Silence between words: Is solitude important for relatedness?

Chronic loneliness is a risk factor for physical and health problems, in part due to dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system. In contrast, temporary moments of positive solitude (passing good times alone and not feeling lonely) appear to have positive effects on mental health, social life, and creativity, and seems to be a buffer against loneliness. Herein, three ways of how solitude may have positive effects on health and relatedness are discussed, namely effects on enhancement of mind-wandering, interoceptive awareness, and spirituality. Solitude may facilitate (1) activation of the default mode network (DMN) underlying mind-wandering including daydreaming about other people; (2) activation of brain areas supporting interoceptive awareness; (3) deactivation of prefrontal cortex, or deactivation and decreased connectivity of the DMN, giving raise to susceptibility to spiritual experiences. The capacity to handle and enjoy solitude is a developmental process that may be difficult for many persons. Craving for social connections and external stimulation with digital technologies (e.g., internet, smartphones, social media) might be interfering with the development of the capacity for solitude and thereby increasing loneliness; this might be partly due to impaired interoceptive awareness and impaired functional mind-wandering (common in solitude). Congruently, overuse of digital technologies was associated with reduced activity, and reduced gray matter volume and density, in brain areas supporting interoceptive awareness, as well as with decreased connectivity of the DMN supporting creative insights. Solitude has been a relatively dismissed topic in neuroscience and health sciences, but a growing number of studies is highlighting its importance for well-being.

Time consciousness: Silence, mindfulness, and subjective time perception.

Although recent theories of consciousness have emerged to define what consciousness is, an under-represented aspect within this field remains: time consciousness. However, the subjective passage of time is modulated by changing experiences within different situational contexts and by self-awareness. The experience of silence influences our awareness of self, space, and time, and it impacts on psychological well-being. The present review describes how self and time are influenced by different situations of silence (pure silence indoors and outdoors, the "just thinking" situation, and the combination of silence with deep relaxation). Also, the changes in time experience during a "forced" waiting situation due to the COVID-19 lockdown are presented in order to highlight the role of boredom in waiting situations and in situations in which we are alone with "our thoughts." Finally, in the context of the importance of creating silence through meditation practices, the alterations to one's sense of self and time during mindfulness meditation are reviewed. These studies are discussed within the framework of the cognitive models of prospective time perception, such as the attentional-gate model and the model of self-regulation and self-awareness.

When the body fosters empathy: The interconnectivity between bodily reactivity, meditation, and embodied abstract concepts.

Empathy is a fundamental social ability that allows humans to infer others' emotions and intentions. Empathy is thought to be rooted in bodily sensations coming from the autonomic nervous system. In parallel, the functionality and perceptions coming from the autonomic nervous system could be improved by practicing activities that involve mind-body interactions, such as meditation. Furthermore, perceptions from the autonomic nervous system are thought to be important in the embodiment of abstract concepts. Consequently, in the current study, we collected data online from 581 participants and explored the associations between levels of empathy and (1) the practice of meditation, music, and sports; (2) the impact of self-report measures on bodily awareness and reactivity; and (3) the embodiment of abstract concepts in interoception. In line with previous studies, Meditators were found to have higher empathy scores than Non-Meditators. In addition, lower levels of autonomic reactivity in organs above the diaphragm were associated with higher empathy. Finally, we also observed that empathy was positively associated with interoceptive components of abstract concepts in those participants with high autonomic reactivity. Taken together, the results suggest that meditation practice and having low autonomic reactivity are associated with empathy, arguably through the downregulation of autonomic responses. Implications for mind-body interaction in meditation and its role in promoting empathy are discussed.

Exploring age-related changes in motor function: insights from the peak decline found in Koji Awareness screening test.

