Background: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) includes various core clinical features that result in different phenotypes. In addition, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebrovascular pathologies are common in DLB. All this increases the heterogeneity within DLB and hampers clinical diagnosis. We addressed this heterogeneity by investigating subgroups of patients with similar biological, clinical, and demographic features.

Methods: We studied 107 extensively phenotyped DLB patients from the European DLB consortium. Factorial analysis of mixed data (FAMD) was used to identify dimensions in the data, based on sex, age, years of education, disease duration, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of AD biomarkers, core features of DLB, and regional brain atrophy. Subsequently, hierarchical clustering analysis was used to subgroup individuals based on the FAMD dimensions.

Results: We identified 3 dimensions using FAMD that explained 38% of the variance. Subsequent hierarchical clustering identified 4 clusters. Cluster 1 was characterized by amyloid-beta and cerebrovascular pathologies, medial temporal atrophy, and cognitive fluctuations. Cluster 2 had posterior atrophy and showed the lowest frequency of visual hallucinations and cognitive fluctuations and the worst cognitive performance. Cluster 3 had the highest frequency of tau pathology, showed posterior atrophy, and had a low frequency of parkinsonism. Cluster 4 had virtually normal AD biomarkers, the least regional brain atrophy and cerebrovascular pathology, and the highest MMSE scores.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there are subgroups of DLB patients with different biological, clinical, and demographic characteristics. These findings may have implications in the diagnosis and prognosis of DLB, as well as in the treatment response in clinical trials.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often characterized by atypical sensory behavior (hyperor hyporeactivity) although evidence is scarce regarding olfactory abilities in ASD; 16 adults with high-functioning ASD (mean age: 38.2, SD: 9.7) and 14 healthy control subjects (mean age: 42.0 years, SD: 12.5) were assessed in odor threshold, free and cued odor identification, and perceived pleasantness, intensity, and edibility of everyday odors. Although results showed no differences between groups, the Bayes Factors (close to 1) suggested that the evidence for no group differences on the threshold and identification tests was inconclusive. In contrast, there was some evidence for no group differences on perceived edibility (BF01 = 2.69) and perceived intensity (BF01 = 2.80). These results do not provide conclusive evidence for or against differences between ASD and healthy controls on olfactory abilities. However, they suggest that there are no apparent group differences in subjective ratings of odors.

Objective: This study investigated age-dependent and subtype-related alterations in electroencephalography (EEG) power spectra and current source densities (CSD) in children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Methods: We performed spectral and cortical source (exact low-resolution electromagnetic tomography, eLORETA) analyses using resting state EEG recordings from 40 children (8-16 years) with combined and inattentive subtypes of ADHD and 41 age-matched healthy controls (HC). Group differences in EEG spectra and CSD were investigated at each scalp location, voxel and cortical region in delta, theta, alpha and beta bands. We also explored associations between topographic changes in EEG power and CSD and age.

Results: Compared to healthy controls, combined ADHD subtype was characterized with significantly increased diffuse theta/beta power ratios (TBR) with a widespread decrease in beta CSD. Inattentive ADHD subtype presented increased TBR in all brain regions except in posterior areas with a global increase in theta source power. In both ADHD and HC, older age groups showed significantly lower delta source power and TBR and higher alpha and beta source power than younger age groups. Compared to HC, ADHD was characterized with increases in theta fronto-central and temporal source power with increasing age.

Conclusions: Our results confirm that TBR can be used as a neurophysiological biomarker to differentiate ADHD from healthy children at both the source and sensor levels.

Significance: Our findings emphasize the importance of performing the source imaging analysis in order to better characterize age-related changes in resting-state EEG activity in ADHD and controls.

Scientific research on how people perceive or experience and/or understand the acoustic environment as a whole (i.e., soundscape) is still in development. In order to predict how people would perceive an acoustic environment, it is central to identify its underlying acoustic properties. This was the purpose of the present study. Three successive experiments were conducted. With the aid of 30 university students, the first experiment mapped the underlying dimensions of perceived similarity among 50 acoustic environments, using a visual sorting task of their spectrograms. Three dimensions were identified: (1) Distinguishable-Indistinguishable sound sources, (2) Background-Foreground sounds, and (3) Intrusive-Smooth sound sources. The second experiment was aimed to validate the results from Experiment 1 by a listening experiment. However, a majority of the 10 expert listeners involved in Experiment 2 used a qualitatively different approach than the 30 university students in Experiment 1. A third experiment was conducted in which 10 more expert listeners performed the same task as per Experiment 2, with spliced audio signals. Nevertheless, Experiment 3 provided a statistically significantly worse result than Experiment 2. These results suggest that information about the meaning of the recorded sounds could be retrieved in the spectrograms, and that the meaning of the sounds may be captured with the aid of holistic features of the acoustic environment, but such features are still unexplored and further in-depth research is needed in this field.

Scientific research on how people perceive, experience or understand the acoustic environment as a whole (i.e., soundscape) is still in development, both with regards to acoustic properties, as well as personality and individual differences. In order to predict how people would perceive an acoustic environment, it is central to identify the underlying acoustic properties of soundscapes. In this study these properties were approached by investigating the visual similarity of colour prints of 50 audio spectrograms (time vs. frequency), representing audio recordings of a variety of acoustic environments. In total, 15 female and 15 male students from the University of Sheffield were recruited to assess the 50 spectrograms by sorting them into groups based on how similar they were perceived to be. A distance matrix, derived from the sorting data, was subjected to a Multidimensional Scaling analysis to map the underlying dimensions of similarity among the spectrograms, which are proposed to represent the underlying acoustic properties of the corresponding acoustic environments. Three dimensions were identified. The first dimension relates to Distinguishable–Indistinguishable sound sources, the second dimension to Background–Foreground sounds, and the third dimension to Intrusive–Smooth sound sources. The results also show that established acoustic parameters are inappropriate as indicators of acoustic environments and that further research is needed in this field.

Soundscape exists through human perception of the acoustic environment. This paper investigates how soundscape currently is assessed and measured. It reviews and analyzes the main soundscape descriptors in the soundscape literature, and provides a conceptual framework for developing predictive models in soundscape studies. A predictive soundscape model provides a means of predicting the value of a soundscape descriptor, and the blueprint for how to design soundscape. It is the key for implementing the soundscape approach in urban planning and design. The challenge is to select the appropriate soundscape descriptor and to identify its predictors. The majority of available soundscape descriptors are converging towards a 2-dimensional soundscape model of perceived affective quality (e.g., Pleasantness–Eventfulness, or Calmness–Vibrancy). A third potential dimension is the appropriateness of a soundscape to a place. This dimensions provides complementary information beyond the perceived affective quality. However, it depends largely on context, and because a soundscape may be appropriate to a place although it is poor, this descriptor must probably not be used on its own. With regards to predictors, or soundscape indicators, perceived properties of the acoustic environment (e.g., perceived sound sources) are winning over established acoustic and psychoacoustic metrics. To move this area forward it is necessary that the international soundscape community comes together and agrees on relevant soundscape descriptors. This includes to agree on numerical scales and assessment procedures, as well as to standardize them.

