6,374 research outputs found
A Spark Of Emotion: The Impact of Electrical Facial Muscle Activation on Emotional State and Affective Processing
Facial feedback, which involves the brain receiving information about the activation of facial muscles, has the potential to influence our emotional states and judgments. The extent to which this applies is still a matter of debate, particularly considering a failed replication of a seminal study. One factor contributing to the lack of replication in facial feedback effects may be the imprecise manipulation of facial muscle activity in terms of both degree and timing. To overcome these limitations, this thesis proposes a non-invasive method for inducing precise facial muscle contractions, called facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES). I begin by presenting a systematic literature review that lays the groundwork for standardising the use of fNMES in psychological research, by evaluating its application in existing studies. This review highlights two issues, the lack of use of fNMES in psychology research and the lack of parameter reporting. I provide practical recommendations for researchers interested in implementing fNMES. Subsequently, I conducted an online experiment to investigate participants' willingness to participate in fNMES research. This experiment revealed that concerns over potential burns and involuntary muscle movements are significant deterrents to participation. Understanding these anxieties is critical for participant management and expectation setting. Subsequently, two laboratory studies are presented that investigated the facial FFH using fNMES. The first study showed that feelings of happiness and sadness, and changes in peripheral physiology, can be induced by stimulating corresponding facial muscles with 5–seconds of fNMES. The second experiment showed that fNMES-induced smiling alters the perception of ambiguous facial emotions, creating a bias towards happiness, and alters neural correlates of face processing, as measured with event-related potentials (ERPs). In summary, the thesis presents promising results for testing the facial feedback hypothesis with fNMES and provides practical guidelines and recommendations for researchers interested in using fNMES for psychological research
Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea
ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK
Analytical validation of innovative magneto-inertial outcomes: a controlled environment study.
peer reviewe
Análisis global y local de la predicción mediante Potenciales Relacionados con Eventos. Aplicación al Trastorno del Espectro Autista
Bajo la perspectiva teórica de la codificación predictiva, el cerebro humano funciona como una sofisticada máquina que está constantemente evaluando las características de los estímulos percibidos y la relación existente entre ellos, con el objetivo de extraer nuevos patrones de diferentes niveles de abstracción para anticipar el siguiente evento. Esta dinámica automática de generación o modificación de las predicciones con el fin de dirigir la atención y ajustar la respuesta, es considerada uno de los procesos psicofisiológicos más fundamentales que existen, por lo que su alteración está relacionada con diversas patologías.
El presente trabajo describe dos estudios desarrollados mediante EEG, en los que fueron analizados (i) la habituación y discriminación auditiva preatencional mostrada por un grupo de niños con TEA en comparación con uno control, y (ii) el establecimiento y actualización de las predicciones desarrolladas por un grupo de adultos sanos en paradigmas de diferente complejidad. Para conseguir estos objetivos, todos los sujetos registrados en ambos estudios recibieron una estimulación auditiva pasiva similar a la del tipo Oddball, aunque las características y la organización de los estímulos fueron diferentes en ambos experimentos.
La estimulación auditiva presentada en el estudio de TEA estuvo compuesta por tonos generados electrónicamente o producidos por una cantante profesional, con el objetivo de investigar si la alteración en el desarrollo del lenguaje, típicamente descrita para estos niños, es causada por un déficit selectivo al procesar las características internas de la voz humana. Los componentes analizados para el estudio del TEA fueron el P1 y la MMN. Los niños con TEA presentaron una menor amplitud para los componentes P1 y MMN en comparación con el grupo control, lo cual sugiere una habituación y
discriminación auditivas reducidas tanto para el sonido electrónico como el humano. Dado que la MMN también se ha relacionado con la codificación predictiva, los sujetos con TEA tendrían disminuida esta capacidad.
El diseño experimental presentado al grupo adulto sano estuvo compuesto por dos paradigmas experimentales diferentes según el nivel de abstracción requerido para extraer un patrón: en un caso, la predicción dependía de las características físicas de los estímulos presentados (las frecuencias de los tonos) mientras que, en el otro caso, dependía de su organización (la dirección ascendente o descendente de las secuencias de tonos). Un componente similar a la MMN (“MMN-like”) y uno lento (posiblemente una Postimperative Negative Variation, PINV) fueron analizados con el objetivo de comprobar la hipótesis de la codificación predictiva. Los resultados obtenidos son detallados en dos artículos. Estos componentes registrados en población adulta fueron, primero, propuestos como una MMN y una Slow Preceding Negativity (SPN) y, posteriormente, reconceptualizados en el segundo artículo como un N1 tardío y una PINV. Ambos componentes se desarrollaban en la latencia de la MMN y el intervalo entre ensayos, respectivamente.
