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This manuscript explores the topological and optical properties of a Passeriformes bird feather. Inside the feather, the layers of keratin and melanin are responsible for light reflection, transmission, and absorption; notably, the miniature composition of melanosome barbules plays a crucial role in its reflective properties. We adopted a multilayer interference model to investigate light propagation throughout the Passeriformes plume. As a result, we obtained all necessary simulated results, such as resonance band, efficiency, and electromagnetic radiation patterns of the Passeriformes plume, and they were verified with the experimental results reported in the literature study regarding light reflectivity through its internal geometry. Interestingly, we discovered that the interior structure of the Passeriformes plume functions similarly to a UV reflector antenna.

This study examined the relationship between youth health insurance status, insurance type (public versus private), and youths’ unmet health care needs. A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of U.S. youth. The sample included data from caregivers of 40,723 Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white youth (0-17 years old) and was 49% female. Mplus 8.2 was used and statistical models accounted for the complex survey design. Using unweighted and weighted descriptive statistics and weighted probit regression models, we found that youth without health insurance were significantly more likely to have unmet health care needs compared to those with either public or private health insurance. We further found no statistically significant difference in unmet needs between youth with public and private health insurance. Our findings suggest that increased access to health insurance coverage, regardless of insurance type, may be an important policy focus when addressing youths’ unmet health care needs. Our findings can be used to guide future social work advocacy regarding health insurance policy.

It has been shown that competing molecular interactions of atypical protein kinase C isoforms regulate neuronal polarity. For instance, silencing one particular isoform known as protein kinase M- ζ or overexpression of a second isoform known as protein kinase C- λ in hippocampal neurons alters neuronal polarity, resulting in neurons with extra axons. In contrast, the overexpression of protein kinase M- ζ prevents axon specification. These data suggest that antagonistic competition between PKC isoforms could contribute to the development of polarity and axon specification. Here, an excitatory and inhibitory non-linear network model is employed to describe neuronal polarity under different conditions. The model shifts the balance of excitation and inhibition to replicate a variety of scenarios during axon outgrowth, which are then compared with experimental results.

The impact of domain-general cognitive 'brain' training on improving sports performance is highly debated. This study sought to follow-up on research that showcased the benefits of perceptual-cognitive 3D-Multiple Object Tracking (3D-MOT) training in enhancing the on-field performance of soccer players. Additionally, it explored the correlation between athletes' cognitive performance and early career success. Sixty-two males from a professional soccer academy were randomly divided into a dual-task 3D-MOT training group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 32). Participants underwent a 3D-MOT test, a cognitive test of attention, and small-sided games at pre- and post-training. Pre-post-test performances were compared using ANCOVAs. A Chi-squared test evaluated the association between the training regimen and early career success. A Spearman test assessed the correlation between performance on the 3D-MOT, attention test, and early career success. The dual-task 3D-MOT trained group significantly improved its performance on 3D-MOT compared to the control group (p < 0.001). However, no significant pre-post-test differences were observed between the groups in the near-transfer cognitive test and on-field performance (ps > 0.05). There were no associations between the athletes' early career success and the training regimen, and no associations between cognitive test performances and early career success (ps > 0.05). This follow-up study failed to replicate previous findings with dual-task 3D-MOT training unable to produce near or far transfer on soccer performance. In addition, cognitive performance was not related to early career success in this study. The value of cognitive screening and training in sport is discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Jocelyn Faubert is a co-founder of CogniSens Athletics Inc. who produces the commercial version of the 3D-MOT (NeuroTracker™) used in this study. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company. The other authors have no potential conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Noise is commonly seen as a disturbance but can influence any system it interacts with. This influence may not always be desirable, but sometimes it can improve the system's performance. For example, stochastic resonance is a phenomenon where adding the right amount of noise to a weak signal makes it easier to detect. This is known as sub-threshold detection. This sub-threshold detection's natural fingerprint is the fact that the threshold values follow an inverse U-shaped curve as the noise intensity increases. The minimum threshold value is the point of maximum sensitivity and represents the optimal point that divides the dynamics in two. Below that point, we can find the beneficial noise branch, where the noise can facilitate better detection. Above that point, the common detrimental noise concept can be found: adding noise hinders signal detection. The nervous system controls the movements and bodily functions in the human body. By reducing the sensory thresholds, we can improve the balance of these functions. Additionally, researchers have wondered if noise could be applied to different senses or motor mechanisms to enhance our abilities. In this work, noise is used to improve human reaction times. We tested the hypothesis that visual reaction times decrease significantly when the subject's perception is in the beneficial noise branch and closer to the optimal point than outside of this condition. Auditory noise was introduced in 101 human subjects using an interface capable of searching for the right amount of noise to place the subject in the beneficial noise branch close to the optimal point. When comparing the results, the reaction times decreased when the subjects were at the optimal point compared to when the subjects were outside of such conditions. These results reveal the possibility of using this approach to enhance human performance in tasks requiring faster reaction times, such as sports.

The extant literature aimed at characterizing attentional capability in autistics has presented inconsistent findings. This inconsistency and uncertainty may be the product of different theoretical and methodological approaches used to define attention in autism. In the current study, we investigate whether the allocation of attentional resources to task demands, and attention resource capacity, differs between autistics with no comorbid attention-deficit diagnosis (n = 55) and age-matched neurotypicals (n = 55). We compared differences in capacity and the allocation of resources by manipulating attentional load in a Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task, a robust, versatile, and ecological measure of selective, sustained, and distributed attention. While autistics demonstrated lower MOT performance, this difference disappeared when we accounted for fluid reasoning intelligence. Additionally, the similarity in the trend of MOT performance at increasing levels of attentional load between autistics and neurotypicals suggests no differences in the allocation of attentional resources to task demands. Taken together, our study suggests that higher-order cognitive abilities, such as intelligence, should be considered when characterizing attention across the autistic population in research. Similarly, our findings highlight the importance of considering cognitive competence when assessing attentional capabilities in autistic individuals, which could have significant implications for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and support., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The perception of a continuous phantom in a sensory domain in the absence of an external stimulus is explained as a maladaptive compensation of aberrant predictive coding, a proposed unified theory of brain functioning. If this were true, these changes would occur not only in the domain of the phantom percept but in other sensory domains as well. We confirm this hypothesis by using tinnitus (continuous phantom sound) as a model and probe the predictive coding mechanism using the established local-global oddball paradigm in both the auditory and visual domains. We observe that tinnitus patients are sensitive to changes in predictive coding not only in the auditory but also in the visual domain. We report changes in well-established components of event-related EEG such as the mismatch negativity. Furthermore, deviations in stimulus characteristics were correlated with the subjective tinnitus distress. These results provide an empirical confirmation that aberrant perceptions are a symptom of a higher-order systemic disorder transcending the domain of the percept., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Elite athletes demonstrate higher perceptual cognitive abilities compared to non-athletes and those capacities can be trained. A recent study showed that differences were observed between male and female athletes in their cognitive abilities whereby male athletes showed superior perceptual abilities compared to female athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were gender differences in athletes' perceptual cognitive learning using a 3D-MOT tracking task. The study was performed on 72 young people from 16 to 22 years of age; athlete males and females and non-athlete males and females were distributed in four distinct groups. Five sessions comprised of three thresholds were performed with each participant. Results indicated that all participants benefited from training and significantly increased their speed thresholds. Initial scores showed that male athletes achieved higher speed thresholds than any other groups. Furthermore, after 5 weeks, female athletes obtained higher speed thresholds in comparison to their non-athlete counterparts. In conclusion, engaging in sporting activity is associated with improved perceptual-cognitive abilities and learning. The results support the notion that competitive sport-related activity is beneficial for perceptual-cognitive functions and emphasizes the benefits of participating in sport-related activities for improved brain function with an even greater impact for females., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The world is witnessing an unprecedented demographic shift due to increased life expectancy and declining birth rates. By 2050, 20% of the global population will be over 60, presenting significant challenges like a shortage of caregivers, maintaining health and independence, and funding extended retirement. The technology that caters to the needs of older adults and their caregivers is the most promising candidate to tackle these issues. Although multiple companies and startups offer various aging solutions, preventive technology, which could prevent trauma, is not a big part of it. Trauma is the leading cause of morbidity, disability, and mortality in older adults, and statistics constitute traumatic fall accidents as its leading cause. Therefore, an immediate preventive technology that anticipates an accident on time and prevents it must be the first response to this hazard category to decrease the gap between life expectancy and the health/wellness expectancy of older adults. The article outlines the challenges of the upcoming aging crisis and introduces falls as one major challenge. After that, falls and their mechanisms are investigated, highlighting the cognitive functions and their relation to falls. Moreover, since understanding predictive cognitive mechanisms is critical to an effective prediction-interception design, they are discussed in more detail, signifying the role of cognitive decline in balance maintenance. Furthermore, the landscape of available solutions for falling and its shortcomings is inspected. Finally, immediate fall prevention, the missing part of a wholesome solution, and its barriers are introduced, and some promising methodologies are proposed., Competing Interests: KM, JL, and JF are co-founders of Sage-Sentinel Smart Solutions. KM is the CEO of the company; in this capacity, he holds shares in the company., (Copyright © 2024 Misaghian, Lugo and Faubert.)