The purpose of the present study was to characterize the soundscape of the Valley Gardens in Brighton before the area is converted into a downtown park. Valley Gardens is located in the busy city centre. It extends from the Brighton Pier at the seafront and approximately 1.5 km to the north. It includes Old Stein, Victoria Gardens, St Peter’s Church, and The Level. In 2015 work will commence on redeveloping Victoria Gardens and St Peter’s Church. In order to characterize the soundscape of the Valley Gardens prior to this urban design intervention a soundwalk was conducted. In October 2014, a group of 21 persons -experts in acoustics and officers of the City Council- were guided through the area together, and assessed the soundscape at eight sites: five within the Valley Gardens and three reference sites. The assessments covered the soundscape quality, how appropriate the soundscape is to the place, the dominance of perceived sound sources, and the affective quality of the soundscape. In addition, binaural recordings and sound-level measurements were conducted at each of the eight sites during the soundwalk. Preliminary results indicate that the Valley Gardens was dominated by the sound of road traffic, and that the soundscape was perceived as inappropriate to the place. Consequently, the planned design intervention should reduce the dominance of road-traffic sound and introduce more positive sounds, like the sound of people and nature. This would be done through careful planning of the landscape and human activities within the area. The plan is to follow-up these results with a post-intervention soundwalk.

Background: Impaired odor identification is a characteristic of sporadic Alzheimer’sdisease(AD), but its presence in autosomal-dominantAD (adAD) remains uncertain. Objective: To investigate odor identification ability in mutation carriers (MC) and non-carriers (NC) of adAD in relation to years to estimated clinical onset clinical onset (YECO) of disease. Methods: Participants from six families with autosomal-dominant mutations (APP Swedish, APPArctic, and PSEN1 mutations) included 20 MC and 20 NC. The groups were comparable in age, gender, education, number of APOE ɛ4 alleles, and YECO, but differed in global cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination). The MC group included individuals in asymptomatic, symptomatic cognitively unimpaired, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia stages of disease, spanning approximately 40 years of the AD continuum. All NC were asymptomatic. Olfactory function was assessed by means of free and cued identification of common odors summarized as total identification. Results: MC performed poorer than NC in free and total identification. Four MC and none of the NC were anosmic. Olfactory functions in MC and NC were significantly and inversely related to time course (YECO) for both free and total identification. The decline in free identification began approximately 10 years prior to the estimated clinical onset of AD in MC. Odor identification proficiency was associated with episodic memory and executive function in MC and NC. Conclusions: Impaired odor identification is present well before the clinical diagnosis of AD in MC and is associated with disease progression. Odor identification ability may be a useful early biomarker for adAD.

A widely held view is that top-down modulation of sensory information relies on an amodal control network that acts through the thalamus to regulate incoming signals. Olfaction lacks a direct thalamic projection, which suggests that it may differ from other modalities in this regard. We investigated the late positive complex (LPC) amplitudes of event-related potentials (ERP) from 28 participants, elicited by intensity-matched olfactory, auditory and visual stimuli, during a condition of focused attention, a neutral condition, and a condition in which stimuli were to be actively ignored. Amplitudes were largest during the attend condition, lowest during the ignore condition, with the neutral condition in between. A Bayesian analysis resulted in strong evidence for similar effects of task across sensory modalities. We conclude that olfaction, despite its unique neural projections, does not differ from audition and vision in terms of task-dependent neural modulation of the LPC.

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated numerous changes in daily life, including the cancellation and restriction of sports globally. Because sports participation contributes positively to the development of student-athletes, restricting these activities may have led to long-term mental health changes in this population. Using a repeated cross-sectional study design, we measured rates of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and anxiety using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 scale in student-athletes attending elite sport high schools in Sweden during the second wave of the pandemic (February 2021; n = 7021) and after all restrictions were lifted (February 2022; n = 6228). Depression among student-athletes decreased from 19.8% in 2021 to 17.8% in 2022 (p = .008, V = .026), while anxiety screening did not change significantly (17.4% to 18.4%, p > .05). Comparisons between classes across years revealed older students exhibited decreases in depressive symptoms, while younger cohorts experienced increases in symptoms of anxiety from 2021 to 2022. Logistic regressions revealed that being female, reporting poorer mental health due to COVID-19, and excessive worry over one’s career in sports were significant predictors of both depression and anxiety screenings in 2022. Compared to times when sports participation was limited, the lifting of restrictions was associated with overall reduced levels of depression, but not anxiety.

The country-of-origin effect is a topic central to the field of international marketing. Country of origin has been found to exert a particularly potent effect on consumer evaluation in situations where there is a strong link between a country and a particular product category. The present study provides further insight into how this particular effect can be understood. Drawing on a novel conceptualization of how country image and product categories interact, this study tested the relative evaluative relevance of product category with respect to estimates of brand equity across a variety of product categories. The findings suggest that facets of a country's image that are more closely related to the evaluation situation exert a greater influence on the evaluation of brands. This result encourages scholars as well as practitioners to re-evaluate which situations might cause the country of origin effect to hold managerial relevance and paves the way for new paths toward a more comprehensive understanding of the effect. 

If the survival function of a random variable X lies to the right of the survival function of a random variable Y, then X is said to stochastically dominate Y. Inferring stochastic dominance is particularly complicated because comparing survival functions raises four possible hypotheses: identical survival functions, dominance of X over Y, dominance of Y over X, or crossing survival functions. In this paper, we suggest four-decision tests for stochastic dominance suitable for paired samples. The tests are permutation-based and do not rely on distributional assumptions. One-sided Cramer-von Mises and Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics are employed but the general idea may be utilized with other test statistics. The power to detect dominance and the different types of wrong decisions are investigated in an extensive simulation study. The proposed tests are applied to data from an experiment concerning the individual's willingness to pay for a given environmental improvement. 