The KOJI AWARENESS (KA) screening test assesses motor function in humans. We aimed to analyze the correlation between age and KA screening scores and to identify the specific age at which a significant decline occurs. A total of 793 healthy participants (234 females) were interviewed for basic information on age and sex and completed the KA screening test. In addition to calculating the total score from the KA test, the scores were calculated for the neck-scapula-upper extremity-complex (NSU), trunk, and lower extremity (LE) segments. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the validity of the test. Additionally, Bayesian linear regression was employed to estimate the change point in KA scores, facilitating the identification of a critical age associated with a notable decline in motor function. KA screening total and separate body segment scores were negatively correlated with age in both gender (for female and male, KA total score, ρ = - 0.443, ρ = - 0.344; NSU segment, ρ = - 0.431, ρ = - 0.427; trunk segment, ρ = - 0.210, ρ = - 0.473; LE segment: ρ = - 0.43, ρ = - 0.507). Furthermore, a change-point analysis using linear regression analysis showed that KA screening total scores declined sharply at the age of 49.1(95% credible interval: 37.503, 68.366). The result show that total KA scores decrease - 0.196 (95% credible interval: - 0.335, - 0.049) for every 1 year of age increase, and for ages over 49.1, total KA scores additionally decrease - 0.255 (95% credible interval: - 0.485, - 0.054) for every 1 year of age increase. In the NSU segment, females showed a more rapid decline than males from the age of 50 years. KA screening test total scores declined sharply at the age of 49.1. These results may be useful in setting treatment goals, exercise, and lifestyle programs for age-related decline in motor function.

Emotional awareness for self and others and empathic abilities in clinical depression during acute illness and recovery.

BACKGROUND: The present longitudinal investigation had two major goals. First, we intended to clarify whether depressed patients are characterized by impairments of emotional awareness for the self and the other during acute illness and whether these impairments diminish in the course of an inpatient psychiatric treatment program. Previous research based on the performance measure Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) provided inconsistent findings concerning emotional self-awareness in clinical depression. Second, we investigated whether cognitive and affective empathic abilities change from acute illness to recovery in depressed patients. METHODS: Fifty-eight depressed patients were tested on admission and after 6-8 weeks of inpatient psychiatric treatment. A sample of fifty-three healthy individuals were also examined twice at an interval of 6-8 weeks. The LEAS and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) were administered to assess emotional awareness and empathic abilities. Written texts were digitalized and then analyzed using the electronic scoring program geLEAS, the German electronic Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale. RESULTS: Depressed patients reported more depressive symptoms than healthy controls and less severe depressive symptomatology at time 2 compared to time 1. Independent of time, depressed individuals tended to show lower geLEAS self scores and had lower geLEAS other scores than healthy individuals. Depressed patients showed higher personal distress scores than healthy individuals at both measurement times. No group differences were observed for the cognitive empathy scales of the IRI (perspective taking and fantasy) and empathic concern, but empathic concern decreased significantly in depressed patients from time 1 to time 2. Empathic abilities as assessed by the IRI were not significantly correlated with emotional awareness for others, neither in the whole sample, nor in the patient and control subsample. CONCLUSIONS: Depressed patients seem to be characterized by impairments in emotional awareness of others during acute illness and recovery, but they also tend to show deficits in emotional self-awareness compared to healthy individuals. Self-reported cognitive empathic abilities seem to be at normal levels in depressed patients, but their heightened self-focused affective empathy may represent a vulnerability factor for depressive disorders.

Does using artificial intelligence assistance accelerate skill decay and hinder skill development without performers' awareness?

Artificial intelligence in the workplace is becoming increasingly common. These tools are sometimes used to aid users in performing their task, for example, when an artificial intelligence tool assists a radiologist in their search for abnormalities in radiographic images. The use of artificial intelligence brings a wealth of benefits, such as increasing the efficiency and efficacy of performance. However, little research has been conducted to determine how the use of artificial intelligence assistants might affect the user's cognitive skills. In this theoretical perspective, we discuss how artificial intelligence assistants might accelerate skill decay among experts and hinder skill acquisition among learners. Further, we discuss how AI assistants might also prevent experts and learners from recognizing these deleterious effects. We then discuss the types of questions: use-inspired basic cognitive researchers, applied researchers, and computer science researchers should seek to answer. We conclude that multidisciplinary research from use-inspired basic cognitive research, domain-specific applied research, and technical research (e.g., human factors research, computer science research) is needed to (a) understand these potential consequences, (b) design artificial intelligence systems to mitigate these impacts, and (c) develop training and use protocols to prevent negative impacts on users' cognitive skills. Only by answering these questions from multidisciplinary perspectives can we harness the benefits of artificial intelligence in the workplace while preventing negative impacts on users' cognitive skills.

