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Brighten up your mind! : Effects of light priming and encouraging feedback on the neural and behavioral responses in a general knowledge task

Sburlea, Andreea Ioana (2012) Brighten up your mind! : Effects of light priming and encouraging feedback on the neural and behavioral responses in a general knowledge task.

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Abstract:The increase of cognitive demands in society nowadays requires new ways to deal with problems, such as burnout and mental fatigue. Lately, more and more scientifically-based rigorous research in genetic, pharmacological, electrical and optical devices, combined with brain-computer interfaces have been done in the quest for restoring and augmenting cognition. The current research work investigates light, priming and positive reinforcement as possible mediators of cognitive enhancement. To study the effects of light, priming and positive reinforcement on cognition we set up an experiment where 20 participants are asked to perform a general knowledge task. Different light settings and positive reinforcement are presented in three conditions as a part of the intervention which tries to create a desired state of mind in which the participants perform at their best and link it to a particular light setting. Later, we use this association to test if we can prime cognitive performance. Analysis of behavioral and neural data obtained while performing the task are used as a tool in understanding the underlying cognitive processes. Our results suggest that the effect of light is not strong enough in the absence of encouraging feedback. It seems that the longer the period with encouraging feedback, the higher the perceived competence of the participants. Perceived competence seems to act as a mediator for good cognitive performance. The analysis of the neural data presents, around 250 - 300 ms, in the frontal cortex, a significant difference in the perception of correct and incorrect feedback. This feature is often attributed to unfavorable outcomes and confirms the importance of the type of feedback.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Philips Research
Faculty:EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Subject:54 computer science
Programme:Interaction Technology MSc (60030)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61794
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