Negative emotions mediate the association between the topology of the complex brain network and smartphone use disorder: A resting-state EEG study.

Background: Increasing research has examined the factors related to smartphone use disorder. However, limited research has explored its neural basis. Aims: We aimed to examine the relationship between the topology of the resting-state electroencephalography (rs-EEG) brain network and smartphone use disorder using minimum spanning tree analysis. Furthermore, we examined how negative emotions mediate this relationship. Methods: This study included 113 young, healthy adults (mean age = 20.87 years, 46.9% males). Results: The results showed that the alpha- and delta-band kappas and delta-band leaf fraction were positively correlated with smartphone use disorder. In contrast, the alpha-band diameter was negatively correlated with smartphone use disorder. Negative emotions fully mediated the relationship between alpha-band kappa and alpha-band diameter and smartphone use disorder. Furthermore, negative emotions partially mediated the relationship between delta-band kappa and smartphone use disorder. The findings suggest that excessive scale-free alpha- and delta-band brain networks contribute to the emergence of smartphone use disorder. In addition, the findings also demonstrate that negative emotions and smartphone use disorder share the same neural basis. Negative emotions play a mediating role in the association between topological deviations and smartphone use disorder. Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the neural basis of smartphone use disorder from the perspective of the topology of the rs-EEG brain network. Therefore, neuromodulation may be a potential intervention for smartphone use disorder.

Sensorimotor Adaptation to Formant-Shifted Auditory Feedback Is Predicted by Language-Specific Factors in L1 and L2 Speech Production.

Auditory feedback plays an important role in the long-term updating and maintenance of speech motor control; thus, the current study explored the unresolved question of how sensorimotor adaptation is predicted by language-specific and domain-general factors in first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) production. Eighteen English-L1 speakers and 22 English-L2 speakers performed the same sensorimotor adaptation experiments and tasks, which measured language-specific and domain-general abilities. The experiment manipulated the language groups (English-L1 and English-L2) and experimental conditions (baseline, early adaptation, late adaptation, and end). Linear mixed-effects model analyses indicated that auditory acuity was significantly associated with sensorimotor adaptation in L1 and L2 speakers. Analysis of vocal responses showed that L1 speakers exhibited significant sensorimotor adaptation under the early adaptation, late adaptation, and end conditions, whereas L2 speakers exhibited significant sensorimotor adaptation only under the late adaptation condition. Furthermore, the domain-general factors of working memory and executive control were not associated with adaptation/aftereffects in either L1 or L2 production, except for the role of working memory in aftereffects in L2 production. Overall, the study empirically supported the hypothesis that sensorimotor adaptation is predicted by language-specific factors such as auditory acuity and language experience, whereas general cognitive abilities do not play a major role in this process.

Mother phubbing and adolescents' problematic SNS use: the mediating role of perceived burdensomeness and the moderating role of need to belong.

There is a rapidly growing academic interest on parental phubbing, however, little research has explored the association between mother phubbing and adolescent problematic social networking sites use (PSNSU), the underlying mediating and moderating effects in this relationship are also in need to be uncovered. The present study examined whether mother phubbing would be positively related to adolescent PSNSU, whether perceived burdensomeness would mediate this relationship, and whether need to belong would moderate the associations between mother phubbing and adolescent PSNSU. The hypothesized research model was examined among 3,915 Chinese adolescents (47% of them were boys, mean age = 16.42 ± 0.77 years). The results showed that mother phubbing was positively associated with adolescent PSNSU and perceived burdensomeness mediated this association. Furthermore, need to belong moderated the relationship between perceived burdensomeness and PSNSU, the relationship between mother phubbing and perceived burdensomeness, and the relationship between mother phubbing and PSNSU.

How perceived school culture relates to work engagement among primary and secondary school teachers? Roles of affective empathy and job tenure.

