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The mechanical parameters of keyboard switches affect the psychological sense of pressing. The effects of different mechanical parameters on psychological sense have been quantified using questionnaires, but these subjective evaluations are unable to fully clarify the modulation of information processing in the brain due to these differences. This study aimed to elucidate the ability of electroencephalography (EEG) measurements to detect the modulation of subconscious information processing according to mechanical parameter values. To this end, we prepared five mechanical switches with linearly increasing values of pretravel (PT: the distance from the free position until the operating position). We hypothesized that the differences in PTs would subconsciously affect the motor preparation prior to pressing switches because switches with PTs that deviated from those commonly used were predicted to increase the users' attention level when pressing. Differences in motor preparation were quantified using the mean amplitudes of the late contingent negative variation (CNV). We recorded EEGs of 25 gamers during a reaction task for fast switch pressing after a response cue preceded by a pre-cue for response preparation; we also measured the reaction time feedback on each switch pressing trial. Participants performed five sessions (60 trials per session) in total. For the analysis, trials were divided into first (session 1, 2, and 3) and second half sessions (session 4 and 5). In the latter session, CNV amplitudes were significantly higher for the switch with the highest PT than for that with a medium PT, which is closest to that commonly used in commercial mechanical switches. On the other hand, the questionnaire did not detect any significant differences between PTs in their subjective rankings of the psychological effects of switch pressing. These results suggest that differences in PTs modulate motor preparation to press switches, and that EEG measurements may provide a novel objective evaluation of the mechanical parameters of keyboard switches.

Abstract Background/Purpose  Pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) is one of the most difficult operations in gastrointestinal surgery. Standard PD ligates and cuts superior mesenteric vein (SMV) branches after the removal of the pancreas head, which leads to congestion and bleeding of these veins. Methods  In this study, we modified the standard PD and first ligated the efferent vessels (arteries); namely, the gastroduodenal artery and inferior pancreatoduodenal artery (IPDA), before ligating and cutting the corresponding afferent vessels (veins) of the pancreas head. By doing this, congestion of these veins was relieved and bleeding from the resected surface was substantially prevented. Thirty-six patients (18 underwent standard PD and 18 had modified PD) formed the study population. Results  The amount of bleeding in the modified PD group was significantly lower than that in the standard PD group. (678 � 329 g vs 1225 � 375 g, respectively; P Conclusions  We believe this modified PD procedure is valuable to enable the safe performance of PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]