Awareness of embodiment enhances enjoyment and engages sensorimotor cortices.

Whether in performing arts, sporting, or everyday contexts, when we watch others move, we tend to enjoy bodies moving in synchrony. Our enjoyment of body movements is further enhanced by our own prior experience with performing those movements, or our 'embodied experience'. The relationships between movement synchrony and enjoyment, as well as embodied experience and movement enjoyment, are well known. The interaction between enjoyment of movements, synchrony, and embodiment is less well understood, and may be central for developing new approaches for enriching social interaction. To examine the interplay between movement enjoyment, synchrony, and embodiment, we asked participants to copy another person's movements as accurately as possible, thereby gaining embodied experience of movement sequences. Participants then viewed other dyads performing the same or different sequences synchronously, and we assessed participants' recognition of having performed these sequences, as well as their enjoyment of each movement sequence. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure cortical activation over frontotemporal sensorimotor regions while participants performed and viewed movements. We found that enjoyment was greatest when participants had mirrored the sequence and recognised it, suggesting that awareness of embodiment may be central to enjoyment of synchronous movements. Exploratory analyses of relationships between cortical activation and enjoyment and recognition implicated the sensorimotor cortices, which subserve action observation and aesthetic processing. These findings hold implications for clinical research and therapies seeking to foster successful social interaction.

Artificial intelligence detects awareness of functional relation with the environment in 3 month old babies.

A recent experiment probed how purposeful action emerges in early life by manipulating infants' functional connection to an object in the environment (i.e., tethering an infant's foot to a colorful mobile). Vicon motion capture data from multiple infant joints were used here to create Histograms of Joint Displacements (HJDs) to generate pose-based descriptors for 3D infant spatial trajectories. Using HJDs as inputs, machine and deep learning systems were tasked with classifying the experimental state from which snippets of movement data were sampled. The architectures tested included k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Fully connected network (FCNet), 1D-Convolutional Neural Network (1D-Conv), 1D-Capsule Network (1D-CapsNet), 2D-Conv and 2D-CapsNet. Sliding window scenarios were used for temporal analysis to search for topological changes in infant movement related to functional context. kNN and LDA achieved higher classification accuracy with single joint features, while deep learning approaches, particularly 2D-CapsNet, achieved higher accuracy on full-body features. For each AI architecture tested, measures of foot activity displayed the most distinct and coherent pattern alterations across different experimental stages (reflected in the highest classification accuracy rate), indicating that interaction with the world impacts the infant behaviour most at the site of organism~world connection.

Brain Networks, Neurotransmitters and Psychedelics: Towards a Neurochemistry of Self-Awareness.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Self-awareness can be defined as the capacity of becoming the object of one's own awareness and, increasingly, it has been the target of scientific inquiry. Self-awareness has important clinical implications, and a better understanding of the neurochemical basis of self-awareness may help clarifying causes and developing interventions for different psychopathological conditions. The current article explores the relationship between neurochemistry and self-awareness, with special attention to the effects of psychedelics. RECENT FINDINGS: The functioning of self-related networks, such as the default-mode network and the salience network, and how these are influenced by different neurotransmitters is discussed. The impact of psychedelics on self-awareness is reviewed in relation to specific processes, such as interoception, body ownership, agency, metacognition, emotional regulation and autobiographical memory, within a framework based on predictive coding. Improved outcomes in emotional regulation and autobiographical memory have been observed in association with the use of psychedelics, suggesting higher-order self-awareness changes, which can be modulated by relaxation of priors and improved coping mechanisms linked to cognitive flexibility. Alterations in bodily self-awareness are less consistent, being potentially impacted by doses employed, differences in acute/long-term effects and the presence of clinical conditions. Future studies investigating the effects of different molecules in rebalancing connectivity between resting-state networks may lead to novel therapeutic approaches and the refinement of existing treatments.