In mammals respiratory-locked hippocampal rhythms are implicated in the scaffolding and transfer of information between sensory and memory networks. These oscillations are entrained by nasal respiration and driven by the olfactory bulb. They then travel to the piriform cortex where they propagate further downstream to the hippocampus and modulate neural processes critical for memory formation. In humans, bypassing nasal airflow through mouth-breathing abolishes these rhythms and impacts encoding as well as recognition processes thereby reducing memory performance. It has been hypothesized that similar behavior should be observed for the consolidation process, the stage between encoding and recognition, were memory is reactivated and strengthened. However, direct evidence for such an effect is lacking in human and nonhuman animals. Here we tested this hypothesis by examining the effect of respiration on consolidation of episodic odor memory. In two separate sessions, female and male participants encoded odors followed by a 1 h awake resting consolidation phase where they either breathed solely through their nose or mouth. Immediately after the consolidation phase, memory for odors was tested. Recognition memory significantly increased during nasal respiration compared with mouth respiration during consolidation. These results provide the first evidence that respiration directly impacts consolidation of episodic events, and lends further support to the notion that core cognitive functions are modulated by the respiratory cycle.

Chemosignals are used by predators to localize prey and by prey to avoid predators. These cues vary between species, but the odor of blood seems to be an exception and suggests the presence of an evolutionarily conserved chemosensory cue within the blood odor mixture. A blood odor component, E2D, has been shown to trigger approach responses identical to those triggered by the full blood odor in mammalian carnivores and as such, is a key candidate as a food/alarm cue in blood. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we demonstrate that E2D holds the dual function of affecting both approach and avoidance behavior in a predator-prey predicted manner. E2D evokes approach responses in two taxonomically distant blood-seeking predators, Stable fly and Wolf, while evoking avoidance responses in the prey species Mouse. We extend this by demonstrating that this chemical cue is preserved in humans as well; E2D induces postural avoidance, increases physiological arousal, and enhances visual perception of affective stimuli. This is the first demonstration of a single chemical cue with the dual function of guiding both approach and avoidance in a predator-prey predicted manner across taxonomically distant species, as well as the first known chemosignal that affects both human and non-human animals alike.

This study investigated the effects of a mock-up version of a low-height sound absorbent street furniture and a fountain on the local soundscape in a pocket park in Stockholm. Binaural recordings were conducted at two distances from the main road (on the sidewalk and in the park). The recordings were conducted with or without the mock-up, and with the local fountain either turned on or off. Thirty-two students (16 women, Mage = 26.6 yrs., SDage = 5.7) participated in a listening experiment, and assessed eight experimental sounds, in context of 12 fill sounds, on how pleasant or eventful they were. ANOVA showed that the mock-up had a stronger effect on pleasantness on the sidewalk than in the park, and the fountain contributed to pleasantness only in the absence of the mock-up. Moreover, the fountain reduced the eventfulness in the park but not on the sidewalk. The results are in line with previous case studies. Taken together, they suggest that it is better to build low-height sound absorbent street furniture  han fountains, to improve the urban soundscape.

The Swedish Soundscape-Quality Protocol has been criticized for being insufficient, because it proposes to assess soundscape quality by a Good–Bad Scale, and alternatively by eight attribute scales assessing the perceived affective quality of a soundscape. Critics argue that further alternative definitions of ‘soundscape quality’ must be explored. In particular they argue for assessing ‘soundscape quality’ by asking to what extent a soundscape is appropriate to a place. The Sound Cities project at School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, in the UK, investigated this issue by a listening experiment involving 50 university students and 25 urban and peri-urban areas from the UK. The results indicate that the Good–Bad Scale is correlated with the perceived affective quality of a soundscape. Conversely, the appropriateness of a soundscape to a place is orthogonal to the former two assessments and provides additional information. Thus, a soundscape can be appropriate to a place even though it is poor. This raises the issue of which information should be given priority. Probably the best recommendation is to assess soundscape by perceived affective quality. In addition, it is possible to complement this assessment by assessing the appropriateness of the soundscape to the place. However, the latter assessment should not be used on its own, as this may lead to unfortunate conclusions.

In investigating the quality of urban open space, it is important to investigate how the visual and auditory components contribute to the total quality. The majority of studies investigating audio-visual interaction in environmental perception have concerned how visual stimuli affect auditory perception, such as how vegetation affects the perception of the sound of road traffic from a motorway (e.g., Anderson, Mulligan, Goodman, Regen, 1983). In general, these studies indicate that how people perceive sound depends on the visual context. That is, some sounds are more appropriate in one context than in another, which seems to depend on the participants’ expectations. For example, a city center is expected to sound like a city center, and not like a forest, and vice versa. Typically, a mismatch resulted in discomfort.

A handful of laboratory studies investigated how perception of auditory and visual aspects related to the perception of the composite of audio-visual information (e.g., Gifford & Ng, 1982; Kuwano, Namba, Komatsu, Kato, & Hayashi, 2001; Morinaga, Aono, Kuwano, & Kato, 2003). Chiefly, these studies showed that visual aspects of environments were more important than auditory aspects. However, how important the visual aspects were, was highly variable across different environments. This indicates that auditory information might dominate over visual information at some point (see also Gan, Luo, Breitung, Kang, & Zhang, 2014; Preis, Koci ski, Hafke-Dys, & Wrzosek, 2015).

The present paper concerns a case study conducted in collaboration with the City of Stockholm, Sweden, in the summer of 2016. The purpose was to characterize and to investigate the potential for improving the quality of the environment in a centrally located park area in the city. Walks were conducted in situ together with 61 residents. In the walks the participants assessed five preselected sites in and near the park area, with regards to their perceived total, auditory and visual qualities.

With changing practices in urban planning, moving away from thinking of the city primarily in terms of infrastructure towards a growing appreciation of the city as a stage for social interaction, the human scale is all more important in urban design. What do the citizens need, and how would they like the city to be? Soundscape research focuses on these issues with regards to the acoustic environment, aiming to develop knowledge, tools and strategies. Central purposes of soundscapes studies are to describe, evaluate, change or to design/create acoustic environments. The aim is to promote health, well-being and quality of life. Because soundscape concerns how people perceive, experience or understand the acoustic environment the human scale is taken into account by definition. This paper will discuss questions that are central to soundscape theory and its application in an increasingly dense urban environment.

