The Effects of Stress Mindset, Manipulated Through Serious Game Intervention, on Performance and Situation Awareness of Elite Female Football Players in the Context of a Match:An Experimental Study

Background: Performance levels in football are ever more important and no longer are just physical, technical, and tactical skills, the ones that make an athlete stand out. Cognitive variables, such as stress-coping, become more important and seem to be explaining differences in performance, for example, through reaching an optimal level of arousal. In addition, it is suggested that stress-coping skills also affect situation awareness (SA), important for decision-making in the complex and dynamic situations in football. Objective: This study was conducted to examine how stress-coping skills, such as stress mindset, affect performance and SA in the context of a football match. Methods: Twenty elite female football players participated in the study. The final sample size consisted of 15 players for the Stress Mindset Measure (SMM) analysis and 8 players for the multilevel model analyses. Two types of intervention were used to manipulate stress mindset and control over heart rate variability (HRV); a serious game called "Stressjam,"and a reflection tool called "Brainjam."Questionnaires for stress mindset and SA and video analysis for performance were used. A total of three matches were assessed. Results: The "Stressjam"intervention resulted in significant differences in stress mindset throughout the intervention [F(1,5) = 7.357, P = 0.008]. Subsequently, multilevel analysis showed a positive, strong, and significant correlation between stress mindset, manipulated through "Stressjam"and SA [r(14) = 0.69, P = 0.014]. A correlation of practical interest, given the confidence intervals, was found between stress mindset, manipulated through "Stressjam,"and performance. Conclusion: Cognitive variables, such as stress-coping, correlate significantly with SA in football. A correlation of practical interest was found between stress-coping and performance. Further research is needed to study the relationship between stress-coping and performance in football.</p

Clinical and pathohistological characteristics of Alport spectrum disorder caused by COL4A4 mutation c.193-2A>C: a case series

Aim To present the pathohistological and clinical charac - teristics of five Croatian families with Alport spectrum dis - orders caused by splice acceptor pathogenic variant c.193- 2A>C in COL4A4 at the genomic position chr2:227985866. Methods The study enrolled five probands with kidney bi - opsy analysis and five family members. Mutation screening was performed with Illumina MiSeq platform. The patho - genic variant was confirmed with standard dye-terminator sequencing. Results The only homozygous patient, aged two, had pro - teinuria and hematuria with preserved kidney function and no extrarenal manifestations. This patient had chang - es characteristic for Alport syndrome observed on elec - tron microscopy of the kidney biopsy. In the heterozygous group, six patients had hematuria, four biopsied probands had proteinuria, and only one had moderately reduced kidney function. Heterozygous probands had variable kid - ney biopsy findings. Three patients had thin glomerular basement membrane nephropathy visible on electron mi - croscopy and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis on light microscopy, two of them with focal lamellation on elec - tron microscopy. One heterozygous patient had changes characteristic for Alport syndrome on electron microscopy without focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Conclusion The homozygous patient had hematuria and proteinuria with preserved kidney function. The heterozy - gous patients presented with reasonably mild clinical phe - notype and variable pathohistological findings

xDelia final report: emotion-centred financial decision making and learning

xDelia is a 3-year pan-European project building on the knowledge, skills, and competences of seven partner organisations from a variety of research disciplines and from business. The principal objective of xDelia is to develop technology-enhanced learning approaches that help improve the financial decision making of investors who trade frequently using an electronic trading platform. We focus on emotions, and how they affect maladaptive decision biases and trading performance. Our earlier field work with traders has shown that the development of emotion regulation skills is a key facet of trader expertise. For that reason we consider expert traders our benchmark for adaptive behaviour rather than normative rationality. Our goal is to provide investors with the tools and techniques to develop greater self-awareness of internal states, increase their ability to reflect critically on emotion-informed choices, develop emotion management skills, and support the transfer of these skills to the real-world practice setting of financial trading. This report provides a comprehensive overview of what xDelia is about and what we have achieved over the life of the project. In the sections that follow, we explain the decision problems investors are faced with in a fast paced environment and the limitations of traditional approaches to reduce cognitive errors; introduce an alternative, technology-enhanced learning approach of diagnosis and feedback, skill development, and transfer; describe the learning intervention comprising twelve autonomous learning elements that we have developed; and present evidence from thirty-five studies we have conducted on learning effects and stakeholder acceptance

