This research was supported by the Gottfried Wilhelm-Leibniz Grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG) awarded to Thomas Mussweiler.

The following methods were all tested in the laboratory of the University of Cologne, in which humans (students) voluntarily participate. In line with the ethical guidelines published by the American Psychological Association and the general rules of institutional review boards for ethical issues, all participants were informed in advance about the nature of the study (i.e., informed consent). This informed consent explained the nature of the research project and all potential risks and benefits to the participating persons. Also, it was clearly communicated that the data obtained from the study is anonymous and confidential and that participation is voluntary and can be stopped at any time. After the experiment, participants were always fully and extensively debriefed. As participants carried out a sequence of non-invasive, harmless tasks at separate workspaces to elicit anonymous choices, no potentially critical ethical implications of the research results were expected.
1. (Un)Certainty Induction
Note: This is an experiential priming method, in which participants are asked to read a paragraph describing several (un)certain events and are then asked to write how (un)certainty shapes their own lives.
<ol>
	<li>Invite participants into the laboratory. Ask them to sit down in a cubicle behind a desk and then introduce them to the paper and pencil questionnaire.</li>
	<li>Tell the participants that they will take part in two (or more) unrelated tasks (which are in fact related to each other). This is important, so participants are ignorant about the fact that the first (priming) task actually influences the performance on the second task (choice, evaluation, etc.). Specifically state which task they have completed and which task will start next.</li>
	<li>Tell participants that in the first task they will read a paragraph about general life events and they will then be asked to write about a personal experience.</li>
	<li>Give half of the participants the &#8220;Uncertainty&#8221; questionnaire and half of the participants the &#8220;Certainty&#8221; questionnaire.</li>
	<li>Print either the paragraph containing uncertain events or the paragraph containing certain events on the first page of the questionnaire.</li>
	<li>Let participants read the following paragraph in the &#8220;Uncertainty&#8221; condition: &#8220;Our lives are characterized by high levels of uncertainty. This seems to hold true on all levels, the societal, economical, as well as the personal. On the societal level, there is an ongoing relocation of industries and we currently experience great shifts in the political climate. Our mobility has increased to such an extent that we do not know whether where we live today will in two years time still be our home. We are also facing extremely high levels of uncertainty at the economical level: The financial markets are highly volatile, the most reliable economy &#8211; the U.S. economy &#8211; has lost its creditworthiness after the debt crisis, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers made us unsure whether our own money and pensions are save in our banks. On the personal level, our positions are more uncertain than was ever true before: long-term planning is becoming more and more difficult as permanent job positions are scarce, marriage is not certain, as people go through many different relationships, and we are nowadays confronted with so many good choice options (of what to do, where to go, what to buy) that we are constantly uncertain whether we made the best decision.&#8221;</li>
	<li>Let participants read the following paragraph in the &#8220;Certainty&#8221; condition: &#8220;Our lives are characterized by high levels of certainty. This seems to hold true on all levels, the societal, economical, as well as the personal. On the societal level we experience great levels of certainty: We can always trust on reliable healthcare when we are sick, we know for sure that the standard of education will be high from a very young age, and we are certain that the insurance will cover the repair of our car after an accident. This is also true at the economical level: Germany has, even during the current tough economical times, proven to be stable. It shows a constant increase in productivity and a minimal inflation, the banks have a very high creditworthiness, and Germany is the most stable economy of Europe. On the personal level, there are more certainties compared to other countries: For instance, if we want to study, we always have the possibility to do so. Furthermore, we are certain that the government will support us financially when we encounter problems or suffer financial hardship. Thanks to the current communication systems in place, we know for sure that we can always stay in contact with our friends and family, even when we are separated.&#8221;</li>
	<li>Let participants then read the introduction of the writing task: &#8220;Now think about how uncertainty shapes your own life. Please think of an example and write on the lines provided underneath the situation, how you felt, etc. Please provide as many details as possible.&#8221;</li>
