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Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of facial cooling on physiological and perceptual responses during a simulated fencing competition., Methods: Using a randomized, crossover design, six competitive male fencers completed two trials of seven simulated fencing matches. Each match consisted of 22×10 s bouts of high-intensity fencing movements. Static rest (12 s) separated each bout, with 60-second rest after bouts seven and 14, during which, in the experimental condition, participants were sprayed with a facial water mist and fanned., Results: Relative to control, facial cooling reduced tympanic temperature (mean difference [MD]: 0.2±0.03 °C; 95% likely range [CL95]: 0.13-0.3 °C), heart rate (MD: 12±3 b·min -1 ; CL95: 5-20 b·min -1 ), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) for the dominant arm (MD: 2±0; CL95: 1-3), legs (MD: 2±0; CL95: 1-3), and total exertion (MD: 2±0; CL95: 1-3). Moreover, the benefits of facial cooling on RPE of the dominant arm and legs were magnified as the competition progressed. Facial cooling also improved ratings of perceived thermal comfort and perceived thermal strain., Conclusions: While the performance benefits of the intervention require exploration, facial misting positively affects both physiological and perceptual responses during fencing.

Background: Padel is a sport that requires a combination of physical and technical skills. Fatigue is a major modulator of padel players' performance. The aim of this study was to analyze the changes in neuromuscular performance and perceived effort among high-level padel players., Methods: Countermovement jump and handgrip strength of 58 participants (men: N.=38 age = 28.3±7.05 years, height = 178.9±8.41 cm; body mass = 75.25±8.2 kg. women: N.=21, age = 23.07±4.6 years, height = 163.86±10.34 cm; body mass = 59.9±6.13 kg) were assessed pre- and post-match in 43 official matches during the Padel Master 2021 of the Andalusian Padel Federation. Additionally, the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale was used to assess players' subjective perception of effort after each match., Results: Players experienced significant increases in postmatch jump height, with no changes in handgrip strength. Moreover, changes in jump height were greater in male players after the match when compared to their female counterparts, but the match duration was not determinant when comparing CMJ or handgrip between 2-sets and 3-sets matches. Finally, players reported a higher RPE after longer matches, but perceived effort was not different between sexes., Conclusions: These findings suggest that the internal load generated during competitive padel matches is insufficient to cause a declination in performance of the studied variables. It is also concluded that players' warm-up routines could be optimized to enhance neuromuscular performance at the start of matches.

Purpose : Monitoring players' training load allows practitioners to enhance physical performance while reducing injury risk. The aim of this study was to identify the key external load indicators in professional U19 soccer. Methods : Twenty-four-professional Italian young (U19) soccer players were monitored by using the rating of perceived exertion (CR-10 RPE scale) and a wearable inertial sensor during the competitive season. Three main components were detected by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA): i) volume metabolic related component, ii) intensity mechanical stimuli component, and iii) intensity metabolic/mechanical component. We hence computed two scores (i.e. Performance [PERF] and total workload [WORK]) permitting to investigate the weekly microcycle. Results : Correlation analysis showed that scores (i.e. PERF and WORK) are low correlated ( r  = -0.20) suggesting that they were independent. Autocorrelation analysis showed that a weekly microcycle is detectable in all the scores. Two-way ANOVA RM showed a statistical difference between match day (MD) and playing position for the three PCA components and PERF score. Conclusion : We proposed an innovative approach to assess both the players' physical performance and training load by using a machine learning approach allowing reducing a large dataset in an objective way. This approach may help practitioners to prescribe the training in the microcycle based on the two scores.

The Bayesian confidence hypothesis (BCH), which postulates that confidence reflects the posterior probability that a decision is correct, is currently the most prominent theory of confidence. Although several recent studies have found evidence against it in the context of relatively complex tasks, BCH remains dominant for simpler tasks. The major alternative to BCH is the confidence in raw evidence space (CRES) hypothesis, according to which confidence is based directly on the raw sensory evidence without explicit probability computations. Here, we tested these competing hypotheses in the context of perceptual tasks that are assumed to induce Gaussian evidence distributions. We show that providing information about task difficulty gives rise to a basic behavioral signature that distinguishes BCH from CRES models even for simple 2-choice tasks. We examined this signature in three experiments and found that all experiments exhibited behavioral signatures in line with CRES computations but contrary to BCH ones. We further performed an extensive comparison of 16 models that implemented either BCH or CRES confidence computations and systematically differed in their auxiliary assumptions. These model comparisons provided overwhelming support for the CRES models over their BCH counterparts across all model variants and across all three experiments. These observations challenge BCH and instead suggest that humans may make confidence judgments by placing criteria directly in the space of the sensory evidence., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

To humans, the diverse array of display behaviors that animals use for communication can easily seem peculiar or bizarre. While ample research delves into the evolutionary principles that shape these signals' effectiveness, little attention is paid to evolutionary patterning of signal design across taxa, particularly when it comes to the potential convergent evolution of many elaborate behavioral displays. By taking a mechanistic perspective, we explore the physiological and neurobiological mechanisms that likely influence the evolution of communication signals, emphasizing the utilization of pre-existing structures over novel adaptations. Central to this investigation are the concepts of perceptual bias and ritualization that we propose contribute to the convergence of elaborate display designs across species. Perceptual bias explains a phenomenon where pre-existing perceptual systems of receivers, used for innate behaviors such as food and predator recognition, select for certain traits of a communication signal from a signaler. Ritualization occurs when traits with no functional role in communication are co-opted through selection and transformed into a new communicative signal. Importantly, susceptibility for ritualization can be brought about through physiological modifications that occurred early in evolutionary time. In this way, perceptual bias can be a selective force that causes the co-option of non-communicative traits into a new communication signal through ritualization involving pre-existing modifications to physiological systems. If the perceptual bias, non-communicative signal, and physiological modifications that increase susceptibility to ritualization are highly conserved, then we may see the convergent evolution of the new communication signal with unrelated taxa facing similar sensory constraints. We explore this idea here using the foot-flagging frog system as a theoretical case study., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.)

Practical blood flow restriction (pBFR), using non-pneumatic elastic cuffs, is a feasible and cost-effective alternative to pneumatic systems. There is evidence that cuff stiffness influences haemodynamic and perceptual responses in the upper body during rest. However, the impact of cuff stiffness during exercise is still unknown. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of cuff stiffness on physiological, perceptual, and performance changes during exercise. In a randomized and counterbalanced order, ten recreationally active males performed four sets of unilateral elbow flexions at 20% of individuals' one-repetition-maximum with two elastic cuffs of different stiffness (low stiffness cuff [LS] and high stiffness cuff [HS]) each applied with two different overlaps (10% and 20% overlap in relation to the limb circumference) as well as a control condition without pBFR. Before and after exercise, maximal voluntary isometric contraction torque was measured to assess motor performance fatigue. During exercise, muscle oxygen saturation of the biceps brachii as well as effort and exercise-induced muscle pain perception were recorded. Statistical analysis revealed that motor performance fatigue was not different between conditions (BF 10  = 0.289). The decline in muscle oxygen saturation (BF 10  = 8.508 and BF 10  = 1039.543) as well as effort (BF 10  = 2646.104 and BF 10  = 2.773∙10 6 ) and exercise-induced muscle pain perception (BF 10  = 14087.983 and BF 10  = 7.306∙10 9 ) were higher when using the stiffer cuff at 10% and 20% overlap, respectively. Conclusively, physiological and perceptual responses but not motor performance fatigue were affected by cuff stiffness when equal relative overlaps were applied.

