Search Results (34)

Headache represents one of the most prevalent and disabling conditions in the pediatric population, with significant repercussions on mental and psychological well-being, as well as on academic achievement and social functioning, ultimately leading to a marked reduction in quality of life. Currently, the diagnosis of headache is based on the clinical criteria of the third edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3). However, the characteristics of headache may differ between adults and children, as well as the ability of children to provide a complete description of the pain and associated symptoms. The immature narrative skills of children can represent a limitation in defining the clinical phenotype of headache, making the diagnosis more complex. This is even more challenging when extracting information about the characteristics of the headache in children whose verbal expression is poorly developed or completely absent. Given these limitations, clinical psychology has long used drawing as an effective diagnostic instrument to bypass verbal communication barriers. This tool provides unique access to children’s psychological and emotional states, as a direct window into their inner world and as an expressive medium that often generates more detailed, accurate, and clinically actionable information, compared to verbal reports alone. For these reasons, drawing has been recognized as a valuable diagnostic tool for decades, with multiple studies demonstrating specificity and accuracy rates comparable to standard clinical assessments. Particularly for young children, drawings may give access to fundamental information that might otherwise remain inaccessible, thereby allowing both accurate diagnosis and individualized treatment planning. Multiple studies have highlighted and confirmed the graphic differences between representations of various types of headaches and the undeniable utility of an “artistic diagnosis” alongside the clinical one. Furthermore, the literature suggests and encourages the use of drawing in clinical practice, both in the diagnostic process and during subsequent follow-up, as an effective, enjoyable, easy-to-use, and low-cost resource. Accordingly, we propose a narrative review accompanied by a curated collection of drawings that may help identify and categorize specific correlations between graphic representations and clinical phenotypes, such as pain location, quality, intensity, association with nausea and vomiting, photophobia and phonophobia, and types of migraine aura. Our goal is to create a visual reference that can aid clinicians in the accurate interpretation of children’s drawings. Additionally, we aim to promote the integration of this method into routine clinical practice to improve diagnostic precision and support a more child-centered model of care. We also hope to propose new iconographic models to further enrich the diagnostic framework. Full article

The ability of a fire extinguisher to suppress fires varies by the rated performance of the unit. Safety guidance in the United States indicates that the occupant should consider the performance rating of the extinguisher when deciding to use it with a fire. The present study investigated whether individuals are aware of the connection between the suppression performance of fire extinguishers and the intensity of fires the unit can extinguish. Across five experiments, participants were presented with fire extinguishers that varied in suppression performance (smaller, medium, and larger) and judged whether the extinguisher could extinguish a developing room fire that increased in intensity. The fire intensity at which they stopped attempting to use the extinguisher (threshold) was calculated. No significant differences in threshold were observed by suppression performance condition when suppression information about the single extinguisher at hand was presented. This included when information was provided about the amount of agent, the distance and duration of discharge, and with the water equivalent the extinguisher was rated. However, when trained on the differences in suppression performance between extinguishers and provided with corresponding containers of water, thresholds did vary by performance rating. We discuss how providing information about variations in suppression performance may be necessary to highlight differences in extinguisher ratings. Full article

This article delves into the intricate mechanisms underlying sensory integration in the executive control of movement, encompassing ideomotor activity, predictive capabilities, and motor control systems. It examines the interplay between motor and sensory functions, highlighting the role of the cortical and subcortical regions of the central nervous system in enhancing environmental interaction. The acquisition of motor skills, procedural memory, and the representation of actions in the brain are discussed emphasizing the significance of mental imagery and training in motor function. The development of this aspect of sensorimotor integration control can help to advance our understanding of the interactions between executive motor control, cortical mechanisms, and consciousness. Bridging theoretical insights with practical applications, it sets the stage for future innovations in clinical rehabilitation, assistive technology, and education. The ongoing exploration of these domains promises to uncover new pathways for enhancing human capability and well-being. Full article

Background/objectives: The way in which topics like suicide, mental health concerns and alcohol and other drug use are communicated matters. It has the potential to have either a positive or negative impact on people and communities, particularly those with a lived experience of these concerns. This article draws on the findings of a qualitative study designed to explore the experiences and perceptions of stakeholders on the imagery and language used to depict suicide, mental health concerns or alcohol and other drug use. Methods: The focus group method was used as a form of participatory action research to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences and views of those who use or are impacted by language and imagery about suicide, mental ill-health and AOD use, including those with lived experiences of these topics. Results: A series of 10 focus groups were created in February and March 2022 with media and other professional communicators; people identifying as having a lived experience of suicide, mental ill-health or alcohol and other drug use; mental health and suicide prevention sector professionals; and people from priority populations (n = 49). From these focus groups, principles were developed as well as exemplars of helpful and less helpful depictions. Rather than prescriptive or static rules, the participants indicated that safe representations require an ongoing engagement with the principle of “do no harm”. Conclusions: A positive conclusion arose—that words and images have the potential to promote help-seeking, challenge stigma or stereotypes and create change. Full article

