Does hypnotic susceptibility influence information processing speed and motor cortical preparatory activity?

The impact of physical activity on motor preparation in young adults

Slow potential changes and choice reaction time as a function of interstimulus interval

A gender difference in choice reaction time (RT) has been reported in the literature (e.g., Adam et al., 1999; Noble et al., 1964). Noble, Baker and Jones found that females had slower choice RT than their male counterparts many years ago. Later study by Adam et al. also reported a faster choice RT for male participants. Since Weiss (1965) introduced the measurement of RT components with electromyography (EMG), pre-motor time (PMT) and motor time (MT) have been used to identify the central (cognitive) and peripheral (neuromuscular) processing of the initiation of voluntary movement in human performance research. PURPOSE: To examine whether choice reaction time and its fractionated components differ between genders and dominant and non-dominant hands. METHODS: Twenty right-hand dominant college students (10 male, 26.0 ± 3.06 yrs; 10 female, 25.4 ± 2.27 yrs) were tested for their visual-manual choice reaction time for four consecutive days using both left and right hands. Based on the EMG activity of the pronator teres and biceps brachii, fractionated RTs of pronation and supination were measured for each hand. The learning effect was identified and a reliable measure was obtained. A 2 (gender) by 2 (hand) two-way mixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze possible gender and hand difference as well as their interaction. RESULTS: Choice RT decreased across days (p < .05), however, no significant change was found between days 3 and day 4. No Gender x Hand interaction or hand difference was observed for choice RT. A significant gender difference was observed for total choice RT (F1,18 = 6.43, p < .05). The mean choice RT for the males was 278 ms, and for the females it was 308 ms. A further analysis of PMT and MT indicated that male participants had a faster PMT (218 ms) than female (246 ms) participants (F1,18 = 6.51, p < .05), but no MT difference was observed between the gender groups. CONCLUSIONS: There is no choice reaction time difference between dominant and non-dominant hands for the college students. Male participants demonstrated a faster choice RT than female participants, and the difference in total choice RT can be attributed to the PMT component, but not MT. The finding supports the proposed explanations that males might have employed a binary strategy while females used a serial strategy in choice reaction time tasks.

Aim. The purpose of the study is to look into the visuomotor reaction time (simple and complex reaction time) of combat sports athletes. Material and method. Sixty-eight participants (M age = 21.85) took part in the research. For assessing simple reaction time and choice reaction time two computerized tests were used (TRS and RCMV, respectively), calibrated on the Romanian population by RQ Plus company. Results. Analysis of variances and Tukey post-hoc test for equal variances were performed to verify the differences in terms of choice and simple reaction time, according to martial arts athletes’ sports level. Also, gender-related differences were examined (considering the visuomotor reaction time), using the Goodman and Kruskal tau association test. Data analysis showed that athletes with superior results in competitions registered a faster choice reaction time (even if the difference was not statistically significant). Considering simple reaction time values, the difference between combat sports athletes (according to sports performances) was almost nonexistent. Also, male athletes obtained better values for simple reaction time and slightly better results for choice reaction time than female athletes. Conclusions. Combat sports athletes having international performances registered better values for choice reaction time, compared to athletes having national, respectively regional/local results. A significant link was found between athletes’ gender and martial arts athletes’ results for simple reaction time, with male athletes obtaining better scores.

Participants high and low in competitiveness completed a reaction-time task with a warning stimulus designed to elicit contingent negative variation, competing on reaction speed with a visible or invisible opponent to identify what affects contingent negative variation amplitude under more critical competitive situations. For participants low in competitiveness, contingent negative variation was larger and reaction time (RT) was shorter when winning a trial and competing with a visible opponent. For those high in competitiveness, contingent negative variation was larger under competitive situations with a visible opponent than with an invisible one, although no difference was found in RT. These findings suggest that contingent negative variation amplitude under competitive situations reflects not only motor preparation but also other psychological processes such as awareness of an opponent.

