in performance on the working memory measures from baseline to immediately and 6-months post-intervention did not differ between groups (all p < .05). Maximum span, processing speeds and performance on working memory measures did not differ between groups. Findings provide little evidence that the studied capacity or efficiency processes contribute to understanding working memory training outcomes in primary school children. Furthermore, working memory training did not have benefits for children's working capacity, efficiency or performance up to 6-months post-intervention. It is of interest for future studies to explore cognitive mechanisms, including strategy use, maximum span and information processing, in datasets where training effects are observed.

The impact of cognitive resource constraints on goal prioritization

Many decisions we face daily entail deliberation about how to coordinate resources shared between multiple, competing goals. When time permits, people appear to approach these goal prioritization problems by analytically considering all goal-relevant information to arrive at a prioritization decision. However, it is not yet clear if this normative strategy extends to situations characterized by resource constraints such as when deliberation time is scarce or cognitive load is high. We evaluated the questions of how limited deliberation time and cognitive load affect goal prioritization decisions across a series of experiments using a gamified experimental task, which required participants to make a series of interdependent goal prioritization decisions. We fit several candidate models to experimental data to identify decision strategy adaptations at the individual subject-level. Results indicated that participants tended to opt for a simple heuristic strategy when cognitive resources were constrained rather than making a general tradeoff between speed and accuracy (e.g., the type of tradeoff that would be predicted by evidence accumulation models). The most common heuristic strategy involved disproportionately weighing information about goal deadlines compared to other goal-relevant information such as the goal's difficulty and the goal's subjective value.

A revised diffusion model for conflict tasks

The recently developed diffusion model for conflict tasks (DMC) Ulrich et al. (Cognitive Psychology, 78, 148-174, 2015) provides a good account of data from all standard conflict tasks (e.g., Stroop, Simon, and flanker tasks) within a common evidence accumulation framework. A central feature of DMC's processing dynamics is that there is an initial phase of rapid accumulation of distractor evidence that is then selectively withdrawn from the decision mechanism as processing continues. We argue that this assumption is potentially troubling because it could be viewed as implying qualitative changes in the representation of distractor information over the time course of processing. These changes suggest more than simple inhibition or suppression of distractor information, as they involve evidence produced by distractor processing "changing sign" over time. In this article, we (a) develop a revised DMC (RDMC) whose dynamics operate strictly within the limits of inhibition/suppression (i.e., evidence strength can change monotonically, but cannot change sign); (b) demonstrate that RDMC can predict the full range of delta plots observed in the literature (i.e., both positive-going and negative-going); and (c) show that the model provides excellent fits to Simon and flanker data used to benchmark the original DMC at both the individual and group level. Our model provides a novel account of processing differences across Simon and flanker tasks. Specifically, that they differ in how distractor information is processed on congruent trials, rather than incongruent trials: congruent trials in the Simon task show relatively slow attention shifting away from distractor information (i.e., location) while complete and rapid attention shifting occurs in the flanker task. Our new model highlights the importance of considering dynamic interactions between top-down goals and bottom-up stimulus effects in conflict processing.

Bilingual disadvantages are systematically compensated by bilingual advantages across tasks and populations

Bilingualism is linked to both enhanced and hampered performance in various cognitive measures, yet the extent to which these bilingual advantages and disadvantages co-occur is unclear. To address this gap, we perform a systematic review and two quantitative analyses. First, we analyze results from 39 studies, obtained through the PRISMA method. Less than 50% of the studies that show up as results for the term "bilingual disadvantage" report exclusively a disadvantage, that shows bilinguals performing worse than monolinguals in a task. A Bayesian analysis reveals robust evidence for bilingual effects, but no evidence for differences in the proportion of advantages and disadvantages, suggesting that when results from different cognitive domains such as executive functions and verbal fluency are analyzed together, bilingual effects amount to a zero-sum game. This finding was replicated by repeating the analysis, using the datasets of two recent meta-analyses. We propose that the equilibrium we observe between positive and negative outcomes may not be accidental. Contrary to widespread belief, advantageous and disadvantageous effects are not stand-alone outcomes in free variation. We reframe them as the connatural components of a dynamic trade-off, whereby enhanced performance in one cognitive measure is offset by an incurred cost in another domain.

Virtual biopsies: Proof of concept for a novel quantitative approach to liver biopsy adequacy and pathology education

OBJECTIVES

To quantitatively measure liver biopsy adequacy requirements and the effect of a teaching intervention that uses a virtual biopsy platform.

METHODS

A library of virtual liver biopsies was created using digital whole-slide, trichrome-stained tissue sections from liver resection material and QuPath image analysis software. Blinded participants staged fibrosis on the virtual biopsies before and after a teaching intervention.

