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Duration estimation is a conceptual ability that plays a crucial role in human behaviour. Impairments in duration estimation ability have a significant impact on daily autonomy and social and cognitive capacities, even more so in psychological disorders. It has been recently shown that the ability to estimate durations develops at a slower pace in individuals with mild intellectual disability (MID) compared with typically developing (TD) individuals. More generally, it has been also demonstrated that duration estimation requires working memory updating. In this study, we compared the duration estimation and updating performances of individuals aged 10-20 years with idiopathic MID without associated disorders to those of typical individuals of the same ages ( N  = 160). Our results highlight a developmental lag not only in the capacity to estimate short durations (<1 s) in individuals with idiopathic MID, both in a bisection task and in a reproduction task, but also in working memory updating capacity. The findings also emphasise-for the first time-the importance of updating for both the age-related increase in duration estimation capacities and the deficits of these capacities in idiopathic MID. This is consistent with the hypothesis that duration estimation deficits in idiopathic MID may be due, to a large extent, to lower updating abilities., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Social cognition impairments are a common feature of alcohol use disorders (AUD). However, it remains unclear whether these impairments are solely the consequence of chronic alcohol consumption or whether they could be a marker of vulnerability., Methods: The present study implemented a family history approach to address this question for a key process of social cognition: theory of mind (ToM). Thirty healthy adults with a family history of AUD (FH+) and 30 healthy adults with a negative family history of AUD (FH-), matched for age, sex, and education level, underwent an fMRI cartoon-vignette paradigm assessing cognitive and affective ToM. Participants also completed questionnaires evaluating anxiety, depressive symptoms, childhood trauma, and alexithymia., Results: Results indicated that FH+ individuals differed from FH- individuals on affective but not cognitive ToM processing, at both the behavioral and neural levels. At the behavioral level, the FH+ group had lower response accuracy for affective ToM compared with the FH- group. At the neural level, the FH+ group had higher brain activations in the left insula and inferior frontal cortex during affective ToM processing. These activations remained significant when controlling for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and childhood trauma., Conclusions: These findings highlight difficulties during affective ToM processing among first-degree relatives of AUD patients, supporting the idea that some of the impairments exhibited by these patients may already be present before the onset of AUD and may be considered a marker of vulnerability.

The present study was designed to investigate the disadvantageous and advantageous inequity aversion of young and older adults in situations which allowed them to maximize or minimize payoff inequalities. Given the very limited evidence regarding an actual age-related effect on inequity aversion, the purpose of this study was to examine this question using an economic game, "the Give-and-Take Game", which is able to circumvent certain limitations of the Ultimatum Game, to evaluate inequity aversion (i.e., a same behaviour which can be induced by opposite motivations: prosocial vs. pro-self vs. altruistic orientations). In the "Give-and-Take Game", a sum of money was randomly distributed between the participant and a dummy player. These distributions created monetary inequalities, advantageous either for the participant (to examine advantageous inequity aversion) or for the other player (to examine disadvantageous inequity aversion). Different response options were proposed to the participants to either maximize or minimize payoff inequalities between the players. This procedure not only allowed to differentiate individual's profiles with more prosocial vs. pro-self vs. altruistic orientations, but also to examine age-related effects on these profiles. The results showed that older adults showed a more important pro-self orientation compared to their younger counterparts. They more frequently selected the options which maximized their own payoffs and were less averse to advantageous inequity compared to young adults. In contrast, young adults showed a similar level of advantageous and disadvantageous inequity aversion. Older adults focused on the economic and competitive dimension of the game, which may have motivated them to maximize their own payoffs. Conversely, young adults took into account the social dimension of the game, focusing on a fair monetary distribution., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Humans have developed a prolonged and special relationship with their tools, which themselves exhibit the propensity to become ever more intelligent across the years. A 'smart tool' is defined as to representing any entity, machine, or device that can complete an informational, mechanical, or electronic work. This work explains the development of the Smart Tool Proneness Questionnaire (STP-Q), which is designed to measure an individual's propensity to use smart tools. Data collection was designed to (1) identify the psychological dimensions underlying smart tool use (2) establish the questionnaire's reliability (3) validity, (4) propose a normalisation, and (5) provide an English translation of the French original. The work therefore implements a reliable and valid questionnaire, sensitive to inter-individual differences regarding the propensity to use smart tools. Statistical analysis reveals that the individual self-reported propensity for smart tool use rests on three factors (1) utilitarian use, (2) hedonic and social use, and (3) proneness to delegate. From a theoretical perspective, this individual propensity to use smart tools might be considered key to our species development. In practical terms, measuring an individual's propensity to use smart tools can be of considerable benefit to the design of future smart tools in both professional and non-professional settings. Practitioner summary: The STP-Q, a self-reported measure of an individual's propensity to use smart tools, was developed. STP-Q offers practitioners a measure of individual propensity to use smart tools along three dimensions: utilitarian use, hedonic and social use, and proneness to task delegate. Individual results can easily be interpreted from normalizations that STP-Q provides. Abbreviations: CFI: comparative fit index; GFI: goodness of fit index; IFI: incremental fit index; ISO: International Standardization Organization; IRB: institutional review board of the university of central Florida; IT: information technology; MATB: multi-attribute task battery; NMP-Q: no more phone phobia; RMSEA: root mean square error of approximation; STP-Q: smart tools proneness questionnaire; TAM: technology acceptance model; TRI: technology readiness index; UTAUT: unified theory of acceptance and use of technology; WAIS IV: Wechsler adult intelligence scale.

