Kognitive Testung in Laborstudien: Motivationsverlust oder Last Test Effect?

Fragestellung Wenn Probanden in Laborstudien längerer Dauer eine Vielzahl kognitiver Testbatterien wiederholt durchführen, wird häufig befürchtet, dass sich ein Motivationsverlust der Probanden einstellen könnte, die Tests mit immer gleichem Engagement durchzuführen. Zudem ist fraglich, ob die letzte Testung durch die Aussicht auf das bevorstehende Studienende beeinflusst und somit in ihrer Aussagekraft eingeschränkt wird. Diese beiden Themen wurden anhand einer Laborstudie untersucht. Methoden Die kognitive Leistung von 47 gesunden Probanden (mittleres Alter 27 ± 5 (SD) Jahre, 21 Frauen) wurde in 3-stündigen Intervallen während eines 12-tägigen Studienprotokolls getestet so dass insgesamt 65 Tests eines Psychomotorischen Vigilanztests (PVT) und eines Hand-Auge-Koordinationstests (UTT) absolviert wurden. Nach Basismessungen (8 Stunden Schlafzeit) wurden drei Schlafentzugsbedingungen in einem balancierten cross-over Design dargeboten. Nach jeder Intervention erholten sich die Probanden während zwei Nächten und Tagen. Am letzten Studientag wurden 24 Probanden im Vorhinein darüber informiert, dass es sich bei Test 65 um den letzten Test handelte, während 23 Probanden davon ausgingen, dass sich drei Stunden später noch ein weiterer Test anschließen würde. Ergebnisse Eine mixed ANOVA, die die kognitive Leistung am Basistag und am jeweils 2. Erholungstag berücksichtigte, ergab, dass sich die Geschwindigkeit (p=0,3475) und Lapses (p=0,2429) im PVT im Studienverlauf nicht veränderten. Der UTT (p=0,0211) verbesserte sich. Eine 2-way mixed ANOVA mit den Faktoren Gruppe (wissend/unwissend) und Test (Basis/Test 65) sowie deren Interaktion zeigte, dass im Vergleich zum Basistag die letzte Testleistung im PVT besser (Geschwindigkeit: p0,5). Schlussfolgerung Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass es möglich ist, die Motivation und das Engagement der Probanden für immer wiederkehrende kognitive Testverfahren über einen längeren Zeitraum aufrechtzuerhalten. Es ergaben sich keine Hinweise auf einen ‚Last Test Effect‘

Impact Of Sleep Restriction And Recovery On Motivation During Repeated Cognitive Performance Testing

Introduction: Both motivation and sleep deprivation affect cognitive performance. Especially during long-lasting studies with repeated cognitive performance tasks there is concern that subjects will lose motivation over time. Results may be confounded due to changes in motivation. Methods: In an ongoing study, 29 healthy volunteers performed 55 cognitive performance tasks at three-hourly intervals in a 12-day inpatient study. After two baseline nights with 8 h time in bed (TIB) the intervention group (N=20; mean age 26 ± 4 years, 9 females) underwent chronic sleep restriction for 5 nights (5 h TIB) with a following recovery night of 8 h TIB. The control group (N=9; mean age 25 ± 5 years, 3 females) had the opportunity to sleep 8 hours every night. Participants completed the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and a questionnaire about their motivation (from 1=very little/not motivated to 5=very motivated) at 6 p.m. on all days. Results: Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed a significant decrease in motivation (p=.0439) and a significant increase in subjective sleepiness (p=.0184) from baseline (motivation: 2.8 ± 0.6 (SD), sleepiness: 3.2 ± 1.2) to the last day of chronic sleep restriction (motivation: 2.2 ± 0.5, sleepiness: 5.1 ± 1.8) for the experimental group. Motivation remained low after recovery sleep (2.2 ± 0.8; p=.0198). Sleepiness and motivation scores showed a significant Spearman correlation (r=-0.43, p<0.001). Discussion: Chronic sleep restriction for five days leads to an increase in sleepiness and a decrease in motivation. One night of recovery is insufficient to reverse the motivation loss, contrasting with the beneficial effect on sleepiness. During chronic sleep restriction conditions subjective motivation seems to decrease as a function of subjective sleepiness

Residents’ negative attitude towards air traffic is associated with impaired objective sleep quality

