Executive deficits in schizophrenia: mediation by processing speed and its relationships with aging.

BACKGROUND: Executive deficits are a core characteristic of schizophrenia. Yet, the origin of these impairments remains unclear as they may be caused by processing slowing. This issue is of particular interest for aging insofar as cognitive aging is also associated with a decline in executive functioning and a slowing of processing speed. As schizophrenia patients' life expectancy increases, a better understanding of the origin of older patients' cognitive deficits becomes essential so that healthcare can be adapted to suit them. This study aims to determine whether processing speed mediates how schizophrenia affects executive functions and whether these relationships are moderated by age. METHODS: Sixty-two schizophrenia patients (27 women) and 62 healthy comparison subjects matched for age (range: 18-76 years), gender and education performed neurocognitive tests to evaluate their executive functions (shifting, updating, inhibition and access) and processing speed. RESULTS: Processing speed mediated the effect of schizophrenia on the four specific executive functions, and age moderated this mediation for shifting, updating and access, but in different ways. Age moderated the effect of processing speed on shifting, the direct effect of schizophrenia on access, and both the effect of processing speed and the direct effect of schizophrenia on updating. CONCLUSIONS: This research highlights the need to evaluate processing speed routinely during therapeutic follow-up, as it is easy and simple to assess and appears to be at the heart of the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Finally, processing speed abilities yield information about the evolution of cognition with aging in schizophrenia.

Semantic similarity and associated abstractness norms for 630 French word pairs.

The representation of abstract concepts remains a challenge, justifying the need for further experimental investigation. To that end, we introduce a normative database for 630 semantically similar French word pairs and associated levels of abstractness for 1260 isolated words based on data from 900 subjects. The semantic similarity and abstractness norms were obtained in two studies using 7-point scales. The database is organised according to word-pair semantic similarity, abstractness, and associated lexical variables such as word length (in number of letters), word frequency, and other lexical variables to allow for matching of experimental material. The associated variables were obtained by cross-referencing our database with other known psycholinguistic databases including Lexique (New et al., 2004), the French Lexicon Project (Ferrand et al., 2010), Wordlex (Gimenes & New, 2016), and MEGALEX (Ferrand et al., 2018). We introduced sufficient diversity to allow researchers to select pairs with varying levels of semantic similarity and abstractness. In addition, it is possible to use these data as continuous or discrete variables. The full data are available in the supplementary materials as well as on OSF ( https://osf.io/qsd4v/ ).

Craving Mediates the Relation Between Impulsivity and Alcohol Consumption Among University Students.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between impulsivity and craving in severe alcohol use disorders is well established, but the presence and characteristics of this link in University students are still to be established. The present study aims to better understand the relationship between impulsivity and craving in university students and to determine the influence of these variables on alcohol consumption characteristics. METHODS: A large sample of university students (N = 1055, mean age: 20.9 years; 713 women) completed an online questionnaire to evaluate alcohol use, impulsivity, and craving. RESULTS: Linear regression analysis demonstrated that the compulsive dimensions of craving (P < .001), sensation seeking (P < .001), and lack of premeditation (P < .001) constitute strong predictors of current consumption. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis determined the threshold level above which craving intensity can identify specific high-risk populations. A mediation analysis showed that craving has a partial mediator effect on the impact of impulsivity on alcohol consumption for this population (37,8%, P < .001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The sensation seeking and lack of premeditation dimensions of impulsivity, coupled with compulsive craving, are efficient predictors of excessive alcohol consumption for university students. The partial mediator effect of craving is important in terms of characterizing the relationship between impulsivity and alcohol consumption. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Our study centrally shows that the interaction between elevated levels of impulsivity and craving constitute a crucial risk factor for alcohol consumption in university students, and should thus constitute a target for primary prevention programs (Am J Addict 2019;00:00-00).

Is retrieval the key? Metamemory judgment and testing as learning strategies.

Re-reading is the most common learning strategy, albeit not a very efficient one. Testing is highly efficient, but not perceived by students as a learning strategy. Prospective judgment-of-learning (JOL) reflect the learner's impression of subsequently being able to retrieve the ongoing learning in a cued-recall task. Estimating JOL involves attempting to retrieve the information, as in testing. The few studies that have explored the potential mnemonic benefit of JOL have yielded contradictory results. Our aim was to compare JOL and testing with re-study and to examine the impact of these strategies according to the relative difficulty of the material (cue-target association strength) in two experiments. After a first encoding phase, participants re-studied, provided JOL, or took a test. Forty-eight hours later, they participated in a final cued-recall test, during which their confidence level judgments were collected. The main result was that delayed JOL behaved in the same way as testing, and both yielded better performances than re-study when material was of moderate difficulty. The easy or very difficult material revealed no differences between these strategies. JOL is proposed as an alternative to testing when faced with difficult material.