The Effects of Emotions and Their Regulation on Decision-making Performance in Affective Serious Games

Emotions are thought to be one of the key factors that critically influence human decision-making. Emotion-regulation can help to mitigate emotion-related decision biases and eventually lead to a better decision performance. Serious games emerged as a new angle introducing technological methods to practicing emotion-regulation, where meaningful biofeedback information communicates player's affective states to a series of informed gameplay choices. These findings motivate the notion that in the decision context of serious games, one would benefit from awareness and regulation of such emerging emotions. This thesis explores the design and evaluation methods for creating serious games where emotion-regulation can be practiced using physiological biofeedback measures. Furthermore, it investigates emotions and the effect of emotion-regulation on decision performance in serious games. Using the psychophysiological methods in the design of such games, emotions and their underlying neural mechanism have been explored. The results showed the benefits of practicing emotion-regulation in serious games, where decision-making performance was increased for the individuals who down-regulated high levels of arousal while having an experience of positive valence. Moreover, it increased also for the individuals who received the necessary biofeedback information. The results also suggested that emotion-regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal) are highly dependent on the serious game context. Therefore, the reappraisal strategy was shown to benefit the decision-making tasks investigated in this thesis. The results further suggested that using psychophysiological methods in emotionally arousing serious games, the interplay between sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways could be mapped through the underlying emotions which activate those two pathways. Following this conjecture, the results identified the optimal arousal level for increased performance of an individual on a decision-making task, by carefully balancing the activation of those two pathways. The investigations also validated these findings in the collaborative serious game context, where the robot collaborators were found to elicit diverse affect in their human partners, influencing performance on a decision-making task. Furthermore, the evidence suggested that arousal is equally or more important than valence for the decision-making performance, but once optimal arousal has been reached, a further increase in performance may be achieved by regulating valence. Furthermore, the results showed that serious games designed in this thesis elicited high physiological arousal and positive valence. This makes them suitable as research platforms for the investigation of how these emotions influence the activation of sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways and influence performance on a decision-making task. Taking these findings into consideration, the serious games designed in this thesis allowed for the training of cognitive reappraisal emotion-regulation strategy on the decision-making tasks. This thesis suggests that using evaluated design and development methods, it is possible to design and develop serious games that provide a helpful environment where individuals could practice emotion-regulation through raising awareness of emotions, and subsequently improve their decision-making performance

SCABIES IN WILD ANIMALES

Šugavost je kontagiozna bolest uzrokovana ektoparazitima iz porodica Sarcoptidae , Knemidocoptidae , Psoroptidae , Demodicidae i Cheyletiellidae . Prema mjestu parazitiranja razlikujemo šugarce koji parazitiraju: na koži, u koži i u vanjskom zvuko vodu. Najčešći oblik šugavosti koji se javlja kod divljih životinja, a i ljudi, jest sarkoptoza koju uzrokuje šugarac Sarcoptes scabiei . Dva najznačajnija rezervoara šugavosti među divljim životinjama su lisica ( Vulpes vulpes L.) i divokoza ( Rupicapra rupi capra L.). Šuga je kontagiozna, kronična bolest i kao takva može imati značajan utjecaj na populaciju lisica i divokoza. Šuga je prisutna u cijelome svijetu i pri većem broju zaraženih jedinki može poprimiti karakter epidemije. Širi se putem direktnog il i indirektnog kontakta, a ovisno o stupnju infekcije krajnji ishod bolesti može biti fatalan.Scabies is contagious disease caused by ectoparas ites from the families Sarcoptidae , Knemidocoptidae , Psoroptidae , Demodicidae and Cheyletiellidae . According to the place of parasitism we distinguish parasites that parasitize on skin, in skin and in external auditory meatus (ear canal). The most common form of scabies that occurs in wild animals, as well as humans, is sarcoptosis caused by mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Two most common reservoirs are red fox ( Vulpes vulpes L.) and chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra L.). Scabies is contagious, chronic disease and as such can have a significant impact on fox and chamois populations. Scabies is present all over the world and large number of infected individuals can assume character of an epidemic. It is spread by direct or indirect contact, and depending on the degree of infection, the final outcome of the disease can be fatal

