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Sensitivity to salience
(2018)
Sentence comprehension is optimised by indicating entities as salient through linguistic (i.e., information-structural) or visual means. We compare how salience of a depicted referent due to a linguistic (i.e., topic status) or visual cue (i.e., a virtual person’s gaze shift) modulates sentence comprehension in German. We investigated processing of sentences with varying word order and pronoun resolution by means of self-paced reading and an antecedent choice task, respectively. Our results show that linguistic as well as visual salience cues immediately speeded up reading times of sentences mentioning the salient referent first. In contrast, for pronoun resolution, linguistic and visual cues modulated antecedent choice preferences less congruently. In sum, our findings speak in favour of a significant impact of linguistic and visual salience cues on sentence comprehension, substantiating that salient information delivered via language as well as the visual environment is integrated in the current mental representation of the discourse.
The genesis of chronic pain is explained by a biopsychosocial model. It hypothesizes an interdependency between environmental and genetic factors provoking aberrant long-term changes in biological and psychological regulatory systems. Physiological effects of psychological and physical stressors may play a crucial role in these maladaptive processes. Specifically, long-term demands on the stress response system may moderate central pain processing and influence descending serotonergic and noradrenergic signals from the brainstem, regulating nociceptive processing at the spinal level. However, the underlying mechanisms of this pathophysiological interplay still remain unclear. This paper aims to shed light on possible pathways between physical (exercise) and psychological stress and the potential neurobiological consequences in the genesis and treatment of chronic pain, highlighting evolving concepts and promising research directions in the treatment of chronic pain. Two treatment forms (exercise and mindfulness-based stress reduction as exemplary therapies), their interaction, and the dose-response will be discussed in more detail, which might pave the way to a better understanding of alterations in the pain matrix and help to develop future prevention and therapeutic concepts
Objective: To investigate associations between socioeconomic status (SES) indicators (education, job position, income, multidimensional index) and the genesis of chronic low back pain (CLBP).
Design: Longitudinal field study (baseline and 6-month follow-up).
Setting: Four medical clinics across Germany.
Participants: 352 people were included according to the following criteria: (1) between 18 and 65 years of age, (2) intermittent pain and (3) an understanding of the study and the ability to answer a questionnaire without help. Exclusion criteria were: (1) pregnancy, (2) inability to stand upright, (3) inability to give sick leave information, (4) signs of serious spinal pathology, (5) acute pain in the past 7 days or (6) an incomplete SES indicators questionnaire.
Outcome measures: Subjective intensity and disability of CLBP.
Results Analysis: showed that job position was the best single predictor of CLBP intensity, followed by a multidimensional index. Education and income had no significant association with intensity. Subjective disability was best predicted by job position, succeeded by the multidimensional index and education, while income again had no significant association.
Conclusion: The results showed that SES indicators have different strong associations with the genesis of CLBP and should therefore not be used interchangeably. Job position was found to be the single most important indicator. These results could be helpful in the planning of back pain care programmes, but in general, more research on the relationship between SES and health outcomes is needed.
Accuracy of training recommendations based on a treadmill multistage incremental exercise test
(2018)
Competitive runners will occasionally undergo exercise in a laboratory setting to obtain predictive and prescriptive information regarding their performance. The present research aimed to assess whether the physiological demands of lab-based treadmill running (TM) can simulate that of over-ground (OG) running using a commonly used protocol. Fifteen healthy volunteers with a weekly mileage of ≥ 20 km over the past 6 months and treadmill experience participated in this cross-sectional study. Two stepwise incremental tests until volitional exhaustion was performed in a fixed order within one week in an Outpatient Clinic research laboratory and outdoor athletic track. Running velocity (IATspeed), heart rate (IATHR) and lactate concentration at the individual anaerobic threshold (IATbLa) were primary endpoints. Additionally, distance covered (DIST), maximal heart rate (HRmax), maximal blood lactate concentration (bLamax) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) at IATspeed were analyzed. IATspeed, DIST and HRmax were not statistically significantly different between conditions, whereas bLamax and RPE at IATspeed showed statistical significance (p < 0.05). Apart from RPE at IATspeed, IATspeed, DIST, HRmax and bLamax strongly correlate between conditions (r = 0.815–0.988). High reliability between conditions provides strong evidence to suggest that running on a treadmill are physiologically comparable to that of OG and that training recommendations and be made with assurance.