Differential effects of visual uncertainty and contextual guidance on perceptual decisions: Evidence from eye and mouse tracking in visual search.

Visual search can be seen as a decision-making process that aims to assess whether a target is present or absent from a scene. In this perspective, eye movements collect evidence related to target detection and verification to guide the decision. We investigated whether, in real-world scenes, target detection and verification are differentially recruited in the decision-making process in the presence of prior information (expectations about target location) and perceptual uncertainty (noise). We used a mouse-tracking methodology with which mouse trajectories unveil components of decision-making and eye-tracking measures reflect target detection and verification. Indoor scenes were presented, including a target in usual or unusual locations or no target, and were degraded with additive noise (or no noise). Participants had to respond to the target's presence or absence. Degrading the scene delayed the decision due to increased verification times and reduced mouse velocity. Targets in unusual locations delayed the decision and deviated mouse trajectories toward the target-absent response. Detection times played a major role in these effects. Thus, target detection and verification processes influence decision-making by integrating the available sources of information differently and lead to an accumulation of evidence toward both the presence of a target and its absence.

Combined effects of expectations and visual uncertainty upon detection and identification of a target in the fog.

Detecting a pedestrian while driving in the fog is one situation where the prior expectation about the target presence is integrated with the noisy visual input. We focus on how these sources of information influence the oculomotor behavior and are integrated within an underlying decision-making process. The participants had to judge whether high-/low-density fog scenes displayed on a computer screen contained a pedestrian or a deer by executing a mouse movement toward the response button (mouse-tracking). A variable road sign was added on the scene to manipulate expectations about target identity. We then analyzed the timing and amplitude of the deviation of mouse trajectories toward the incorrect response and, using an eye tracker, the detection time (before fixating the target) and the identification time (fixations on the target). Results revealed that expectation of the correct target results in earlier decisions with less deviation toward the alternative response, this effect being partially explained by the facilitation of target identification.

Social perceptions and the stigmatization towards fifteen mental illnesses in France: a preliminary study on the role of vital force and burden.

Introduction: This study examined social perceptions and rejection towards fifteen mental illnesses, as well as a preliminary test of the SUBAR model, that hypothesized perceptions of both vital forces and burden would be negatively and positively related to social rejection, respectively. Methods: Using an online survey with participants from France (n = 952), social rejection was assessed using a feeling thermometer and a social distance scale, while social perceptions were measured using visual analog scales. Results: A stigma map for these different disorders is drawn up, revealing the social perceptions and levels of stigmatization specific to certain mental illnesses. Controlling for relevant social perceptions (i.e., danger, warmth, competence), we found that perception of burden was positively and significantly associated to social distance and negative feeling for 73% and 67% of mental illnesses, respectively. The perception of vital force was negatively and significantly related to social distance and negative feeling for 87% and 20% of mental illnesses, respectively. The change in R2 between model 1 (i.e. perception of danger, warmth, competence) and model 2 (i.e. model 1 + perceptions of vital force and burden) significantly improved in 100% of cases for social distance and 67% of cases for negative feeling. Conclusion: These preliminary data provide support for the SUBAR model and call for further investigations to better understand the social rejection of people with mental illnesses.

Is patient education helpful in providing care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis? A qualitative study involving French nurses.

This French study explored nurses' involvement in patient education for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The study design was qualitative. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 hospital nurses. Data analysis was performed according to Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological method, and supported by specific qualitative analysis software (Sphinx). The results showed the important role of hospital nurses in rheumatoid arthritis care. Patient education is a core part of nurses' work, allowing them to give patients information and emotional support. The interviewees displayed skills in helping patients learn to care for themselves. However, patient education mostly concerned patients who are already committed to their health care. Non-adherent patients warrant special attention; their acceptance of their disease, perceptions about disease and treatment, motivation, and autonomy should be specifically addressed. French nurses could benefit from more training, and could be aided by psychologists. Ambulatory services could also be developed for patient education in France, based on examples from other countries.

Word-association norms for 1,100 French words with varying levels of concreteness.