Background: The number of accidents due to distracted pedestrian is on the rise and many governments and institutions are enacting public policies which restrict texting while walking. However, pedestrians do more than just texting when they use their mobile devices on the go., Objective: Exploring pedestrian multitasking, this paper aims to examine the effects of mobile device task type on pedestrian performance outcomes., Method: We performed two studies in lab simulations where 78 participants were asked to perform different tasks on a mobile device (playing a game, reading, writing an email, texting one person, group texting) while performing a pedestrian visual discrimination task while either standing or walking on a treadmill. Behavioral performance as well as neurophysiological data are collected., Results: Results show that compared to a no-phone control, multitasking with any of the tasks on a mobile device leads to poor performance on a pedestrian visual discrimination task. Playing a game is the most cognitively demanding task and leads to the greatest performance degradation., Conclusion: Our studies show that multitasking with a mobile device has the potential to negatively impact pedestrian safety, regardless of task type. However, the impacts of different mobile device tasks are not all equivalent. More research is needed to tease out the different effects of these various tasks and to design mobile applications which effectively and safely capture pedestrians' attention., Application: Public policy, infrastructure, and smart technologies can be used to mitigate the negative effects of mobile multitasking. A more thorough understanding of mobile device task-specific factors at play can help tailor these counter-measures to better aid distracted pedestrians.

Pathology diagnosis based on EEG signals and decoding brain activity holds immense importance in understanding neurological disorders. With the advancement of artificial intelligence methods and machine learning techniques, the potential for accurate data-driven diagnoses and effective treatments has grown significantly. However, applying machine learning algorithms to real-world datasets presents diverse challenges at multiple levels. The scarcity of labeled data, especially in low regime scenarios with limited availability of real patient cohorts due to high costs of recruitment, underscores the vital deployment of scaling and transfer learning techniques. In this study, we explore a real-world pathology classification task to highlight the effectiveness of data and model scaling and cross-dataset knowledge transfer. As such, we observe varying performance improvements through data scaling, indicating the need for careful evaluation and labeling. Additionally, we identify the challenges of possible negative transfer and emphasize the significance of some key components to overcome distribution shifts and potential spurious correlations and achieve positive transfer. We see improvement in the performance of the target model on the target (NMT) datasets by using the knowledge from the source dataset (TUAB) when a low amount of labeled data was available. Our findings demonstrated that a small and generic model (e.g. ShallowNet) performs well on a single dataset, however, a larger model (e.g. TCN) performs better in transfer learning when leveraging a larger and more diverse dataset., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None Declared., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The ability to perceive biological motion is crucial for human survival, social interactions, and communication. Over the years, researchers have studied the mechanisms and neurobiological substrates that enable this ability. In a previous study, we proposed a descriptive Bayesian simulation model to represent the dorsal pathway of the visual system, which processes motion information. The model was inspired by recent studies that questioned the impact of dynamic form cues in biological motion perception and was trained to distinguish the direction of a soccer ball from a set of complex biological motion soccer-kick stimuli. However, the model was unable to simulate the reaction times of the athletes in a credible manner, and a few subjects could not be simulated. In this current work, we implemented a novel disremembering strategy to incorporate neural adaptation at the decision-making level, which improved the model's ability to simulate the athletes' reaction times. We also introduced receptive fields to detect rotational optic flow patterns not considered in the previous model to simulate a new subject and improve the correlation between the simulation and experimental data. The findings suggest that rotational optic flow plays a critical role in the decision-making process and sheds light on how different individuals perform at different levels. The correlation analysis of human versus simulation data shows a significant, almost perfect correlation between experimental and simulated angular thresholds and slopes, respectively. The analysis also reveals a strong relation between the average reaction times of the athletes and the simulations.