Somatosensory tactile experience is a key aspect of our interaction with the environment. It is involved in object manipulation, in the planning and control of actions and, in its affective components, in the relationships with other individuals. It is also a foundational component of body awareness. An intriguing aspect of sensory perception in general and tactile perception in particular is the way in which stimulation comes to consciousness. Indeed, although being aware of something seems a rather self-evident and monolithic aspect of our mental states, sensory awareness may be in fact modulated by many different processes that impact on the mere stimulation of the skin, including the way in which we perceive our bodies as belonging to us. In this review, we first took into consideration the pathological conditions of absence of phenomenal experience of touch, in the presence of implicit processing, as initial models for understanding the neural bases of conscious tactile experience. Subsequently, we discussed cases of tactile illusions both in normal subjects and in brain-damaged patients which help to understand which high-order processes impact tactile awareness. Finally, we discussed the observations reported in the review in light of some influential models of touch and body representation. Full article

Radical enactivism supports radical embodied cognition (REC), which is the idea that basic or fundamental cognition (perception and action) does not need to be understood in representational, contentful terms. REC departs from the idea that the mind can be naturalized through biological functions, but rejects the idea that mental content, which is understood as having a representational nature, can be naturalized. For REC, the natural origins of content (or NOC) is a program based on the following hypothesis: first, we depart from basic cognitive processes that are target-based and guided by an Ur-intentionality or directedness toward the world, and then sociality enters in the picture when language appears into the scene, allowing for establishing full-blown semantic content in which that content is about worldly states of affairs. Here, we are going to focus on the phenomenon of directedness since there are blind spots in this picture: as many authors claim, REC takes Ur-intentionality as the starting point, but there is simply no explanation to date of how this directedness or Ur-intentionality is established. Therefore, how could we account for Ur-intentionality? How does this kind of intentionality emerge? We believe that we can answer this question if we invoke the best scientific evidence from ecological perceptual learning especially in regard to the role of the environment and the information for perceiving affordances in our learning processes. This allows us to offer an answer to the question of how the most basic form of cognition (Ur-intentionality or directedness) emerges in nature. Full article

Creativity is the ability to re-experience mental representations and is the basis of intuitive thinking when constructing images prior to the elaboration of an action plan. Creativity is thought to be related to orbitofrontal functions that govern decision making, such as inhibitory control, risk–benefit evaluation and acceptance of limits and rules, given that these processes prepare one against possible scenarios. Objective: In this study, the relationship between creativity and decision making is investigated to understand the needs of gifted students. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out with gifted students (IQ mean = 133) aged 8–10 years old (n = 25). Instruments: Creative Imagination Test (PIC) and subtests of the Neuropsychological Battery of Executive Functions and Frontal Lobes (BANFE-2) were employed. Analysis: A Spearman correlation analysis was conducted between the normalized BANFE-2 scores and the percentiles of PIC. Results: Moderate correlations were found between creative/narrative flexibility and decision making/risk percentage (r = 0.432, p ≤ 0.05) and decision making/response-effectiveness (r = 0.426, p ≤ 0.05), as well as between graphic creativity/shadow and color with decision making/response-effectiveness (r = 0.452, p ≤ 0.05) and inhibition (r = 0.673, p ≤ 0.01); moderate negative correlations were found between inhibition and graphic creativity/title (r = −0.570, p ≤ 0.05) and general graphic creativity (r = −0.489, p ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: Creativity in students with intellectual giftedness is favored by a relationship with orbitofrontal functions. Analysis of risk situations and effective decision making increase narrative creation and diminished inhibition allows for greater creative graphic production. Full article

School inclusion is based on the need to adopt and implement a holistic view of education, training, and human development embodied in the idea of everyone, for everyone. In the context of Physical Education (PE), there are still several constraints to the realization of this universal desideratum. Among these, teacher training and qualification for the inclusion of students with Specific Health Needs (SHNs) stands out. That is, students with physical and mental health problems whose impact is significantly manifested in the learning process. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify the representations of PE teachers about their training to develop inclusive processes with students with SES. Participants in this study were 151 PE teachers from different regions and districts of Portugal (Algarve, Aveiro, Castelo Branco, Lisbon, Porto, and Viseu) who had 23.6 ± 8.1 years of teaching service. Teachers answered an online questionnaire, on the Google Forms platform, with open and closed questions about their education and training to develop inclusive processes in PE. The results indicate two significant dimensions: (1) initial training for teaching inclusive PE and (2) continuous training for inclusion. Regarding initial training, a large majority of the teachers under study, at the end of their initial training, did not have the essential skills to teach PE to students with SES. It was also identified that a large majority reported not having had any contact with students with SES throughout their training process for teaching. It was also recognized that this training was not adjusted to the development of intervention skills with students with SHN. Regarding continuous training, it was identified that attendance at this training increased their skills to teach PE to students with SHN. Workshops/actions/training courses are the main training models adopted. However, it is recognized that the training provided does not respond concretely to their training needs to intervene with students with SHN, since teachers essentially seek to improve intervention in the context of inclusive physical education. We conclude that teacher training for inclusion is not yet fully adjusted to the reality of the inclusive school paradigm. In this sense, in practical terms, the following are suggested: (1) the need for reinforcement in study plans with specific and long-term curricular units; (2) the introduction of real practice components in context; and (3) supervised pedagogical practice in diverse contexts. Full article