The organisation of concepts in the mental lexicon is a widely studied research topic in experimental psychology. For instance, several studies have shown that whereas concrete concepts are organised according to semantic similarity, abstract concepts are organised according to verbal association. However, these results are not systematically replicated, mainly due to a lack of normative database especially in French. To that end, we introduce a French word-association database for 1,100 cues with varying levels of concreteness from abstract to concrete concepts. Analyses from the word-association task revealed stronger association strength for concrete concepts compared with abstract concepts. Additional results showed that cues tend to elicit responses of a similar level of concreteness. The database will be useful for investigators interested in French verbal associations for abstract and concrete concepts. The data (available on OSF https://osf.io/dhuqs/) introduce responses organised according to association strength and provides cue concreteness.

Evidence of some strategic preservation of episodic learning in patients with schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of schizophrenia patients' strategic use of learning time allocation during encoding, and determine whether they are able to use their monitoring and previous performances to adapt their learning behavior efficiently. Schizophrenia is considered to be a pathology of consciousness as well as being associated with impaired awareness of cognitive processes. In this study, after a learning session, individuals may express a Judgment of Learning (JOL), which reflects their sense of being able to retrieve the information later and which forms the basis for their decision whether or not to carry on learning. The introspective abilities of schizophrenia patients and subsequent strategic control of study time during the encoding of easy or difficult word pairs were investigated in 23 patients and 23 healthy comparison subjects. In spite of their memory impairment, patients were able to judge the difficulty of the word pairs with accuracy and adapt their learning time accordingly. Schizophrenia patients are sensitive to difficulty when rating JOLs and afterwards controlling study time. Monitoring their knowledge at the start helped patients to adapt their learning efficiently. These findings may be of value for cognitive remediation.

Awareness of time distortions and its relation with time judgment: a metacognitive approach.

The perception of time cannot be reduced to a simple percept produced by an internal clock. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the role of the individual consciousness of time on temporal judgments. In the present study, the participants' awareness of attention-related time distortions was assessed using a metacognitive questionnaire. The participants were also required to verbally judge a series of stimulus durations in a single or a dual task condition. The results revealed that time was underestimated in the dual task compared to the single task. However, the accuracy of time judgments improved in line with the participants' individual awareness of attentional time distortion: The more aware they were of the role of attention in time perception, the lower the time distortions they exhibited. Conscious awareness of time therefore plays a role in the accuracy of the time judgments made by human beings.

The role of perceptual and cognitive load on inattentional blindness: A systematic review and three meta-analyses.

The inattentional blindness phenomenon refers to situations in which a visible but unexpected stimulus remains consciously unnoticed by observers. This phenomenon is classically explained as the consequence of insufficient attention, because attentional resources are already engaged elsewhere or vary between individuals. However, this attentional-resources view is broad and often imprecise regarding the variety of attentional models, the different pools of resources that can be involved in attentional tasks, and the heterogeneity of the experimental paradigms. Our aim was to investigate whether a classic theoretical model of attention, namely the Load Theory, could account for a large range of empirical findings in this field by distinguishing the role of perceptual and cognitive resources in attentional selection and attentional capture by irrelevant stimuli. As this model has been mostly built on implicit measures of distractor interference, it is unclear whether its predictions also hold when explicit and subjective awareness of an unexpected stimulus is concerned. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses of inattentional blindness studies investigating the role of perceptual and/or cognitive resources. The results reveal that, in line with the perceptual account of the Load Theory, inattentional blindness significantly increases with the perceptual load of the task. However, the cognitive account of this theory is not clearly supported by the empirical findings analysed here. Furthermore, the interaction between perceptual and cognitive load on inattentional blindness remains understudied. Theoretical implications for the Load Theory are discussed, notably regarding the difference between attentional capture and subjective awareness paradigms, and further research directions are provided.

When does vagal activity benefit to the discrimination of highly overlapping memory traces?

Distinguishing among similar events is indeed crucial to memory. In a dangerous context, this ability may be less essential, whereas in a secure context it may provide an adaptative advantage notably in social situations. Vagal activity as a marker of the individual's adaptation in social engagement contexts might predict the ability to discriminate highly similar memories in an unthreatening context. The present study aims to test the relation between vagal activity and memory discrimination by manipulating the visual distinctiveness of stimuli (high vs. low) in an ecological memory discrimination task with humanoid characters. It was expected that vagal activity support adaptive self-regulatory processes which may be needed only when the memory discrimination is challenging (low distinctiveness between true memory and lure). In a study phase, multiple realistic fictional humanoid characters performed the same action on different objects. The characters could be very similar or very distinct one to each other. Then, during a test phase, the participants had to discriminate whether a displayed character on the screen was exactly matched the one performing the given action on a specific object in the study phase (target). Vagal activity was assessed in undergraduate students (n = 40) before the study phase. Higher vagal activity predicted better memory discrimination performance specifically when the distinctiveness between the lure and target was low. These data extend previous work on vagal activity and memory suggesting that heart-brain interactions represent an adaptive psychophysiological mechanism underlying memory discrimination specifically when it is challenging in an unthreatening context.