	<li>Make participants write a maximum of one page. After a maximum of 10 min ask them to stop and to continue to the next task. Make sure participants write enough. No minimum amount of writing was required, but it is likely that more writing intensifies the manipulation. Use a software program, e.g., Medialab or a market research survey software, e.g., Qualtrics, when a paper-and-pencil task is not appropriate (for instance because pens are used as the dependent measure and no unintended additional contact with pens should occur).
	<ol>
		<li>Follow immediately with the manipulation check: &#8220;How do you feel right now?&#8221; from 1 (very uncertain) to 9 (very certain).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Measure participants&#8217; mood either with one item &#8220;How do you feel at this moment&#8221;, from 1 (very negative) to 9 (very positive) or with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)13.
	<ol>
		<li>Give the manipulation checks (level of uncertainty and mood) either directly after the manipulation or after the dependent variable. If measured after the dependent variable, ask participants to recall the personal experience they wrote down in the first task.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>To test whether the manipulation was successful, analyze the manipulation checks &#8220;level of uncertainty&#8221; and &#8220;mood&#8221; with a t-test. When mood is measured with the PANAS, analyze with a MANOVA. Read the experiences that participants wrote down to get further insight into the particular situations participants described.</li>
	<li>Use equal numbers of male and female participants. Exclude non-native speakers, as the priming method is less effective when participants are not fluent in the language in which the priming paragraph is written. Exclude also participants that have a significant background in social psychology, as priming tends to be ineffective when participants are highly knowledgeable of priming methods.</li>
</ol>
2. Dependent Variables
<ol>
	<li>Softness seeking: Preference and choice of products with softer properties 
	Note: These tasks are used to demonstrate that when people feel more uncertain, they prefer products with softer properties as compared to products with harder properties. When feeling certain, participants do not show such a preference.
	<ol>
		<li>Select two products that are equal in attractiveness but differ in softness (e.g., one pen with a hard grip vs. one pen with a soft grip or a soft candy (marshmallow) vs. hard candy (bonbon). Pretest this by asking a separate (between-subjects) sample how attractive and how soft the soft-grip pen (soft candy) or the hard-grip pen (hard candy) is on a 9-point scale ranging from 1 (not attractive at all/very soft) to 9 (very attractive/very hard). All other features of the objects should be as equal as possible (quality, color, price, taste).</li>
		<li>Let an experimenter blind to the hypotheses run the whole experiment, because the crucial dependent measure is a choice measure, which the experimenter has to register manually. At the start of the experiment make sure that the products (e.g., pens) are not visible.</li>
		<li>Make participants experience the softness of the objects unobtrusively with an unrelated filler task. For instance, let participants use both pens (and thus feel the soft versus hard properties of the pens) in a separate task by asking them to draw any two objects, one with each pen. Make sure both pens work equally well, to avoid frustration or a low quality experience with the pen. 
		Note: When using food with soft versus hard, properties or anticipation of the experience seems to be sufficient, such that the soft versus hard candy does not need to be touched (and felt) before the choice is made. Counterbalance the order of pen usage to cancel out order effects on subsequent choice.</li>
		<li>Tell participants that the experiment is finished and that they can come out of the cubicle. Tell them that they can choose one of the products (e.g., pen/sweet) as a token of appreciation for their participation in the study. To present the products orderly, put the soft product (e.g., soft-grip pen) on one serving tray and the hard product on another tray. Present both trays on the desk of the experimenter.
		<ol>
			<li>Change the position of the trays (left or right) per day (or half day), to control for right-handed preferences. Fill trays up so they never look empty.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Ask them to choose one of the products. Let the experimenter register which of the two products was chosen (soft or hard). Ask participants which product they would take if they indicate that they do not want to have anything.</li>
		<li>Probe for the hypothesis and exclude participants who guessed the hypothesis.</li>
		<li>Analyze the data using a Chi-square test (for choice) and a t-test (for the manipulation checks) with any statistical program (e.g., SPSS, SAS, R).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Uncertainty reduction: Certainty ratings on an ambiguous task and over time 
	Note: This task is used to test whether the level of uncertainty induced through the priming task is reduced more after holding something soft, than after holding something hard. When certainty is primed, pen usage should not influence the level of uncertainty on a later task.
	<ol>
