Uncertainty and Perceived Control as Predictors of Communicative Participation and Mental Health in Adults Who Stutter

Purpose: This study examined the role of uncertainty and perceived control in predicting the communicative participation and mental health of adults who stutter. Method: Two hundred sixty-nine adults who stutter completed measures of uncertainty about stuttering, perceived control of stuttering, communicative participation, and global mental health. In addition, participants self-reported on a variety of demographic and speech-related measures. Correlational analyses and hierarchical regression were performed to determine associations between variables of interest. Results: Uncertainty accounted for significant variance in communicative participation and global mental health after statistically controlling for the effects of demographic and speech-related variables. Perceived control accounted for significant variance in communicative participation over and above what was accounted for by demographic variables, speech-related variables, and uncertainty. Conclusions: The findings suggest that uncertainty about stuttering and perceived control of stuttering should be accounted for during assessment and intervention with adults who stutter. Interventions that specifically target uncertainty and perceived control may be useful in improving therapeutic outcomes for individuals who stutter.

Beta-band desynchronization reflects uncertainty in effector selection during motor planning

While beta-band activity during motor planning is known to be modulated by uncertainty about where to act, less is known about its modulations to uncertainty about how to act. To investigate this issue, we recorded oscillatory brain activity with EEG while human participants (n = 17) performed a hand choice reaching task. The reaching hand was either predetermined or of participants' choice, and the target was close to one of the two hands or at about equal distance from both. To measure neural activity in a motion-artifact-free time window, the location of the upcoming target was cued 1000-1500 ms before the presentation of the target, whereby the cue was valid in 50% of trials. As evidence for motor planning during the cueing phase, behavioral observations showed that the cue affected later hand choice. Furthermore, reaction times were longer in the choice than in the predetermined trials, supporting the notion of a competitive process for hand selection. Modulations of beta-band power over central cortical regions, but not alpha-band or theta-band power, were in line with these observations. During the cueing period, reaches in predetermined trials were preceded by larger decreases in beta-band power than reaches in choice trials. Cue direction did not affect reaction times or beta-band power, which may be due to the cue being invalid in 50% of trials, retaining effector uncertainty during motor planning. Our findings suggest that effector uncertainty, similar to target uncertainty, selectively modulates beta-band power during motor planning.

Metrological Assurance of Gas Calorimeter and Wobbe Index Analyser

The paper describes research on metrological assurance of such measuring instruments as gas calorimeters and Wobbe index analysers. The purpose of the performed research is development of reference materials for gases with certified value of net volume-basis calorific value traceable to Russian state primary standard. Input set of candidate gases is hydrogen, methane, ethane and propane, as well as the target uncertainty of lower volumetric combustion energy value equal to 0,3 % – both were selected basing on results of metrological characteristics analysis of calorimetric equipment. The certified value of lower volumetric combustion energy is traceable to the State Primary Standard of combustion energy, specific combustion energy and volumetric combustion energy units GET 16. The certified value of selected gases and the uncertainty of this value were estimated with usage of comparing calorimeters for the combustion of high- and low-calorie gases «USVG» and «USNG» included in GET 16. Results obtained during investigational study and reference materials characterisation confirmed the stated accuracy. The continuance in prospect may allow development of reference materials for gas imitating mixtures of natural and casing-head gases as well as include Wobbe index in the list of certified characteristics.

Context dependency of time-based event-related expectations for different modalities

Expectations about the temporal occurrence of events (when) are often tied with the expectations about certain event-related properties (what and where) happening at these time points. For instance, slowly waking up in the morning we expect our alarm clock to go off; however, the longer we do not hear it the more likely we already missed it. However, most current evidence for complex time-based event-related expectations (TBEEs) is based on the visual modality. Here we tested whether implicit TBEEs can act cross-modally. To this end, visual and auditory stimulus streams were presented which contained early and late targets embedded among distractors (to maximise temporal target uncertainty). Foreperiod-modality-contingencies were manipulated run-wise: visual targets either occurred early in 80% of trials and auditory targets occurred late in 80% of trials or vice versa. Participants showed increased sensitivity for expected auditory early/visual late targets which increased over time while the opposite pattern was observed for visual early/auditory late targets. A benefit in reaction times was only found for auditory early trials. Together, this pattern of results suggests that implicit context-dependent TBEEs for auditory targets after short foreperiods (be they correct or not) dominated and determined which modality became more expected at the late position irrespective of the veridical statistical regularity. Hence, TBEEs in cross-modal and uncertain environments are context-dependent, shaped by the dominant modality in temporal tasks (i.e., auditory) and only boost performance cross-modally when expectations about the event after the short foreperiod match with the run-wise context (i.e., auditory early/visual late).