Evidence suggests that perceived school culture is the most powerful predictor of teachers' work performance. However, studies to date have paid little attention to the potential mechanisms behind this association. On the basis of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the present study explored the mediating role of affective empathy and the moderating role of job tenure in the association between perceived school culture and teachers' work engagement. 647 primary and secondary school teachers completed questionnaires measuring perceived school culture, affective empathy, and work engagement. After gender and educational level were included as covariates, the results showed that perceived school culture positively correlated with teachers' work engagement, and more importantly, this association was partially mediated by affective empathy. In addition, job tenure significantly moderated the direct association between perceived school culture and work engagement. Specifically, there was a stronger association between perceived school culture and work engagement for teachers with shorter job tenure than those with longer job tenure. The findings suggested the direct effect of perceived school culture on work engagement, and the indirect effect of perceived school culture on work engagement through the mediating role of affective empathy. These findings enrich our understanding of how perceived school culture associates with work engagement, and highlight the moderating role of job tenure in the direct association between perceived school culture and work engagement.

Effect of skill proficiency on motor imagery ability between amateur dancers and non-dancers.

Evidence has shown that athletes with high motor skill proficiency possess higher motor imagery ability than those with low motor skill proficiency. However, less is known whether this superiority in motor imagery ability emerges over amateur athletes. To address the issue, the present study aimed to investigate the individual differences in motor imagery ability between amateur dancers and non-dancers. Forty participants completed a novel dance movement reproduction task and measures of the vividness of visual imagery questionnaire (VVIQ) and the vividness of motor imagery questionnaire (VMIQ). The results showed that, relative to non-dancers, amateur dancers had higher ability of motor imagery to reproduce the lower-limb and upper-limb dance movements during the dance movement reproduction task. Besides, amateur dancers displayed higher abilities of the visual motor imagery and the kinesthetic imagery, but comparable visual imagery ability as the non-dancers. These findings suggest that the mental representation of motors but not the visual is affected by the motor skill levels, due to the motor imagery practice in sports amateurs.

How is Father Phubbing Associated with Adolescents' Social Networking Sites Addiction? Roles of Narcissism, Need to Belong, and Loneliness.

OBJECTIVE: Parents' phubbing has been found to be positively associated with adolescents' internet-related addiction. However, it remains unknown whether father phubbing would influence adolescents' social networking sites addiction (SNSA), and the mechanisms underlying this association stays largely unknown. This study aims to expand previous research by testing the mediating effect of loneliness, as well as the moderating effects of narcissism and need to belong in the association between father phubbing and adolescents' SNSA. METHOD: In a cross-sectional design, 4,172 participants (2,189 boys and 1,983 girls; Mage = 16.41 ± .77) from 5 high schools in China completed measures of demographic variables, father phubbing, loneliness, narcissism, need to belong, and SNSA. RESULTS: Results from regression analyses found that (a) Father phubbing had a positive association with adolescents' SNSA; (b) Loneliness partially mediated this association; (c) Narcissism and need to belong concurrently moderated the association between father phubbing and loneliness. In particular, the effect of father phubbing on loneliness was weaker among students with high narcissism, and among students with low need to belong. CONCLUSIONS: The findings enrich our understanding of how father phubbing may increase the risk of SNSA among adolescents, and underscore the potential importance of reducing father phubbing and loneliness to prevent adolescents' SNSA.

The role of school organizational conditions in teacher psychological resilience and stress during COVID-19 pandemic: A moderated mediation model.

Educational revisions facilitate the relief of teacher stress by means of enhancing school organizational conditions. However, limited research has explored the effects of school organizational conditions on teacher stress in China. Using a sample of 734 primary and secondary school teachers from 30 provinces or municipalities of China, this study examined the effects of school organizational conditions on teacher stress in China, with a particular focus on the mediating role of psychological resilience and moderating role of perceived COVID-19 crisis strength. The results demonstrated that school organizational conditions were negatively associated with teacher stress. Furthermore, psychological resilience partially mediated the relation between school organizational conditions and teacher stress. In addition, perceived COVID-19 crisis strength significantly moderated the direct and indirect relations between school organizational conditions and teacher stress. The relations between school organizational conditions and teacher stress and between school organizational conditions and psychological resilience were stronger for teachers who perceived low levels of COVID-19 crisis strength. However, the indirect relation between psychological resilience and stress was stronger for teachers who perceived high levels of COVID-19 crisis strength. Implications have been provided accordingly.

The influence of perceived parental phubbing on adolescents' problematic smartphone use: A two-wave multiple mediation model.