"Intervention Program Based on Self": A Proposal for Improving the Addiction Prevention Program "Unplugged" through Self-Concept.

The "Intervention Program based on Self" (IPSELF) project was created to address the gap between the acquisition of life skills during prevention programs and their application with a session for developing one's self-concept included in the European program "Unplugged". The present study evaluated its effectiveness. A total of 157 middle school students (94 girls, 63 boys, MAGE = 12.89, SD = 0.45) from three schools in France participated in this study. The participants attended one of two programs (Unplugged/IPSELF). The effectiveness of the IPSELF add-on session was measured with the Self-Concept Clarity Scale, and the differences between the two programs was measured with the prototype willingness model. Adolescents in IPSELF rated the typical nonsmoker and cannabis nonsmoker more favorably, and the typical drinker less favorably. They felt more different from the typical smoker and drinker after participation in IPSELF. More alcohol experimenters were observed in Unplugged. The knowledge gained in IPSELF appeared to help adolescents more than that gained in Unplugged to change their smoking behavior. Furthermore, IPSELF had a more beneficial effect for girls, who felt that they had gained more control over their alcohol and cannabis use than boys, whereas Unplugged had a more positive effect on boys, who gained better control over their consumption. Moreover, the girls felt that they had gained more knowledge about the substances discussed in IPSELF than in Unplugged. We therefore recommend the use of IPSELF especially with female audiences.

Does an increase in physiological indexes predict better cognitive performance: the PhyCog randomised cross-over protocol in type 2 diabetes.

INTRODUCTION: There has been a growing interest towards cognitive-training programmes to improve cognition and prevent cognitive impairment despite discrepant findings. Physical activity has been recognised in maintaining or improving cognitive ability. Based on a psychoneurophysiological approach, physiological indexes should partly determine neuronal dynamics and influence cognition as any effects of cognitive training. This study's primary aim was to examine if improved physiological indexes predict improved cognitive variables in the context of a clinical intervention programme for type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHOD AND ANALYSIS: PhyCog will be a 22-week randomised controlled trial comparing cognitive performance between three arms: (1) physical activity (1 month), a 15-day wash-out, then cognitive training (1 month), (2) cognitive training (1 month), a 15-day wash-out and physical activity (1 month), and (3) an active breathing condition (psychoeducation and resonance frequency breathing for 1 month), then a 15-day wash-out, and combined physical activity and cognitive training (1 month), allowing to determine the most effective intervention to prevent cognitive impairment associated with T2D. All participants will be observed for 3 months following the intervention. The study will include a total of 81 patients with T2D.Cognitive performance and physiological variables will be assessed at baseline (week 0-W0), during the washout (W5, 72-96 hours after week 4), at the end of the intervention (W10), and at the end of the follow-up (W22). The main variables of interest will be executive function, memory and attention. Physiological testing will involve allostatic load such as heart rate variability, microcirculation, cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels. Sociodemographic and body composition will also be a consideration. Assessors will all be blinded to outcomes. To test the primary hypothesis, the relationship between improvement in physiological variables and improvement in cognitive variables (executive, memory and attention) will be collected. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by the Est III French Ethics Committee (2020-A03228-31). Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04915339.

Intangible features extraction in the processing of abstract concepts: Evidence from picture-word priming.

Over the last decade, hypotheses ranging from linguistic symbol processing to embodiment have been formulated to account for the content and mechanisms responsible for the representation of abstract concepts. Results of recent studies have suggested that abstract concepts, just like concrete ones, can benefit from knowledge of real-world situational context, but that they can also be processed based on abstract pictures devoid of such situational features. This paper presents two semantic priming experiments to explore such mechanisms further. The first experiment replicates Kuipers, Jones, and Thierry (2018) in a cross-linguistic setting which shows that abstract concepts can be processed from abstract pictures devoid of tangible features. In the second experiment, we studied extraction mechanisms that come into play when participants are presented with abstract and concrete pictures that provide situational information to illustrate target abstract concepts. We expected this facilitatory effect to be limited to concrete picture primes. Our data analysed with both Bayesian and Frequentist tests showed however that even when presented with tangible situational information, the extraction of features still occurred for abstract pictures. We discuss the implications of this with respect to future avenues for studying the processing of abstract concepts.

Low-Resolution Neurocognitive Aging and Cognition: An Embodied Perspective.