OpenMATB is an open-source variant of the Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB) and is available under a free software license. MATB consists of a set of tasks representative of those performed in aircraft piloting. It is used, in particular, to study the effect of automation on decision-making, mental workload, and vigilance. Since the publication of MATB 20 years ago, the subject of automation has grown considerably in importance. After introducing the task battery, this article highlights three main requirements for an up-to-date implementation of MATB. First, there is a need for task customization, to make it possible to change the values, appearance or integrated components (such as rating scales) of the tasks. Second, researchers need software extensibility to enable them to integrate specific features, such as synchronization with psychophysiological devices. Third, to achieve experiment replicability, it is necessary that the source code and the scenario files are easily available and auditable. In the present paper, we explain how these aspects are implemented in OpenMATB by presenting the software architecture and features, while placing special emphasis on the crucial role of the plugin system and the simplicity of the format used in the script files. Finally, we present a number of general trends for the future study of automation in human factors research and ergonomics.

The present study aimed to examine the effects of chronological age and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on cognitive performance and prefrontal cortex activity, and to test the compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis (CRUNCH). A total of 19 young adults (18⁻22 years) and 37 older ones (60⁻77 years) with a high or low CRF level were recruited to perform a working memory updating task under three different cognitive load conditions. Prefrontal cortex hemodynamic responses were continuously recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and behavioral performances and perceived difficulty were measured. Results showed that chronological age had deleterious effects on both cognitive performance and prefrontal cortex activation under a higher cognitive load. In older adults, however, higher levels of CRF were related to increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activation patterns that allowed them to sustain better cognitive performances, especially under the highest cognitive load. These results are discussed in the light of the neurocognitive CRUNCH model., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest

It is well-known that processing speed and executive functions decline with advancing age. However, physical activity (PA) has a positive impact on cognitive performances in aging, specifically for inhibition. Less is known concerning intraindividual variability (iiV) in reaction times. This study aims to investigate the influence of PA and sex differences on iiV in inhibitory performance during aging. Healthy adults were divided into active and sedentary groups according to PA level. To analyse iiV in reaction times, individual mean, standard deviation and the ex-Gaussian parameters were considered. An interaction between activity level and sex was revealed, sedentary females being slower and more variable than sedentary men. No sex differences were found in the active groups. These results indicate that the negative impact of sedentariness on cognitive performance in older age is stronger for females. The present findings underline the need to consider sex differences in active aging approaches.

A seminal work by Sheridan and Verplank depicted 10 levels of automation, ranging from no automation to an automation that acts completely autonomously without human support. These levels of automation were later complemented with a four-stage model of human information processing. Next, human-machine cooperation centred models and associated cooperation modes were introduced. The objective of the experiment was to test which human-machine theorie describe automation use better. The participants were asked to choose repeatedly between four automation types (i.e. no automation, warning, co-action, function delegation) to complete three multi-attribute task battery tasks. The results showed that the participants favour the selection of automation types offering the best human-machine interactions quality rather that the most effective automation type. Contrary to human-machine cooperation models, technology centred models could not predict accurately automation selection. The most advanced automation was not the most selected. Practitioner Summary: The experiment dealt with how people select different automation types to complete the multi-attribute task battery that emulates recreational aircraft pilot tasks. Automation performance was not the main criteria that explain automation use, as people tend to select an automation type based on the quality of the human-machine cooperation.

Background: Although a number of studies have examined sociodemographic, psychosocial, and environmental determinants of the level of physical activity (PA) for older people, little attention has been paid to the predictive power of cognitive strategies for independently living older adults. However, cognitive strategies have recently been considered to be critical in the management of day-to-day living., Methods: Data were collected from 243 men and women aged 55 years and older living in France using face-to-face interviews between 2011 and 2013., Results: A stepwise discriminant analysis selected five predictor variables (age, perceived health status, barriers' self-efficacy, internal memory, and attentional control strategies) of the level of PA. The function showed that the rate of correct prediction was 73% for the level of PA. The calculated discriminant function based on the five predictor variables is useful for detecting individuals at high risk of lapses once engaged in regular PA., Conclusions: This study highlighted the need to consider cognitive functions as a determinant of the level of PA and, more specifically, those cognitive functions related to executive functions (internal memory and attentional control), to facilitate the maintenance of regular PA. These results are discussed in relation to successful aging.