RESULTS

This platform both modeled adequacy requirements for cirrhosis diagnosis on biopsy material and measured the effect of a teaching intervention on participant performance. Using this platform, diagnostic accuracy for cirrhosis could be modeled according to the function y = λ(1 ‒ e‒x/γ). The platform demonstrated that the relationship between biopsy size and diagnostic accuracy was statistically significant and that biopsies smaller than 6 mm long and 0.8 mm wide were insufficient to diagnosis cirrhosis. The platform also measured improvement in fibrosis staging accuracy among participants following a teaching intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide proof of concept for a virtual biopsy method by which outstanding questions in anatomic pathology can be addressed quantitatively using open source software. Future work is needed to validate these findings in clinical practice.

Motivational Vigor in Parkinson's Disease Requires the Short and Long Duration Response to Levodopa

BACKGROUND

Impaired movement vigor (bradykinesia) is a cardinal feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) and hypothesized to result from abnormal motivational processes-impaired motivation-vigor coupling. Dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) improves bradykinesia, but the response to DRT is multifaceted, comprising a short-duration response (SDR) and a long-duration response (LDR) only manifesting with chronic treatment. Prior experiments assessing motivation-vigor coupling in PD used chronically treated subjects, obscuring the roles of the SDR and LDR.

METHODS

To disambiguate the SDR and LDR, 11 de novo PD subjects (6 male [M]:5 female [F]; mean age, 67) were studied before treatment, after an acute levodopa (l-dopa) dose, and in both the practical "off" (LDR) and "on" (LDR + SDR) states after chronic stable treatment. At each visit, subjects were characterized with a standard battery including the Movement Disorder Society-Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and an incentivized joystick task to assess motor performance in response to varying rewards.

RESULTS

l-Dopa induced a robust SDR and LDR, with further improvement in the combined SDR + LDR state. At baseline, after acute treatment (SDR), and after LDR induction, subjects did not exhibit the normal increase in movement speed with increasing reward. Only in the combined SDR + LDR state was there restoration of motivation-vigor coupling.

CONCLUSIONS

Although consistent with prior results in chronically treated PD subjects, the significant improvement in motor performance observed with the SDR and LDR suggests that bradykinesia is not solely secondary to deficient modulation of motivational processes. © 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

EEG components of inhibitory control ability in internet gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND

Inhibitory control ability is a crucial cognitive function that enables individuals to regulate their impulses and behaviors in a goal-directed manner. However, with the increasing prevalence of internet gaming disorder (IGD), there has been growing concern about the impact of excessive gaming on inhibitory control ability. Despite the accumulating evidence on this topic, the research conclusion on whether people with IGD have worse inhibition control ability than healthy controls remains inconsistent, and the lack of effective electroencephalography prediction indicators further complicates this issue. To address this research gap, the present study aimed to investigate whether N2 event-related potential (ERP) and P3 ERP components could serve as reliable indicators of inhibitory control ability in individuals with IGD.

METHODS

To achieve this goal, a systematic literature search was conducted in several databases, including Web of Science, ScienceDirect (EBSCO), SpringerLink, PubMed, and Wiley Online Library. The inclusion criteria were strictly implemented to ensure the quality of the studies included in the meta-analysis. In the end, a total of 5 studies, with 139 participants diagnosed with IGD and 139 healthy controls, were included in the analysis.

RESULTS

Meta-analysis revealed large effect sizes of N2 and P3 amplitudes in individuals with IGD, indicating that these two ERP components could be potential indicators of inhibitory control ability. Specifically, the N2 and P3 amplitude was significantly larger in individuals with IGD than in the healthy control group, suggesting deficits in inhibitory control function and increased impulsivity in the IGD group. In the inhibition control task, the IGD group required more cognitive resources to suppress impulsive responses.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis shed light on the potential use of N2 and P3 amplitudes as reliable indicators of inhibitory control ability in individuals with IGD. The results provide crucial insights into the neural mechanisms underlying inhibitory control impairment in IGD, which could inform the development of effective interventions for this condition. Further research is needed to explore the functional significance of these ERP components and their potential clinical applications in the diagnosis and treatment of IGD.

TSP-GNN: a novel neuropsychiatric disorder classification framework based on task-specific prior knowledge and graph neural network

Neuropsychiatric disorder (ND) is often accompanied by abnormal functional connectivity (FC) patterns in specific task contexts. The distinctive task-specific FC patterns can provide valuable features for ND classification models using deep learning. However, most previous studies rely solely on the whole-brain FC matrix without considering the prior knowledge of task-specific FC patterns. Insight by the decoding studies on brain-behavior relationship, we develop TSP-GNN, which extracts task-specific prior (TSP) connectome patterns and employs graph neural network (GNN) for disease classification. TSP-GNN was validated using publicly available datasets. Our results demonstrate that different ND types show distinct task-specific connectivity patterns. Compared with the whole-brain node characteristics, utilizing task-specific nodes enhances the accuracy of ND classification. TSP-GNN comprises the first attempt to incorporate prior task-specific connectome patterns and the power of deep learning. This study elucidates the association between brain dysfunction and specific cognitive processes, offering valuable insights into the cognitive mechanism of neuropsychiatric disease.

