Comparing psychopathological symptoms, life satisfaction, and personality traits between the WHO and APA frameworks of gaming disorder symptoms: A psychometric investigation.

INTRODUCTION: The inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association and Gaming Disorder in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) by the World Health Organization requires consistent psychological measures for reliable estimates. The current study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT), the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10), and the Five-Item Gaming Disorder Test (GDT-5) and to compare the WHO and the APA frameworks of gaming disorder symptoms in terms of psychopathological symptoms, life satisfaction, and personality traits. METHODS: A sample of 723 Swedish gamers was recruited (29.8% women, 68.3% men, 1.9% other, Mage = 29.50 years, SD = 8.91). RESULTS: The results indicated notable differences regarding the estimated possible risk groups between the two frameworks. However, the association between gaming disorder symptoms and personality traits, life satisfaction, and psychopathological symptoms appeared consistent across the two frameworks. The results showed excellent psychometric properties in support of the one-factor model of the GDT, IGDT-10, and GDT-5, including good reliability estimates (McDonald's omega) and evidence of construct validity. Additionally, the results demonstrated full gender and age measurement invariance of the GDT, IGDT-10, and GDT-5, indicating that gaming disorder symptoms are measured equally across the subgroups. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that the IGDT-10, GDT-5, and GDT are appropriate measures for assessing gaming disorder symptoms and facilitating future research in Sweden.

Computerized cognitive interventions for adults with ADHD: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Treatments for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are understudied, compared to children and adolescents with the same condition. In this systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis, we aim to evaluate the outcomes of computerized cognitive training (CCT) interventions in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including adults with ADHD. METHOD: Cognitive outcomes and ADHD symptom severity were analyzed separately. In addition, the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities was used to categorize outcome variables into subdomains, which were analyzed separately in a subsequent analysis. RESULTS: The results revealed a small positive change in overall cognitive functioning, a measure of all cognitive outcomes in each study, for individuals who took part in CCT compared to controls (k = 9, Hedge's g = 0.235, 95% CI [0.002, 0.467], p = 0.048, τ² = 0.000, I² = 0.000). However, neither symptom severity nor specific cognitive outcomes (executive functioning, cognitive speed, or working memory) showed a significant improvement. CONCLUSIONS: We analyzed the risk of bias in the chosen studies and discuss the findings in terms of effect size. It is concluded that CCT has a small positive effect in adults with ADHD. Due to the lack of heterogeneity in intervention designs across the included studies, increased heterogeneity in future studies could help inform clinicians about the aspects of CCT, such as training type and length, that are most beneficial for this group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Gaming motivations and gaming disorder symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background and aims: The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the available literature on the relationship between gaming motivations and gaming disorder symptoms. Specifically, to (1) explore what gaming motivation questionnaires and classifications are used in studies on gaming disorder symptoms and (2) investigate the relationship between motivational factors and symptoms of gaming disorder. Method: An electronic database search was conducted via EBSCO (MEDLINE and PsycINFO) and the Web of Science Core Collection. All studies using validated measurements on gaming disorder symptoms and gaming motivations and available correlation coefficients of the relationship between gaming disorder and gaming motivations were included. The meta-analyses were conducted using a random-effects model. Results: In total, 49 studies (k = 58 independent sub-samples), including 51,440 participants, out of which 46 studies (k = 55 sub-samples, n = 49,192 participants) provided data for the meta-analysis. The synthesis identified fourteen different gaming motivation instruments, seven unique motivation models, and 26 motivational factors. The meta-analysis showed statistically significant associations between gaming disorder symptoms and 23 out of 26 motivational factors, with the majority of the pooled mean effect sizes ranging from small to moderate. Moreover, large heterogeneity was observed, and the calculated prediction intervals indicated substantial variation in effects across populations and settings. Motivations related to emotional escape were robustly associated with gaming disorder symptoms. Discussion and conclusions: The present meta-analysis reinforces the importance of motivational factors in understanding problematic gaming behavior. The analysis showed significant heterogeneity in most outcomes, warranting further investigation. Registration detail: PROSPERO (CRD42020220050).

