Intrinsic motivation in a virtual reality mock crime affects participants' willingness to invest more effort in deceptive interviews.

In studies of investigative interviewing, it is not well understood how participant experience of mock-crime activities might affect participants' desire to perform (well) in subsequent interviews. In this study, we utilized two immersive virtual reality mock-crimes to examine if participants' intrinsic motivation (i.e., competence, autonomy, relatedness) while committing the virtual mock-crime affects their desire to perform well in interviews. We also examined if the self-reported feeling of presence during the virtual reality mock-crime is associated with participants' intrinsic motivation. We found significant positive associations between presence and all intrinsic motivation variables in both truth and lie conditions. We also found that competence and relatedness significantly predicted the self-reported effort to perform well in interviews. We discuss these results in the context of prior literature and provide recommendations for researchers on the design of mock-crime experiences.

Mapping between cognitive theories and psycho-physiological models of attention system performance.

Declines in the capacity to sustain attention to repetitive, monotonous tasks is a phenomenon known as vigilance decrement (Endsley M, Kiris E. The out-of-the-loop performance problem and level of control in automation. 1995. Hum Factors. 37:32-64). This review compares cognitive theories with psycho-physiological models of vigilance decrement, and a gap is identified in mapping between the 2. That is, theories of vigilance decrement refer to "cognitive" resources; by contrast, psychophysiological models of the cerebral systems associated with attention explain performance functions according to neurochemical resources. A map does not currently exist in the literature that bridges the gap between cognitive theories of vigilance decrement and psychophysiological models of the human attention system. The link between "cognitive resource" theories of vigilance decrement and the psychophysiological models of attention performance is a gap in the literature that this review fills. This comprehensive review provides an expanded psychophysiological understanding of vigilance decrement that could help inform the management of declines in sustained attention capacity in operational settings. In addition, elucidating the link between cognitive theories of vigilance decrement and psychophysiological models of the human attention system might be used to treat and better understand pathologies such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

A review of cyber vigilance tasks for network defense.

The capacity to sustain attention to virtual threat landscapes has led cyber security to emerge as a new and novel domain for vigilance research. However, unlike classic domains, such as driving and air traffic control and baggage security, very few vigilance tasks exist for the cyber security domain. Four essential challenges that must be overcome in the development of a modern, validated cyber vigilance task are extracted from this review of existent platforms that can be found in the literature. Firstly, it can be difficult for researchers to access confidential cyber security systems and personnel. Secondly, network defense is vastly more complex and difficult to emulate than classic vigilance domains such as driving. Thirdly, there exists no single, common software console in cyber security that a cyber vigilance task could be based on. Finally, the rapid pace of technological evolution in network defense correspondingly means that cyber vigilance tasks can become obsolete just as quickly. Understanding these challenges is imperative in advancing human factors research in cyber security. CCS categories: Human-centered computing~Human computer interaction (HCI)~HCI design and evaluation methods.

The WACDT, a modern vigilance task for network defense.

Vigilance decrement refers to a psychophysiological decline in the capacity to sustain attention to monotonous tasks after prolonged periods. A plethora of experimental tasks exist for researchers to study vigilance decrement in classic domains such as driving and air traffic control and baggage security; however, the only cyber vigilance tasks reported in the research literature exist in the possession of the United States Air Force (USAF). Moreover, existent cyber vigilance tasks have not kept up with advances in real-world cyber security and consequently no longer accurately reflect the cognitive load associated with modern network defense. The Western Australian Cyber Defense Task (WACDT) was designed, engineered, and validated. Elements of network defense command-and-control consoles that influence the trajectory of vigilance can be adjusted within the WACDT. These elements included cognitive load, event rate, signal salience and workload transitions. Two forms of the WACDT were tested. In static trials, each element was adjusted to its maximum level of processing difficulty. In dynamic trials, these elements were set to increase from their minimum to their maximum values. Vigilance performance in static trials was shown to improve over time. In contrast, dynamic WACDT trials were characterized by vigilance performance declines. The WACDT provides the civilian human factors research community with an up-to-date and validated vigilance task for network defense accessible to civilian researchers.

Educational Outcomes of Adolescents Participating in Specialist Sport Programs in Low SES Areas of Western Australia: A Mixed Methods Study.

