National and regional trends in fentanyl seizures in the United States, 2017-2023.

BACKGROUND: Rates of synthetic opioid-related deaths over time and across regions have been compared within the US, but other indicator data could help inform prevention and harm reduction as well. We compared regional trends in fentanyl seizures to examine potential shifts in illicit fentanyl availability. METHODS: Annual trends in fentanyl seizures were examined using data from High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas for the US overall and by region from 2017 through 2023. Multiple measures included the number of seizures, the number of powder seizures, the number of pill seizures, the total weight of seizures, the number of pills seized, and the percentage of the number of pill seizures relative to the number of total seizures. RESULTS: The percentage of seizures in pill form in the US increased from 10.3 % in 2017 to 49.0 % in 2023 (adjusted annual percentage change [AAPC]=25.2, 95 % CI: 17.6, 33.2), with 115.6 million individual pills seized in 2023. Pill weight related to total seizure weight also increased from 0.4 % to 54.5 % (AAPC=112.6, 95 % CI: 78.6, 153.2). In 2023, the plurality of seizures was in the West, in seven out of eight of our measures, with 77.8 % of seizures in the West being in pill form. Although the Midwest had lower prevalence of seizures than the West, there were notable increases in the Midwest in the number of pill seizures (AAPC=142.2, 95 % CI: 91.9, 205.8) and number of pills seized (AAPC=421.0, 95 % CI: 272.7, 628.4). Total weight of fentanyl seized increased the most in the West (AAPC=84.6, 95 % CI: 72.3, 97.8). CONCLUSIONS: The number and size of fentanyl seizures is increasing in the US, with the majority of seizures, especially in pill form, in the West. Continued monitoring of regional shifts in the fentanyl supply can help inform targeted prevention and public health response.

National and regional trends in seizures of shrooms (psilocybin) in the United States, 2017-2022.

BACKGROUND: Psilocybin, the principle psychoactive component in "shrooms", is regaining acceptance in therapeutic settings, leading to media coverage of medical benefits associated with use. Possession is also becoming increasingly decriminalized throughout the United States. There is a lack of data on prevalence of shroom use, but trends in law enforcement seizure data can provide one indicator of shroom availability in US communities. We determined whether seizures of shrooms have shifted between 2017 and 2022. METHODS: This study examined national and regional trends in counts and total weight of shroom seizures reported to High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas in the US between 2017 and 2022 (N=4526). RESULTS: There were 402 seizures in 2017 compared to 1396 in 2022 with the plurality occurring in the Midwest (36.0%), followed by the West (33.5%). Between 2017 Quarter 1 (Q1) and 2022 Quarter 4 (Q4), the number of seizures increased by 368.9% (AQPC=7.0; 95 CI: 5.9-8.1) and there were significant increases in all four regions. In terms of weight, 226.0kg was seized in 2017 vs. 844.0kg in 2022, and the greatest total weight in seizures was in the West (1864.2kg, 42.6%), followed by the South (1831.9kg, 41.8%). Between 2017 Q1 and 2022 Q4, the total weight seized in the US increased by 2749.7% (AQPC=6.2, 95% CI: 0.3-12.4) and there were significant increases in all four regions. CONCLUSIONS: Seizures of shrooms have increased, suggesting that availability may be escalating; thus, increases in prevention efforts and harm reduction education are warranted.

When dyads act in parallel, a sense of agency for the auditory consequences depends on the order of the actions.

The sense of agency (SA) is the perception of willfully causing something to happen. Wegner and Wheatley (1999) proposed three prerequisites for SA: temporal contiguity between an action and its effect, congruence between predicted and observed effects, and exclusivity (absence of competing causal explanations). We investigated how temporal contiguity, congruence, and the order of two human agents' actions influenced SA on a task where participants rated feelings of self-agency for producing a tone. SA decreased when tone onsets were delayed, supporting contiguity as important, but the order of the agents' actions (lead, follow, or simultaneous) also mattered. Relative contiguity was the main determinant of SA, as delayed tones were usually attributed to the most recent action. This was unaffected by contingencies between the two actors' actions (Experiment 2), showing that contiguity has a powerful influence on SA, even during joint action in the presence of other cues.