During the first year of life, infants undergo perceptual narrowing in the domains of speech and face perception. This is typically characterized by improvements in infants' abilities in discriminating among stimuli of familiar types, such as native speech tones and same-race faces. Simultaneously, infants begin to decline in their ability to discriminate among stimuli of types with which they have little experience, such as nonnative tones and other-race faces. The similarity in time-frames during which perceptual narrowing seems to occur in the domains of speech and face perception has led some researchers to hypothesize that the perceptual narrowing in these domains could be driven by shared domain-general processes. To explore this hypothesis, we tested 53 Caucasian 9-month-old infants from monolingual German households on their ability to discriminate among non-native Cantonese speech tones, as well among same-race German faces and other-race Chinese faces. We tested the infants using an infant-controlled habituation-dishabituation paradigm, with infants' preferences for looking at novel stimuli versus the habituated stimuli (dishabituation scores) acting as indicators of discrimination ability. As expected for their age, infants were able to discriminate between same-race faces, but not between other-race faces or non-native speech tones. Most interestingly, we found that infants' dishabituation scores for the non-native speech tones and other-race faces showed significant positive correlations, while the dishabituation scores for non-native speech tones and same-race faces did not. These results therefore support the hypothesis that shared domain-general mechanisms may drive perceptual narrowing in the domains of speech and face perception.
Background: Life events (LEs) are associated with future physical and mental health. They are crucial for understanding the pathways to mental disorders as well as the interactions with biological parameters. However, deeper insight is needed into the complex interplay between the type of LE, its subjective evaluation and accompanying factors such as social support. The "Stralsund Life Event List" (SEL) was developed to facilitate this research.
Methods: The SEL is a standardized interview that assesses the time of occurrence and frequency of 81 LEs, their subjective emotional valence, the perceived social support during the LE experience and the impact of past LEs on present life. Data from 2265 subjects from the general population-based cohort study "Study of Health in Pomerania" (SHIP) were analysed. Based on the mean emotional valence ratings of the whole sample, LEs were categorized as "positive" or "negative". For verification, the SEL was related to lifetime major depressive disorder (MDD; Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview), childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), resilience (Resilience Scale) and subjective health (SF-12 Health Survey).
Results: The report of lifetime MDD was associated with more negative emotional valence ratings of negative LEs (OR = 2.96, p < 0.0001). Negative LEs (b = 0.071, p < 0.0001, beta = 0.25) and more negative emotional valence ratings of positive LEs (b = 3.74, p < 0.0001, beta = 0.11) were positively associated with childhood trauma. In contrast, more positive emotional valence ratings of positive LEs were associated with higher resilience (b = -7.05, p < 0.0001, beta = 0.13), and a lower present impact of past negative LEs was associated with better subjective health (b = 2.79, p = 0.001, beta = 0.05). The internal consistency of the generated scores varied considerably, but the mean value was acceptable (averaged Cronbach's alpha > 0.75).
Conclusions: The SEL is a valid instrument that enables the analysis of the number and frequency of LEs, their emotional valence, perceived social support and current impact on life on a global score and on an individual item level. Thus, we can recommend its use in research settings that require the assessment and analysis of the relationship between the occurrence and subjective evaluation of LEs as well as the complex balance between distressing and stabilizing life experiences.
Both social perception and temperament in young infants have been related to social functioning later in life. Previous functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) data (Lloyd-Fox et al., 2009) showed larger blood-oxygenation changes for social compared to non-social stimuli in the posterior temporal cortex of five-month-old infants. We sought to replicate and extend these findings by using fNIRS to study the neural basis of social perception in relation to infant temperament (Negative Affect) in 37 five-to-eight-month-old infants.
Infants watched short videos displaying either hand and facial movements of female actors (social dynamic condition) or moving toys and machinery (non-social dynamic condition), while fNIRS data were collected over temporal brain regions. Negative Affect was measured using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire.
Results showed significantly larger blood-oxygenation changes in the right posterior-temporal region in the social compared to the non-social condition. Furthermore, this differential activation was smaller in infants showing higher Negative Affect.
Our results replicate those of Lloyd-Fox et al. and confirmed that five-to-eight-month-old infants show cortical specialization for social perception. Furthermore, the decreased cortical sensitivity to social stimuli in infants showing high Negative Affect may be an early biomarker for later difficulties in social interaction.
Objective: The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of Cold Water Immersion (CWI) on the recovery of physical performance, hematological stress markers and perceived wellness (i.e., Hooper scores) following a simulated Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition.
Methods: Participants completed two experimental sessions in a counter-balanced order (CWI or passive recovery for control condition: CON), after a simulated MMAs competition (3 x 5-min MMA rounds separated by 1-min of passive rest). During CWI, athletes were required to submerge their bodies, except the trunk, neck and head, in the seated position in a temperature-controlled bath (similar to 10 degrees C) for 15-min. During CON, athletes were required to be in a seated position for 15-min in same room ambient temperature. Venous blood samples (creatine kinase, cortisol, and testosterone concentrations) were collected at rest (PRE-EX, i.e., before MMAs), immediately following MMAs (POST-EX), immediately following recovery (POST-R) and 24 h post MMAs (POST-24), whilst physical fitness (squat jump, countermovement-jump and 5- and 10-m sprints) and perceptual measures (well-being Hooper index: fatigue, stress, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and sleep) were collected at PRE-EX, POST-R and POST-24, and at PRE-EX and POST-24, respectively.