Specialist Sport Programs (SSPs) are an underexamined activity that combines the best features of two different contexts for adolescent development: a sporting program and a secondary school. A mixed-methods study was conducted to determine the influence of participation in SSPs on the educational outcomes of lower secondary students in Western Australia. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in specialist students' mean grade for Mathematics over the course of a year, while their mean grade for all other subjects, and their level of engagement with school, remained stable over the same period of time. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with key stakeholders (e.g., specialist students and their parents, as well as teachers and graduates of the SSPs). Overall, the participants felt that SSPs had a positive influence on students' engagement with school, and that this engagement had a positive impact on their academic achievement. Taken together, the results of this research suggest that there is a role for SSPs in promoting positive educational outcomes for lower secondary students attending public schools located in low SES areas.

Statements About the Pervasiveness of Behavior Require Data About the Pervasiveness of Behavior.

Despite recent close attention to issues related to the reliability of psychological research (e.g., the replication crisis), issues of the validity of this research have not been considered to the same extent. This paper highlights an issue that calls into question the validity of the common research practice of studying samples of individuals, and using sample-based statistics to infer generalizations that are applied not only to the parent population, but to individuals. The lack of ergodicity in human data means that such generalizations are not justified. This problem is illustrated with respect to two common scenarios in psychological research that raise questions for the sorts of theories that are typically proposed to explain human behavior and cognition. The paper presents a method of data analysis that requires closer attention to the range of behaviors exhibited by individuals in our research to determine the pervasiveness of effects observed in sample data. Such an approach to data analysis will produce results that are more in tune with the types of generalizations typical in reports of psychological research than mainstream analysis methods.

Does mathematics training lead to better logical thinking and reasoning? A cross-sectional assessment from students to professors.

Mathematics is often promoted as endowing those who study it with transferable skills such as an ability to think logically and critically or to have improved investigative skills, resourcefulness and creativity in problem solving. However, there is scant evidence to back up such claims. This project tested participants with increasing levels of mathematics training on 11 well-studied rational and logical reasoning tasks aggregated from various psychological studies. These tasks, that included the Cognitive Reflection Test and the Wason Selection Task, are of particular interest as they have typically and reliably eluded participants in all studies, and results have been uncorrelated with general intelligence, education levels and other demographic information. The results in this study revealed that in general the greater the mathematics training of the participant, the more tasks were completed correctly, and that performance on some tasks was also associated with performance on others not traditionally associated. A ceiling effect also emerged. The work is deconstructed from the viewpoint of adding to the platform from which to approach the greater, and more scientifically elusive, question: are any skills associated with mathematics training innate or do they arise from skills transfer?

Personality factors and cerebral glucose metabolism in community-dwelling older adults.

Personality factors have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia, but they have not been examined against markers of regional brain glucose metabolism (a primary measure of brain functioning) in older adults without clinically diagnosed cognitive impairment. The relationship between personality factors derived from the five-factor model and cerebral glucose metabolism determined using positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG-PET) was examined in a cohort of 237 non-demented, community-dwelling older adults aged 60-89 years (M ± SD = 73.76 ± 6.73). Higher neuroticism and lower scores on extraversion and conscientiousness were significantly associated with decreased glucose metabolism in brain regions typically affected by AD neuropathological processes, including the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. Furthermore, while there were significant differences between apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele carriers and non-carriers on 18F-FDG-PET results in the neocortex and other brain regions (p < 0.05), there was no significant difference between carriers and non-carriers on personality factors and no significant interactions were found between APOE ε4 carriage and personality factors on brain glucose metabolism. In conclusion, we found significant relationships between personality factors and glucose metabolism in neural regions more susceptible to AD neuropathology in older adults without clinically significant cognitive impairment. These findings support the need for longitudinal research into the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between personality and dementia risk, including measurement of change in other AD biomarkers (amyloid and tau imaging) and how they correspond to change in personality factors. Future research is also warranted to determine whether timely psychological interventions aimed at personality facets (specific aspects or characteristics of personality factors) can affect imaging or other biomarkers of AD resulting in delay or ideally preventing the onset of the cognitive impairment.

Cognitive demand of eccentric versus concentric cycling and its effects on post-exercise attention and vigilance.