Architects and urban planners request guidelines with regards to soundscape design. In 2013 staff and students at the University of Sheffield, UK, were invited to take part in an electronic survey to investigate what kinds of urban open spaces that they prefer, and how these spaces should be designed with regards to soundscape. Respondents were asked to freely name their favourite outdoor place in Sheffield, and to what extent they found a list of 45 social and recreational activities, as well as a list of 40 sound sources appropriate for this place. A total of 935 individuals completed the questionnaire. A hierarchical cluster analysis of the 45 social and recreational activities revealed three main categories of favourite outdoor places: ‘Urban Park’, ‘City Centre’, and ‘My Space’. For ‘Urban Park’ natural sounds were appropriate when clearly audible, sounds of individuals when moderately audible, sounds of crowds when slightly audible, and technological sounds when inaudible. For ‘City Centre’ sounds of individuals were appropriate when moderately audible, whereas natural sounds, and sounds of crowds were appropriate when slightly audible. Technological sounds were appropriate when inaudible. For ‘My Space’ natural sounds and sounds of individuals were appropriate when moderately audible, whereas sounds of crowds and technological sounds were appropriate when inaudible. This kinds of profiles may serve as design guidelines for urban outdoor spaces with regards to soundscape, based on their social and recreational purposes.

The present study aimed to increase understanding of how singing activities may be initiated in primary school, and what support and assistance teachers require to conduct singing activities as an integrated part of the school day. Five music teachers participated in a focus group interview. The following main themes were identified: 1) pedagogical and methodological flexibility, 2) the role of routines and familiarity, 3) the embodied and multimodal dimensions of singing, 4) the importance of accompaniment and instruments, 5) the experience of insecurity and obstacles and 6) the perceived synergies between singing and other learning activities. This knowledge may be important to integrate within music teacher education in order to secure singing’s place in schools.

The Borg CR Scales® are general psychophysical intensity scales intended for measurements of all kinds of perceptions and feelings. They are based on several important principles to give level-anchored ratio data with high interindividual validity. Some of these principles are: numerical coverage of the total subjective dynamic range; quantitative semantics for finding and choosing the best verbal (or pictorial) anchors to obtain high agreement concerning quantitative interpretation and preciseness for valid level-determinations; magnitude estimation for ratio data; congruence between numbers and anchors; Gunnar Borg’s Range Model for interindividual comparisons; and a general point of reference or “fixed star” as a unit (for example a maximal perceived exertion). In this presentation, a short review is given of the rationale behind the Borg RPE scale® and Borg CR Scales®, and some examples of applications with the Borg centiMax Scale® (CR100) are given.

In test construction, thorough effort is put into formulating test items. Commonly, however, these are scaled with category or Likert scales. In this study, items from four work-related questionnaires were adapted and scaled with the Borg CR Scale^® (CR100, centiMax^®), a general intensity scale for level determination with ratio data (Borg & Borg, 2001; Borg, 2007). Tests measured Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Perceived Organizational Support, and Procedural Justice. In their original forms, Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.74–0.98, whereas this study obtained 0.83–0.92 (n=30 and n=81). Adapted to the centiMax scale, Cronbach’s alpha were 0.72–0.95 (n=81 and n=142). For Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction (n=81) and for Organizational Citizenship Behavior (n=30) correlations between centiMax and Likert scales were r=0.79 (p<0,001) and r=0.69 (p<0,001). The centiMax scale worked well and can be recommended with the advantage of more interesting statistical analysis that comes with ratio data.

The Borg centiMax Scale, is a psychophysically composed general intensity ratio scale, which could enable more precise inter‐ and intraindividual comparisons of the intensity of depressive symptoms. In the present study, the properties of the centiMax scale were examined in 38 patients with clinical depression and 109 students. Additionally, preliminary centiMax cut‐off scores for mild, moderate and severe depression were estimated. The psychometric properties of the centiMax were found to be satisfactory regarding internal consistency, convergent, discriminative and predictive validity. Moreover, the centiMax was demonstrated to provide meaningful comparisons of symptom intensity, which makes it possible to evaluate the relative importance of individual symptoms in a profile and make more precise comparisons within and between individuals. With regard to intraindividual comparisons, patients rated , for example, the intensity of feeling “guilt” twice as strong as feelings of “being punished,” and the intensity of “loss of pleasure” almost three times as strong as “being punished.” With regard to interindividual comparisons, patients rated e.g., the intensity of “being punished” as 12 times stronger than controls, and the intensity of “worthlessness” about nine times stronger. In conclusion, the centiMax was shown to be reliable and valid for assessing depressive symptoms. The centiMax with level anchored ratio data, appears to be highly advantageous as it permits rather precise values of symptom intensity for intra‐ and interindividual comparisons that could be useful in the diagnostic process and in treatment planning.

In many sports, for example in diving, figure skating, or ski jumping, judges subjectively score the performance on a category scale. The level-anchored ratio Borg centiMax (R) Scale (CR100), a general intensity scale from 0 to 100 commonly used for self-appraisal of exertion, is an interesting and valuable alternative. The aim was to explore the possibility of using the Borg centiMax (R) Scale (CR100), for performance evaluation in diving. In Study 1, 16 participants used the centiMax scale and the traditional diving scale (FINA) during a judicial training course on pre-recorded material; and in Study 2, six professional judges used the two scales during qualifying, semi-finals, and finals in the Swedish Championships in orebro, 2012. Strong and significant correlations were obtained between judged performances with the two scales (r >=.8), as well as with contest results (r >=.6). The continuous and finely graded centiMax scale has promising possibilities of improving measurement with both level determinations (how good) and ratio relationships (how much better). With a Borg CR scale, more interesting comparisons can be made, for example, direct comparisons between performance measures and perceptual variables (e.g., perceived exertion and motivation). This is of importance in training and coaching of athletes.

The Borg centiMax scale is a psychophysically constructed general intensity scale with verbal anchors placed in congruence with the numerical scale (0–100); thus, ratio data are obtained. With ratio data, quantitative relationships among perceptions and feelings can be determined in a statistically more solid way. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the utility of using the Borg CR Scale® (centiMax®, CR100) for measuring depressive symptoms in a pilot study of 50 students, who completed the centiMax along with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Convergent validity and reliability were examined by correlation analyses (Pearson, Spearman, and Split-half with Spearman–Brown correction), and group and individual symptom profiles were constructed to illustrate the possible advantage of level anchored ratio data. The strong correlation 0.75 (p < .001) between the instruments supports an acceptable convergent validity of the centiMax and indicates a common underlying construct. Additionally, the reliability was high (cM = 0.96; BDI = 0.90). With symptom profiles, it was demonstrated that level anchored ratio data can show both how intense (level) and how many times more intense (relation) the feelings of separate symptoms are. In conclusion, the centiMax appears to be a valid and reliable instrument; however, further studies in larger samples including clinically depressed participants are needed for evaluating its diagnostic importance.

