Respiration, heartbeat, and conscious tactile perception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Grund ◽  
Esra Al ◽  
Marc Pabst ◽  
Alice Dabbagh ◽  
Tilman Stephani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Detection Rate ◽  
Cardiac Cycle ◽  
Pulse Wave ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Cardiac Activity ◽  
Tactile Perception ◽  
Left Index Finger ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Tactile Detection

Cardiac activity has been shown to interact with conscious tactile perception: Detecting near-threshold tactile stimuli is more likely during diastole than systole and heart slowing is more pronounced for detected compared to undetected stimuli. Here, we investigated how cardiac cycle effects on conscious tactile perception relate to respiration given the natural coupling of these two dominant body rhythms. Forty-one healthy participants had to report conscious perception of weak electrical pulses applied to the left index finger (yes/no) and confidence about their yes/no-decision (unconfident/confident) while electrocardiography (ECG), respiratory activity (chest circumference), and finger pulse oximetry were recorded. We confirmed the previous findings of higher tactile detection rate during diastole and unimodal distribution of hits in diastole, more specifically, we found this only when participants were confident about their detection decision. Lowest tactile detection rate occurred 250-300 ms after the R-peak corresponding to pulse-wave onsets in the finger. Inspiration was locked to tactile stimulation, and this was more consistent in hits than misses. Respiratory cycles accompanying misses were longer as compared to hits and correct rejections. Cardiac cycle effects on conscious tactile perception interact with decision confidence and coincide with pulse-wave arrival, which suggests the involvement of higher cognitive processing in this phenomenon possibly related to predictive coding. The more consistent phase-locking of inspiration with stimulus onsets for hits than misses is in line with previous reports of phase-locked inspiration to cognitive task onsets which were interpreted as tuning the sensory system for incoming information.

scholarly journals Eye Movements in Response to Pain-Related Feelings in the Presence of Low and High Cognitive Loads

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Ramtin Zargari Marandi ◽  
Camilla Ann Fjelsted ◽  
Iris Hrustanovic ◽  
Rikke Dan Olesen ◽  
Parisa Gazerani
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Load Level ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Movement Characteristics

The affective dimension of pain contributes to pain perception. Cognitive load may influence pain-related feelings. Eye tracking has proven useful for detecting cognitive load effects objectively by using relevant eye movement characteristics. In this study, we investigated whether eye movement characteristics differ in response to pain-related feelings in the presence of low and high cognitive loads. A set of validated, control, and pain-related sounds were applied to provoke pain-related feelings. Twelve healthy young participants (six females) performed a cognitive task at two load levels, once with the control and once with pain-related sounds in a randomized order. During the tasks, eye movements and task performance were recorded. Afterwards, the participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on their pain perception in response to the applied cognitive loads. Our findings indicate that an increased cognitive load was associated with a decreased saccade peak velocity, saccade frequency, and fixation frequency, as well as an increased fixation duration and pupil dilation range. Among the oculometrics, pain-related feelings were reflected only in the pupillary responses to a low cognitive load. The performance and perceived cognitive load decreased and increased, respectively, with the task load level and were not influenced by the pain-related sounds. Pain-related feelings were lower when performing the task compared with when no task was being performed in an independent group of participants. This might be due to the cognitive engagement during the task. This study demonstrated that cognitive processing could moderate the feelings associated with pain perception.

scholarly journals Prefrontal D1 dopamine-receptor neurons and delta resonance in interval timing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Cho Kim ◽  
Nandakumar S. Narayanan
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Interval Timing ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Performance Deficits ◽  
Timing Task ◽  
Memory Flexibility ◽  
Receptor Neurons

AbstractConsiderable evidence has shown that prefrontal neurons expressing D1-type dopamine receptors (D1DRs) are critical for working memory, flexibility, and timing. This line of work predicts that frontal neurons expressing D1DRs mediate cognitive processing. During timing tasks, one form this cognitive processing might take is time-dependent ramping activity — monotonic changes in firing rate over time. Thus, we hypothesized the prefrontal D1DR+ neurons would strongly exhibited time-dependent ramping during interval timing. We tested this idea using an interval-timing task in which we used optogenetics to tag D1DR+ neurons in the mouse medial frontal cortex (MFC). While 23% of MFC D1DR+ neurons exhibited ramping, this was significantly less than untagged MFC D1DR+ neurons. By contrast, MFC D1DR+ neurons had strong delta-frequency (1-4 Hz) coherence with other MFC ramping neurons. This coherence was phase-locked to cue onset and was strongest early in the interval. To test the significance of these interactions, we optogenetically stimulated MFC D1DR+ neurons early vs. late in the interval. We found that 2-Hz stimulation early in the interval was particularly effective in rescuing timing-related behavioral performance deficits in dopamine-depleted animals. These findings provide insight into MFC networks and have relevance for disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.Significance StatementPrefrontal D1DRs are involved in cognitive processing and cognitive dysfunction in human diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. We use optogenetics to identify these neurons, as well as neurons that are putatively connected to MFC D1DR+ neurons. We study these neurons in detail during an elementary cognitive task. These data could have relevance for cognitive deficits for Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and other diseases involving frontal dopamine.