The psychophysiological influence of exertion and affect on sport-specific cognitive and physical performance.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to examine differences in cognitive and physical performance, affective states, perceived exertion, and physiological responses between trials with cognitive, physical, or combined cognitive and physical load. DESIGN: Randomised cross-over trial. METHODS: Highly trained competitive orienteers (n = 15 men; n = 10 women) completed three randomised trials comprised of: (1) sport-specific cognitive tests; (2) 35-minute cycling time trial; and (3) combined sport-specific cognitive tests and 35-minute cycling time trial. Measures taken during the trials recorded affective states, perceived exertion, heart rate, blood lactate, cycling watts, as well as working memory, updating, planning and decision making. RESULTS: No significant differences in cognitive performance accuracy were observed within or across trials although reaction times improved within trials and were fastest in the combined trial. Blood lactate, heart rate, perceived exertion, negative affective states, and watts were highest in the physical trial. CONCLUSIONS: The combined load of undertaking sport-specific cognitive tests and a cycling time trial did not influence cognitive performance accuracy. Athletes produced greater watts when completing the physical task independently compared with the combined trial, however psychophysiological responses were worse. Further investigation is warranted to determine whether athletes' attentional focus underpins psychophysiological responses to dual-task sport performance.

Relationships between Dota 2 expertise and decision-making ability.

Esports is an often time-consuming activity that has become increasingly popular with billions of players all over the world. The objective of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between skill level in the strategy video game Dota 2, a game that places many demands on decision making to be successful, and decision making under ambiguity and experience as measured by performance in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a task known to have ecological validity. Two indicators of players' performance in Dota 2, namely match-making rating (MMR) and Medal, were used as predictors of performance in the IGT in path models. Results showed that Medal was a significant predictor of performance in IGT, while MMR score was borderline significant. The cognitive reflection task, included in the models as an indicator of the ability to engage in conscious, analytical, rational, and logical thinking, was a significant predictor of performance in IGT, and was significantly and positively related to MMR. The findings from this study give insight into the cognitive demands related to performance in Dota 2. Although results suggest that strategy video gaming may be a factor that contributes to increased decision making abilities, a reversed relationship is also possible, whereby individuals who are better at decision making are also more likely to become successful in Dota-2. More studies, preferably longitudinal, are needed to replicate the findings of this study and to establish the directionality between factors.

Bidirectional Within- and Between-Person Relations Between Physical Activity and Cognitive Function.

OBJECTIVES: To examine bidirectional within- and between-person relations between physical activity and cognitive function across 15 years. METHODS: Participants (N = 1,722, age range 40-85 years, 55% women) were drawn from the Betula prospective cohort study. We included 4 waves of data. Bivariate latent curve models with structured residuals were estimated to examine bidirectional within- and between-person relations between physical activity and cognitive function (episodic memory recall, verbal fluency, visuospatial ability). RESULTS: We observed no statistically significant bidirectional within-person relations over time. Higher levels of physical activity at baseline were related to less decline in episodic memory recall. Positive occasion-specific within- and between-person relations were observed, with the most consistent being between physical activity and episodic memory recall. DISCUSSION: The lack of bidirectional within-person relations indicates that shorter time lags may be needed to capture time-ordered within-person relations. The link between higher physical activity at baseline and less decline in episodic memory recall over time may indicate a protective effect of physical activity on episodic memory recall.

The role of quality relationships and communication strategies for the fulfilment of secure and insecure athletes' basic psychological needs.

The correlates of coach-athlete relationship quality have been the focus of research for over a decade; however, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying these associations. The present study conducted a moderated mediation analysis to examine (a) the mediating role of communication strategies (via COMPASS) on the association between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athlete psychological needs satisfaction and (b) whether individual differences in athletes' attachment style (secure, anxious, avoidant) moderates the mediational relationship. 350 Swedish athletes representing a range of sports and competition levels completed a multi-section questionnaire. Mediation and moderation analysis partially found that coach-athlete relationship quality and athletes basic psychological needs were associated via the COMPASS strategies of support, motivation, assurance and openness. It was also found that athletes secure attachment with their coach significantly moderated the mediated effects of motivation and support. These findings highlight the practical utility of motivation, support, openness and assurance strategies in enhancing the quality of the coach-athlete relationship. Moreover, these findings demonstrate that the attachment orientation of athletes towards their coaches play a significant role in determining what communication strategies to use to enhance both the relationship quality and an athlete's competence, autonomy and relatedness.