		<li>Search for an ambiguous task to test participants&#8217; level of uncertainty after holding something soft. Use for instance the Snowy Pictures Task (SPT)11, which is a task that consists of a set of pictures in which objects are embedded in visual snow.</li>
		<li>Select seven relatively easy items of the original SPT. Select easy items (criterion: at least 65% of the participants have to indicate the correct answer in a pretest in which people are asked to write down the image they believe to see behind the visual snow). This is done because the task should not evoke too much arousal. Use for example the boot, tent, chair, horses, fish, hand/glove, and rugby ball of the original SPT task and exclude the more difficult items (torch/flashlight, duck, fly, knife, flying saucer).</li>
		<li>Introduce the task as a pretest for new material for a visual perception task.</li>
		<li>Print each picture (size 8.5 cm (w) X 6 cm (h)) on one page. On the line underneath the picture, ask participants to write down which object they think is hidden behind the snow. Let participants indicate on a Likert scale from 1 (very uncertain) to 9 (very certain) how certain they feel about their answer.</li>
		<li>Ask half of the participants to hold something soft while doing the task and the other half to hold something hard (e.g., ask participants to do the SPT task either with a soft-grip or a hard-grip pen). Make sure that the participants do not use their own pen when using a pen as manipulation of softness and check whether the pen works well before giving them to the participant, in order to avoid frustration or a low quality experience with the pen.</li>
		<li>Ask participants to indicate their general level of uncertainty after the SPT task, using the same question as the manipulation check (How do you feel right now?). This measure is used to test the level of uncertainty over time (Time 1 = Manipulation check immediately after prime (see 1.12) and Time 2 = After participants held something soft (e.g. after the SPT task)).</li>
		<li>Analyze the level of uncertainty on the ambiguous SPT task with a 2-way ANOVA with prime and pen as between-subjects variables. Analyze level of uncertainty over time with a 3-way repeated measures ANOVA with time as repeated measures (within-subject) variable and prime and pen as between-subjects variables (using SPSS, SAS, or R).</li>
		<li>Assess demographics, probe for the hypothesis and debrief.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
3. Reversed Link: Softness Affects Tolerance of Uncertainty in Daily Life
Note: This task is used to demonstrate that the uncertainty-softness link is bidirectional: It is examined whether higher levels of uncertainty not only make participants seek experiences of haptic softness but whether experiences of haptic softness (e.g., holding a soft vs a hard cloth) also make participants to tolerate higher levels of uncertainty in daily life.
<ol>
	<li>Select two different cloths that differ in texture and are as much as possible equal in quality, color and size. In the current experiment use a soft cloth (suede) and a rough cloth (fabric for furniture or curtains). Because a between-subjects design is used, minor differences between the two cloths are acceptable.</li>
	<li>Pretest the cloths on degree of softness. Ask a separate sample of participants (between subjects) to hold the piece of fabric in their hands and to answer the question: &#8220;How does this fabric feel from 1 (very soft) to 9 (very rough).</li>
	<li>Program the experiment software (step 1.9) and write in the instructions that participants will first do a product testing task (as a cover story) and will then fill out a personality questionnaire. Ask them to read all the instructions on the computer screen carefully.</li>
	<li>Randomly assign half of the participants to hold the soft fabric for 1 min and the other half to hold the hard fabric. Tell them that they have to move the cloth in between their fingers in order to feel the fabric well, as they will be asked to evaluate the fabric afterwards.</li>
	<li>Let participants rate the quality of the fabric with three questions &#8220;How attractive do you think the fabric is?&#8221; from (not attractive at all) to (very attractive), &#8220;How soft do you think the fabric is?&#8221; from (very rough) to 9 (very soft), and &#8220;How do you evaluate the fabric from 1 (very negative) to 9 (very positive) to back up the cover story.</li>
	<li>Let participants fill out two subsets of the Uncertainty Intolerance Scale using a 9-point scale ranging from &#8220;Strongly disagree&#8221; to &#8220;Strongly agree&#8221;12. 
	Note: The scale is a German translation of the original scale developed by Dugas, Gosselin, &#38; Ladouceur (2001)14. Use the two subscales (&#8220;Burden due to uncertainty intolerance&#8221; and &#8220;Vigilance due to uncertainty intolerance&#8221;) of the Uncertainty Intolerance Scale. These subscales focus on the inability to predict the future (e.g., &#8220;I always want to know what the future has in store for me&#8221; and &#8220;A small, unforeseen event can spoil everything, even with the best of planning&#8221;) and are therefore of interest to test the current hypothesis.</li>
	<li>Analyze the data, after averaging the two Uncertainty Intolerance subscales into one measure, with a t-test.</li>
	<li>Use equal numbers of male and female participants. Probe for the hypothesis and debrief.</li>
</ol>

