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Effects of task difficulty on performance and event-related bradycardia during preparation for action
Full text linkThe slowing of heart rate prior to movement onset has been presented as a marker of task related cognitive processing and linked with performance accuracy. Here we examined this event-related bradycardia and task performance as a function of task difficulty. Forty experienced golfers completed a series of golf putting conditions that manipulated task difficulty by varying target distance, target size, and surface contour. Performance was measured by the number of holed putts and finishing distance from the hole. Physiological activity was recorded throughout. Analyses confirmed that performance varied as a function of task difficulty, worsening with longer distances to target, smaller targets, and sloping paths to target. Task difficulty also impacted the cardiac response, including the rate of heart rate deceleration, change in heart rate, and heart rate at impact. These heart rate metrics were found to correlate with performance strongly, moderately, and weakly, respectively. In conclusion, heart rate deceleration in the moments preceding movement onset was affected by task difficulty. Features of this cardiac deceleration pattern were characteristic of successful performance. Our findings are discussed in terms of the role of cognitive and motor processes during the execution of complex motor skills
Randomised controlled trial of adjunctive triamcinolone acetonide in eyes undergoing vitreoretinal surgery following open globe trauma: The ASCOT study
Full text linkTo investigate the clinical effectiveness of adjunctive triamcinolone acetonide (TA) given at the time of vitreoretinal surgery following open globe trauma (OGT). A phase 3, multicentre, double-masked randomised controlled trial of patients undergoing vitrectomy following OGT comparing adjunctive TA (intravitreal and subtenons) against standard care (2014-2020). The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with at least 10 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letter improvement in corrected visual acuity (VA) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included: change in ETDRS, retinal detachment (RD) secondary to PVR, retinal reattachment, macular reattachment, tractional RD, number of operations, hypotony, elevated intraocular pressure and quality of life. 280 patients were randomised over 75 months, of which 259 completed the study. 46.9% (n=61/130) of patients in the treatment group had a 10-letter improvement in VA compared with 43.4% (n=56/129) of the control group (difference 3.5% (95% CI -8.6% to 15.6%), OR=1.03 (95% CI 0.61 to 1.75), p=0.908)). Secondary outcome measures also failed to show any treatment benefit. For two of the secondary outcome measures, stable complete retinal and macular reattachment, outcomes were worse in the treatment group compared with controls, respectively, 51.6% (n=65/126) vs 64.2% (n=79/123), OR=0.59 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.99), and 54.0% (n=68/126) vs 66.7% (n=82/123), OR=0.59 (95% CI 0.35 to 0.98), for TA vs control. The use of combined intraocular and sub-Tenons capsule TA is not recommended as an adjunct to vitrectomy surgery following OGT. NCT02873026. [Abstract copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Beyond human-likeness: Socialness is more influential when attributing mental states to robots
Full text linkWe sought to replicate and expand previous work showing that the more human-like a robot appears, the more willing people are to attribute mind-like capabilities and socially engage with it. Forty-two participants played games against a human, a humanoid robot, a mechanoid robot, and a computer algorithm while undergoing functional neuroimaging. We confirmed that the more human-like the agent, the more participants attributed a mind to them. However, exploratory analyses revealed that the perceived socialness of an agent appeared to be as, if not more, important for mind attribution. Our findings suggest top-down knowledge cues may be equally or possibly more influential than bottom-up stimulus cues when exploring mind attribution in non-human agents. While further work is now required to test this hypothesis directly, these preliminary findings hold important implications for robotic design and to understand and test the flexibility of human social cognition when people engage with artificial agent
Covid and the common good: In-group out-group dynamics and Covid-19 vaccination in Wales and the United States
Full text linkVaccination is a social act, where benefits spill-over to third parties. How we approach such social decisions is influenced by whether likely beneficiaries share salient social identities with us. This study explores these dynamics using representative survey data from two contexts: national identity groups in Wales (N=4187) and political partisans in America (N=4864). In both cases, those in the minority in their local area were less likely to be vaccinated. In Wales, respondents who did not identify as Welsh were less likely to be vaccinated the greater the proportion of residents of their local area identified as Welsh. In America, the vaccination rate of Biden voters fell off more steeply than that of Trump voters as the proportion of Trump voters in their county increased. Results are robust to controlling for likely confounds and sensitivity analyses. In-group out-group dynamics help to shape important health decisions