Testing the Foreign Language Effect on Cognitive Reflection in Older Adults.

An increasing number of people around the world communicate in more than one language, resulting in them having to make decisions in a foreign language on a daily basis. Interestingly, a burgeoning body of literature suggests that people's decision-making is affected by whether they are reasoning in their native language (NL) or their foreign language (FL). According to the foreign language effect (FLe), people are less susceptible to bias in many decision-making tasks and more likely to display utilitarian cost-benefit analysis in moral decision-making when reasoning in a FL. While these differences have often been attributed to a reduced emotionality in the FL, an emerging body of literature has started to test the extent to which these could be attributable to increased deliberation in the FL. The present study tests whether increased deliberation leads to a FLe on cognitive reflection in a population of older adults (Mage = 65.1), from the successful aging project in Umeå, Sweden. We explored whether performance on a 6-item version of the cognitive reflection test (CRT) adapted to Swedish would differ between participants for whom Swedish was their NL and those for whom Swedish was their FL. The CRT is a task designed to elicit an incorrect, intuitive answer. In order to override the intuitive answer, one requires engaging in deliberative, analytical thinking to determine the correct answer. Therefore, we hypothesized that if thinking in a FL increases deliberation, then those performing the task in their FL would exhibit higher accuracy rates than those performing in their NL. Our results showed that age and level of education predicted performance on the task but performance on the CRT did not differ between the NL and the FL groups. In addition, in the FL group, proficiency in the FL was not related to performance in the CRT. Our results, therefore, do not provide evidence that thinking in a FL increases deliberation in a group of older adults performing a logical reasoning task that is not typically associated with an emotional connotation.

Physical activity and cognitive function: between-person and within-person associations and moderators.

In the present study, we decomposed between- and within-person effects and examined moderators of the longitudinal physical activity-cognition association. Participants (N = 1722) were drawn from the Betula study and we included four waves of data across 15 years. Bayesian multilevel modeling showed that self-reported physical activity did not predict changes in cognitive function. Physical activity positively predicted cognitive performance at baseline, and the relations were stronger for more active (compared to less active) older adults. Physical activity had a positive within-person effect on cognitive function. The within-person effect of physical activity on episodic memory recall was stronger for participants who on average engaged in less physical activity. The within-person effect on verbal fluency was stronger for participants with more education. Our results suggest that preserving cognitive functioning in old age might be more a matter of what you do in old age than reflecting what you did earlier in life.

Biological and environmental predictors of heterogeneity in neurocognitive ageing: Evidence from Betula and other longitudinal studies.

Individual differences in cognitive performance increase with advancing age, reflecting marked cognitive changes in some individuals along with little or no change in others. Genetic and lifestyle factors are assumed to influence cognitive performance in ageing by affecting the magnitude and extent of age-related brain changes (i.e., brain maintenance or atrophy), as well as the ability to recruit compensatory processes. The purpose of this review is to present findings from the Betula study and other longitudinal studies, with a focus on clarifying the role of key biological and environmental factors assumed to underlie individual differences in brain and cognitive ageing. We discuss the vital importance of sampling, analytic methods, consideration of non-ignorable dropout, and related issues for valid conclusions on factors that influence healthy neurocognitive ageing.

A Motivational Model Explaining Performance in Video Games.

Esports are a rapidly growing phenomenon and understanding of factors underlying game performance are therefore of great interest. The present study investigated the influence of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness), type of motivation (amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrated regulation, and intrinsic motivation), and number of matches played (time on task) on individuals' performance on a matchmaking rating (MMR) in the video game Defence of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2). Collected data from 315 participants was included in the analyses. A web-based questionnaire was used to collect data and structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to analyze the data. The results show that perceived competence and autonomy were the only significant predictors of MMR performance beyond matches played. Fulfillment of relatedness, as well as motivational factors, were not found to be predictors of MMR scores. The strong effect of matches played, used as proxy of time on task, emphasize the effect of time and practice as a critical aspect of video-game expertise.

Mental Demands at Work and Risk of Dementia.