Background: During the basketball season, it is essential to carefully plan training and recovery activities to optimize players' performance. This study monitored training load and perceived recovery indicators in professional female basketball players across the preseason and in-season phases., Methods: Seventeen professional female basketball players (age: 19.6±3.1 years; height: 180.2±5.9 cm; playing position: 8 backcourt, 9 frontcourt) were monitored for eleven consecutive weeks. Each morning, players reported their perceived recovery using a 10-point Total Quality of Recovery (TQR) Scale. After each training session or game, players reported their perceived exertion using the CR-10 Scale, which was multiplied by the duration of the training or game to obtain the session load. Weekly load, monotony, strain, TQRAM (morning recovery) and TQRfw (recovery at the start of the following week) were calculated. Linear mixed models were performed to assess the effects of season phase (preseason; in-season), playing position (backcourt; frontcourt) and group (senior; under) on load and recovery variables., Results: Weekly load, monotony and strain were higher in the preseason than the in-season phase (all P<0.001, ES: moderate-large). Strain was higher in senior players compared to under (P=0.045, ES: small). Regarding recovery variables, no effects were found for TQRAM, while TQRfw was higher in the preseason than in-season (P<0.001, ES: moderate) phase., Conclusions: Professional female basketball players experience lower internal loads but poorer perceived recovery during the in-season phase. Practitioners should carefully consider the stress of competition and the cumulative fatigue from high preseason loads during the transition from the preseason to the regular season.

Purpose: An internal model deficit is considered to underlie developmental coordination disorder (DCD); thus, children with DCD have an altered sense of agency (SoA), which is associated with depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the perception of action-outcome regularity is present in early development, is involved in the generation of SoA, and has roles in adaptive motor learning and coordinated motor skills. However, perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity has not been examined in children with DCD., Methods: We investigated perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity in 6-15-year-old children with DCD and age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children. Both groups were assessed for coordinated motor skills with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd Edition, while the DCD group was assessed with the DCD Questionnaire, Social Communication Questionnaire, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Rating Scale, and Depression Self- Rating Scale for Children., Results: Perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity was significantly reduced in children with DCD. However, there was a significant correlation between perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity and age in DCD and TD children. Perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity was significantly lower in younger children with DCD than in younger and older TD children, but there were no significant differences between older children with DCD and younger and older TD children., Conclusion: The current results suggest that children with DCD have significantly reduced perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity at younger ages, which may alter SoA and inhibit internal model development, thereby reducing motor skill coordination., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

In this opinion piece I reiterate the concepts of near and far transfer as previously described in the psychological literature. I show that despite very limited evidence, many technologies, tools and methods make questionable claims of eliciting far transfer from generic perceptual and/or cognitive training to sports performance. Specifically, this commentary illustrates with studies on stroboscopic vision, neurofeedback training and executive functions that the claims made for the beneficial effects of these training methods are currently unsubstantiated. I conclude that greater scrutiny by researchers is needed in order to assist practitioners to make better-informed decisions about tools, methods and technologies that may aid sports performance., Competing Interests: Declarations Conflict of Interest The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate Not applicable. Consent for Publication Not applicable. Availability of Data and Materials Not applicable. Funding Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. Author Contributions As a sole author, Job Fransen conceptualised and wrote this commentary., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Novelty: This study is novel in classifying bodybuilding posing training as vigorous intensity exercise using metabolic equivalents (METs) and heart rate (HR) responses. It provides empirical evidence showing that posing training meets the vigorous intensity benchmarks, with METs and %HRmax values comparable to established vigorous exercise standards. The research highlights the novel finding that stimulant usage and the peak week phase of preparation significantly influence physiological responses and perceived exertion in bodybuilders. Specifically, athletes using stimulants and those in peak week displayed higher ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and maximum heart rates, indicating that these factors notably affect the intensity and perceived difficulty of posing training., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Cultural differences between the United States and China have been investigated using a broad array of psychological tasks measuring differences between cognition, language, perception, and reasoning. Using online convenience samples of adults, we conducted two large-scale replications of 12 tasks previously reported to show differences between Western and East Asian cultures. Our results showed a heterogeneous pattern of successes and failures: five tasks yielded robust cultural differences, while five showed no difference between cultures, and two showed a small difference in the opposite direction. We observed moderate reliability for all multitrial tasks, but there was little relation between task scores. As in prior work, cross-cultural differences in cognition (in those tasks showing differences) were not strongly related to explicit measures of cultural identity and behavior. All of our tasks, data, and analyses are openly available for reuse, providing a foundation for future studies that seek to establish a robust and replicable science of cross-cultural difference. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose: To quantify and compare loads encountered in individual training sessions and games during noncongested and congested weeks in semiprofessional women basketball players., Methods: Using an observational, longitudinal design, 12 players from the same team had their external (PlayerLoad, relative PlayerLoad, and total and high-intensity inertial movement analysis variables) and internal load (session rating of perceived exertion [sRPE], sRPE-load, percentage of heart rate peak, and modified summated-heart-rate-zones load) monitored across a regular season. Training and game data were categorized into noncongested (0-1 game) and congested weeks (2-3 games). Linear mixed models and Cohen d effect sizes were used for analyses., Results: Comparisons between training sessions revealed higher (P < .05, d = 1.35-5.33) PlayerLoad, total inertial movement analysis, sRPE, and sRPE-load during training session 1 than training session 2 in congested weeks. Comparisons between training sessions and games revealed higher (P ≤ .001, d = 1.10-1.66) sRPE and sRPE-load during games than training sessions 1 and 2 in noncongested weeks, alongside higher (P ≤ .001, d = 1.87-3.55) sRPE during game 1 than training sessions 1 and 2 in congested weeks. Comparisons between games revealed higher (P < .05, d = 0.57-2.82) loads in game 3 during congested weeks compared with all other games., Conclusions: Training appeared to be tapered in congested weeks, likely to account for upcoming increases in game loading, but remained relatively consistent across sessions during noncongested weeks. Individual game loads remained relatively consistent but were noticeably increased when a third game was played in the week.

