Cohort profile: The UK COVID-19 Public Experiences (COPE) prospective longitudinal mixed-methods study of health and well-being during the SARSCoV2 coronavirus pandemic

Public perceptions of pandemic viral threats and government policies can influence adherence to containment, delay, and mitigation policies such as physical distancing, hygienic practices, use of physical barriers, uptake of testing, contact tracing, and vaccination programs. The UK COVID-19 Public Experiences (COPE) study aims to identify determinants of health behaviour using the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation (COM-B) model using a longitudinal mixed-methods approach. Here, we provide a detailed description of the demographic and self-reported health characteristics of the COPE cohort at baseline assessment, an overview of data collected, and plans for follow-up of the cohort. The COPE baseline survey was completed by 11,113 UK adult residents (18+ years of age). Baseline data collection started on the 13th of March 2020 (10-days before the introduction of the first national COVID-19 lockdown in the UK) and finished on the 13th of April 2020. Participants were recruited via the HealthWise Wales (HWW) research registry and through social media snowballing and advertising (Facebook®, Twitter®, Instagram®). Participants were predominantly female (69%), over 50 years of age (68%), identified as white (98%), and were living with their partner (68%). A large proportion (67%) had a college/university level education, and half reported a pre-existing health condition (50%). Initial follow-up plans for the cohort included in-depth surveys at 3-months and 12-months after the first UK national lockdown to assess short and medium-term effects of the pandemic on health behaviour and subjective health and well-being. Additional consent will be sought from participants at follow-up for data linkage and surveys at 18 and 24-months after the initial UK national lockdown. A large non-random sample was recruited to the COPE cohort during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which will enable longitudinal analysis of the determinants of health behaviour and changes in subjective health and well-being over the course of the pandemic.

The Association Between Effectiveness of Tinnitus Intervention and Cognitive Function-A Systematic Review

Tinnitus refers to the perception of sound in the absence of an external stimulus. This can be problematic and can lead to health problems in some sufferers, including effects on cognitive functions such as attention and memory. Although several studies have examined the effectiveness of tinnitus interventions, e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy and sound therapy, it is still unclear as to the overall quality and limitations of these studies and whether their results could be generalized. Clarification is also needed as to whether poor cognitive function will lead to a less favorable intervention outcome in tinnitus patients. The present systematic review was therefore designed to critically appraise and synthesize findings from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of tinnitus intervention and its effects on cognition. The methodology followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Medline (PubMed), Embase, and PsycINFO were searched. Only RCTs that compared the effectiveness of a tinnitus intervention and a measure of cognitive function in adult participants with tinnitus were included. A total of 8 studies involving 610 participants tested using 11 cognitive function assessment tools (e.g., Stroop Color and Word Test and Visual Continuous Performance Task) and 5 tinnitus intervention outcome measurements (e.g., Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Tinnitus Questionnaire) were included and analyzed. The outcomes of the review suggest that tinnitus intervention not only facilitates tinnitus management but also improves cognitive functions. It is likely that cognition and emotion play an important role in a patient's adjustment to tinnitus. Whether cognition can predict treatment outcomes is unclear due to insufficient evidence. Future research is needed using a standardized assessment protocol focusing on the effect of sound-based interventions on tinnitus severity and cognitive functions. Studies on whether cognitive function measurement can be used as a predictor for the effectiveness of tinnitus therapy are also needed.

Can a simple, short-term memory task help to screen dyslexia?

Funding to support students with dyslexia in post-compulsory education is under pressure and more efficient assessments may offset some of this shortfall. We tested potential tasks for screening dyslexia: recall of adjective-noun, compared to noun-adjective, pairings (syntax) and recall of high versus low frequency letter pairings (bigrams). Students who reported themselves as dyslexic failed to show a normal syntax effect (greater recall of adjective-noun compared to noun-adjective pairings) and no significant difference in recall between the two types of bigrams whereas students who were not dyslexic showed the syntax effect and a bias towards recalling high frequency bigrams. Findings are consistent with recent explanations of dyslexia suggesting that those affected find it difficult to learn and utilise sequential long-term order information (Szmalec et al. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 37(5) ,1270-1279, 2011). Further, ROC curve analyses revealed both tasks showed acceptable diagnostic properties as they were able to discriminate between the two groups of participants.