scholarly journals Electronic Health Record's Effects on the Outpatient Office Visit and Clinical Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie B Sandoval ◽  
Mary Val Palumbo ◽  
Vicki Hart
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Office Visit ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Positive Effect

Background: During an office visit, the provider has the important cognitive task of attending to the patient while actively using the electronic health record (EHR).  Prior literature suggests that EHR may have a positive effect on simple tasks, but a negative effect on tasks that require complex cognitive processes.  No study has examined the provider’s perception of EHR on multiple distinct aspects of the office visit.Methods: We surveyed providers/preceptors regarding their perception of EHR on multiple aspects of the office visit.  We summarized their EHR utilization history and their perceptions of the EHR during the visit using descriptive statistics.  We tested for associations between time spent using the EHR and distinct aspects of the visit using Chi-square tests of association.Results: In total, 83 providers/preceptors reported use of EHR (response rate 52%). Provider/preceptors reported an overall negative effect of EHR on the patient-provider connection, but an overall positive effect on the review of medications/medical records, communication between providers, review of results with patients and review of follow-up to testing results with patients. The effect of EHR on history taking and teaching students was neutral.  We observed no correlation between the provider’s time spent using the EHR and their perception of its effectiveness.Conclusions:  Providers reported a positive perception of EHR on aspects of the office visit that involved a single cognitive task.  However, providers reported a negative perception of EHR on patient-provider connection, which involves a high degree of cognitive processing.

scholarly journals The effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of English simple past tense: Age and cognitive task demands

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Benati ◽  
Tanja Angelovska
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test

AbstractThe present study investigates the effects of Processing Instruction on two different age groups and the role that cognitive task demands might play in the results generated by Processing Instruction. This study includes school-age children and adult native speakers of German learning English as a foreign language – a language combination not previously investigated within the Processing Instruction and individual differences research paradigm. The present study investigates directly whether two different age groups will benefit equally from Processing Instruction in altering their reliance on lexical temporal indicators and redirecting their attention to verb forms on Processing Instruction activities with different cognitive demands. The grammatical feature chosen for this study is the English past simple tense marking tested on both interpretation and production measures. The results from this study provide further evidence that the Processing Instruction is an effective instructional treatment in helping school-age children and adult L2 learners to make accurate form-meaning connections. The results from the first sentence-level interpretation task and the production task showed that Processing Instruction has positive and equal effects on both age groups (school-age learners and adults). The positive effects of instruction were maintained over the delayed post-test for both age groups who made similar gains on the immediate post-test. The results from the second (cognitively more complex) sentence-level interpretation task indicated that the adults made greater gains than school-age learners. However, both groups retained the positive effects of instruction over time. The difference in gains between the two age groups on the second sentence-level interpretation task can be explained in terms of cognitive processing load.

MR Measurement of Pulse Wave Velocity in the Spinal Canal

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryn A. Martin ◽  
Francis Loth ◽  
Wojciech Kalata ◽  
John N. Oshinski
Keyword(s):  
Pulse Wave Velocity ◽  
Wave Velocity ◽  
Velocity Gradient ◽  
Cardiac Cycle ◽  
Pulse Wave ◽  
Sagittal Plane ◽  
Maximum Velocity ◽  
Time Shift ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Velocity Measurements

Non-invasive measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) system is of interest as a potential indicator of subarachnoid space pressure and compliance, both of which play a role in the development of craniospinal diseases. However, measurement of PWV has eluded researchers primarily due to either a lack of access to CSF velocity measurements or to poor temporal resolution. Here, we present PWV measurements using a novel MR technique that acquires unsteady velocity measurements during the cardiac cycle with a time interval <10 ms. Axial CSF velocity measurements were obtained in the sagittal plane of the cervical spinal region on three patients without cranio-spinal disorders. PWV was estimated by using the time shift identified by the maximum temporal velocity gradient during the cardiac cycle. Based on the maximum velocity gradient, the mean PWV in the three cases was calculated to be 4.6 m/s (stdev 1.7 m/s, p<0.005) during systolic acceleration. The measurements of PWV agree with previously published values.

