On data-limited and resource-limited processes

Exploring the effect of driver drowsiness on takeover performance during automated driving: An updated literature review

INTRODUCTION

Vehicle automation technology has considerable potential for reducing road crashes associated with human error, including issues related to driver drowsiness. However, before full automation becomes available on public roads, it will be essential for drivers to take back control from automated driving systems when requested. This poses a challenge for drivers, particularly as automation may further exacerbate drowsiness. This paper aims to update a systematic review published in 2022 (Merlhiot & Bueno, Accident Analysis and Prevention, 170, 106536), to discuss factors affecting driving drowsiness and takeover performance with a particular focus on those not identified in previous review.

METHOD

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, three databases: Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus were searched for studies published between March 2021 and October 2024. The following eligibility criteria were applied for study inclusion: 1) participants must have interacted with a simulated or real-world vehicle featured with driving automation Level 2 or above; 2) with at least one measurement indicator of driver drowsiness; 3) with at least one measurement indicator of takeover performance; 4) be conducted within a controlled experimental design. From an initial selection of 182 articles from databases, a total of twelve published articles were obtained after removing duplicates, title, abstracts and full texts checking. Additionally, 17 articles from the previous review were included, resulting in a total of 29 articles for this review study.

RESULTS

Driver drowsiness (e.g, increased Karolinska Sleepiness Scale levels, blink frequency) tended to increase with both the duration of automated driving and automation levels. Engaging in non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) alleviates drowsiness (e.g, lower heart rate and percentage of eye closure), but reduces takeover performance (e.g., longer braking reaction times, stronger longitudinal acceleration, shorter minimal time to collision). Compared to older drivers, younger drivers were more susceptible to drowsiness, while older drivers had worse takeover performance (e.g., delayed steering reaction time, higher collision rates). Sleep inertia and circadian rhythms were also identified as factors influencing takeover performance. The road monitoring task helps prevent excessive participation in NDRTs and improves takeover performance (e.g, reduced brake reaction times and maximum steering velocity, increased the minimum time to collision). Digital voice assistants and scheduled manual driving help maintain alertness (e.g, decreased blink duration) and enhance takeover performance (e.g, shorter reaction time to resume steering). There were several limitations of the methodologies applied in the existing studies, among which were: 1) a lack of verification through real-world driving experiments; 2) insufficient diversity in the measurement of driver drowsiness; 3) singularity of takeover scenarios; 4) failure to reveal the mechanism by which drowsiness affects takeover performance.

CONCLUSION

Factors such as duration of automated driving, NDRT engagement, driver age, sleep-related issues and automation levels influence the development of drowsiness and subsequent takeover performance. This literature review highlights several necessary directions for future research: 1) what underlying factors affect drowsiness and take over performance; 2) how to prevent the occurrence of driver drowsiness; 3) how to alleviate driver drowsiness once it occurs; 4) how to assist drowsy drivers to regain control of the vehicle safely and quickly.

Recent advances of transcranial electrical stimulation in healthy aging and Parkinson's disease: Effects on dual tasking

Dual tasking involves the simultaneous execution of two actions. In the context of healthy aging and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD) engagement in dual tasking frequently results in impaired gait or upper limb performance, thereby affecting functional independence. Transcranial electrical stimulation is a non-invasive technique able to modulate brain activity, which might represent a potential tool for reducing dual task interference. The goal of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the most recent findings about the use of transcranial electrical stimulation in improving dual tasking in the elderly and people with PD, including considerations about the optimal stimulation parameters. Differences in terms of stimulation protocols emerged across the included studies. Among transcranial electrical stimulation techniques, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was the most frequently employed. Currently, using tDCS to target dorsolateral prefrontal cortex either alone or in a multi-site fashion, along with a concurrent complex task, appears to be the most promising method for reducing dual task interference. Nevertheless, the lack of control over interindividual variability, the heterogeneity in outcome measures assessing dual tasking, and the variations in protocol elements like the frequency and the number of sessions prevented us from drawing definitive conclusions about the best paradigm.

Effects of Armor Design and Marksmanship Posture on Performance, Postural Sway and Perceived Workload During a Military Rifle Marksmanship Task

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the effects of mass and vertical center-of-mass position of combat items attached to a tactical vest, as well as marksmanship posture on rifle marksmanship performance, postural sway, and perceived workload during a simulated rifle shooting task.

BACKGROUND

A tactical vest serves as a load carriage system in addition to providing body protection. Its design, particularly the mass and vertical position of attached combat items, may impact postural control during rifle shooting and thus marksmanship performance.

METHOD

Thirty-two participants performed a simulated rifle shooting task on a force plate with a tactical vest on. Three independent variables were considered: load mass (4 levels), vertical load center-of-mass position (4 levels), and marksmanship posture (2 levels). The dependent variables were: 6 rifle marksmanship performance measures, 7 postural sway measures, and a perceived workload measure.

RESULTS

Heavier load mass significantly degraded rifle marksmanship performance, and increased postural sway and perceived workload. Marksmanship posture significantly affected rifle marksmanship performance and postural sway. The kneeling posture resulted in less postural sway and better marksmanship performance than the standing posture. Vertical load center-of-mass position affected only part of the marksmanship performance measures and did not affect the measures of postural sway and perceived workload.

CONCLUSION

Reducing combat item mass on tactical vests and enhancing soldier postural control ability would improve rifle marksmanship and soldier lethality.

APPLICATION

The study findings inform the development of future military tactical vests and rifle marksmanship training, highlighting the need for lightweight gear design and postural control training.

Origins and consequences of cognitive fatigue

Everybody knows intuitively what mental fatigue is. However, we poorly understand why fatigue emerges with time spent on demanding cognitive work and how such 'cognitive fatigue' impacts neural processing and behavioral guidance. Here, we review experimental investigations that induced cognitive fatigue and recorded its potential markers, including self-report, behavioral performance, economic choice, physiological and neural activity. We then review theoretical models of cognitive fatigue, classically divided into biological and motivational accounts. To explain key observations and reconcile debated theories, we finally propose a conceptual model (dubbed MetaMotiF), in which cognitive fatigue would emerge for biological reasons and yet affect motivational processes that regulate the behavior. More precisely, fatigue would arise from metabolic alterations in cognitive control brain regions, following their excessive mobilization. In turn, these metabolic alterations would increase the cost of cognitive control, which would shift decisions towards actions that require little effort and yield immediate rewards.

Age-friendly design framework for information animations: a mixed-method research validation

With the rapid aging of the global population, challenges in dynamic visual information processing among older adults have gained increasing attention. Drawing on cognitive aging theory and multimedia cognitive load theory, this study investigated a strategic framework for age-friendly animated information, highlighting the multidimensional nature of dynamic visual cognition in older adults. Using a mixed-methods approach-including literature reviews, interviews, case analyses, and questionnaire surveys-the study examined the effects of perceptual experience (PE), information complexity (IC), and degree of audiovisual integration (AVID) on perceived ease of use (PEOU). The results revealed that PE and AVID significantly and positively influenced PEOU, whereas IC had a significant negative effect. Furthermore, the interaction of multiple independent variables introduces potential interference and complex relationships. Based on these findings, the study proposes a strategic framework for age-friendly animated information, emphasizing the reduction of IC, enhancement of PE, and optimization of AVID to improve information reception among older adults. This framework offers both theoretical guidance and practical support for the development of age-friendly dynamic visual media.

Breathy Vocal Quality, Background Noise, and Hearing Loss: How Do These Adverse Conditions Affect Speech Perception by Older Adults?

OBJECTIVES

Although breathy vocal quality and hearing loss are both prevalent age-related changes, their combined impact on speech communication is poorly understood. This study investigated whether breathy vocal quality affected speech perception and listening effort by older listeners. Furthermore, the study examined how this effect was modulated by the adverse listening environment of background noise and the listener's level of hearing loss.

