No abstract

No abstract

A meta-analysis to mathematically summarize the effect of hot and cold temperature exposure on performance was completed. The results from 515 effect sizes calculated from 22 original studies suggest that hot and cold temperatures negatively impact performance on a wide range of cognitive-related tasks. More specifically, hot temperatures of 90 degrees F (32.22 degrees C) Web Bulb Globe Temperature Index or above and cold temperatures of 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) or less resulted in the greatest decrement in performance in comparison to neutral temperature conditions (14.88% decrement and 13.91% decrement, respectively). Furthermore, the duration of exposure to the experimental temperature, the duration of exposure to the experimental temperature prior to the task onset, the type of task and the duration of the task had differential effects on performance. The current results indicate that hot and cold temperature exposure have a negative impact on performance and that other variables (e.g., length of exposure to the temperature or task duration) may modify this relationship.

No abstract

Evolutionary psychologists argue that human nature contains many discrete psychological adaptations. Each adaptation is theorized to have been functional in humans' ancestral past, and empirical evidence that an attribute is an adaptation can come from showing it possesses complexity, efficiency, universality, and other features of special design. In this article, we present a tutorial review of the evidentiary forms that evolutionary psychologists commonly use to document the existence of human adaptations. We also present a heuristic framework for integrating and evaluating cross-disciplinary evidence of adaptation. Pregnancy sickness, incest avoidance, men's desires for multiple sex partners, and an easily learned fear of snakes are evaluated as possible human adaptations using this framework. We conclude that future research and teaching in evolutionary psychology would benefit from more fully utilizing cross-disciplinary frameworks to evaluate evidence of human adaptation.

The effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance psychological variables related to cognitive performance were studied in 44 college students. Participants completed the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal after either 24 hours of sleep deprivation or approximately 8 hours of sleep. After completing the cognitive task, the participants completed 2 questionnaires, one assessing self-reported effort, concentration, and estimated performance, the other assessing off-task cognitions. As expected, sleep-deprived participants performed significantly worse than the nondeprived participants on the cognitive task. However, the sleep-deprived participants rated their concentration and effort higher than the nondeprived participants did. In addition, the sleep-deprived participants rated their estimated performance significantly higher than the nondeprived participants did. The findings indicate that college students are not aware of the extent to which sleep deprivation negatively affects their ability to complete cognitive tasks.

The stability of subjective measures of sleep, health, and well-being, as well as the stability of the relationships between sleep and health and well-being were assessed over 3 months. Healthy college students with no consistent sleep complaints completed a 7-day sleep log and battery of surveys related to health and well-being at 3 separate times during the 3 months. Measures of health and well-being were more strongly related to the quality than to the quantity of sleep. Further analyses using the repeated measures results found that participants reported improved sleep and better health, but the affect balance, life satisfaction, and mood states were unchanged across the 3 testing periods. The relationships between the measures of sleep and measures of health and well-being remained constant across the experimental period. Even when working with a non-sleep-disturbed population, healthcare professionals should consider sleep quality as a consistent correlate of daily health and well-being.

The integration of self-driving vehicles may expose individuals with health concerns to undue amounts of stress. Psychophysiological indicators of stress were used to determine changes in tonic and phasic stress levels brought about by a high-fidelity autonomous vehicle simulation. Twenty-eight participants completed one manual driving task and two automated driving tasks. Participants reported their subjective level of trust in the automated systems using the Automation Trust Survey. Psychophysiological stress was indexed using skin conductance and trapezius muscle tension. Results indicate that users show more signs of physiological stress when the vehicle drives autonomously than when the users is in control. Results also indicate that users show an additional increase in stress when the user reports low trust in the autonomous vehicle. These findings suggest that health-care professionals and manufactures should be aware of additional stress associated with self-driving technology.