PURPOSE: This study tested the hypotheses that eccentric cycling (ECC) would be more cognitively demanding than concentric cycling (CONC), and attention and vigilance would improve more after ECC than CONC. METHODS: Thirty young adults performed CONC and two bouts of ECC (ECC1 and ECC2) for 20 min at a similar workload (227.5 ± 51.5 W) with 1-week apart. Cognitive load during exercise was assessed by the average error from the target torque over 1200 (60 rpm × 20 min) revolutions, choice reaction time (CRT), the NASA-task load index (NASA-TLX), and prefrontal cortex oxygenation and deoxygenation (HHb) by near-infrared spectroscopy. Attention and vigilance were assessed by a sustained attention to response task (SART) before, immediately, and at every 15 min for 60 min after exercise or sitting (control). RESULTS: Heart rate was lower during ECC1 (115.5 ± 20.3 bpm) and ECC2 (116.7 ± 21.0 bpm) than CONC (156.9 ± 19.4 bpm). The torque error was greater for ECC1 (26.1 ± 9.0%) and ECC2 (19.4 ± 9.0%) than CONC (10.8 ± 3.7%). CRT (CONC: 602.8 ± 69.0, ECC1: 711.1 ± 113.0, ECC2: 693.6 ± 122.6 ms) and mental demand in NASA-TLX (46.8 ± 25.8, 80.0 ± 15.3, 60.3 ± 17.6) were greater for ECC1 and ECC2 than CONC. Decreases in HHb were greater for ECC1 (- 0.41 ± 0.37 µM) and ECC2 (- 0.40 ± 0.40 µM) than CONC (0.10 ± 0.40 µM) and control (- 0.21 ± 0.28 µM). Attention and vigilance decreased 2-8% after 20-min sitting, but improved 2-10% immediately after ECC2, and did not decline from the baseline for 30 min after ECC1 or 60 min after CONC and ECC2. CONCLUSION: Cognitive load was greater during ECC than CONC, but post-exercise attention and vigilance changes were not largely different between ECC and CONC.

Contact Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Eye Contact Illusion.

In a simple experiment, we demonstrate that you don't need to mindfully look at the eyes of your audience to be perceived as making eye contact during face-to-face conversation. Simply gazing somewhere around the face/head area will suffice. Or to borrow a term from Mareschal and colleagues, direct gaze will suffice. For those readers who experience anxiety when gazing specifically at another person's eyes, or when being gazed at, we expect this is welcome news.

Fighting a losing battle: Midwives experiences of workplace stress.

AIM: The aim of this study was to examine the nature of midwives' work-related stress and the implications, if any, for midwives overall emotional well-being and career decisions. METHODS: A classic Glaserian grounded theory methodology was used, which included 21 in-depth individual face-to-face interviews with registered midwives. FINDINGS: The core category that emerged from the data labelled 'Fighting a Losing Battle' consisted of the causal, contextual and conditional factors that together form the core problem faced by the midwives. Participants depicted contemporary midwifery practice environments as 'war like' and described levels of work-related stress that, for many, were unbearable and led them to conclude that the job was not worth it. CONCLUSION: This study reveals that as the number and extent of stressors increase, the negative implications and effects for midwives rise as the opportunities to 'do' midwifery in the way they value decrease, and that commitment to and engagement with the work diminishes. Although the midwives said that midwifery itself could be stressful, their responses clearly identify that it is not the actual job but other related, contextual and other environmental factors that make it so.

Association between speech and high-frequency hearing loss and depression, anxiety and stress in older adults.

BACKGROUND: Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and depression are considered leading causes of disability in older adults. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between the severity of speech and high-frequency ARHL and depression, anxiety and stress in older adults. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of a community-derived sample of adult volunteers. METHODS: A hearing assessment was completed by 151 participants (73 males and 78 females; M = 64.44 ±â€¯10.77 years). Based on their better-ear speech (0.5, 1, 2, & 4 kHz) and high-frequency (6 & 8 kHz) hearing thresholds, they were divided three groups: those with normal hearing; those with mild to moderate hearing loss; and those with moderately severe to profound hearing loss. All participants also completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). RESULTS: A binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the respective odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence interval) of clinically significant depression, anxiety and stress for participants with a moderately severe to profound hearing loss across the speech frequency range were: 27.51 (3.25, 232.95), 5.89 (1.95, 17.73) and 5.64 (1.55, 20.48). Similarly, the respective ORs of clinically significant depression, anxiety and stress were 6.54 (0.75, 57.02), 6.21 (1.52, 25.33) and 5.32 (1.02, 27.75) for participants with moderately severe to profound hearing loss across high frequencies. The non-parametric Cuzik test revealed a statistically significant positive (p < .05) trend of association between both better-ear speech and high-frequency hearing loss and DASS scores. CONCLUSION: The observed graded associations suggest that hearing loss is a causative factor for clinically significant depression, anxiety and stress symptoms.