Using continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), this study compared three different methods, namely the slope method (SM), the amplitude method (AM), and the area under the curve (AUC) method to determine the variations of intramuscular oxygenation level as a function of workload. Ten right-handed subjects (22+/-4 years) performed one isometric contraction at each of three different workloads (30 %, 50 % and 90 % of maximal voluntary strength) during a period of twenty seconds. Changes in oxyhemoglobin (delta[HbO(2)]) and deoxyhemoglobin (delta[HHb]) concentrations in the superficial flexor of fingers were recorded using continuous-wave NIRS. The results showed a strong consistency between the three methods, with standardized Cronbach alphas of 0.87 for delta[HHb] and 0.95 for delta[HbO(2)]. No significant differences between the three methods were observed concerning delta[HHb] as a function of workload. However, only the SM showed sufficient sensitivity to detect a significant decrease in delta[HbO(2)] between 30 % and 50 % of workload (p<0.01). Among these three methods, the SM appeared to be the only method that was well adapted and sensitive enough to determine slight changes in delta[HbO(2)]. Theoretical and methodological implications of these results are discussed.

Background: In the elderly, physical activity (PA) enhances cognitive performances, increases brain plasticity and improves brain health. The neurotrophic hypothesis is that the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is implicated in brain plasticity and cognition, is triggered by PA because motoneurons secrete BDNF into the bloodstream during exercise. Individual differences in cognitive performance may be explained by individual differences in genetic predisposition. A single nucleotide polymorphism on the BDNF gene, BDNF Val66Met, affects activity-dependent BDNF secretion. This study investigated the influence of the BDNFVal66Met polymorphism on the relationship between PA and controlled inhibition performance in older adults. Methods: A total of 114 healthy elderly volunteers (mean age = 71.53 years old) were evaluated. Participants were genotyped for the BDNFVal66Met polymorphism. We evaluated inhibitory performance using choice reaction times (RT) and error rates from a Simon-like task and estimated their PA using two self-reported questionnaires. We established four groups according to PA level (active vs. inactive) and BDNFVal66Met genotype (Met carriers vs. Val-homozygous). The results were analyzed using ANOVA and ANCOVA, including age, gender and body mass index as covariates. Results: The BDNFVal66Met polymorphism interacted with PA on controlled inhibition performance. More specifically, inactive Val-homozygous participants exhibited a lower inhibition performance than active Val homozygotes and inactive Met carriers; the former had a higher error rate without differences in RT. Conclusion: Differences between individuals on inhibitory performance may be partially understood by the interaction between genetic influence in BDNF secretion and PA level. The results of this study clearly support the neurotrophic hypothesis that BDNF synthesis is an important mechanism underlying the influence of physical activity on brain structure and functions.

The cognitive neuroscience of aging is a growing and stimulating research area. The development of neuroimaging techniques in the past two decades has considerably increased our understanding of the brain mechanisms that might underlie cognitive performance and resulting changes due to normal aging. Beside traditional metabolic neuroimaging techniques, such as Positron Emission Tomography and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), an optical imaging technique allowing to monitor real-time cerebral blood oxygenation, has gained recent interest in this field. The aim of the present review paper, after briefly presenting the NIRS technique, is to review and to summarize the recent results of neuroimaging studies using this technique in the field of cognitive aging. The reviewed literature shows that, despite low spatial resolution and cerebral depth penetration, this technique provides consistent findings on the reduced hemodynamic activity as a function of chronological age, mainly in the prefrontal cortex. Important moderators of brain hemodynamics, such as cognitive load, subjects' characteristics and experimental conditions, for which the NIRS technique is sensitive, are discussed. Strengths and weaknesses of functional NIRS in the field of cognitive aging are presented and finally, novel perspectives of research are proposed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Cognitive reserve (CR) was proposed to explain how individual differences in brain function help to cope with the effects of normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Education, professional solicitations, and engagement in leisure and physical activities across the lifetime are considered as major determinants of this reserve., Method: Using multiple linear regression analyses, we tested separately in healthy elderly and Parkinson's disease (PD) populations to what extent cognitive performance in several domains was explained by (a) any of these four environmental lifespan variables; (b) demographic and clinical variables (age, gender, depression score, and, for the PD group, duration of disease and dopaminergic drugs). We also tested for an interaction, if any, between these lifespan variables and brain pathology indexed by global atrophy measured from high-resolution anatomical magnetic resonance imaging., Results: Age was negatively associated with cognitive performance in the PD group. In healthy elderly participants, we observed significant positive associations between cognitive performance and (a) education, (b) leisure activities, and (c) professional solicitation (decisional latitude). Furthermore, participants with greater brain atrophy benefited more from CR. In PD patients, education and professional solicitations contributed to cognitive performance but to a lesser extent than in controls. CR factors modulated the relationship between cognition and brain atrophy only in patients with a slight or moderate brain atrophy., Conclusions: Education is the CR factor that contributed the most to late cognitive functioning in both groups, closely followed by leisure activity in normal aging and professional solicitations in PD. Our results also provide evidence suggesting that the effects of CR does not express similarly in normal aging and PD. From a broader perspective, these results seem to indicate that CR factors the most consistently practiced across lifespan (education and professional solicitation) are those that are the more strongly associated to late cognitive efficiency.