Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
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Does causality influence the selfhood-attribution to robots?
No full textThe main question is to identify if the characteristic causality elicits the attribution of aspects of self-hood to small vehicle like robots (“duckie”) as indicated by ratings on self-related scales.
In the study we will present videos of two visually identical robots, distinguishable only by a mark in the form of a triangle or square. The videos will be shown to participants on the left or right side of the screen. On one of the sides there will be shown videos of a robot (marked with a triangle) demonstrating the critical behavioural characteristic (C+), while videos presented on the other side will show the other robot (marked with a square) not demonstrating this characteristic (C-). In C+ the robot will impact with a white cube, which leads to the cube being moved by the robot. In C- the robot’s movement will stop as soon as he makes contact with the cube and the cube will also show no movement.
Participants will be exposed to five episodes of condition C+ and five episodes of condition C- in alternation. The duration of the videos will be 5 seconds. Thereafter participants will be asked to rate both the C+ and C- robot on a number of scales. Comparing ratings for C+ and C- conditions enables us to identify whether the investigated characteristic is likely to be a core characteristic in driving self-attribution to other agents
Effects of habitual caffeine use and acute caffeine abstinence on mood, cognitive performance and brain activity.
No full textPrevious research suggests that both habitual caffeine use and acute caffeine administration may alter resting state brain activity (e.g. Wong et al., 2012: Rack-Gomer et al., 2012). However, regular caffeine use leads to caffeine dependence, and caffeine-dependent consumers then experience withdrawal symptoms (e.g. fatigue, poor concentration) when acutely abstinent from caffeine, evident even with 100mg/day caffeine (one cup of coffee: Schuh et al., 1997). Past work at Sussex has shown that caffeine is a powerful reinforcer of liking for caffeine-associated flavours (e.g. Yeomans et al., 2005), but only when consumed by caffeine-dependent volunteers tested after acute caffeine abstinence (Tinley et al., 2003). Notably, to date no previous study on caffeine and neural activity has controlled adequately for use and abstinence. One approach has been to compare habitual caffeine consumers and non-consumers. Accordingly, an older study (Laurienti et al., 2002) compared moderate to high (>300mg caffeine/day) and low (<120mg caffeine/day) consumers, tested both after placebo and a high caffeine dose (250mg), but failed to control for caffeine abstinence. They reported effects of caffeine on responses in visual cortex which correlated with habitual use, but their lack of control for level of caffeine abstinence means whether these effects were due to reversal of withdrawal or pure effects of caffeine are impossible to determine. A more recent study (Magalhaes et al., 2021) used connectivity analysis to explore resting state connectivity between coffee drinkers and non-drinkers and found decreased connectivity in a network of cortical and subcortical regions for coffee drinkers. However, they required all participants to abstain from caffeine for a minimum of 3.5h prior to test, too short to control for acute caffeine effects (since caffeine has a 7h half-life) and so again whether their findings are due to habitual use or acute caffeine abstinence cannot be determined. The current study clarifies the extent to habitual and acute caffeine consumption alters brain activity, alongside mood and cognitive performance, by testing three groups of volunteers:
a) Habitual caffeine (coffee) consumers tested after overnight caffeine abstinence (the Dependent - Withdrawn, DW, group)
b) Habitual caffeine (coffee) consumers tested after overnight caffeine abstinence followed by acute consumption of 100mg caffeine30 minutes prior to the scan (Dependent - Not withdrawn, DNW group)
c) Non consumers, group NC, defined as those never consuming caffeinated coffee and whose total daily caffeine is less than50mg/day (noting low levels of caffeine in chocolate, etc.)
To maximise differences, participants in the DW and DNW groups will be selected based on self-reported consumption of moderate(200-500mg/day) caffeine, and the non-consumers as those never consuming coffee and with estimated daily caffeine consumption of less than 50mg/day. Habitual caffeine consumption will be assayed in a separate screening survey incorporating a drink and food frequency questionnaire focussed on drink and breakfast habits, and then scored to give estimated daily caffeine intake
Effect of team leader's access to online cohesion report on a team’s mental models
No full textTeamwork is an essential aspect of work in high-reliability organizations. In order to prevent negative team outcomes, training situations should promote the cognitive processes involved in team effictiveness. An indicator of a team’s shared mental models (SMM) can be found by measuring the extent to which team members have the same understanding of an ongoing situation as their team. In addition, an indicator of situation awareness (SA) can be found by comparing team members’ understanding of the situation with their team leader’s understanding. The aim of this study is to develop an online team cohesion report that can be used to achieve this goal. Further, we want to assess how team leaders’ access to this online cohesion report impacts an emergency response team’s (ERT) SA and SMM development in training situations. We also want to explore its effect on self-reported teamwork
List of UK funders of research in health
No full textList of not-for-profit organisations that provide financial support to health researchers working in the United Kingdo
Artificial Intelligence in Addressing Multiple Long-Term Conditions: A Scoping Review Protocol
No full textA scoping review to understand the state-of-the-art of developing and designing AI for Multiple Long-Term Conditions (MLTCs). It will help generate the evidence to identify the current gaps in the field and help understand where the challenges are when implementing AI in healthcare with a focus on MLTCs
Striatal synaptic function in the dieldrin-PFF two-hit model
No full textThis project will test whether developmental dieldrin exposure increases deficits in synaptic function in the striatum induced by PFF-induced α-syn inclusions by measuring 1) vesicular (VMAT2) uptake and 2) dopamine release
Parenting intervention for parents with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
No full textAdverse childhood experiences can exert an inter-generational influence on parenting. Adults who experienced adverse events (ACEs, e.g., abuse, neglect, household substance abuse, mental illness in the household) in their childhood are more likely to adopt dysfunctional parenting when they become parents. Thus, developing specific parenting interventions for this population is necessary. In addition, the evidence from previous parenting interventions showed that the efficiency of parenting intervention is sensitive to parental maltreatment and trauma history. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of parenting intervention targeting parents with ACEs, this project conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of current group parenting interventions for such population. Four online databases were used to search the potentially relevant articles: PsycINFO, Medline, CINAHL Plus, and EMBASE. The main search was completed in May 2020. The initial screening has been finished. Now the project is under the data extraction stage. The expected results of the project will include a summary of characteristics of parenting intervention (e.g., intervention name, length, and pattern) and participants (e.g., gender, age), a meta-analysis will be conducted to understand the effect of these interventions on improving parenting and mental health of parents with ACEs. The effective parenting intervention for such a population and future applications will be discussed
Vaccine Metaphors - Experiment 2
No full textAiming to replicate effects of framing of COVID-19 vaccine development/distribution/approval (etc.) as a race vs. effort. Biggest study design changes are 1) using a no-message control condition to ensure a neutral control, rather than the "issue"-focused (attempted neutral) wording used previously, 2) rewording messages somewhat (e.g., emphasizing distribution of vaccines given that vaccine development has progressed), 3) adding additional materials potentially impacted by metaphor (e.g., imagined regret after vaccinating
Zheln.com: A protocol for a universal living overview of health-related systematic reviews
No full textThis is a backup registration that is made the next day after I submitted the protocol to PROSPERO. I am uncertain if the PROSPERO submission is accepted and cannot afford to wait for up to three months until the editorial decision is known. Therefore, I have made a decision to create this additional registration
