Exploring techniques for encoding spoken instructions in working memory: a comparison of verbal rehearsal, motor imagery, self-enactment and action observation.

Encoding and recalling spoken instructions is subject to working memory capacity limits. Previous research suggests action-based encoding facilitates instruction recall, but has not directly compared benefits across different types of action-based techniques. The current study addressed this in two experiments with young adults. In Experiment 1, participants listened to instructional sequences containing four action-object pairs, and encoded these instructions using either a motor imagery or verbal rehearsal technique, followed by recall via oral repetition or enactment. Memory for instructions was better when participants used a motor imagery technique during encoding, and when recalling the instructions by enactment. The advantage of using a motor imagery technique was present in both verbal and enacted recall. In Experiment 2, participants encoded spoken instructions whilst implementing one of four techniques (verbal rehearsal, motor imagery, observation of others' actions or self-enactment), and then recalled the instructions by oral repetition or enactment. For both verbal and enacted recall, memory for instructions was least accurate in the rehearsal condition, while the other encoding conditions did not differ from each other. These novel findings indicate similar benefits of imagining, observation and execution of actions in encoding spoken instructions, and enrich current understanding of action-based benefits in working memory.

Protective Effect of Cannabidiol on Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Oxidative Damage in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs).

Natural antioxidants play an important role in promoting good health because of their prevention for oxidative damage. The work aimed to explore the antioxidant mechanism and activity of cannabidiol (CBD) at the cellular level. The human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) with oxidative damage was employed as the model to study the protective capability of CBD. The results showed that CBD pre-treatment before the cells were exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) resulted in an obvious increase of cell viability (about 100 %) and antioxidant related enzymes activity, and a decline of malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Besides, CBD could alleviate the increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, the contraction of nucleus, and condensation of chromatin. The changes showed a dose-dependent effect. Additionally, the free radicals scavenging capacity of CBD was comparable to that of typical natural antioxidant, anthocyanidins. In summary, CBD could be employed as a potent antioxidant source for avoiding the oxidative damage. These results could provide the foundation for the development of CBD antioxidant products.

Improving older adults' ability to follow instructions: benefits of actions at encoding and retrieval in working memory.

The ability to follow instructions is critical for learning new skills and may support successful aging. Recent evidence indicates a close link between following instructions and working memory, and that action-based processing at encoding and retrieval can improve this ability. In this study, we examined the ability to follow instructions and the benefits of action-based processing in young and older adults. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with spoken or silent demonstrated instructions, then recalled them by oral repetition or physical enactment. Older adults produced fewer correct responses in all conditions. Both age groups were better at recalling demonstrated than spoken instructions in the verbal but not the enacted recall condition. Older adults also benefited from enacted recall relative to verbal recall, but to a smaller extent than younger adults. In Experiment 2, the additional benefit of dual modalities (spoken instructions with simultaneous demonstration) relative to single modality presentation (spoken instructions, or silent demonstration) was examined. Both age groups showed superior performance in dual modality conditions relative to spoken instructions when using verbal recall. These findings suggest that although following instruction ability appears to decline with age, older adults can still benefit from action at encoding and retrieval.

Validity and normative data of the Chinese Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) across adolescence, adults and elderly people.

The Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) is a widely-used questionnaire for evaluating individuals' memory failures in everyday life. However, whether the scale is valid for different age groups and gender, and how memory complaints change with age and gender remains less clear. This study aimed to validate the self-report PRMQ in a large Chinese sample across adolescence and adulthood and investigate age-related changes and gender differences in self-report prospective memory (PM) and retrospective memory (RM). A total of 2528 healthy individuals aged from 13 to 96 completed the Chinese version of the PRMQ. Results revealed that the PM-RM correlated factor model was the best fit model with satisfactory reliability and had measurement invariance across gender and adjacent age groups. Adolescents and adults reported similar memory complaints, while older people stated more memory difficulties. Female participants reported more PM errors than male participants, but this gender difference only showed in adolescents and adults. Taken together, these findings not only support the Chinese version of the PRMQ as a valid tool for evaluating prospective and retrospective memory difficulties across gender and adjacent age groups, but also reveal age-related changes and gender difference on self-report memory.