Using dual eye tracking to uncover personal gaze patterns during social interaction.

We report the personal eye gaze patterns of people engaged in face-to-face getting acquainted conversation. Considerable differences between individuals are underscored by a stability of eye gaze patterns within individuals. Results suggest the existence of an eye-mouth gaze continuum. This continuum includes some people showing a strong preference for eye gaze, some with a strong preference for mouth gaze, and others distributing their gaze between the eyes and mouth to varying extents. Additionally, we found evidence of within-participant consistency not just for location preference but also for the duration of fixations upon the eye and mouth regions. We also estimate that during a 4-minute getting acquainted conversation mutual face gaze constitutes about 60% of conversation that occurs via typically brief instances of 2.2 seconds. Mutual eye contact ranged from 0-45% of conversation, via very brief instances. This was despite participants subjectively perceiving eye contact occurring for about 70% of conversation. We argue that the subjective perception of eye contact is a product of mutual face gaze instead of actual mutual eye contact. We also outline the fast activity of gaze movements upon various locations both on and off face during a typical face-to-face conversation.

The role of awareness of repetition during the development of automaticity in a dot-counting task.

This study examined whether being aware of the repetition of stimuli in a simple numerosity task could aid the development of automaticity. The numerosity task used in this study was a simple counting task. Thirty-four participants were divided into two groups. One group was instructed that the stimuli would repeat many times throughout the experiment. The results showed no significant differences in the way automatic processing developed between the groups. Similarly, there was no correlation between the point at which automatic processing developed and the point at which participants felt they benefitted from the repetition of stimuli. These results suggest that extra-trial features of a task may have no effect on the development of automaticity, a finding consistent with the instance theory of automatisation.

A Meta-Analytic Review of the Efficacy of Physical Exercise Interventions on Cognition in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD.

This review evaluates the efficacy of using physical exercise interventions on improving cognitive functions in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This review includes a meta-analysis based on a random-effects model of data reported in 22 studies with 579 participants aged 3-25 year old. The results revealed an overall small to medium effect of exercise on cognition, supporting the efficacy of exercise interventions in enhancing certain aspects of cognitive performance in individuals with ASD and/or ADHD. Specifically, similar to the general population literature, the cognitive benefits of exercise are not consistent across all aspects of cognitive functions (i.e., some areas are not improved). The clinical significance of the reported effect sizes is also considered.

The Interdependence of Long- and Short-Term Components in Unmasked Repetition Priming: An Indication of Shared Resources.

It has been suggested that unmasked repetition priming is composed of distinct long-and short-term priming components. The current study sought to clarify the relationship between these components by examining the relationship between them. A total of 60 people (45 females, 15 males) participated in a computer-based lexical decision task designed to measure levels of short-term priming across different levels of long-term priming. The results revealed an interdependent relationship between the two components, whereby an increase in long-term priming prompted a decrease in short-term priming. Both long-term and short-term priming were accurately captured by a single power function over seven minutes post repetition, suggesting the two components may draw on the same resources. This interdependence between long- and short-term priming may serve to improve fluency in reading.

Attaining Automaticity in the Visual Numerosity Task is Not Automatic.

This experiment is a replication of experiments reported by Lassaline and Logan (1993) using the visual numerosity task. The aim was to replicate the transition from controlled to automatic processing reported by Lassaline and Logan (1993), and to examine the extent to which this result, reported with average group results, can be observed in the results of individuals within a group. The group results in this experiment did replicate those reported by Lassaline and Logan (1993); however, one half of the sample did not attain automaticity with the task, and one-third did not exhibit a transition from controlled to automatic processing. These results raise questions about the pervasiveness of automaticity, and the interpretation of group means when examining cognitive processes.