Neuronal activities have recently been reported to exhibit power-law scaling behavior. However, it has not been demonstrated that the power-law component can play an important role in human perceptual functions. Here, we demonstrate that the power spectrum of magnetoencephalograph recordings of brain activity varies in coordination with perception of subthreshold visual stimuli. We observed that perceptual performance could be better explained by modulation of the power-law component than by modulation of the peak power in particular narrow frequency ranges. The results (...) suggest that the brain operates in a state of self-organized criticality, modulating the power spectral exponent of its activity to optimize its internal state for response to external stimuli. (shrink)

Many studies have reported neural correlates of visual awareness across several brain regions, including the sensory, parietal, and frontal areas. In most of these studies, participants were instructed to explicitly report their perceptual experience through a button press or verbal report. It is conceivable, however, that explicit reporting itself may trigger specific neural responses that can confound the direct examination of the neural correlates of visual awareness. This suggests the need to assess visual awareness without explicit reporting. One way to (...) achieve this is to develop a technique to predict the visual awareness of participants based on their peripheral responses. Here, we used eye movements and pupil sizes to decode trial-by-trial changes in the awareness of a stimulus whose visibility was deteriorated due to adaptation-induced blindness. In the experiment, participants judged whether they perceived a target stimulus and rated the confidence they had in their perceptual judgment, while their eye movements and pupil sizes were recorded. We found that not only perceptual decision but also perceptual confidence can be separately decoded from the eye movement and pupil size. We discuss the potential of this technique with regard to assessing visual awareness in future neuroimaging experiments. (shrink)

「カワイイ」価値をめぐる冒険の旅へ。「カワイイ」に代表されるポピュラーな感性的価値に、一流の研究者たちが学問領域の枠を超えて真摯に向き合う。社会のダイナミズムとメカニズムの実態に迫る、シリーズ第二弾。 .

BackgroundAlthough, moral distress presents a serious problem among critical care nurses in many countries, limited research has been conducted on it. A validated scale has been developed to evaluate moral distress and has enabled cross-cultural comparison for seeking its root causes.Research aimsThis study aimed to (1) clarify the current status of moral distress among nurses who worked in critical care areas in Japan, (2) compare the moral distress levels among nurses in Japan with previously reported results from the United States (...) (US), and (3) explore the factors associated with moral distress.Research designA nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted.Participants and research contextWe conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey using the Measure of Moral Distress–Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) among critical care nurses who were randomly selected from hospitals across Japan. The mean differences between the two countries were compared using a Student's t-test with summary statistics. The factors associated with higher levels of moral distress were examined using a multiple regression analysis.Ethical considerationsThe study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214 and M2019-045).ResultsWe obtained 955 valid responses from 94 facilities. In Japan, the items with the highest moral distress scores were those related to aggressive/inappropriate treatment. The total MMD-HP score was significantly higher in Japanese nurses compared to US nurses (122.8 ± 70.8 vs 112.3 ± 73.2). Some factors, such as leadership experience, were associated with higher moral distress.DiscussionThe top root causes of moral distress were similar to potentially inappropriate treatments in both countries.ConclusionThis study revealed the factors associated with higher moral distress and its characteristics in each country. These results can be used for reducing moral distress in the future. (shrink)

Background:Moral distress has various adverse effects on nurses working in critical care. Differences in personal values, and between values and self-perception of behaviour are factors that may cause moral distress.Research aims:The aims of this study were (1) to identify ethical values and self-perception of behaviour of critical care nurses in Japan and (2) to determine the items with a large difference between value and behaviour and the items with a large difference in value from others.Research design:A nationwide, cross-sectional study was (...) conducted.Participants and research context:We developed a self-administered questionnaire with 28 items, which was completed by 1014 critical care nurses in Japan. The difference between value and self-perception of behaviour was calculated from the score of each value item minus the score of each self-perception of behaviour item. The size of the difference in value from the others was judged by the standard deviation of each item.Ethical considerations:The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214, M2019-045).Results:The items with a large difference between value and behaviour sources were related to the working environment and decision-making support. The items with a large difference in value from others were related to hospital management and disclosure of information to patients.Discussion:Improving the working environment for nurses is important for reducing moral distress. Nurses are faced with a variety of choices, including advocating for patients and protecting the fair distribution of medical resources, and each nurse’s priorities might diverge from those of other team members, which can lead to conflict within the team.Conclusion:This study revealed items with particularly high risks of moral distress for nurses. The results provide foundational information that can guide the development of strategies to mitigate moral distress. (shrink)

Experimental phenomenology has demonstrated that perception is much richer than stimulus. As is seen in color perception, one and the same stimulus provides more than several modes of appearance or perceptual dimensions. Similarly, there are various perceptual dimensions in form perception. Even a simple geometrical figure inducing visual illusion gives not only perceptual impressions of size, shape, slant, depth, and orientation, but also affective or aesthetic impressions. The present study reviews our experimental phenomenological work on visual illusion and experimental aesthetics, (...) and examines how aesthetic preference is influenced by stimulus factors determining visual illusions including anomalous surface and transparency as well as geometrical illusion. Along with line figures producing geometrical illusions, illusory surface figures inducing neon color spreading and transparency effects were used as test patterns. Participants made both of psychophysical judgments and of aesthetic judgments for the same test pattern. Both of geometrical illusions and aesthetic preferences were found to change similarly as a function of stimulus variables such as the number of filling lines and the size ratio of the inner and outer figural components. Also, following specific stimulus variables such as lightness contrast ratio and spatial interval between inducing figural elements (so called ``packmen''), strong effects of color spreading and transparency were accompanied with strong preferences. It seems that the paradigm to investigate aesthetic phenomena along with perceptual dimensions is useful to bridge the gap between experimental phenomenology and experimental aesthetics. (shrink)

A total of 366 UK children in four different schools, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland, and two in England, were asked to respond to 20 potentially stressful life experiences. Each event was rated on a scale ranging from 7 to 1 , and the scale value and interquartile range were calculated. In addition, whether or not a given event was actually experienced was noted. Across the groups, there was a very high degree of agreement on all three measures, (...) the median correlations being 0.95 for scale values, 0.70 for interquartile ranges, and 0.92 for incidence. Furthermore, the pooled UK results were found to correlate equally closely with the figures previously obtained in the USA and five other countries. The possibility of a prevalent ‘culture of childhood’, cutting across geo‐political boundaries and ethnic groupings, appears to receive further support. (shrink)