DESIGN

Nineteen older adults participated in the study. Their hearing ranged from near-normal to mild-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. Participants heard speech material of low-context sentences, with stimuli resynthesized to simulate original, mild-moderately breathy, and severely breathy conditions. Speech intelligibility was measured using a speech recognition in noise paradigm, with pupillometry data collected simultaneously to measure listening effort.

RESULTS

Simulated severely breathy vocal quality was found to reduce intelligibility and increase listening effort. Breathiness and background noise level independently modulated listening effort. The impact of hearing loss was not observed in this dataset, which can be due to the use of individualized signal to noise ratios and a small sample size.

CONCLUSION

Results from this study demonstrate the challenges of listening to speech with a breathy vocal quality. Theoretically, the findings highlight the importance of periodicity cues in speech perception in noise by older listeners. Breathy voice could be challenging to separate from the noise when the noise also lacks periodicity. Clinically, it suggests the need to address both listener- and talker-related factors in speech communication by older adults.

Development and Pilot Implementation of a Theory-Based Cognitive Rehabilitation Protocol for Adults With Chronic Cognitive Complaints After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to describe the development of and pilot feasibility outcomes for a strategy-based, brief, intensive cognitive rehabilitation intervention delivered to U.S. service members and veterans with mild traumatic brain injury in a recently completed 3-year pragmatic clinical trial: Symptom-Targeted Approach to Rehabilitation for Concussion (STAR-C).

METHOD

To develop STAR-C, we used the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System to identify core elements and principles from a previous randomized clinical trial of cognitive rehabilitation, and incorporated principles of neuroplasticity (e.g., high-dose spaced practice of personally meaningful tasks), best clinical practices (e.g., client-centered goal setting), health psychology (e.g., a focus on self-efficacy and motivation), and community-based participation research (e.g., the protocol was co-designed by clinicians and researchers). Treatment was based on a resource-allocation theory of everyday cognitive challenges, which predicted that automatic strategy use would reduce cognitive demands of everyday activities and therefore reduce cognitive symptoms. Treatment was delivered by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and occupational therapists (OTs), using a protocol that included a problem-focused intake questionnaire, manualized treatment, and clinician resources. Therapy was delivered individually in six to 10 virtual or in-person sessions over 3-4 weeks. Therapy focused on desired changes in function, scaled using Goal Attainment Scaling.

RESULTS

Trained SLPs and OTs delivered STAR-C to 53 U.S. service members and veterans, with treatment fidelity > 95%. Participants and clinicians rated STAR-C as acceptable, feasible, and appropriate, and most participants attained and maintained targets.

CONCLUSION

STAR-C appears to be a feasible method for improving everyday cognitive performance and efficacy should be tested in a controlled study.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28222613.

The unbearable slowness of being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s?

This article is about the neural conundrum behind the slowness of human behavior. The information throughput of a human being is about 10 bits/s. In comparison, our sensory systems gather data at ∼109 bits/s. The stark contrast between these numbers remains unexplained and touches on fundamental aspects of brain function: what neural substrate sets this speed limit on the pace of our existence? Why does the brain need billions of neurons to process 10 bits/s? Why can we only think about one thing at a time? The brain seems to operate in two distinct modes: the "outer" brain handles fast high-dimensional sensory and motor signals, whereas the "inner" brain processes the reduced few bits needed to control behavior. Plausible explanations exist for the large neuron numbers in the outer brain, but not for the inner brain, and we propose new research directions to remedy this.

Impact of CPAP Therapy on Cognition and Fatigue in Patients with Moderate to Severe Sleep Apnea: A Longitudinal Observational Study

Continued solicitation of cognitive resources eventually leads to cognitive fatigue (CF), i.e., a decrease in cognitive efficiency that develops during sustained cognitive demands in conditions of constrained processing time, independently of sleepiness. The expression of CF and its impact on cognition are partly contingent upon prior sleep quality and its restorative effects. Sleep in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may be largely restored through the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, contributing to a gradual improvement in sleep quality. In this longitudinal observational study, we investigated immediate and longer-term behavioral effects of CPAP treatment on cognitive functioning, evaluating outcomes after the initiation of treatment, and at three and six months, in compliant CPAP-treated OSA patients. Results indicate that CPAP therapy significantly enhances subjective sleep quality and cognitive functions, including episodic memory, inhibition, sustained attention, working memory, and executive control. Noticeable performance improvements were observed in CF-inducing tasks, particularly after six months of CPAP use. Participants also reported substantial gains in quality of life, reduced daytime sleepiness, and improved mood. These results confirm that CPAP therapy not only alleviates immediate physiological disturbances associated with OSA, but also supports cognitive recovery and enhanced overall daily functioning.

Cognitive Reserve? Cognitive Capacity!

The concept of cognitive reserve (CR) has been a cornerstone in cognitive aging research, offering a framework to explain how life experiences like education, occupation, bilingualism, and physical exercise may buffer individuals from cognitive decline in the face of aging or neurological disease. However, this paper argues that the CR model, while influential, may have outlived its usefulness due to inherent limitations that constrain future research directions and unintentionally encourage "magical thinking". Specifically, CR's definition, which relies on cognitive performance being "better than expected" based on known measures of brain structure and function, makes the concept temporally bound to current scientific understanding, potentially stifling novel insights into cognition. In contrast, we propose a shift to a cognitive capacity (CC) framework, which views cognitive performance as being always determined by the brain's structural and functional capacities, without needing to invoke expectations based on incomplete knowledge. The CC framework is broader, encompassing factors that either promote or demote cognitive performance by directly modifying brain structure and function. This reconceptualization opens avenues for investigating cognitive enhancement not only in the context of aging or disease but also in young, healthy individuals. By emphasizing causal pathways between brain changes and cognitive outcomes, this perspective provides a more flexible and testable approach to understanding the mechanisms behind cognitive performance and its modulation across the lifespan.

Hearing Impairment: Reduced Pupil Dilation Response and Frontal Activation During Degraded Speech Perception

PURPOSE

A relevant aspect of listening is the effort required during speech processing, which can be assessed by pupillometry. Here, we assessed the pupil dilation response of normal-hearing (NH) and hard of hearing (HH) individuals during listening to clear sentences and masked or degraded sentences. We combined this assessment with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of the pupil dilation response.

METHOD

Seventeen NH participants (Mage = 46 years) were compared to 17 HH participants (Mage = 45 years) who were individually matched in age and educational level. Participants repeated sentences that were presented clearly, that were distorted, or that were masked. The sentence intelligibility level of masked and distorted sentences was 50% correct. Silent baseline trials were presented as well. Performance measures, pupil dilation responses, and fMRI data were acquired.

RESULTS

HH individuals had overall poorer speech reception than the NH participants, but not for noise-vocoded speech. In addition, an interaction effect was observed with smaller pupil dilation responses in HH than in NH listeners for the degraded speech conditions. Hearing impairment was associated with higher activation across conditions in the left superior temporal gyrus, as compared to the silent baseline. However, the region of interest analysis indicated lower activation during degraded speech relative to clear speech in bilateral frontal regions and the insular cortex, for HH compared to NH listeners. Hearing impairment was also associated with a weaker relation between the pupil response and activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, degraded speech evoked higher frontal activation than clear speech.

CONCLUSION

Brain areas associated with attentional and cognitive-control processes may be increasingly recruited when speech is degraded and are related to the pupil dilation response, but this relationship is weaker in HH listeners.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27162135.