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The authors have nothing to disclose.

This article describes a set of measures on how people can cope with and can reduce uncertainty via an experiential instead of a cognitive route. Furthermore, it demonstrates a method to experimentally activate environmental uncertainty enabling researchers to examine how this type of uncertainty, besides choice uncertainty, affects decision-making and choice. Third, it discusses three different methods (both direct and indirect) measuring whether softness seeking can reduce uncertainty.
The p...

Uncertainty, its antecedents and consequences, is a highly investigated topic in economics, psychology, and marketing. Understandably so, as in modern society people are constantly confronted with uncertainty: In their daily shopping decisions, their careers, and their family dynamics. Learning to negotiate and cope with uncertainty has thus become a requirement of modern life.
Uncertainty is generally defined as a lack of knowledge. To date, most research in marketing and decision-making has focused on uncertainty due to choice alternatives. Because of incomplete information, people feel uncertain about the alternatives available and the utility of these alternatives 1,2. In order to reduce such uncertainty, people often try to increase their knowledge base and seek additional information2-4.
However, besides feeling uncertain because of missing information, people are also subjected to uncertainty due to unpredictable and uncontrollable external events of which the impact is difficult to judge on one&#8217;s future life5,6. Such environmental uncertainty arises when one does not know how the environment might be changing and thus cannot assign probabilities to the likelihood of future events. Examples of this type of uncertainty are for instance economic fluctuations, threats of terrorist attacks, and political changes. Under such uncertainty evoking circumstances, simply searching for information will fail to combat uncertainty. Especially because environmental uncertainty is ever more prevalent in modern society and there is very little known about how such uncertainty affects decision-making and choice, it is of paramount importance to develop a new experimental method to situationally activate environmental uncertainty. The present protocol caters to these needs.
Furthermore, traditionally the focus has been on the cognitive strategies people use when facing uncertainty. Research has for instance demonstrated that &#8211; besides seeking additional information &#8211; people become more close-minded about their attitudes7, emphasize fairness and fair procedures8, and perceive illusionary patterns in random stimuli when facing uncertainty 9. However, people are not always able to cognitively cope with uncertainty, for instance when they lack time or when they have limited cognitive capacity to do so. In which case they may use an alternate, experiential route and seek soft haptic sensations to efficiently cope with and reduce uncertainty.
Human judgment can be influenced by bodily experiences that are transmitted by the sensory systems making contact with the external world (i.e., visual, acoustic or haptic). These feelings can influence our judgments without a semantic, cognitive interpretation of the sensory input10. Touching something soft may be such a bodily experience people search for when having to deal with uncertainty. In childhood, feelings of discomfort are often alleviated through physical touch such as holding or patting by caregivers or by feeling soft cuddly toys. Through such early experiences with touch, softness becomes strongly associated with comfort and security and can therefore be an effective tool to battle uncertainty. But what type of soft haptic sensation will help in dealing with uncertainty? Any type? And should softness be experienced or is it enough when the soft properties of an object are merely seen on a computer screen? This protocol addresses these issues.
Besides the strategies people use to cope with uncertainty, it is of importance to know whether a particular strategy is functional. The functionality of softness seeking can for instance be measured subjectively by establishing one&#8217;s level of uncertainty before and after holding something soft (level of uncertainty over time). Another way to assess uncertainty reduction more indirectly is by using an ambiguous task, such as the Snowy Picture Task (SPT)11. This task consists of a set of pictures in which objects are embedded in visual snow. Participants have to indicate which object they think is hidden behind the snow and their uncertainty with regard to their answer. Last, a personality questionnaire (Uncertainty Intolerance Scale12) can be used to measure whether softness can also increase a person&#8217;s general tolerance towards uncertainty in daily life.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Medialab</td>
			<td>Empirisoft</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Program to create and run experiments&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Qualtrics</td>
			<td>Qualtrics.com</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Online survey program</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SPSS Version 21</td>
			<td>IBM</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Statistical program</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

experimental research examining how people can cope with uncertainty through soft haptic sensations

