Reaching trajectories unravel modality-dependent temporal dynamics of the automatic process in the Simon task: a model-based approach.

The Simon effect represents a phenomenon in which the location of the stimuli affects the speed and accuracy of the response, despite being irrelevant for the task demands. This is believed to be due to an automatic activation of a response corresponding to the location of the stimuli, which conflicts with the controlled decision process based on relevant stimuli features. Previously, differences in the nature of the Simon effect (i.e., the pattern of change of the effect across the distribution of response times) between visual and somatosensory stimuli were reported. We hypothesize that the temporal dynamics of visual and somatosensory automatic and controlled processes vary, thus driving the reported behavioral differences. While most studies have used response times to study the underlying mechanisms involved, in this study we had participants reach out to touch the targets and recorded their arm movements using a motion capture system. Importantly, the participants started their movements before a final decision was made. In this way, we could analyze the movements to gain insights into the competition between the automatic and controlled processes. We used this technique to describe the results in terms of a model assuming automatic activation due to location-based evidence, followed by inhibition. We found that for the somatosensory Simon effect, the decay of the automatic process is significantly slower than for the visual Simon effect, suggesting quantitative differences in this automatic process between the visual and somatosensory modalities.

Simon in action: the effect of spatial congruency on grasping trajectories.

The Simon effect, one of the well-known stimulus-response compatibility effects, is usually explained as an expression of a conflict that occurs at the response selection stage. Here, we extended previous findings to provide evidence for post-response selection expression of the Simon effect. Following a presentation of a visual stimulus, participants grasped one of two objects that differed slightly in size. The results showed that visual stimulus congruency modulated grasping trajectories. Particularly, movements were more lateralized in congruent trials. This lateralization decreased as reaction time (RT) increased and therefore this effect could not be fully dissociated from the response selection stage. However, size sensitivity, as measured by the time taken to reach the maximum grip aperture between the fingers, was decreased for incongruent trials, unrelated to RT. This finding provides novel evidence for an independent expression of the Simon effect in post-response selection stages. Overall, our findings extend previous studies and demonstrate that the spatial conflict evoked by the Simon task encompasses several components and independently affects response selection stages as well as other components of motor execution.

Evaluation of the attention network test using vibrotactile stimulations.

We report a vibrotactile version of the attention network test (ANT)-the tactile ANT (T-ANT). It has been questioned whether attentional components are modality specific or not. The T-ANT explores alertness, orienting, cognitive control, and their relationships, similar to its visual counterpart, in the tactile modality. The unique features of the T-ANT are in utilizing stimuli on a single plane-the torso-and replacing the original imperative flanker task with a tactile Simon task. Subjects wore a waist belt mounted with two vibrotactile stimulators situated on the back and positioned to the right and left of the spinal column. They responded by pressing keys with their right or left hand in reaction to the type of vibrotactile stimulation (pulsed/continuous signal). On a single trial, an alerting tone was followed by a short tactile (informative/noninformative) peripheral cue and an imperative tactile Simon task target. The T-ANT was compared with a variant of the ANT in which the flanker task was replaced with a visual Simon task. Experimental data showed effects of orienting over control only when the peripheral cues were informative. In contrast to the visual task, interactions between alertness and control or alertness and orienting were not found in the tactile task. A possible rationale for these results is discussed. The T-ANT allows examination of attentional processes among patients with tactile attentional deficits and patients with eyesight deficits who cannot take part in visual tasks. Technological advancement would enable implementation of the T-ANT in brain-imaging studies.

Large-Scale, High-Throughput Phenotyping of the Postharvest Storage Performance of 'Rustenburg' Navel Oranges and the Development of Shelf-Life Prediction Models.

We conducted a large-scale, high-throughput phenotyping analysis of the effects of various pre-harvest and postharvest features on the quality of 'Rustenburg' navel oranges, in order to develop shelf-life prediction models to enable the use of the First Expired, First Out logistics strategy. The examined pre-harvest features included harvest time and yield, and the examined postharvest features included storage temperature, relative humidity during storage and duration of storage. All together, we evaluated 12,000 oranges (~4 tons) from six different orchards and conducted 170,576 measurements of 14 quality parameters. Storage time was found to be the most important feature affecting fruit quality, followed by storage temperature, harvest time, yield and humidity. The examined features significantly affected (p < 0.001) fruit weight loss, firmness, decay, color, peel damage, chilling injury, internal dryness, acidity, vitamin C and ethanol levels, and flavor and acceptance scores. Four regression models were evaluated for their ability to predict fruit quality based on pre-harvest and postharvest features. Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) combined with a duplication approach was found to be the most effective approach. It allowed for the prediction of fruit-acceptance scores among the full data set, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.217 and an R2 of 0.891.