We aimed to examine the acute effect of mental fatigue on young basketball players' three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) skills. Our participants were 12 adolescent basketball players ( M age = 16.66, SD = 1.87 years; M years of practice = 2.66, SD = 1.07 years). In nine lab visits, we used visits 1 to 7 to familiarize participants with 3D-MOT, a subjective scale of mental fatigue, and a Stroop task involving mental set shifting. In the last two visits, participants performed in both experimental (EXP) and control (CON) conditions that were presented in randomized order. In the EXP condition, participants performed 3D-MOT pre- and post-60 minutes of induced mental fatigue; in the CON condition, they watched a documentary. After each condition, B participants performed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). 3D-MOT performance measures were the "score" and "fastest trial score success." The response time on the Stroop tasks increased throughout the mental fatigue inducement in the experimental condition ( p = .0037). The NASA-TLX responses were higher following the EXP condition than following the CON condition for mental demand, temporal demand, and performance (all ps < .05). Still, there were no significant EXP versus CON differences on the 3D-MOT performance indicators., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Aviation safety depends on the skill and expertise of pilots to meet the task demands of flying an aircraft in an effective and efficient manner. During flight training, students may respond differently to imposed task demands based on individual differences in capacity, physiological arousal, and effort. To ensure that pilots achieve a common desired level of expertise, training programs should account for individual differences to optimize pilot performance. This study investigates the relationship between task performance and physiological correlates of effort in ab initio pilots. Twenty-four participants conducted a flight simulator task with three difficulty levels and were asked to rate their perceived demand and effort using the NASA TLX. We recorded heart rate, EEG brain activity, and pupil size to assess changes in the participants' mental and physiological states across different task demands. We found that, despite group-level correlations between performance error and physiological responses, individual differences in physiological responses to task demands reflected different levels of participant effort and task efficiency. These findings suggest that physiological monitoring of student pilots might provide beneficial insights to flight instructors to optimize pilot training at the individual level., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Many traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors face scheduling and transportation challenges when seeking therapeutic interventions. The COVID-19 pandemic created a shift in the use of at-home spaces for work, play, and research, inspiring the development of online therapeutic options. In the current study, we determined the feasibility of an at-home cognitive training tool (NeuroTrackerX) that uses anaglyph three-dimensional (3D) glasses and three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) software. We recruited 20 adults (10 female; mean age = 68.3 years, standard deviation [SD] = 6.75) as the at-home training group. We assessed cognitive health status for participants using a self-report questionnaire and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and all participants were deemed cognitively healthy (MMSE >26). At-home participants loaned the necessary equipment (e.g., 3D glasses, computer equipment) from the research facilities and engaged in 10 training sessions over 5 weeks (two times per week). Participant recruitment, retention, adherence, and experience were used as markers of feasibility. For program validation, 20 participants (10 female; mean age = 63.39 years, SD = 12.22), who had previously completed at least eight sessions of the in-lab 3D-MOT program, were randomly selected as the control group. We assessed individual session scores, overall improvement, and learning rates between groups. Program feasibility is supported by high recruitment and retention, 90% participant adherence, and participants' ease of use of the program. Validation of the program is supported. Groups showed no differences in session scores ( p  > 0.05) and percentage improvement ( p  > 0.05) despite the differences in screen size and 3D technology. Participants in both groups showed significant improvements in task performance across the training sessions ( p  < 0.001). NeuroTrackerX provides a promising at-home option for cognitive training in cognitively healthy adults and may be a promising avenue as an at-home therapeutic for TBI survivors. This abstract was previously published on clinicaltrials.gov and can be found at: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05278273., Competing Interests: J.F. is Director of the Faubert Lab at the University of Montreal and is a co-founder of CogniSens Athletics Inc, which produces the commercial versions of the NeuroTracker and NeuroTrackerX used in this study. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company., (© Taylor Snowden et al., 2023; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.)

In this study we aimed to analyze the repeated effect of stroboscopic vision training on perceptual-cognitive skills in soccer players. A total of 28 male soccer players participated in this experimental and randomized study with parallel groups. The soccer players were pair-matched according to perceptual-cognitive skills and randomized into two groups: Stroboscopic vision training and Control. Multiple object tracking, anticipation, and decision-making skills were measured before and after the 8-week intervention. An increase in multiple object tracking ( p  < 0.05) and decision-making skills ( p  < 0.05) from baseline to post-experiment was found in both groups without main group effect ( p  > 0.05). The findings showed an increase in anticipation skill from baseline to post-experiment in both groups ( p  < 0.05), with higher anticipation skill for the stroboscopic group than in the control group post-experiment ( p  < 0.05). Thus, we conclude that repeated stroboscopic vision training could improve anticipation skill in soccer athletes.

Visual working memory (VWM) allows us to actively store, update, and manipulate visual information surrounding us. While the underlying neural mechanisms of VWM remain unclear, contralateral delay activity (CDA), a sustained negativity over the hemisphere contralateral to the positions of visual items to be remembered, is often used to study VWM. To investigate if the CDA is a robust neural correlate for VWM tasks, we reproduced eight CDA-related studies with a publicly accessible EEG data set. We used the raw EEG data from these eight studies and analyzed all of them with the same basic pipeline to extract CDA. We were able to reproduce the results from all the studies and show that with a basic automated EEG pipeline we can extract a clear CDA signal. We share insights from the trends observed across the studies and raise some questions about the CDA decay and the CDA during the recall phase, which surprisingly, none of the eight studies did address. Finally, we also provide reproducibility recommendations based on our experience and challenges in reproducing these studies., (© 2022 The Authors. Psychophysiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

There is a significant overlap in symptomology between individuals with deficits in attention and learning, which is explained by the co-dependent dynamic between the two cognitive constructs. Within this dynamic, attentional resources are allocated to salient stimuli while learning mechanisms distinguish relevant from irrelevant information. Moreover, individuals with deficits in higher-order cognition (i.e., intelligence) can demonstrate difficulties in attention and learning. The Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task is a sensitive and versatile measure of attention that has characterized individual differences in attention as a function of higher-order cognition. Exploiting the traditional MOT task's ability to characterize the allocation of attentional resources to task demands, the current study compared learning exhibited on an attention-based task across neurodevelopmental conditions defined by deficits in attention (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; ADHD), learning (specific learning disorder; SLD), and intelligence (intellectual developmental disorder; IDD). Children and adolescents (N = 101) completed 15 sessions on a Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task where performance trajectories were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling and conditioned by the presence of ADHD, SLD, or IDD while controlling for performance on a separate measure of attention, age, and sex. The sample, characterized by below-average IQ and problematic levels of attention, exhibited an effect of learning on MOT. However, individuals with an IDD diagnosis demonstrated decreased baseline MOT capability while ADHD and SLD profiles exhibited decreased slopes, relative to other neurodevelopmental conditions. Taken together, the results demonstrate distinct linear performance trajectories between neurodevelopmental conditions defined by deficits in attention, learning, and intelligence. The current study provides additional evidence to repurpose the traditional MOT task as a descriptor of attention and discusses alternative uses for the paradigm. Overall, these results suggest an eclectic approach that considers attention, learning, and higher-order cognition when diagnosing ADHD, SLD, or IDD., Competing Interests: Competing interests JF is the director of Faubert Lab at the University of Montreal and he is the inventor of the commercial version of the Multiple Object Tracking task used in this study, NeuroTracker. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company. AB is a scientific advisor for NeuroTracker, the commercial version of the Multiple Object Tracking task used in this study., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Computerized cognitive training tools are an alternative to preventive treatments related to cognitive impairment and aging. In this study, the transfer of 3D multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) training on manual dexterity concerning fine and gross motor skills in 38 elderly participants, half of them with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and the other half with mild dementia (MD) was explored. A total of 36 sessions of the 3D-MOT training program were administered to the subjects. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test was used to assess the baseline cognitive status of the participants. Two batteries of manual motor skills (GPT and MMDT) were applied before and after the 3D-MOT training program. The results showed an interaction effect of training and improvement in manual dexterity tests, from the first training session until the fifteenth session, and after this range of sessions, the interaction effect was lost. However, the training effect continued to the end of the thirty-six-session program. The experimental results show the effect of cognitive training on the improvement of motor skills in older adults. This type of intervention could have a broad impact on the aging population in terms of their attention, executive functions, and therefore, their quality of life.

