The Efficacy of a Modified Trier Social Stress Test as Indicated by Heart Rate Variability

This study was conducted as part of a larger project assessing the impacts of meditation on state and trait physiological stress responses in a college population. College students face a tremendous amount of stress which could result in detrimental health implications and affect academic performance. The overall goal of the project is to assess the impacts of meditation on students\u27 psychophysiological stress, academic performance, and overall well-being. In order to elicit a physiological stress response in the laboratory setting we used a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Our version substituted the mock interview portion with verbal analogy questions from previous GRE exams. The math stressor section remained the same as in the original TSST. This paper specifically focuses on the efficacy of our modified TSST as indicated by normalized high frequency heart rate variability (HF HRV) using pulse photoplethysmography (PPG). This analysis method has been shown to be a measure of parasympathetic activity. Thus, we expected normalized HF HRV to decrease during verbal and math stressor intervals. Phase one of the study consisted of a one-day meditation workshop and testing days pre- and post-workshop. The normalized HF HRV data from post-workshop testing showed a significant decrease from baseline to the math stressor interval. However, no significant difference was seen between baseline and verbal stressor intervals (n=6). This indicates that our modified TSST was partially effective in eliciting a stress response. Phase two of the study involves a semester-long compassion seminar course entitled Religion 250: Seminar in Compassion. Testing was conducted during finals week preceding the course. Post-compassion seminar data will be collected in April during finals week, but pre-seminar data showed a significant decrease in normalized HF HRV from baseline to the verbal stressor interval. However, no significant difference was seen from baseline to the math stressor interval (n=17). This indicates that our modified TSST was partially effective in eliciting a stress response. When post-seminar data is collected we can analyze the effects of the compassion seminar course on state and trait physiological stress responses in a college population

Exercise in Individuals with Down Syndrome: A Brief Review

International Journal of Exercise Science 8(2): 192-201, 2015. Research examining acute and long-term responses to exercise of individuals with Downs Syndrome (DS) is sparse. However, if this group experiences benefits associated with improved quantity or quality of life, it would be important to elucidate specific responses and discourage adoption of a sedentary lifestyle in individuals with DS. Specifically, these individuals have multiple blunted physiological responses to exercise both at the onset and termination of an acute exercise bout. Mechanistically, this could be rooted in hormonal responses which are blunted, in comparison to non-DS participants. Specific studies indicate individuals with DS appear to experience benefits in such hormonal responses, in response to short term (~12 weeks) participation in exercise programs. Damage due to oxidative stress is greater in individuals with DS, as the gene for superoxide dismutase lies on chromosome 21. Current research suggests exercise training can also improve oxidative stress in this population. Although less well-understood, there is potential for improved motor learning in individuals with DS as a result of exercise participation. This paper provides a brief review discussing current research on how individuals with DS respond to exercise. Further, a link is made advocating that blunted acute responses may result in elevated perceptions regarding difficulty of exercise, which in turn contributes to increased likelihood of having a sedentary lifestyle. Adverse effects have not been identified, and with no theoretical arguments against exercise participation, it is concluded that adaptive exercise programs for individuals with DS should be implemented for improving health and quality of life

Multiple Models Can Concurrently Explain Fatigue During Human Performance

One of the most commonly and thoroughly studied paradigms of human performance is fatigue. However, despite volumes of research there remains considerable controversy among scientists regarding definitive conclusions about the specific mechanism(s) contributing to fatigue. Within the literature there are three primary yet distinctly different governing ideas of fatigue; the traditionally referenced central model and peripheral model as well as the emerging central governor model (CGM). The CGM has recently been advocated by a limited number of researchers and is suggestive of a more integrative model of fatigue when compared the traditional peripheral and central models. However, more work is needed to determine the specific and perhaps synergistic roles of each paradigm during exercise or sport activity. This article contains three components; (1) a brief overview of the problems associated with defining fatigue, (2) a description of the models governing interpretation of fatigue and, (3) a presentation of multiple interpretations of selected data to demonstrate that some results can be reasonably explained using multiple models of fatigue, often concurrently. The purposes of this paper are to reveal that a) perhaps it is not the results that suggest a certain paradigm of regulation, yet that it may be a product of an a priori definition that is being employed and b) an integrative model of central and peripheral fatigue may present a plausible explanation for fatigue vs. adherence to the notion that each paradigm is mutually exclusive

