Emotional experiences and psychological well-being in 51 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges to psychological well-being, but how can we predict when people suffer or cope during sustained stress? Here, we test the prediction that specific types of momentary emotional experiences are differently linked to psychological well-being during the pandemic. Study 1 used survey data collected from 24,221 participants in 51 countries during the COVID-19 outbreak. We show that, across countries, well-being is linked to individuals' recent emotional experiences, including calm, hope, anxiety, loneliness, and sadness.

Symptoms of and coping strategies for music performance anxiety through different time periods.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) manifests itself at mental, physiological, and behavioral levels. The present study investigated how the experience of the three levels of symptoms changes over time, and how musicians cope with these temporal changes in MPA symptoms. To this end, we conducted a questionnaire survey in which 38 student musicians freely commented on their experiences of mental and physical changes, as well as their coping strategies for these changes.

Cultural norms influence nonverbal emotion communication: Japanese vocalizations of socially disengaging emotions.

Nonverbal vocalizations of some emotions have been found to be recognizable both within and across cultures. However, East Asians tend to suppress socially disengaging emotions because of interdependent views on self-other relationships. Here we tested the possibility that norms in interdependent cultures around socially disengaging emotions may influence nonverbal vocal communication of emotions.

Effects of emotional valence on sense of agency require a predictive model.

Sense of agency (SoA), a feeling that one's voluntary actions produce events in the external world, is a key factor behind every goal-directed human behaviour. Recent studies have demonstrated that SoA is reduced when one's voluntary action causes negative outcomes, compared to when it causes positive outcomes. It is yet unclear whether this emotional modulation of SoA is caused by predicting the outcome valence (prediction hypothesis) or by retrospectively interpreting the outcome (postdiction hypothesis).

Why I tense up when you watch me: Inferior parietal cortex mediates an audience's influence on motor performance.

The presence of an evaluative audience can alter skilled motor performance through changes in force output. To investigate how this is mediated within the brain, we emulated real-time social monitoring of participants' performance of a fine grip task during functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging. We observed an increase in force output during social evaluation that was accompanied by focal reductions in activity within bilateral inferior parietal cortex.

Negative emotional outcomes attenuate sense of agency over voluntary actions.

Sense of agency (SoA) refers to the feeling that one's voluntary actions produce external sensory events [1, 2]. Several psychological theories hypothesized links between SoA and affective evaluation [3-6]. For example, people tend to attribute positive outcomes to their own actions, perhaps reflecting high-level narrative processes that enhance self-esteem [3].

Electromyographic analysis of lower limbs during baseball batting.

We investigated the muscle activation pattern of lower limbs in baseball batting by recording surface electromyography (sEMG) from 8 muscles, the left and right rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA), and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles. The muscle activities were compared between 10 skilled baseball players and 10 unskilled novices. The batting motion was divided into 7 phases: waiting, shifting body weight, stepping, landing, swing, impact, and follow through.

Electromyographic activity of lower limbs to stop baseball batting.

We investigated the muscle activation pattern of the lower limbs for the stopping motion of baseball batting by recording surface electromyography (EMG) from 8 muscles, the left and right rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA), and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles. First, muscle activities for 'Swing' and 'Stopping' trials were examined in 10 skilled baseball players and 10 unskilled novices. Second, the characteristics of EMG activities for 'Stopping' were compared between the 2 groups.

Differences in the head movement during baseball batting between skilled players and novices.

We investigated the pattern of head movement during baseball batting in 8 skilled players and 9 unskilled novices, using a high-speed video camera. The 2 directions of head movement were analyzed as an X-axis (from the home plate to the pitcher's plate) and Z-axis (vertical downward). On the X-axis, peak latency, peak value, the distance from the peak to the value at bat-ball impact, and data variability were compared between the 2 groups.

Traits and cognitions of perfectionism and their relation with coping style, effort, achievement, and performance anxiety in Japanese musicians.

Research has shown that 2 major facets of perfectionism can be differentiated: perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. In order to investigate how these different facets of perfectionism are related to coping, effort, achievement, and performance anxiety in musicians, we asked 275 professional and amateur Japanese musicians to complete measures of perfectionism traits, perfectionism cognitions, coping style, effort, achievement, and performance anxiety. While both facets of perfectionism showed a similar pattern of correlation with coping measures, they were differently associated with effort, achievement, and performance anxiety.

Characteristics of the athletes' brain: evidence from neurophysiology and neuroimaging.

We review research on athletes' brains based on data obtained using non-invasive neurophysiological and neuroimaging methods; these data pertain to cognitive processing of visual, auditory, and somatosensory (tactile) stimulation as well as to motor processing, including preparation, execution, and imagery. It has been generally accepted that athletes are faster, stronger, able to jump higher, more accurate, more efficient, more consistent, and more automatic in their sports performances than non-athletes. These claims have been substantiated by neuroscientific evidence of the mechanisms underlying the plastic adaptive changes in the neuronal circuits of the brains of athletes.

Music performance anxiety in skilled pianists: effects of social-evaluative performance situation on subjective, autonomic, and electromyographic reactions.

Music performance anxiety (MPA), or stage fright in music performance, is a serious problem for many musicians, because performance impairment accompanied by MPA can threaten their career. The present study sought to clarify on how a social-evaluative performance situation affects subjective, autonomic, and motor stress responses in pianists. Measurements of subjective state anxiety, heart rate (HR), sweat rate (SR), and electromyographic (EMG) activity of upper extremity muscles were obtained while 18 skilled pianists performed a solo piano piece(s) of their choice under stressful (competition) and non-stressful (rehearsal) conditions.

Motor/autonomic stress responses in a competitive piano performance.

The present study examined the effects of psychological stress on performance quality, autonomic responses, and upper extremity muscle activity in skilled pianists through comparisons between stressful (competition) and nonstressful (rehearsal) conditions. We observed increased levels of subjective anxiety, autonomic arousal, and electromyographic activity in the competition condition, which could contribute to the impairment of performance quality. The results provide important practical implications for enhancing performance quality as well as preventing playing-related musculoskeletal disorders in musicians.