Using a two-wave longitudinal design, the current study examined the relationship between early perceived parental phubbing and subsequent problematic smartphone use. As loneliness is a sensitive indicator of interpersonal problems and fear of missing out is a strong predictor of Internet-related addiction, we examined these two variables as possible mediators in this relationship based on existing literature. A total of 1447 Chinese adolescents (572 males and 875 females, mean age = 16.15 years) completed questionnaires regarding perceived parental phubbing, loneliness, fear of missing out, and problematic smartphone use. The results indicated that: (a) early fathers' phubbing (fphubbing) and mothers' phubbing (mphubbing) predicted adolescents' subsequent problematic smartphone use; (b) loneliness mediated the relationship between early fphubbing/mphubbing and adolescents' subsequent problematic smartphone use; and (c) loneliness and fear of missing out sequentially mediated the relationship between early fphubbing/mphubbing and adolescents' subsequent problematic smartphone use. These results suggested that three types of interventions could be effectively used to decrease the risk of problematic smartphone use among adolescents, namely, reducing perceived parental phubbing, relieving loneliness, and decreasing fear of missing out.

Language proficiency moderates the effect of L2 semantically related distractors in L2 spoken word production.

Bilinguals differ substantially in their second language (L2) proficiency, but it remains unclear whether language proficiency modulates the effect of L2 semantically related distractors in L2 spoken word production. In the present study, two groups of high proficiency and low proficiency Chinese-English bilinguals named target pictures in their L2 accompanied by visually superimposed L2 distractor words while electroencephalogram signals were recorded. Distractor names were semantically related or unrelated to target names. Variables of L2 proficiency (high proficiency or low proficiency) and semantic relatedness (related or unrelated) were manipulated in the experiment. Behavioral results demonstrated an interaction between L2 proficiency and semantic relatedness, with a semantic interference effect appearing only in high proficiency bilinguals. Waveform analysis indicated that semantic relatedness only exerted significant effects on event-related potentials in high proficiency bilinguals around 300-500 ms post picture presentation. Source localization analysis revealed that semantically related distractors induced higher brain activations in the left middle and superior temporal regions among high proficiency bilinguals, while higher brain activations were found in the right prefrontal cortex among low proficiency bilinguals. Taken together, these findings substantiate the role of language proficiency in determining whether L2 semantically related distractors are sufficiently activated to exceed the competition threshold and interfere with L2 picture naming.

The N200 enhancement effect in reading Chinese is modulated by actual writing.

Previous research has demonstrated that writing can modulate the orthographic processing of reading in Chinese. We examined whether such a modulatory effect from Chinese writing to reading can occur even when visual feedback is not provided during writing. Using the repetition prime paradigm in conjunction with imagined and actual writing prime tasks, we found that actual but not imagined writing elicited an N200 enhancement effect, which reflects deep orthographic processing in reading Chinese characters at a topographic and ERP level. This effect can be explained by the interaction between writing production processing and the environment during writing execution, which may modulate the subsequent deep orthographic process of reading through a kinesthetic gesture orthographic code system in reading or a tight connection between visual orthography and writing motion. In addition, writing influenced the orthographic processing of Chinese reading in a different way than reading. Our findings suggest that the actual writing process without visual feedback can modulate the orthographic processing in reading Chinese characters, and highlight the crucial role of writing motion in developing Chinese reading ability.

The effect of time pressure and semantic relatedness in spoken word production: A topographic ERP study.

Speaking involves information-universal and information-specific systems, and it remains unknown about the influence of two systems in spoken word production. We manipulated time pressure (with and without) as an information-universal factor and the semantic relatedness between target names and distractor words (semantically related and unrelated) as an information-specific factor in the picture-word interference (PWI) task, while electrophysiological signals were measured concurrently. Naming latencies showed a significant semantic interference effect in the condition without time pressure but none in the condition with time pressure. Spatio-temporal segmentation analysis indicated that time pressure only prolonged the duration of Map 4 ranging from about 250-350 ms post picture presentation, and meanwhile shortened the duration of Map 5 starting around 350-520 ms. Within the framework of serial models, the two time periods were presumably associated with lexical selection and phonological encoding in spoken word production. Cluster-based permutation analysis revealed that semantic relatedness modulated ERPs around 320-360 ms after picture onset in the condition without time pressure, while 530-570 ms in the condition with time pressure. Our findings reveal that time pressure prolongs lexical selection and shortens phonological encoding. Furthermore, time pressure dynamically modulates whether semantically related distractors exceed a competition threshold to interfere with target word selection.