Wastewater-based Epidemiology: Estimating the number of viral cases in a hospital setting using wastewater analysis
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Positive experiences in dementia care-giving: findings from the IDEAL programme
Full text linkThere is a growing evidence base that identifying positive experiences in providing care can have a beneficial influence on carer wellbeing. However, there is a need to better understand what carers identify as the positive aspects of care-giving. The aim of this study is to explore the satisfying aspects of providing care to people with dementia. This study utilised Time 1 data from 1,277 carers of people in the mild-to-moderate stages of dementia taking part in the IDEAL (Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life) cohort study. Responses from 900 carers who answered the open-ended question ‘What is your greatest satisfaction in caring for your relative/friend?’ were analysed using thematic analysis. From the responses, 839 carers detailed satisfactions. Eight themes were identified, pertaining to three groups of beneficiaries: carers, people with dementia and the dyad. Perceived benefits for carers included identifying aspects of personal growth, seeing glimpses of the person, feeling they were making a difference and doing their duty. For the person with dementia, these included retaining independence, receiving good quality care and being happy. Dyadic benefits concerned the continuation of the relationship between carer and person with dementia. The findings highlight the need to take a dyadic approach when conceptualising positive experiences in providing care. Further research is needed to understand the role these positive experiences play and to develop interventions. Professionals working with carers should identify and validate these experiences
Understanding the interactions that children and young people have with their natural and built environments:A survey to identify targets for active travel behaviour change in Wales
Full text linkActive travel offers many societal benefits, including improving people’s mental and physical health and minimising our impacts on the environment. Increasing active travel is particularly important amongst children and young people (CYP), who are building habits which they will carry into adulthood. Studies on active travel amongst CYP are limited, however, with most research focusing on adult participants or on adult perceptions of children. This study sought to understand CYP’s interactions with the built and natural environment–and therefore their access to active travel–through the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour (COM-B) model. With a stakeholder group representing local government, youth organisations and active travel organisations, we co-created two bilingual questionnaires–one for young people aged 12–16 years living in Wales and the other for parents of young people aged 12–16 years living in Wales. Both questionnaires collected information on behaviour and perceived capability, opportunity and motivation of CYP to engage with their natural and built environments. The questionnaires included a discrete choice experiment (DCE), which proposed a series of binary choice questions indicating preferences based on landscape, journey time and type of travel. A total of 124 questionnaires (38 young people and 86 parents) were returned for analysis. These data indicate that CYP’s time spent outdoors is not dependent upon geography (rural/urban/suburban), season, or school holidays. There was a significant difference in capability, opportunity and motivation between parents and CYP, with parents over-estimating the psychological capability of CYP to engage outdoors. The preference data indicate that active travel is the favoured mode of transport, with both CYP and parents stating that they would increase travel time in order to travel actively. While this response is not consistent with respondent’s day-to-day travel choices, it suggests that the limitations to active travel may be psychological capability and automatic motivation, rather than a lack of opportunity
Path-based Design Model for Constructing and Exploring Alternative Visualisations
Full text linkWe present a path-based design model and system for designing and creating visualisations. Our model represents a systematic approach to constructing visual representations of data or concepts following a predefined sequence of steps. The initial step involves outlining the overall appearance of the visualisation by creating a skeleton structure, referred to as a flowpath. Subsequently, we specify objects, visual marks, properties, and appearance, storing them in a gene. Lastly, we map data onto the flowpath, ensuring suitable morphisms. Alternative designs are created by exchanging values in the gene. For example, designs that share similar traits, are created by making small incremental changes to the gene. Our design methodology fosters the generation of diverse creative concepts, space-filling visualisations, and traditional formats like bar charts, circular plots and pie charts. Through our implementation we showcase the model in action. As an example application, we integrate the output visualisations onto a smartwatch and visualisation dashboards. In this article we (1) introduce, define and explain the path model and discuss possibilities for its use, (2) present our implementation, results, and evaluation, and (3) demonstrate and evaluate an application of its use on a mobile watch