High mental demands at work was examined as a possible protective factor to reduce the risk of dementia in 1,277 initially dementia-free participants, aged 60 years and older. The cohort was followed for a mean of 13.6 years. During follow-up, 376 participants developed all-cause dementia (Alzheimer's disease = 199; vascular dementia = 145). The association between mental demands at work and dementia was analyzed with Cox hazard models, adjusted for a range of covariates. The results revealed no significant association between mental demands at work and incidence of dementia. Based on the measures used in this study, it was concluded that high mental demands at work may not reduce the risk of dementia later in life.

The bilingual effects of linguistic distances on episodic memory and verbal fluency.

The impact of linguistic distance or the relatedness between two languages, on bilinguals' episodic memory performance and verbal fluency is an understudied area. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if differences in linguistic distances have differential effects on these abilities. Measures of episodic recognition, categorical fluency, and global cognitive functioning were also considered in the analyses. Two matched samples with participants living and educated in Sweden were drawn from the Betula Prospective Cohort Study. Results showed that bilinguals who speak linguistically similar languages (Swedish and English), performed significantly better than monolinguals on both episodic memory recall and letter fluency, while bilinguals who speak two languages that are more distant (Swedish and Finnish), showed no advantages compared to their monolingual counterparts. For both tasks, however, a linear trend was observed indicative of better performance for the Swedish-English group compared to the Finnish-Swedish group, and for the Swedish-Finnish group compared to the monolinguals group. As expected, no differences between groups were found in any of the other cognitive tasks. Overall, results suggest that the impact of linguistic distances should be explored in more detail in the future.

Complexity of Primary Lifetime Occupation and Cognitive Processing.

Today, there are a lack of studies focusing on the relationship between occupational complexity and executive functioning. This is noteworthy since executive functions are core aspects of cognitive processing. The present study was aimed to investigate if three occupational complexity factors (with data, people, and things) of main lifetime occupation were related to performance in executive tasks (inhibition, switching, updating). We analyzed cross-sectional data that were available for 225 participants aged 50-75 years. Results from structural equation models showed that higher complexity levels of working with data were related to lower error rates in the updating component of cognitive control. In addition, higher rates of complexity working with people was associated with lower error rates in task-switching, which also persisted after adjustment of fluid intelligence. Complexity with things, however, was not related to performance in the executive tasks. Future studies would benefit from a longitudinal design to investigate if the results from this study also hold in the long term and to further investigate the directionality between factors.

Executive Processes Underpin the Bilingual Advantage on Phonemic Fluency: Evidence From Analyses of Switching and Clustering.

Bilinguals often show a disadvantage in lexical access on verbal fluency tasks wherein the criteria require the production of words from semantic categories. However, the pattern is more heterogeneous for letter (phonemic) fluency wherein the task is to produce words beginning with a given letter. Here, bilinguals often outperform monolinguals. One explanation for this is that phonemic fluency, as compared with semantic fluency, is more greatly underpinned by executive processes and that bilinguals exhibit better performance on phonemic fluency due to better executive functions. In this study, we re-analyzed phonemic fluency data from the Betula study, scoring outputs according to two measures that purportedly reflect executive processes: clustering and switching. Consistent with the notion that bilinguals have superior executive processes and that these can be used to offset a bilingual disadvantage in verbal fluency, bilinguals (35-65 years at baseline) demonstrated greater switching and clustering throughout the 15-year study period.

Predicting attention shifting abilities from self-reported media multitasking.

Media multitasking is an increasingly prominent behavior in affluent societies. However, it still needs to be established if simultaneous use of several modes of media content has an influence on higher cognitive functions, such as divided attention. In this study, attention shifting was the primary focus, since switching between tasks is assumed to be necessary for media multitasking. Two tasks, the number-letter and local-global task, were used as measures of switching ability. The cognitive reflections task was included to control for possible effects of intelligence. Results from linear regression analyses showed that higher levels of media multitasking was related to lower switching costs in the two attention-shifting tasks. These findings replicate previous findings suggesting that heavy media multitaskers perform better on select measures of task switching. We suggest two possible explanations for our results: media multitasking may practice skills needed for switching between tasks, or high media multitaskers are choosing this style of technology use due to a dominating personality trait in this group.

Different Features of Bilingualism in Relation to Executive Functioning.