Design and Evaluation of Affective Serious Games for Emotion Regulation Training

Emotions are thought to be a key factor that critically influences human decision-making. Emotion regulation can help to mitigate emotion related decision biases and eventually lead to a better decision performance. Serious games emerged as a new angle introducing technological methods to learning emotion regulation, where meaningful biofeedback information displays player's emotional state. This thesis investigates emotions and the effect of emotion regulation on decision performance. Furthermore, it explores design and evaluation methods for creating serious games where emotion regulation can be learned and practiced. The scope of this thesis was limited to serious games for emotion regulation training using psychophysiological methods to communicate user's affective information. Using the psychophysiological methods, emotions and their underlying neural mechanism have been explored. Through design and evaluation of serious games using those methods, effects of emotion regulation have been investigated where decision performance has been measured and analyzed. The proposed metrics for designing and evaluating such affective serious games have been exhaustively evaluated. The research methods used in this thesis were based on both quantitative and qualitative aspects, with true experiment and evaluation research, respectively. Serious games approach to emotion regulation was investigated. The results suggested that two different emotion regulation strategies, suppression and cognitive reappraisal, are optimal for different decision tasks contexts. With careful design methods, valid serious games for training those different strategies could be produced. Moreover, using psychophysiological methods, underlying emotion neural mechanism could be mapped to provide optimal level of arousal for a certain task. The results suggest that it is possible to design and develop serious game applications that provide helpful learning environment where decision makers could practice emotion regulation and subsequently improve their decision making

The Effects of Emotions and Their Regulation on Decision-making Performance in Affective Serious Games

Emotions are thought to be one of the key factors that critically influence human decision-making. Emotion-regulation can help to mitigate emotion-related decision biases and eventually lead to a better decision performance. Serious games emerged as a new angle introducing technological methods to practicing emotion-regulation, where meaningful biofeedback information communicates player's affective states to a series of informed gameplay choices. These findings motivate the notion that in the decision context of serious games, one would benefit from awareness and regulation of such emerging emotions. This thesis explores the design and evaluation methods for creating serious games where emotion-regulation can be practiced using physiological biofeedback measures. Furthermore, it investigates emotions and the effect of emotion-regulation on decision performance in serious games. Using the psychophysiological methods in the design of such games, emotions and their underlying neural mechanism have been explored. The results showed the benefits of practicing emotion-regulation in serious games, where decision-making performance was increased for the individuals who down-regulated high levels of arousal while having an experience of positive valence. Moreover, it increased also for the individuals who received the necessary biofeedback information. The results also suggested that emotion-regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal) are highly dependent on the serious game context. Therefore, the reappraisal strategy was shown to benefit the decision-making tasks investigated in this thesis. The results further suggested that using psychophysiological methods in emotionally arousing serious games, the interplay between sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways could be mapped through the underlying emotions which activate those two pathways. Following this conjecture, the results identified the optimal arousal level for increased performance of an individual on a decision-making task, by carefully balancing the activation of those two pathways. The investigations also validated these findings in the collaborative serious game context, where the robot collaborators were found to elicit diverse affect in their human partners, influencing performance on a decision-making task. Furthermore, the evidence suggested that arousal is equally or more important than valence for the decision-making performance, but once optimal arousal has been reached, a further increase in performance may be achieved by regulating valence. Furthermore, the results showed that serious games designed in this thesis elicited high physiological arousal and positive valence. This makes them suitable as research platforms for the investigation of how these emotions influence the activation of sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways and influence performance on a decision-making task. Taking these findings into consideration, the serious games designed in this thesis allowed for the training of cognitive reappraisal emotion-regulation strategy on the decision-making tasks. This thesis suggests that using evaluated design and development methods, it is possible to design and develop serious games that provide a helpful environment where individuals could practice emotion-regulation through raising awareness of emotions, and subsequently improve their decision-making performance