Objectives: Nocturnal aircraft noise induces sleep disturbances and is associated with impaired quality of life. The magnitude of physiological and psychological responses to noise varies among individuals. Stable individual vulnerabilities have been reported for aircraft noise induced awakenings. To date it is unknown, whether the subjective attitude towards air traffic and residents' sleep quality impact on each other. Methods: Seventy-four out of 81 investigated residents around Frankfurt Airport (Germany) rated their attitude towards air traffic (from 1 = negative to 5 = positive; negative attitude: score ≤ 2, N=28, mean age 44 ± 16 years; moderate to positive attitude: score > 3, N=46, mean age 44 ± 15 years) and evaluated its necessity (from 1 = not necessary to 5 = highly necessary; no to moderate necessity: score ≤ 3, N=22, mean age 45 ± 10 years; high necessity: score > 3, N=52, mean age 43 ± 17 years). In addition, polysomnographical recordings were obtained in residents' home environment. These investigations were part of the NORAH sleep study in 2012. Results: Significant impairments in sleep quality (prolonged sleep onset latency, increased wake after sleep onset, reduced sleep efficiency, and less deep sleep) were found for participants with a negative attitude towards air traffic. The judgement of no or moderate necessity of air traffic was associated with a significantly reduced deep sleep duration. Conclusions: Residents' subjective attitude towards air traffic and their objective sleep quality are related. Cause and effect in this relationship remain to be identified

Interindividual variabilities in cognitive performance degradation after alcohol consuption and sleep loss are related

Introduction The sleep inducing effects of alcohol as well as the increase in sleep propensity and sleepiness after sleep loss have been linked to the adenosinergic system in the brain. While the performance impairing effects of ethanol have partly been related to the inhibitory effects of cerebral adenosine, sleep loss has been found to increase adenosine receptor density. The interindividual variability of cognitive performance impairments after alcohol intake as well as after sleep loss is extensive. Thus, we examined in humans whether performance degradations resulting from sleep loss and alcohol consumption are related. Methods Performance in a 10-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) was tested in 47 healthy volunteers (mean age 27 ± 5 (SD) years, 21 females) at 6 pm 1) after an 8 hour control night, 2) after alcohol consumption (aiming at a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08%), and 3) after 35 hours of total sleep deprivation. After alcohol intake, 35 of the participants reached a BAC of more than 0.06% prior to the performance testing (mean BAC 0.074%, SD 0.009%, min. 0.063%, max. 0.095%) and were included in the analyses. Two recovery nights were scheduled between conditions. Results Performance impairments due to acute alcohol intake and due to 35 hours of sustained wakefulness were calculated as differences from performance under control conditions. The degree in performance degradation correlated highly between both conditions (i.e. 10% slowest reaction times: Pearson’s r=0.73, p<0.0001; standard deviation of reaction times: r=0.75, p<0.0001; mean reaction time: r=0.59, p=0.0002). Conclusions Participants whose PVT performance proved to be vulnerable to the effects of alcohol consumption were also vulnerable to sleep loss, whereas individuals who were resilient against the effects of alcohol were also less susceptible to the impact of sleep deprivation. These results suggest that the effects of alcohol and sleep deprivation on performance are mediated – at least in part – by a common pathway that may involve the adenosinergic system in the brain

Nocturnal air, road, and rail traffic noise and daytime cognitive performance and annoyance

Various studies indicate that at the same noise level and during the daytime, annoyance increases in the order of rail, road, and aircraft noise. The present study investigates if the same ranking can be found for annoyance to nocturnal exposure and next day cognitive performance. Annoyance ratings and performance change during combined noise exposure were also tested. In the laboratory 72 participants were exposed to air, road, or rail traffic noise and all combinations. The number of noise events and LAS,eq were kept constant. Each morning noise annoyance questionnaires and performance tasks were administered. Aircraft noise annoyance ranked first followed by railway and road noise. A possible explanation is the longer duration of aircraft noise events used in this study compared to road and railway noise events. In contrast to road and rail traffic, aircraft noise annoyance was higher after nights with combined exposure. Pooled noise exposure data showed small but significant impairments in reaction times (6 ms) compared to nights without noise. The noise sources did not have a differential impact on performance. Combined exposure to multiple traffic noise sources did not induce stronger impairments than a single noise source. This was reflected also in low workload ratings

Improvising bags choreographies: Disturbing normative ways of doing research

Post-qualitative research-creation improvisations offer new possibilities to explore method/ology. In this article we question how bags, as seemingly mundane objects, work as ontologically lively matter – as active agencies – to choreograph human-nonhuman relations and heterogeneous materialities. Working from three questions – How might a bag become? What do bags do? What do bags enable and enact? – we discuss four research-creation improvisations and the insights they generated. The article maps how bags choreographies put affects, bodies and materialities into co-motional relations in order to disturb normative approaches to research both within conference sessions and through writing articles

SmooookK! «Mind the gap!» - Fenomeners tilblivelse i spacetimemattering.