Eighty-four healthy subjects (47 males and 37 females) ranging in age between 9 and 76 years were employed in a study of the relations of the CNV morphology with the CNV amplitude, the reaction time and the MPI score. The results were as follows: 1. We classified a new type of Plateau (P) in the negative-going limb (NGL) types. 2. There was no sex difference in the NGL types, but the positive-going limb (PGL) types were influenced by age, and the type II tended to increase between the ages of 40--59 years old. 3. As a whole, the type B in the NGL and the type I in the PGL were most prominent regardless of age, session or paradigm. The type FD was very rare and appeared only in the session N. The types III and IV failed to be found in any healthy subjects. 4. Using the matched control study, the relations of the morphology with the CNV amplitude, the reaction time and the MPI score were analyzed. The conventional CNV amplitude in the sessions C and R increased in the sequences of the types B-A-P and the types I-II, and the CNV amplitudes in the session N increased in the sequences of the types A-B-P and II-I. The reaction time in the sessions C and R tended to prolong in the sequences of the types P-B-A and II-I. With the MPI, as the N-score increased with a decrease of the E-score, the NGL types changed from the type P to A through B in the conventional CNV and from the type A to B or P in the session N, while the PGL types changed from the type I to II in the conventional CNV and from the type II to I in the session N. 5. We suggest that there is a twofold arousal process, specific (task-relevant) and general, behind these types and that the dynamic balance of this process may influence psychological manifestations.

Etude de la variation contingente negative et du debit sanguin cerebral dans la demence senile et le vieillissement cerebral

Narrow band theta and alpha activity were recorded over anterior and posterior sites before, during, and after hypnosis in high and low hypnotically susceptible subjects (N = 16). In theta, high susceptibles had greater activity posthypnosis, otherwise there were no group differences. These findings common to low and high susceptibles suggest that theta is an index of relaxation that continues after hypnosis in highs. In alpha in high susceptibles, posterior power increased from the prehypnosis to hypnosis conditions and decreased posthypnosis. Exactly the converse effects were seen in lows. Furthermore, highs had greater alpha power than lows during both prehypnosis and hypnosis conditions, demonstrating an association of alpha with hypnotic susceptibility. The results indicate that, whereas theta indexes relaxation, alpha indexes the hypnotic experience and susceptibility.

: The current study investigates the relationship between simple reaction time, choice reaction time, and eye-hand coordination with peripheral vision in elite female table tennis players. Ten female table tennis players of the Iranian national team with a mean age of 19.7 ± 5.964, in the 18th Asian Games of 2018, Jakarta, participated via convenience sampling. The visual field was evaluated with the Humphrey automated perimetry. Choice and simple reaction time were assessed using Deary-Liewald reaction time tester software. In order to measure eye-hand coordination, the manual test of alternate-hand wall toss was used. Data were analyzed in statistical package for the social sciences using Pearson’s correlation. The results show that there was no significant relationship between simple and choice reaction time with peripheral vision in the left and right eyes. Also, results show that there was no significant relationship between eye-hand coordination with peripheral vision in the left and right eyes (P ≤ 0.05). The findings of this study show that experts in an activity visually searched their environment and located essential information more effectively and efficiently than novices. Therefore, we know that this visual feature is more a function of expertise than visual acuity.

Reaction times and anticipatory skills of karate athletes

The severity of symptoms in asthma and other hypersensitivity-related disorders has been associated with changes in mood but little is known about the mechanisms possibly mediating such a relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of mood on skin reactivity to histamine by comparing the effects of hypnotically induced emotions on flare and wheal reactions to cutaneous histamine prick tests. Fifteen highly hypnotically susceptible volunteers had their cutaneous reactivity to histamine measured before hypnosis at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 15 min after the histamine prick. These measurements were repeated under three hypnotically induced emotions of sadness, anger, and happiness presented in a counterbalanced order. Skin reactions were measured as change in histamine flare and wheal area in mm2 per minute. The increase in flare reaction in the time interval from 1 to 3 min during happiness and anger was significantly smaller than flare reactions during sadness (P<0.05). No effect of emotion was found for wheal reactions. Hypnotic susceptibility scores were associated with increased flare reactions at baseline (r=0.56; P<0.05) and during the condition of happiness (r=0.56; P<0.05). Our results agree with previous studies showing mood to be a predictor of cutaneous immediate-type hypersensitivity and histamine skin reactions. The results are also in concordance with earlier findings of an association between hypnotic susceptibility and increased reactivity to an allergen.