Driving ability has been shown to be dependent on perceptual-cognitive abilities such as visual attention and speed of processing. There is mixed evidence suggesting that training these abilities may improve aspects of driving performance. This preliminary study investigated the feasibility of training three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT)-a dynamic, speeded tracking task soliciting selective, sustained and divided attention as well as speed of processing-to improve measures of simulated driving performance in older and younger adults. A sample of 20 young adults (23-33 years old) and 14 older adults (65-76 years old) were randomly assigned to either a 3D-MOT training group or an active control group trained on a perceptual discrimination task as well as 2048. Participants were tested on a driving scenario with skill-testing events previously identified as optimal for cross-sectional comparisons of driving ability. Results replicated previously identified differences in driving behaviour between age groups. A possible trend was observed for the 3D-MOT trained group, especially younger adults, to increase the distance at which they applied their maximum amount of braking in response to dangerous events. This measure was associated with less extreme braking during events, implying that these drivers may have been making more controlled stops. Limitations of sample size and task realism notwithstanding, the present experiment offers preliminary evidence that 3D-MOT training might transfer to driving performance through quicker detection of or reaction to dangerous events and provides a rationale for replication with a larger sample size., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestJ.M, R.C., S.M.-R. and D.B declare no conflict of interest. J.F. is the director of Faubert Lab at the University of Montreal and he is the inventor of the commercial version of the multiple object tracking task used in this study, NeuroTracker. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Biological motion perception is integral not only to survival but also to the social life of human beings. Identifying the underlying mechanisms and their associated neurobiological substrates has been a matter of investigation and debate for some time. Although, in general, it is believed that the integration of local motion and dynamic form cues in the brain empowers the visual system to perceive/recognize biological motion stimuli, some recent studies have indicated the importance of dynamic form cues in such a process. Inspired by the previous neurophysiologically plausible biological motion perception models, a new descriptive risk-averse Bayesian simulation model, capable of discerning a ball's direction from a set of complex biological motion soccer kick stimuli, is proposed. The model represents only the dorsal pathway as a motion information processing section of the visual system according to the two-stream theory. The stimuli used have been obtained from a previous psychophysical study on athletes in our lab. Furthermore, the acquired psychophysical data from that study have been used to re-enact human behavior using our simulation model. By adjusting the model parameters, the psychometric function of athlete subjects has been mimicked. A correlation analysis between human and simulation data shows a significant and robust correlation between angular thresholds and slopes of the psychometric functions of both groups. Although it is established that the visual system optimally integrates all available information in the decision-making process, the results conform to the speculations favoring motion cue importance over dynamic form by testing the limits in which biological motion perception only depends on motion information processing.

Few studies have assessed the visual development of static and dynamic information processing at different levels of processing during typical development from the school-age years to adulthood. The implication of non-visual factors on visual development, such as cognitive (e.g., IQ) and attentional abilities, has yet to be systematically assessed with regard to spanning such a large age range. To address these voids, 203 typically-developing participants (aged 6 to 31 years) identified the orientation or direction of a static or moving grating defined by either luminance- or texture-contrast. An adaptive staircase procedure was used to measure contrast sensitivity in all four conditions. Cognitive (Wechsler IQ) and attentional ability (CPT-3) were also measured for all participants. Different developmental rates of contrast sensitivity were found between static and dynamic conditions when defined by more complex, texture-defined information, with the difference in sensitivity starting after the age of 9.71 years. However, static and dynamic profiles for luminance-defined information developed similarly with age. In addition, IQ did not correlate with nor predict the sensitivity across any condition. These results suggest age significantly explains the variance in the developmental profiles of contrast sensitivity above and beyond non-visual factors such as IQ and the CPT-3 attentional scores. Moreover, the neural pathways processing static and dynamic visual information continue to develop through late childhood and adolescence for the processing of texture-defined information only., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To achieve optimal performance in sports, it is essential to have strong perceptual cognitive abilities. Evidence suggests that athletes have superior perceptual abilities compared to nonathletes. However, gender differences in athletes' perceptual cognitive abilities have not been previously reported. This project aims to evaluate perceptual cognitive abilities among male and female adolescents. To measure perceptual abilities, a 3-dimensional multiple-object tracking task was used. The findings confirm the superior perceptual cognitive abilities in young athletes relative to nonathletes. However, our results indicate differences in performance patterns between male and female athletes. These results demonstrate that sports engagement and perceptual cognitive abilities are strongly related during adolescence and that this relationship seems more prevalent in male athletes for this age group., Competing Interests: One of the authors is director of Faubertlab at the University of Montreal and he is the Chief Science Officer of Cognisens Athletics Inc. who produces the commercial version of the NeuroTracker used in this study. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company. This does not alter our adherence to your journal policies on sharing data and materials.

Objectives: 3-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) and the useful field of view (UFOV) both claim to measure and train cognitive abilities, such as selective and divided attention implicated in driving safety. 3D-MOT is claimed to improve even young adult cognitive ability. If true, one would expect to observe the transfer of 3D-MOT training to UFOV performance mediated by way of shared underlying cognitive mechanisms., Methods: We test this notion by assessing whether ten 30-min sessions of 3D-MOT training spread across 5 weeks improves UFOV performance relative to an active control group trained on a visual task and a challenging puzzle game (participants aged between 23 and 33 years old)., Results: The 3D-MOT training group exhibited significantly improved UFOV performance whereas the active control group exhibited only a small, statistically nonsignificant improvement in the task., Conclusions: This suggests that 3D-MOT and UFOV performance are likely dependent on overlapping cognitive abilities and helps support the assertion that these abilities can be trained and measured even in young adults. Such training could have implications for improving driver safety in both young and older adults., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Motor control deficits outlasting self-reported symptoms are often reported following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The exact duration and nature of these deficits remains unknown. The current study aimed to compare postural responses to static or dynamic virtual visual inputs and during standard clinical tests of balance in 38 children between 9 and 18 years-of-age, at 2 weeks, 3 and 12 months post-concussion. Body sway amplitude (BSA) and postural instability (vRMS) were measured in a 3D virtual reality (VR) tunnel (i.e., optic flow) moving in the antero-posterior direction in different conditions. Measures derived from standard clinical balance evaluations (BOT-2, Timed tasks) and post-concussion symptoms (PCSS-R) were also assessed. Results were compared to those of 38 healthy non-injured children following a similar testing schedule and matched according to age, gender, and premorbid level of physical activity. Results highlighted greater postural response with BSA and vRMS measures at 3 months post-mTBI, but not at 12 months when compared to controls, whereas no differences were observed in post-concussion symptoms between mTBI and controls at 3 and 12 months. These deficits were specifically identified using measures of postural response in reaction to 3D dynamic visual inputs in the VR paradigm, while items from the BOT-2 and the 3 timed tasks did not reveal deficits at any of the test sessions. PCSS-R scores correlated between sessions and with the most challenging condition of the BOT-2 and as well as with the timed tasks, but not with BSA and vRMS. Scores obtained in the most challenging conditions of clinical balance tests also correlated weakly with BSA and vRMS measures in the dynamic conditions. These preliminary findings suggest that using 3D dynamic visual inputs such as optic flow in a controlled VR environment could help detect subtle postural impairments and inspire the development of clinical tools to guide rehabilitation and return to play recommendations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Romeas, Greffou, Allard, Forget, McKerral, Faubert and Gagnon.)