Dissociation of Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control in Individuals with Schizotypy: An Event-Related Potential Study.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with schizophrenia and individuals with schizotypy, a subclinical group at risk for schizophrenia, have been found to have impairments in cognitive control. The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMC) framework hypothesises that cognitive control can be divided into proactive and reactive control. However, it is unclear whether individuals with schizotypy have differential behavioural impairments and neural correlates underlying these two types of cognitive control. METHOD: Twenty-five individuals with schizotypy and 26 matched healthy controls (HCs) completed both reactive and proactive control tasks with electroencephalographic data recorded. The proportion of congruent and incongruent trials was manipulated in a classic colour-word Stroop task to induce proactive or reactive control. Proactive control was induced in a context with mostly incongruent (MI) trials and reactive control in a context with mostly congruent (MC) trials. Two event-related potential (ERP) components, medial frontal negativity (MFN, associated with conflict detection) and conflict sustained potential (conflict SP, associated with conflict resolution) were examined. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of behavioural results. In terms of ERP results, in the MC context, HC exhibited significantly larger MFN (360-530 ms) and conflict SP (600-1000 ms) amplitudes than individuals with schizotypy. The two groups did not show any significant difference in MFN or conflict SP in the MI context. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings provide initial evidence for dissociation of neural activation between proactive and reactive cognitive control in individuals with schizotypy. These findings help us understand cognitive control deficits in the schizophrenia spectrum.

The benefits of emotionally salient cues on event-based prospective memory in bipolar patients and schizophrenia patients.

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to carry out a delayed intention in the future. Evidence suggests that emotionally salient cues can enhance PM functions in healthy population, but whether the benefit exists in schizophrenia and bipolar patients remains unclear. This study aimed to examine and compare the potential enhancement effect of emotional PM cues in schizophrenia patients and bipolar patients. Twenty-eight clinically stable schizophrenia participants, 26 euthymic bipolar participants and 29 controls completed a computerized PM task involving PM cues with different types of valences (i.e., positive, neutral and negative). All the three groups showed better PM performance when negative PM cues were presented compared with positive and neutral PM cues. The sizes of the enhancement effects of negative PM cues were large (all Cohen's d ≥ 1.00) and comparable across three groups. Our findings suggested that patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders could benefit from negative PM cues to an extent similar to healthy individuals, thus extended the notion of psychosis continuum to the important area of emotion-cognition interaction.

Comparing motor imagery and verbal rehearsal strategies in children's ability to follow spoken instructions.

The ability to follow spoken instructions is critical for children's learning in school and relies on the storage and processing of information in working memory. This study compared the effects of two encoding strategies (motor imagery and verbal rehearsal) on children's ability to follow spoken instructions in a working memory paradigm. A total of 146 children aged 7-12 years completed an instruction span task. In this task, children listened to a series of action-object commands and encoded them by either motor imagery or verbal rehearsal. They then attempted to recall the sequence in serial order by either enacted recall or verbal recall. Overall, children's ability to follow spoken instructions increased with age. In all age groups, children showed superior recall of instructions when they imagined the actions compared with verbal rehearsal of the actions during encoding, and this benefit of motor imagery was similar for verbal recall and enacted recall. Younger children reported motor imagery as more helpful than verbal rehearsal for remembering instructions, whereas older children considered verbal rehearsal as more useful. The study provides novel evidence for motor imagery as a superior strategy (relative to verbal rehearsal) for remembering spoken instructions in school-age children.

Emotional Stop Cues Facilitate Inhibitory Control in Schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Inhibitory control is a key deficit in patients with schizophrenia. This study aims to test whether emotions can facilitate inhibition in patients with schizophrenia when they increase attention to inhibitory process. METHOD: A total of 36 patients with schizophrenia and 36 healthy controls completed an emotional stop-signal task. The task involved selective responses to "Go" stimuli and stopped response when emotional or neutral stop cues occurred. RESULTS: In all conditions, patients with schizophrenia took longer time to inhibit response compared with healthy controls, indicating an overall impairment in response inhibition. Importantly, patients with schizophrenia and controls acquired similar size of benefit from the negative stop cues, showing as reduced reaction time to negative than neutral stop cues. However, the negative stop cues impaired subsequent Go performance only in patients with schizophrenia, indicating additional cost of the negative stop cues for patients with schizophrenia. In both groups, the positive stop cues did not have any significant influence on response inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide novel evidence for the benefit of emotional stop cues on inhibitory control in patients with schizophrenia and reveal different after-effects of emotional enhancement effect in patients and healthy populations. The findings may help develop effective interventions for improving inhibitory control in patients with schizophrenia and other clinical populations.

Forward and backward recall of serial actions: Exploring the temporal dynamics of working memory for instruction.