Data-driven decision making (DDDM) is becoming an indispensable component of work across various fields, and the perception of aberrant data (PAD) has emerged as an essential skill. Nonetheless, the neural processing mechanisms underpinning PAD remain incompletely elucidated. Direct evidence linking neural oscillations to PAD is currently lacking, and the impact of cognitive load remains ambiguous. We address this issue using EEG time-frequency analysis. Data were collected from 21 healthy participants. The experiment employed a 2 (low vs. high cognitive load) × 2 [PAD+ (aberrant data accurately identified as aberrant) vs. PAD- (non-aberrant data correctly recognized as normal)] within-subject laboratory design. Results indicate that upper β band oscillations (26-30 Hz) were significantly enhanced in the PAD + condition compared to PAD-, with consistent activity observed in the frontal (p < 0.001, [Formula: see text] = 0.41) and parietal lobes (p = 0.028, [Formula: see text] = 0.22) within the 300-350 ms time window. Additionally, as cognitive load increased, the time window of β oscillations for distinguishing PAD+ from PAD- shifted earlier. This study enriches our understanding of the PAD neural basis by exploring the distribution of neural oscillation frequencies, decision-making neural circuits, and the windowing effect induced by cognitive load. These findings have significant implications for elucidating the pathological mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders, as well as in the initial screening, intervention, and treatment of diseases., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The burden of epilepsy is not only related to seizure frequency; the severity of epileptic seizures considerably affects patient's lives. A number of seizure severity scales have thus been developed for a systematic assessment. Items considered relevant in these scales mainly pertain to objective features, such as seizure duration, loss of consciousness, and seizure-related injuries. In contrast, subjective experiences of seizures are considered only in their functionality as "warnings", whereas the quality of subjective perceptions and feelings are disregarded phenomena. This leads to a gap between the often-distressing subjective experiences which people with epilepsy remember from their seizures and the perception of physicians which may negatively impact physician-patient communication and interaction and question their valid use as treatment outcomes. We advocate here to develop new seizure severity assessments in collaboration with patient organizations which integrate also the subjective quality of seizures., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A recent study by Wu, Podvalny, and colleagues investigated how ongoing spontaneous brain activity interacts with sensory input and shapes conscious perception. It reports diverse effects of prestimulus activity in several key networks, revealing new roles of the prefrontal cortex and the default mode network in perception and consciousness., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The author declares no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The primary aim of the study was to assess differences in strength performance, neuromuscular fatigue, and perceived exertion across phases of the menstrual cycle [MC; early follicular (eFP), late follicular (lFP), and mid-luteal phase (mLP)] and oral contraceptives [OCs; active pill phase (aPP) and nonactive pill phase (nPP)]. The secondary aim was to analyze the influence of fluctuating serum 17β-estradiol and progesterone concentrations on these parameters in naturally menstruating women. Thirty-four women (21 with a natural MC and 13 using OCs) completed three or two experimental sessions, respectively. Mean propulsive velocity (MPV mean ) and total number of repetitions (REP total ) were assessed during a power [3 × 8 at 60% 1RM (one-repetition maximum)] and hypertrophy squat loading (3 sets to failure at 70% 1RM), respectively. Changes in bench press and squat MPV at 60% 1RM in response to the loadings were used as surrogates for nonlocal and local fatigue, respectively. Total blood lactate accumulation (BLA A ) and markers of perceived exertion were assessed in each session. No significant differences between any of the MC or OC phases were observed for MPV mean , REP total , nonlocal and local fatigue, and markers of perceived exertion (all P > 0.050). A higher intraindividual 17β-estradiol concentration was significantly associated with a lower MPV mean ( P = 0.019). BLA A was significantly higher in the lFP than in the mLP ( P = 0.019) and negatively associated with the intraindividual progesterone concentration ( P = 0.005). Although 17β-estradiol may negatively influence the MPV, it appears that fluctuations of both sex hormones across the MC and OC phases are not prominent enough to induce significant or practically relevant changes in the assessed parameters. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although a high intraindividual 17β-estradiol concentration was associated with a lower movement velocity, markers of strength performance and surrogates for nonlocal and local fatigue remained unaffected by MC and OC phases. Blood lactate accumulation was significantly reduced in the mLP. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the impact of the MC phases varies greatly among individuals. Individuals with high fluctuations in sex hormone concentrations may experience relevant changes in the assessed parameters.

The term 'amodal' is a key topic in several different research fields across experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, including in the areas of developmental and perception science. However, despite being regularly used in the literature, the term means something different to the researchers working in the different contexts. Many developmental scientists conceive of the term as referring to those perceptual qualities, such as, for example, the size and shape of an object, that can be picked up by multiple senses (e.g., vision and touch potentially providing information relevant to the same physical stimulus/property). However, the amodal label is also widely used in the case of those qualities that are not directly sensory, such as, for example, numerosity, rhythm, synchrony, etc. Cognitive neuroscientists, by contrast, tend to use the term amodal to refer to those central cognitive processes and brain areas that do not appear to be preferentially responsive to a particular sensory modality or to those symbolic or formal representations that essentially lack any modality and that are assumed to play a role in the higher processing of sensory information. Finally, perception scientists sometimes refer to the phenomenon of 'amodal completion', referring to the spontaneous completion of perceptual information that is missing when occluded objects are presented to observers. In this paper, we review the various different ways in which the term 'amodal' has been used in the literature and the evidence supporting the various uses of the term. Morever, we highlight some of the various properties that have been suggested to be 'amodal' over the years. Then, we try to address some of the questions that arise from the reviewed evidence, such as: Do different uses of the 'term' refer to different domains, for example, sensory information, perceptual processes, or perceptual representations? Are there any commonalities among the different uses of the term? To what extent is research on cross-modal associations (or correspondences) related to, or can shed light on, amodality? And how is the notion of amodal related to multisensory integration? Based on the reviewed evidence, it is argued that there is, as yet, no convincing empirical evidence to support the claim that amodal sensory qualities exist. We thus suggest that use of the term amodal would be more meaningful with respect to abstract cognition rather than necessarily sensory perception, the latter being more adequately explained/understood in terms of highly redundant cross-modal correspondences., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Decoding semantic concepts for imagination and perception tasks (SCIP) is important for rehabilitation medicine as well as cognitive neuroscience. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is commonly used in the relevant fields, because it is a low-cost noninvasive technique with high temporal resolution. However, as EEG signals contain a high noise level resulting in a low signal-to-noise ratio, it makes decoding EEG-based semantic concepts for imagination and perception tasks (SCIP-EEG) challenging. Currently, neural network algorithms such as CNN, RNN, and LSTM have almost reached their limits in EEG signal decoding due to their own short-comings. The emergence of transformer methods has improved the classification performance of neural networks for EEG signals. However, the transformer model has a large parameter set and high complexity, which is not conducive to the application of BCI. EEG signals have high spatial correlation. The relationship between signals from different electrodes is more complex. Capsule neural networks can effectively model the spatial relationship between electrodes through vector representation and a dynamic routing mechanism. Therefore, it achieves more accurate feature extraction and classification. This paper proposes a spatio-temporal capsule network with a self-correlation routing mechaninsm for the classification of semantic conceptual EEG signals. By improving the feature extraction and routing mechanism, the model is able to more effectively capture the highly variable spatio-temporal features from EEG signals and establish connections between capsules, thereby enhancing classification accuracy and model efficiency. The performance of the proposed model was validated using the publicly accessible semantic concept dataset for imagined and perceived tasks from Bath University. Our model achieved average accuracies of 94.9%, 93.3%, and 78.4% in the three sensory modalities (pictorial, orthographic, and audio), respectively. The overall average accuracy across the three sensory modalities is 88.9%. Compared to existing advanced algorithms, the proposed model achieved state-of-the-art performance, significantly improving classification accuracy. Additionally, the proposed model is more stable and efficient, making it a better decoding solution for SCIP-EEG decoding.