Background: This feasibility study investigated the viability of implementing a cognitive-based training program (NeuroTracker) and assessing its potential effects on academic performance for adolescents with extremely low IQ., Methods: Twenty-six adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years with a Wechsler-based IQs in the extremely low range (M IQ = 56.00, SD IQ = 13.89) completed 15 training sessions on either the NeuroTracker or an active control task; math and reading performance were assessed using clinically validated instruments before and after training. Recruitment and retention rates, adherence, and properties of the academic measures were assessed., Results: All recruited participants completed 15 training sessions within a 6-week period. Eighty-three percent of participants meeting initial inclusion criteria completed all stages of the study from baseline to post-intervention assessments. Some limitations of the academic measures were identified., Conclusions: Results suggest that implementing NeuroTracker as a classroom-based intervention and using clinically validated outcome measures is feasible with this population., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been used to control the gait of a virtual self-avatar with a proposed application in the field of gait rehabilitation. Some limitations of existing systems are: (a) some systems use mental imagery (MI) of movements other than gait; (b) most systems allow the user to take single steps or to walk but do not allow both; (c) most function in a single BCI mode (cue-paced or self-paced). Objective . The objective of this study was to develop a high performance multi-modal BCI to control single steps and forward walking of an immersive virtual reality avatar. Approach . This system used MI of these actions, in cue-paced and self-paced modes. Twenty healthy participants participated in this study, which was comprised of four sessions across four different days. They were cued to imagine a single step forward with their right or left foot, or to imagine walking forward. They were instructed to reach a target by using the MI of multiple steps (self-paced switch-control mode) or by maintaining MI of forward walking (continuous-control mode). The movement of the avatar was controlled by two calibrated regularized linear discriminate analysis classifiers that used the µ power spectral density over the foot area of the motor cortex as a feature. The classifiers were retrained after every session. For a subset of the trials, positive modified feedback (MDF) was presented to half of the participants, where the avatar moved correctly regardless of the classification of the participants' MI. The performance of the BCI was computed on each day, using different control modes. Main results . All participants were able to operate the BCI. Their average offline performance, after retraining the classifiers was 86.0 ± 6.1%, showing that the recalibration of the classifiers enhanced the offline performance of the BCI ( p < 0.01). The average online performance was 85.9 ± 8.4% showing that MDF enhanced BCI performance ( p = 0.001). The average performance was 83% at self-paced switch control and 92% at continuous control mode. Significance . This study reports on a first BCI to use motor imagery of the lower limbs in order to control the gait of an avatar with different control modes and different control commands (single steps or forward walking). BCI performance is increased in a novel way by combining three different performance enhancement techniques, resulting in a single high performance and multi-modal BCI system. This study also showed that the improvements due to the effects of MDF lasted for more than one session., (© 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

Having an optimal quality of vision as well as adequate cognitive capacities is known to be essential for driving safety. However, the interaction between vision and cognitive mechanisms while driving remains unclear. We hypothesized that, in a context of high cognitive load, reduced visual acuity would have a negative impact on driving behavior, even when the acuity corresponds to the legal threshold for obtaining a driving license in Canada, and that the impact observed on driving performance would be greater with the increase in the threshold of degradation of visual acuity. In order to investigate this relationship, we examined driving behavior in a driving simulator under optimal and reduced vision conditions through two scenarios involving different levels of cognitive demand. These were: 1. a simple rural driving scenario with some pre-programmed events and 2. a highway driving scenario accompanied by a concurrent task involving the use of a navigation device. Two groups of visual quality degradation (lower/ higher) were evaluated according to their driving behavior. The results support the hypothesis: A dual task effect was indeed observed provoking less stable driving behavior, but in addition to this, by statistically controlling the impact of cognitive load, the effect of visual load emerged in this dual task context. These results support the idea that visual quality degradation impacts driving behavior when combined with a high mental workload driving environment while specifying that this impact is not present in the context of low cognitive load driving condition., Competing Interests: The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: DB is an adjunct professor of the NSERC/Essilor Chair, RDC NSERC-Essilor project at Université de Montréal and is employed by Essilor Canada as research project manager. Essilor also provided research grant support for this study. CooperVision provided the contact lenses used for the degradation of visual quality of participants. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare.

This paper provides the framework and supporting evidence for a highly efficient closed-loop paradigm that modifies a classic learning scenario using real-time brain activity in order to improve learning performance in a perceptual-cognitive training paradigm known as 3-dimensional multiple object tracking, or 3D-MOT. Results demonstrate that, over 10 sessions, when manipulating this novel task by using real-time brain signals, speed and degree of learning can be substantially improved compared with a classic learning system or an active sham-control group. Superior performance persists even once the feedback signal is removed, which suggests that the effects of enhanced training are consolidated and do not rely on continued feedback. This type of learning paradigm could contribute to overcoming one of the fundamental limitations of neurofeedback and other cognitive enhancement techniques, a lack of observable transfer effects, by utilizing a method that can be directly integrated into the context in which improved performance is sought.

Driving is an everyday task involving a complex interaction between visual and cognitive processes. As such, an increase in the cognitive and/or visual demands can lead to a mental overload which can be detrimental for driving safety. Compiling evidence suggest that eye and head movements are relevant indicators of visuo-cognitive demands and attention allocation. This study aims to investigate the effects of visual degradation on eye-head coordination as well as visual scanning behavior during a highly demanding task in a driving simulator. A total of 21 emmetropic participants (21 to 34 years old) performed dual-task driving in which they were asked to maintain a constant speed on a highway while completing a visual search and detection task on a navigation device. Participants did the experiment with optimal vision and with contact lenses that introduced a visual perturbation (myopic defocus). The results indicate modifications of eye-head coordination and the dynamics of visual scanning in response to the visual perturbation induced. More specifically, the head was more involved in horizontal gaze shifts when the visual needs were not met. Furthermore, the evaluation of visual scanning dynamics, based on time-based entropy which measures the complexity and randomness of scanpaths, revealed that eye and gaze movements became less explorative and more stereotyped when vision was not optimal. These results provide evidence for a reorganization of both eye and head movements in response to increasing visual-cognitive demands during a driving task. Altogether, these findings suggest that eye and head movements can provide relevant information about visuo-cognitive demands associated with complex tasks. Ultimately, eye-head coordination and visual scanning dynamics may be good candidates to estimate drivers' workload and better characterize risky driving behavior., Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: author DB is an adjunct professor of the NSERC/Essilor Chair, RDC NSERC-Essilor project at Université de Montréal and is employed by Essilor Canada as research project manager. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

In the past 20 years, there has been growing research interest in the association between video games and cognition. Although many studies have found that video game players are better than non-players in multiple cognitive domains, other studies failed to replicate these results. Until now, the vast majority of studies defined video game players based on the number of hours an individual spent playing video games, with relatively few studies focusing on video game expertise using performance criteria. In the current study, we sought to examine whether individuals who play video games at a professional level in the esports industry differ from amateur video game players in their cognitive and learning abilities. We assessed 14 video game players who play in a competitive league (Professional) and 16 casual video game players (Amateur) on set of standard neuropsychological tests evaluating processing speed, attention, memory, executive functions, and manual dexterity. We also examined participants' ability to improve performance on a dynamic visual attention task that required tracking multiple objects in three-dimensions (3D-MOT) over five sessions. Professional players showed the largest performance advantage relative to Amateur players in a test of visual spatial memory (Spatial Span), with more modest benefits in a test of selective and sustained attention (d2 Test of Attention), and test of auditory working memory (Digit Span). Professional players also showed better speed thresholds in the 3D-MOT task overall, but the rate of improvement with training did not differ in the two groups. Future longitudinal studies of elite video game experts are required to determine whether the observed performance benefits of professional gamers may be due to their greater engagement in video game play, or due to pre-existing differences that promote achievement of high performance in action video games., Competing Interests: One of the authors, Jocelyn Faubert, is the director of Faubert Lab at the University of Montreal and he is also the Chief Science Officer of Cognisens Athletics Inc. who produces the commercial version of the NeuroTracker used in this study. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company. Taylor Johnson and Trevor Love are employed by Infinite Esports and Entertainments., (©2020 Benoit et al.)

