Startle responding in the context of visceral pain

This study aimed to investigate affective modulation of eye blink startle by aversive visceral stimulation. Startle blink EMG responses were measured in 31 healthy participants receiving painful, intermittent balloon distentions in the distal esophagus during 4 blocks (positive, negative, neutral or no pictures), and compared with startles during 3 ‘safe’ blocks without esophageal stimulations (positive, negative or neutral emotional pictures). Women showed enhanced startle during blocks with distentions (as compared with ‘safe’ blocks), both when the balloon was in inflated and deflated states, suggesting that fear and/or expectations may have played a role. Men's startle did not differ between distention and non-distention blocks. In this particular study context affective picture viewing did not further impose any effect on startle eye blink responses. The current results may contribute to a better understanding of emotional reactions to aversive interoceptive stimulation

Slower tempo makes worse performance? The effect of musical tempo on cognitive processing speed

The effects of musical tempo on cognitive processing speed were investigated, and the mediating effect of arousal was empirically tested. In an experiment, participants were divided into fast tempo, slow tempo, and no-music groups and completed three cognitive processing speed tests measuring motor speed, visuospatial processing speed, and linguistic processing speed. The results indicated a significant effect of musical tempo on processing speed and task performance in all three tasks. The slow-tempo group exhibited slower processing speed and worse performance than the no-music group in all three tasks. The fast tempo group displayed no significant difference in processing speed or performance compared with the no-music group. In the linguistic processing task, those who listened to slow-tempo music had better accuracy than those in the other conditions. Arousal did not mediate the relationship between musical tempo and cognitive processing speed

Perceções sobre o ruído e desempenho de tarefas do quotidiano laboral

Mestrado em Gestão e Avaliação em Tecnologias da SaúdeIntrodução: O ruído tem sido amplamente estudado como fator de risco ocupacional, pelo seu potencial impacto na saúde e na seguraça dos trabalhadores. Para além dos efeitos fisiológicos conhecidos, como a perda auditiva, o ruído tem impacto significativo noutros aspetos, tais como o desempenho laboral. Objetivos: Estudar a associação entre o ruído e o desempenho de tarefas do quotidiano laboral numa instituição com foco em atividades de investigação científica, descrevendo a perceção do ruído, identificando as tarefas adversamente afetadas pelo mesmo, determinando os níveis de exposição sonora dos trabalhadores e estudando a associação entre as diferentes variáveis. Método: Estudo quantitativo correlacional com recurso a um questionário de autopreenchimento, criado na plataforma online Google Forms e avaliação quantitativa dos níveis de exposição diária ao ruído (LEX,8h) e níveis de pressão sonora de pico (LCpico), com recurso a um sonómetro. Analisaram-se os dados através do programa SPSS® 22. Conclusões: Apesar dos valores do nível de exposição sonora estarem dentro dos limites legais contemplados pela legislação portuguesa, os trabalhadores afirmam ter dificuldades em completar determinadas tarefas, sendo esta perceção mais evidente em tarefas mais complexas e em determinados locais da instituição que acolheu o estudo. Do ponto de vista da qualidade, estas evidências permitirão adotar medidas de organização do trabalho com vista à diminuição do impacto da exposição ao ruído nestes trabalhadores.ABSTRACT - Introduction: Noise has been widely studied as an occupational risk factor due to its impact on health and safety of workers. Besides all the physiological effects of noise, such as loss of hearing, noise can also affect task performance. Objectives: This study intended to evaluate the association between noise and task performance on a research institute, by describing noise perception, identifying tasks that are adversely affected by noise, defining noise levels and noise exposure of workers, and studying the association between different variables.Method: Quantitative, correlational study, using an online auto-fulfillment questionnaire created with Google Forms and quantification of daily noise exposure (LEX,8h) and peak sound level (Lpeak) by using a sound level meter. All data were analyzed with the analytics software SPSS®22. Conclusions: Even though noise levels and noise exposure are in accordance with the ones defined by Portuguese legislation, workers identified difficulties on task performance, especially on more complex tasks. From the point of view of quality assessment, this evidence may help organizations manage workflow and create an intervention to lessen the impact of noise exposure.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of broadband noise on dynamic decision-making and the moderators that influence this effect

Noise and workload are both stressors. Stressors are known to affect cognitive performance. While the effect of workload on cognition is widely known, the effect of noise is less understood. Broadband noise at moderate levels (<85 dBA) is typical in many workplaces. Dynamic decision-making (DDM), a complex cognitive task, is required in many workplace settings where moderate broadband noise is present. Understanding how stressors such as noise affect DDM is essential, especially in safety critical professions such as aviation and emergency response. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to understand the effect of moderate broadband noise on DDM and the moderators that can influence the extent of that effect. Study 1, the first of the three studies, was a systematic review for the effect of moderate broadband noise on cognition such as reaction time, attention, short-term memory, long-term memory and high(er)-order cognitive tasks such as DDM. The findings showed that no previous studies investigated the effect of moderate broadband noise on DDM. Study 2, the first of two empirical studies examined the link between noise at 75 dBA, sex, workload, and session on DDM (performance and learning). Study 3 introduced the moderator of financial incentive and additional instructions. The results indicated females’ performance in DDM was affected by noise at low workload, but not high workload. Males were overall unaffected by noise regardless of the workload level. In terms of learning, noise initially impaired females’ performance, however this was overcome in Day 2. The added instruction had the same positive effect on learning performance, as it neutralised the noise effect. Monetary incentives did not moderate the noise stressor. These results highlight the detrimental effect of the stressor noise on DDM, and how its effect on sex can be offset by clear training instructions. The effect of noise can be beneficial to performance in the presence of another stressor, such as high workload, which is supported by theories such as Arousal Theory and Maximal Adaptability Theory. From applied perspective, this finding implies that noise can be a tool to facilitate performance in high workload