Human beings are constantly surrounded by uncertainty and change. The question arises how people cope with such uncertainty. To date, most research has focused on the cognitive strategies people adopt to deal with uncertainty. However, especially when uncertainty is due to unpredictable societal events (e.g., economical crises, political revolutions, terrorism threats) of which one is unable to judge the impact on one&#8217;s future live, cognitive strategies (like seeking additional information) is likely to fail to combat uncertainty. Instead, the current paper discusses a method demonstrating that people might deal with uncertainty experientially through soft haptic sensations. More specifically, because touching something soft creates a feeling of comfort and security, people prefer objects with softer as compared to harder properties when feeling uncertain. Seeking for softness is a highly efficient and effective tool to deal with uncertainty as our hands are available at all times. This protocol describes a set of methods demonstrating 1) how environmental (un)certainty can be situationally activated with an experiential priming procedure, 2) that the quality of the softness experience (what type of softness and how it is experienced) matters and 3) how uncertainty can be reduced using different methods.

These studies were used to investigate 1) whether people prefer objects with soft properties when facing uncertainty and 2) whether searching for softness when facing uncertainty is functional, i.e., whether it reduces uncertainty. A priming procedure (described above) was used to experimentally manipulate environmental (un)certainty. The manipulation checks across the three studies confirmed the effectiveness of the newly developed experiential priming of (un)certainty (p = .06; p = .04; p...

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Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations

To date research has focused on cognitive strategies people adopt to cope with uncertainty. This research examines instead an experiential way of dealing with uncertainty and introduces a set of experimental methods showing how the experience of haptic softness can serve as a tool to deal with uncertainty.

Human beings are constantly surrounded by uncertainty and change. The question arises how people cope with such uncertainty. To date, most research has ...

experimental-research-examining-how-people-can-cope-with-uncertainty

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Social Psychology

Behavior

Foundations of Social Psychology

Social Judgement and Decision-Making

SCIENTISTS IN ACTION

8.9K Views.  VU University. To date research has focused on cognitive strategies people adopt to cope with uncertainty. This research examines instead an experiential way of dealing with uncertainty and introduces a set of experimental methods showing how the experience of haptic softness can serve as a tool to deal with uncertainty.

Video: Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations

How to Detect Amygdala Activity with Magnetoencephalography using Source Imaging

In trace fear conditioning a conditional stimulus (CS) predicts the occurrence of the unconditional stimulus (UCS), which is presented after a brief stimulus free period (trace interval)1. Because the CS and UCS do not co-occur temporally, the subject must maintain a representation of that CS during the trace interval. In humans, this type of learning requires awareness of the stimulus contingencies in order to bridge the trace interval2-4. However when a face is used as a CS, subjects can implicitly learn to fear the face even in the absence of explicit awareness*. This suggests that there may be additional neural mechanisms capable of maintaining certain types of "biologically-relevant" stimuli during a brief trace interval. Given that the amygdala is involved in trace conditioning, and is sensitive to faces, it is possible that this structure can maintain a representation of a face CS during a brief trace interval.
It is challenging to understand how the brain can associate an unperceived face with an aversive outcome, even though the two stimuli are separated in time. Furthermore investigations of this phenomenon are made difficult by two specific challenges. First, it is difficult to manipulate the subject's awareness of the visual stimuli. One common way to manipulate visual awareness is to use backward masking. In backward masking, a target stimulus is briefly presented (&lt; 30 msec) and immediately followed by a presentation of an overlapping masking stimulus5. The presentation of the mask renders the target invisible6-8. Second, masking requires very rapid and precise timing making it difficult to investigate neural responses evoked by masked stimuli using many common approaches. Blood-oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses resolve at a timescale too slow for this type of methodology, and real time recording techniques like electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) have difficulties recovering signal from deep sources.
However, there have been recent advances in the methods used to localize the neural sources of the MEG signal9-11. By collecting high-resolution MRI images of the subject's brain, it is possible to create a source model based on individual neural anatomy. Using this model to "image" the sources of the MEG signal, it is possible to recover signal from deep subcortical structures, like the amygdala and the hippocampus*.

