Effect of motivational incentives on face-name hyper-binding in older adults

Hyper-binding refers to the tendency for older adults to encode extraneous information from their environment, and bind this information to attentional targets such that this distracting information can be remembered in association with target information on a subsequent task. This tendency is hypothesized to result from a loss of selectivity in memory and attention due to a loss of inhibitory control. However, older adults do demonstrate selectivity under certain motivational conditions. For example, older adults show enhanced memory selectivity in reward-motivated states. The current study used motivational incentives (virtual rewards) to investigate the interaction between hyper-binding and reward-based motivation. Results revealed a motivation-related decrease in hyper-binding in older adults. This decrease was not affected by incentive magnitude (low versus high). These results suggest that the value-directed selectivity of memory and attention counteract the age-related selectivity deficit associated with hyper-binding. Keywords: Cognitive aging, inhibitory control, selective attention, hyper-binding, motivated cognition, reward-based motivation

Effect of motivational incentives on face-name hyper-binding in older adults

Hyper-binding refers to the tendency for older adults to encode extraneous information from their environment, and bind this information to attentional targets such that this distracting information can be remembered in association with target information on a subsequent task. This tendency is hypothesized to result from a loss of selectivity in memory and attention due to a loss of inhibitory control. However, older adults do demonstrate selectivity under certain motivational conditions. For example, older adults show enhanced memory selectivity in reward-motivated states. The current study used motivational incentives (virtual rewards) to investigate the interaction between hyper-binding and reward-based motivation. Results revealed a motivation-related decrease in hyper-binding in older adults. This decrease was not affected by incentive magnitude (low versus high). These results suggest that the value-directed selectivity of memory and attention counteract the age-related selectivity deficit associated with hyper-binding. Keywords: Cognitive aging, inhibitory control, selective attention, hyper-binding, motivated cognition, reward-based motivation

Development of Mathematical Practices Through Word Problem–Solving Instruction for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics highlight the importance of not only content standards for mathematics but also mathematical practices such as communication, representation, and reasoning, skills that are often difficult for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through a single-case multiple-probe-across-participants design, this study found modified schema-based instruction (MSBI) to be an effective strategy to increase the use of mathematical practices for middle school students with ASD when solving multiplicative word problems. Four students eligible for special education services under the area of autism enrolled in sixth-grade general education mathematics classes increased their use of mathematical practices for two problem types (multiplicative comparison and proportion) and maintained the use of mathematical practices 4 to 8 weeks after intervention. Additionally, all participants generalized their use of mathematical practices to novel multiplicative comparison problems containing extraneous information, and three of the participants generalized mathematical practice skills to proportion problems containing extraneous information. Implications for practice are discussed.

Discrimination of Complex Odor Mixtures: A Study Using Wine Aroma Models

There are key unanswered questions when it comes to multi-component odor discrimination. This study was designed to assess discrimination of odorant mixtures that elicit a singular percept. We collected data to address the following two questions: 1) What odor features do humans notice when attempting to discriminate between subtly different odor mixtures? 2) Are odor mixtures easier to discriminate when an odorant is added, compared to when a component is removed? Using modern aroma chemistry techniques, an odor mixture resembling a generic white wine was constructed. This wine odor mixture was modified using a series of 3 esters which are commonly found in white wines that vary in chain length and branching. Participants performed a sequence of discrimination tasks for the addition / subtraction of modifiers to the base wine at different concentrations. Only one of the esters (ethyl-propanoate) led to a discriminable odor mixture. As concentration of the modifying odorant was increased, discrimination of odor mixtures was first reported because of changes in odor mixture familiarity and then intensity. We found similar sensitivity to changes in odor mixtures regardless whether the modifying compound was added or subtracted, suggesting that perceptual stability of odor mixtures is equally dependent on both imputing missing information (pattern completion) and disregarding extraneous information.