Calibration of Consonant Perception to Room Reverberation

Purpose We examined how consonant perception is affected by a preceding speech carrier simulated in the same or a different room, for different classes of consonants. Carrier room, carrier length, and carrier length/target room uncertainty were manipulated. A phonetic feature analysis tested which phonetic categories are influenced by the manipulations in the acoustic context of the carrier. Method Two experiments were performed, each with nine participants. Targets consisted of 10 or 16 vowel–consonant (VC) syllables presented in one of two strongly reverberant rooms, preceded by a multiple-VC carrier presented in either the same room, a different reverberant room, or an anechoic room. In Experiment 1, the carrier length and the target room randomly varied from trial to trial, whereas in Experiment 2, they were fixed within a block of trials. Results Overall, a consistent carrier provided an advantage for consonant perception compared to inconsistent carriers, whether in anechoic or differently reverberant rooms. Phonetic analysis showed that carrier inconsistency significantly degraded identification of the manner of articulation, especially for stop consonants and, in one of the rooms, also of voicing. Carrier length and carrier/target uncertainty did not affect adaptation to reverberation for individual phonetic features. The detrimental effects of anechoic and different reverberant carriers on target perception were similar. Conclusions The strength of calibration varies across different phonetic features, as well as across rooms with different levels of reverberation. Even though place of articulation is the feature that is affected by reverberation the most, it is the manner of articulation and, partially, voicing for which room adaptation is observed.

Beta-band desynchronization reflects uncertainty in effector selection during motor planning

While beta-band activity during motor planning is known to be modulated by uncertainty about where to act, less is known about its modulations to uncertainty about how to act. To investigate this issue, we recorded oscillatory brain activity with EEG while human participants (n = 17) performed a hand choice reaching task. The reaching hand was either predetermined or of participants’ choice, and the target was close to one of the two hands or at about equal distance from both. To measure neural activity in a motion-artifact-free time window, the location of the upcoming target was cued 1000-1500 ms before the presentation of the target, whereby the cue was valid in 50% of trials. As evidence for motor planning during the cueing phase, behavioral observations showed that the cue affected later hand choice. Furthermore, reaction times were longer in the choice than in the predetermined trials, supporting the notion of a competitive process for hand selection. Modulations of beta-band power over central cortical regions, but not alpha-band or theta-band power, were in line with these observations. During the cueing period, reaches in predetermined trials were preceded by larger decreases in beta-band power than reaches in choice trials. Cue direction did not affect reaction times or beta-band power, which may be due to the cue being invalid in 50% of trials, retaining effector uncertainty during motor planning. Our findings suggest that effector uncertainty, similar to target uncertainty, selectively modulates beta-band power during motor planning.New & NoteworthyWhile reach-related beta-band power in central cortical areas is known to modulate with the number of potential targets, here we show, using a cueing paradigm, that the power in this frequency band, but not in the alpha or theta-band, is also modulated by the uncertainty of which hand to use. This finding supports the notion that multiple possible effector-specific actions can be specified in parallel up to the level of motor preparation.

Different planning policies for the initial movement velocity depending on whether the known uncertainty is in the cursor or in the target: Motor planning in situations where two potential movement distances exist

During goal-directed behaviors, individuals are required to start a movement before deciding on the final goal. Previous studies have focused on the initial movement direction in situations involving multiple targets in different directions from the starting position and have shown that the movement is initiated in the average direction among the target directions. However, the previous studies only included situations with targets at equivalent distances, and the characteristics of motor planning in situations with multiple movement possibilities over different potential distances are unclear. In such situations, movement velocity is another important control variable. Furthermore, while previous studies examined situations with an uncertain motor target, uncertainty can also exist in the effector (e.g., body or tool locations). Therefore, we examined (1) whether the average output is confirmed in the initial movement velocity during execution in situations involving two potential movements with different distances. In addition, we examined (2) whether planning of the movement velocity can differ depending on the presence of uncertainty in the cursor or the target. In the main conditions, the participants were required to start a reaching movement with two potential movement distances; in the two-cursor condition, two cursors were presented before the start of the trial, and in the two-target condition, two targets were presented. As a control condition, a distance condition corresponding to each main condition was also performed. In the control condition, the initial movement velocity varied linearly with distance. Then, we tested whether the initial movement velocity in situations with two potential movement distances would follow the averaging output of the corresponding control condition. The results revealed that while the initial movement velocity in the two-target condition was slower than the averaging output, that in the two-cursor condition approached the averaging output. These results suggest that the velocity profile of the goal-directed movement is not simply averaged in a situation where two potential targets exist, and that there is a difference in the planning policy of the initial movement depending on whether the known uncertainty is for the movement goal or the effector.