Master i barnehagepedagogikkDenne masteroppgavens/forskningsprosjektets hovedfokus er tilsynelatende rettet mot hva smokken gjør i barnehagen, det vil si hvordan smokken virker sammenflettet med tid, sted og menneskelige og ikke-menneskelige materialiteter. Gjennom å innta en posthuman vitenskapsteoretisk posisjon, prøver jeg å åpne for prosesser, hvor blant annet jeg, som forsker, er en aktiv medaktør. Jeg eksperimenterer med, ikke hva smokk er, men hva smokk kan bli. Gjennom stunt med «koldtbordsmokk», «malesmokk», og «vannsmokk» prøver jeg å åpne opp for at noe «nytt» kan fremstå i/rundt barnehagenes praksis, men også hva som virker i en forskningsprosess. Målet med masteroppgaven er å prøve å synliggjøre hvordan smokk, som et ikke-menneskelig fenomen, kan ha agentskap, og at den sammen med menneskelige og ikke-menneskelige fenomen, påvirker og påvirkes gjennom en tid-sted-materialitet-sammenfletting (spacetimemattering). Samtidig har forskningsprosessen også synliggjort at det er mye annet som er i bevegelse og virker. Oppgavens teoretiske hoved-inspirasjonskilde er Karen Barads Agentisk realisme. I tillegg har også materiell feministisk forskning, som bygger på teoriene til Gilles Deleuze og Felix Guattari, farget oppgaven, da jeg opplever at Agentisk realisme har mange sammenflettede tanker med Deleuze og Guattari, og at deres begrepsunivers tilfører begreper som er med og utvider mine tanker, og åpner for å oppleve verden gjennom andre posisjoner. Gjennom å innta en autoetnografisk forskerposisjon og bruk av begreper som spacetimematter/-ing, nærlesing, thinkfeel/tenkeføle og forskerhendelser, eksperimenterer teksten og jeg som forsker med hvordan humane og nonhumane materialiteter intra-agerer i og rundt smokk, men også hvordan disse intra-aksjonene har produsert og åpnet opp for noe annet ;)The main focus of this master thesis is seemingly aimed at what the pacifier is doing in the kindergarten, in other words how the pacifier seems entangled with time, place, human and non-human materiality. By adopting a posthuman scientific theoretical position I am trying to be in open processes, where among other things I, as a scientist, am an active agent. I am experimenting with, not what pacifier is, but pacifiers becomings. Through exploring “buffet-pacifier”, “paint-pacifier” and “water-pacifier”, I try to open up for something “new” that may appear in or around kindergarten practice, but also what works in a research process. The aim of the thesis has been to highlight how pacifier, as a non-human materiality, may have agency, and that the pacifier together with human and non-human phenomena, affects and are affected through a time-place-materiality-entanglement (spacetimemattering). However the process has revealed that there is much else that are at stage. The theoretical main source of inspiration is Karen Barad’s Agentisk realism. I have also been inspired by feminist research based on the theories of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, since I feel that Agentisk realism has many interwoven thoughts with Deleuze and Guattari's, and that theirs concepts supply my thoughts, and open up to experience the world through other positions. Through adopting a autoethnographic research position, and by using concepts such as spacetimematter/-ing, «closereading», thinkfeel and researchevents, the text and I am experimenting with how human and non-humane materiality intra-act in and around the pacifier, but also how these intra-actions have produced and opened up for something else ;

Énfasis experiencia de Chile : informe final de la consultoría

Este informe presenta un análisis de buenas prácticas internacionales sobre gestión de residuos sólidos, con especial énfasis en el concepto de "responsabilidad extendida del productor" (REP), para ayudar a los tomadores de decisiones de los sectores público y privado, y de la sociedad civil de la República Dominicana a participar en un diálogo sobre la adaptación del marco legal y su aplicación, así como los mecanismos de seguimiento a nivel regional y municipal. El informe presenta la experiencia de la implementación de la REP en Chile y recomendaciones para la implementación de un marco legal asociado a la REP en la República Dominicana

På Utsiden av Mediedemokratiet

Økende polarisering og en synkende tillit er samfunnsmessige problemer vi står overfor. Denne studien ønsker å utvide kunnskapsgrunnlaget om skeptikere i Norge, og normalisere og representere deres meninger for å tilrettelegge for en åpen og opplyst debatt. En intervjuprosess med ni informanter, som undersøker deres forhold til nyheter, demokrati, digitalisering og samfunnet generelt, legger grunnlaget for prosjektet, og analysen ser hvordan deres tanker og meninger passer inn i ulike kontekster, hvordan språket de benytter seg av reflekterer deres ståsted, og hvilke innvirkninger meningene har for samfunnet. Informantene utdyper om deres ståsted, og snakker om en manglende forståelse og vilje blant befolkningen, og en opplevd utenforskap på grunn av deres meninger. De har veldig tydelige opplevelser av diverse problemer de identifiserer innenfor tematikken, og omtaler disse opplevelsene som noe mange ikke er enige i eller bryr seg noe særlig om. Selv med stor mistillit til nyheter, demokrati og digitalisering, gjør informantene færre tiltak for å avkoble enn forventet