Purpose: The current study aimed to determine the effect of a synthetic-grass sport surface on core body temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during intermittent exercise in hot conditions., Methods: Using a randomized crossover design, 13 trained/developmental team-sport athletes completed two 50-minute standardized intermittent running protocols on a synthetic and a natural-grass surface, on separate days (control-condition air temperature 32.6 °C [1.3 °C], relative humidity 43.2% [5.3%])., Results: Final skin temperature was significantly higher on synthetic compared with natural grass at the calf (40.1 °C [2.5 °C] vs 33.4 °C [0.6 °C]; P < .001), shoulder (36.6 °C [1.7 °C] vs 33.7 °C [0.7 °C]; P < .001), and chest (33.2 °C [1.1 °C] vs 31.8 °C [1.2 °C]; P = .02). Thermal sensation (median: 2.3; interquartile range [0.5] vs 2.2 [0.5], P = .03) and sweat rate (1.5 [0.4] L·h-1 vs 1.2 [0.3] L·h-1; P = .02) were also significantly higher on synthetic grass. While final core body temperature was significantly higher on the natural than synthetic grass (38.4 °C [0.3 °C] vs 38.2 °C [0.4 °C]), there were no significant differences in delta core temperature, as well as heart rate, thermal comfort, or RPE., Conclusions: Higher skin temperatures, thermal sensation, and sweat rates suggest that exercising on synthetic grass in hot conditions may increase some markers of heat strain during exercise. However, delta core body temperature, heart rate, thermal comfort, and RPE remained unaffected.

Understanding the mechanism by which the brain achieves relatively consistent information processing contrary to its inherent inconsistency in activity is one of the major challenges in neuroscience. Recently, it has been reported that the consistency of neural responses to stimuli that are presented repeatedly is enhanced implicitly in an unsupervised way, and results in improved perceptual consistency. Here, we propose the term "selective consistency" to describe this input-dependent consistency and hypothesize that it will be acquired in a self-organizing manner by plasticity within the neural system. To test this, we investigated whether a reservoir-based plastic model could acquire selective consistency to repeated stimuli. We used white noise sequences randomly generated in each trial and referenced white noise sequences presented multiple times. The results showed that the plastic network was capable of acquiring selective consistency rapidly, with as little as five exposures to stimuli, even for white noise. The acquisition of selective consistency could occur independently of performance optimization, as the network's time-series prediction accuracy for referenced stimuli did not improve with repeated exposure and optimization. Furthermore, the network could only achieve selective consistency when in the region between order and chaos. These findings suggest that the neural system can acquire selective consistency in a self-organizing manner and that this may serve as a mechanism for certain types of learning., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Goto, Kitajo. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study aimed to: (i) analyze the variations in psychophysiological demands (mean heart rate, meanHR; rate of perceived exertion, RPE) and technical performance (umber of successful and unsuccessful passes, and occurrences of ball loss) between 2v2 and 4v4 small-sided games (SSGs) formats, and (ii) examine the relationships of aerobic capacity measured in Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test (YYIRT) on psychophysiological and technical performance during SSGs. This study used a cross-sectional design with repeated measures, where the same players participated in both 2v2 and 4v4 formats across two training sessions per format. Twenty-four talent/developmental male youth soccer players, aged 16.6 ± 0.5 years. The meanHR, measured through heart rate sensors, the RPE, assessed using the CR6-20 scale, and the number of successful and unsuccessful passes, along with occurrences of ball loss, recorded using an ad hoc observational tool, were evaluated in each repetition. Players during the 2v2 format had significantly greater mean HR (+4.1%; p < 0.001; d = 2.258), RPE (+12.2%; p < 0.001; d = 2.258), successful passes (+22.2%; p = 0.006; d = 0.884), unsuccessful passes (+62.5%; p < 0.001; d = 1.197) and lost balls (+111.1%; p < 0.001; d = 2.085) than 4v4 format. The YYIRT was significantly and largely correlated with unsuccessful passes (r = 0.502; p = 0.012) and lost balls (r = 0.421; p = 0.041) in 2v2 format. In conclusion, this study suggests that engaging in 2v2 activities constitutes a more intense form of practice, significantly enhancing individual participation in technical aspects. Moreover, aerobic capacity may influence the smaller formats of play and how players perform key technical actions. Therefore, coaches must consider this to ensure the necessary performance in such games., (© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.)

Post-exercise hot (HWI) and cold (CWI) water immersion are popular strategies used by athletes in a range of sporting contexts, such as enhancing recovery or adaptation. However, prolonged heating bouts increase neuroendocrine responses that are associated with perceptions of fatigue. Fourteen endurance-trained runners performed three trials consisting of two 45-min runs at 95% lactate threshold on a treadmill separated by 6 h of recovery. Following the first run, participants completed one of HWI (30 min, 40°C), CWI (15 min, 14°C) or control (CON, 30 min rest in ambient conditions) in a randomised order. Perceived effort and recovery were measured using ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and the Acute Recovery and Stress Scale (ARSS), whilst physiological responses including venous concentrations of a range of neuroendocrine markers, superficial femoral blood flow, heart rate and rectal temperature were measured. Exercise increased neuroendocrine responses of interleukin-6, adrenaline and noradrenaline (all P < 0.001). Additionally, perceptions of overall recovery (P < 0.001), mental performance capacity (P = 0.02), physical performance capability (P = 0.01) and emotional balance (P = 0.03) were reduced prior to the second run. However, there was no effect of condition on these variables (P > 0.05), nor RPE (P = 0.68), despite differences in rectal temperature, superficial femoral blood flow following the first run, and participants' expected recovery prior to the intervention (all P < 0.001). Therefore, athletes may engage in post-exercise hot or cold-water immersion without negatively impacting moderate-intensity training sessions performed later the same day., (© 2024 The Author(s). Experimental Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.)

Inspired by the well-known Papez circuit theory and neuroscience knowledge of reinforcement learning, a double dueling deep Q network (DQN) is built incorporating the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of the frontal lobe as prior information, which is named frontal lobe double dueling DQN (FLD3QN). The framework of FLD3QN is constructed in accord with the brain emotion mechanism which takes the frontal lobe and the thalamus as the core, in which the part of the Papez circuit is simulated by the bifrontal lobe residual convolution neural network (BiFRCNN). Moreover, a step penalty factor is designed to constrain the number of mistakes of the agent. The ablation studies results on the public EEG emotion dataset DEAP verified the important roles of the frontal lobe and the Papez circuit in modeling the procedure of learning rewards during the perception of emotions, with a great increase in the average accuracies by 25.24% and 23.31% in valence and arousal dimensions.

Disputes between rival theories of consciousness have often centered on whether perceptual contents can be decoded from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Failures to decode from the PFC are taken to challenge 'cognitive' theories of consciousness such as the global workspace theory and higher-order monitoring theories, and decoding successes have been taken to confirm these theories. However, PFC decoding shows both too much and too little. Too much because cognitive theories of consciousness do not need PFC rerepresentation of perceptual contents since pointers to perceptual representations suffice. Too little because there is evidence that PFC decoding of perceptual content reflects postperceptual cognitive representation, such as thoughts that have those perceptual contents rather than conscious percepts., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The author has no interests to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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.

