Responses improve the accuracy of confidence judgements in memory tasks

Peer reviewedPostprin

Motor response influences perceptual awareness judgements

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Michał Wereszczyński for helping with data collection. This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland [grant HARMONIA number 2014/14/M/HS6/00911 given to MW].Peer reviewedPostprin

A travelling heads study investigating qMRI metrics on cortical regions

Technological advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have facilitated numerous studies on neural architecture, such as studies addressing pathology, behaviour or individual differences in brain activity. It is important, however, to first ascertain what variation can arise due to site-specific scanner properties (hard- and software). A certain amount of noise in MR images can indeed be attributable to such properties, even when the same scanner is used across different sites. Reproducibility across sites is possible with the use of quantitative MRI metrics (qMRI), where physical properties assigned to voxels allow for non-invasive analysis of brain tissue including sensitivity to iron and myelin content. Leutritz et al. (2020) investigated intra-site (scan-rescan) and intersite (between sites) variability on Siemens and Philips scanners through multi-parameter mapping techniques (MPM). The authors found intra-site scan-rescan coefficients of variance (CoV) ranging between 4% and 16% across parameters, with similar results for inter-site CoV. The current study implements a similar strategy to Leutritz et al. (2020) in that it investigates inter-site and interscanner variability in a "travelling heads" type of study. Using scanners by the same manufacturer (but two different models), the study investigates qMRI metrics for inter-site and inter-scanner differences and their corresponding effects on cortical regions.peer-reviewe

Wearable EEG-Based Depth of Anesthesia Monitoring : A Non- Parametric Feature Set

Objectives: Commercial systems for monitoring the depth of anesthesia (DoA) are often financially inaccessible to developing countries. As an alternative, a wearable single frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) device can be utilized. Nonetheless, most studies addressing DoA monitoring utilizing just one frontal EEG channel rely on nonlinear features that require parameter tuning before computation, overlooking the potential interchangeability of such features across different databases. Methods: Here, we present a parameter-free feature set for DoA monitoring using a single frontal EEG channel and evaluate its performance on two databases with different characteristics. First, the EEG signal is de-noised and split into its sub-bands. Second, several parameter-free features based on entropy, power and frequency, fractal, and variation are extracted from all sub-bands. Finally, the distinguished features are chosen and input into a random forest regressor to estimate the DoA index values. Results: The reliability of the proposed feature set for the DoA monitoring is indicated by achieving a comparable correlation coefficient of 0.80 and 0.79 and mean absolute error of 7.1 and 9.0 between the reference and estimated DoA index values for Databases I and II, respectively. Significance: The obtained results from this study confirm the possibility of affordable DoA monitoring using a portable EEG system. Given its simplicity and comparable results for both databases, the proposed feature set holds promise for practical application in real-world scenarios.Peer reviewe

Towards cross-linguistic assessment of associative memory

Associative memory (AM) is conceptualized as the ability to form links between two previously unrelated pieces of information so that the subsequent presentation of one activates the memory of the other. Unlike other types of memory for which standardized assessment tools exist, AM is assessed mostly by ad hoc tasks designed to tackle specific research questions that are not meant to capture AM as a universal cognitive ability. Typically, AM is assessed using paired-associate paradigms with unimodal (e.g., word pairs) or multimodal (e.g., face-word) stimuli sets. In culturally diverse and multilingual societies, the application of these paradigms can lead to an unreliable and biased assessment of memory abilities. To address this issue, we developed an AM paradigm that combines key aspects of AM assessment – associative encoding, associative recognition, and cued recall, as well as implicit AM effect. The stimuli for the task - pictures of common objects and natural scenes - have been selected to minimize language and culture effects. The task has been developed using free software (OpenSesame) and stimuli, in both online and offline mode of administration, thus enabling wide and free use for research purposes across different settings. The large-scale international collaboration is set to adapt the task into 25 languages so far, including Arabic, Bosnian, Czech, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, and Spanish. Data is collected across 26 countries with a total of 34 samples (150-300 participants each) to assess the psychometric properties of the task and crosslinguistic (in)variance of the memory performance. The collaboration is expected to result in a comprehensive multilingual AM assessment tool, that is freely available for research use

