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This study investigated the contribution of otolithic and somesthetic inputs in the perception of body orientation when pitching at very slow velocities. In Experiment 1, the subjects' task was to indicate their subjective postural vertical, in two different conditions of body restriction, starting from different angles of body tilt. In the "strapped" condition, subjects were attached onto a platform by means of large straps. In the "body cast" condition, subjects were completely immobilized in a depressurized system, which attenuates gravity-based somesthetic cues. Results showed that the condition of body restriction and the initial tilt largely influenced the subjective postural vertical. In Experiment 2, subjects were displaced from a vertical position and had to detect the direction of body tilts. Results showed that the threshold for the perception of body tilt was higher when subjects were immobilized in the body cast and when they were tilted backward. Experiment 3 replicated the same protocol from a supine starting position. Compared to results of Experiment 2, the threshold for the perception of body tilt decreased significantly. Overall, these data suggested that gravity-based somesthetic cues are more informative than otolithic cues for the perception of a quasi-static body orientation.

BackgroundWhereas interest in incorporating mindfulness into interventions in medicine is growing, data on the relationships of mindfulness to stress and coping in management is still scarce. This report first presents a French validation of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory-short form (FMI) in a middle-aged working population. Secondly, it investigates the relationship between psychological adjustment and mindfulness.MethodsFive hundred and six non-clinical middle-aged working individuals rated themselves on the self-report French version FMI and completed measures of psychological constructs potentially related to mindfulness levels.ResultsResults were comparable to results of the original short version. Internal consistency of the scale based on the one-factor solution was .74, and test-retest reliability was good. The one-dimensional solution as the alternative to the two-factor structure solution yielded suboptimal fit indices. Correlations also indicated that individuals scoring high on mindfulness are prone to stress tolerance, positive affects and higher self-efficacy. Furthermore, subjects with no reports of stressful events were higher on mindfulness.ConclusionThese data showed that mindfulness can be measured validly and reliably with the proposed French version of the FMI. The data also highlighted the relationship between mindfulness and stress in an adult population. Mindfulness appears to reduce negative appraisals of challenging or threatening events.

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Eight healthy men, unacclimated to heat, were submitted to variations in body hydration. The subjects were kept euhydrated, dehydrated by controlled passive hyperthermia or exercise on a treadmill up to a weight loss of 2.8%, or hyperhydrated using a solution containing glycerol, with a total ingested volume equal to 21.4 ml/kg of body weight. On completion of a 90-min recovery period, the subjects were assigned a pedaling exercise on an arm-crank ergometer. Psychological tests were administered 30 min after the phase of hydration variation and 15 min after the arm crank exercise. Both dehydration conditions impaired cognitive abilities (i.e., perceptive discrimination, psycho-motor skills, and short-term memory) as well as subjective estimates of fatigue, without any relevant differences between them. Short-term memory was significantly greater following hyperhydration when compared to euhydration (P < .05). Following arm crank exercise, further effects of dehydration were found for tracking performance only (P < .05). Moreover, long-term memory was impaired in both control and dehydration situations, whereas there was no decrement in performance in the hyperhydration condition.