Predictable and self-initiated visual motion is judged to be slower than computer generated motion.

Self-initiated action effects are often perceived as less intense than identical but externally generated stimuli. It is thought that forward models within the sensorimotor system pre-activate cortical representations of predicted action effects, reducing perceptual sensitivity and attenuating neural responses. As self-agency and predictability are seldom manipulated simultaneously in behavioral experiments, it is unclear if self-other differences depend on predictable action effect contingencies, or if both self- and externally generated stimuli are modulated similarly by predictability. We factorially combined variation in (1) predictability of action effects, (2) spatial congruence, and (3) performance by the self or computer to dissociate these influences on a visual discrimination task. Participants performed 2AFC speed judgments. Self-initiated motion was judged to be slower than computer-initiated motion when action effect contingencies were predictable, while spatial congruence influenced speed judgments only when action effect contingencies were unpredictable. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of sensory attenuation.

Integrating cognition in the laboratory with cognition in the real world: the time cognition takes, task fidelity, and finding tasks when they are mixed together.

It is now possible for real-life activities, unfolding over their natural range of temporal and spatial scales, to become the primary targets of cognitive studies. Movement toward this type of research will require an integrated methodological approach currently uncommon in the field. When executed hand in hand with thorough and ecologically valid empirical description, properly developed laboratory tasks can serve as model systems to capture the essentials of a targeted real-life activity. When integrated together, data from these two kinds of studies can facilitate causal analysis and modeling of the mental and neural processes that govern that activity, enabling a fuller account than either method can provide on its own. The resulting account, situated in the activity's natural environmental, social, and motivational context, can then enable effective and efficient development of interventions to support and improve the activity as it actually unfolds in real time. We believe that such an integrated multi-level research program should be common rather than rare and is necessary to achieve scientifically and societally important goals. The time is right to finally abandon the boundaries that separate the laboratory from the outside world.

Is that what I wanted to do? Cued vocalizations influence the phenomenology of controlling a moving object.

The phenomenology of controlled action depends on comparisons between predicted and actually perceived sensory feedback called action-effects. We investigated if intervening task-irrelevant but semantically related information influences monitoring processes that give rise to a sense of control. Participants judged whether a moving box "obeyed" or "disobeyed" their own arrow keystrokes (Experiments 1 and 2) or visual cues representing the computer's choices (Experiment 3). During 1s delays between keystrokes/cues and box movements, participants vocalized directions ("up", "down", "left", or "right") cued by letters inside the box. Congruency of cued vocalizations was manipulated relative to previously selected keystrokes and upcoming box movements. In Experiment 1, reported obey moves and feelings of control reflected the true frequency of obey moves, but were also modulated by vocalizations. Incongruent vocalizations reduced reported obey moves, whereas congruent vocalizations increased them. In Experiment 2, vocalizations had stronger effects when their congruence with primary-task box movement was consistent for several consecutive moves before congruence changed. In Experiment 3, analogous impacts of vocalizations occurred when the computer selected the directions and participants judged whether the computer had control of the box. We conclude that predicted and perceived action-effects associated with semantically related but separate and ostensibly irrelevant actions can be conflated with one another. This interference is not restricted to actions performed with the same effector or within the same modality, or even by the same actor. Thus in estimating degrees of control, the mind integrates across ongoing action systems, whether or not they are logically task-relevant.

Trends in seizures of powders and pills containing illicit fentanyl in the United States, 2018 through 2021.