I doubt it is safe: A meta-analysis of self-reported intolerance of uncertainty and threat extinction training

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), the tendency to find uncertainty distressing, is an important transdiagnostic dimension in mental health disorders. Higher self-reported IU has been linked to poorer threat extinction training (i.e., the updating of threat to safe associations), a key process that is targeted in exposure-based therapies. However, it remains to be seen whether IU-related effects during threat extinction training are reliably and specifically driven by the IU construct or a particular subcomponent of the IU construct over other self-reported measures of anxiety. A meta-analysis of studies from different laboratories (experiment n = 18; sample n = 1006) was conducted on associations between different variants of self-reported IU (i.e., 27-item, 12-item, inhibitory and prospective subscales), trait anxiety and threat extinction training via skin conductance response. The specificity of IU and threat extinction training was assessed against measures of trait anxiety. All of the self-reported variants of IU, but not trait anxiety, were associated with threat extinction training via skin conductance response (i.e., continued responding to the old threat cue). Specificity was observed for the majority of self-reported variants of IU over of trait anxiety. The findings suggest that the IU construct broadly accounts for difficulties in threat extinction training and is specific over other measures of self-reported anxiety. These findings demonstrate the robustness and specificity of IU-related effects during threat extinction training and highlight potential opportunities for translational work to target uncertainty in therapies that rely on threat extinction principles such as exposure therapy.

Context dependency of time-based event-related expectations for different modalities

Expectations about the temporal occurrence of events (when) are often tied with the expectations about certain event-related properties (what and where) happening at these time points. For instance, slowly waking up in the morning we expect our alarm clock to go off; however, the longer we do not hear it the more likely we already missed it. However, most current evidence for complex time-based event-related expectations (TBEEs) is based on the visual modality. Here we tested whether TBEEs can also act cross-modally. To this end, visual and auditory stimulus streams were presented which contained early and late targets embedded among distractors (to maximise temporal target uncertainty). Foreperiod-modality-contingencies were manipulated run-wise so that visual targets either occurred early in 80% of trials and auditory targets occurred late in 80 % of trials or vice versa. Participants showed increased sensitivity for expected auditory early/visual late targets which increased over time while the opposite pattern was observed for visual early/auditory late targets. A benefit in reaction times was only found for auditory early trials. Together, this pattern of results suggests that context-dependent TBEEs for auditory targets after short foreperiods (be they correct or not) dominated and determined which modality became more expected at the late position irrespective of the veridical statistical regularity. Hence, TBEEs in cross-modal and uncertain environments are context-dependent, shaped by the dominant modality in temporal tasks (i.e. auditory) and only boost performance cross-modally when expectations about the event after the short foreperiod match with the run-wise context (i.e. auditory early/visual late).

Toward a Climate and Calibration Observatory in space: NASA CLARREO Pathfinder and ESA TRUTHS

<p>The number, range and criticality of applications of Earth viewing optical sensors is increasing rapidly.  Not only from national/international space agencies but also through the launch of commercial constellations such as those of planet and the concept of Analysis Ready Data (ARD) reducing the skill needed for utilisation of the data.  However, no one organisation can provide all the tools necessary, and the need for a coordinated holistic earth observing system has never been greater. Achieving this vision has led to international initiatives coordinated by bodies such as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS and Global Space Inter-Calibration System (GISCS) of WMO to establish strategies to facilitate interoperability and the understanding and removal of bias through post-launch Calibration and Validation. </p><p>In parallel, the societal challenge resulting from climate change has been a major stimulus for significantly improved accuracy and trust of satellite data. Instrumental biases and uncertainty must be sufficiently small to minimise the multi-decadal timescales needed to detect small trends and attribute their cause, enabling them to become unequivocally accepted as evidence. </p><p>Although there have been many advances in the pre-flight SI-traceable calibration of optical sensors, in the last decade, unpredictable degradation in performance from both launch and operational environment remains a major difficulty.  Even with on-board calibration systems, uncertainties of less than a few percent are rarely achieved and maintained and the evidential link to SI-traceability is weak. For many climate observations the target uncertainty needs to be improved ten-fold. </p><p>However, this decade will hopefully see the launch of two missions providing spectrally resolved observations of the Earth at optical wavelengths, CLARREO Pathfinder on the International Space Station from NASA [1] and TRUTHS from ESA [2] to change this paradigm.  Both payloads are explicitly designed to achieve uncertainties close to the ideal observing system, commensurate with the needs of climate, with robust SI-Traceability evidenced in space.  Not only can they make high accuracy climate quality observations of the Earth and in the case of TRUTHS also the Sun, but they will also transfer their SI-traceable uncertainty to other sensors.  In this way creating the concept of a ‘metrology laboratory in space’, providing a ‘gold standard’ reference to anchor and improve the calibration of other sensors. The two missions achieve their traceability in orbit through differing methods but will use synergistic approaches for establishing in-flight cross-calibrations.  This paper will describe these strategies and illustrate the benefit through examples where improved accuracy has the most impact on the Earth observing system.</p><p>The complementarity and international value of these missions has ensured a strong partnership during early development phases of the full CLARREO mission and that of the NPL conceived TRUTHS. Following a proposal by the UK Space Agency  and subsequent adoption into the ESA EarthWatch program this partnership is further strengthened with the ESA team and a vision that together the two missions can lay the foundation of a framework for a future sustainable international climate and calibration observatory to the benefit of the global Earth Observing community.</p><p>References</p><p>[1]  https://clarreo-pathfinder.larc.nasa.gov/</p><p>[2] https://www.npl.co.uk/earth-observation/truths</p>