In soccer, skill is significantly influenced by motor skills and physical constitution. In addition, perceptual-cognitive abilities are thought to affect sport-specific performance. Nevertheless, there are hardly any studies investigating the relationship of general cognitive abilities with sport-specific performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze relationships between general perceptual-cognitive abilities and soccer-specific performance in competitive youth sports. Thirty highly talented male youth soccer players aged 12-14 years completed various perceptual-cognitive (selective attention, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, working memory, peripheral perception, and choice response) and sport-specific on-field tests. Cognitive abilities were assessed using a computer-based test system. Soccer-specific performance skills were evaluated by two sport-specific on-field tests. The relation between perceptual-cognitive abilities and soccer-specific performance was examined using a correlation analysis as well as a four-stage regression analysis. Overall, the expression of general perceptual-cognitive abilities was found to have an impact on performance in soccer-specific test situations, particularly cognitive flexibility and selective attention. Our results suggest that general cognitive tests could be an important tool for the evaluation of cognitive abilities in soccer. This study brings together key approaches in expertise research and makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of expertise in soccer., (© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.)

Bayesian inference suggests that perception is inferred from a weighted integration of prior contextual beliefs with current sensory evidence (likelihood) about the world around us. The perceived precision or uncertainty associated with prior and likelihood information is used to guide perceptual decision-making, such that more weight is placed on the source of information with greater precision. This provides a framework for understanding a spectrum of clinical transdiagnostic symptoms associated with aberrant perception, as well as individual differences in the general population. While behavioral paradigms are commonly used to characterize individual differences in perception as a stable characteristic, measurement reliability in these behavioral tasks is rarely assessed. To remedy this gap, we empirically evaluate the reliability of a perceptual decision-making task that quantifies individual differences in Bayesian belief updating in terms of the relative precision weighting afforded to prior and likelihood information (i.e., sensory weight). We analyzed data from participants (n = 37) who performed this task twice. We found that the precision afforded to prior and likelihood information showed high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.73, 95% CI [0.53, 0.85]) when averaged across participants, as well as at the individual level using hierarchical modeling. Our results provide support for the assumption that Bayesian belief updating operates as a stable characteristic in perceptual decision-making. We discuss the utility and applicability of reliable perceptual decision-making paradigms as a measure of individual differences in the general population, as well as a diagnostic tool in psychiatric research., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Bach (Psychological Research 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01773-w ) offer a re-conceptualisation of motor imagery, influenced by older ideas of ideomotor action and formulated in terms of action effects rather than motor output. We share the view of an essential role of action effect in action planning and motor imagery processes, but we challenge the claim that motor imagery is non-motoric in nature. In the present article, we critically review some of Bach et al.'s proposed ideas and pose questions of whether effect and motor processes are functionally separable, and if not, what mechanisms underlie motor imagery and what terminology best captures its function., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To gather information on practices and perceptions of high-performance experts regarding their athletes' muscle fiber-type composition (MFTC) and its estimation., Methods: A questionnaire on the noninvasive versus invasive estimation of MFTC was completed by 446 experts including coaches and sport-science/sports-medicine staff. Moreover, the perceived importance of MFTC for training and performance optimization was assessed. Differences between sport types (individual and team sports) were analyzed using chi-square tests., Results: Forty percent of the experts implemented MFTC assessment in pursuit of performance optimization, while 50% did not know their athletes' MFTC but expressed a desire to implement it if they would be able to assess MFTC. Ten percent did not perceive value in MFTC assessment. Only 18% of experts believed that their athletes would undergo a muscle biopsy, leading to the adoption of alternative noninvasive techniques. Experts primarily relied on their experience to estimate MFTC (65%), with experts working in individual sports using their experience more frequently than those working in team sports (68% vs 51%; P = .009). Jump tests emerged as the second-most commonly employed method for estimating MFTC (56%). When only considering experts who are currently using MFTC, 87% use MFTC to individualize training volume and 84% to individualize training intensity., Conclusions: Experts value MFTC assessment primarily to individualize training but mainly rely on noninvasive methods to estimate MFTC. Some of these methods lack scientific validity, suggesting a continuing need for education and further research in this area.

Emotional experiences are driven, in part, by the way we process and integrate information from different sensory modalities. Understanding how perceptual and emotional systems interact to give rise to subjective feelings is an important, complex and challenging issue, requiring new approaches and integrative thinking that fuses the fundamentals of low-level sensory perception with higher-level cognitive and affective processes. The Theme Issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience' showcases fifteen theoretical, empirical, and review articles from experts working at the intersection of perception and emotion, encompassing multiple sensory systems (visual, auditory, tactile and interoceptive), clinical and non-clinical perspectives (e.g. affective disorders and hearing loss), contextual and social perspectives, and complex emotional experiences in special populations. Articles in Part 1 emphasize recent advances across fields in sensory and emotion science and give insights into future directions. Each article in Part 2 provides more detailed and specific methodological approaches or theoretical models, and focuses on basic mechanisms linking sensation to emotional experience. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'.

Purpose: This study both investigated and compared Gaelic games players' and practitioners' perceptions of the importance of postexercise recovery strategies., Methods: Gaelic players (n = 1178 [n = 574 female], age 24.6 [6.6] y) and practitioners (n = 148 [n = 29 female], age 35.9 [8.7] y) completed a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of various postexercise recovery strategies (importance ranked out of 5 [1 "not important at all" to 5 "extremely important"]). Players were further categorized by playing standard into developmental (club/collegiate; n = 869) and national (intercounty; n = 309) levels and by sport: Gaelic football (n = 813), camogie/hurling (n = 342), and Gaelic handball (n = 23). Practitioners were categorized as sport coaches (n = 67), strength and conditioning staff (n = 34), nutrition staff (n = 15), and athletic rehabilitation staff (n = 32)., Results: Gaelic players prevalently perceived sleep (76.4%), rehydration (72.5%), postexercise meal (48.4%), stretching (47.6%), active cool-down (25.1%), foam rolling (23.1%), and massage by therapist (22.6%) as "extremely important." Practitioners prevalently perceived sleep (90.1%), rehydration (83.6%), postexercise meal (76.6%), daytime naps (36.2%), stretching (25.4%), discussion with teammates (24.6%), and getting into nature (19.4%) as "extremely important.", Conclusions: While strategies with well-documented efficacy such as sleep, nutrition, and rehydration were rated as most important, a distinct and possibly problematic disconnect exists between the perceived importance of many strategies and their empirically demonstrated effectiveness. For instance, active cool-downs and stretching were perceived as highly important despite prevailing evidence suggesting that their effects are often small in magnitude. Collectively, work promoting optimal recovery practices and aligning player-practitioner perspectives would be beneficial to maximize time and resource allocation and enhance player buy-in.

Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) are frequently used to prescribe exercise intensity. A central assumption of using RPE scales is that the subjective perception of effort maps onto objective performance in a consistent way. However, the degree and shape of how RPE aligns with objective performance is not fully understood. Here, we investigate the degree and shape of alignment, as well as how time (i.e., how frequently an effort needs to be performed) and mental effort (i.e., if one has to invest mental effort and physical effort) correspond with the alignment. In a randomized within-subjects experiment, we used a grip-to-scale method that asked participants (N = 43) to repeatedly squeeze a handgrip dynamometer with four to-be-produced RPE target levels relative to their subjective maximum strength (representing 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80%). We found that the RPE-force alignment was not the same across RPE-levels: Whereas subjective differences from 20-40% and 40-60% were met by comparable differences in produced force, a substantially larger difference was observed for the 60-80% interval. Interestingly, exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed that this was mirrored by an increase in variance at the higher effort levels. In addition, at constant RPE-levels, participants produced less force over time, and this effect was more pronounced at lower RPE target levels. Lastly, anticipating mental effort after the physical effort slightly altered the alignment as a function of the to-be-produced RPE-level and experimental duration. Taken together, our results indicate that the mapping of perceived effort on objective performance is intricate, and several factors affect the degree and shape of how RPE and performance align. Understanding the dynamic adjustment of RPE-performance alignment across different RPE levels is particularly relevant for contexts that use RPE as a tool for training load prescription., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Rewitz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The purpose of the current study was to understand female rugby players' perceptions of menstrual cycle (MC) tracking and identify the impact of MC tracking for the players. Interpretive descriptive methodology was adopted. Interviews were conducted with 12 elite female rugby players (age 25.2 ± 4.3 years), who were all naturally menstruating. Data were analysed following the four stages recommended within Interpretive Description. Results identified that athletes obtain personal benefits from MC tracking by; enhancing understanding of their MC and symptoms, and responding to their MC and symptoms. Athletes also reported that the process of tracking their MC enhanced relationships by; improving communication and interactions with coaches and support staff, and by facilitating team support. Specifically, using tracking increased the opportunities for open conversations with coaches, support staff and teammates regarding their MC. Overall, the findings highlight benefits of menstrual cycle tracking within this group of naturally menstruating rugby players, particularly in helping players and coaches understand the individual nature of the MC, engage in conversations, and establish support from teammates.

Purpose: To describe the self-reported menstrual health, symptomatology, and perceived effects of the menstrual cycle on athletic performance for national and international Australian football (soccer) players., Methods: Players from national and domestic teams were invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding menstrual health, use of hormonal contraceptives (HCs), negative symptomatology, and perceived disruption of the menstrual cycle to performance. Descriptive statistics and binomial regressions with odds ratios (OR) were used to report the relationship of menstrual-related variables with perceived performance disruption., Results: A total of 199 players (20.9 [5.1] y) completed the questionnaire, with 18% of players reporting using HCs. One primary amenorrhea case was detected, and 26% of players reported menarche at age ≥15 years. For non-HC users, the prevalence of secondary amenorrhea was 2%, oligomenorrhea was 19%, and heavy menstrual bleeding was 11%. Ninety-seven percent of players reported experiencing physical or affective menstrual symptoms (5 [1.3] per player), and 40% of all players reported that menstrual symptoms impacted their ability to work, study, train, or compete. Furthermore, 40% of players perceived their training or performance to be disrupted by the menstrual cycle. Increasing number of menstrual symptoms (OR = 1.43; 95% CI, 1.28-1.62; P < .001), heavy menstrual bleeding (OR = 12.73; 95% CI, 3.4-82.8; P < .001), and pelvic pain (OR = 3.40; 95% CI, 1.7-7.2; P < .001) increased the likelihood of perceiving the menstrual cycle to disrupt performance., Conclusion: Heavy menstrual bleeding and HC use were low among this cohort of national and international footballers, whereas amenorrhea and oligomenorrhoea were comparable with other football populations. Nearly all players reported menstrual symptoms, and increased symptomatology was associated with greater perceived effects on performance.

Microcycles are fundamental structures for training prescription and load management, helping to optimise training effects and performance. This study quantified external and internal loads of Italian Serie A youth soccer players across competitive weeks and their periodisation within microcycles. Data were collected from 90 players belonging to four age groups (under-19, -17, -16, -15) across a season. Methods of monitoring external [duration and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)] and internal load [heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE)] were employed. Linear mixed models determined differences in training loads across age groups, training days and player positions. Under-19 and under-17 players trained five times per week, while younger players trained four times. Late-stage academy players (under-19 and -17) demonstrated higher weekly accumulated external and sRPE training load compared to their younger counterparts ( p  < 0.05 between groups). Weekly accumulated HR internal loads were higher in under-15 players ( p  < 0.05 between groups). Marked fluctuations of daily load were observed across microcycles in under-19 and under-17 groups ( p  < 0.05 between days). These findings highlight progressive increases in training load throughout the development pathway, with late-stage academy players training with higher frequency, volume and marked periodisation compared to younger players.

The embodied approach argues that interaction with the environment plays a crucial role in brain development and that the presence of sensory effects generated by movements is fundamental. The movement of the fetus is initially random. Then, the repeated execution of the movement creates a link between it and its sensory effects, allowing the selection of movements that produce expected sensations. During fetal life, the brain develops from a transitory fetal circuit to the permanent cortical circuit, which completes development after birth. Accordingly, this process must concern the interaction of the fetus with the intrauterine environment and of the newborn with the new aerial environment, which provides a new sensory stimulation, light. The goal of the present review is to provide suggestions for neuroscientific research capable of shedding light on brain development process by describing from a functional point of view the relationship between the motor and sensory abilities of fetuses and newborns and the increasing complexity of their interaction with objects in the womb and outside of it., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is among the widest across education and professional fields, with an underrepresentation of girls and women, particularly in engineering and biomechanics. This issue begins early in education and worsens as females progress into more senior roles. To address this gap, we designed and implemented the Biomechanics Research and Innovation Challenge (BRInC), a 100-day STEM program focused on mentoring and role modelling to engage high school girls and early-career biomechanists at key phases where they most commonly disengage in STEM. We evaluated the influence of the program on (i) identity and perceptions towards science, engineering, and biomechanics; (ii) attitudes towards biomechanics, maths and science; and (iii) attitudes towards gender bias, education and career aspirations in STEM, within high school girls following participation in the BRInC program. We observed significant and positive shifts in girls' perceptions of both biomechanics and engineering. Participation in the program appeared to lead to favourable shifts in attitudes towards biomechanics, maths, and science and fostered a positive influence on girls' education and career aspirations, igniting an interest in future research opportunities. Innovative STEM engagement programs, such as BRInC, highlight the promising potential of targeted and bespoke approaches to address the underrepresentation of females in biomechanics and STEM-related education and careers. Future programs should strive to enhance socioeconomic and cultural diversity, employ whole of life-cycle approaches by offering programs for girls and women at various phases of the STEM pathway, and prioritize impact assessments to effectively monitor progress., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This study investigated the effects of different resistance training (RT) volumes quantified by weekly sets at high intensity (load and effort) on dynamic strength adaptations and psychophysiological responses in trained individuals. Twenty-four athletes were randomly allocated to three groups that performed three (3 S, n=8), six (6 S, n=8), and nine (9 S, n=8) weekly sets, respectively, three times a week on the barbell back squat and bench press during an 8-week period. While all groups showcased strength gains (p<0.05), post hoc comparisons revealed that 6 S and 9 S elicited greater strength adaptations than 3 S in barbell back squat (p=0.027 and p=0.004, respectively) and bench press (p=0.001 and p=0.044, respectively). There were no differences between 6 S and 9 S conditions for back squat (p=0.999) and bench press (p=0.378). Although a time effect was observed for Session-RPE (p=0.014) and Total Quality Recovery scale (p=0.020), psychophysiological responses were similar among groups. Our findings suggest that performing six and nine weekly sets at high intensities led to greater strength gains compared to three weekly sets in strength-trained individuals, despite similar psychophysiological responses., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no potential conflict of interest., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