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of fentanyl-laced counterfeit prescription pills has been increasing in the US, possibly placing a wider population at risk for unintentional exposure. We aimed to determine whether there have been shifts in the number of fentanyl seizures and in the form of fentanyl seized in the US. METHODS: We examined quarterly national seizure data from High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to determine the number of drug seizures in the US containing fentanyl from January 2018 through December 2021. Generalized additive models were used to estimate trends in the number and weight of pill and powder seizures containing fentanyl. RESULTS: There was an increase both in the number of fentanyl-containing powder seizures (from 424 in 2018 Quarter 1 [Q1] to 1539 in 2021 Quarter 4 [Q4], ß = 0.94, p < 0.001) and in the number of pill seizures (from 68 to 635, ß = 0.96, p < 0.01). The proportion of pills to total seizures more than doubled from 13.8% in 2018 Q1 to 29.2% in 2021 Q4 (ß = 0.92, p < 0.001). Weight of powder fentanyl seizures increased from 298.2 kg in 2018 Q1 to 2416.0 kg in 2021 Q4 (ß = 1.12, p = 0.01); the number of pills seized increased from 42,202 in 2018 Q1 to 2,089,186 in 2021 Q4 (ß = 0.90, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Seizures of drugs containing fentanyl have been increasing in the US. Given that over a quarter of fentanyl seizures are now in pill form, people who obtain counterfeit pills such as those disguised as oxycodone or alprazolam are at risk for unintentional exposure to fentanyl.

Shifts in drug seizures in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected patterns of drug use in the United States. Because drug seizures can serve as a proxy for drug availability, we examined shifts in drug seizures in the US during the pandemic. METHODS: We examined trends in seizures of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl within five High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas-Washington/Baltimore, Chicago, Ohio, New Mexico, and North Florida. Trends were examined for number and total weight of seizures from March 2019 through September 2020 using Joinpoint regression. RESULTS: Significant decreases in seizures involving marijuana (ß = -0.03, P = 0.005) and methamphetamine (ß = -0.02, P = 0.026) were detected through April 2020, and then seizures of marijuana (ß = 0.10, P = 0.028) and methamphetamine (ß = 0.11, P = 0.010) significantly increased through September 2020. The number of seizures involving marijuana and methamphetamine peaked in August 2020, exceeding the highest pre-COVID-19 number of seizures. Fentanyl seizures increased overall (ß = 0.05, P < .001), but did not significantly drop during the start of COVID-19, and significant changes were not detected for cocaine or heroin. We also detected a significant increase in weight of marijuana seized from April through September 2020 (ß = 0.40, P = .001). The weight of marijuana seized in August 2020 exceeded the highest pre-COVID-19 weight. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an immediate decrease in marijuana and methamphetamine seizures, and then increases throughout 2020 with some months exceeding the number (and weights) of seizures from the previous year. More research is warranted to determine the extent to which these seizures reflect changes in drug use.

Taking credit for success: the phenomenology of control in a goal-directed task.

We studied how people determine when they are in control of objects. In a computer task, participants moved a virtual boat towards a goal using a joystick to investigate how subjective control is shaped by (1) correspondence between motor actions and the visual consequences of those actions, and (2) attainment of higher-level goals. In Experiment 1, random discrepancies from joystick input (noise) decreased judgments of control (JoCs), but discrepancies that brought the boat closer to the goal and increased success (the autopilot) increased JoCs. In Experiment 2, participants raced to the goal against a computer-controlled rival boat while varying levels of noise interfered with each boat. Participants reached the goal more often and rated their own control higher when the computer rival had good control. Subjective control over moving objects depends partly on consistency between motor actions and their effects, but is also modulated by perceived success and competition.

Individual differences in using geometric and featural cues to maintain spatial orientation: cue quantity and cue ambiguity are more important than cue type.

Two experiments explored the role of environmental cues in maintaining spatial orientation (sense of self-location and direction) during locomotion. Of particular interest was the importance of geometric cues (provided by environmental surfaces) and featural cues (nongeometric properties provided by striped walls) in maintaining spatial orientation. Participants performed a spatial updating task within virtual environments containing geometric or featural cues that were ambiguous or unambiguous indicators of self-location and direction. Cue type (geometric or featural) did not affect performance, but the number and ambiguity of environmental cues did. Gender differences, interpreted as a proxy for individual differences in spatial ability and/or experience, highlight the interaction between cue quantity and ambiguity. When environmental cues were ambiguous, men stayed oriented with either one or two cues, whereas women stayed oriented only with two. When environmental cues were unambiguous, women stayed oriented with one cue.

Incidental learning of abstract rules for non-dominant word orders.

