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This study aimed to verify whether an eHealth-based self-management program can reduce irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptom severity. An open-label simple randomized controlled trial was conducted that compared an intervention group (n = 21) participating in an eHealth self-management program, which involved studying IBS-related information from an established self-help guide followed by in-built quizzes, with a treatment-as-usual group (n = 19) that, except for pharmacotherapy, had no treatment restrictions. Participants were female Japanese university students. The eHealth group received unlimited access to the self-management program for 8 weeks on computers and mobile devices. The primary outcome, participants' severity of IBS symptoms assessed using the IBS-severity index (IBS-SI), and the secondary outcomes of participants' quality of life, gut bacteria, and electroencephalography alpha and beta power percentages were measured at baseline and 8 weeks. A significant difference was found in the net change in IBS-SI scores between the eHealth and treatment-as-usual groups, and the former had significantly lower IBS-SI scores following the 8-week intervention than at baseline. Moreover, there was a significant difference in the net change in phylum Cyanobacteria between the eHealth and treatment-as-usual groups. Thus, the eHealth-based self-management program successfully reduced the severity of IBS symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to prove that the Arabian Plate is a tectonically active region even in its shield areas, we obtained the attenuation structure t p * of the upper mantle beneath the Arabian Plate by applying the spectral inversion method to the newly established seismic network in Saudi Arabia operated by the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS). The data sets consisted of good quality vertical components of the teleseismic events for more than 4400 spectral ratios. The result showed significant and diverse t p * structures between the eastern and western regions of the Arabian Plate. High t p * was the predominant feature underneath the Arabian Shield (western Arabia) and low t p * within the Arabian Platform (eastern Arabia). The obtained t P * values range from −1.0 s to 1.0 s. The observed high t p * patterns followed a line from north to south through the Arabian Shield along the Red Sea margin. The high t p * distribution closely followed the volcanic region, in particular the Makka–Madina–Nafud Volcanic (MMNV) line. The maximum t p * values were observed in the southern region of the Arabian Shield, at the southern part of the Red Sea, where the African and Arabian Plates diverge. The observed high t p * will be attributed to the previously revealed low-velocity anomaly and thermal activities beneath the Arabian Shield, and it is also correlated with the topography (high elevation) in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negative side effects of mask-wearing on reading facial emotional cues have been investigated in several studies with adults post-2020. However, little is known about children. This study aimed to determine the negative influence of mask-wearing on reading emotions of adult faces by Japanese school-aged children, compared to Japanese adults. We also examined whether this negative influence could be alleviated by using a transparent face mask instead of an opaque one (surgical mask). The performance on reading emotions was measured using emotion categorization and emotion intensity rating tasks for adult faces. As per the findings, the accuracy of emotion recognition in children was impaired for various facial expressions (disgust, fear, happy, neutral, sad, and surprise faces), except for angry faces. Conversely, in adults, it was impaired for a few facial expressions. The perceived intensity for happy faces with a surgical mask was weaker in both children and adults than in those without the mask. A negative influence of wearing surgical masks was generally not observed for faces wearing a transparent mask in both children and adults. Thus, negative side effects of mask-wearing on reading emotions are observed for more facial expressions in children than in adults; transparent masks can help remedy these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Updating spatial representations in visual and auditory working memory relies on common processes, and the modalities should compete for attentional resources. If competition occurs, one type of spatial information is presumably weighted over the other, irrespective of sensory modality. This study used incompatible spatial information conveyed from two different cue modalities to examine relative dominance in memory updating. Participants mentally manoeuvred a designated target in a matrix according to visual or auditory stimuli that were presented simultaneously, to identify a terminal location. Prior to the navigation task, the relative perceptual saliences of the visual cues were manipulated to be equal, superior, or inferior to the auditory cues. The results demonstrate that visual and auditory information competed for attentional resources, such that visual/auditory guidance was impaired by incongruent cues delivered from the other modality. Although visual bias was generally observed in working-memory navigation, stimuli of relatively high salience interfered with or facilitated other stimuli regardless of modality, demonstrating the processing symmetry