Study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial to improve dietary diversity and physical fitness among older people who live at home (the "ALAPAGE study").

Background: Diet and physical activity are key components of healthy aging. Current interventions that promote healthy eating and physical activity among the elderly have limitations and evidence of French interventions' effectiveness is lacking. We aim to assess (i) the effectiveness of a combined diet/physical activity intervention (the "ALAPAGE" program) on older peoples' eating behaviors, physical activity and fitness levels, quality of life, and feelings of loneliness; (ii) the intervention's process and (iii) its cost effectiveness.

Odor valence linearly modulates attractiveness, but not age assessment, of invariant facial features in a memory-based rating task.

Scented cosmetic products are used across cultures as a way to favorably influence one's appearance. While crossmodal effects of odor valence on perceived attractiveness of facial features have been demonstrated experimentally, it is unknown whether they represent a phenomenon specific to affective processing. In this experiment, we presented odors in the context of a face battery with systematic feature manipulations during a speeded response task.

Effect of hydration on the tactile and thermal sensitivity of the lip.

The vermilion lip is a body site particularly susceptible to water loss. Therefore, the role of hydration in tactile perception at the lip was investigated. A series of measures of tactile performance and response were obtained from 22 female subjects, namely: (1) the subjective assessment of lip feel, (2) tactile sensitivity, (3) spatial acuity, (4) thermal sensitivity, and (5) the subjective assessment of thermal stimulation.

The development and validation of sensory and emotional scales of touch perception.

No comprehensive language exists that describes the experience of touch. Three experiments were conducted to take steps toward establishing a touch lexicon. In Experiment I, 49 participants rated how well 262 adjectives described sensory, emotional and evaluative aspects of touch.

Sensory and affective judgments of skin during inter- and intrapersonal touch.

Here we report two experiments that investigated the tactile perception of one's own skin (intrapersonal touch) versus the skin of other individuals (interpersonal touch). In the first experiment, thirteen female participants rated, along four perceptual attributes, the skin of their own palm and volar forearm, then that of several of the other participants. Ratings were made using visual analogue scales for perceived smoothness, softness, stickiness, and pleasantness.