Feasibility and acceptability of a new web-based cognitive training platform for cognitively healthy older adults: the breakfast task.

Background: Developing efficient cognitive training for the older population is a major public health goal due to its potential cognitive benefits. A promising training target is executive control, critical for multitasking in everyday life. The aim of this pilot study was to establish the feasibility and acceptability of the Breakfast Task training in older adults, a new web-based cognitive training platform that simulates real-life multitasking demands.

Imposed load versus voluntary investment: Executive control and attention management in dual-task performance.

Dual task performance is one of the most frequently used paradigm in the evaluation of coping with concurrent task demands. The Breakfast Task experimented in this paper, was originally developed as a general indicator of coping ability with high demand executive control and attention management requirements. It is a computer-based simulation, in which the performer is required to cook several food items while concurrently setting table for guests.

The Effect of Confidence Rating on a Primary Visual Task.

The current study explored the influence of confidence rating on visual acuity. We used brief exposures of the Landolt gap discrimination task, probing the primary visual ability to detect contrast. During 200 practice trials, participants in the Confidence Rating group rated their response-confidence in each trial.

The Joint Effects of Spatial Cueing and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Visual Acuity.

The present study examined the mutual influence of cortical neuroenhancement and allocation of spatial attention on perception. Specifically, it explored the effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on visual acuity measured with a Landolt gap task and attentional precues. The exogenous cues were used to draw attention either to the location of the target or away from it, generating significant performance benefits and costs.

Age-Based Differences in Task Switching Are Moderated by Executive Control Demands.

Objectives: Recent work has identified different aspects of executive function that may underlie cognitive changes associated with age. The current study used a multifactorial design to investigate age sensitivity in the ability to shift between different task sets and the interaction of this ability with several specific aspects of executive control.

Method: A large, well-characterized sample of younger (n = 40) and clinically healthy older (n = 51) adults completed a task switching paradigm in which 3 aspects of executive control were manipulated between subjects: a) sensorimotor demand (the number of distinct stimulus-response options); b) stimulus-level interference (i.

Guiding Principles for a Pediatric Neurology ICU (neuroPICU) Bedside Multimodal Monitor: Findings from an International Working Group.

Background: Physicians caring for children with serious acute neurologic disease must process overwhelming amounts of physiological and medical information. Strategies to optimize real time display of this information are understudied.

Objectives: Our goal was to engage clinical and engineering experts to develop guiding principles for creating a pediatric neurology intensive care unit (neuroPICU) monitor that integrates and displays data from multiple sources in an intuitive and informative manner.

Human factors-focused reporting system for improving care quality and safety in hospital wards.

Objective: The aim was to develop a reporting system for collecting human factors problem reports to establish a database to guide activities for improving health care quality and patient safety.

Background: The current error and incident report systems do not provide sufficient and adequate coverage of the factors contributing to impaired safety and care quality. They fail to examine the range of difficulties that clinical staff encounters in the conduct of daily work.

Skill training in multimodal virtual environments.

Multimodal, immersive, virtual reality (VR) techniques open new perspectives for perceptual-motor skill trainers. They also introduce new risks and dangers. This paper describes the benefits and pitfalls of multimodal training and the cognitive building blocks of a multimodal, VR training simulators.

Space Fortress game training and executive control in older adults: a pilot intervention.

We investigated the feasibility of using the Space Fortress (SF) game, a complex video game originally developed to study complex skill acquisition in young adults, to improve executive control processes in cognitively healthy older adults. The study protocol consisted of 36 one-hour game play sessions over 3 months with cognitive evaluations before and after, and a follow-up evaluation at 6 months. Sixty participants were randomized to one of three conditions: Emphasis Change (EC)--elders were instructed to concentrate on playing the entire game but place particular emphasis on a specific aspect of game play in each particular game; Active Control (AC)--game play with standard instructions; Passive Control (PC)--evaluation sessions without game play.

Effect of descriptive information and experience on automation reliance.

Objective: The present research addresses the issue of reliance on decision support systems for the long-term (DSSLT), which help users develop decision-making strategies and long-term planning. It is argued that providing information about a system's future performance in an experiential manner, as compared with a descriptive manner, encourages users to increase their reliance level.

Background: Establishing appropriate reliance on DSSLT is contingent on the system developer's ability to provide users with information about the system's future performance.

Training cognitive control in older adults with the space fortress game: the role of training instructions and basic motor ability.

This study examined if and how cognitively healthy older adults can learn to play a complex computer-based action game called the Space Fortress (SF) as a function of training instructions [Standard vs. Emphasis Change (EC); e.g.

Preoperative briefing in the operating room: shared cognition, teamwork, and patient safety.

Contemporary preoperative team briefings conducted to improve patient safety focus mainly on supplying identification details regarding the patient and the surgical procedure. Drawing on cognitive theory principles, in this study a briefing protocol was developed that presents a broader perspective model of the patient and the planned procedure. In addition to customary identification details and drug sensitivities, the new briefing also includes review of significant background information, needed equipment, planned surgery stages, and so forth.

Effects of task difficulty and invested mental effort on peripheral vasoconstriction.

We ran two experiments to investigate whether peripheral arterial tone reflects changes in mental effort. Finger pulse wave amplitude, interpulse interval, and pulse variability in the mid- and high-frequency bands were recorded by means of a newly developed finger plethysmograph during both rest and cognitive performance. Using a modified version of the Sternberg memory task, we selectively manipulated either the difficulty of the task (Experiment 1) or the subjects' level of engagement in the task (Experiment 2).

Melioration and the transition from touch-typing training to everyday use.

Previous research shows that success in touch-typing training does not ensure its continuation into everyday use. It is postulated that an important contributor to this problem is melioration--that is, maximizing local rates of reinforcement. In the context of typing, melioration implies an intuitive tendency to choose typing strategies that lead to a better immediate performance level than that obtained by touchtyping.

Residual effects of daytime administration of melatonin on performance relevant to flight.

There is a general consensus that melatonin possesses time-dependent hypnotic effects, but there is no information yet whether it has residual effects on neurobehavioral performance, especially after daytime administration. In the present study we investigated the possible residual effects of 3 mg melatonin on performance relevant to flight and on subjective feelings of sleepiness, arousal, activation and affect after a daytime nap, as a function of nap length. Fifteen reserve pilots of the Israeli Air Force participated in the study.