Evaluation of the URGOnight Tele-neurofeedback Device: An Open-label Feasibility Study with Follow-up

SMR neurofeedback shows potential as a therapeutic tool for reducing sleep problems. It is hypothesized that SMR neurofeedback trains the reticulo-thalamocortical-cortical circuit involved in sleep-spindle generation. As such, strengthening this circuit is hypothesized to reduce sleep problems. The current study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a home-based device that uses SMR neurofeedback to help reduce sleep problems. Thirty-seven participants reporting sleep problems received the SMR neurofeedback-based program for 40 (n = 21) or 60 (n = 16) sessions. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Holland Sleep Disorders Questionnaire (HSDQ) were assessed at baseline, session 20, outtake, and follow-up (FU). Actigraphy measurements were taken at baseline, session 20, and outtake. Significant improvements were observed in PSQI Total (d = 0.78), PSQI Sleep Duration (d = 0.52), HSDQ Total (d = 0.80), and HSDQ Insomnia (d = 0.79). Sleep duration (based on PSQI) increased from 5.3 h at baseline to 5.8 after treatment and 6.0 h. at FU. No effects of number of sessions were found. Participants qualified as successful SMR-learners demonstrated a significantly larger gain in sleep duration (d = 0.86 pre-post; average gain = 1.0 h.) compared to non-learners. The home-based SMR tele-neurofeedback device shows the potential to effectively reduce sleep problems, with SMR-learners demonstrating significantly better improvement. Although randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to further elucidate the specific effect of this device on sleep problems, this is the first home-based SMR neurofeedback device using dry electrodes demonstrating effectiveness and feasibility.

Evaluation of the URGOnight tele-neurofeedback device: An open-label feasibility study with follow-up

Introduction: SMR neurofeedback shows potential as a therapeutic tool for reducing sleep problems. It is hypothesized that SMR neurofeedback trains the reticulo-thalamocortical-cortical circuit involved in sleep-spindle generation. As such, strengthening this circuit is hypothesized to reduce sleep problems. The current study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a home-based device that uses SMR neurofeedback to help reduce sleep problems. Methods: Thirty-seven participants reporting sleep problems received the SMR neurofeedback-based program for 40 (n = 21) or 60 (n = 16) sessions. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Holland Sleep Disorders Questionnaire (HSDQ) were assessed at baseline, session 20, outtake, and follow-up (FU). Actigraphy measurements were taken at baseline, session 20, and outtake. Results: Significant improvements were observed in PSQI Total (d = 0.78), PSQI Sleep Duration (d = 0.52), HSDQ Total (d = 0.80), and HSDQ Insomnia (d = 0.79). Sleep duration (based on PSQI) increased from 5.3 hours at baseline to 5.8 after treatment and 6.0 hrs. at FU. No effects of number of sessions were found. Participants qualified as successful SMR-learners demonstrated a significantly larger gain in sleep duration (d = 0.86 pre-post; average gain = 1.0 hrs.) compared to non-learners. Conclusions: The home-based SMR tele-neurofeedback device shows the potential to effectively reduce sleep problems, with SMR-learners demonstrating significantly better improvement. Although randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to further elucidate the specific effect of this device on sleep problems, this is the first home-based SMR neurofeedback device using dry electrodes demonstrating effectiveness and feasibility.

Visual Feedback Effectiveness in Reducing Over Speeding of Moped-Riders

The use of assistance systems aimed at reducing road fatalities is spreading, especially for car drivers, but less effort has been devoted to developing and testing similar systems for powered two-wheelers (PTWs). Considering that over speeding represents one of the main causal factors in road crashes and that riders are more vulnerable than drivers, in the present study we investigated the effectiveness of an assistance system which signaled speed limit violations during a simulated moped-driving task, in optimal and poor visibility conditions. Participants performed four conditions of simulated riding: one baseline condition without Feedback, one Fog condition in which visual feedback was provided so as to indicate to the participants when a speed limit (lower than that indicated by the traffic signals) was exceeded, and two post-Feedback conditions with and without Fog, respectively, in which no feedback was delivered. Results showed that participants make fewer speeding violations when the feedback is not provided, after 1 month, and regardless of the visibility condition. Finally, the feedback has been proven effective in reducing speed violations in participants with an aggressive riding style, as measured in the baseline session.