The classical mind-body problem persists as one of the deepest scientific mysteries. Despite the grand claims of the new AI, some of the most basic facts of human vision cannot be explained by current or proposed theories of brain structure and function. This paper reviews some well-known mysteries including the neural binding problem, blind sight, subjective experience and prosthetics. There is continuing progress, but the core mysteries of the mind seem to require fundamental advances for any reductionist resolution., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Bouts of military load carriage are rarely completed in isolation; however, limited research has investigated the physiological responses to repeated load carriage tasks. Twelve civilian men (age, 28 ± 8 years; stature, 185.6 ± 5.8 cm; body mass 84.3 ± 11.1 kg and maximal oxygen uptake, 51.5 ± 6.4 mL·kg -1  min -1 ) attended the laboratory on two occasions to undertake a familiarisation and an experimental session. Following their familiarisation session, participants completed three bouts of a fast load carriage protocol (FLCP; ∼65 min), carrying 25 kg, interspersed with a 65-min recovery period. Physiological strain (oxygen uptake [V̇O 2 ] and heart rate [HR]) was assessed during the FLCP bouts, and physical performance assessments (weighted counter-movement jump [wCMJ], maximal isometric voluntary contraction of the quadriceps [MIVC] and seated medicine ball throw [SMBT]) was measured pre and post each FLCP bout. A main effect for bout and measurement time was evident for V̇O 2 and HR (both p < 0.001 and Ѡ 2  = 0.103-0.816). There was no likely change in SMBT distance (p = 0.201 and Ѡ 2  = 0.004), but MIVC peak force reduced by approximately 25% across measurement points (p < 0.001 and Ѡ 2  = 0.133). A mean percentage change of approximately -12% from initial values was also evident for peak wCMJ height (p = 0.001 and Ѡ 2  = 0.028). Collectively, these data demonstrate that repeated FLCP bouts result in an elevated physiological strain for each successive bout, along with a substantial reduction in lower body power (wCMJ and MIVC). Therefore, future research should investigate possible mitigation strategies to maintain role-related capability., (© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.)

Effort and the perception of effort (PE) have been extensively studied across disciplines, resulting in multiple definitions. These inconsistencies block scientific progress by impeding effective communication between and within fields. Here, we present an integrated perspective of effort and PE that is applicable to both physical and cognitive activities. We define effort as the energy utilized to perform an action. This definition can be applied to biological entities performing various voluntary or involuntary activities, irrespective of whether the effort contributes to goal achievement. Then, we define PE as the instantaneous experience of utilizing energy to perform an action. This definition builds on that of effort without conflating it with other subjective experiences. We explore the nature of effort and PE as constructs and variables and highlight key considerations in their measurement. Our integrated perspective aims to facilitate a deeper understanding of these constructs, refine research methodologies, and promote interdisciplinary collaborations., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Collaborative programming is being increasingly used to overcome the difficulties of the individual programming process. In this study, we investigated the effect of collaborative perception on cognitive engagement and learning outcomes in collaborative programming. We used a quasi-experimental research to determine the differences in cognitive engagement and learning outcomes of three groups with different levels of collaborative perception. The findings highlight several important conclusions. First, there were significant differences in cognitive engagement and learning outcomes across collaborative perception groups. Students with high levels of collaborative perception demonstrate more comprehensive and diverse cognitive engagement, resulting in higher learning outcomes compared to those with lower perception. Second, students in the low collaborative perception group had more Clarification-Elaboration cognitive connections, and students in the high collaborative perception group had stronger Clarification-Positioning and Clarification-Verification cognitive connections. Third, collaborative perception positively moderated the relationship between cognitive engagement and learning outcomes. In particular, three cognitive engagement, Clarification, Elaboration, and Positioning, had a greater impact on performance when moderated by collaborative perceptions. These findings have practical implications for educators and course designers, emphasizing the importance of considering students' collaborative perception when forming groups and promoting effective collaborative programming., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