This article describes how to record amygdala activity with magnetoencephalography (MEG). In addition this article will describe how to conduct trace fear conditioning without awareness, a task that activates the amygdala. It will cover 3 topics: 1) Designing a trace conditioning paradigm using backward masking to manipulate awareness. 2) Recording brain activity during the task using magnetoencephalography. 3) Using source imaging to recover signal from subcortical structures.

In trace fear conditioning a conditional  stimulus (CS) predicts the occurrence of the unconditional stimulus (UCS),  which is presented after a brief ...

Stimulating the Lip Motor Cortex with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has proven to be a useful tool in investigating the role of the articulatory motor cortex in speech perception. Researchers have used single-pulse and repetitive TMS to stimulate the lip representation in the motor cortex. The excitability of the lip motor representation can be investigated by applying single TMS pulses over this cortical area and recording TMS-induced motor evoked potentials (MEPs) via electrodes attached to the lip muscles (electromyography; EMG). Larger MEPs reflect increased cortical excitability. Studies have shown that excitability increases during listening to speech as well as during&#160;viewing speech-related movements. TMS can be used also to disrupt the lip motor representation. A 15-min train of low-frequency sub-threshold repetitive stimulation has been shown to suppress motor excitability for a further 15-20 min. This TMS-induced disruption of the motor lip representation impairs subsequent performance in demanding speech perception tasks and modulates auditory-cortex responses to speech sounds. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that the motor cortex contributes to speech perception. This article describes how to localize the lip representation in the motor cortex and how to define the appropriate stimulation intensity for carrying out both single-pulse and repetitive TMS experiments.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has proven to be a useful tool in investigating the role of the articulatory motor cortex in speech perception.&#160; This article describes how to record motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the lip muscles and how to disrupt the motor lip representation using repetitive TMS.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has proven to be a useful tool in investigating the role of the articulatory motor cortex in speech perception. ...

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression

Ruminative brooding is associated with increased vulnerability to major depression. Individuals who regularly ruminate will often try to reduce the frequency of their negative thoughts by actively suppressing them. We aim to identify the neural correlates underlying thought suppression in at-risk and depressed individuals. Three groups of women were studied; a major depressive disorder group, an at-risk group (having a first degree relative with depression) and controls. Participants performed a mixed block-event fMRI paradigm involving thought suppression, free thought and motor control periods. Participants identified the re-emergence of &#8220;to-be-suppressed&#8221; thoughts (&#8220;popping&#8221; back into conscious awareness) with a button press. During thought suppression the control group showed the greatest activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, followed by the at-risk, then depressed group. During the re-emergence of intrusive thoughts compared to successful re-suppression of those thoughts, the control group showed the greatest activation of the anterior cingulate cortices, followed by the at-risk, then depressed group. At-risk participants displayed anomalies in the neural regulation of thought suppression resembling the dysregulation found in depressed individuals. The predictive value of these changes in the onset of depression remains to be determined.

We aim to identify the neural correlates underlying sustained and transient thought suppression, and thought re-emergence in controls, at-risk and depressed individuals. Activation was greatest for controls compared to the at-risk and the depressed group in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during thought suppression and anterior cingulate cortex during thought re-emergence.

Ruminative brooding is associated with increased vulnerability to major depression. Individuals who regularly ruminate will often try to reduce the ...

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

Placebo responses occur in every medical intervention when patients or participants expect to receive an effective treatment to relieve symptoms. However, underlying mechanisms of placebo responses are not fully understood. It has repeatedly been shown that placebo responses are associated with changes in neural activity but for many conditions it is unclear whether they also affect the target organ, such as the stomach in motion sickness. Therefore, we present a methodology for the multivariate assessment of placebo responses by subjective, behavioral and objective measures in motion sickness with a rotation chair paradigm. The physiological correlate of motion sickness is a shift in gastric myoelectrical activity towards tachygastria that can be recorded with electrogastrography. The presented study applied the so-called balanced placebo design (BPD) to investigate the effects of ginger compared to placebo and the effects of expectations by verbal information. However, the study revealed no significant main or interactional effects of ginger (as a drug) or information on outcome measures but showed interactions when sex of participants and experimenters are taken into considerations. We discuss limitations of the presented study and report modifications that were used in subsequent studies demonstrating placebo responses when rotation speed was lowered. In general, future placebo studies have to identify the appropriate target organ for the studied placebo responses and to apply the specific methods to assess the physiological correlates.