Introspection, opposition and freedom: influence of habits and inhibitory control on choice

How do we avoid unwanted influence when making a choice, and how do we know when our choices are free from such influences? Research shows that human decision processes are often biased by extraneous information and by previous habits. In the present study, we investigated whether free choices are biased in the same ways, and whether the subjective feeling of choosing freely can accurately track these sources of bias. Across three studies, we presented participants with a visual target cueing one of two directions. Participants were instructed to respond by adhering to the suggested direction, to oppose it, or to ignore it and make a ‘free’ choice. We varied the frequency of occurrence of each instruction (experiment 1), of each motor response (experiment 2), and of each visual cue (experiment 3). We found that previously learned stimulus-response mapping affected the ability to make free choices, as participants tended to follow the trained mapping. Moreover, in the detachment condition, participants consistently reported stronger subjective sense of freedom when their actions opposed the cue, rather than followed it. Strikingly, when participants learned through experience to oppose a cue, subsequent free choices evoked by that cue were associated with a boost in subjective freedom, irrespective of whether the response followed or opposed the cue. Thus, the increased subjective sense of freedom associated with opposition appeared to stick to the stimulus that had been repeatedly opposed. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the strong relationship between oppositional responding and subjective experience of freedom, showing for the first time that an illusory sense of autonomy can be acquired through trained opposition.

Discrimination of Complex Odor Mixtures: A Study Using Wine Aroma Models

There are key unanswered questions when it comes to odor mixture discrimination. This study was designed to assess some of those questions regarding configural odor mixture discrimination in humans. We collected data to address the following two questions: 1) What odor features do humans notice when attempting to discriminate between subtly different odor mixtures? 2) Are odor mixtures easier to discriminate when an odorant is added, compared to when a component is removed? Using modern aroma chemistry techniques, an odor mixture resembling a generic white wine was constructed. This wine odor mixture was modified using a series of 3 esters which are commonly found in white wines that vary in chain length and branching. Participants performed a sequence of discrimination tasks for the addition / subtraction of modifiers to the base wine at different concentrations. Only one of the esters (ethyl-propanoate) led to a discriminable odor mixture. As concentration of the modifying odorant was increased, discrimination of odor mixtures was first reported because of changes in odor mixture familiarity and then intensity. We found similar sensitivity odor mixture discrimination regardless of addition or subtraction of modifying compounds, suggesting that perceptual stability of odor mixtures is equally dependent on both imputing missing information (pattern completion) and disregarding extraneous information.

REFERENCE ERROR IN BOOK MANUSCRIPT FROM LIPI: HOW GOOD OUR SCIENTISTS ARE IN COMPOSING REFERENCES

Reference lists from 13 book manuscripts that were submitted to LIPI Press in 2018 written by the writers from LIPI were examined. In total, there were 879 reference list entries, and the accuracy of each citation was examined. The examination was conducted by firstly determining the type of error and reference style used for cross-checking. Afterwards, each entry was thoroughly checked for errors. Found errors were grouped into each type of error. The result, only 100 entries were error-free, and from the 779 entries that contain errors, 3,651 errors were found. The errors were categorized into 1,576 punctuation errors; 396 capitalization errors; 338 italicization errors, 206 spelling and word choice errors; 126 syntax errors; 642 spacing errors; 46 extraneous information errors; and 321 missing data errors. From that result, error rate of 4.15 was achieved. This paper concluded that the overall huge error rate found shows the negligence of the writers in composing references.