Technical note: a nose ring sensor system to monitor dairy cow cardiovascular and respiratory metrics.

Monitoring cardiovascular and respiratory measurements corresponds to the precision livestock farming (PLF) objective to continuously monitor and assess dairy cows' welfare and health. Changes in heart rate, breathing rate, and oxygen saturation (SpO2) are valuable metrics in human and veterinary medicine to assess stress, pain, illness, and detect critical conditions. The common way to measure heart rate is either manually or with a stethoscope. Under research conditions, heart rate is usually measured with a sports watch chest belt. Breathing rate is obtained by counting the cow's flank movements which is a time-consuming and labor-intensive method that requires training and is prone to human error. No devices are available on the market that enable practical and easy pulse oximetry in farm animals. This study presents a wireless nose ring sensor system (NoRS) composed of thermal and photoplothysmography sensors that attach to the nostrils of four Holstein dairy cows. The NoRS's thermocouple measured the cow's nasal cavity air temperature; an optic sensor measured the IR (660 nm) and RED (660 nm) signals reflected from the cow's nasal septum. Breathing was calculated from the thermocouple signal's center frequency with a fast Fourier transformation or the signal peak count (i.e., oscillations). The breathing rate was compared to breathing observed by concurrently counting the flank movements. Heart rate and SpO2 were measured by integrated pulse oximetry and heart rate monitor module (MAX30101 TinyCircuit) assembled on the NoRS circuit. Heart rate was also measured with FFT and by counting the number of peaks from the optic sensor's raw IR and RED signals. These measures were compared to an off-the-shelf hand-held pulse oximeter's heart rate and SpO2 readings during the same time. The comparisons revealed highly significant correlations for the heart rate readings where the strength of the correlation was sensitive to the method. The correlation between breathing rate and the veterinarian's visual observations was low, albeit significant. Thus, inhale-exhale cycle counting constitutes a more precise approach than flank movement counts. The hand-held device's 96% SpO2 is compatible with near-saturation values expected in healthy cows. The mean NoRS SpO2 reading was 3% less. After further piloting under field conditions, the NoRS will require no animal restraining to automatically and continuously record cows' breathing rate, heart rate, and SpO2.

Monitoring cardiovascular and respiratory measurements responds to the precision livestock farming objective to continuously monitor and assess dairy cows' welfare and health. Changes in heart rate, breathing rate, and oxygen saturation are valuable metrics in human and veterinary medicine that are used to assess stress, pain, illness, and detect critical conditions. This article describes a wireless nose ring sensor system (NoRS) developed to read heart rate, breathing rate, and oxygen saturation from the cow's nostrils and tested on four Holstein dairy cows. These measures were compared to heart rate and oxygen saturation readings obtained from an off-the-shelf hand-held pulse oximeter and a veterinarian's concurrent count of flank movements. The comparison revealed highly significant correlations between the heart rate readings and a low, albeit significant correlation for breathing rate. The mean NoRS oxygen saturation reading was 3% less than the hand-held device. Although commonly used techniques for detecting vital parameters such as heart rate, breathing rate, and oxygen saturation only provide information about the time of examination, the NoRS is a wearable device that can monitor cardiovascular and respiratory measurements remotely and over time.

A neural substrate of early response capture during conflict tasks in sensory areas.

Studies that aim to understand the neural correlates of response conflicts commonly probe frontal brain areas associated with controlled inhibition and decision processes. However, untimely fast conflict errors happen even before these top-down processes are engaged. The dual-route model proposes that during conflict tasks, as soon as the stimulus is presented, two early processes are immediately at play. The task-relevant and task-irrelevant processes generate either compatible responses, when all stimulus features align, or incompatible responses, when stimulus features are in conflict. We aimed to find a neural substrate of these two processes by means of relating the quality of the representation of stimulus features in visual and somatosensory brain areas to responses in conflict tasks. Participants were scanned using fMRI while performing somatosensory and visual Simon tasks. The fMRI data were then analysed using a MVPA in early visual and somatosensory cortices. In agreement with our hypotheses, results suggest that the sensory representation of the task-relevant and task-irrelevant features drive erroneous trials. These results demonstrate that traces of response conflicts can arise already in sensory brain areas and that the quality of the representations in these regions can account for an early response capture by irrelevant stimulus features.