Humans make decisions about their actions based on a combination of their objectives and their knowledge about the state of the world surrounding them. In social interactions, one prevalent goal is the ambition to be perceived to be an honest, trustworthy person in terms of having a reputation of frequently making true statements. Aiming for this goal requires the decision whether to communicate information truthfully or if deceptive lies might improve the reputation even more. The basis of this decision involves not only an individual’s belief about others, but also their understanding of others’ beliefs, described by the concept of Theory of Mind, and the mental processes from which these beliefs emerge. In the present work, we used the Reputation Game Simulation as an approach for modeling the evolution of reputation in agent-based social communication networks, in which agents treat information approximately according to Bayesian logic. We implemented a second-order Theory of Mind based message decision strategy that allows the agents to mentally simulate the impact of different communication options on the knowledge of their counterparts’ minds in order to identify the message that is expected to maximize their reputation. Analysis of the communication patterns obtained showed that deception was chosen more frequently than the truthful communication option. However, the efficacy of such deceptive behavior turned out to have a strong correlation with the accuracy of the agents’ Theory of Mind representation. Full article

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to enable individuals to interact with devices by detecting their intention from brain activity. A common approach to BCI is to decode movement intention from motor imagery (MI), the mental representation of an overt action. However, research-grade electroencephalogram (EEG) acquisition devices with a high number of sensors are typically necessary to achieve the spatial resolution required for reliable analysis. This entails high monetary and computational costs that make these approaches impractical for everyday use. This study investigates the trade-off between accuracy and complexity when decoding MI from fewer EEG sensors. Data were acquired from 15 healthy participants performing MI with a 64-channel research-grade EEG device. After performing a quality assessment by identifying visually evoked potentials, several decoding pipelines were trained on these data using different subsets of electrode locations. No significant differences (p = [0.18–0.91]) in the average decoding accuracy were found when using a reduced number of sensors. Therefore, decoding MI from a limited number of sensors is feasible. Hence, using commercial sensor devices for this purpose should be attainable, reducing both monetary and computational costs for BCI control. Full article

Background: despite a broad consensus on their importance, applications of systems thinking in policymaking and practice have been limited. This is partly caused by the longstanding practice of developing systems maps and software in the intention of supporting policymakers, but without knowing their needs and practices. Objective: we aim to ensure the effective use of a systems mapping software by policymakers seeking to understand and manage the complex system around obesity, physical, and mental well-being. Methods: we performed a usability study with eight policymakers in British Columbia based on a software tool (ActionableSystems) that supports interactions with a map of obesity. Our tasks examine different aspects of systems thinking (e.g., unintended consequences, loops) at several levels of mastery and cover common policymaking needs (identification, evaluation, understanding). Video recordings provided quantitative usability metrics (correctness, time to completion) individually and for the group, while pre- and post-usability interviews yielded qualitative data for thematic analysis. Results: users knew the many different factors that contribute to mental and physical well-being in obesity; however, most were only familiar with lower-level systems thinking concepts (e.g., interconnectedness) rather than higher-level ones (e.g., feedback loops). Most struggles happened at the lowest level of the mastery taxonomy, and predominantly on network representation. Although participants completed tasks on loops and multiple pathways mostly correctly, this was at the detriment of spending significant time on these aspects. Results did not depend on the participant, as their experiences with the software were similar. The thematic analysis revealed that policymakers did not have a typical workflow and did not use any special software or tools in their policy work; hence, the integration of a new tool would heavily depend on individual practices. Conclusions: there is an important discrepancy between what constitutes systems thinking to policymakers and what parts of systems thinking are supported by software. Tools may be more successfully integrated when they include tutorials (e.g., case studies), facilitate access to evidence, and can be linked to a policymaker’s portfolio. Full article