One way in which adult second language learners may acquire a word order that differs from their native language word order is through exposure-based incidental learning, but little is known about that process and what constrains it. The current studies examine whether a non-dominant word order can be learned incidentally, and if so, whether the rule can be generalized to new words not previously seen in the non-dominant order. Two studies examined the incidental learning of rules underlying the order of nouns and verbs in three-word strings. The self-timed reading speeds of native English speakers decreased as a result of practice with a non-dominant rule (words ordered either as "verb noun noun" or "noun noun verb"). The same pattern of results was also found for new words ordered according to the previously encountered rule, suggesting learning generalized beyond the specific instances encountered. A second experiment showed such rule learning could also occur when the nouns were replaced with pronounceable pseudowords. Learning was therefore possible in the absence of any pre-existing relationships between the items. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.

The role of retrieval practice in memory and analogical problem-solving.

Retrieval practice (e.g., testing) has been shown to facilitate long-term retention of information. In two experiments, we examine whether retrieval practice also facilitates use of the practised information when it is needed to solve analogous problems. When retrieval practice was not limited to the information most relevant to the problems (Experiment 1), it improved memory for the information a week later compared with copying or rereading the information, although we found no evidence that it improved participants' ability to apply the information to the problems. In contrast, when retrieval practice was limited to only the information most relevant to the problems (Experiment 2), we found that retrieval practice enhanced memory for the critical information, the ability to identify the schematic similarities between the two sources of information, and the ability to apply that information to solve an analogous problem after a hint was given to do so. These results suggest that retrieval practice, through its effect on memory, can facilitate application of information to solve novel problems but has minimal effects on spontaneous realisation that the information is relevant.

Studying overt word reading and speech production with event-related fMRI: a method for detecting, assessing, and correcting articulation-induced signal changes and for measuring onset time and duration of articulation.

A quantitative method is introduced for detecting and correcting artifactual signal changes in BOLD time series data arising from the magnetic field warping caused by motion of the articulatory apparatus when speaking aloud, with extensions to detection of subvocal articulatory activity during silent reading. Whole-head images allow the large, spike-like signal changes from the moving tongue and other components of the articulatory apparatus to be detected and localized in time, providing a measure of the time of vocalization onset, the vocalization duration, and also an estimate of the magnitude and shape of the signal change resulting from motion. Data from brain voxels are then examined during the vocalization period, and statistical outliers corresponding to contamination from articulatory motion are removed and replaced by linear interpolation from adjacent, uncontaminated data points. This quantitative approach to cleansing brain time series data of articulatory-motion-induced artifact is combined with a pre-scanning training regimen that reduces gross head movement during reading aloud to the levels observed during reading silently, which can be corrected with available image registration techniques. The combination of quantitative analysis of articulatory motion artifacts and pre-scanning training makes possible a much wider range of tasks involving overt speech than are currently being used in fMRI studies of language and cognition, as well as characterization of subvocal movements of the articulatory apparatus that are relevant to theories of reading skill, verbal rehearsal in working memory, and problem solving.

When does haste make waste? Speed-accuracy tradeoff, skill level, and the tools of the trade.

Novice and skilled golfers took a series of golf putts with a standard putter (Exp. 1) or a distorted funny putter (consisting of an s-shaped and arbitrarily weighted putter shaft; Exp. 2) under instructions to either (a) take as much time as needed to be accurate or to (b) putt as fast as possible while still being accurate. Planning and movement time were measured for each putt. In both experiments, novices produced the typical speed-accuracy trade-off. Going slower, in terms of both the planning and movement components of execution, improved performance. In contrast, skilled golfers benefited from reduced performance time when using the standard putter in Exp. 1 and, specifically, taking less time to plan improved performance. In Exp. 2, skilled golfers improved by going slower when using the funny putter, but only when it was unfamiliar. Thus, skilled performance benefits from speed instructions when wielding highly familiar tools (i.e., the standard putter) is harmed when using new tools (i.e., the funny putter), and benefits again by speed instructions as the new tool becomes familiar. Planning time absorbs these changes.

Trends in Illicit Ketamine Seizures in the US From 2017 to 2022.

This cross-sectional study evaluates trends in the number and weight of illicit ketamine seizures in the US from 2017 to 2022.

"As soon as the bat met the ball, I knew it was gone": outcome prediction, hindsight bias, and the representation and control of action in expert and novice baseball players.