Distracted walking is an ever-increasing problem. Studies have already shown that using a smartphone while walking impairs attention and increases the risk of accidents. This study seeks to determine if smartphone-addiction proneness magnifies the risks of using a smartphone while walking. In an experimental design, participants, while walking on a treadmill and engaged in a smartphone task, were required to switch tasks by responding to an external stimulus, i.e., determining the direction of movement of a point-light walker. Participants were chosen to cover a range of smartphone-addiction proneness. Four smartphone-use conditions were simulated: a control condition with no smartphone-use, an individual conversation condition, a gaming condition, and a group conversation condition. Our results show that using a smartphone while walking decreases accuracy and increases the number of missed stimuli. Moreover, participants with higher smartphone-addiction proneness scores were also prone to missing more stimuli, and this effect was found regardless of experimental condition. The effect of the smartphone task on accuracy and the number of missed stimuli was mediated by the emotional arousal caused by the smartphone task. Smartphone-addiction proneness was positively correlated with a declared frequency of smartphone use while walking. Furthermore, of all the smartphone tasks, the gaming condition was found to be the most distracting., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Feedback is beneficial for learning. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether (i) feedback draws attentional resources when integrated and (ii) the benefits of feedback for learning can be demonstrated using an attention-based task. We therefore (i) isolated feedback-specific load from task-specific load via individual differences in attention resource capacity and (ii) examined the effect of trial-by-trial feedback (i.e., present vs. absent) on learning a multiple object-tracking (MOT) paradigm. We chose MOT because it is a robust measure of attention resource capacity. In Study 1 participants tracked one (i.e., lowest attentional load condition) through four target items (i.e., highest load condition) among eight total items. One group (n = 32) received trial-by-trial feedback whereas the other group (n = 32) did not. The absence of feedback resulted in better MOT performance compared with the presence of feedback. Moreover, the difference in MOT capability between groups increased as the task-specific attentional load increased. These findings suggest that feedback integration requires attentional resources. Study 2 examined whether the absence (n = 19) or presence (n = 19) of feedback affects learning on the same MOT task across four testing days. When holding task-specific load constant, improvement in MOT was greater with feedback than without. Although this study is the first to isolate feedback-specific load in attention with MOT, more evidence is needed to demonstrate how the benefits of feedback translate to improvement on an attention-based task. These findings encourage future research to further explore the interaction between feedback, attention and learning.

This paper presents a study protocol to measure the task-switching cost of using a smartphone while walking. This method involves having participants walk on a treadmill under two experimental conditions: a control condition (i.e., simply walking) and a multitasking condition (i.e., texting while walking). During these conditions, the participants must switch between the tasks related to the experimental condition and a direction determining task. This direction task is done with a point-light walker figure, seemingly walking towards the left or the right of the participant. Performance on the direction task represents the participant's task-switching costs. There were two performance measures: 1) correct identification of the direction and 2) response time. EEG data are recorded in order to measure the alpha oscillations and cognitive engagement occurring during the task switch. This method is limited in its ecological validity: pedestrian environments have many stimuli occurring simultaneously and competing for attention. Nonetheless, this method is appropriate for pinpointing task-switching costs. The EEG data allow the study of the underlying mechanisms in the brain that are related to differing task-switching costs. This design allows the comparison between task switching when doing one task at a time, as compared to task switching when multitasking, prior to the stimulus presentation. This allows understanding and pinpointing both the behavioral and neurophysiological impact of these two different task-switching conditions. Furthermore, by correlating the task-switching costs with the brain activity, we can learn more about what causes these behavioral effects. This protocol is an appropriate base for studying the switching cost of different smartphone uses. Different tasks, questionnaires, and other measures can be added to it in order to understand the different factors involved in the task-switching cost of smartphone use while walking.

Understanding the neural mechanisms associated with time to contact (TTC) estimation is an intriguing but challenging task. Despite the importance of TTC estimation in our everyday life, few studies have been conducted on it, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions and unknown aspects of this issue. In this study, we intended to address one of these unknown aspects. We used independent component analysis to systematically assess EEG substrates associated with TTC estimation using two experiments: (1) transversal motion experiment (when a moving object passes transversally in the frontoparallel plane from side to side in front of the observer), and (2) head-on motion experiment (when the observer is on the motion path of the moving object). We also studied the energy of all EEG sources in these two experiments. The results showed that brain regions involved in the transversal and head-on motion experiments were the same. However, the energy used by some brain regions in the head-on motion experiment, including some regions in left parietotemporal and left frontal lobes, was significantly higher than the energy used by those regions in the transversal motion experiment. These brain regions are dominantly associated with different kinds of visual attention, integration of visual information, and responding to visual motion., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature B.V. 2019.)

Primary Objective: This study aimed to explore the potential for the Neurotracker, a perceptual-cognitive, multiple-object tracking test, and train paradigm, as a marker of functional recovery after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It is hypothesized that Neurotracker could serve as a proxy for assessing cerebral functioning., Research Design: A comparative, 6 time points, longitudinal study design was used to compare Neurotracker performance between children and adolescents who were clinically recovered from mTBI and healthy controls., Methods and Procedures: Clinical measures were collected at the initial and final visits. Neurotracker trainings were performed at each of the 6 visits. Speed thresholds (Neurotracker performance) were recorded at each visit., Main Outcomes and Results: A two-way repeated measures ANOVA suggested no differences between the groups but a significant time effect was apparent., Conclusions: Clinically recovered children and adolescents exhibit similar training abilities to control subjects on this task. These results support further investigations using Neurotracker as a marker of recovery following mTBI.

Obtaining silicon-based photonic-structures in the ultraviolet range would expand the wavelength bandwidth of silicon technology, where it is normally forbidden. Herein, we fabricated porous silicon microcavities by electrochemical etching of alternating high and low refraction index layers; and were carefully subjected to two stages of dry oxidation at 350 °C for 30 minutes and 900 °C, with different oxidation times. In this way, we obtained oxidized porous silicon that induces a shift of a localized mode in the ultraviolet region. The presence of Si-O-Si bonds was made clear by FTIR absorbance spectra. High-quality oxidized microcavities were shown by SEM, where their mechanical stability was clearly visible. We used an effective medium model to predict the refractive index and optical properties of the microcavities. The model can use either two or three components (Si, SiO 2 , and air). The latter predicts that the microcavities are made almost completely of SiO 2 , implying less photon losses in the structure. The theoretical photonic-bandgap structure and localized photonic mode location showed that the experimental spectral peaks within the UV photonic bandgap are indeed localized modes. These results support that our oxidation process is very advantageous to obtain complex photonic structures in the UV region.