The ability to flexibly retrieve and implement sequences of actions is essential to motor learning and planning. Recent research has indicated that serial memory for instructions is influenced by presentation modality (spoken vs. visual demonstration) and recall modality (verbal vs. enacted recall). The present study extended this work by investigating the impact of recall direction (forward vs. backward), in addition to that of presentation and recall modality, on working memory for instruction sequences in healthy young adults. Experiment 1 (N = 24) showed that adults were more accurate in backward than forward verbal recall following spoken instructions. In contrast, enacted recall was not influenced by recall direction. Experiment 2 (N = 24) used visual demonstration of instruction sequences and found similar performance levels in forward and backward recall. Experiment 3 (N = 24) replicated the findings from Experiment 1 and 2, along with the previous observation of an advantage for demonstrated over spoken presentation. In addition, the beneficial effects of enacted recall and visual demonstration also emerged in an analysis of response times, specifically in reduced preparation and recall duration. Demonstrated instructions improved maintenance of all items while backward recall enhanced memory of later items in the sequence. These findings provide new insights into the cognitive processes and temporal dynamics of working memory for serial actions and instructions.

The development of multitasking in children aged 7-12years: Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

This study investigated the development of multitasking ability across childhood. A sample of 65 typically developing children aged 7, 9, and 11years completed two multitasking tests across three time points within a year. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data consistently indicated continuous linear growth in children's multitasking ability. By the age of 12years, children could effectively perform a simple multitasking scenario comprising six equally important tasks, although their ability to strategically organize assorted tasks with varied values and priorities in a complex multitasking setting had not reached proficiency yet. Cognitive functions underlying a complex multitasking scenario varied in their developmental trajectories. Retrospective memory developed continuously from 7 to 12years of age, suggesting its supporting role in the development of multitasking. Planning skills developed slowly and showed practice effects for older children but not for younger children. The ability to adhere to plans also developed slowly, and children of all age groups benefited from practice. This study offers a preliminary benchmark for future comparison with clinical populations and may help to inform the development of targeted interventions.

Synergism of jet milling and deep eutectic solvent pretreatment on grapevine lignin fractionation and enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis.

Herein, we investigated the synergistic effects of jet milling (JM) and deep eutectic solvent (DES) pretreatment on the fractionation of grapevine lignin and the consequent enhancement of enzymatic hydrolysis. Grapevine, a substantial byproduct of the wine industry, was subjected to JM pretreatment to produce finely powdered particles (median diameter D50 = 98.90), which were then further treated with acidic ChCl-LA and alkaline K2CO3-EG DESs. The results revealed that the combined JM + ChCl-LA pretreatment significantly increased the cellulose preservation under optimal conditions (110 °C, 4 h, and 20 % water content), achieving removal rates of 74.18 % xylan and 66.05 % lignin, respectively. The pretreatment temperature and inhibitor production were reduced, resulting in a remarkable threefold increase in glucose yield compared to untreated samples. Moreover, the structural analysis of the pretreated lignin indicated an enrichment of phenolic units, leading to enhanced antioxidant and antibacterial activities, particularly in the JM pretreated samples. These findings underscore the promising potential of the synergistic JM and DES pretreatment in facilitating the efficient utilization of grapevine lignocellulosic biomass for sustainable biorefinery technologies.

Development and characterization of pectin-based composite film incorporated with cannabidiol/2,6-di-O-methyl-ß-cyclodextrin inclusion complex for food packaging.

To reduce environmental pollution and improve human health, developing green active food packaging materials is very necessary. In this study, a novel antioxidant and antibacterial composite film was produced by incorporating inclusion complex (CDIC) of cannabidiol (CBD) with 2,6-di-O-methyl-ß-cyclodextrin (DM-ß-CD) into pectin. The pectin films loaded with CBD and hemp leaf water extract (HLE) were prepared for comparison. Comprehensive characterizations showed CBD was encapsulated by DM-ß-CD and CDIC was evenly dispersed into pectin matrix, forming the compact and intact film. The composite films showed good mechanical properties and biodegradability. CDIC film showed the highest transparency and smoothness (Rrms/Rmax: 2.6/16.8 nm). The addition of bioactives reduced the water-binding capacity and CDIC film had the strongest hydrophobicity. Besides, DM-ß-CD encapsulation improved the thermal stability of CBD in CDIC film. Benefiting from encapsulation and excellent bioactivities of CBD, CDIC film showed excellent antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity, effectively inhibiting colony growth and maintaining the strawberry color in strawberry preservation. This work could provide a novel eco-friendly candidate for food packaging material and expand the use of CBD in food industry.

Identifying subgroups of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from the psychopathological and neuropsychological profiles.