A non-clinical sample (n=71) answered an online survey containing the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), that rates the frequency of symptoms of depression (DSM-IV). The questions were also adapted for the Borg CR Scale® (CR100, centiMax®) (0–100), a general intensity scale with verbal anchors from a minimal to a maximal intensity placed in agreement with a numerical scale to give ratio data). The cut-off score of PHQ-9?10 was found to correspond to ?29 cM. Cronbach's alpha for both scales was high (0.87) and the correlation between the scales was r=0.78 (rs=0.69). Despite restriction of range, the cM-scale works well for scaling depression with added possibilities for valuable data analysis.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data. 

During the last decades, there have been a large number of studies into the number-related abilities of humans. As a result, we know that humans and non-human animals have a system known as the approximate number system that allows them to distinguish between collections based on their number of items, separately from any counting procedures. Dehaene and others have argued for a model on which this system uses representations for numbers that are spatial in nature and are shared by our symbolic and non-symbolic processing of numbers. However, there is a conflicting theoretical perspective in which there are no representations of numbers underlying the approximate number system, but only quantity-related representations. This perspective would then suggest that there are no shared representations between symbolic and non-symbolic processing. We review the evidence on spatial biases resulting from the activation of numerical representations, for both non-symbolic and symbolic tests. These biases may help decide between the theoretical differences; shared representations are expected to lead to similar biases regardless of the format, whereas different representations more naturally explain differences in biases, and thus behaviour. The evidence is not yet decisive, as the behavioural evidence is split: we expect bisection tasks to eventually favour shared representations, whereas studies on the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect currently favour different representations. We discuss how this impasse may be resolved, in particular, by combining these behavioural studies with relevant neuroimaging data. If this approach is carried forward, then it may help decide which of these two theoretical perspectives on number representations is correct.

We present three strategies to replace the null hypothesis statistical significance testing approach in psychological research: (1) visual representation of cognitive processes and predictions, (2) visual representation of data distributions and choice of the appropriate distribution for analysis, and (3) model comparison. The three strategies have been proposed earlier, so we do not claim originality. Here we propose to combine the three strategies and use them not only as analytical and reporting tools but also to guide the design of research. The first strategy involves a visual representation of the cognitive processes involved in solving the task at hand in the form of a theory or model together with a representation of a pattern of predictions for each condition. The second approach is the GAMLSS approach, which consists of providing a visual representation of distributions to fit the data, and choosing the best distribution that fits the raw data for further analyses. The third strategy is the model comparison approach, which compares the model of the researcher with alternative models. We present a worked example in the field of reasoning, in which we follow the three strategies.

The aim of this study was to investigate if different scale formats affect what conclusion one can draw about the prevalence of a specific trait in a sample. More specifically, we compared the original scale format of Need for cognition (1-5) and Behavioral Inhibition/Approach (1-4) with an 11-point scale (0-10), and a psychophysical scale originally developed to measure physical exertion, Borg centiMax Scale®. Forty-eight psychology undergraduate students participated in return for course credit. In a within-subjects design, all participants completed both questionnaires in all three versions. Results revealed that the mean was consistently reaching ceiling effects when using the original scale formats, and the variation was relatively low compared to the other scales. In sum, the results revealed that the scale format plays a significant role in how prevalent a specific trait becomes in a sample.

The feeling of control over actions and their external effects is known as Sense of Agency (SoAg). People usually have a distinctive SoAg for events caused by their own actions. However, if the agent is a child or an older person, this feeling of being responsible for the consequences of an action may differ from what an adult would feel. The idea would be that children and elderly may have a reduced SoAg since their frontal lobes are developing or have started to loose their efficiency. The aim of this study was to elucidate whether the SoAg changes across lifespan, using the Intentional Binding (i.e., the temporal attraction between a voluntary action and its sensory consequence) as implicit measure. Data show that children and elderly are characterized by a reduced SoAg as compared to adults. These findings provide a fundamental step in the characterization of SoAg dynamics throughout individuals' lifetime.

People's smell and taste perception is affected by different features of the vessel in which the beverage is served. In this study we focused on the container's shape and we investigated its impact on participants' olfactory and tasting ratings regarding a popular beverage, i.e., cola. We tested 100 healthy participants who evaluated both cola and sparkling water. These two beverages were presented in three different containers: a cola glass, a water glass and a plastic bottle. The results showed the presence of multisensory interactions between the smell and taste of the drinks and the type of vessel in which they were presented. Cola was perceived as more pleasant and intense when served in a typical coca-cola glass as compared to when it was presented in an incongruent container (i.e., water glass or plastic bottle). These results further support the view that our perception is modulated by the shape of the container in which the liquid is presented, strongly influencing the consumer's drinking experience.

Objectives/Hypothesis: Postinfectious olfactory loss is among the most common causes of olfactory impairment and has substantial negative impact on patients' quality of life. Recovery rates have been shown to spontaneously improve in most of patients, usually within 2 to 3 years. However, existing studies are limited by small sample sizes and short follow-up. We aimed to assess the prognostic factors for recovery in a large sample of 791 patients with postinfectious olfactory disorders.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 791 patients with postinfectious olfactory loss. Olfactory functions were assessed using the Sniffin' Sticks test at the first and final visits (mean follow-up = 1.94 years).

Results: Smell test scores improved over time. In particular, patient's age and the odor threshold (T), odor discrimination (D), and odor identification (I) (TDI) score at first visit were significant predictors of the extent of change. The percentage of anosmic and hyposmic patients exhibiting clinically significant improvement was 46% and 35%, respectively.

Conclusions: This study provides new evidence within the postinfectious olfactory loss literature, shedding light on the prognostic factors and showing that recovery of olfactory function is very frequent, even many years after the infection.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether repetitive aversive odor conditioning induced changes at the level of the peripheral olfactory system in humans. A total of 51 volunteers participated. A pair of indistinguishable odor enantiomers [(+)-rose oxide and (-)-rose oxide] were used as stimuli. During the pre-conditioning, participants' ability to discriminate between the two odors was assessed using a three-alternative, forced-choice discrimination test. In addition, electro-olfactograms ( EOG) from the olfactory epithelium were recorded. Participants underwent three conditioning sessions on consecutive days. The experimental group received an electrical stimulus to the forearm only following (+)-rose oxide presentation, whereas its enantiomer sibling was never paired with the aversive stimulus; the control group did not receive any electrical stimulation. During the post-conditioning session, their ability to discriminate the two enantiomers was assessed again using the discrimination test and EOG recordings were obtained similarly to the pre-conditioning session. Results showed significant differences in the peripheral electrophysiological responses between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus, demonstrating contextually induced changes at the level of the first neuron in the olfactory system.