Porous Si-SiO 2 UV microcavities are used to modulate a broad responsivity photodetector (GVGR-T10GD) with a detection range from 300 to 510 nm. The UV microcavity filters modified the responsivity at short wavelengths, while in the visible range the filters only attenuated the responsivity. All microcavities had a localized mode close to 360 nm in the UV-A range, and this meant that porous Si-SiO 2 filters cut off the photodetection range of the photodetector from 300 to 350 nm, where microcavities showed low transmission. In the short-wavelength range, the photons were absorbed and did not contribute to the photocurrent. Therefore, the density of recombination centers was very high, and the photodetector sensitivity with a filter was lower than the photodetector without a filter. The maximum transmission measured at the localized mode (between 356 and 364 nm) was dominant in the UV-A range and enabled the flow of high energy photons. Moreover, the filters favored light transmission with a wavelength from 390 nm to 510 nm, where photons contributed to the photocurrent. Our filters made the photodetector more selective inside the specific UV range of wavelengths. This was a novel result to the best of our knowledge.

A brain-computer interface (BCI) decodes the brain signals representing a desire to do something and transforms those signals into a control command. However, only a limited number of mental tasks have been previously investigated and classified. This study aimed to investigate two motor imagery (MI) commands, moving forward and moving backward, using a small number of EEG channels, to be used in a neurofeedback context. This study also aimed to simulate a BCI and investigate the offline classification between MI movements in forward and backward directions, using different features and classification methods. Ten healthy people participated in a two-session (48 min each) experiment. This experiment investigated neurofeedback of navigation in a virtual tunnel. Each session consisted of 320 trials where subjects were asked to imagine themselves moving in the tunnel in a forward or backward motion after a randomly presented (forward versus backward) command on the screen. Three electrodes were mounted bilaterally over the motor cortex. Trials were conducted with feedback. Data from session 1 were analyzed offline to train classifiers and to calculate thresholds for both tasks. These thresholds were used to form control signals that were later used online in session 2 in neurofeedback training to trigger the virtual tunnel to move in the direction requested by the user's brain signals. After 96 min of training, the online band-power neurofeedback training achieved an average classification of 76%, while the offline BCI simulation using power spectral density asymmetrical ratio and AR-modeled band power as features, and using LDA and SVM as classifiers, achieved an average classification of 80%., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2019 Bilal Alchalabi and Jocelyn Faubert.)

This study introduces a virtual life-sized perceptual-cognitive training paradigm that combines three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) with motor (Experiment 1) or perceptual (Experiment 2) sport decision-making tasks. We sought to assess the impact of training on task performance and determine optimal training conditions for improvement and learning. Fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of four training conditions (isolated 3D-MOT, 3D-MOT combined with a decision-making task, consolidated 3D-MOT later combined with a decision-making task, and isolated decision-making task). We evaluated task performance using speed thresholds, success rate (%), and reaction time (s). Findings were that the dual-task paradigm was associated with performance beyond chance level on both 3D-MOT and decision-making tasks despite an important dual-task cost. Interestingly, the results seemed to favor consolidated 3D-MOT training over simultaneous 3D-MOT training when combined with a motor decision-making task but not when combined with a perceptual decision-making task. The number of shared attentional resources in the nature of the additional task (i.e., perceptual or motor decision-making) seems to be key in interpreting the dual-task interference. These findings must be considered when designing representative multitask perceptual-cognitive training.

Context: Electroencephalography (EEG) is a complex signal and can require several years of training, as well as advanced signal processing and feature extraction methodologies to be correctly interpreted. Recently, deep learning (DL) has shown great promise in helping make sense of EEG signals due to its capacity to learn good feature representations from raw data. Whether DL truly presents advantages as compared to more traditional EEG processing approaches, however, remains an open question., Objective: In this work, we review 154 papers that apply DL to EEG, published between January 2010 and July 2018, and spanning different application domains such as epilepsy, sleep, brain-computer interfacing, and cognitive and affective monitoring. We extract trends and highlight interesting approaches from this large body of literature in order to inform future research and formulate recommendations., Methods: Major databases spanning the fields of science and engineering were queried to identify relevant studies published in scientific journals, conferences, and electronic preprint repositories. Various data items were extracted for each study pertaining to (1) the data, (2) the preprocessing methodology, (3) the DL design choices, (4) the results, and (5) the reproducibility of the experiments. These items were then analyzed one by one to uncover trends., Results: Our analysis reveals that the amount of EEG data used across studies varies from less than ten minutes to thousands of hours, while the number of samples seen during training by a network varies from a few dozens to several millions, depending on how epochs are extracted. Interestingly, we saw that more than half the studies used publicly available data and that there has also been a clear shift from intra-subject to inter-subject approaches over the last few years. About [Formula: see text] of the studies used convolutional neural networks (CNNs), while [Formula: see text] used recurrent neural networks (RNNs), most often with a total of 3-10 layers. Moreover, almost one-half of the studies trained their models on raw or preprocessed EEG time series. Finally, the median gain in accuracy of DL approaches over traditional baselines was [Formula: see text] across all relevant studies. More importantly, however, we noticed studies often suffer from poor reproducibility: a majority of papers would be hard or impossible to reproduce given the unavailability of their data and code., Significance: To help the community progress and share work more effectively, we provide a list of recommendations for future studies and emphasize the need for more reproducible research. We also make our summary table of DL and EEG papers available and invite authors of published work to contribute to it directly. A planned follow-up to this work will be an online public benchmarking portal listing reproducible results.