Mind the instructions: Reward cues are liked first, wanted later

Current theories propose that mental effort is invested only when the anticipated benefits, such as rewards, outweigh the associated costs, like task difficulty. Yet, it remains unclear whether this motivational and mitigating aspect of reward processing is reflected in the evaluation of reward/difficulty cues as such, and to what extent it depends on task experience. In a pre-registered experiment (N = 84), we used the affect misattribution procedure (AMP) to gauge affective evaluations of nonword cues predicting reward and task difficulty levels. Contrary to previous studies, the AMP was administered at the outset, after cue instructions, and after the cues were used in a random dot motion (RDM) task. Compared to baseline, cues predicting a larger reward were evaluated more positively after RDM task experience, and most importantly, already after cue instructions, with no difference between the two phases. This evaluative effect manifested in increased performance after larger reward cues in the RDM task. Our results suggest that AMP effects may generally capture performance expectations which are independent of task experience. Importantly, these instructed expectations of reward and difficulty play a crucial role in the evaluation and subsequent investment of mental effort.

A hybrid approach to dynamic cognitive psychometrics : Dynamic cognitive psychometrics

Dynamic cognitive psychometrics measures mental capacities based on the way behavior unfolds over time. It does so using models of psychological processes whose validity is grounded in research from experimental psychology and the neurosciences. However, these models can sometimes have undesirable measurement properties. We propose a "hybrid" modeling approach that achieves good measurement by blending process-based and descriptive components. We demonstrate the utility of this approach in the stop-signal paradigm, in which participants make a series of speeded choices, but occasionally are required to withhold their response when a "stop signal" occurs. The stop-signal paradigm is widely used to measure response inhibition based on a modeling framework that assumes a race between processes triggered by the choice and the stop stimuli. However, the key index of inhibition, the latency of the stop process (i.e., stop-signal reaction time), is not directly observable, and is poorly estimated when the choice and the stop runners are both modeled by psychologically realistic evidence-accumulation processes. We show that using a descriptive account of the stop process, while retaining a realistic account of the choice process, simultaneously enables good measurement of both stop-signal reaction time and the psychological factors that determine choice behavior. We show that this approach, when combined with hierarchical Bayesian estimation, is effective even in a complex choice task that requires participants to perform only a relatively modest number of test trials.

Cardiac vagal activity changes moderated the association of cognitive and cerebral hemodynamic variations in the prefrontal cortex

Phasic cardiac vagal activity (CVA), reflecting ongoing, moment-to-moment psychophysiological adaptations to environmental changes, can serve as a predictor of individual difference in executive function, particularly executive performance. However, the relationship between phasic CVA and executive function demands requires further validation because of previous inconsistent findings. Moreover, it remains unclear what types of phasic changes of CVA may be adaptive in response to heightened executive demands. This study used the standard N-back task to induce different levels of working memory (WM) load and combined functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) with a multipurpose polygraph to investigate the variations of CVA and its interactions with cognitive and prefrontal responses as executive demands increased in fifty-two healthy young subjects. Our results showed phasic decreases in CVA as WM load increased (t (51) = -3.758, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.526). Furthermore, phasic changes of CVA elicited by increased executive demands moderated the association of cognitive and cerebral hemodynamic variations in the prefrontal cortex (B = 0.038, SE = 0.014, p < 0.05). Specifically, as executive demands increased, individuals with larger phasic CVA withdrawal showed a positive relationship between cognitive and hemodynamic variations in the prefrontal cortex (β = 0.281, p = 0.031). No such significant relationship was observed in individuals with smaller phasic CVA withdrawal. The current findings demonstrate a decrease in CVA with increasing executive demands and provide empirical support for the notion that a larger phasic CVA withdrawal can be considered adaptive in situations requiring high executive function demands.

Dynamics of visual attention in exploration and exploitation for reward-guided adjustment tasks

The learning process encompasses exploration and exploitation phases. While reinforcement learning models have revealed functional and neuroscientific distinctions between these phases, knowledge regarding how they affect visual attention while observing the external environment is limited. This study sought to elucidate the interplay between these learning phases and visual attention allocation using visual adjustment tasks combined with a two-armed bandit problem tailored to detect serial effects only when attention is dispersed across both arms. Per our findings, human participants exhibited a distinct serial effect only during the exploration phase, suggesting enhanced attention to the visual stimulus associated with the non-target arm. Remarkably, although rewards did not motivate attention dispersion in our task, during the exploration phase, individuals engaged in active observation and searched for targets to observe. This behavior highlights a unique information-seeking process in exploration that is distinct from exploitation.

Children exhibit superior memory for attended but outdated information compared to adults

Research on the development of cognitive selectivity predominantly focuses on attentional selection. The present study explores another facet of cognitive selectivity-memory selection-by examining the ability to filter attended yet outdated information in young children and adults. Across five experiments involving 130 children and 130 adults, participants are instructed to use specific information to complete a task, and then unexpectedly asked to report this information in a surprise test. The results consistently demonstrate a developmental reversal-like phenomenon, with children outperforming adults in reporting this kind of attended yet outdated information. Furthermore, we provide evidence against the idea that the results are due to different processing strategies or attentional deployments between adults and children. These results suggest that the ability of memory selection is not fully developed in young children, resulting in their inefficient filtering of attended yet outdated information that is not required for memory retention.

An examination of individual differences in levels of processing

The present study examined individual differences in levels of processing. Participants completed a cued recall task in which they made either rhyme or semantic judgements on pairs of items. Pupillary responses during encoding were recorded as a measure of the allocation of attentional effort and participants completed multiple measures of working and long-term memory. The results suggested levels of processing effect in both accuracy and pupillary responses with deeper levels of processing demonstrating higher accuracy and larger pupillary responses than shallower levels of processing. Most participants demonstrated levels of processing effect, but there was substantial variability in the size of the effect. Variation in levels of processing was positively related to individual differences in long-term memory and the magnitude of the pupillary levels of processing effect, but not working memory. These results suggest that some of the variation in levels of processing is likely due to individual differences in the allocation of attentional effort (particularly to items processed deeply) during encoding.

Effects of linguistic context and noise type on speech comprehension

Introduction

Understanding speech in background noise is an effortful endeavor. When acoustic challenges arise, linguistic context may help us fill in perceptual gaps. However, more knowledge is needed regarding how different types of background noise affect our ability to construct meaning from perceptually complex speech input. Additionally, there is limited evidence regarding whether perceptual complexity (e.g., informational masking) and linguistic complexity (e.g., occurrence of contextually incongruous words) interact during processing of speech material that is longer and more complex than a single sentence. Our first research objective was to determine whether comprehension of spoken sentence pairs is impacted by the informational masking from a speech masker. Our second objective was to identify whether there is an interaction between perceptual and linguistic complexity during speech processing.

Methods

We used multiple measures including comprehension accuracy, reaction time, and processing effort (as indicated by task-evoked pupil response), making comparisons across three different levels of linguistic complexity in two different noise conditions. Context conditions varied by final word, with each sentence pair ending with an expected exemplar (EE), within-category violation (WV), or between-category violation (BV). Forty young adults with typical hearing performed a speech comprehension in noise task over three visits. Each participant heard sentence pairs presented in either multi-talker babble or spectrally shaped steady-state noise (SSN), with the same noise condition across all three visits.

Results

We observed an effect of context but not noise on accuracy. Further, we observed an interaction of noise and context in peak pupil dilation data. Specifically, the context effect was modulated by noise type: context facilitated processing only in the more perceptually complex babble noise condition.

Discussion

These findings suggest that when perceptual complexity arises, listeners make use of the linguistic context to facilitate comprehension of speech obscured by background noise. Our results extend existing accounts of speech processing in noise by demonstrating how perceptual and linguistic complexity affect our ability to engage in higher-level processes, such as construction of meaning from speech segments that are longer than a single sentence.