SCABIES IN WILD ANIMALES

Šugavost je kontagiozna bolest uzrokovana ektoparazitima iz porodica Sarcoptidae , Knemidocoptidae , Psoroptidae , Demodicidae i Cheyletiellidae . Prema mjestu parazitiranja razlikujemo šugarce koji parazitiraju: na koži, u koži i u vanjskom zvuko vodu. Najčešći oblik šugavosti koji se javlja kod divljih životinja, a i ljudi, jest sarkoptoza koju uzrokuje šugarac Sarcoptes scabiei . Dva najznačajnija rezervoara šugavosti među divljim životinjama su lisica ( Vulpes vulpes L.) i divokoza ( Rupicapra rupi capra L.). Šuga je kontagiozna, kronična bolest i kao takva može imati značajan utjecaj na populaciju lisica i divokoza. Šuga je prisutna u cijelome svijetu i pri većem broju zaraženih jedinki može poprimiti karakter epidemije. Širi se putem direktnog il i indirektnog kontakta, a ovisno o stupnju infekcije krajnji ishod bolesti može biti fatalan.Scabies is contagious disease caused by ectoparas ites from the families Sarcoptidae , Knemidocoptidae , Psoroptidae , Demodicidae and Cheyletiellidae . According to the place of parasitism we distinguish parasites that parasitize on skin, in skin and in external auditory meatus (ear canal). The most common form of scabies that occurs in wild animals, as well as humans, is sarcoptosis caused by mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Two most common reservoirs are red fox ( Vulpes vulpes L.) and chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra L.). Scabies is contagious, chronic disease and as such can have a significant impact on fox and chamois populations. Scabies is present all over the world and large number of infected individuals can assume character of an epidemic. It is spread by direct or indirect contact, and depending on the degree of infection, the final outcome of the disease can be fatal

Practicing Emotion-Regulation Through Biofeedback on the Decision-Making Performance in the Context of Serious Games : a Systematic Review

Evidence shows that emotions critically influence human decision-making. Therefore, emotion-regulation using biofeedback has been extensively investigated. Nevertheless, serious games have emerged as a valuable tool for such investigations set in the decision-making context. This review sets out to investigate the scientific evidence regarding the effects of practicing emotion-regulation through biofeedback on the decision-making performance in the context of serious games. A systematic search of five electronic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE, PubMed Central, Science Direct), followed by the author and snowballing investigation, was conducted from a publication's year of inception to October 2018. The search identified 16 randomized controlled experiment/quasi-experiment studies that quantitatively assessed the performance on decision-making tasks in serious games, involving students, military, and brain-injured participants. It was found that the participants who raised awareness of emotions and increased the skill of emotion-regulation were able to successfully regulate their arousal, which resulted in better decision performance, reaction time, and attention scores on the decision-making tasks. It is suggested that serious games provide an effective platform validated through the evaluative and playtesting studies, that supports the acquisition of the emotion-regulation skill through the direct (visual) and indirect (gameplay) biofeedback presentation on decision-making tasks.open access</p

Modeling cognitive load and physiological arousal through pupil diameter and heart rate

This study investigates individuals’ cognitive load processing abilities while engaged on a decision-making task in serious games, to explore how a substantial cognitive load dominates over the physiological arousal effect on pupil diameter. A serious game was presented to the participants, which displayed the on–line biofeedback based on physiological measurements of arousal. In such dynamic decision-making environment, the pupil diameter was analyzed in relation to the heart rate, to evaluate if the former could be a useful measure of cognitive abilities of individuals. As pupil might reflect both cognitive activity and physiological arousal, the pupillary response will show an arousal effect only when the cognitive demands of the situation are minimal. Evidence shows that in a situation where a substantial level of cognitive activity is required, only that activity will be observable on the pupil diameter, dominating over the physiological arousal effect indicated by the pupillary response. It is suggested that it might be possible to design serious games tailored to the cognitive abilities of an individual player, using the proposed physiological measurements to observe the moment when such dominance occurs. © 2018, The Author(s).open access</p