Mental imagery of object motion in weightlessness

Mental imagery represents a potential countermeasure for sensorimotor and cognitive dysfunctions due to spaceflight. It might help train people to deal with conditions unique to spaceflight. Thus, dynamic interactions with the inertial motion of weightless objects are only experienced in weightlessness but can be simulated on Earth using mental imagery. Such training might overcome the problem of calibrating fine-grained hand forces and estimating the spatiotemporal parameters of the resulting object motion. Here, a group of astronauts grasped an imaginary ball, threw it against the ceiling or the front wall, and caught it after the bounce, during pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight experiments. They varied the throwing speed across trials and imagined that the ball moved under Earth’s gravity or weightlessness. We found that the astronauts were able to reproduce qualitative differences between inertial and gravitational motion already on ground, and further adapted their behavior during spaceflight. Thus, they adjusted the throwing speed and the catching time, equivalent to the duration of virtual ball motion, as a function of the imaginary 0 g condition versus the imaginary 1 g condition. Arm kinematics of the frontal throws further revealed a differential processing of imagined gravity level in terms of the spatial features of the arm and virtual ball trajectories. We suggest that protocols of this kind may facilitate sensorimotor adaptation and help tuning vestibular plasticity in-flight, since mental imagery of gravitational motion is known to engage the vestibular cortex.

The Impact of Temporally Coherent Visual Cues on Speech Perception in Complex Auditory Environments

Speech perception often takes place in noisy environments, where multiple auditory signals compete with one another. The addition of visual cues such as talkers’ faces or lip movements to an auditory signal can help improve the intelligibility of speech in those suboptimal listening environments. This is referred to as audiovisual benefits. The current study aimed to delineate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions under which visual presentations of the acoustic amplitude envelopes have their most significant impact on speech perception. Seventeen adults with normal hearing were recruited. Participants were presented with spoken sentences in babble noise either in auditory-only or auditory-visual conditions with various SNRs at −7, −5, −3, −1, and 1 dB. The visual stimulus applied in this study was a sphere that varied in size syncing with the amplitude envelope of the target speech signals. Participants were asked to transcribe the sentences they heard. Results showed that a significant improvement in accuracy in the auditory-visual condition versus the audio-only condition was obtained at the SNRs of −3 and −1 dB, but no improvement was observed in other SNRs. These results showed that dynamic temporal visual information can benefit speech perception in noise, and the optimal facilitative effects of visual amplitude envelope can be observed under an intermediate SNR range.

The Effect of Focus of Attention on Error Detection Ability

The teaching of error detection is a complicated process, made more so by our evolving understanding of the psychological processes involved with attention itself. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of listener attention on the error detection process. Guiding research questions were as follows: (1) In what ways does directing attention influence one’s ability to detect errors? and (2) Does voicing of error influence participants’ ability to detect the error? Participants ( N = 64) at six universities listened to 40 recorded excerpts of three-part Haydn divertimenti, either focusing on one line or holistically, while marking errors on a printed score. Participants were better able to detect errors in lines of focus than in peripheral lines and were similarly better at detecting errors in an unfocused listening condition versus focusing on any one of the lines. Additionally, participants were most successful in detecting peripheral errors when focusing on the middle staff and were least successful in detecting errors in the bass line, even when focusing on the bass line. Suggestions for future research and implications for music education are discussed.

Neuronal Effects of Listening to Entrainment Music Versus Preferred Music in Patients With Chronic Cancer Pain as Measured via EEG and LORETA Imaging

Previous studies examining EEG and LORETA in patients with chronic pain discovered an overactivation of high theta (6–9 Hz) and low beta (12–16 Hz) power in central regions. MEG studies with healthy subjects correlating evoked nociception ratings and source localization described delta and gamma changes according to two music interventions. Using similar music conditions with chronic pain patients, we examined EEG in response to two different music interventions for pain. To study this process in-depth we conducted a mixed-methods case study approach, based on three clinical cases. Effectiveness of personalized music therapy improvisations (entrainment music – EM) versus preferred music on chronic pain was examined with 16 participants. Three patients were randomly selected for follow-up EEG sessions three months post-intervention, where they listened to recordings of the music from the interventions provided during the research. To test the difference of EM versus preferred music, recordings were presented in a block design: silence, their own composed EM (depicting both “pain” and “healing”), preferred (commercially available) music, and a non-participant’s EM as a control. Participants rated their pain before and after the EEG on a 1–10 scale. We conducted a detailed single case analysis to compare all conditions, as well as a group comparison of entrainment-healing condition versus preferred music condition. Power spectrum and according LORETA distributions focused on expected changes in delta, theta, beta, and gamma frequencies, particularly in sensory-motor and central regions. Intentional moment-by-moment attention on the sounds/music rather than on pain and decreased awareness of pain was experienced from one participant. Corresponding EEG analysis showed accompanying power changes in sensory-motor regions and LORETA projection pointed to insula-related changes during entrainment-pain music. LORETA also indicated involvement of visual-spatial, motor, and language/music improvisation processing in response to his personalized EM which may reflect active recollection of creating the EM. Group-wide analysis showed common brain responses to personalized entrainment-healing music in theta and low beta range in right pre- and post-central gyrus. We observed somatosensory changes consistent with processing pain during entrainment-healing music that were not seen during preferred music. These results may depict top–down neural processes associated with active coping for pain.