Long-Term Video QoE Assessment Studies: A Systematic Review

Although longitudinal studies are common in other disciplines, such as psychology, medicine, or User Experience, they are rarely used in Quality of Experience (QoE). However, observing users over time can provide useful information on the QoE and help to better understand its influencing factors. Here, we present a systematic review of the methodologies of longitudinal studies in the QoE domain. We review papers selected through a systematic search and discuss various aspects of described studies, such as methods of gathering subjective assessment or length of the studies. Our work recognizes common practices that can be used to reproduce and extend the proposed long-term study designs. Additionally, based on our review, we propose future work directions for the longitudinal QoE studies

Wearable EEG-Based Depth of Anesthesia Monitoring: A Nonparametric Feature Set

Objectives: Commercial systems for monitoring the depth of anesthesia (DoA) are often financially inaccessible to developing countries. As an alternative, a wearable single frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) device can be utilized. Nonetheless, most studies addressing DoA monitoring utilizing just one frontal EEG channel rely on nonlinear features that require parameter tuning before computation, overlooking the potential interchangeability of such features across different databases. Methods: Here, we present a parameter-free feature set for DoA monitoring using a single frontal EEG channel and evaluate its performance on two databases with different characteristics. First, the EEG signal is denoised and split into its subbands. Second, several parameter-free features based on entropy, power and frequency, fractal, and variation are extracted from all subbands. Finally, the distinguished features are chosen and input into a random forest regressor to estimate the DoA index values. Results: The reliability of the proposed feature set for the DoA monitoring is indicated by achieving a comparable correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.80 and 0.79 and mean absolute error (MAE) of 7.1 and 9.0 between the reference and estimated DoA index values for Databases I and II, respectively. Significance: The obtained results from this study confirm the possibility of affordable DoA monitoring using a portable EEG system. Given its simplicity and comparable results for both databases, the proposed feature set holds promise for practical application in real-world scenarios

Causation and Mental Causation

Causation has been widely investigated in the recent philosophy of science and theories have been proliferating over the last decades. At the same time, the problem of mental causation has played a pivotal role in recent debates in the philosophy of mind. It seems, however, that little or insufficient dialogue and exchange has been developed between these two fields of research. On the one hand, scholars looking for general interpretations of causation have rarely faced up to issues arising from mental causation, or discussed explicitly the framework and constraints that their proposals impose upon mental causation. On the other hand, philosophers dealing with mental causation have often neglected or underestimated current theories and recent reflections on the nature of causality, avoiding discussion of their possible implications for mental causation. The situation is slowly and gradually changing as an effect, among other things, of epistemological investigations within neuroscience, psychiatry, and clinical psychology, but the relations between philosophical accounts of causation and theories of mental causation are still worth deeper consideration. This issue of Humana.Mente intends to support and stimulate the interaction and exchange between the philosophy of causality and the research dealing with mental causation. It thus aims to address the following issues: \u2022 whether and how different interpretations of causation ((neo)mechanistic models, counterfactual approaches, conserved quantity and mark transmission theories, manipulationist theories, graphical modelling) may contribute to the interpretation of mental causation and influence a metaphysical or epistemological understanding of the topic; \u2022 whether and how the debate over, specifically, mental causation can impact on such theories of causation; \u2022 which ideas and conceptions of causality are presupposed or implied by recent debates and arguments about mental causation (e.g., Kim's exclusion argument); \u2022 to what extent the problem of mental causation presents special features, and how the analysis of its peculiarity may strengthen a pluralistic view of causation; \u2022 how epistemological inquiries in specific areas (like neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology) may provide a deeper insight into mental causation and challenge current general perspectives on causation