It remains unclear how we become aware of our emotions. The perceptual theory argues that emotions are a form of perception and reach awareness just like simple sensations. The theory was recently supported by Berkovich and Meiran (2023) showing, using evidence accumulation modeling of pleasantness reports, that pleasant emotional feelings follow one of the most basic psychophysical laws, Weber's Law, as nearly all sensations do. Contrary to predictions, this was true for pleasantness and not for unpleasantness. In this work, of which data were collected at the end of 2022, we employed the same experimental approach and successfully replicated the results but only when pleasantness was probed directly (emotions described as either "positive feeling" or "positive vs. negative feeling"). We unexpectedly found that the results flipped when we probed unpleasantness directly (i.e., "negative feeling") where we found that unpleasantness followed Weber's Law while pleasantness did not. Thus, Weber's Law holds for both pleasant and unpleasant feelings when probed directly, thereby providing an even stronger support for the perceptual theory. This in turn suggests that Weber's Law contributes to phenomena such as the unsuccessful pursuit of happiness and why psychotherapy is especially effective in leading to felt improvement when focusing on enhancing positive emotions and not on reducing negative emotions. The findings are limited by the fact that the participants were nondepressed undergraduate students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Perception is largely supported by cortical processing that involves communication among multiple areas, typically starting with primary sensory cortex and then involving higher order cortices. This communication is served in part by transthalamic (cortico-thalamo-cortical) pathways, which ubiquitously parallel direct corticocortical pathways, but their role in sensory processing has largely remained unexplored. Here, we suggest that transthalamic processing propagates task-relevant information required for correct sensory decisions. Using optogenetics, we specifically inhibited the pathway at its synapse in higher order somatosensory thalamus of mice performing a texture-based discrimination task. We concurrently monitored the cellular effects of inhibition in primary or secondary cortex using two-photon calcium imaging. Inhibition severely impaired performance despite intact direct corticocortical projections, thus challenging the purely corticocentric map of perception. Interestingly, the inhibition did not reduce overall cell responsiveness to texture stimulation in somatosensory cortex, but rather disrupted the texture selectivity of cells, a discriminability that develops over task learning. This discriminability was more disrupted in the secondary than primary somatosensory cortex, emphasizing the feedforward influence of the transthalamic route. Transthalamic pathways may therefore act to deliver performance-relevant information to higher order cortex and are underappreciated hierarchical pathways in perceptual decision-making., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Understanding a person's perceived quality of sleep is an important problem, but hard due to its poor definition and high intra- as well as inter-individual variation. In the short term, sleep quality has an established impact on cognitive function during the following day as well as on fatigue. In the long term, good quality sleep is essential for mental and physical health and contributes to quality of life. Despite the need to better understand sleep quality as an early indicator for sleep disorders, perceived sleep quality has been rarely modeled for multiple consecutive days using biosignals. In this paper, we present novel insights on the association of cardiac activity and perceived sleep quality using an interpretable modeling approach utilizing the publicly available intensive-longitudinal study M2Sleep. Our method takes as input signals from commodity wearable devices, including motion and blood volume pulses. Despite processing only simple and clearly interpretable features, we achieve an accuracy of up to 70% with an AUC of 0.76 and reduce the error by up to 36% compared to related work. We further argue that collected biosignals and sleep quality labels should be normalized per-participant to enable a medically insightful analysis. Coupled with explainable models, this allows for the interpretations of effects on perceived sleep quality. Analysis revealed that besides higher skin temperature and sufficient sleep duration, especially higher average heart rate while awake and lower minimal activity of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system while asleep increased the chances of higher sleep quality., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Moebus, Holz. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Experimental studies of sensory plasticity during development in birds and mammals have highlighted the importance of sensory experiences for the construction and refinement of functional neural circuits. We discuss how dysregulation of experience-dependent brain plasticity can lead to abnormal perceptual representations that may contribute to heterogeneous deficits symptomatic of several neurodevelopmental disorders. We focus on alterations of somatosensory processing and the dynamic reorganization of cortical synaptic networks that occurs during early perceptual development. We also discuss the idea that the heterogeneity of strengths and weaknesses observed in children with neurodevelopmental disorders may be a direct consequence of altered plasticity mechanisms during early development. Treating the heterogeneity of perceptual developmental trajectories as a phenomenon worthy of study rather than as an experimental confound that should be overcome may be key to developing interventions that better account for the complex developmental trajectories experienced by modern humans., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Pain is a naturally occurring phenomenon that consistently inhibits exercise performance by imposing unconscious, neurophysiological alterations (e.g., corticospinal changes) as well as conscious, psychophysiological pressures (e.g., shared effort demands). Although several studies indicate that pain would elicit lower task outputs for a set intensity of perceived effort, no study has tested this. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of elevated muscle pain through a hypertonic saline injection on the power output, psychophysiological, cerebral oxygenation, and perceptual changes during fixed perceived effort exercise. Ten participants completed three visits (1 familiarization + 2 fixed perceived effort trials). Fixed perceived effort cycling corresponded to 15% above gas exchange threshold (GET) [mean rating of perceived effort (RPE) = 15 "hard"]. Before the 30-min fixed perceived effort exercise, participants received a randomized bilateral hypertonic or isotonic saline injection in the vastus lateralis. Power output, cardiorespiratory, cerebral oxygenation, and perceptual markers (e.g., affective valence) were recorded during exercise. Linear mixed-model regression assessed the condition and time effects and condition × time interactions. Significant condition effects showed that power output was significantly lower during hypertonic conditions [ t 107 = 208, P = 0.040, β = 4.77 W, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) [0.27 to 9.26 W]]. Meanwhile, all physiological variables (e.g., heart rate, oxygen uptake, minute ventilation) demonstrated no significant condition effects. Condition effects were observed for deoxyhemoglobin changes from baseline ( t 107 = -3.29, P = 0.001, β = -1.50 ΔμM, 95% CI [-2.40 to -0.61 ΔμM]) and affective valence ( t 127 = 6.12, P = 0.001, β = 0.93, 95% CI [0.63 to 1.23]). Results infer that pain impacts the self-regulation of fixed perceived effort exercise, as differences in power output mainly occurred when pain ratings were higher after hypertonic versus isotonic saline administration. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study identifies that elevated muscle pain through a hypertonic saline injection causes significantly lower power output when pain is experienced but does not seem to affect exercise behavior in a residual manner. Results provide some evidence that pain operates on a psychophysiological level to alter the self-regulation of exercise behavior due to differences between conditions in cerebral deoxyhemoglobin and other perceptual parameters.

Objective: This study investigated the impact of driving styles of drivers and automated vehicles (AVs) on drivers' perception of automated driving maneuvers and quantified the relationships among drivers' perception of AV maneuvers, driver trust, and acceptance of AVs., Background: Previous studies on automated driving styles focused on the impact of AV's global driving style on driver's attitude and driving performance. However, research on drivers' perception of automated driving maneuvers at the specific driving style level is still lacking., Method: Sixteen aggressive drivers and sixteen defensive drivers were recruited to experience twelve driving scenarios in either an aggressive AV or a defensive AV on the driving simulator. Their perception of AV maneuvers, trust, and acceptance was measured via questionnaires, and driving performance was collected via the driving simulator., Results: Results revealed that drivers' trust and acceptance of AVs would decrease significantly if they perceived AVs to have a higher speed, larger deceleration, smaller deceleration, or shorter stopping distance than expected. Moreover, defensive drivers perceived significantly greater inappropriateness of these maneuvers from aggressive AVs than defensive AVs, whereas aggressive drivers didn't differ significantly in their perceived inappropriateness of these maneuvers with different driving styles., Conclusion: The driving styles of automated vehicles and drivers influenced drivers' perception of automated driving maneuvers, which influence their trust and acceptance of AVs., Application: This study suggested that the design of AVs should consider drivers' perceptions of automated driving maneuvers to avoid undermining drivers' trust and acceptance of AVs.

Abstract: Romagnoli, R and Piacentini, MF. Does fatigue affect the perception of velocity accuracy during resistance training? J Strength Cond Res 38(7): 1243-1247, 2024-The purpose of this study was to investigate whether perception of barbell velocity (PV) is affected by fatigue induced by 2 different training protocols. Twenty-two subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups: 10% velocity loss group (VL10) and repetitions to failure group (EX). Both protocols included 5 sets at 75% 1 repetition maximum but differed in the number of repetitions performed (Reps). Perception of barbell velocity was assessed in the back squat exercise during a test with 3 blinded loads (heavy, medium, light) 1 day rested (REST) and 1 day immediately following 1 of the 2 designated training protocols (POST). The accuracy of the PV was analyzed by calculating the delta score (ds), that is, the difference between perceived velocity (Vp) and real velocity of the barbell (Vr). During training, each group performed significantly different Reps per set (VL10: 3.9 ± 1.4; EX: 13.8 ± 6.3, p < 0.001) and consequently reported different levels of perceived exertion and repetitions in reserve ( p < 0.001). Real velocity and ds did not change between REST and POST-VL10 conditions at all loads. Although a significant decrease in Vr was found at light and medium loads ( p < 0.05) between REST and POST in the EX-Group, no significant differences were detected in the ds. These results demonstrate that Vp is a stable parameter on which practitioners can base their training despite different levels of fatigue., (Copyright © 2024 National Strength and Conditioning Association.)