Detecting awareness after acute brain injury.

Advances over the past two decades in functional neuroimaging have provided new diagnostic and prognostic tools for patients with severe brain injury. Some of the most pertinent developments in this area involve the assessment of residual brain function in patients in the intensive care unit during the acute phase of severe injury, when they are at their most vulnerable and prognosis is uncertain. Advanced neuroimaging techniques, such as functional MRI and EEG, have now been used to identify preserved cognitive processing, including covert conscious awareness, and to relate them to outcome in patients who are behaviourally unresponsive. Yet, technical and logistical challenges to clinical integration of these advanced neuroimaging techniques remain, such as the need for specialised expertise to acquire, analyse, and interpret data and to determine the appropriate timing for such assessments. Once these barriers are overcome, advanced functional neuroimaging technologies could improve diagnosis and prognosis for millions of patients worldwide.

Factors Affecting the Situational Awareness of Armored Vehicle Occupants.

In the field of armored vehicles, up to 70% of accidents are associated with low levels of situational awareness among the occupants, highlighting the importance of situational awareness in improving task performance. In this study, we explored the mechanisms influencing situational awareness by simulating an armored vehicle driving platform with 14 levels of experimentation in terms of five factors: experience, expectations, attention, the cueing channel, and automation. The experimental data included SART and SAGAT questionnaire scores, eye movement indicators, and electrocardiographic and electrodermal signals. Data processing and analysis revealed the following conclusions: (1) Experienced operators have higher levels of situational awareness. (2) Operators with certain expectations have lower levels of situational awareness. (3) Situational awareness levels are negatively correlated with information importance affiliations and the frequency of anomalous information in non-primary tasks. (4) Dual-channel cues lead to higher levels of situational awareness than single-channel cues. (5) Operators' situational awareness is lower at high automation levels.

The influence of spatial and temporal attention on visual awareness-a behavioral and ERP study.

Whether attention is a prerequisite of perceptual awareness or an independent and dissociable process remains a matter of debate. Importantly, understanding the relation between attention and awareness is probably not possible without taking into account the fact that both are heterogeneous and multifaceted mechanisms. Therefore, the present study tested the impact on visual awareness of two attentional mechanisms proposed by the Posner model: temporal alerting and spatio-temporal orienting. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of attention on the perceptual level, by measuring objective and subjective awareness of a threshold-level stimulus; and on the neural level, by investigating how attention affects two postulated event-related potential correlates of awareness. We found that alerting and orienting mechanisms additively facilitate perceptual consciousness, with activation of the latter resulting in the most vivid awareness. Furthermore, we found that late positivity is unlikely to constitute a neural correlate of consciousness as its amplitude was modulated by both attentional mechanisms, but early visual awareness negativity was independent of the alerting and orienting mechanisms. In conclusion, our study reveals a nuanced relationship between attention and awareness; moreover, by investigating the effect of the alerting mechanism, this study provides insights into the role of temporal attention in perceptual consciousness.

Observing the suppression of individual aversive memories from conscious awareness.

When reminded of an unpleasant experience, people often try to exclude the unwanted memory from awareness, a process known as retrieval suppression. Here we used multivariate decoding (MVPA) and representational similarity analyses on EEG data to track how suppression unfolds in time and to reveal its impact on item-specific cortical patterns. We presented reminders to aversive scenes and asked people to either suppress or to retrieve the scene. During suppression, mid-frontal theta power within the first 500 ms distinguished suppression from passive viewing of the reminder, indicating that suppression rapidly recruited control. During retrieval, we could discern EEG cortical patterns relating to individual memories-initially, based on theta-driven visual perception of the reminders (0 to 500 ms) and later, based on alpha-driven reinstatement of the aversive scene (500 to 3000 ms). Critically, suppressing retrieval weakened (during 360 to 600 ms) and eventually abolished item-specific cortical patterns, a robust effect that persisted until the reminder disappeared (780 to 3000 ms). Representational similarity analyses provided converging evidence that retrieval suppression weakened the representation of target scenes during the 500 to 3000 ms reinstatement window. Together, rapid top-down control during retrieval suppression abolished cortical patterns of individual memories, and precipitated later forgetting. These findings reveal a precise chronometry on the voluntary suppression of individual memories.