of spatial updating in visual and auditory spatial working memory. Furthermore, this processing symmetry can be identified during the encoding of sensory inputs into working-memory representations. The results imply that auditory spatial updating is comparable to visual spatial updating in that salient stimuli receive a high priority when selecting inputs and are used when tracking spatial representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies provide mixed results regarding whether the perception of facial attractiveness is increased or decreased by partial occlusion with a sanitary mask. One set of studies demonstrated that occluding the bottom half of a face increased facial attractiveness. This effect is thought to occur because the occluded area is interpolated by an average facial representation that is perceived as attractive. However, several groups of studies showed that partial occlusion can increase or decrease perceived attractiveness depending on the attractiveness of the original (unoccluded) face, due to regression to the mean. To reconcile this inconsistency, we propose that the occluded area is interpolated not by an average facial representation, but by a template of moderate attractiveness, shaped by the distribution of each viewer's experience. This hypothesis predicts an interaction between occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face so that occluded attractive faces are rated as less attractive, while occluded unattractive faces are rated as more attractive. To examine this hypothesis, the present study used attractiveness-rating tasks with mask-free versus masked faces in own-race and other-races categories. Viewers were familiar with own-race faces and unfamiliar with other-races faces. If moderate-attractiveness interpolation were the explanatory factor, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face should be found only in the rating of own-race faces. Consistent with this hypothesis, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original faces was significant only for the own-race faces. Specifically, wearing a sanitary mask decreased the facial attractiveness of attractive faces in the own-race, while it increased the attractiveness regardless of the level of facial attractiveness in other-races. These findings suggest that the occluded area of own-race faces is interpolated by a facial template of moderate attractiveness. The other-races template could be developed using familiar exemplars such as celebrities. Thus, interpolation by such a template should result in elevated attractiveness relative to that by an own-race template. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistency in the literature regarding the effect of partial occlusion on physical attractiveness can be explained in terms of differences in the template involving interpolation of the occluded area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bowing is an act, commonly used in Japan, involving lowering the head and bending the upper body towards another person as a greeting. Studies have shown that the bowing action increases the subjective attractiveness of the face. Specifically, the attractiveness rating of a bowing 3D computer graphics model was found to be higher than those of the bending‐backward or the standing‐still conditions. However, previous studies did not manipulate the duration of the bowing action. This study examined whether the effect of bowing on the facial impression increases as the duration of bowing actions (the bending motion, the bent posture, and the return motion) was prolonged. In Experiment 1, we compared two durations of the bent posture at the peak point under the bending‐forward condition (0 or 1.5 s). In Experiment 2, we also manipulated the effect of the bowing speed (0.5 or 1 s). The results indicated that the effect of bowing on the rating scores of subjective attractiveness increased as the duration of bowing actions was prolonged. Moreover, an identical pattern of results was obtained in judgments of politeness and submissiveness. These findings suggest that the bowing effect is closely related to the cognitive schema of politeness and submissiveness, and thus the formal bowing action produces a positive evaluation by further activating this schema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial location of the face and body seen in daily life influences human perception and recognition. This contextual effect of spatial locations suggests that daily experience affects how humans visually process the face and body. However, it remains unclear whether this effect is caused by experience, or innate neural pathways. To address this issue, we examined the development of visual field asymmetry for face processing, in which faces in the upper visual field were processed preferentially compared to the lower visual field. We found that a developmental change occurred between 6 and 7 months. Older infants aged 7–8 months showed bias toward faces in the upper visual field, similar to adults, but younger infants of 5–6 months showed no such visual field bias. Furthermore, older infants preferentially memorized faces in the upper visual field, rather than in the lower visual field. These results suggest that visual field asymmetry is acquired through development, and might be caused by the learning of spatial location in daily experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bowing is an act, commonly used in Japan, involving lowering the head and bending the upper body towards another