Children’s Emotions after Exposure to News: Investigating Chat Conversations with Peers as a Coping Strategy

Hardly any research has been conducted regarding coping strategies that children can use in response to negative news, although they are frequently exposed to and emotionally affected by such news. Chat conversations with peers about the news could be a coping strategy for children in this regard. To investigate this, children (N = 307; 46.3% girls; Mage = 10.51; SDage = 0.98; range 8–13 years old) participated in a preregistered experiment in which their emotions were measured before and after exposure to a news video on a smartphone and also after a postexposure activity (i.e., chatting about the news as an experimental condition versus chatting about something else or solving a puzzle as control conditions). The results showed that the decrease in negative emotions and the increase in positive emotions were weaker for children who chatted about the news than for those in the control conditions. Thus, seeking social support in online chat conversations did not have the anticipated effect—and might even have an adverse effect.

Sex Differences in Response to Listening to Self-Selected Music during Repeated High-Intensity Sprint Exercise

The purpose of this study was to examine possible sex differences in high-intensity exercise performance, fatigue, and motivational responses to exercise while listening to music. Physically active males and females (ages 18–24) were recruited to participate. Participants completed two separate repeated sprint exercise trials each with a different condition: (1) no music (NM) (2) self-selected music (SSM). During each trial, participants completed 3 × 15 s Wingate anaerobic tests (WAnTs) while listening to NM or SSM separated by 2 min of active recovery. Following each WAnT, rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and motivation to exercise were assessed. Relative power output, fatigue index, RPE, and motivation were analyzed. There were no significant sex differences for relative power between music conditions (p = 0.228). Fatigue index was significantly lower in females while listening to SSM (p = 0.032) versus NM while no differences were observed for males (p = 0.246). RPE was lower while listening to SSM versus NM in females (p = 0.020), but not for males (p = 0.277). Lastly, motivation to exercise increased in the SSM condition versus NM in females (p = 0.006) but not in males (p = 0.090). Results indicate that listening to SSM music did not result in superior anaerobic performance in either sex, but females responded more favorably to subjective outcomes (i.e., RPE and motivation) while listening to SSM, which may have in turn influenced indices of fatigue during the tests. These results suggest that females may respond more positively than males to exercise-induced fatigue while listening to SSM music during repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise.

Effects of Preferred and Nonpreferred Warm-Up Music on Exercise Performance

This study investigated the effects of preferred and non-preferred warm-up music listening conditions on subsequent exercise performance. A total of 12 physically active male and female participants engaged in a crossover, counterbalanced research design in which they completed exercise trials after 3 different warm-up experiences of (a) no music (NM), (b) preferred music (PREF), and (c) nonpreferred music (NON-PREF). Participants began warming up by rowing at 50% of of age-predicted heart rate maximum (HRmax) for 5 minutes while exposed to the three music conditions. Immediately following the warm-up and cessation of any music, participants completed a 2000-m rowing time trial as fast as possible. Relative power output, trial time, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and motivation were analyzed. Results indicated that, compared with NM, relative power output was significantly higher ( p = .018), trial time was significantly lower ( p = .044), and heart rate was significantly higher ( p = .032) during the PREF but not the NON-PREF condition. Rating of perceived exertion was not altered, regardless of music condition ( p > .05). Motivation to exercise was higher during the PREF condition versus the NM ( p = .001) and NON-PREF ( p < .001) conditions. Listening to preferred warm-up music improved subsequent exercise performance compared with no music, while nonpreferred music did not impart ergogenic benefit.

Vulvar Lesions in the Pediatric Patient

Vulvar lesions are a common complaint for which pediatric patients seek medical attention. Please refer to the chapter on Prepubertal Vulvovaginitis for more details. A careful history and physical exam, including full skin exam should be performed when pediatric and adolescent patients present with vulvar complaints. The chief complaint and chronicity of the symptoms can narrow the differential. The chronicity and areas of dermatologic involvement can also be key to diagnosing a systemic condition versus a primary vulvar dermatosis. When the latter is assumed, a referral to an appropriate specialist such as a Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologist or Dermatologist should be considered. Treatment for vulvar dermatoses should be etiology dependent with consideration of systemic treatment as appropriately indicated. Vulvar hygiene should be considered in all patients as restoring the skin barrier and removing potential irritants is imperative to healing and preventing further irritation. This review contains 1 figure, 2 tables, and 25 references. Keywords: vulva, vulva dermatosis, vulvovaginitis, lichen sclerosus, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, streptococcus vulvovaginitis, irritant dermatitis, contact dermatitis