Effects of cannabis on visual function and self-perceived visual quality

Cannabis is one of the most used drugs of abuse in the world. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of smoking cannabis on vision and to relate these to those perceived by the user. Thirty-one cannabis users participated in this study. Visual function assessment was carried out in a baseline session as well as after smoking cannabis. We evaluated static visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereoacuity, accommodative response, straylight, night-vision disturbances (halos) and pupil size. The participants were also divided into two groups depending on whether they perceived their vision to have worsened after smoking cannabis. A logistic regression analysis was employed to identify which visual test could best predict self-perceived visual effects. The study found that smoking cannabis has significant adverse effects on all the visual parameters analyzed (p < 0.05). Self-perceived visual quality results revealed that about two thirds of the sample think that smoking cannabis impairs their vision. Contrast sensitivity, specifically for the spatial frequency 18 cpd, was identified as the only visual parameter significantly associated with self-perceived visual quality (Odds Ratio: 1.135; p = 0.040). Smoking cannabis is associated with negative effects on visual function. Self-perceived visual quality after smoking cannabis could be related to impaired contrast sensitivity.

Effects of multi-domain cognitive training on working memory retrieval in older adults: behavioral and ERP evidence from a Chinese community study

Working memory (WM) is a fundamental cognitive function that typically declines with age. Previous studies have shown that targeted WM training has the potential to improve WM performance in older adults. In the present study, we investigated whether a multi-domain cognitive training program that was not designed to specifically target WM could improve the behavioral performance and affect the neural activity during WM retrieval in healthy older adults. We assigned healthy older participants (70–78 years old) from a local community into a training group who completed a 3-month multi-domain cognitive training and a control group who only attended health education lectures during the same period. Behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded from participants while performing an untrained delayed match or non-match to category task and a control task at a pre-training baseline session and a post-training follow-up session. Behaviorally, we found that participants in the training group showed a trend toward greater WM performance gains than participants in the control group. Event-related potential (ERP) results suggest that the task-related modulation of P3 during WM retrieval was significantly enhanced at the follow-up session compared with the baseline session, and importantly, this enhancement of P3 modulation was only significant in the training group. Furthermore, no training-related effects were observed for the P2 or N2 component during WM retrieval. These results suggest that the multi-domain cognitive training program that was not designed to specifically target WM is a promising approach to improve WM performance in older adults, and that training-related gains in performance are likely mediated by an enhanced modulation of P3 which might reflect the process of WM updating.

Effects of Smoking Cannabis on Visual Function and Driving Performance. A Driving-Simulator Based Study

Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in the world. Limited information about the effects of cannabis on visual function is available, and more detail about the possible impact of visual effects on car driving is required. This study investigated the effects of smoking cannabis on vision and driving performance, and whether these effects are correlated. Twenty drivers and occasional users were included (mean (SE) age, 23.3 (1.0) years; five women). Vision and simulated driving performance were evaluated in a baseline session and after smoking cannabis. Under the influence of cannabis, certain visual functions such as visual acuity (p < 0.001), contrast sensitivity (p = 0.004) and stereoacuity (far, p < 0.001; near, p = 0.013) worsened. In addition, there was an overall deterioration of driving performance, with the task of keeping the vehicle in the lane proving more difficult (p < 0.05). A correlation analysis showed significant associations between driving performance and visual function. Thus, the strongest correlations were found between the distance driven onto the shoulder and stereoacuity, for near (ρ = 0.504; p = 0.001) and far distances (ρ = 0.408; p = 0.011). This study provides the first evidence to show that the visual effects of cannabis could impact driving performance, compromising driving safety. The results indicate that information and awareness campaigns are essential for reducing the incidence of driving under the influence of cannabis.