An examination of the motivation to manage distraction.

Individuals exhibit limited awareness of when their attention is captured by salient but irrelevant stimuli, and it has long been argued that involuntary attentional capture by such stimuli is minimally disruptive to information processing. Yet, robust mechanisms of distractor suppression are hypothesized to support the control of attention, which presumably serve in the interest of managing distraction. In the present study, I examine whether participants are aware of the cost of distraction with respect to task performance, and whether they are motivated to manage this cost even when it is effortful to do so. Across three experiments, participants were willing to exert physical effort in order to reduce the frequency with which they encountered physically salient distractors, and in a fourth experiment tended to prefer trials with fewer distractors when given a choice over distractor frequency. Importantly, the amount of physical effort exerted varied as a function of the degree to which task-irrelevant distractors impaired search performance, suggesting that people are sensitive to the cost of distraction.

Further unpacking individual differences in mind wandering: The role of emotional valence and awareness.

Previous work has established a link between executive attention ability and mind wandering propensity, these studies typically collapse thought reports into a single category of task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs). We have shown that these TUTs can be differentiated by the emotional valence of their content. Awareness of TUTs might also be an important to consider, yet little work has been done on this front. The current study conceptually replicated and extended previous work by investigating the relationship between individual differences in executive attention, emotional valence and awareness of TUTs. Latent variable models indicated that Executive Attention was differentially correlated with emotional valence TUTs. However, only Attention Control was related to frequency of mind wandering with awareness. Intra-individual analyses indicated that negatively valenced TUTs and TUTs that occurred without awareness were associated with worse performance. Considering different dimensions of TUTs can provide a more complete picture of individual differences in mind wandering.

An interhemispheric frontoparietal network supports hypnotic states.

Understanding the neural substrate of altered conscious states is an important cultural, scientific, and clinical endeavour. Although hypnosis causes strong shifts in conscious perception and cognition, it remains largely unclear how hypnosis affects information processing in cortical networks. Here we manipulated the depth of hypnotic states to study information processing between cortical regions involved in attention and awareness. We used high-density Electroencephalography (EEG) to record resting-state cortical activity from 30 hypnosis experts during two hypnotic states with different depth. Each participant entered a light and a deep hypnotic state as well as two well-matched control states. Bridging top-down and lateralisation models of hypnosis, we found that interhemispheric frontoparietal connectivity distinguished hypnosis and control conditions, while no difference was found between the two hypnotic states. Using a graph-theoretic measure, we revealed that the amount of information passing through individual nodes (measured via betweenness centrality) is reduced during hypnosis relative to control states. Finally, we found that theta power was enhanced during hypnosis. Our result contributes to the current discussion around a role for theta power in bringing about hypnotic states, as well as other altered conscious states. Overall, our findings support the notion that altered top-down control in frontoparietal regions facilitates hypnosis by integrating information between cortical hemispheres.

Undoubtedly unaware of homonymous hemianopia: The contribution of overconfidence to anosognosia of hemianopia.