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) advocates the dimensional approach in characterizing mental disorders. We followed RDoC to characterize children with ADHD using profiling based on the cognitive and psychopathological domains. We aimed to identify and validate ADHD subtypes with different clinical characteristics and functional impairments. We recruited 362 drug-naïve children with ADHD and 103 typically developing controls. The cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups based on the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The subgroups' clinical characteristics and functional impairments were assessed using the WEISS Functional Impairment Rating Scale-Parent Report (WFIRS-P) and the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (PSQ). The cluster analysis yielded four subgroups: (1) ADHD with severe impairment in psychopathology and executive functions (EF), (2) ADHD with mild executive dysfunctions and normal-level psychopathology, (3) ADHD with severe externalizing problems and (4) ADHD with severe executive dysfunctions. These subgroups showed different clinical characteristics and degrees of functional impairment. The EF impairment group displayed more serious learning problems and worse life skills than the externalizing group. The two groups with externalizing problems (i.e. the severe impairment group and the externalizing group) both exhibited higher rates of the combined subtype of ADHD and higher rates of comorbid ODD. Different subtypes of ADHD displayed different profiles of internalizing and externalizing problems and levels of executive dysfunctions. In particular, the subtype with severe impairment in EF exhibited more learning problems and worse life skills, suggesting EF is a critical target for intervention in children with ADHD.

The Future-oriented Repetitive Thought (FoRT) scale: Validation in Chinese samples and application in the schizophrenia spectrum.

BACKGROUND: Repetitive thoughts are usually associated with psychopathology. The Future-oriented Repetitive Thought (FoRT) Scale is a measure designed to capture frequency of repetitive thought about positive and negative future events. However, the validity of the scale in Chinese population and its application in the schizophrenia spectrum have not been examined. METHODS: The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the FoRT scale and to apply it to the schizophrenia spectrum. In Study 1, three samples (total N = 1875) of university students were recruited for exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and validity test, respectively. In Study 2, we identified subsamples with high schizotypal traits (N = 89) and low schizotypal traits (N = 89), and recruited 36 inpatients with schizophrenia and 41 matched healthy controls. RESULTS: The three-factor (pessimistic repetitive future thinking, repetitive thinking about future goals, and positive indulging about the future) structure of the FoRT scale with one item deleted, fitted the Chinese samples. And the scale could distinguish patients with schizophrenia and individuals with high schizotypal traits from controls. CONCLUSION: These findings support that the Chinese version of the FoRT scale is a valid tool and provide evidence for the potential applications in the schizophrenia spectrum.

RIRS with FV-UAS vs. MPCNL for 2-3-cm upper urinary tract stones: a prospective study.

To observe the efficacy and safety of retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) combined with flexible vacuum-assisted ureteral access sheath (FV-UAS) and minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (MPCNL) in patients with 2-3 cm upper urinary tract stones. A total of 160 patients with 2-3 cm upper urinary tract stones were prospectively randomized into 2 groups-80 in the FV-UAS group and 80 cases as control in the MPCNL group. The stone-free rates (SFRs) at different times (postoperative 1st day and 4th week) were considered as the primary outcome of the study. The secondary end points were operative time, hemoglobin decrease, postoperative hospital stay, and operation-related complications. There was no obvious difference between the two groups in patient's demographics and preoperative clinical characteristics (all P > 0.05). Postoperative data showed that mean decrease in hemoglobin level was less in FV-UAS group than that in MPCNL group (5.3 vs. 10.8 g/L, P < 0.001). Postoperative hospital stay in FV-UAS group was more shorten than that in MPCNL group (2.7 vs. 4.9 days, P < 0.001). There was no statistical significance between the two groups in SFRs during postoperative 1st day and 4th week (both P > 0.05). However, in terms of the rates of bleeding and pain, MPCNL group were both significantly higher than FV-UAS group (6.2 vs. 0.0%, P = 0.023; 16.2 vs. 2.5%, P = 0.003; respectively). Our study showed that RIRS with FV-UAS, a new partnership to treat 2-3 cm upper urinary tract stones, was satisfying as it achieved a high SFR rate and a low rate of complications. This method was safe and reproducible in clinical practice.

Relationship between theta/beta ratio and mind wandering in schizotypy.

Negative association was found between the frontal theta/beta ratio and mind wandering in participants with high schizotypal traits, while no such association was found in participants with low schizotypal traits. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanism of mind wandering in individuals with high schizotypal traits.