CoCoA: conditional correlation models with association size

Many scientific questions can be formulated as hypotheses about conditional correlations. For instance, in tests of cognitive and physical performance, the trade-off between speed and accuracy motivates study of the two variables together. A natural question is whether speed-accuracy coupling depends on other variables, such as sustained attention. Classical regression techniques, which posit models in terms of covariates and outcomes, are insufficient to investigate the effect of a third variable on the symmetric relationship between speed and accuracy. In response, we propose a conditional correlation model with association size, a likelihood-based statistical framework to estimate the conditional correlation between speed and accuracy as a function of additional variables. We propose novel measures of the association size, which are analogous to effect sizes on the correlation scale while adjusting for confound variables. In simulation studies, we compare likelihood-based estimators of conditional correlation to semiparametric estimators adapted from genomic studies and find that the former achieves lower bias and variance under both ideal settings and model assumption misspecification. Using neurocognitive data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, we demonstrate that greater sustained attention is associated with stronger speed-accuracy coupling in a complex reasoning task while controlling for age. By highlighting conditional correlations as the outcome of interest, our model provides complementary insights to traditional regression modeling and partitioned correlation analyses.

Time-of-day effects on speed and accuracy performance during simulated shiftwork

Performance on tasks involving speed and accuracy fluctuate throughout the 24-h day negatively affecting shift workers and organizations. Two simulated work shifts common in occupational settings were used to assess performance on a vigilance and math task. In study 1, 33 sleep-deprived participants completed a nightshift. In study 2, 32 partially sleep-deprived participants completed a dayshift. These studies found that performance differed between the type of task and the type of simulated shift where performance during the nightshift was worse than during the dayshift. In addition, collapsing speed and accuracy on the math task into inverse efficiency scores provided a unique measure that captured the impact of circadian rhythms during shiftwork. The current study also indicated that participants adopted cognitive strategies including speed-accuracy tradeoff and regulatory foci regarding work motivation (prevention focus and promotion focus) when completing the tasks depending on time-of-day, type of shift, circadian rhythms, and amount of sleep deprivation. This suggests that researchers and organizations should consider cognitive strategies in addition to the physiological components of sleep deprivation and circadian rhythms when investigating and documenting the impact of time-of-day due to different types of shiftwork conditions on performance and safety.

Internal states as a source of subject-dependent movement variability are represented by large-scale brain networks

Humans' ability to adapt and learn relies on reflecting on past performance. These experiences form latent representations called internal states that induce movement variability that improves how we interact with our environment. Our study uncovered temporal dynamics and neural substrates of two states from ten subjects implanted with intracranial depth electrodes while they performed a goal-directed motor task with physical perturbations. We identified two internal states using state-space models: one tracking past errors and the other past perturbations. These states influenced reaction times and speed errors, revealing how subjects strategize from trial history. Using local field potentials from over 100 brain regions, we found large-scale brain networks such as the dorsal attention and default mode network modulate visuospatial attention based on recent performance and environmental feedback. Notably, these networks were more prominent in higher-performing subjects, emphasizing their role in improving motor performance by regulating movement variability through internal states.

Neural mechanisms for executive control of speed-accuracy trade-off

The medial frontal cortex (MFC) plays an important but disputed role in speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT). In samples of neural spiking in the supplementary eye field (SEF) in the MFC simultaneous with the visuomotor frontal eye field and superior colliculus in macaques performing a visual search with instructed SAT, during accuracy emphasis, most SEF neurons discharge less from before stimulus presentation until response generation. Discharge rates adjust immediately and simultaneously across structures upon SAT cue changes. SEF neurons signal choice errors with stronger and earlier activity during accuracy emphasis. Other neurons signal timing errors, covarying with adjusting response time. Spike correlations between neurons in the SEF and visuomotor areas did not appear, disappear, or change sign across SAT conditions or trial outcomes. These results clarify findings with noninvasive measures, complement previous neurophysiological findings, and endorse the role of the MFC as a critic for the actor instantiated in visuomotor structures.

To see or not to see: the parallel processing of self-relevance and facial expressions

The self, like the concept of central "gravity", facilitates the processing of information that is directly relevant to the self. This phenomenon is known as the self-prioritization effect. However, it remains unclear whether the self-prioritization effect extends to the processing of emotional facial expressions. To fill this gap, we used a self-association paradigm to investigate the impact of self-relevance on the recognition of emotional facial expressions while controlling for confounding factors such as familiarity and overlearning. Using a large and diverse sample, we replicated the effect of self-relevance on face processing but found no evidence for a modulation of self-relevance on facial emotion recognition. We propose two potential theoretical explanations to account for these findings and emphasize that further research with different experimental designs and a multitasks measurement approach is needed to understand this mechanism fully. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on the parallel cognitive processing of self-relevance and facial emotion recognition, with implications for both social and cognitive psychology.