Age-related sensory impairment is a slow and gradual progress, which affects multiple modalities. Two contradictory hypotheses exist about the age-related decline of sensory thresholds. The common factor theory assumes one underlying factor-which accounts for the loss of several sensory modalities simultaneously-and the specific factor theory predicts that the sensory decline is uncorrelated between different modalities. In this study, we aimed to explore whether (i) there is a common factor of sensory thresholds in older people, (ii) older people assume that sensory decline in one modality also affects other modalities, (iii) there is a relation between sensory threshold and the subjective assessment of sensory function. This was accomplished by collecting both threshold measures and self-reported ratings for smell, hearing, taste, vision, and touch function in a group of 104 older people (mean age: 67.2 years; SD: 9.85; range: 50-100 years). Results indicated that there was no common factor of sensory thresholds, hence an impairment in one modality did not necessarily imply a shortfall in other modalities. In contrast, our results suggested one or two common factor(s) for the participants' ratings. Participants who reported a diminished function in one sense tended to generalize this rating to the other senses as well. The correspondence between subjective ratings and sensory thresholds was relatively good for vision and audition, although no correlations were observed for the other domains. These findings have implications for clinicians, suggesting that subjective measures should be combined with sensory threshold measurements when evaluating sensory dysfunction. Also, these data convey a positive message for older people and their physicians by showing that loss in one sensory modality does not necessarily generalize to losses across all sensory modalities.

Background: Self-rated subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and subjective olfactory impairment (SOI) are associated with objective cognitive decline and dementia. However, their relationship and co-occurrence is unknown. We aimed to (a) describe the occurrence of SOI, SCD and their overlap in the general population; (b) compare SOI and SCD in terms of longitudinal associations with corresponding objective olfactory and cognitive measures; and (c) describe how SOI and SCD may lead to distinct sensory and cognitive outcomes.

Methods: Cognitively unimpaired individuals from the third wave of the Swedish population-based Betula study (n = 784, aged 35–90 years; 51% females) were split into self-rated SOI, SCD, overlapping SCD + SOI, and controls. Between-subject and within-subject repeated-measures MANCOVA were used to compare the groups regarding odor identification, cognition, age, sex, and education. Spearman correlation was used to assess the different patterns of association between olfaction and cognition across groups.

Results: SOI was present in 21.1%, whereas SCD was present in 9.9% of participants. According to a chi-square analysis, the SCD + SOI overlap (2.7%) is on a level that could be expected if the phenomena were independent. Odor identification in SOI showed decline at the 10-year follow-up (n = 284) and was positively associated with cognition. The SOI and SCD groups showed distinct cognitive-olfactory profiles at follow-up.

Conclusions: SOI occur independently of SCD in the population, and these risk factors are associated with different cognitive and olfactory outcomes. The biological causes underlying SOI and SCD, as well as the risk for future cognitive impairment, need further investigation.

Aims: To investigate the interplay between gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) neurodegeneration in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), including thickness across the whole cortical mantle, hippocampal volume, and integrity across the whole WM.

Methods: We included 225 cognitively unimpaired individuals from a community-based cohort. Subjective cognitive complaints were assessed through 9 questions covering amnestic and non-amnestic cognitive domains. In our cohort, 123 individuals endorsed from one to six subjective cognitive complaints (i.e. they fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for SCD), while 102 individuals reported zero complaints. GM neurodegeneration was assessed through measures of cortical thickness across the whole mantle and hippocampal volume. WM neurodegeneration was assessed through measures of mean diffusivity (MD) across the whole WM skeleton. Mediation analysis and multiple linear regression were conducted to investigate the interplay between the measures of GM and WM neurodegeneration.

Results: A higher number of complaints was associated with reduced hippocampal volume, cortical thinning in several frontal and temporal areas and the insula, and higher MD across the WM skeleton, with a tendency to spare the occipital lobe. SCD-related cortical thinning and increased MD were associated with each other and jointly contributed to complaints, but the contribution of cortical thinning to the number of complaints was stronger.

Conclusions: Neurodegeneration processes affecting the GM and WM seem to be associated with each other in SCD and include brain areas other than those typically targeted by Alzheimer's disease. Our findings suggest that SCD may be a sensitive behavioral marker of heterogeneous brain pathologies in individuals recruited from the community.

Background and Objectives

Several pathologic processes might contribute to the degeneration of the cholinergic system in aging. We aimed to determine the contribution of amyloid, tau, and cerebrovascular biomarkers toward the degeneration of cholinergic white matter (WM) projections in cognitively unimpaired individuals.

Methods

The contribution of amyloid and tau pathology was assessed through CSF levels of the Aβ_42/40 ratio and phosphorylated tau (p-tau). CSF Aβ₃₈ levels were also measured. Cerebrovascular pathology was assessed using automatic segmentations of WM lesions (WMLs) on MRI. Cholinergic WM projections (i.e., cingulum and external capsule pathways) were modeled using tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging data. Sex and APOE ε4 carriership were also included in the analysis as variables of interest.

Results

We included 203 cognitively unimpaired individuals from the H70 Gothenburg Birth Cohort Studies (all individuals aged 70 years, 51% female). WM lesion burden was the most important contributor to the degeneration of both cholinergic pathways (increase in mean square error [IncMSE] = 98.8% in the external capsule pathway and IncMSE = 93.3% in the cingulum pathway). Levels of Aβ₃₈ and p-tau also contributed to cholinergic WM degeneration, especially in the external capsule pathway (IncMSE = 28.4% and IncMSE = 23.4%, respectively). The Aβ_42/40 ratio did not contribute notably to the models (IncMSE<3.0%). APOE ε4 carriers showed poorer integrity in the cingulum pathway (IncMSE = 21.33%). Women showed poorer integrity of the external capsule pathway (IncMSE = 21.55%), which was independent of amyloid status as reflected by the nonsignificant differences in integrity when comparing amyloid-positive vs amyloid-negative women participants (T₂₀₁ = −1.55; p = 0.123).

Discussion

In cognitively unimpaired older individuals, WMLs play a central role in the degeneration of cholinergic pathways. Our findings highlight the importance of WM lesion burden in the elderly population, which should be considered in the development of prevention programs for neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment.