Results: The main results indicate that POST-R sprint (5- and 10-m) performances were 'likely to very likely' (d = 0.64 and 0.65) impaired by prior CWI. However, moderate improvements were in 10-m sprint performance were 'likely' evident at POST-24 after CWI compared with CON (d = 0.53). Additionally, the use of CWI 'almost certainly' resulted in a large overall improvement in Hooper scores (d = 1.93). Specifically, CWI 'almost certainly' resulted in improved sleep quality (d = 1.36), stress (d = 1.56) and perceived fatigue (d = 1.51), and 'likely' resulted in a moderate decrease in DOMS (d = 0.60).
Conclusion: The use of CWI resulted in an enhanced recovery of 10-m sprint performance, as well as improved perceived wellness 24-h following simulated MMA competition.
Fragestellung: Ziel war die Untersuchung des Verlaufs von Kindern mit Rechenstörungen bzw. Rechenschwächen. Neben der Persistenz wurden Auswirkungen von Rechenproblemen auf künftige Rechenleistungen sowie den Schulerfolg geprüft. Methodik: Für 2909 Schüler der 2. bis 5. Klasse liegen die Resultate standardisierter Rechen- und Intelligenztests vor. Ein Teil dieser Kinder ist nach 37 und 68 Mona-ten erneut untersucht worden. Ergebnisse: Die Prävalenz von Rechenstörungen betrug 1.4 %, Rechenschwächen traten bei 11.2 % auf. Rechen-probleme zeigten eine mittlere bis hohe Persistenz. Schüler mit Rechenschwäche blieben im Rechnen gut eine Standardabweichung hinter durchschnittlich und ca. eine halbe Standardabweichung hinter unterdurchschnittlich intelligenten Kontrollkindern zurück. Der allgemeine Schulerfolg rechenschwacher Probanden (definiert über Mathematiknote, Deutschnote und Schultyp) ähnelte dem der unterdurchschnittlich intelligenten Kontrollgruppe und blieb hinter dem Schulerfolg durchschnittlich intelligenter Kontrollkinder zurück. Eingangs ältere Probanden mit Rechenproblemen (4. bis 5. Klasse) wiesen eine schlechtere Prognose auf als Kinder, die zu Beginn die 2. oder 3. Klasse besuchten. Schluss-folgerungen: Rechenprobleme stellen ein ernsthaftes Entwicklungsrisiko dar. Längsschnittuntersuchungen, die Kinder mit streng definierter Rechenstörung bis ins Erwachsenenalter begleiten und Prädiktoren für unterschiedlich erfolgreiche Verläufe ermitteln, sind dringend notwendig.
Henne oder Ei
(2018)
Fragestellung: Ziel war die Untersuchung der Entwicklung und wechselseitigen Beziehung von Zahlen- und Mengenvorwissen (ZMW), Arbeitsgedächtnis (AG) und Intelligenz sowie deren Vorhersagekraft für die Rechenleistung in der ersten Klasse. Methodik: 1897 Kindergartenkinder nahmen an dieser Studie teil. Ein Teil dieser Kinder wurde 9 Monate später und erneut in der ersten Klasse untersucht. Ergebnisse: Während des Kindergartenjahres verbesserten sich die Kinder in allen untersuchten Leistungen. Reziproke Zusammenhänge zwischen den drei erhobenen Vorläuferfähigkeiten konnten nachgewiesen werden. Das ZMW erwies sich als guter Prädiktor für die AG- und Intelligenzleistung. Bei der Überprüfung der Vorhersage des Rechnens erwies sich das ZMW als bester Prädiktor der späteren Rechenleistung. Erwartungsgemäß zeigten die zu t1 erfassten allgemein-kognitiven Leistungen indirekte Effekte über das ZMW auf die Rechenleistung. Die Intelligenz und das AG zu t2 konnten direkt zur Vorhersage des Rechnens in der ersten Klasse beitragen. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass das AG und die Intelligenz zwar an dem Aufbau des ZMW beteiligt sind, aber vor allem selbst durch dieses vorhergesagt werden. Die Daten sprechen dafür das Potenzial des ZMWs in Trainingsprogrammen zu nutzen, durch dessen Förderung auch intellektuelle und Gedächtnisleistungen zunehmen können, die allesamt die schulische Rechenleistung positiv beeinflussen.