Cog-C: A Tool for Estimating Cognitive Complexity and the Need for Cognitive Task Analysis

1994 ◽  
Vol 38 (15) ◽  
pp. 943-943
Author(s):  
Michael J. DeVries ◽  
Sallie E. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Task Analysis ◽  
System Development ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Cognitive Task Analysis ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Relative Level

Task analysis is a methodology used during many different phases of system development. However, because many tasks involve complex cognitive processing, there is an increasing need for designers to perform cognitive task analysis. It is generally agreed that cognitive task analysis tends to be costly in terms of time and effort, and many designers ask how they would know when cognitive task analysis should be performed. This demonstration features a computer-based decision aid, Cog-C, to help designers answer this question. The software tool is based on the assumption that cognitive complexity is a major factor in determining when cognitive task analysis must be performed. The tool therefore helps the user determine the relative level of cognitive complexity for a set of tasks. It does this by (1) guiding the user in developing a task/subtask hierarchy, (2) guiding the subject matter expert in estimating the “amount” of various categories of knowledge required for subtask performance (e.g., concepts, rules, patterns, and strategies), and then (3) providing output including the number of steps required for task completion, standardized subscores showing the relative amounts of each knowledge category, an overall cognitive complexity score, and a general recommendation as to whether the task is a potential candidate for cognitive task analysis.

Scrutinizing integrative effects in a multi-stimuli detection task

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Pannunzi ◽  
Alexis Pérez-Bellido ◽  
Alexandre Pereda Baños ◽  
Joan López-Moliner ◽  
Gustavo Deco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection Theory ◽  
Compound Stimulus ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Auditory Detection ◽  
Theoretical Hypothesis ◽  
Multisensory Enhancement ◽  
Tactile Detection ◽  
Level Of Processing

The level of processing at which different modalities interact to either facilitate or interfere with detection has been a matter of debate for more than half a century. This question has been mainly addressed by means of statistical models (Green, 1958), or by biologically plausible models (Schnupp et al., 2005). One of the most widely accepted statistical frameworks is the signal detection theory (SDT; Green and Swets, 1966) because it provides a straightforward way to assess whether two sensory stimuli are judged independently of one another, that is when the detectability (d′) of the compound stimulus exceeds the Pythagorean sum of the d′ of the components. Here, we question this logic, and propose a different baseline to evaluate integrative effects in multi-stimuli detection tasks based on the probabilistic summation. To this aim, we show how a simple theoretical hypothesis based on probabilistic summation can explain putative multisensory enhancement in an audio-tactile detection task. In addition, we illustrate how to measure integrative effects from multiple stimuli in two experiments, one using a multisensory audio-tactile detection task (Experiment 1) and another with a unimodal double-stimulus auditory detection task (Experiment 2). Results from Experiment 1 replicate extant multisensory detection data, and also refuse the hypothesis that auditory and tactile stimuli integrated into a single percept, leading to any enhancement. In Experiment 2, we further support the probabilistic summation model using a unimodal integration detection task.

Patterns of Perceptual-Motor Dysfunction in Children: A Factor Analytic Study

1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Jean Ayres
Keyword(s):  
Motor Planning ◽  
Tactile Perception ◽  
The Body ◽  
Motor Dysfunction ◽  
Defensive Responses ◽  
Tactile Defensiveness ◽  
Factor Analytic Study ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Developmental Apraxia ◽  
Two Sides

Analysis of test scores made by 100 children with and 50 without suspected perceptual deficits lead to hypothesizing five syndromes characteristic of dysfunction: (a) developmental apraxia, distinguished by deficits in motor planning, tactile perception and finger identification; (b) tactile, kinesthetic and visual perceptual dysfunction in form and position in space; (c) tactile defensiveness, demonstrated by hyperactive-distractible behavior, faulty tactile perception and defensive responses to tactile stimuli; (d) deficit of integration of the two sides of the body, identified by difficulty in right-left discrimination, avoidance in crossing the mid-line, and incoordinate bilateral hand movements; (e) deficit of visual figure-ground discrimination.

Seeing the Talker's Face Improves Free Recall of Speech for Young Adults With Normal Hearing but Not Older Adults With Hearing Loss

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Rudner ◽  
Sushmit Mishra ◽  
Stefan Stenfelt ◽  
Thomas Lunner ◽  
Jerker Rönnberg
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Audiovisual Integration

Purpose Seeing the talker's face improves speech understanding in noise, possibly releasing resources for cognitive processing. We investigated whether it improves free recall of spoken two-digit numbers. Method Twenty younger adults with normal hearing and 24 older adults with hearing loss listened to and subsequently recalled lists of 13 two-digit numbers, with alternating male and female talkers. Lists were presented in quiet as well as in stationary and speech-like noise at a signal-to-noise ratio giving approximately 90% intelligibility. Amplification compensated for loss of audibility. Results Seeing the talker's face improved free recall performance for the younger but not the older group. Poorer performance in background noise was contingent on individual differences in working memory capacity. The effect of seeing the talker's face did not differ in quiet and noise. Conclusions We have argued that the absence of an effect of seeing the talker's face for older adults with hearing loss may be due to modulation of audiovisual integration mechanisms caused by an interaction between task demands and participant characteristics. In particular, we suggest that executive task demands and interindividual executive skills may play a key role in determining the benefit of seeing the talker's face during a speech-based cognitive task.

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