Note on the Dual-Task Paradigm and its Use to Measure Listening Effort

People regularly communicate in complex environments, requiring them to flexibly shift their attention across multiple sources of sensory information. Increasing recruitment of the executive functions that support successful speech comprehension in these multitasking settings is thought to contribute to the sense of effort that listeners often experience. One common research method employed to quantify listening effort is the dual-task paradigm in which individuals recognize speech and concurrently perform a secondary (often visual) task. Effort is operationalized as performance decrements on the secondary task as speech processing demands increase. However, recent reviews have noted critical inconsistencies in the results of dual-task experiments, likely in part due to how and when the two tasks place demands on a common set of mental resources and how flexibly individuals can allocate their attention to them. We propose that in order to move forward to address this gap, we need to first look backward: better integrating theoretical models of resource capacity and allocation as well as of task-switching that have been historically developed in domains outside of hearing research (viz., cognitive psychology and neuroscience). With this context in mind, we describe how dual-task experiments could be designed and interpreted such that they provide better and more robust insights into the mechanisms that contribute to effortful listening.

Neural substrates of individual differences in learning generalization via combined brain stimulation and multitasking training

A pervasive limitation in cognition is reflected by the performance costs we experience when attempting to undertake two tasks simultaneously. While training can overcome these multitasking costs, the more elusive objective of training interventions is to induce persistent gains that transfer across tasks. Combined brain stimulation and cognitive training protocols have been employed to improve a range of psychological processes and facilitate such transfer, with consistent gains demonstrated in multitasking and decision-making. Neural activity in frontal, parietal, and subcortical regions has been implicated in multitasking training gains, but how the brain supports training transfer is poorly understood. To investigate this, we combined transcranial direct current stimulation of the prefrontal cortex and multitasking training, with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 178 participants. We observed transfer to a visual search task, following 1 mA left or right prefrontal cortex transcranial direct current stimulation and multitasking training. These gains persisted for 1-month post-training. Notably, improvements in visual search performance for the right hemisphere stimulation group were associated with activity changes in the right hemisphere dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, intraparietal sulcus, and cerebellum. Thus, functional dynamics in these task-general regions determine how individuals respond to paired stimulation and training, resulting in enhanced performance on an untrained task.

Do pictures influence memory and metamemory in Chinese vocabulary learning? Evidence from Russian and Colombian learners

Despite the increasing interest in learning non-alphabetical languages such as Chinese, research about its learning process for alphabet users is scarce. Research conducted on Latin alphabet users on learning languages written in Latin alphabet, or on Chinese language learning in Chinese native speakers, users is undoubtedly useful but it does not inform about the peculiarities of leaning Chinese language by other alphabet users. Additionally, several authors have highlighted the need to inform and extend the current second language acquisition theories on the particular challenges of learning a language that uses another script. In this research we aim to contribute filling this research gap and studied the learning process of Chinese vocabulary by users of scripts different from Chinese. In particular, we examined the role of pictures and translations as learning aids for Chinese language vocabulary learning in participants familiarized with either one or two alphabetical scripts (different from the Chinese logographic script). One hundred thirteen participants studied word-aid pairs in different conditions: Hanzi (Chinese in Chinese characters)-picture; Pinyin (Chinese in Latin alphabet)-picture; Hanzi-translation; Pinyin-translation. Participants evaluated the future recallability of the words and their meanings (i.e., judgements of learning) and completed two recognition tests. Words in Pinyin and words-translation pairs were judged to be easier to remember than Hanzi and word-pictures pairs. Participants remembered the meaning of words written in Hanzi better than in Pinyin, and word-translations pairs better than pictures, but they were more confident about word-picture pairs. These results suggest that pictures boost confidence in learning Chinese, but do not affect performance. These findings suggest that while pictures may boost confidence in learning Chinese, they may not necessarily lead to better performance. Our study provides valuable insights into the interaction of learning aids and writing system in (meta)memory during vocabulary acquisition.

No Evidence That Working Memory Modulates the Plasticity of the Nociceptive System, as Measured by Secondary Mechanical Hypersensitivity

The effect of cognition on the plasticity of the nociceptive system remains controversial. In this study, we examined whether working memory can buffer against the development of secondary hypersensitivity. Thirty-five healthy women participated in 3 experimental conditions. In each condition, they underwent electrical stimulation of the skin for 2 minutes (middle-frequency electrical stimulation [MFS]), which induces secondary hypersensitivity. During MFS, participants executed either an individually tailored and rewarded n-back task (working memory condition), a rewarded reaction-time task (non-working memory condition), or no task at all (control condition). Before and after MFS, participants rated the self-reported intensity and unpleasantness of mechanical pinprick stimuli. Fear of MFS was also assessed. Heart rate variability was measured to examine potential differences between the 3 conditions and steady-state evoked potentials to the electrical stimulation were recorded to investigate differences in cortical responses. We report no significant difference in hypersensitivity between the 3 conditions. Moreover, engaging in the cognitive tasks did not affect the heart rate variability or the steady-state evoked potentials. Interestingly, higher fear of MFS predicted greater hypersensitivity. In conclusion, we found no evidence that working memory affects the plasticity of the nociceptive system, yet pain-related fear plays a role. PERSPECTIVE: This study shows that the execution of a cognitive task, irrespective of cognitive load or working memory, does not significantly modulate the development of secondary hypersensitivity, heart rate variability, or steady-state evoked potentials. However, higher pain-related fear seems to contribute to greater hypersensitivity.

Shared control versus traded control in driving: a debate around automation pitfalls

A major question in human-automation interaction is whether tasks should be traded or shared between human and automation. This work presents reflections-which have evolved through classroom debates between the authors over the past 10 years-on these two forms of human-automation interaction, with a focus on the automated driving domain. As in the lectures, we start with a historically informed survey of six pitfalls of automation: (1) Loss of situation and mode awareness, (2) Deskilling, (3) Unbalanced mental workload, (4) Behavioural adaptation, (5) Misuse, and (6) Disuse. Next, one of the authors explains why he believes that haptic shared control may remedy the pitfalls. Next, another author rebuts these arguments, arguing that traded control is the most promising way to improve road safety. This article ends with a common ground, explaining that shared and traded control outperform each other at medium and low environmental complexity, respectively. Practitioner summary: Designers of automation systems will have to consider whether humans and automation should perform tasks alternately or simultaneously. The present article provides an in-depth reflection on this dilemma, which may prove insightful and help guide design. Abbreviations: ACC: Adaptive Cruise Control: A system that can automatically maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front; AEB: Advanced Emergency Braking (also known as Autonomous Emergency Braking): A system that automatically brakes to a full stop in an emergency situation; AES: Automated Evasive Steering: A system that automatically steers the car back into safety in an emergency situation; ISA: Intelligent Speed Adaptation: A system that can limit engine power automatically so that the driving speed does not exceed a safe or allowed speed.

Effect of Auditory Distractors on Speech Recognition and Listening Effort

OBJECTIVES

Everyday listening environments are filled with competing noise and distractors. Although significant research has examined the effect of competing noise on speech recognition and listening effort, little is understood about the effect of distraction. The framework for understanding effortful listening recognizes the importance of attention-related processes in speech recognition and listening effort; however, it underspecifies the role that they play, particularly with respect to distraction. The load theory of attention predicts that resources will be automatically allocated to processing a distractor, but only if perceptual load in the listening task is low enough. If perceptual load is high (i.e., listening in noise), then resources that would otherwise be allocated to processing a distractor are used to overcome the increased perceptual load and are unavailable for distractor processing. Although there is ample evidence for this theory in the visual domain, there has been little research investigating how the load theory of attention may apply to speech processing. In this study, we sought to measure the effect of distractors on speech recognition and listening effort and to evaluate whether the load theory of attention can be used to understand a listener's resource allocation in the presence of distractors.

