Music-induced mood improves retention in visuomotor adaptation

Learning to adapt motor outputs in response to changes in sensory feedback, or sensorimotor adaptation, is crucial to rehabilitation following injury or disease. Adapted movements are often forgotten when the sensory distortion is removed, creating a barrier to long-term rehabilitation. Binary success-error feedback and pictorial reinforcement have been shown to improve retention of adapted motor outputs. In one previous study, positively valenced music improved adaptation rate but had no effects on retention. Pleasurable music has been found to improve performance on spatial intelligence and cognitive tasks, possibly because of its mood- and arousal-enhancing qualities, and has been found to have similar neural properties as reward. In Experiment 1, participants who listened to music that induced a positive or negative mood increased retention of movements adapted to a visual feedback distortion in comparison to silence. In Experiment 2, the combination of reward feedback in adaptation and music that induced a positive mood decreased retention, possibly because the rewarding properties of the music which were present during training (no visuomotor distortion) overrode the rewarding properties of the reinforcement when it were no longer present. These experiments provide evidence for a novel method of improving retention in sensorimotor adaptation

Cognitive Impairment in Marginally Housed Youth: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Objective: Homeless and marginally housed youth are particularly vulnerable members of society, and are known to experience numerous health problems, including psychiatric illness, substance use, and viral infection. Despite the presence of these risk factors for cognitive compromise, there is limited research on the cognitive functioning of homeless and marginally housed youth. The present study examines the degree and pattern of cognitive impairment and associations with key risk factors in a sample of marginally housed young adults. Method: Participants (N = 101) aged 20–29 years old were recruited from single-room occupancy hotels, and underwent cognitive, psychiatric, neurological, and serological assessments. Results: Forty percent of participants were identified as mildly cognitively impaired across multiple domains, and 16% were moderately-severely impaired. Deficits in memory and attention were most prevalent, while impairments in inhibitory control/processing speed and cognitive flexibility were also present but tended to be less severe. Developmental and historical factors (premorbid intellectual functioning, neurological soft signs, earlier exposure to and longer duration of homelessness or marginal housing), as well as current health risks (stimulant dependence and hepatitis C exposure), were associated with cognitive impairment. Conclusions: The strikingly high rate of cognitive impairment in marginally housed young adults represents a major public health concern and is likely to pose a significant barrier to treatment and rehabilitation. These results suggest that the pathway to cognitive impairment involves both developmental vulnerability and modifiable risk factors. This study highlights the need for early interventions that address cognitive impairment and risk factors in marginalized young people

Effects of Choice Framing and Affect on Delay of Gratification

Previous research on delay of gratification indicates that people have a tendency to choose small rewards that are available immediately over more valuable rewards that are available after a certain amount of time. This ability to wait for the more valuable reward has been associated with a variety of positive outcomes, such as better self-regulation abilities, academic success, and reduced risk of addiction. One theory evoked to explain the inability to delay gratification states that an emotional, impulsive “hot” system overrides a rational, cognitive “cool” system and influences the person to act impulsively and choose the small immediate reward. Various factors affecting how the desired reward is presented can differentially activate the cool system to a greater extent that the hot system. The role of affect in this decision-making process is unclear as a result of contradicting evidence. The present study, using a between-subjects design, used a modification of the Velten mood statements to induce positive and negative affect, and attempted to activate the cool system to a greater extent than the hot system by presenting the choice in an impersonal manner. There were no significant differences between the different conditions. Methodological flaws of the study are discussed

Predictors of one-year cognitive decline in a marginally housed, multimorbid sample

Marginal housing is associated with high prevalence of several morbidities, including viral infection, psychiatric diagnosis and substance use, each of which is known to compromise cognition. The nature or course of cognition in marginally housed persons is understudied, and the impact of comorbidity on cognition is often unaddressed in the literature. Over a period of one year, participants recruited from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver evidenced generally stable cognitive performance, except for a slight improvement in sustained attention and a slight decline in cognitive flexibility. HIV seropositive individuals showed declines in memory and response inhibition, while cannabis dependence was marginally associated with decline in memory. Given the negative impact of cognitive impairment on functioning, these results can inform prioritization of treatment targets in multimorbid populations

The role of attention and intention in synchronization to music: effects on gait

Anecdotal accounts suggest that individuals spontaneously synchronize their movements to the 'beat' of background music, often without intending to, and perhaps even without attending to the music at all. However, the question of whether intention and attention are necessary to synchronize to the beat remains unclear. Here, we compared whether footsteps during overground walking were synchronized to the beat when young healthy adults were explicitly instructed to synchronize (intention to synchronize), and were not instructed to synchronize (no intention) (Experiment 1: intention). We also examined whether reducing participants' attention to the music affected synchronization, again when participants were explicitly instructed to synchronize, and when they were not (Experiment 2: attention/intention). Synchronization was much less frequent when no instructions to synchronize were given. Without explicit instructions to synchronize, there was no evidence of synchronization in 60% of the trials in Experiment 1, and 43% of the trials in Experiment 2. When instructed to synchronize, only 26% of trials in Experiment 1, and 14% of trials in Experiment 2 showed no evidence of synchronization. Because walking to music alters gait, we also examined how gait kinematics changed with or without instructions to synchronize, and attention to the music was required for synchronization to occur. Instructions to synchronize elicited slower, shorter, and more variable strides than walking in silence. Reducing attention to the music did not significantly affect synchronization of footsteps to the beat, but did elicit slower gait. Thus, during walking, intention, but not attention, appears to be necessary to synchronize footsteps to the beat, and synchronization elicits slower, shorter, and more variable strides, at least in young healthy adults