A new functional deficit caused by a stroke can be understood as a situation of uncertainty that has to prompt deficit discovery and subsequent incorporation into an altered self-perception. Anosognosia for visual field deficits is frequent after stroke. For hemiplegia, patients' performance in a riddle test provided evidence that the inability to generate and adjust beliefs in face of uncertainty contributes to anosognosia for hemiplegia. In this prospective study, the same riddles are used in patients with homonymous hemianopia due to a first-ever stroke in the posterior cerebral artery territory and in an age-matched control cohort. The riddles create a situation of uncertainty that is resolved with five successive clues which progressively delimit the target word. After each clue, patients have to guess the target word and rate their confidence in the answer's correctness. Patients were tested once during the hospital stay. According to the Bisiach score for anosognosia, 12 out of 29 patients were unaware of their visual field deficits. All patients with anosognosia for hemianopia had right hemisphere lesions. Patients with and without anosognosia did not differ significantly in global cognitive impairment, mental flexibility or memory function. Importantly, patients with anosognosia showed higher confidence ratings than patients without anosognosia and controls in the first two clues (situations of uncertainty). This was demonstrated by a significant interaction effect in a mixed ANOVA with the factors group (anosognosia, nosognosia, controls) and riddle clues. An exploratory lesion subtraction analysis showed a high proportion of deficit unawareness in patients with lesions in the right fusiform and (para)hippocampal gyri. Our findings suggest that overconfidence in situations of uncertainty might contribute to the appearance of anosognosia for hemianopia. Because this has been demonstrated before in anosognosia for hemiplegia, we suggest that overconfidence is a supra-modal contributor to deficit unawareness.

Intracranial neural representation of phenomenal and access consciousness in the human brain.

After more than 30 years of extensive investigation, impressive progress has been made in identifying the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). However, the functional role of spatiotemporally distinct consciousness-related neural activity in conscious perception is debated. An influential framework proposed that consciousness-related neural activities could be dissociated into two distinct processes: phenomenal and access consciousness. However, though hotly debated, its authenticity has not been examined in a single paradigm with more informative intracranial recordings. In the present study, we employed a visual awareness task and recorded the local field potential (LFP) of patients with electrodes implanted in cortical and subcortical regions. Overall, we found that the latency of visual awareness-related activity exhibited a bimodal distribution, and the recording sites with short and long latencies were largely separated in location, except in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC). The mixture of short and long latencies in the lPFC indicates that it plays a critical role in linking phenomenal and access consciousness. However, the division between the two is not as simple as the central sulcus, as proposed previously. Moreover, in 4 patients with electrodes implanted in the bilateral prefrontal cortex, early awareness-related activity was confined to the contralateral side, while late awareness-related activity appeared on both sides. Finally, Granger causality analysis showed that awareness-related information flowed from the early sites to the late sites. These results provide the first LFP evidence of neural correlates of phenomenal and access consciousness, which sheds light on the spatiotemporal dynamics of NCC in the human brain.

An integrative view of the role of prefrontal cortex in consciousness.

The involvement of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in consciousness is an ongoing focus of intense investigation. An important question is whether representations of conscious contents and experiences in the PFC are confounded by post-perceptual processes related to cognitive functions. Here, I review recent findings suggesting that neuronal representations of consciously perceived contents-in the absence of post-perceptual processes-can indeed be observed in the PFC. Slower ongoing fluctuations in the electrophysiological state of the PFC seem to control the stability and updates of these prefrontal representations of conscious awareness. In addition to conscious perception, the PFC has been shown to play a critical role in controlling the levels of consciousness as observed during anesthesia, while prefrontal lesions can result in severe loss of perceptual awareness. Together, the convergence of these processes in the PFC suggests its integrative role in consciousness and highlights the complex nature of consciousness itself.

The Impact of Various Cockpit Display Interfaces on Novice Pilots' Mental Workload and Situational Awareness: A Comparative Study.

Future airspace is expected to become more congested with additional in-service cargo and commercial flights. Pilots will face additional burdens in such an environment, given the increasing number of factors that they must simultaneously consider while completing their work activities. Therefore, care and attention must be paid to the mental workload (MWL) experienced by operating pilots. If left unaddressed, a state of mental overload could affect the pilot's ability to complete his or her work activities in a safe and correct manner. This study examines the impact of two different cockpit display interfaces (CDIs), the Steam Gauge panel and the G1000 Glass panel, on novice pilots' MWL and situational awareness (SA) in a flight simulator-based setting. A combination of objective (EEG and HRV) and subjective (NASA-TLX) assessments is used to assess novice pilots' cognitive states during this study. Our results indicate that the gauge design of the CDI affects novice pilots' SA and MWL, with the G1000 Glass panel being more effective in reducing the MWL and improving SA compared with the Steam Gauge panel. The results of this study have implications for the design of future flight deck interfaces and the training of future pilots.