Aging Effects on Phonological and Semantic Priming in the Tip-of-the-Tongue: Evidence From a Two-Step Approach.

The mechanism underlying the age difference in spoken word production remains controversial. We used a two-step approach proposed by Gollan and Brown (2006) to investigate the semantic and phonological retrieval deficits when tip-of-the-tongue occurs in young and older adults. Importantly, we controlled the inhibition ability in both older and young groups. In experiment 1 with a people pictures naming task, older adults produced more TOTs than young adults, and they suffered from phonological retrieval deficit rather than semantic retrieval deficit in speaking. In experiment 2 with a priming paradigm, participants were presented semantically related or phonologically related names before target pictures, which formed semantic or phonological priming conditions for lexical access. Compared with young adults, older adults showed a greater effect of phonological priming on decreasing TOTs occurrence. For semantic retrieval deficit, older adults exhibited a smaller phonological facilitation effect and a larger semantic interference effect than young adults. For phonological retrieval deficit, older adults presented a larger phonological facilitation effect in the first-name related priming condition than the first-syllable related priming condition, whereas young adults showed similar facilitation effects between the two phonological priming conditions. Our findings provide consistent evidence for the transmission deficit hypothesis, and highlight that aging affects bidirectional connections between semantic and phonological nodes in speech production.

Stressful Life Events and Subjective Well-Being in Vocational School Female Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Depression and the Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support.

Stressful life events and subjective well-being are negatively related, but there is little research in the current literature exploring the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association, especially for female adolescents in vocational schools who are subjected to undesirable life events. In the present study, we examined the mediating role of depression in the association between stressful life events and female adolescents' subjective well-being, as well as the moderating role of perceived social support in the direct and indirect relations involved. The participants were 1,096 vocational school female adolescents, who completed the questionnaires regarding stressful life events, subjective well-being, depression, and perceived social support. The results showed that depression partially mediated the relation between stressful life events and subjective well-being. Importantly, perceived social support moderated the direct link between stressful life events and subjective well-being, and the indirect link between stressful life events and depression, but not the indirect link between depression and subjective well-being. Especially, female adolescents high in perceived social support displayed higher levels of subjective well-being and lower levels of depression in facing with stressful life events than those low in perceived social support. These findings highlight the mechanisms underlying the relationship between stressful life events and subjective well-being in vocational school female adolescents.

How are smartphones associated with adolescent materialism?

This study examined whether smartphone addiction predicted adolescent materialism and whether self-esteem mediated the relation between smartphone addiction and adolescent materialism. Moreover, this study tested whether this mediating process was moderated by student-student relationship. Our theoretical model was tested among 748 middle school students in China (mean age = 16.80, standard deviation = .73). The results indicated that smartphone addiction was positively related to adolescent materialism. Mediation analysis showed that self-esteem mediated this relation. Moderated mediation test further revealed that the mediated path was moderated by student-student relationship.

The Effect of Lexical Cohort Size Is Independent of Semantic Context Effects in a Picture-Word Interference Task: A Combined ERP and sLORETA Study.

Lexical cohort size is known to play an important role in the magnitude of semantic interference during picture naming in continuous and blocking naming tasks. Nevertheless, whether and how lexical cohort size influences semantic context effects in a picture-word interference (PWI) task remains unclear. To address this issue, participants were required to name pictures, which were paired with both semantically related and unrelated distractors, from both large and small lexical cohorts while electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were recorded. Behavior results showed a semantic interference effect but no interaction between semantic relatedness and lexical cohort size in naming latencies. ERPs and correlation analyses revealed that semantic interference effects occurred at the lexical level in the time windows of 200-400 and 400-600 ms, and lexical cohort size effects occurred at the conceptual level in the time window of 100-200 ms and at the lexical level in the time windows of 200-400 ms. Critically, no interaction between two variables was found, reflecting that lexical cohort size is independent of semantic interference for categorical relations in the PWI. sLORETA results found stronger brain activations for large lexical cohorts at the left superior temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus in the time interval of 250-300 ms, which may relate to lexical selection and self-monitoring. Our findings provide evidence for the swinging lexical network rather than the response exclusion hypothesis in spoken production.