Do the effects of sleep problems on cognitive function differ according to age in daytime workers?

To examine whether the effects of low sleep quality, sleep deprivation, and chronotype on daytime cognitive function varied by age group. All data were collected online. We obtained the data from 366 employed people in their 20s, 40s, or 60s.

Is decision-making influenced by interactions between extended wakefulness and weak emotional stressors? An experimental study.

In this study, we aimed to determine whether 21-hour continuous wakefulness decreases performance in the Iowa Gambling Task and examine the effect of the interaction between a weak emotional stressor and prolonged continuous wakefulness on the decision-making process, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task. Approximately half of 38 healthy college students were in the sleep deprivation condition (they performed the task at 4:30 a.m.

Shadows alter facial expressions of Noh masks.

Background: A Noh mask, worn by expert actors during performance on the Japanese traditional Noh drama, conveys various emotional expressions despite its fixed physical properties. How does the mask change its expressions? Shadows change subtly during the actual Noh drama, which plays a key role in creating elusive artistic enchantment. We here describe evidence from two experiments regarding how attached shadows of the Noh masks influence the observers' recognition of the emotional expressions.

The mysterious noh mask: contribution of multiple facial parts to the recognition of emotional expressions.

Background: A Noh mask worn by expert actors when performing on a Japanese traditional Noh drama is suggested to convey countless different facial expressions according to different angles of head/body orientation. The present study addressed the question of how different facial parts of a Noh mask, including the eyebrows, the eyes, and the mouth, may contribute to different emotional expressions. Both experimental situations of active creation and passive recognition of emotional facial expressions were introduced.

A high-loaded hemisphere successfully ignores distractors.

We used a response competition paradigm to investigate whether a distractor is effectively rejected under conditions where it is projected to a highly-loaded hemisphere. In two experiments we asked right-handed participants to identify a target among five task-relevant letters while they ignored a distractor. We manipulated both the distractor visual-field (low-load/high-load) and the compatibility of the target and the distractor.

Hemisphere division and its effect on selective attention: a generality examination of Lavie's load theory.

The present study examined the role of visual presentation mode (unilateral vs. bilateral visual fields) on attentional modulation. We examined whether or not the presentation mode affects the compatibility effect, using a paradigm involving two task-relevant letter arrays.

[Independent resource of each hemisphere modulates selective attention].

Based on the load theory and the assumption that each hemisphere has independent resources, we examined the effects of perceptual load in each hemisphere on the compatibility effect. In Experiments 1, and 2ab, two letter-strings were presented to the left and right visual-fields with a distracter, which was presented on the center of the screen. Two conditions were prepared by pairing a letter-string which contained a target with one which did not.

[The effects of global and local processing on intra- and inter-hemispheric interaction].

Our study investigated intra- and inter-hemispheric interference in local and global processing. A pair of single letter and a Navon-type hierarchical pattern was presented to a unilateral (Within-Field) or bilateral visual field (Across-Field), where one letter was the target and a Navon-type hierarchical pattern as a distracter. In Experiment 1, where a small letter was the target, the local interference was larger when the distracter was presented to the left hemisphere (LH) than when it was presented to the right hemisphere (RH), for both presentation modes (Within- and Across Field).

[The asymmetry of interhemispheric interaction in reverse-stroop task].

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of interference on interhemispheric interaction in the reverse-stroop task. In two experiments, color-word in black ink and color-patch in red or blue ink were briefly presented to a bilateral visual-field (BVF). The participants were asked to identify the color word, ignoring the color patch.