Blind individuals face various challenges in everyday life because of the lack of visual input. However, since they need to rely on the non-visual senses for everyday tasks, for instance, when navigating the environment, the question has been raised as to whether perceptual and cognitive abilities in these senses may be enhanced. This question has mainly been addressed for auditory and tactile abilities, whereas there is considerably less research into the chemical senses, such as olfaction. However, to determine whether blindness has general effects, different senses and types of tasks should be studied, preferably in one and the same study. Therefore, throughout this thesis, analogous auditory and olfactory tasks that varied in cognitive complexity were studied. In Study I, absolute thresholds, discrimination, identification, episodic recognition (i.e., after a short retention interval), metacognition, and self-reported imagery ability were assessed in early blind, late blind, and sighted participants. The only objective measure on which the blind and sighted clearly differed was the auditory episodic recognition task. The fact that early blind but not late blind participants displayed better memory than the sighted suggested that the onset age of blindness may be important for whether this ability becomes enhanced following blindness. Furthermore, the early blind participants rated their auditory imagery ability higher than the sighted, whereas both early and late blind participants rated their olfactory imagery ability higher than the sighted. In Study II, the participants from Study I were followed up after more than a year and retested on auditory and olfactory episodic recognition and identification. This time, the early blind displayed no advantage over the sighted, suggesting that the influence of blindness on auditory memory may be modulated by the length of the retention interval. Moreover, in line with Study I, identification of sounds and odors was similar in the three groups. In Study III, early blind and sighted participants were examined for potential differences in autobiographical memory as evoked by sounds and odors, respectively. Blindness did not influence the reminiscence bumps (i.e., memory peaks in certain age intervals) or have any clear impact on the number of retrieved sound- or odor-evoked memories. Taken together, the present findings indicate that blindness has no general influence across tasks or sensory modalities. Rather, specific auditory abilities, such as episodic memory, may be enhanced in blind individuals, although such effects may depend on both the onset age of blindness and the length of the retention interval. In conclusion, for most perceptual and cognitive abilities examined, performance seemed unaffected by blindness.

Although evidence is mixed, studies have shown that blind individuals perform better than sighted at specific auditory, tactile, and chemosensory tasks. However, few studies have assessed blind and sighted individuals across different sensory modalities in the same study. We tested early blind (n = 15), late blind (n = 15), and sighted (n = 30) participants with analogous olfactory and auditory tests in absolute threshold, discrimination, identification, episodic recognition, and metacognitive ability. Although the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed no overall effect of blindness and no interaction with modality, follow-up between-group contrasts indicated a blind-over-sighted advantage in auditory episodic recognition, that was most pronounced in early blind individuals. In contrast to the auditory modality, there was no empirical support for compensatory effects in any of the olfactory tasks. There was no conclusive evidence for group differences in metacognitive ability to predict episodic recognition performance. Taken together, the results showed no evidence of an overall superior performance in blind relative sighted individuals across olfactory and auditory functions, although early blind individuals exceled in episodic auditory recognition memory. This observation may be related to an experience-induced increase in auditory attentional capacity.

We recently showed that compared with sighted, early blind individuals have better episodic memory for environmental sounds, but not odors, after a short retention interval (similar to 8 - 9 min). Few studies have investigated potential effects of blindness on memory across long time frames, such as months or years. Consequently, it was unclear whether compensatory effects may vary as a function of retention interval. In this study, we followed-up participants (N = 57 out of 60) approximately 1 year after the initial testing and retested episodic recognition for environmental sounds and odors, and identification ability. In contrast to our previous findings, the early blind participants (n = 14) performed at a similar level as the late blind (n = 13) and sighted (n = 30) participants for sound recognition. Moreover, the groups had similar recognition performance of odors and identification ability of odors and sounds. These findings suggest that episodic odor memory is unaffected by blindness after both short and long retention intervals. However, the effect of blindness on episodic memory for sounds may vary as a function of retention interval, such that early blind individuals have an advantage over sighted across short but not long time frames. We speculate that the finding of a differential effect of blindness on auditory episodic memory across retention intervals may be related to different memory strategies at initial and follow-up assessments. In conclusion, this study suggests that blindness does not influence auditory or olfactory episodic memory as assessed after a long retention interval.

The reminiscence bump is the disproportionally high reporting of autobiographical memories from adolescence and early adulthood and is typically observed when memories are evoked by cues, such as words, pictures, and sounds. However, when odors are used the bump shifts to early childhood. Although these findings indicate that sensory modality affects the bump, the influence of the individual's sensory function on the reminiscence bumps is unknown. We examined the reminiscence bumps of sound- and odor-evoked autobiographical memories of early blind and sighted individuals, since early blindness implies considerable effects on sensory experience. Despite differences in sensory experience between blind and sighted individuals, the groups displayed similar age distributions of both sound- and odor-evoked memories. The auditory bump spanned the first two decades of life, whereas the olfactory bump was once again found in early childhood. These results demonstrate that the reminiscence bumps are robust to fundamental differences in sensory experience.

Strong negative reactions, physical symptoms, and behavioral disruptions due to environmental odors are common in the adult population. We investigated relationships among such environmental chemosensory responsivity (CR), personality traits, affective states, and odor perception. Study 1 showed that CR and neuroticism were positively correlated in a sample of young adults (n = 101), suggesting that persons high in neuroticism respond more negatively to environmental odors. Study 2 explored the relationships among CR, noise responsivity (NR), neuroticism, and odor perception (i.e., pleasantness and intensity) in a subset of participants (n = 40). High CR was associated with high NR. Regression analyses indicated that high CR predicted higher odor intensity ratings and low olfactory threshold (high sensitivity) predicted lower pleasantness ratings. However, neuroticism was not directly associated with odor ratings or thresholds. Overall, the results suggest that CR and odor thresholds predict perceptual ratings of odors and that high CR is associated with nonchemosensory affective traits.

Few studies have investigated long-term odor recognition memory, although some early observations suggested that the forgetting rate of olfactory representations is slower than for other sensory modalities. This study investigated recognition memory across 64 days for high and low familiar odors and faces. Memory was assessed in 83 young participants at 4 occasions; immediate, 4, 16, and 64 days after encoding. The results indicated significant forgetting for odors and faces across the 64 days. The forgetting functions for the 2 modalities were not fundamentally different. Moreover, high familiar odors and faces were better remembered than low familiar ones, indicating an important role of semantic knowledge on recognition proficiency for both modalities. Although odor recognition was significantly better than chance at the 64 days testing, memory for the low familiar odors was relatively poor. Also, the results indicated that odor identification consistency across sessions, irrespective of accuracy, was positively related to successful recognition.