A virtual-reality batting task compared novice and expert baseball players' ability to predict the outcomes of their swings as well as the susceptibility of these outcome predictions to hindsight bias--a measure of strength and resistance to distortion of memory for predicted action outcomes. During each swing the simulation stopped when the bat met the ball. Batters marked where on the field they thought the ball would land. Correct feedback was then displayed, after which batters attempted to remark the location they had indicated prior to feedback. Expert batters were more accurate than less-skilled individuals in the initial marking and showed less hindsight bias in the postfeedback marking. Furthermore, experts' number of hits in the previous block of trials was positively correlated with prediction accuracy and negatively correlated with hindsight bias. The reverse was true for novices. Thus the ability to predict the outcome of one's performance before such information is available in the environment is not only based on one's overall skill level, but how one is performing at a given moment.

On the causal mechanisms of stereotype threat: can skills that don't rely heavily on working memory still be threatened?

Recent work suggests that stereotype threat (ST) harms performance by reducing available working memory capacity. Is this the only mechanism by which ST can occur? Three experiments examined ST's impact on expert golf putting, which is not harmed when working memory is reduced but is hurt when attention is allocated to proceduralized processes that normally run outside working memory. Experiment 1 showed that well learned golf putting is susceptible to ST. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that giving expert golfers a secondary task eliminates ST-induced impairment. Distracting attention away from the stereotype-related behavior eliminates the harmful impact of negative stereotype activation. These results are consistent with explicit monitoring theories of choking under pressure, which suggest that performance degradation can occur when too much attention is allocated to processes that usually run more automatically. Thus, ST alters information processing in multiple ways, inducing performance decrements for different reasons in different tasks.

Visual attention and word recognition in stroop color naming: is word recognition "automatic"?

In Stroop color naming, color targets were accompanied by a color word or a color word plus a neutral word that reduces or "dilutes" the Stroop effect. Abrupt-onset cues called the focus of attention to one stimulus or another. Cuing influenced the size of the Stroop effect but never eliminated it. Unlike the Stroop effect itself, Stroop dilution from the neutral word could be eliminated, by cuing the color word. Focusing visual attention on the color word protected it from Stroop dilution; focusing visual attention on the neutral word did not prevent Stroop interference. Thus, spatial attention is a modulator, protecting visual data from crosstalk, but a word need not be the focus of visual attention to be recognized.

More on the fragility of performance: choking under pressure in mathematical problem solving.

In 3 experiments, the authors examined mathematical problem solving performance under pressure. In Experiment 1, pressure harmed performance on only unpracticed problems with heavy working memory demands. In Experiment 2, such high-demand problems were practiced until their answers were directly retrieved from memory. This eliminated choking under pressure. Experiment 3 dissociated practice on particular problems from practice on the solution algorithm by imposing a high-pressure test on problems practiced 1, 2, or 50 times each. Infrequently practiced high-demand problems were still performed poorly under pressure, whereas problems practiced 50 times each were not. These findings support distraction theories of choking in math, which contrasts with considerable evidence for explicit monitoring theories of choking in sensorimotor skills. This contrast suggests a skill taxonomy based on real-time control structures.

Haste does not always make waste: expertise, direction of attention, and speed versus accuracy in performing sensorimotor skills.

In two experiments, we examined the attentional mechanisms governing sensorimotor skill execution across levels of expertise. In Experiment 1, novice and expert golfers took a series of putts under dual-task conditions designed to distract attention from putting and under skill-focused conditions that prompted attention to step-by-step performance. Novices performed better under skill-focused than under dual-task conditions. Experts showed the opposite pattern. In Experiment 2, novice and expert golfers putted under instructions that emphasized either putting accuracy or speed--the latter intended to reduce the time available to monitor and explicitly adjust execution parameters. Novices putted better under accuracy instructions. Experts were more accurate under speed instructions. In agreement with theories of skill acquisition and automaticity, novice performance is enhanced by conditions that allow for on-line attentional monitoring (e.g., skill-focused or accuracy instructions) in comparison with conditions that prevent explicit attentional control of skill execution (e.g., dual-task or speed constraints). In contrast, the proceduralized skill of experts benefits from environments that limit, rather than encourage, attention to execution.