Medial entorhinal cortex lesions induce degradation of CA1 place cell firing stability when self-motion information is used

The entorhinal–hippocampus network plays a central role in navigation and episodic memory formation. To investigate these interactions, we examined the effect of medial entorhinal cortex lesions on hippocampal place cell activity. Since the medial entorhinal cortex is suggested to play a role in the processing of self-motion information, we hypothesised that such processing would be necessary for maintaining stable place fields in the absence of environmental cues. Place cells were recorded as medial entorhinal cortex–lesioned rats explored a circular arena during five 16-min sessions comprising a baseline session with all sensory inputs available followed by four sessions during which environmental (i.e. visual, olfactory, tactile) cues were progressively reduced to the point that animals could rely exclusively on self-motion cues to maintain stable place fields. We found that place field stability and a number of place cell firing properties were affected by medial entorhinal cortex lesions in the baseline session. When rats were forced to rely exclusively on self-motion cues, within-session place field stability was dramatically decreased in medial entorhinal cortex rats relative to SHAM rats. These results support a major role of the medial entorhinal cortex in processing self-motion cues, with this information being conveyed to the hippocampus to help anchor and maintain a stable spatial representation during movement.

Wheel-running exercise during adolescence may not convincingly impact cocaine conditioned place preference in male C57BL/6J mice

Wheel-running in rodents can mitigate addiction-related effects of drugs of abuse like cocaine. However, experiments using conditioned place preference (CPP) are conflicting, warranting further studies. Our purpose was to test whether wheel-running during adolescence could impact the formation and long-term retention of CPP to cocaine in mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were individually housed either with (n=32) or without (n=32) a running wheel from the age of 35 days. Behavioral testing began 3 weeks after such housing, mice underwent a baseline session followed by 10 once-daily conditioning sessions receiving peritoneal injections of 10 mg/kg cocaine and saline on alternate days (n=16), control mice receiving saline every day (n=16). One and 21 days after the last conditioning session, they were tested for CPP. Both groups exhibited comparable well-marked cocaine-induced CPP in both post-conditioning tests resulting in a negligible interaction between housing and the pharmacological treatment (η²p < 0.01). These results, along with the discrepancy found in the literature, question the nature (and the robustness) of the effects that exercise induces on CPP to cocaine.

Are internal focuses really useful?

To evaluate the external vs. internal focus during free basketball shots in non-basketball players. For this analysis 49 subjects participated in one baseline and one experimental session. During the baseline session all the participants performed 20 free basketball shots without instructions (Non-Instructions). During the experimental session participants were randomly allocated to one group: Dominant-Group, which performed the free basketball shots with the dominant hand; or a Non-dominant Group, which performed the shots with the non-dominant hand. Both groups performed 20 throws under internal and external focus of attention conditions. In the Dominant-Group internal focus of attention resulted in a higher number of successful shots compared with the external focus condition. Our study does not support previous findings and shows that external focus of attention impairs the performance of free basketball shots with the dominant hand in comparison with internal focus and ¨no instructions¨ conditions, in non-basketball players.

Beauty or Business Queen: How Young Women Select Media to Reinforce Possible Future Selves

Dynamic management and maintenance of self-concepts shape everyday selective media use. The present work examines related processes per the Selective Exposure Self and Affect Management model with a focus on young women’s magazine use. In a prolonged selective exposure study with seven online sessions, women ( N = 181, 18-25 years, all Caucasian) completed a signup and a baseline session, four daily sessions with selective browsing of magazine pages (from beauty, parenting, business, and current affairs magazines), and 3 days later, a follow-up. Participants made 16 selections and viewed 80 pages in total. The online application logged magazine content selections and length of exposure. Participants’ possible future selves as romantic partner, parent, and professional at baseline affected the extent to which beauty, parenting, and business pages were viewed. In turn, possible future selves as romantic partner and professional were reinforced through selective exposure to beauty and business magazines.