Reduced attentional inhibition for peripheral distractors of angry faces under central perceptual load in deaf individuals: evidence from an event-related potentials study

BackgroundStudies have shown that deaf individuals distribute more attention to the peripheral visual field and exhibit enhanced visual processing for peripheral stimuli relative to hearing individuals. This leads to better detection of peripheral target motion and simple static stimuli in hearing individuals. However, when threatening faces that represent dangerous signals appear as non-targets in the periphery, it remains unclear whether deaf individuals would retain an advantage over hearing individuals in detecting them.MethodsIn this study, 23 deaf and 28 hearing college students were included. A modified perceptual load paradigm and event-related potentials (ERPs) were adopted. In the task, participants were instructed to search for a target letter in a central letter array, while task-irrelevant face distractors (happy, neutral, and angry faces) were simultaneously presented in the periphery while the central perceptual load was manipulated.ResultsBehavioral data showed that angry faces slowed deaf participants' responses to the target while facilitating the responses of hearing participants. At the electrophysiological level, we found modulation of P1 amplitude by central load only in hearing individuals. Interestingly, larger interference from angry face distractors was associated with higher P1 differential amplitude only in deaf individuals. Additionally, the amplitude of N170 for happy face distractors was smaller than that for angry and neutral face distractors in deaf participants.ConclusionThe present data demonstrates that, despite being under central perceptual load, deaf individuals exhibit less attentional inhibition to peripheral, goal-irrelevant angry faces than hearing individuals. The result may reflect a compensatory mechanism in which, in the absence of auditory alertness to danger, the detection of visually threatening information outside of the current attentional focus has a high priority

A literature-derived dataset on risk factors for dry eye disease

Abstract Dry eye disease (DED) is a common disease associated with disorder of tear secretion. Research on risk factors for DED, such as depression, arthritis, thyroid disease, stroke and diabetes, is important to facilitate its diagnosis and prognosis. We created a dataset on risk factors for DED (DrDED) with public access that can provide up-to-date and validated data acquired from systematically searched and screened, high-quality studies. The established DrDED contained 119 studies published between 2000 and 2022. The range of the study sample size was from 43 to 4,871,504. The study types were, as follows: cross-sectional (n = 92), retrospective cohort (n = 9), prospective cohort (n = 10), and case-control (n = 8) studies. Data from eligible studies were collected and presented for the present study, including the publication information, study characteristics, definition and prevalence of the disease, and risk factors for DED, together with the strength of association. With the publication of new relevant studies, the DrDED will be updated, and the data will be made accessible to the users. Design Type(s) Dataset creation objective Measurement Type(s) Patient outcome • scientific publication • risk factors • dry eye disease Technology Type(s) Digital curation • documenting • meta-analysis Factor Type(s) Depression • arthritis • thyroid disease • stroke disease • diabetes Sample Characteristic(s) Homo sapiens • dry eye disease • globa

Bridging the links between Big Five personality traits and problematic smartphone use: A network analysis

Background: Existing research has demonstrated that problematic smartphone use (PSU) may reflect a composition of heterogeneous symptoms, with individual PSU symptoms uniquely related to predisposing variables. The Big Five personality traits represent one of the most frequently examined predisposing variables in relation to PSU. However, no studies to date have examined the trait-tosymptom association between the Big Five personality traits and PSU. Using a network analysis approach, we aimed to understand: 1) specific pathways linking each of the Big Five personality traits to PSU symptoms and 2) the bridging effects of each Big Five personality trait on the PSU symptom cluster. Methods: A regularised graphical Gaussian model was estimated among 1,849 Chinese university students. PSU symptoms were assessed with items from the Problematic Smartphone Use Scale. Facets of the Big Five personality traits were assessed with the subscales of the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory-15. An empirical index (i.e., bridge expected influence) was used to quantify bridge nodes. Results: Results revealed specific and distinct pathways between the Big Five personality traits and PSU symptoms (e.g., Neuroticism-Escapism/Avoidance, Conscientiousness-Preoccupation and Extraversion-Escapism/Avoidance). Further, Neuroticism showed the highest positive bridge centrality among the Big Five personality traits, while Conscientiousness had the highest negative bridge centrality. Discussion and conclusions: The current study provided direct empirical evidence concerning specific pathways between the Big Five personality traits and PSU symptoms and highlighted the influential role of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness as potential targets for early detection and treatment of PSU