Consistent with embodied cognition, a growing evidence in young adults show that sensorimotor processing is at the core of cognition. Considering that this approach predicts direct interaction between sensorimotor processing and cognition, embodied cognition may thus be particularly relevant to study aging, since this population is characterized by concomitant changes in sensorimotor and cognitive processing. The present perspective aims at showing the value and interest to explore normal aging throughout embodiment by focusing on the neurophysiological and cognitive changes occurring in aging. To this end, we report some of the neurophysiological substrates underpinning the perceptual and memory interactions in older adults, from the low and high perceptual processing to the conjunction in the medial temporal lobe. We then explore how these changes could explain more broadly the cognitive changes associated with aging in terms of losses and gains.

Reward history modulates perceptual load effects.

The reward history of a stimulus can yield strong attentional selection biases. Indeed, attentional capture can be triggered by previously rewarded items which are neither salient nor relevant for the ongoing task, even when selection is clearly counter-productive to actually obtain the reward outcome. Therefore, value-driven attentional capture (VDAC) has been argued to be an automatic attention mechanism. Our study aimed at putting the VDAC automaticity directly to the test. For this purpose, the Load Theory offers a comprehensive framework where distraction is observed under low but not high perceptual load condition. Nevertheless, if VDAC is indeed automatic, distraction by reward-stimuli should be observed on both perceptual load conditions. We used a feature vs. conjunction discrimination of a go/no-go cue to manipulate perceptual load. As expected, our results revealed that perceptual load decreased interference produced by low-reward distractor. However, this effect was not significant for high-reward distractor, giving support to VDAC automaticity. We discussed our results in light of the Load Theory literature and we strongly encourage to consider reward history along with perceptual load in determining attentional capture.

Fear of Missing Out Predicts Distraction by Social Reward Signals Displayed on a Smartphone in Difficult Driving Situations.

Smartphones are particularly likely to elicit driver distraction with obvious negative repercussions on road safety. Recent selective attention models lead to expect that smartphones might be very effective in capturing attention due to their social reward history. Hence, individual differences in terms of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) - i.e., of the apprehension of missing out on socially rewarding experiences - should play an important role in driver distraction. This factor has already been associated with self-reported estimations of greater attention paid to smartphones while driving, but the potential link between FoMO and smartphone-induced distraction has never been tested empirically. Therefore, we conducted a preliminary study to investigate whether FoMO would modulate attentional capture by reward distractors displayed on a smartphone. First, participants performed a classical visual search task in which neutral stimuli (colored circles) were associated with high or low social reward outcomes. Then, they had to detect a pedestrian or a roe deer in driving scenes with various levels of fog density. The social reward stimuli were displayed as distractors on the screen of a smartphone embedded in the pictures. The results showed a significant three-way interaction between FoMO, social reward distraction, and task difficulty. More precisely, under attention-demanding conditions (i.e., high-fog density), individual FoMO scores predicted attentional capture by social reward distractors, with longer reaction times (RTs) for high rather than low social reward distractors. These results highlight the importance to consider reward history and FoMO when investigating smartphone-based distraction. Limitations are discussed, notably regarding our sample characteristics (i.e., mainly young females) that might hamper the generalization of our findings to the overall population. Future research directions are provided.

Lockdown Impact on Stress, Coping Strategies, and Substance Use in Teenagers.

BACKGROUND: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the French government took many measures, the most notable of which was a national lockdown on 17 March 2020. Its effects have been widely studied, but to our knowledge, no study has sought to determine how adolescents have adapted to cope with this situation. The present study set out to explore teenagers' stress levels, coping strategies, and substance use during this period. METHODS: This paper is a cross-sectional study that rides on an existing prevention program interviewed 348 French middle school students (209 girls and 139 boys) in grade 8 (M age = 13.45; SDage = 0.54) using an online questionnaire between March 17 and May 11, 2020 (COVID-19 lockdown). The study examined the teenagers' perceived stress, coping strategies they had used, including recent use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis, during COVID-19 lockdown. RESULTS: Teenagers reported lower perceived stress during lockdown than usually, with a significant decrease for girls. Those who perceived the least social support reported the highest levels of stress. The strategies of planning, behavioral disengagement, self-distraction, positive reframing, acceptance, and religion were used more than usual, while active coping and self-blame were used less. Acceptance was the most often used strategy and a source of decreased stress during lockdown. A significant decrease in recent tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use was also observed. CONCLUSION: Changes in the use of coping strategies, withdrawal from the stressful school environment, and greater exposure to parents than to peers caused adolescents to be less stressed and to decrease their substance use during the lockdown.