Texting while walking has been highlighted as a dangerous behavior that leads to impaired judgment and accidents. This impairment could be due to task switching which involves activation of the present task and the inhibition of the previous task. However, the relative contributions of these processes and their brain activity have not yet been studied. We addressed this gap by asking participants to discriminate the orientation of an oncoming human shape in a virtual environment while they were: i) walking on a treadmill, or ii) texting while walking on a treadmill. Participants' performance (i.e., correctly identifying if a walker would pass them to their left or right) and electroencephalography (EEG) data was collected. Unsurprisingly, we found that participants performed better while they were only walking than when texting while walking. However, we also found that the diminished performance is differently related to task set inhibition and task set activation in the two conditions. The alpha oscillations, which can be used as an index of task inhibition, have a significantly different relation to performance in the two conditions, the relation being negative when subjects are texting. This may indicate that the more inhibition is needed, the more the performance is affected by texting. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the brain signature of task switching in texting while walking. This finding is the first step in identifying the source of impaired judgment in texting pedestrians and in finding viable solutions to reduce the risks., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: A large majority of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are non-contact, most often occurring during a landing or change of direction. Recent research indicates that cognitive factors may be involved in non-contact ACL injuries. The aim of this study was to determine if a game-situation perceptual-cognitive load leads to altered landing kinematics in physically fatigued female athletes., Methods: Nineteen female recreational athletes were recruited to perform a series of jumping and landing trials. In a first phase, eight trials were performed in an isolated condition and eight were performed while participants performed a perceptual-cognitive task. Before a second identical phase, participants underwent a muscular fatigue protocol. Knee-joint kinematics were recorded and compared between conditions using paired t-tests., Results: Muscle fatigue led to statistically significant increases in peak knee abduction and peak internal knee rotation as well as a decrease in maximum knee flexion, when comparing conditions without the perceptual-cognitive task. The perceptual-cognitive task had no statistically significant effect on any knee rotations, either pre- or post-fatigue. However, a subgroup of 12 athletes showed a significant increase in knee abduction in the presence of the perceptual-cognitive task, only in the fatigued condition., Conclusion: A perceptual-cognitive task combined with muscle fatigue alters knee kinematics of landing for a subset of recreational athletes, potentially increasing the risk of ACL rupture. Further studies are necessary to confirm this finding and to identify characteristics of at-risk individuals to target them for injury prevention protocols., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The efficacy of attention training paradigms is influenced by many factors, including the specificity of targeted cognitive processes, accuracy of outcome measures, accessibility to specialized populations, and adaptability to user capability. These issues are increasingly significant when working with children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental conditions that are characterized by attentional difficulties. This study investigated the efficacy of training attention in students with neurodevelopmental conditions using a novel three-dimensional Multiple Object-Tracking (3D-MOT) task. All students (ages 6-18 years) performed the Conners Continuous Performance Task (CPT-3) as a baseline measure of attention. They were then equally and randomly assigned to one of three groups: a treatment group, (3D-MOT); an active control group (visual strategy/math-based game, 2048); and a treatment as usual group. Students were trained on their respective tasks for a total of 15 training sessions over a five-week period and then reassessed on the CPT-3. Results showed that post-training CPT-3 performance significantly improved from baseline for participants in the treatment group only. This improvement indicates that training with 3D-MOT increased attentional abilities in students with neurodevelopmental conditions. These results suggest that training attention with a non-verbal, visual-based task is feasible in a school setting and accessible to atypically developing students with attentional difficulties., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: While the rate of sport-related concussion is increasing, more effective tools are needed to help monitor the diagnosis and return to play of athletes. The three-dimensional multiple-object tracking (3D-MOT) exercise is a perceptual-cognitive task that has shown predictive power towards the dynamic requirements of real-world activities such as sport. This study introduced the use of the 3D-MOT task, along with the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) and Modified Balance Error Scoring System (M-BESS) tests, for diagnosis and return to play in professional sports., Methods: Fifty-nine professional athletes were tested with the 3D-MOT, SAC and M-BESS tests at 48 hours following the injury. The same measures were employed to evaluate the return to play following the standard concussion management protocol. The SAC and M-BESS tests were also performed in pre-season (baseline) in 32 out of the 59 athletes., Results: The injured athletes exhibited poor performance on 3D-MOT at 48 hours post injury compared with return to play (p<0.001) as well as compared with healthy professionals' performance scores (p<0.001). Importantly, learning rate, which participants are thought to have an expert advantage on this perceptual-cognitive task, was totally disrupted at 48 hours post injury compared with healthy professionals (p<0.001). The 3D-MOT performance was also correlated to the total number of symptoms (p=0.020), SAC (p=0.031) and M-BESS (p=0.004) scores at 48 hours. Not surprisingly, SAC and M-BESS tests' usefulness for monitoring concussion was found to be weak, particularly when test performance following the injury was compared to baseline (p=0.056 and 0.349 for SAC and M-BESS, respectively)., Conclusion: 3D-MOT could help monitor sport-related concussion in professional athletes. The discussion also covers the critical importance of perceptual-cognitive assessment following concussion in the athletic population., Competing Interests: Competing interests: JF is director of Faubert Lab at the University of Montreal and he is the Chief Science Officer of CogniSens Inc. who produces the commercial version of the NeuroTracker used in this study. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company.

In this work, we have followed ethanol evaporation at two different concentrations using a fiber optic spectrometer and a screen capture application with a resolving capacity of 10 ms. The transmission spectra are measured in the visible-near-infrared range with a resolution of 0.5 nm. Porous Silicon microcavities were fabricated by electrochemistry etching of crystalline silicon. The microcavities were designed to have a localized mode at 472 nm (blue band). Ethanol infiltration produces a redshift of approximately 17 nm. After a few minutes, a phase change from liquid to vapor occurs and the localized wavelength shifts back to the blue band. This process happens in a time window of only 60 ms. Our results indicate a difference between two distinct ethanol concentrations (70% and 35%). For the lower ethanol concentration, the blue shift rate process is slower in the first 30 ms and then it equals the high ethanol concentration blue shift rate. We have repeated the same process, but in an extended mode (750 nm), and have obtained similar results. Our results show that these photonic structures and with the spectroscopic technique used here can be implemented as a sensor with sufficient sensitivity and selectivity. Finally, since the photonic structure is a membrane, it can also be used as a transducer. For instance, by placing this photonic structure on top of a fast photodetector whose photo-response lies within the same bandwidth, the optical response can be transferred to an electrical signal.

Photonic crystals have been an object of interest because of their properties to inhibit certain wavelengths and allow the transmission of others. Using these properties, we designed a photonic structure known as photodyne formed by two porous silicon one-dimensional photonic crystals with an air defect between them. When the photodyne is illuminated with appropriate light, it allows us to generate electromagnetic forces within the structure that can be maximized if the light becomes localized inside the defect region. These electromagnetic forces allow the microcavity to oscillate mechanically. In the experiment, a chopper was driven by a signal generator to modulate the laser light that was used. The driven frequency and the signal modulation waveform (rectangular, sinusoidal or triangular) were changed with the idea to find optimal conditions for the structure to oscillate. The microcavity displacement amplitude, velocity amplitude and Fourier spectrum of the latter and its frequency were measured by means of a vibrometer. The mechanical oscillations are modeled and compared with the experimental results and show good agreement. For external frequency values of 5 Hz and 10 Hz, the best option was a sinusoidal waveform, which gave higher photodyne displacements and velocity amplitudes. Nonetheless, for an external frequency of 15 Hz, the best option was the rectangular waveform., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

As mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affects hundreds of thousands of children and their families each year, investigation of potential mTBI assessments and treatments is an important research target. Three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT), where an individual must allocate attention to moving objects within 3D space, is one potentially promising assessment and treatment tool. To date, no research has looked at 3D-MOT in a pediatric mTBI population. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine 3D-MOT learning in children and youth with and without mTBI. Thirty-four participants (mean age=14.69±2.46 years), with and without mTBI, underwent six visits of 3D-MOT. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant time effect, a nonsignificant group effect, and a nonsignificant group-by-time interaction on absolute speed thresholds. In contrast, significant group and time effects and a significant group-by-time interaction on normalized speed thresholds were found. Individuals with mTBI showed smaller training gains at visit 2 than healthy controls, but the groups did not differ on the remaining visits. Although youth can significantly improve their 3D-MOT performance following mTBI, similar to noninjured individuals, they show slower speed of processing in the first few training sessions. This preliminary work suggests that using a 3D-MOT paradigm to train visual perception after mTBI may be beneficial for both stimulating recovery and informing return to activity decisions.

3D vision develops during childhood and tends to diminish after 65 years of age. It is still relatively unknown how stereopsis is used in more complex/ecological contexts such as when walking about in crowds where objects are in motion and occlusions occur. One task that shares characteristics with the requirements for processing dynamic crowds is the multiple object-tracking task (MOT). In the present study we evaluated the impact of stereopsis on a MOT task as a function of age. A total of 60 observers consisting of three groups of 20 subjects (7-12 years old, 18-40 years old and 65 years and older) completed the task in both conditions (with and without stereoscopic effects). The adult group obtained the better scores, followed by the children and the older adult group. The performance difference between the stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic conditions was significant and similar for the adults and the children but was non significant for the older observers. These results show that stereopsis helps children and adults accomplish a MOT task, but has no impact on older adults' performances. The present results have implications as to how populations differ in their efficiency of using stereoscopic cues for disambiguating complex dynamic scenes.