DRUGPATH: A New Database for Mapping Polypharmacology

While there are existing databases that curate only drug, target, or pathway data for instance, none of these alone are exhaustive. The Drug Gene Pathway (DRUGPATH) meta database was created as a response to the complex treatment required for various diseases including Gulf War Illness (GWI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where therapy involves using multiple drugs in combination. Here, drug-drug interactions can occur due to the promiscuous nature of pharmaceuticals, which can then lead to various side effects or can alternatively be utilized towards drug repurposing. The objective was to develop a database that maps the interactions between drugs, genes, pathways, and targets for use in the treatment of complex diseases, including the prediction of off-target interactions, otherwise known as side effects. Using MATLAB and Python scripts, interactions between known drugs, genes, targets, and pathways amalgamated from numerous expert-curated sources such as PharmGKB, DrugBank, DGIdb, ConsesusPathDB, Guide to PHARMACOLOGY, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, Toxin and Toxin-Target Database, repoDB, the FDA’s National Drug Code database, etc. were mapped together. The raw data was first downloaded from its source and subsequently cleaned, where extraneous information such as data from non-humans, internal identifiers, timestamps, etc. were removed. The remaining information was then integrated into an SQLite database. DRUGPATH currently contains a total of 2,632,516 unique entries, and of these, there are 54,757 unique genes, 2,632,242 unique pathways, and 31,042 unique drugs. DRUGPATH allows researchers and clinicians to discern which pathways are affected by each drug, reducing the likelihood of an adverse drug reaction occurring. The incorporation of drug, gene, target, and pathway information makes DRUGPATH a powerful resource for predicting potential side effects when designing or refining a given drug combination therapy. Not only that, but we have additionally added the FDA status, half-life, and indication for each drug whenever possible for clinical applications of this database.

The Value of Monitoring Requisition Forms in the Laboratory

Objectives Insufficient or extraneous information on requisition forms may delay turnaround time and become a source of error in diagnosis. Monitoring the completeness and accuracy of clinical information in the requisition forms provided to pathologists is a potential target in laboratory quality improvement, but its effectiveness is currently not known. Here, we describe a pilot study at our institution’s anatomic pathology laboratory to determine the effect of monitoring the completeness of information filled in the requisition forms by clinicians. Methods We randomly selected and reviewed records in each quarter from August 2017 to January 2019. All records were obtained from one hospital site and included requisition forms for specimens from inpatient and outpatient surgical operating rooms. The percentage of incomplete or improperly filled forms was tracked each quarter and feedback is provided to clinicians with insufficient information in the forms. Results A total of 70 requisition forms from 7 quarters were reviewed. Five different physicians were responsible for all the requisition forms without complete information. One physician was responsible for 33.3% of all requisition forms with incomplete information. Commonly recurring missing information in requisition forms were preoperative diagnosis (40%), postoperative diagnosis (35%), type of procedure (15%), and indications for procedure (10%). There was a remarkable improvement on completion of requisition forms from 60% at the beginning of the review period to 100% at the end of the review period (P < .0001). Conclusion Long-term review of requisition forms submitted to the laboratory and provisional feedback to clinicians are associated with sustainable improvement on information provided to pathologists to ensure specimen identification, integrity, and accurate interpretation.

Challenges and Opportunities to Improve the Clinician Experience Reviewing Electronic Progress Notes

Background High-quality clinical notes are essential to effective clinical communication. However, electronic clinical notes are often long, difficult to review, and contain information that is potentially extraneous or out of date. Additionally, many clinicians write electronic clinical notes using customized templates, resulting in notes with significant variability in structure. There is a need to understand better how clinicians review electronic notes and how note structure variability may impact clinicians' note-reviewing experiences. Objective This article aims to understand how physicians review electronic clinical notes and what impact section order has on note-reviewing patterns. Materials and Methods We conducted an experiment utilizing an electronic health record (EHR) system prototype containing four anonymized patient cases, each composed of nine progress notes that were presented with note sections organized in different orders to different subjects (i.e., Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan, Assessment, Plan, Subjective, and Objective, Subjective, Assessment, Objective, and Plan, and Mixed). Participants, who were mid-level residents and fellows, reviewed the cases and provided a brief summary after reviewing each case. Time-related data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Surveys were administered and interviews regarding experiences reviewing notes were collected and analyzed qualitatively. Results Qualitatively, participants reported challenges related to reviewing electronic clinical notes. Experimentally, time spent reviewing notes varied based on the note section organization. Consistency in note section organization improved performance (e.g., less scrolling and searching) compared with Mixed section organization when reviewing progress notes. Discussion Clinicians face significant challenges reviewing electronic clinical notes. Our findings support minimizing extraneous information in notes, removing information that can be found in other parts of the EHR, and standardizing the display and order of note sections to improve clinicians' note review experience. Conclusion Our findings support the need to improve EHR note design and presentation to support optimal note review patterns for clinicians.