person as a greeting. Studies have shown that the bowing action increases the subjective attractiveness of the face. Specifically, the attractiveness rating of a bowing 3D computer graphics model was found to be higher than those of the bending‐backward or the standing‐still conditions. However, previous studies did not manipulate the duration of the bowing action. This study examined whether the effect of bowing on the facial impression increases as the duration of bowing actions (the bending motion, the bent posture, and the return motion) was prolonged. In Experiment 1, we compared two durations of the bent posture at the peak point under the bending‐forward condition (0 or 1.5 s). In Experiment 2, we also manipulated the effect of the bowing speed (0.5 or 1 s). The results indicated that the effect of bowing on the rating scores of subjective attractiveness increased as the duration of bowing actions was prolonged. Moreover, an identical pattern of results was obtained in judgments of politeness and submissiveness. These findings suggest that the bowing effect is closely related to the cognitive schema of politeness and submissiveness, and thus the formal bowing action produces a positive evaluation by further activating this schema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the influence of wearing a protective face mask on the perceived attractiveness of the wearer. Participants who identified as White, and who varied in their ideological stance toward mask wearing, rated the attractiveness of facial photographs. The photos varied in baseline attractiveness (low, medium, and high), race (White and Asian), and whether or not the face was wearing a protective mask. Attitudes regarding protective masks were measured after the rating task using a survey to identify participants as either pro- or anti-mask. The results showed that masked individuals of the same race were generally rated as more attractive than unmasked individuals, but that masked individuals of another race were rated as less attractive than unmasked individuals. Moreover, pro-mask participants rated masked individuals as generally more attractive than unmasked individuals, whereas anti-maskers rated masked individuals as less attractive. A control experiment, replicating the procedure but replacing the protective masks with a partially occluding notebook, showed that these effects were mask-specific. These results demonstrate that perceived attractiveness is affected by characteristics of the viewer (attitudes toward protective masks), their relationship to the target (same or different race), and by circumstances external to both (pandemic). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achievement of task performance is required to maintain a constant level of attention. Attentional level fluctuates over the course of daily activities. However, brain dynamics leading to attentional fluctuation are still unknown. We investigated the underlying mechanisms of sustained attention using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were scanned with fMRI while performing an auditory, gradual-onset, continuous performance task (gradCPT). In this task, narrations gradually changed from one to the next. Participants pressed a button for frequent Go trials (i.e., male voices) as quickly as possible and withheld responses to infrequent No-go trials (i.e., female voices). Event-related analysis revealed that frontal and temporal areas, including the auditory cortex, were activated during successful and unsuccessful inhibition of predominant responses. Reaction-time (RT) variability throughout the auditory gradCPT was positively correlated with signal changes in regions of the dorsal attention network: superior frontal gyrus and superior parietal lobule. Energy landscape analysis showed that task-related activations could be clustered into different attractors: regions of the dorsal attention network and default mode network. The number of alternations between RT-stable and erratic periods increased with an increase in transitions between attractors in the brain. Therefore, we conclude that dynamic transitions between brain states are closely linked to auditory attentional fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether the presence of product information focused on a past era (e.g., year of establishment) improved consumers' evaluations of a shop serving traditional products when the label and shop were congruent in terms of temporal focus. Across five experiments, participants viewed and evaluated advertisements from traditional food restaurants and shops that showed an old year of establishment. They showed favorable evaluations of the restaurants and food shops more frequently when a label focused on the past was displayed than when the label was absent or when a label focused on the present was displayed. Subsequent experiments indicated that this labeling effect was strongest when the label and shop were consistent in terms of traditional culture such that the year of establishment on the label showed the Japanese era name (Japan's traditional date format) and was accompanied by Japanese classic foods. Importantly, in this study, qualitative domains were consistently improved more often than were ratings of visit intention and expected taste. The results suggest that temporal congruence between the label and restaurants rated plays an essential role in ensuring that these advertisements are effective in improving positive evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]