The art of self‐testing by attempting cryptic crosswords in later life: the effect of cryptic crosswords on memory self‐efficacy, metacognition and memory functioning

YesPrevious research has suggested that older adults who are more cognitively active in later life show an attenuation in cognitive decline in healthy aging. Furthermore, cognitive intervention studies have indicated that ecologically valid cognitive interventions can promote cognitive functioning but only in taskspecific abilities. Since it has been shown that the art of self‐testing can promote metacognitive awareness in older adults, attempting cryptic crosswords may be used as a cognitive intervention for older adults. In Experiments 1 and 2, a questionnaire technique was used and demonstrated that older adults became more aware of their episodic memory deficits after attempting cryptic crossword clues. Based on this, Experiment 3 used an intervention technique over a six‐week period to investigate whether such awareness enabled older adults to improve cognitive functioning in a number of domains. This experiment used a revolutionary within‐subjects technique to control for potential mediating factors. The results supported previous research in that older adults showed an increase in the monitoring pathway of metacognition but were unable to use this enhanced awareness to change their behaviour when undertaking objective tests of cognitive ability. Post‐hoc analysis highlighted subgroups of older adults who showed improvements in certain cognitive abilities, such as episodic memory functioning and judgement of learning abilities. The standard clinical trial technique might be inappropriate when testing either cognitive interventions or pharmacological tests. The within‐subjects approach could be adapted to investigate follow‐up effects of different types of interventions including ecologically valid cognitive interventions.Harold Hyman Wingate Foundatio

Effects of aging and recall of common and uncommon first names using the face-name association technique compared with the pure-lists technique over repeated trials

YesBackground: The face-name association technique (FNAT) is commonly used to investigate name recall in nonpathologic aging. This technique is appropriate for studying anomia, but the pure-list technique, in which participants see only names and do not need to form face-name associations, might be more appropriate for studying age-related name recall. Methods: Experiment 1 recruited 60 adults (30 younger and 30 older adults) to participate in the FNAT recognition task of 30 common and 30 uncommon names. In experiment 2, the same number and demographic of participants attempted to recall 30 common and 30 uncommon names. Both experiments utilized measurements of overall recall across 5 trials and a delayed recognition or recall trial. Measures of encoding (gained access) and consolidation (lost access) were also taken for the 5 initial trials in both experiments. Older participants received 50% extra study and recognition/recall time. Results: The FNAT experiment revealed an age-related episodic memory deficit for names. However, in cued recall, encoding, consolidation, retention/retrieval, and false alarm tests, older adults were significantly better than younger adults at recalling uncommon names, as opposed to common names. This lends support to the inhibition theory of name recall. Conversely, our second experiment revealed no age effect on any factors of name memory functioning, supporting node structure theory. Conclusions: The results of our experiments support previous findings that suggest an age-related deficit in name recall, but only in cases of anomia. Therefore, the FNAT methodology may be inappropriate for studying age-related name recall. It is possible that names are stored in the memory differently from nouns. We challenge the belief that older adults are significantly less able to recall names compared with other word types, which has implications for both memory self-efficacy questionnaires and research into eye-witness testimonies

In my life: memory, self and The Beatles

© 2024 Informa UK Limited. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2314510In a large-scale study, we asked people for their memories of The Beatles. Over four thousand respondents completed an online questionnaire. The memory could be related to a song, album, event, TV, film, or even a personal encounter. Respondents judged the age at which the event remembered had occurred and rated the memory for vividness, emotional intensity, valence and rehearsal. We found 38% of the memories were classified as “seeing The Beatles live”, 25% “buying Beatles music”, 20% “love of The Beatles” and 17% of the memories were “listening to Beatles songs with other people” – what we refer to as cascading memories. Among the younger respondents (aged 26 and under), 84% of the memories were cascading in nature. The memories dated to what we term the “self-defining period” in autobiographical memory (previously termed “the reminiscence bump”), with a mean age-at-encoding of 13.6 years, which is consistent with other studies of memories associated with music. We propose that these memories reflect the formation of generational identity [Mannheim, K. (1952). The problem of generations. In K. Mannheim (Ed.), Essays on the sociology knowledge (pp. 276–321). Routledge & Keegan Paul].Peer reviewe