DESIGN

Fifteen adult listeners participated in a monosyllabic words repetition task. Test stimuli were presented in quiet or in competing speech (+5 dB signal-to-noise ratio) and in distractor or no distractor conditions. In conditions with distractors, auditory distractors were presented before the target words on 24% of the trials in quiet and in noise. Percent-correct was recorded as speech recognition, and verbal response time (VRT) was recorded as a measure of listening effort.

RESULTS

A significant interaction was present for speech recognition, showing reduced speech recognition when distractors were presented in the quiet condition but no effect of distractors when noise was present. VRTs were significantly longer when distractors were present, regardless of listening condition.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with the load theory of attention, distractors significantly reduced speech recognition in the low-perceptual load condition (i.e., listening in quiet) but did not impact speech recognition scores in conditions of high perceptual load (i.e., listening in noise). The increases in VRTs in the presence of distractors in both low- and high-perceptual load conditions (i.e., quiet and noise) suggest that the load theory of attention may not apply to listening effort. However, the large effect of distractors on VRT in both conditions is consistent with the previous work demonstrating that distraction-related shifts of attention can delay processing of the target task. These findings also fit within the framework for understanding effortful listening, which proposes that involuntary attentional shifts result in a depletion of cognitive resources, leaving less resources readily available to process the signal of interest; resulting in increased listening effort (i.e., elongated VRT).

Scoping review of dual-task interference in individuals with intellectual disability

Dual-task paradigms can provide insights on the structures and mechanisms underlying information processing and hold diagnostic, prognostic, and rehabilitative value for populations with cognitive deficits such as in individuals with intellectual disability (ID). In this paradigm, two tasks are performed separately (single-task context) and concurrently (dual-task context). The change in performance from single- to dual-task context represents dual-task interference. Findings from dual-task studies have been largely inconsistent on whether individuals with ID present with dual-task-specific deficits. The current review aimed to map the published literature on dual-task methods and pattern of dual-task interference in individuals with ID. A scoping review based on Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage methodological framework was performed. Seventeen electronic databases and registries were searched to identify relevant studies, including gray literature. Charted data from included studies were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. PRISMA guidelines informed the reporting of this review. Twenty-two studies involving 1,102 participants (656 with ID and 446 without ID) met the review's inclusion criteria. Participants in the included studies were heterogeneous in sex, age (range 3-59 years), etiology and ID severity. Included studies characterized their ID-sample in different ways, most commonly using intelligence quotient (IQ) scores. Other measures of intellectual function (e.g., mental age, ID severity, verbal and/or visuospatial ability scores) were also used, either solely or in combination with IQ. Methods of dual-task testing varied across studies, particularly in relation to dual-task combinations, equation of single-task performance between groups, measurement and reporting of dual-task performance for each single-task, and task priority instructions. Thematic content of the included studies were: (1) structural interference to dual-tasking; (2) etiology-based differences in dual-tasking; (3) gait and balance dual-task performance; (4) testing executive function using dual-task paradigms; and (5) training effect on dual-task performance. Although the evidence consistently supported the intact dual-tasking ability of individuals with ID, the pattern of dual-task interference was inconsistent. Likewise, the evidence was inconclusive regarding dual-task deficit specific to individuals with ID because of heterogeneity in dual-task study designs among included studies.

How do drivers mitigate the effects of naturalistic visual complexity? : On attentional strategies and their implications under a change blindness protocol

How do the limits of high-level visual processing affect human performance in naturalistic, dynamic settings of (multimodal) interaction where observers can draw on experience to strategically adapt attention to familiar forms of complexity? In this backdrop, we investigate change detection in a driving context to study attentional allocation aimed at overcoming environmental complexity and temporal load. Results indicate that visuospatial complexity substantially increases change blindness but also that participants effectively respond to this load by increasing their focus on safety-relevant events, by adjusting their driving, and by avoiding non-productive forms of attentional elaboration, thereby also controlling "looked-but-failed-to-see" errors. Furthermore, analyses of gaze patterns reveal that drivers occasionally, but effectively, limit attentional monitoring and lingering for irrelevant changes. Overall, the experimental outcomes reveal how drivers exhibit effective attentional compensation in highly complex situations. Our findings uncover implications for driving education and development of driving skill-testing methods, as well as for human-factors guided development of AI-based driving assistance systems.

Speech recognition in noise task among children and young-adults: a pupillometry study

Introduction

Children experience unique challenges when listening to speech in noisy environments. The present study used pupillometry, an established method for quantifying listening and cognitive effort, to detect temporal changes in pupil dilation during a speech-recognition-in-noise task among school-aged children and young adults.

Methods

Thirty school-aged children and 31 young adults listened to sentences amidst four-talker babble noise in two signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) conditions: high accuracy condition (+10 dB and  + 6 dB, for children and adults, respectively) and low accuracy condition (+5 dB and + 2 dB, for children and adults, respectively). They were asked to repeat the sentences while pupil size was measured continuously during the task.

Results

During the auditory processing phase, both groups displayed pupil dilation; however, adults exhibited greater dilation than children, particularly in the low accuracy condition. In the second phase (retention), only children demonstrated increased pupil dilation, whereas adults consistently exhibited a decrease in pupil size. Additionally, the children's group showed increased pupil dilation during the response phase.

Discussion

Although adults and school-aged children produce similar behavioural scores, group differences in dilation patterns point that their underlying auditory processing differs. A second peak of pupil dilation among the children suggests that their cognitive effort during speech recognition in noise lasts longer than in adults, continuing past the first auditory processing peak dilation. These findings support effortful listening among children and highlight the need to identify and alleviate listening difficulties in school-aged children, to provide proper intervention strategies.

A comparison of the psychological effects of robot motion in physical and virtual environments

A mixed-methods approach was used to assess the fidelity of virtual environments as ergonomic assessment tools for human-robot interaction. Participants performed a visual search task in the physical environment while a nearby collaborative robot repeatedly extended its arm toward them. This scenario was reconstructed in two virtual environments with different levels of graphical detail. Measures of presence, task performance, workload, and anxiety were taken to determine the effect of robot motion in all three environments. Task performance decreased in response to robot motion in the physical environment, while workload and anxiety increased. This simple effect of motion was consistent across environments for measures of task performance and anxiety. However, people performed faster overall in virtual reality, and the effect of motion on workload was greatly reduced in virtual reality. Results in the virtual environments suggest that people were distracted by the sound of the robot, and that presence was affected by manipulations of immersion and coherence.

Mitigating the Costs of Spatial Transformations With a Situation Awareness Augmented Reality Display: Assistance for the Joint Terminal Attack Controller 3-17

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate and model the advantage of a situation awareness (SA) supported by an augmented reality (AR) display for the ground-based joint terminal attack Controller (JTAC), in judging and describing the spatial relations between objects in a hostile zone.

BACKGROUND

The accurate world-referenced description of relative locations of surface objects, when viewed from an oblique slant angle (aircraft, observation post) is hindered by (1) the compression of the visual scene, amplified at a lower slang angle, (2) the need for mental rotation, when viewed from a non-northerly orientation.

APPROACH

Participants viewed a virtual reality (VR)-simulated four-object scene from either of two slant angles, at each of four compass orientations, either unaided, or aided by an AR head-mounted display (AR-HMD), depicting the scene from a top-down (avoiding compression) and north-up (avoiding mental rotation) perspective. They described the geographical layout of four objects within the display.

RESULTS

Compared with the control condition, that condition supported by the north-up SA display shortened the description time, particularly on non-northerly orientations (9 s, 30% benefit), and improved the accuracy of description, particularly for the more compressed scene (lower slant angle), as fit by a simple computational model.