Physiotherapy has a strictly theoretical body of knowledge, but for the most part, the physiotherapist’s learning is practical. The practical part is fundamental to acquire clinical skills that the physiotherapist will later use in professional practice. The main aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of movement representation strategies (MRS) in the improvement of manual skills of physiotherapy students as an educational innovation strategy. We randomly assigned 30 participants to an action observation practice (AOP), motor imagery practice (MIP), or sham observation (SO) group. A high velocity, low amplitude lumbar manipulation technique that is widely used in clinical physiotherapy practice was taught in one session. The primary outcomes were required time and test score. The secondary outcomes were perceived mental fatigue and perceived difficulty for learning. The outcomes were assessed preintervention and immediately after the intervention (postintervention). The main results showed that both AOP and MIP improved the total time required and the test score, as well as entailed less perceived difficulty for learning. However, both strategies showed a higher level of mental fatigue after the intervention, which was higher in the MIP group. Based on the results obtained, it seems that the application of MRS promotes greater learning of manual motor tasks in physiotherapy students and could be used as educational innovation strategies. Full article

Motor Imagery (MI) refers to imagining the mental representation of motor movements without overt motor activity, enhancing physical action execution and neural plasticity with potential applications in medical and professional fields like rehabilitation and education. Currently, the most promising approach for implementing the MI paradigm is the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), which uses Electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors to detect brain activity. However, MI-BCI control depends on a synergy between user skills and EEG signal analysis. Thus, decoding brain neural responses recorded by scalp electrodes poses still challenging due to substantial limitations, such as non-stationarity and poor spatial resolution. Also, an estimated third of people need more skills to accurately perform MI tasks, leading to underperforming MI-BCI systems. As a strategy to deal with BCI-Inefficiency, this study identifies subjects with poor motor performance at the early stages of BCI training by assessing and interpreting the neural responses elicited by MI across the evaluated subject set. Using connectivity features extracted from class activation maps, we propose a Convolutional Neural Network-based framework for learning relevant information from high-dimensional dynamical data to distinguish between MI tasks while preserving the post-hoc interpretability of neural responses. Two approaches deal with inter/intra-subject variability of MI EEG data: (a) Extracting functional connectivity from spatiotemporal class activation maps through a novel kernel-based cross-spectral distribution estimator, (b) Clustering the subjects according to their achieved classifier accuracy, aiming to find common and discriminative patterns of motor skills. According to the validation results obtained on a bi-class database, an average accuracy enhancement of 10% is achieved compared to the baseline EEGNet approach, reducing the number of “poor skill” subjects from 40% to 20%. Overall, the proposed method can be used to help explain brain neural responses even in subjects with deficient MI skills, who have neural responses with high variability and poor EEG-BCI performance. Full article

Prism adaptation (PA) is a useful method to investigate short-term sensorimotor plasticity. Following active exposure to prisms, individuals show consistent after-effects, probing that they have adapted to the perturbation. Whether after-effects are transferable to another task or remain specific to the task performed under exposure, represents a crucial interest to understand the adaptive processes at work. Motor imagery (MI, i.e., the mental representation of an action without any concomitant execution) offers an original opportunity to investigate the role of cognitive aspects of motor command preparation disregarding actual sensory and motor information related to its execution. The aim of the study was to test whether prism adaptation through MI led to transferable after-effects. Forty-four healthy volunteers were exposed to a rightward prismatic deviation while performing actual (Active group) versus imagined (MI group) pointing movements, or while being inactive (inactive group). Upon prisms removal, in the MI group, only participants with the highest MI abilities (MI+ group) showed consistent after-effects on pointing and, crucially, a significant transfer to throwing. This was not observed in participants with lower MI abilities and in the inactive group. However, a direct comparison of pointing after-effects and transfer to throwing between MI+ and the control inactive group did not show any significant difference. Although this interpretation requires caution, these findings suggest that exposure to intersensory conflict might be responsible for sensory realignment during prism adaptation which could be transferred to another task. This study paves the way for further investigations into MI’s potential to develop robust sensorimotor adaptation. Full article

Action imagery describes a mental representation of an action and its consequences. Although it is widely recognized that people differ in their ability to imagine actions, objective validated tests to measure such differences are scarce. In search of an objective testing method for action imagery ability, the present study investigated whether solving mental paper-folding tasks involves action imagery. The stimuli were two-dimensional grids of six squares. A total of 99 participants mentally folded each grid into a three-dimensional cube to judge whether two highlighted lines in the grid overlapped in the imagined cube. This was done in two sessions of 214 judgements each, where the grids differed in overlaps, the least number of imagined folds, and the least number of imagined directional changes. Error rates and reaction times increased with the number of imagined folds and with the number of directional changes. Furthermore, more errors were committed with overlapping lines than with no overlaps. This was not reflected in the reaction times. Hence, the reaction times increased when the stepwise folding process was enlarged, but not when the final selection was more difficult. We concluded that the participants predominantly used action imagery as a task-solving strategy rather than for abstract problem-solving. Full article