Postcategorical auditory distraction in short-term memory: Insights from increased task load and task type

Task-irrelevant speech impairs short-term serial recall appreciably. On the interference-by-process account, the processing of physical (i.e., precategorical) changes in speech yields order cues that conflict with the serial-ordering process deployed to perform the serial recall task. In this view, the postcategorical properties (e.g., phonology, meaning) of speech play no role. The present study reassessed the implications of recent demonstrations of auditory postcategorical distraction in serial recall that have been taken as support for an alternative, attentional-diversion, account of the irrelevant speech effect. Focusing on the disruptive effect of emotionally valent compared with neutral words on serial recall, we show that the distracter-valence effect is eliminated under conditions-high task-encoding load-thought to shield against attentional diversion whereas the general effect of speech (neutral words compared with quiet) remains unaffected (Experiment 1). Furthermore, the distracter-valence effect generalizes to a task that does not require the processing of serial order-the missing-item task-whereas the effect of speech per se is attenuated in this task (Experiment 2). We conclude that postcategorical auditory distraction phenomena in serial short-term memory (STM) are incidental: they are observable in such a setting but, unlike the acoustically driven irrelevant speech effect, are not integral to it. As such, the findings support a duplex-mechanism account over a unitary view of auditory distraction. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are sound abatement measures necessary in the cytology reading room? A study of auditory distraction

OBJECTIVE

Listening to music and other auditory material during microscopy work is common practice among cytologists. While many cytologists would claim several benefits of such activity, research in other fields suggests that it might adversely affect diagnostic performance. Using a cross-modal distraction paradigm, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of auditory stimulation on the visual interpretation of cell images.

METHODS

Following initial training, 34 participants undertook cell interpretation tests under four auditory conditions (liked music, disliked music, speech and silence) in a counterbalanced repeated-measures study. Error rate, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, criterion and response time were measured for each condition.

RESULTS

There was no significant effect of auditory stimulation on the accuracy or speed with which cell images were interpreted, mirroring the results of a previous visual distraction study.

CONCLUSION

To the extent that the experiment reflects clinical practice, listening to music or other forms of auditory material whilst undertaking microscopy duties is unlikely to be a source of distraction in the cytopathology reading room. From a cognitive perspective, the results are consistent with the notion that high focal-task engagement may have blocked any attentional capture the sound may otherwise have produced.

Distraction of Mental Arithmetic by Background Speech

When solving mental arithmetic problems, one can easily be distracted by someone speaking in the background and this distraction is greater if the speech comprises numbers. We explored the basis of this disruption by asking participants to solve mental addition problems (e.g., "45 + 17 = ?") in three different conditions: background speech comprising numbers in ascending order (e.g., "61, 62, 63, 64, 65"), background speech comprising numbers in descending order (e.g., "65, 64, 63, 62, 61"), and quiet. Performance was best in quiet, worse in the descending numbers condition, and poorest in the ascending numbers condition. In view of these findings, we suggest that disruption arises as a by-product of preventing the primed, but inaccurate, candidate responses from assuming the control of action. Alternative explanations are also discussed.

Visual distraction in cytopathology: should we be concerned?

OBJECTIVE

Visual distraction in cytopathology has not been investigated previously as a source of diagnostic error, presumably because the viewing field of a conventional light microscope is considered to be large enough to minimise interference from peripheral visual stimuli. Virtual microscopy, which involves the examination of digitised images of pathology specimens on computer screens, is beginning to challenge the central role of light microscopy as a diagnostic tool in cytopathology. The relatively narrow visual angle offered by virtual microscopy makes it conceivable that users of these systems will be more vulnerable to visual interference. Using a variant of a visual distraction paradigm (the Eriksen flanker task), the aim of this study was to determine whether the accuracy and speed of the interpretation of cells on a central target screen are affected by images of cells and text displayed on neighbouring monitors under realistic reading room conditions.

METHODS

Following a brief period of training, 31 cytology novices undertook four cell interpretation tests under different conditions of visual distraction. Error rates were measured under each condition.

RESULTS

There was no effect of visual distraction on diagnostic accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

To the extent that the results from cytology novices extend to experienced practitioners, visual distraction is an unlikely source of error in virtual microscopy. Efficient visual selection and spatial attention, coupled with the high perceptual load of target images and the peripheral location of distractors, provide plausible explanations for the observed results.

Mental arithmetic and non-speech office noise: an exploration of interference-by-content

An interference-by-content account of auditory distraction - in which the impairment to task performance derives from the similarity of what is being recalled and what is being ignored - was explored concerning mental arithmetic performance. Participants completed both a serial recall and a mental arithmetic task in the presence of quiet, office noise with speech (OS) and office noise without speech (ONS). Both tasks revealed that the two office noise condition's significantly impaired performance. That the ONS produced this deficit suggests that an interference-by-content account cannot explain impairment to mental arithmetic performance by background sound.