CONCLUSION

The SA display provides large, significant benefits to this critical phase of ground-air communications in managing an attack-as predicted by the task analysis of the JTAC.

APPLICATION

Results impact the design of the AR-HMD to support combat ground-air communications and illustrate the magnitude by which basic cognitive principles "scale up" to realistically simulated real-world tasks such as search and rescue.

The effect of telepractice on vocal turn-taking between a provider, children with cochlear implants, and caregivers: A preliminary report

OBJECTIVES

To examine the effect of telepractice on vocal turn-taking between one clinical provider and children with cochlear implants and their caregivers during child-centered auditory rehabilitation intervention.

METHODS

Seven dyads of children with cochlear implants (mean age 4:11 years) and their hearing mothers and one speech-language pathologist participated together in a telepractice session and an in-person intervention session. Dependent variables were vocalization rate, turn taking rate, rate of speech overlap per second, and between-speaker pause duration.

RESULTS

The speech-language pathologist and children had lower rates of vocalization in the telepractice session than the in-person session. However, maternal vocalization rate was higher in the telepractice than in-person session. The rate of turn-taking between the provider and children was lower in telepractice than in-person sessions but the rate of turn taking between mothers and children was higher in telepractice than in-person sessions. Between-speaker pause duration between children and the provider and between mothers and children was longer in telepractice than in-person sessions. Rate of speech overlap did not vary significantly by session type.

DISCUSSION

The quantity and temporal characteristics of vocal turn-taking were impacted by remote communication during tele-intervention suggesting a potential increase in the cognitive effort required of participants.

Pilots' mental workload variation when taking a risk in a flight scenario: a study based on flight simulator experiments

Pilots' operation behavior in flight is associated with their mental state variables such as workload, situation awareness, stress, etc. The objective of this study was to investigate the dynamic process of mental workload for pilots who perform a risky flight task in simulated scenarios. Two empirical experiments were conducted to address this issue. In experiment one, 19 trainee pilots divided into high-risk and low-risk groups performed a target-search task in a low-altitude visual flight. The results showed a statistically significant interaction between groups and segments for heart rate variability (HRV). The same pattern of physiological results was replicated among participants in experiment two, in which 19 airline pilots completed an approach with low visibility. These findings highlighted the relationship between mental workload variation and risk-taking behavior, which could be considered in improving pilot selection and training to improve flight safety.

How processing emotion affects language control in bilinguals

Research has shown that several variables affect language control among bilingual speakers but the effect of affective processing remains unexplored. Chinese-English bilinguals participated in a novel prime-target language switching experiment in which they first judged the affective valence (i.e., positive or negative) of auditorily presented words and then named pictures with neutral emotional valence in either the same (non-switch trial) or different language (switch trial). Brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The behavioral performance showed that the typical switch cost (i.e., the calculated difference between switch and non-switch trials) emerged after processing positive words but not after negative words. Brain imaging demonstrated that processing negative words immediately before non-switch picturing naming trials (but not for switch trials) increased activation in brain areas associated with domain-general cognitive control. The opposite patterns were found after processing positive words. These findings suggest that an (emotional) negative priming effect is induced by spontaneous exposure to negative words and that these priming effects may be triggered by reactive emotional processing and that they may interact with higher level cognitive functions.

Cognitive bias and how to improve sustainable decision making

The rapid advances of science and technology have provided a large part of the world with all conceivable needs and comfort. However, this welfare comes with serious threats to the planet and many of its inhabitants. An enormous amount of scientific evidence points at global warming, mass destruction of bio-diversity, scarce resources, health risks, and pollution all over the world. These facts are generally acknowledged nowadays, not only by scientists, but also by the majority of politicians and citizens. Nevertheless, this understanding has caused insufficient changes in our decision making and behavior to preserve our natural resources and to prevent upcoming (natural) disasters. In the present study, we try to explain how systematic tendencies or distortions in human judgment and decision-making, known as “cognitive biases,” contribute to this situation. A large body of literature shows how cognitive biases affect the outcome of our deliberations. In natural and primordial situations, they may lead to quick, practical, and satisfying decisions, but these decisions may be poor and risky in a broad range of modern, complex, and long-term challenges, like climate change or pandemic prevention. We first briefly present the social-psychological characteristics that are inherent to (or typical for) most sustainability issues. These are: experiential vagueness, long-term effects, complexity and uncertainty, threat of the status quo, threat of social status, personal vs. community interest, and group pressure. For each of these characteristics, we describe how this relates to cognitive biases, from a neuro-evolutionary point of view, and how these evolved biases may affect sustainable choices or behaviors of people. Finally, based on this knowledge, we describe influence techniques (interventions, nudges, incentives) to mitigate or capitalize on these biases in order to foster more sustainable choices and behaviors.

Planning and performance in teams: A Bayesian meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach

We meta-analyzed the relationship between team planning and performance moderated by task, team, context, and methodological factors. For testing our hypothesized model, we used a meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach. Based on K = 33 independent samples (N = 1,885 teams), a mixed-effects model indicated a non-zero moderate positive effect size (ρ = .31, 95% CI [.20, .42]). Methodological quality, generally rated as adequate, was unrelated to effect size. Sensitivity analyses suggest that effect sizes were robust to exclusion of any individual study and publication bias. The statistical power of the studies was generally low and significantly moderated the relationship, with a large positive relationship for studies with high-powered (k = 42, ρ = .40, 95% CI [.27, .54]) and a smaller, significant relationship for low-powered studies (k = 54, ρ = .16, 95% CI [.01, .30]). The effect size was robust and generally not qualified by a large number of moderators, but was more pronounced for less interdependent tasks, less specialized team members, and assessment of quality rather than quantity of planning. Latent class analysis revealed no qualitatively different subgroups within populations. We recommend large-scale collaboration to overcome several methodological weaknesses of the current literature, which is severely underpowered, potentially biased by self-reporting data, and lacks long-term follow-ups.

Research on Industry Data Analytics on Processing Procedure of Named 3-4-8-2 Components Combination for the Application Identification in New Chain Convenience Store

With the rapid economic boom of Asian countries, the president of Country-A has made great efforts to reform in recent years. The prospect of economic development is promising, and business opportunities are emerging gradually, depicting a prosperous scene; accordingly, people’s livelihood consumption also has changed significantly. The original main point of consumption for urban and rural people was the old and traditional grocery store with poor sanitation, but due to the economic improvement, the quality of consumption has also improved, and convenience stores are gradually replacing grocery store. However, convenience store management involves performance, logistic, competition, and personnel costs. Both whether the store can create a net profit and evaluate and select a new store will be important keys that significantly influence business performance. Therefore, this study attempts to use the industry data analysis method for highlighting a concept of processing an experience procedure of named 3-4-8-2 components combination in two stages. First, in the data preprocessing stage, this research considers 22 condition attributes and two types of decision factors, that include net profit and new store selection, and use both techniques of attribute selection and data discretization through the analysis and prediction of data mining tools. Next, in the experiment execution stage, three well-known classifiers (Bayes net, logistic regression, and J48 decision tree) with past good performance and four models (without preprocessing, with attribute selection, with data discretization, and with attribute selection and data discretization) are used for eight different experiments through two data verification methods (percentage split and cross-validation). Conclusively, three key results are identified from empirical analysis: (1) It is found that the prediction accuracy of the J48 decision tree classifier is relatively high and stable among the three classifiers in this study; at the same time, the J48 decision tree can yield comprehensible knowledge-based rules to instruct interested parties. (2) The results of this study show that the important attributes for the net profit decision attribute include the store type, POS number, and cashier number, while the important attributes for the new store selection include the store type and cashier number. (3) There is a difference in the selection of important attributes. Furthermore, four key valuable contributions are addressed from the empirical results, including academic contributions, enterprise contributions, application contributions, and management contributions. It is expected that the direction of store layout expansion can be found and identified through this study, but there are still many risks hidden behind the considerable business opportunities that need to be carefully managed.

