Cognitive functioning and social networking sites addiction - a review. / Funkcjonowanie poznawcze a nalogowe korzystanie z portali spolecznosciowych ­ przeglad badan.

Nowadays social networking sites are commonly available and used by people in different age groups. These are used especially to communicate with other users but sometimes it turns into addiction, when people overuse it. This phenomenon belongs to so-called behavioural addiction which, only recently, has been described in scientific literature. It is crucial to differentiate when using social networking sites is normal and when it goes beyond the social norms. The article depicts the data concerning the spread of the social networking sites addiction phenomenon, its theoretical models and the possibility to identify it on the basis of diagnostic criteria offered by scientists. The main topic of this article is to discuss cognitive function in this specific kind of addiction. Researchers related this to personal, social and emotional spheres until now. However, it seems that cognitive processing, especially cognitive control and executive functions have a crucial role in explaining social media addiction mechanisms. Additionally, an understanding of these mechanisms can contribute to developing more appropriate forms both in terms of prevention and therapy.

The Role of Motor Imagery in Predicting Motor Skills in Young Male Soccer Players.

The study aimed to find out whether the imagery ability within the two subcomponents of motor imagery (visual and kinesthetic) allows predicting the results in simple response time task and eye-hand coordination task in a group of young male soccer players (9-15 years old). Non-specific simple response time and eye-hand coordination play a key role in predicting specific sports performance level. Participants performed Reaction Time Task, Eye-Hand Coordination Task, and completed Motor Imagery Questionnaire-Revised. Data were submitted to the structural equations analysis based on the maximum likelihood method in order to estimate a structural model of relationship between variables. Results indicate visual rather than kinesthetic motor imagery is associated with non-specific motor skills. Higher scores on the visual motor imagery scale were observed to correlate with faster reaction times and better coordination in the study group. This supports the idea that during learning a new perceptual-motor-task the visual control is required. Results provide the evidence for the specific role of the third-person perspective imagery in young athletes playing soccer.

The effects of handedness on sensorimotor rhythm desynchronization and motor-imagery BCI control.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow control of various applications or external devices solely by brain activity, e.g., measured by electroencephalography during motor imagery. Many users are unable to modulate their brain activity sufficiently in order to control a BCI. Most of the studies have been focusing on improving the accuracy of BCI control through advances in signal processing and BCI protocol modification. However, some research suggests that motor skills and physiological factors may affect BCI performance as well. Previous studies have indicated that there is differential lateralization of hand movements' neural representation in right- and left-handed individuals. However, the effects of handedness on sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) distribution and BCI control have not been investigated in detail yet. Our study aims to fill this gap, by comparing the SMR patterns during motor imagery and real-feedback BCI control in right- (N = 20) and left-handers (N = 20). The results of our study show that the lateralization of SMR during a motor imagery task differs according to handedness. Left-handers present lower accuracy during BCI performance (single session) and weaker SMR suppression in the alpha band (8-13 Hz) during mental simulation of left-hand movements. Consequently, to improve BCI control, the user's training should take into account individual differences in hand dominance.

The Effects of Motor Expertise on Sensorimotor Rhythm Desynchronization during Execution and Imagery of Sequential Movements.

The purpose of the study was to investigate sensorimotor rhythm desynchronization during the performance of a motor execution and motor imagery task of different complexity, while varying motor musical expertise of subjects. We compared EEG patterns of professional pianists and non-pianists, who either executed or imagined finger tapping movements of different complexity. Results show that the power in alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) rhythms decreases with the complexity of both performed and imagined movements. Motor expertise influenced alpha rhythm desynchronization in the motor execution task - in the group of pianists there were differences in alpha power decrease depending on the complexity of the performed movement. There was no such relationship among non-pianists. In the imagery task, there was a tendency toward an interaction of motor expertise and low and high alpha rhythm components. In the beta band, there was an interaction of frequency and area of the skull occurring in the movement execution condition - high and low beta rhythm components had different topography.

Effects of harmonics on aesthetic judgments of music: an ERP study involving laypersons and experts.

The purpose of the study was to test whether aesthetic judgments of music are affected by expertise or harmonic violation of musical sequences. The participants were 14 musical experts and 13 laypersons; they were asked to judge the beauty and correctness of extracts from J. S. Bach's chorales. Experts and laypersons showed different late positive potential (LPP) responses to the appraisal of correctness. LPP also proved to be sensitive to the extent to which the extracts violated harmonic expectations. The relationship between the early right anterior negativity potential (ERAN) and the harmonic correctness of chords was similar in laypersons and experts.