Short Article: Syntax and Serial Recall: How Language Supports Short-Term Memory for Order

The extent to which familiar syntax supports short-term serial recall of visually presented six-item sequences was shown by the superior recall of lists in which item pairs appeared in the order of “adjective–noun” (items 1–2, 3–4, 5–6)—congruent with English syntax—compared to when the order of items within pairs was reversed. The findings complement other evidence suggesting that short-term memory is an assemblage of language processing and production processes more than it is a bespoke short-term memory storage system.

Reduction in auditory distraction by retrieval strategy

Most research on auditory distraction on task performance focuses on those features of the sound that determine a drop in efficiency, with scant regard for examining the processing properties inherent in the focal task. We report how one such property, retrieval strategy, can also influence the degree of disruption by background sound. Using a task that called for the retrieval of realistic train journey information, we showed that retrieval by categories of verbal sequences was not susceptible to disruption by office sound - 65-75 dB(A). However, versions of the task requiring either free or serial recall showed evidence of disruption, a pattern of results consistent with the changing-state account of the irrelevant sound effect, which highlights the key role of serial rehearsal in determining disruption.

The prevalence of alcohol intoxication in the night-time economy

AIM

To assess the prevalence of alcohol misuse in the night-time economy.

METHOD

A random sample of 893 people were interviewed and breathalysed in 24 repeated, cross-sectional surveys over the course of a year in the city centre streets of a European capital city between 11.00 pm and 3.00 am.

RESULTS

Median blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in men was 0.13% (min = 0%, max = 0.33%) and in women was 0.09% (min = 0%, max = 0.27%)-which were below the threshold used to indicate 'at risk BAC' (0.15%; for men t = 9.32, P < 0.001 and for women t = 17.54, P < 0.001). Men provided higher BACs than women (t = 7.17, P < 0.001). The relationship between age and BAC for men described an inverted 'u', peaking at 29 years, but for women the relationship was positive and linear. BAC was inversely related to the ability to remember and report the evening's consumption (z = 4.76, P < 0.001). Reported consumption predicted only 12% (P < 0.001) of the variance in BAC for men and 10% (P < 0.001) for women.

CONCLUSION

'At risk' intoxication was apparent only in a minority of drinkers, who were mostly employed men in their late twenties, but a third of men and half of women had consumed more than the recommended daily limit. The probability for respondents to recall past consumption diminished as BAC increased suggesting self-report data are not suitable to assess consumption in heavy drinkers. Breath analysis surveys are valuable in understanding alcohol misuse in the night-time economy.

Identifying drunkenness in the night-time economy

BACKGROUND

Prohibiting the sale of alcohol to intoxicated patrons by licensees and their staff requires definitions of drunkenness.

AIMS

To assess the relationship between blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and indicators used in field sobriety tests putatively associated with intoxication. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, SETTING, MATERIAL AND METHODS: A random sample of 314 female and 579 male city centre drinkers. Surveyors scored respondents' and non-respondents' gait, eyes and speech for signs of drunkenness as well as their drunkenness on a 10-point Likert scale. Breath analysis was used to determine respondents' BAC.

FINDINGS

Combinations of slurred speech, staggering gait and glazed eyes significantly predicted levels of BAC with a staggering gait indicating highest levels of intoxication.

CONCLUSIONS

Subjective ratings of drunkenness by trained observers corresponded with BAC. Transition BACs denoting observable behaviour change associated with intoxication have been identified. Observations of gait, combined with assessment of slurred speech should be the basis of estimates of drunkenness.

Frequency versus probability formats in statistical word problems

Three experiments examined people's ability to incorporate base rate information when judging posterior probabilities. Specifically, we tested the (Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1996). Are humans good intuitive statisticians after all? Rethinking some conclusions from the literature on judgement under uncertainty. Cognition, 58, 1-73) conclusion that people's reasoning appears to follow Bayesian principles when they are presented with information in a frequency format, but not when information is presented as one case probabilities. First, we found that frequency formats were not generally associated with better performance than probability formats unless they were presented in a manner which facilitated construction of a set inclusion mental model. Second, we demonstrated that the use of frequency information may promote biases in the weighting of information. When participants are asked to express their judgements in frequency rather than probability format, they were more likely to produce the base rate as their answer, ignoring diagnostic evidence.