Chunking of Control: An Unrecognized Aspect of Cognitive Resource Limits

Why do we divide ('chunk') long tasks into a series of shorter subtasks? A popular view is that limits in working memory (WM) prevent us from simultaneously maintaining all task relevant information in mind. We therefore chunk the task into smaller units so that we only maintain information in WM that is relevant to the current unit. In contrast to this view, we show that long tasks that are not constrained by WM limits are nonetheless chunked into smaller units. Participants executed long sequences of standalone but demanding trials that were not linked to any WM representation and whose execution was not constrained by how much information could be simultaneously held in WM. Using signs well-known to reflect beginning of new task units, we show that such trial sequences were not executed as a single task unit but were spontaneously chunked and executed as series smaller units. We also found that sequences made of easier trials were executed as longer task units and vice-versa, further suggesting that the length of task executed as one unit may be constrained by cognitive limits other than WM. Cognitive limits are typically seen to constrain how many things can be done simultaneously e.g., how many events can be maintained in WM or attended at the same time. We show a new aspect of these limits that constrains the length of behaviour that can be executed sequentially as a single task-unit.

The Involvement of Listening Effort in Explaining Bilingual Listening Under Adverse Listening Conditions

The current review examines listening effort to uncover how it is implicated in bilingual performance under adverse listening conditions. Various measures of listening effort, including physiological, behavioral, and subjective measures, have been employed to examine listening effort in bilingual children and adults. Adverse listening conditions, stemming from environmental factors, as well as factors related to the speaker or listener, have been examined. The existing literature, although relatively limited to date, points to increased listening effort among bilinguals in their nondominant second language (L2) compared to their dominant first language (L1) and relative to monolinguals. Interestingly, increased effort is often observed even when speech intelligibility remains unaffected. These findings emphasize the importance of considering listening effort alongside speech intelligibility. Building upon the insights gained from the current review, we propose that various factors may modulate the observed effects. These include the particular measure selected to examine listening effort, the characteristics of the adverse condition, as well as factors related to the particular linguistic background of the bilingual speaker. Critically, further research is needed to better understand the impact of these factors on listening effort. The review outlines avenues for future research that would promote a comprehensive understanding of listening effort in bilingual individuals.

Strategic Pauses Relieve Listeners from the Effort of Listening to Fast Speech: Data Limited and Resource Limited Processes in Narrative Recall by Adult Users of Cochlear Implants

Speech that has been artificially accelerated through time compression produces a notable deficit in recall of the speech content. This is especially so for adults with cochlear implants (CI). At the perceptual level, this deficit may be due to the sharply degraded CI signal, combined with the reduced richness of compressed speech. At the cognitive level, the rapidity of time-compressed speech can deprive the listener of the ordinarily available processing time present when speech is delivered at a normal speech rate. Two experiments are reported. Experiment 1 was conducted with 27 normal-hearing young adults as a proof-of-concept demonstration that restoring lost processing time by inserting silent pauses at linguistically salient points within a time-compressed narrative ("time-restoration") returns recall accuracy to a level approximating that for a normal speech rate. Noise vocoder conditions with 10 and 6 channels reduced the effectiveness of time-restoration. Pupil dilation indicated that additional effort was expended by participants while attempting to process the time-compressed narratives, with the effortful demand on resources reduced with time restoration. In Experiment 2, 15 adult CI users tested with the same (unvocoded) materials showed a similar pattern of behavioral and pupillary responses, but with the notable exception that meaningful recovery of recall accuracy with time-restoration was limited to a subgroup of CI users identified by better working memory spans, and better word and sentence recognition scores. Results are discussed in terms of sensory-cognitive interactions in data-limited and resource-limited processes among adult users of cochlear implants.

The Effect of Breathy Vocal Quality on Speech Intelligibility and Listening Effort in Background Noise

Speech perception is challenging under adverse conditions. However, there is limited evidence regarding how multiple adverse conditions affect speech perception. The present study investigated two conditions that are frequently encountered in real-life communication: background noise and breathy vocal quality. The study first examined the effects of background noise and breathiness on speech perception as measured by intelligibility. Secondly, the study tested the hypothesis that both noise and breathiness affect listening effort, as indicated by linear and nonlinear changes in pupil dilation. Low-context sentences were resynthesized to create three levels of breathiness (original, mild-moderate, and severe). The sentences were presented in a fluctuating nonspeech noise with two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of -5 dB (favorable) and -9 dB (adverse) SNR. Speech intelligibility and pupil dilation data were collected from young listeners with normal hearing thresholds. The results demonstrated that a breathy vocal quality presented in noise negatively affected speech intelligibility, with the degree of breathiness playing a critical role. Listening effort, as measured by the magnitude of pupil dilation, showed significant effects with both severe and mild-moderate breathy voices that were independent of noise level. The findings contributed to the literature by demonstrating the impact of vocal quality on the perception of speech in noise. They also highlighted the complex dynamics between overall task demand and processing resources in understanding the combined impact of multiple adverse conditions.

Context-independent scaling of neural responses to task difficulty in the multiple-demand network

The multiple-demand (MD) network is sensitive to many aspects of cognitive demand, showing increased activation with more difficult tasks. However, it is currently unknown whether the MD network is modulated by the context in which task difficulty is experienced. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined MD network responses to low, medium, and high difficulty arithmetic problems within 2 cued contexts, an easy versus a hard set. The results showed that MD activity varied reliably with the absolute difficulty of a problem, independent of the context in which the problem was presented. Similarly, MD activity during task execution was independent of the difficulty of the previous trial. Representational similarity analysis further supported that representational distances in the MD network were consistent with a context-independent code. Finally, we identified several regions outside the MD network that showed context-dependent coding, including the inferior parietal lobule, paracentral lobule, posterior insula, and large areas of the visual cortex. In sum, a cognitive effort is processed by the MD network in a context-independent manner. We suggest that this absolute coding of cognitive demand in the MD network reflects the limited range of task difficulty that can be supported by the cognitive apparatus.

Identifying Listeners Whose Speech Intelligibility Depends on a Quiet Extra Moment After a Sentence

PURPOSE

An extra moment after a sentence is spoken may be important for listeners with hearing loss to mentally repair misperceptions during listening. The current audiologic test battery cannot distinguish between a listener who repaired a misperception versus a listener who heard the speech accurately with no need for repair. This study aims to develop a behavioral method to identify individuals who are at risk for relying on a quiet moment after a sentence.

METHOD

Forty-three individuals with hearing loss (32 cochlear implant users, 11 hearing aid users) heard sentences that were followed by either 2 s of silence or 2 s of babble noise. Both high- and low-context sentences were used in the task.

RESULTS

Some individuals showed notable benefit in accuracy scores (particularly for high-context sentences) when given an extra moment of silent time following the sentence. This benefit was highly variable across individuals and sometimes absent altogether. However, the group-level patterns of results were mainly explained by the use of context and successful perception of the words preceding sentence-final words.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that some but not all individuals improve their speech recognition score by relying on a quiet moment after a sentence, and that this fragility of speech recognition cannot be assessed using one isolated utterance at a time. Reliance on a quiet moment to repair perceptions would potentially impede the perception of an upcoming utterance, making continuous communication in real-world scenarios difficult especially for individuals with hearing loss. The methods used in this study-along with some simple modifications if necessary-could potentially identify patients with hearing loss who retroactively repair mistakes by using clinically feasible methods that can ultimately lead to better patient-centered hearing health care.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21644801.