Los resultados obtenidos en la investigación realizada en el grupo adulto, mostraron una mayor amplitud ante los ensayos desviantes y el paradigma más complejo, en ambos componentes analizados, lo que sugiere que están involucrados en el establecimiento y actualización de las predicciones basadas no solo en las características físicas de los estímulos, sino también en reglas abstractas. Además, tanto el N1 tardío como la PINV presentaron respuestas de diferente amplitud dependiendo del ensayo previamente presentado, lo que sugeriría una actualización continua de los ensayos, hasta donde sabemos, no descrita para estos componentes en la literatura previa
Recommended from our members
The Monogenic Architecture of Retinal and Neurological Diseases
Monogenic diseases, or single-gene disorders, are clinical manifestations that can be traced to genetic variation in a single gene that alters the biologically intended (wildtype) function of its protein (or mRNA) product. Although the causal gene and its function are well-understood in many monogenic diseases, this knowledge alone often does not fully encapsulate the extensive clinical spectrum of phenotypes seen in patients. This is due in part to the numerous types of pathogenic variants that can arise in a single gene, all of which can have distinct effects on disease expression. Understanding the relationship between the vast number of possible genotypes and corresponding disease phenotypes defines a gene’s monogenic disease architecture—an important but poorly understood concept that can yield informative mechanistic and clinical insight.
This doctoral dissertation integrates traditional sequencing approaches with in-depth characterization of patient phenotypes to elucidate the monogenic disease architecture of three etiologically distinct disorders: retinal degeneration caused by autosomal recessive variation in ABCA4 and neurodevelopmental disease entities caused by autosomal dominant variants in CERT1 and PUM1. Genetic modifiers are identified as a significant factor in the penetrance of the major disease-causing allele of ABCA4 and several other genetic inconsistencies are resolved to create a coherent genotype-phenotype model for the disease. Insight from this model is then applied to demonstrate the effect of allele differences in disease progression and evaluation of treatment efficacy in patients. A large cohort of affected individuals with CERT1 variation is assembled to (1) validate the causal role of CERT1 in disease, (2) delineate the precise mechanism of CERT protein dysfunction in sphingolipid metabolism and (3) demonstrate therapeutic efficacy of an inhibitor compound for a newly described syndrome.
Finally, the mutational spectrum of PUM1 is expanded to previously unattributed variant classes with unexpected pathophysiological consequences to patients. Not only do the findings in this dissertation advance the prospects of delivering personalized, precision medicine to patients, the overall impact underscores the importance of this integrated approach in reconciling knowledge gaps between observations at the molecular and organismal level
Keep Your Eyes above the Ball: Investigation of Virtual Reality (VR) Assistive Gaming for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Visual Training
Humans are beyond all visual beings since most of the outside information is gathered through the visual system. When the aging process starts, visual functional damages become more and more common and the risk of developing visual impairment is higher. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the main afflictions that leads to severe damage to the optical system due to the aging process. The ones affected lose the ability to use the central part of vision, essential for accurate visual information processing.
Even if less accurate, peripheral vision remains unaffected, hence medical experts have developed training procedures to train patients to use peripheral vision instead to navigate their environment and continue their daily lives. This type of training is called eccentric viewing. However, there are several shortcomings in current approaches, such as not being engaging or individualizable enough nor cost and time-effective.
The main scope of this dissertation was to find out if more engaging and individualizable methods can be used for peripheral training of AMD patients. The current work used virtual reality (VR) gaming to deliver AMD training; the first time such an approach was used for eccentric viewing training. In combination with eye-tracking, real-time individualized assistance was also achieved. Thanks to an integrated eye-tracker in the headset, concentric gaze-contingent stimuli were used to redirect the eyes toward an eccentric location. The concentric feature allowed participants to choose freely and individually their peripheral focus point.
One study investigated the feasibility a VR system for individualized visual training of ophthalmic patients, two studies investigated two types of peripheral stimuli (three spatial cues and two optical distortions) and the last study was a case study looking into the feasibility of such an approach for a patient with late AMD.
Changes in gaze directionality were observed in all the last three studies for one specific spatial cue, a concentric ring. In accordance with the literature, the gaze was directed spontaneously toward the most effective peripheral position. The last study additionally proved gaming feasible for future testing of the elderly AMD population. The current work opened the road to more individualized and engaging interventions for eccentric viewing training for late AMD
- …