The notion that the long-term practice of managing two languages is beneficial for the executive control system is an ongoing debate. Criticism have been raised that studies demonstrating a bilingual advantage often suffer from small sample sizes, and do not control for fluid intelligence as a possible confound. Taking those suggested factors into account, focusing on older bilingual age groups and investigating the potential effects of linguistic distances, this study aimed to improve the interpretations of the bilinguals' advantages. Measures of inhibition (Flanker, Stroop, Simon task) and switching (Number-letter, Color-Shape, Local-global task) were collected in participants in the ages 50-75 years (n = 193). Despite a large study sample, results did not support any beneficial effects related to improve processing costs in executive functioning. Sub-analyses of the two different language groups (Swedish-Finnish / Swedish-English) intended to investigate the effect of linguistic distances did not change this outcome. Future studies exploring the potential long-term term effects of bilingualism would benefit from identifying tests of cognitive control with greater ecological validity and include other measures of cognitive functioning. Language learning interventions may also be a promising tool for future research.

Distraction and facilitation: The impact of emotional sounds in an emoji oddball task.

Emotional stimuli are argued to capture attention and consume attentional resources differently depending on their emotional content. The present study investigates the impact of the automatic detection of unexpected and to-be-ignored emotional stimuli on human behavioral responses, and aims to unravel the differences in distraction between two negative emotional stimuli: sadness and anger. Forty participants (Mage = 25.5 years) performed a visual categorization task where angry and sad emoji faces were presented after either a standard neutral tone (in 80% of trials) or a deviant emotional sound (tone changing in pitch; sad or angry sound in 10% of trials each) that was to be ignored. Deviant trials were either congruent (e.g., sad sound-sad face) or incongruent (e.g., angry sound-sad face). Although the stimuli presented to the participants were brief and to-be-ignored, results indicate that participants were significantly more distracted by sad compared to angry stimuli (seen as prolonged response times). Findings are discussed with reference to the nature of the two negative emotions.

To what extent is subjective well-being in late adulthood related to subjective and objective memory functioning? Five-year cross-lagged panel analyses.

BACKGROUND: Population aging motivated a focus in contemporary research on factors, e.g. cognitive functioning, that contribute to 'aging well.' However, something that has been overlooked is relation between memory functioning, determined by objective tests as well as subjective memory ratings, and subjective well-being (SWB). OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal (cross-lagged) relationships between episodic memory (both subjective and objective) and SWB. METHOD: A total of 586 older individuals (60-90 years) were assessed on multiple measures of the targeted constructs at baseline (Time 1) as part of the Betula cohort study. Five years later (Time 2), 354 of the participants returned for follow-up measurements and were included in cross-lagged panel analyses. RESULTS: As expected, objective memory and subjective memory showed a pattern of cross-sectional age deficits and a mean level longitudinal decline was observed for objective memory. By contrast, SWB showed stable mean levels both across age and time. No cross-sectional or cross-lagged associations were observed between SWB and objective memory, whereas subjective memory and SWB showed a cross-sectional association. CONCLUSION: The results underscore that successful aging is a multifaceted construct with no or only weak associations between the investigated components. However, SWB and rate of change at the individual level should be considered to define successful aging.

The impact of spoken action words on performance in a cross-modal oddball task.

In this study a cross-modal oddball task was employed to study the effect that words spoken either non-urgently or urgently would have on a digit categorization task and if women would exhibit greater behavioral inhibitory control. The words were unrelated to the task itself, but related to the action required to complete the task. Forty participants (21 women) conducted a computerized categorization task while exposed to a sinewave tone as a standard stimulus (75% of the trials) or a to-be ignored word (press, stop) spoken either non-urgently or urgently as unexpected auditory deviant stimulus (6.25% trials for each category). Urgent words had sharp intonation and an average fundamental frequency (F0) ranging from 191.9 (stop) to 204.6 (press) Hz. Non-urgent words had low intonation with average F0 ranging from 103.9.9 (stop) to 120.3 (press) Hz. As expected, deviant distraction and longer response times were found by exposure to the word stop, but deviant distraction was not found to be significant with the word press or due to intonation. While the results showed that women had in general longer reaction times, there were no gender differences found related to the deviant distraction caused by word or intonation. The present results do not support the hypothesis that women have greater behavioral inhibitory control, but there was evidence that the meaning of the word could influence response times.