Acidic and alkaline deep eutectic solvents (DESs) pretreatment of grapevine: Component analysis, characterization, lignin structural analysis, and antioxidant properties.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been extensively applied to pretreat lignocellulose; however, comparative research on acidic and alkaline DES pretreatment is relatively lacking. Herein, pretreatment of grapevine agricultural by-products with seven DESs were compared in terms of removal of lignin and hemicellulose and component analysis of the pretreated residues. Among the tested DESs, both acidic choline chloride-lactic (CHCl-LA), and alkaline potassium carbonate-ethylene glycol (K2CO3-EG) were effective in delignification. Thereafter, the CHCl-LA and K2CO3-EG extracted lignin was compared by analyzing their physicochemical structure changes and antioxidant properties. The results showed that the thermal stability, molecular weight, and phenol hydroxyl percentage of CHCl-LA lignin were inferior to K2CO3-EG lignin. It was found that the high antioxidant activity of K2CO3-EG lignin was mainly attributed to the abundant phenol hydroxyl, guaiacyl (G), and para-hydroxy-phenyl (H). By comparing acidic and alkaline DES pretreatments and their lignin nuances in biorefining, novel insights are derived for the scheduling and selection of DES for lignocellulosic pretreatment.

Comparative study of encapsulated cannabidiol ternary solid dispersions prepared by different techniques: The application of a novel technique jet milling.

Jet milling is a common technique in ultrafine powder preparation field. It has never been used to design delivery systems. Cannabidiol (CBD) is an important cannabinoid of hemp but poor aqueous solubility limited its applications. In this study, solid dispersion (SD) technique was combined with cyclodextrin complexation technique, and jet milling was used for the first time to prepare SDs for improving CBD solubility. Different characterizations demonstrated that the dispersion effect and complexation structure of CBD SD3 prepared by jet milling were comparable to that of CBD SD2 prepared by spray drying (a common solution-based method), and were better than that of CBD SD1 prepared by cogrinding. The water solubility of CBD was increased to 20.902 µg/mL (909-fold) in CBD SD3. Besides, the antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity to tumor cells of CBD were enhanced by dispersion. This work indicated that jet milling, as a new technique with low cost and excellent applicability, could be further developed for the delivery of food functional factors or bioactive molecules.

Proactive and reactive response inhibition of individuals with high schizotypy viewing different facial expressions: An ERP study using an emotional stop-signal task.

The present study aimed to examine whether impairments in reactive (outright stopping) and proactive (preparation for stopping) response inhibition are affected by negative emotions in individuals with high schizotypy, a subclinical group at risk for schizophrenia, as well as the neural mechanisms underlying these processes. Twenty-seven participants with high schizotypy and 28 matched low-schizotypy individuals completed an emotional stop-signal task in which they responded to facial emotions (neutral or angry) or inhibited their responses (when the frame of the picture turned red). Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were also recorded during the task. At the neural level, analysis of go trials revealed that viewing angry faces impaired proactive inhibition. In addition, the high-schizotypy group exhibited a greater P3 amplitude in go trials in the neutral condition than the low-schizotypy group; however, no group difference was found in the angry condition. For stop trials (reactive inhibition), a smaller P3 amplitude was found in the angry condition than in the neutral condition. Moreover, high-schizotypy individuals showed smaller P3 amplitudes than low-schizotypy individuals. The current findings suggest that, at the neural level, viewing negative emotions impaired both proactive and reactive response inhibition. Individuals with high schizotypy exhibited impairments in proactive response inhibition in the neutral condition but not in the angry condition; they exhibited impaired reactive response inhibition in both emotion conditions. The present findings deepen our understanding of emotional response inhibition in individuals on the schizophrenia spectrum.

Proactive and reactive cognitive control for emotional conflict in individuals with high schizotypy: An ERP study.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to examine how individuals with high schizotypy, a high risk group of schizophrenia patients, resolve emotional conflict in proactive and reactive control and the underlying neural mechanisms. METHODS: Thirty-two individuals with high schizotypy and 30 matched individuals with low schizotypy completed an emotional face-word Stroop task with electroencephalographic data recorded. The proportion of incongruent trials was manipulated in the task to induce proactive control (mostly incongruent trials context, MI context) or reactive control (mostly congruent trials context, MC context). Two event-related potential (ERP) components (N170 and N2) were examined, which represent face processing and cognitive control processes, respectively. RESULTS: In the MC context, significantly decreased N2 and N170 amplitudes were found in high schizotypy individuals compared with low schizotypy individuals, suggesting abnormal neural activity of reactive control in high schizotypy individuals. No significant differences were found between the two groups in the MI context. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide initial evidence for dissociation of neural activity of proactive and reactive control on emotional conflict in individuals with high schizotypy. SIGNIFICANCE: The current findings provide important insight into the emotional conflict resolution in the schizophrenia spectrum.