An experimental rotation chair paradigm is used to investigate whether a placebo intervention on motion sickness affects subjective outcome measures only or also affects behavioral and objective measures in a balanced placebo design.

Placebo responses occur in every medical intervention when patients or participants expect to receive an effective treatment to relieve symptoms. However, ...

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

The current study presented 60 people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 60 controls with isolated facial emotion expressions, isolated vocal emotion expressions, and multimodal (i.e., film clips) stimuli that included contextual cues. All stimuli were presented via computer. Participants were required to indicate how the person in each stimulus was feeling using a forced-choice format. Additionally, for the film clips, participants had to indicate how they felt in response to the stimulus, and the level of intensity with which they experienced that emotion.

This paper describes how to implement a battery of behavioral tasks to examine emotion recognition of isolated facial and vocal emotion expressions, and a novel task using commercial television and film clips to assess multimodal emotion recognition that includes contextual cues.

The current study presented 60 people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 60 controls with isolated facial emotion expressions, isolated vocal emotion ...

Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention

It is well recognized that an external focus (EF) compared with an internal focus (IF) of attention improves motor learning and performance. Studies have indicated benefits in accuracy, balance, force production, jumping performance, movement speed, oxygen consumption, and fatiguing task. Although behavioral outcomes of using an EF strategy are well explored, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. A recent TMS study compared the activity of the primary motor cortex (M1) between an EF and an IF. More precisely, this study showed that, when adopting an EF, the activity of intracortical inhibitory circuits is enhanced.
On the behavioral level, the present protocol tests the influence of attentional foci on the time to task failure (TTF) when performing submaximal contractions of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI). Additionally, the current paper describes two TMS protocols to assess the influence of attentional conditions on the activity of cortical inhibitory circuits within the M1. Thus, the present article describes how to use single-pulse TMS at intensities below the motor threshold (subTMS) and paired-pulse TMS, inducing short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) when applied to the M1. As these methods are assumed to reflect the responsiveness of GABAergic inhibitory neurons, without being affected by spinal reflex circuitries, they are well suited to measuring the activity of intracortical inhibitory circuits within the M1.
The results show that directing attention externally improves motor performance, as participants were able to prolong the time to task failure. Moreover, the results were accompanied by a larger subTMS-induced electromyography suppression and SICI when adopting an EF compared to an IF. As the level of cortical inhibition within the M1 was previously demonstrated to influence motor performance, the enhanced inhibition with an EF might contribute to the better movement efficiency observed in the behavioral task, indicated by a prolonged TTF with an EF.

Using two different transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocols, this manuscript describes how to measure and compare cortical inhibition within the primary motor cortex when adopting different attentional foci.

It is well recognized that an external focus (EF) compared with an internal focus (IF) of attention improves motor learning and performance. Studies have ...

The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs

It has been suggested that the way in which owners interact with their dogs can largely vary and influence the dog-owner bond, but very few objective studies, so far, have addressed how the owner interacts with the dog. The goal of the present study was to record dog owners&#39; interaction styles by means of objective observation and coding. The experiment included eight standardized situations in which owners of pet dogs were asked to perform specific tasks including both positive (i.e. playing, teaching a new task, showing a preference towards an object in a food searching task, greeting after separation) and potentially distressing tasks (i.e. physical restriction during DNA sampling, putting a T-shirt onto the dog, giving basic obedience commands while the dog was distracted). The video recordings were coded off-line using a specifically designed coding scheme including scores for communication, social support, warmth, enthusiasm, and play style, as well as frequency of behaviors like petting, praising, commands, and attention sounds. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the 20 variables measured revealed 3 factors, labeled as Owner Warmth, Owner Social Support, and Owner Control, which can be viewed as analogues to parenting style dimensions. The experimental procedure introduced here represents the first standardized measure of interaction styles of dog owners. The methodology presented here is a useful tool to investigate individual variation in the interaction style of pet dog owners that can be used to explain differences in the dog-human relationship, dogs&#39; behavioral outcomes, and dogs stress coping strategies, all crucial elements both from a theoretical and applied point of view.

This article presents eight different experimental tasks, mirroring the everyday life of dogs and owners, used to analyze how owners interact with their dogs in a standardized way. The tasks included both positive (e.g. play) and negative (potentially stressful) situations (e.g. physical restriction).