Impact of Sleep Fragmentation on Cognition and Fatigue

Sleep continuity and efficacy are essential for optimal cognitive functions. How sleep fragmentation (SF) impairs cognitive functioning, and especially cognitive fatigue (CF), remains elusive. We investigated the impact of induced SF on CF through the TloadDback task, measuring interindividual variability in working memory capacity. Sixteen participants underwent an adaptation polysomnography night and three consecutive nights, once in a SF condition induced by non-awakening auditory stimulations, once under restorative sleep (RS) condition, counterbalanced within-subject. In both conditions, participants were administered memory, vigilance, inhibition and verbal fluency testing, and for CF the TloadDback, as well as sleep questionnaires and fatigue and sleepiness visual analog scales were administered. Subjective fatigue increased and sleep architecture was altered after SF (reduced sleep efficiency, percentage of N3 and REM, number of NREM and REM phases) despite similar total sleep time. At the behavioral level, only inhibition deteriorated after SF, and CF similarly evolved in RS and SF conditions. In line with prior research, we show that SF disrupts sleep architecture and exerts a deleterious impact on subjective fatigue and inhibition. However, young healthy participants appear able to compensate for CF induced by three consecutive SF nights. Further studies should investigate SF effects in extended and/or pathological disruption settings.

Interactions between acoustic challenges and processing depth in speech perception as measured by task-evoked pupil response

Speech perception under adverse conditions is a multistage process involving a dynamic interplay among acoustic, cognitive, and linguistic factors. Nevertheless, prior research has primarily focused on factors within this complex system in isolation. The primary goal of the present study was to examine the interaction between processing depth and the acoustic challenge of noise and its effect on processing effort during speech perception in noise. Two tasks were used to represent different depths of processing. The speech recognition task involved repeating back a sentence after auditory presentation (higher-level processing), while the tiredness judgment task entailed a subjective judgment of whether the speaker sounded tired (lower-level processing). The secondary goal of the study was to investigate whether pupil response to alteration of dynamic pitch cues stems from difficult linguistic processing of speech content in noise or a perceptual novelty effect due to the unnatural pitch contours. Task-evoked peak pupil response from two groups of younger adult participants with typical hearing was measured in two experiments. Both tasks (speech recognition and tiredness judgment) were implemented in both experiments, and stimuli were presented with background noise in Experiment 1 and without noise in Experiment 2. Increased peak pupil dilation was associated with deeper processing (i.e., the speech recognition task), particularly in the presence of background noise. Importantly, there is a non-additive interaction between noise and task, as demonstrated by the heightened peak pupil dilation to noise in the speech recognition task as compared to in the tiredness judgment task. Additionally, peak pupil dilation data suggest dynamic pitch alteration induced an increased perceptual novelty effect rather than reflecting effortful linguistic processing of the speech content in noise. These findings extend current theories of speech perception under adverse conditions by demonstrating that the level of processing effort expended by a listener is influenced by the interaction between acoustic challenges and depth of linguistic processing. The study also provides a foundation for future work to investigate the effects of this complex interaction in clinical populations who experience both hearing and cognitive challenges.

Dual-task interference as a function of varying motor and cognitive demands

Multitasking is a critical feature of our daily lives. Using a dual-task paradigm, this experiment explored adults’ abilities to simultaneously engage in everyday motor and cognitive activities, counting while walking, under conditions varying the difficulty of each of these tasks. Motor difficulty was manipulated by having participants walk forward versus backward, and cognitive difficulty was manipulated by having participants count forward versus backward, employing either a serial 2 s or serial 3 s task. All of these manipulations were performed in single-task conditions (walk only, count only) and dual-task conditions (walk and count simultaneously). Both motor performance variables (cycle time, stride length, walking velocity) and cognitive variables (counting fluency, counting accuracy) were assessed in these conditions. Analyses of single-task conditions revealed that both motor and cognitive manipulations predictably influenced performance. Analyses of dual-task performance revealed influences of motor and cognitive factors on both motor and cognitive performance. Most centrally, dual-task costs (normalized difference between single- and dual-task conditions) for motor variables revealed that such costs occurred primarily for temporal or spatiotemporal gait parameters (cycle time, walking velocity) and were driven by cognitive manipulations. Dual-task cost analyses for cognitive measures revealed negative dual-task costs, or dual-task benefits, for cognitive performance. Finally, the effects of dual-task manipulations were correlated for motor and cognitive measures, indicating dual-task performance as a significant individual difference variable. These findings are discussed with reference to theories of attentional allocation, as well as the possible role of auditory–motor entrainment in dual-task conditions.

Reappraising cognitive reappraisal: The taxing impact of emotion regulation on executive functioning in older adults

OBJECTIVE

Cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) are two common emotion regulation strategies that share similar cognitive and neural underpinnings. Prior research has consistently shown that recent engagement in ES (both self-reported and experimentally manipulated) is associated with subsequent temporary decrements in executive functioning (EF). Thus far, only one study has examined the association between CR and EF, with null results. However, that study was limited by examining only zero-order correlations and by assessing only the speed, not accuracy, of EF performance. The present study examined multivariate relationships among recent CR, recent ES, and EF (both speed and accuracy), as well as the potential impacts of more chronic engagements in, and trait-level preferences between, the two emotion regulation strategies.

METHOD

Participants were 201 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 to 93 who had participated in three separate studies examining the relationship between self-reported emotion regulation and EF.

RESULTS

Recent CR was associated with EF performance accuracy above and beyond chronic CR. Both recent CR and ES contributed to EF performance accuracy uniquely beyond each other and beyond chronic and preferred emotion regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Both recent ES and CR appear to have a deleterious impact on EF performance accuracy, potentially due to utilization of similar resources; both should be accounted for when assessing emotion regulation and its impacts on EF.

The Impact of Enhancing Phone Activeness on the Negative Effect Induced by the Presence of a Cell Phone

In the information-driven workplace, cell phones have gradually become irreplaceable. Although the use of work-related cell phones can bring convenience, recent research has demonstrated that the presence of a cell phone can impair cognitive task performance by reducing available attentional resources and suggested that the effect of the phone’s presence can be influenced by phone-related factors. This study focused on the relationship between this effect and phone activeness and conducted two experiments to investigate whether increasing phone activeness is associated with a stronger effect from the phone’s presence by using a dual-task paradigm (primary: letter recognition task, secondary: luminance-change detection task). Phone activeness was manipulated by two potential factors: the phone’s power state (control, powered-off, powered-on) and physical contact state (the phone was placed on the desk or held in the hand). The results showed that secondary task performance decreased with the phone’s presence, regardless of its power state and contact state. This indicated that the presence of the phone only affects the available attentional resources devoted to the peripheral visual field where the secondary task stimuli occurred; however, the effect of the phone’s presence was not moderated by phone activeness. The current findings provided several extended understandings related to the negative effects caused by the presence of the cell phone and their underlying mechanisms.

Capacity limits in face detection

Face detection is a prerequisite for further face processing, such as extracting identity or semantic information. Those later processes appear to be subject to strict capacity limits, but the location of the bottleneck is unclear. In particular, it is not known whether the bottleneck occurs before or after face detection. Here we present a novel test of capacity limits in face detection. Across four behavioural experiments, we assessed detection of multiple faces via observers' ability to differentiate between two types of display. Fixed displays comprised items of the same type (all faces or all non-faces). Mixed displays combined faces and non-faces. Critically, a 'fixed' response requires all items to be processed. We found that additional faces could be detected with no cost to efficiency, and that this capacity-free performance was contingent on visual context. The observed pattern was not specific to faces, but detection was more efficient for faces overall. Our findings suggest that strict capacity limits in face perception occur after the detection step.