Fictional first memories

YesIn a large-scale survey, 6,641 respondents provided descriptions of their first memory and their age when they encoded that memory, and they completed various memory judgments and ratings. In good agreement with many other studies, where mean age at encoding of earliest memories is usually found to fall somewhere in the first half of the 3rd year of life, the mean age at encoding here was 3.2 years. The established view is that the distribution around mean age at encoding is truncated, with very few or no memories dating to the preverbal period, that is, below about 2 years of age. However, we found that 2,487 first memories (nearly 40% of the entire sample) dated to an age at encoding of 2 years and younger, with 893 dating to 1 year and younger. We discuss how such improbable, fictional first memories could have arisen and contrast them with more probable first memories, those with an age at encoding of 3 years and older

Semantics, syntax or neither? A case for resolution in the interpretation of N500 and P600 responses to harmonic incongruities.

The processing of notes and chords which are harmonically incongruous with their context has been shown to elicit two distinct late ERP effects. These effects strongly resemble two effects associated with the processing of linguistic incongruities: a P600, resembling a typical response to syntactic incongruities in language, and an N500, evocative of the N400, which is typically elicited in response to semantic incongruities in language. Despite the robustness of these two patterns in the musical incongruity literature, no consensus has yet been reached as to the reasons for the existence of two distinct responses to harmonic incongruities. This study was the first to use behavioural and ERP data to test two possible explanations for the existence of these two patterns: the musicianship of listeners, and the resolved or unresolved nature of the harmonic incongruities. Results showed that harmonically incongruous notes and chords elicited a late positivity similar to the P600 when they were embedded within sequences which started and ended in the same key (harmonically resolved). The notes and chords which indicated that there would be no return to the original key (leaving the piece harmonically unresolved) were associated with a further P600 in musicians, but with a negativity resembling the N500 in non-musicians. We suggest that the late positivity reflects the conscious perception of a specific element as being incongruous with its context and the efforts of musicians to integrate the harmonic incongruity into its local context as a result of their analytic listening style, while the late negativity reflects the detection of the absence of resolution in non-musicians as a result of their holistic listening style

Unpacking the enabling factors for hand, cord and birth-surface hygiene in Zanzibar maternity units.

Recent national surveys in The United Republic of Tanzania have revealed poor standards of hygiene at birth in facilities. As more women opt for institutional delivery, improving basic hygiene becomes an essential part of preventative strategies for reducing puerperal and newborn sepsis. Our collaborative research in Zanzibar provides an in-depth picture of the state of hygiene on maternity wards to inform action. Hygiene was assessed in 2014 across all 37 facilities with a maternity unit in Zanzibar. We used a mixed methods approach, including structured and semi-structured interviews, and environmental microbiology. Data were analysed according to the WHO 'cleans' framework, focusing on the fundamental practices for prevention of newborn and maternal sepsis. For each 'clean' we explored the following enabling factors: knowledge, infrastructure (including equipment), staffing levels and policies. Composite indices were constructed for the enabling factors of the 'cleans' from the quantitative data: clean hands, cord cutting, and birth surface. Results from the qualitative tools were used to complement this information.Only 49% of facilities had the 'infrastructural' requirements to enable 'clean hands', with the availability of constant running water particularly lacking. Less than half (46%) of facilities met the 'knowledge' requirements for ensuring a 'clean delivery surface'; six out of seven facilities had birthing surfaces that tested positive for multiple potential pathogens. Almost two thirds of facilities met the 'infrastructure (equipment) requirement' for 'clean cord'; however, disposable cord clamps being frequently out of stock, often resulted in the use of non-sterile thread made of fabric. This mixed methods approach, and the analytical framework based on the WHO 'cleans' and the enabling factors, yielded practical information of direct relevance to action at local and ministerial levels. The same approach could be applied to collect and analyse data on infection prevention from maternity units in other contexts

Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome: Chest X-ray or lung ultrasound? A systematic review

Background and aim: Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) is a leading cause of morbidity in preterm new-born babies (< 37 weeks gestation age [GA]). The current diagnostic reference standard includes clinical testing and chest radiography (CXR) with associated exposure to ionising radiation. The aim of this review was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasound (LUS) against the reference standard in symptomatic neonates of ≤ 42 weeks GA. Methods: A systematic search of literature published between 1990 and 2016 identified 803 potentially relevant studies. Six studies met the review inclusion criteria and were retrieved for analysis. Quality assessment was performed before data extraction and meta-analysis. Results: Four prospective cohort studies and two case control studies included 480 neonates. All studies were of moderate methodological quality although heterogeneity was evident across the studies. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of LUS were 97% (95% confidence interval [CI] 94%-99%) and 91% (CI: 86%-95%) respectively. False positive diagnoses were made in sixteen cases due to pneumonia (n=8), transient tachypnoea (n=3), pneumothorax (n=1) and meconium aspiration syndrome (n=1); the diagnoses of the remaining three false positive results were not specified. False negatives diagnoses occurred in nine cases, only two were specified as air-leak syndromes. Conclusions: LUS was highly sensitive for the detection of NRDS although there is potential to miss co-morbid air-leak syndromes (ALS). Further research into LUS diagnostic accuracy for neonatal ALS and economic modelling for service integration is required before LUS can replace CXR as the imaging component of the reference standard

Moderate intensity exercise training combined with inulin-propionate ester supplementation increases whole body resting fat oxidation in overweight women

Background: Our previous work has shown that oral supplementation with inulin propionate ester (IPE) reduces intra-abdominal fat and prevents weight gain and that oral propionate intake enhances resting fat oxidation. The effects of IPE combined with exercise training on energy substrate utilisation are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of 4-weeks IPE supplementation, in combination with a moderate intensity exercise training programme, on whole body fat oxidation and on plasma GLP-1 and PYY. Methods: Twenty overweight healthy women participated in randomised parallel study and underwent 4 weeks of supervised exercise training either with IPE (EX/IPE group) or Placebo (EX/Placebo group) supplementation. Before and after the intervention participants conducted an experimental trial, which involved collection of expired gas and blood samples in the fasted state and during 7 h of the postprandial state. Results: Within groups, the EX/IPE group significantly enhanced the amount of fat (Pre, 24.1 ± 1.2 g; Post, 35.9 ± 4.0 g, P &lt; .05) oxidised and reduced CHO (Pre, 77.8 ± 6.0 g; Post, 57.8 ± 7.7 g, P &lt; .05) oxidised, reduced body weight (Pre, 77.3 ± 4.2 kg; Post, 76.6 ± 4.1 kg, P &lt; .05) and body fat mass (Pre, 37.7 ± 1.9%; Post, 36.9 ± 1.9%, P &lt; .05). In EX/Placebo group, changes in amount of fat (Pre, 36.8 ± 3.9 g; Post, 37.0 ± 4.0 g) and CHO (Pre, 62.7 ± 6.5 g; Post, 61.5 ± 7.4 g) oxidised, body weight (Pre, 84.2 ± 4.3 kg; Post, 83.6 ± 4.3 kg) and body fat mass (Pre, 40.1 ± 1.9%; Post, 38.7 ± 1.5%) were not significant (P &gt; .05). Comparing between groups, changes in the amount of fat oxidised were significantly (P &lt; .05) different and a trend for difference was observed for amount of CHO oxidised (P = .06) and RER (P = .06). The interventions had no impact on fasting or postprandial plasma concentrations of GLP-1 and PYY. Conclusion: Moderate intensity exercise training programmes when combined with daily oral IPE supplementation may help overweight women to achieve increase in fat oxidation. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04016350