Objective:To determine the impact of cognitive interference on foot pedal reaction time among stroke survivors with right- (RH) or left-hemiplegia (LH).Design:Cross-sectional comparison without randomization.Subjects/patients:10 patients post-stroke with RH, 10 with LH; 10 age-matched controls.Methods:Foot pedal response times were measured using three different reaction time (RT) paradigms: simple RT, dual-task RT (counting backward by serial 3 seconds), and choice RT (correct response contingent on stimuli to eliminate pre-programing). RH and LH used the non-paretic leg for all trials. Three 3 (RT task) × 3 (group) mixed-model factorial ANOVAs were used to compare RT, movement time (MT), total response time (TRT).Results:Overall controls demonstrated faster RT than RH (332 ± 73 versus 474 ± 144 ms, P < 0.001) or LH (402 ± 127 ms, P < 0.05); LH group demonstrated faster RT than those with RH (P < 0.05). Control subjects demonstrated significantly faster RT than RH for all RT conditions (P < 0.05 for all). In contrast, controls achieved significantly faster RT than LH for the choice RT condition only (P < 0.05), but not for the simple (P = 0.12) or dual-task RT conditions (P = 0.25).Conclusions:Compared to controls, response time was significantly impaired among LH and RH when the response could not be pre-programmed. While current simple RT testing commonly employed by driver rehab specialists may be sufficient for detecting RT deficits in patients with RH, simple or dual-task RT tests alone may fail to detect RT deficiencies among LH, even when testing the non-paretic limb. Choice RT should be added to post-stroke driver fitness assessment, particularly for patients with LH.

A growing body of research has demonstrated that affect modulates cognitive control modes such as proactive and reactive control. Several studies have suggested that positive affect decreases proactive control compared to neutral affect. However, these studies only focused on the valence of affect and often omitted two of its components: arousal and approach motivation. Therefore, we designed the present study to test the hypothesis that cognitive control modes would differ as a function of arousal and approach motivated positive affect. In our study, we used an AX-continuous performance task (AX-CPT), commonly used to examine shifts in proactive and reactive control. We also measured P3b, contingent negative variation (CNV), N2 and P3a components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as indicators of the use of cognitive control modes. The findings of the present study demonstrated that approach motivated positive affect modified only the P3b and the CNV without effects on the N2 and P3a components. However, arousal induced by pictures modified P3b, CNV and N2 amplitudes. Specifically, the P3b amplitude was larger, and CNV amplitude was less negative in the high than in the low-approach motivated affect. In contrast, the P3b amplitude was larger and both the CNV and N2 amplitudes more negative in low- compared with high-arousal conditions. These ERP results suggest that approach motivated positive affect enhanced proactive control with no effect on reactive control. However, arousal influenced both proactive and reactive control. High arousal decreased proactive control and increased reactive control compared to low arousal. The present study provides novel insights into the relationship between affect, specifically, arousal and approach motivated positive affect and cognitive control modes. In addition, our results help to explain discrepancies found in previous research.

Evidence that Hick's paradigm is appropriate for studying cognitive information processing in Chicano adolescents is presented. The subjects exhibited no differences in reaction time (RT) due to age or sex on the simple reaction time (SRT) or the choice reaction time (CRT) portions of the Hick paradigm. A difference in RTwasfound on the SRTtask infavor of subjectsfromfamilies with annual income above the national median relative to those from families below the national median. However, this difference was not observed on the more complex CRTtask, suggesting that the observed difference was likely coincidental. Evidence is also providedfor combining the SRTand CRTtasks when utilizing the Hick paradigm. Overall, the result are very encouraging, indicating that chronometric methodology can be a useful tool for conducting basic and applied research to investigate cognitive information processing in Chicanos.

To examine the separate and combined effects of alcohol and tobacco smoking on cortical functioning, the amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV) was studied during a simple reaction time task in non-smokers, tobacco-deprived smokers and non-deprived smokers in sessions involving administration of four cigarettes and/or 0.65 g/kg ethyl alcohol. Computer analysis indicated that alcohol and combined alcohol + tobacco significantly reduced the CNV amplitude in non-deprived smokers. Two sub-groups of non-smokers were identified, one showing large pre-drug CNV amplitudes and significant alcohol-induced reductions and the other showing small pre-drug amplitudes and no change in CNV amplitude after alcohol. No significant results were observed with alcohol, tobacco or alcohol + tobacco combined in tobacco-deprived smokers. The results are discussed in relation to previously reported studies which have indicated both synergistic and antagonistic interactions between alcohol and tobacco, and suggestions are forwarded regarding the experimental and clinical significance of tobacco-induced enhancement of CNV amplitude reduction by alcohol.