It has been suggested that the way in which owners interact with their dogs can largely vary and influence the dog-owner bond, but very few objective ...

Treatment of Ankle Osteoarthritis with Total Ankle Replacement Through a Lateral Transfibular Approach

Total ankle replacement (TAR) is a valid option for the treatment of ankle osteoarthritis. The traditional surgical approach for TAR is the anterior approach. Recently, the lateral transfibular approach to the ankle has gained popularity since a new TAR implant was designed to be performed via this approach that results in an ideal visualization of the center of rotation of the ankle and curved resections that allow for sparing bone cuts. The aim of the present paper is to present our preoperative, operative, and postoperative protocols for the treatment of the osteoarthritis of the ankle with TAR via lateral approach. We present our preoperative clinical and radiographic protocol. In addition, we describe our surgical technique with some technical tips. Finally, we report our follow-up schedule that includes the collection of clinical, functional, and radiographic data. The results of this procedure are encouraging: TAR through a lateral transfibular approach provides reliable pain relief and improvements in functional outcomes in patients with ankle osteoarthritis.

We present our preoperative, operative, and postoperative protocols for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the ankle with total ankle replacement via lateral transfibular approach.

Total ankle replacement (TAR) is a valid option for the treatment of ankle osteoarthritis. The traditional surgical approach for TAR is the anterior ...

Examining Changes in HRV and Emotion Following Artmaking with Three Different Art Materials

This protocol enables the examination of psychological and physiological responses to different types of behavioral engagements. Specifically, in this study example, the emotional response and changes in heart rate variability are examined in response to artmaking with three different art materials that vary in their levels of fluidity. This protocol can be adapted to examine other types of behavior or engagement in artmaking with other materials. There are several benefits to using this protocol. Firstly, the order randomization of the materials improves the probability that the response measured is associated with its qualities and not the order of presentation. Secondly, the continuous measuring of electrocardiogram enables the examination of changes in heart rate variability after engagement with each art material and changes that might occur during the artmaking itself. The advantages of this protocol should be considered with their limitations. The music listening is before each art making session; thus, the return to baseline can only be measured in the first two conditions. The return to baseline provides information on how fast individuals recover after response to working with each of the materials. Furthermore, a more liquid material instead of gouache paint with a brush, such as finger paints, provides more difference between materials. Finally, this protocol can be adapted to specific research needs.

The goal of the protocol is to guide researchers in conducting experiments that are intended to measure changes in self-reported emotional response and heart rate variability following art making with different materials. The protocol can easily be adapted for use in a variety of behavioral conditions and activities.

This protocol enables the examination of psychological and physiological responses to different types of behavioral engagements. Specifically, in this ...

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

The Stroop task in its many variations has been used in fields such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to examine questions regarding the automaticity of reading, language processing, and cognitive control, among others. When looking at bilingual individuals, this task can be used to obtain measures of language interference and control in both a bilingual&#39;s first language (L1) and second language (L2), as well as for testing the bilingual advantage hypothesis. The Stroop task presents participants with color terms written in congruent colors (e.g., the word RED written in red font), incongruent colors (e.g., the word RED written in green font), in addition to noncolor terms for control (e.g., the word TREE presented in any color), and uses the reaction times from the different conditions to assess the degree of interference and facilitation. In the covert version of the Stroop bilingual task (i.e., participants respond by pressing a button rather than naming aloud), stimuli in the L1 and the L2 are typically presented in separate blocks. While this allows for a simple, yet effective assessment of processing and cognitive control in each language, it fails to capture any potential differences in processing and control within bilingual young adult groups. The present task combines single-language blocks with a novel mixed-language block to increase the level of difficulty of the task, thus making it suitable for testing cognitive control in young adults. Representative results showing differences between performance in the single-language vs. mixed-language blocks are presented, and the benefits of a mixed-language block are discussed.

This bilingual Stroop task uses Congruent, Incongruent, and Neutral stimuli presented in blocks in the first language (L1) only, the second language (L2) only, and a combination of L1 and L2. This task allows for an examination of language processing and cognitive control in both L1 and L2.

The Stroop task in its many variations has been used in fields such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to examine questions regarding the ...