A Qualitative Study of Spatial Strategies in Blind and Low Vision Individuals

Spatial ability is an intelligence that has been strongly correlated with success in engineering, science, math, and technology fields. Studies have shown that individuals demonstrating high spatial ability perform at a higher level than their peers in academia as well as in STEM careers. Past studies have demonstrated that spatial ability can be learned and maintained through spatial interventions. The creation of effective spatial interventions depends on a clear understanding of spatial strategies. One group that has been largely underrepresented in STEM fields is the blind and low vision (BLV) community, likely due to the lack of spatial interventions and accessible instruments for measuring spatial thinking. This research team has previously adapted a spatial ability assessment and developed the tactile mental cutting test (T-MCT). The T-MCT allows researchers to reliably assess spatial ability in BLV populations. This study seeks to qualitatively identify spatial strategies used by blind and low vision high school students in a case study conducted at a National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Engineering Quotient program. An understanding of spatial strategies employed by BLV populations will not only aid in creating more effective non-visual spatial interventions, but will also identify non-visual cognitive elements of spatial ability that may enhance spatial ability interventions for sighted populations.Presentation Time: Wednesday, 3-4 p.m

Benefits and risks of emphasis adaptation in study workflows

This paper looks at the effect of highlighting in a study plan, represented as a workflow with prerequisites. We compare the effectiveness of highlighting when the adaptation was correct (participants responded quicker and more correctly), and when it did not highlight the most relevant tasks (detrimental effect). False statements took longer to process than positive statements (deciding about things that were not in the plan), but also surprisingly had lower error rates than positive statements. These findings imply that when the system makes errors in the adaptation this is harmful, and may cause students to incorrectly believe that they do not need to do certain tasks

Body Image Dissatisfaction: Responses Between Male and Female Exercisers and Non-Exercisers

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 249-257, 2016.Body image dissatisfaction (BID) is defined as the difference between actual and desired image. Body image or BID is subject to high levels of societal pressure and discrepancies are frequent between actual and desired image. This study examined BID among male exercisers (ME), female exercisers (FE), male non-exercisers (MNE) and female non-exercisers (FNE). Further, the potential relationship of personal BID on individual’s beliefs regarding what their peers’ perceptions would be was examined. College-aged men (n = 169) and women (n = 246) used the Stunkard scale to self-assess body image. Participants labeled a) which silhouette they felt accurately represents their body, b) which silhouette they would like to be, c) which silhouette reflects other women’s perception of them and d) which silhouette reflects other men’s perception of them. ANOVA detected a significant difference among groups. Follow up tests revealed less dissatisfaction (score closer to zero) (p \u3c 0.05) for ME (-0.09 + 1.15) than MNE (0.61 + 1.36), FE (0.87 + 0.92) and FNE (1.13 + 1.09) and, less BID for MNE vs. FNE. Specific correlations for anticipated perceptions of male and female peers ranged from 0.05 to 0.27. Current results confirm ME desires to be larger (i.e. muscular) while MNE and females regardless of exercise status desire to be smaller. Although limited by a narrow range of dissatisfaction score, the current study suggests personal body image perceptions are not meaningfully related to what individuals anticipate their peers will think of them

What rivers did: a study of if and how rivers shaped later prehistoric lives in Britain and beyond

Countering the passive representation of rivers in many previous accounts of later prehistory – as static vessels for spectacular deposits, highways for transport and communication, and backdrops for settlement and farming – this paper asks if and how rivers actively shaped prehistoric lives. Rivers have long been hailed as conduits for prehistoric materials and ideas. However, positive archaeological correlates of the processes involved are notoriously difficult to identify and have rarely been scrutinised in detail. Using the example of Late Bronze and Early Iron Age pottery in the East of England (1150 to 350 BC), we examine in detail how prehistoric pottery making traditions cohered around river valleys over an extended time period and were thus, to a certain extent, generated by rivers. Drawing on wider evidence for the flow of people and things in this region we build a broader multidimensional account of how people, objects, and practices moved in a period of diverse lifeways in which the makeup of human mobility is not well understood. In doing so, we hope to tether abstract arguments about the active role of rivers and other non-human elements in shaping past lives, and to approach the often missing ‘middle ground’ – small-scale movements at local and regional scales – in existing archaeological discussions about mobility