Sensory neural pathways revisited to unravel the temporal dynamics of the Simon effect: A model-based cognitive neuroscience approach.

The Simon task is one of the most prominent interference tasks and has been extensively studied in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Despite years of research, the underlying mechanism driving the phenomenon and its temporal dynamics are still disputed. Within the framework of the review, we adopt a model-based cognitive neuroscience approach. We first go over key findings in the literature of the Simon task, discuss competing qualitative cognitive theories and the difficulty of testing them empirically. We then introduce sequential sampling models, a particular class of mathematical cognitive process models. Finally, we argue that the brain architecture accountable for the processing of spatial ('where') and non-spatial ('what') information, could constrain these models. We conclude that there is a clear need to bridge neural and behavioral measures, and that mathematical cognitive models may facilitate the construction of this bridge and work towards revealing the underlying mechanisms of the Simon effect.

The interaction between emotion and executive control: Comparison between visual, auditory, and tactile modalities.

The reciprocal connections between emotion and attention are vital for adaptive behaviour. Previous results demonstrated that the behavioural effects of emotional stimuli on performance are attenuated when executive control is recruited. The current research studied whether this attenuation is modality dependent. In two experiments, negative and neutral pictures were presented shortly before a visual, tactile, or auditory target in a Simon task. All three modalities demonstrated a Simon effect, a conflict adaptation effect, and an emotional interference effect. However, the interaction between picture valence and Simon congruency was found only in the visual task. Specifically, when the Simon target was visual, emotional interference was reduced during incongruent compared to congruent trials. These findings suggest that although the control-related effects observed in the Simon tasks are not modality dependent, the link between emotion and executive control is modality dependent. Presumably, this link occurs only when the emotional stimulus and the target are presented in the same modality.

In touch with the Simon effect.

Cognitive control has been extensively studied using the auditory and visual modalities. In the current study, a tactile version of the Simon task was created in order to test control mechanisms in a modality that was less studied, to provide comparative and new information. A significant Simon effect--reaction time gap between congruent (i.e., stimulus and response in the same relative location) and incongruent (i.e., stimulus and response in opposite locations) stimuli--provided grounds to further examine both general and tactile-specific aspects of cognitive control in three experiments. By implementing a neutral condition and conducting sequential and distributional analysis, the present study: (a) supports two different independent mechanisms of cognitive control--reactive control and proactive control; (b) reveals facilitation and interference within the tactile Simon effect; and (c) proposes modality differences in activation and processing of the spatially driven stimulus-response association.

Vibrotactile "on-thigh" alerting system in the cockpit.

BACKGROUND: Alerts in the cockpit must be robust, difficult to ignore, and easily recognized. Tactile alerts can provide means to direct the pilot's attention in the already visual-auditory overloaded cockpit environment. OBJECTIVE: This research examined the thigh as a placement for vibrotactile display in the cockpit. The authors (a) report initial findings concerning the loci and properties of the display, (b) evaluate the added value of tactile cuing with respect to the existing audiovisual alerting system, and (c) address the issue of tactile orienting--whether the cue should display "flight" or "fight" orienting. The tactor display prototype was developed by a joint venture of Israel Aerospace Industries, Lahav Division, and the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (patent pending 11/968,405). A vibrotactile display mounted on the thigh provided directional cues in the vertical plane. Two vibrotactile display modes (eight and four tactors) and two response modes (compatible, i.e., fight [toward vibrotactile cue], and inverse, i.e., flight [away from vibrotactile cue]) were evaluated. RESULTS: Vertical directional orienting can be achieved by a vibrotactile display assembled on the thigh. The four-tactor display mode and the compatible response mode produced more accurate results. CONCLUSION: Tactile cues can provide directional orienting in the vertical plane. The benefit of adding compatible tactile cues compared with visual and auditory cues alone has yet to be reinforced. Nevertheless, fight mode, that is, directing the way to escape from hazardous situations, was preferred. APPLICATION: Potential applications include providing directional collision alerts within the vertical plane, assisting pilot's elevation control, or navigation.