Normal adult aging is associated with decline in some socioemotional abilities, such as the ability to recognize emotions in others, and age-related neurobiological processes may contribute to these deficits. There is increasing evidence that the neuropeptide oxytocin plays a key role in social cognition, including emotion recognition. The mechanisms through which oxytocin promotes emotion recognition are not well understood yet, and particularly in aging. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subjects design, we investigated the extent to which a single dose of 40 IU of intranasal oxytocin facilitates emotion recognition in 40 younger (M = 24.90 yrs., SD = 2.97, 48% women) and 40 older (M = 69.70 yrs., SD = 2.99, 55% women) men and women. During two fMRI sessions, participants viewed dynamic positive and negative emotional displays. Preliminary analyses show that younger participants recognized positive and negative emotions more accurately than older participants (p < .001), with this behavioral effect not modulated by oxytocin. In the brain data, however, we found an age x treatment interaction in medial prefrontal cortex (xyz [14, 14, 6], p = .007) and superior temporal gyrus (xyz [53, 9, 2], p = .031). In particular, oxytocin (vs. placebo) reduced activity in these regions for older participants, while it enhanced activity in these regions for younger participants. In line with previous research, these findings support the notion that the effects of oxytocin vary by context and individual factors (e.g., social proficiency, age).

The neuropeptide oxytocin plays a prominentrole in social and emotional cognition. Findings suggest that exogenous intranasal oxytocin administration facilitates emotion recognition in humans, but individual and contextual differences may have moderating effects. A major caveat in this line of work is that it is predominantly based on young males, which limits current knowledge and potential for generalizability across gender. To uncover potential gender effects, the present study included younger and older men and women. Utilizing a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects study design, we investigated the effects of a single-dose of 40 IUs intranasal oxytocin administration on emotion recognition of dynamic positive and negative stimuli in 32 men (mean age 45.78, sd. 22.87) and 39 women (mean 47.87, sd. 47.87), 40 minutes prior to MRI scanning. Preliminary analyses show that oxytocin induced brain activity reductions during exposure to negative (relative to positive) stimuli in women, while increasing brain activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in men. We speculate that the effects of oxytocin on emotion recognition may possibly be related to emotion regulation and mentalization processes, and that oxytocin is related to potential sex-differences in these processes. The results also raise concern that previous oxytocin literature on emotion recognition may be biased as there appears to be gender-differential effects of oxytocin on brain activity across adulthood that have been underestimated. In the next stage of the present study, we will investigate the interaction effects among treatment, sex, age, and presentation modality.

Intranasal oxytocin (OT) has previously been found to increase spirituality, an effect moderated by OT-related genotypes. This pre-registered study sought to conceptually replicate and extend those findings. Using a single dose of intranasal OT vs placebo (PL), we investigated experimental treatment effects, and moderation by OT-related genotypes on spirituality, mystical experiences, and the sensed presence of a sentient being. A more exploratory aim was to test for interactions between treatment and the personality disposition absorption on these spirituality-related outcomes. A priming plus sensory deprivation procedure that has facilitated spiritual experiences in previous studies was used. The sample (N = 116) contained both sexes and was drawn from a relatively secular context. Results failed to conceptually replicate both the main effects of treatment and the treatment by genotype interactions on spirituality. Similarly, there were no such effects on mystical experiences or sensed presence. However, the data suggested an interaction between treatment and absorption. Relative to PL, OT seemed to enhance spiritual experiences in participants scoring low in absorption and dampen spirituality in participants scoring high in absorption.

Age-related differences in emotion recognition have predominantly been investigated using static pictures of facial expressions, and positive emotions beyond happiness have rarely been included. The current study instead used dynamic facial and vocal stimuli, and included a wider than usual range of positive emotions. In Task 1, younger and older adults were tested for their abilities to recognize 12 emotions from brief video recordings presented in visual, auditory, and multimodal blocks. Task 2 assessed recognition of 18 emotions conveyed by non-linguistic vocalizations (e.g., laughter, sobs, and sighs). Results from both tasks showed that younger adults had significantly higher overall recognition rates than older adults. In Task 1, significant group differences (younger > older) were only observed for the auditory block (across all emotions), and for expressions of anger, irritation, and relief (across all presentation blocks). In Task 2, significant group differences were observed for 6 out of 9 positive, and 8 out of 9 negative emotions. Overall, results indicate that recognition of both positive and negative emotions show age-related differences. This suggests that the age-related positivity effect in emotion recognition may become less evident when dynamic emotional stimuli are used and happiness is not the only positive emotion under study.

Objectives: To investigate the potential of the Block design subtest of the Wechsler Adults Intelligence Scale as a non-verbal proxy of cognitive reserve.

Method: A total of 391 cognitively unimpaired participants were included in this study. The association between the Block design subtest and the Information subtest (an established verbal proxy of cognitive reserve) from the WAIS, as well as the association of the two subtests with a Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire (CRQ) were tested. In addition, multiple linear regression models were conducted to investigate the association of the Block design and Information subtests with cognitive performance. The capacity of the Block design subtest to minimize the negative effect of an older age over cognitive performance was also assessed and this effect was compared with that of the Information subtest. The four cognitive domains included were: verbal memory, visual–visuospatial memory, executive-premotor functions and processing speed.

Results: The Block design subtest correlated positively with both the Information subtest and the CRQ. A statistically significant association was observed between the Block design subtest and all four cognitive domains. Higher scores in the Block design subtest minimized the negative effect of aging on the cognitive domains of visual–visuospatial memory and executive-premotor functions, in a similar way to the results obtained for the Information subtest.

Conclusion: The Block design subtest is significantly correlated with two established proxies of cognitive reserve: it correlates with cognitive performance and high scores in Block design have the capacity to minimize the negative effect of an older age on cognitive performance. Therefore, the results suggest that the corrected Block design subtest could be considered as a non-verbal proxy of cognitive reserve.

Experts have better memory for items within their domain of expertise. Critically, this does not depend on more efficient use of language. However, this conclusion is based mainly on findings from experts in visual and auditory domains. Olfactory experts constitute an interesting potential counterexample since language has been implicated to be critically involved in odor memory in previous studies. We examined the role language plays in odor recognition memory for wine experts, who typically display better wine odor memory than novices and who are also able to name odors better than lay people. This suggests wine experts' superior recognition memory for odors may be verbally mediated. In 2 experiments, recognition memory for wine odors, wine-related odors, and common odors was tested in wine experts and novices. The use of language was manipulated in Experiment 1 with an overt naming versus no-naming condition, and in Experiment 2, with a verbal interference task inhibiting covert verbalization. Across the two experiments the results showed wine experts have better recognition memory for wines, but not for wine-related or common odors, indicating their memory advantage is expertise specific. Critically, this effect was not verbally mediated, as there was no relationship between experts' ability to name wines and their memory for them. Likewise, directly inhibiting online use of verbalization did not affect memory for wine odors in experts. In sum, once expertise has been acquired, language does not play a causal role in recognition memory for odors.