Background Although, moral distress presents a serious problem among critical care nurses in many countries, limited research has been conducted on it. A validated scale has been developed to evaluate moral distress and has enabled cross-cultural comparison for seeking its root causes. Research aims This study aimed to (1) clarify the current status of moral distress among nurses who worked in critical care areas in Japan, (2) compare the moral distress levels among nurses in Japan with previously reported results from (...) the United States (US), and (3) explore the factors associated with moral distress. Research design A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants and research context We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey using the Measure of Moral Distress–Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) among critical care nurses who were randomly selected from hospitals across Japan. The mean differences between the two countries were compared using a Student's t-test with summary statistics. The factors associated with higher levels of moral distress were examined using a multiple regression analysis. Ethical considerations The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214 and M2019-045). Results We obtained 955 valid responses from 94 facilities. In Japan, the items with the highest moral distress scores were those related to aggressive/inappropriate treatment. The total MMD-HP score was significantly higher in Japanese nurses compared to US nurses (122.8 ± 70.8 vs 112.3 ± 73.2). Some factors, such as leadership experience, were associated with higher moral distress. Discussion The top root causes of moral distress were similar to potentially inappropriate treatments in both countries. Conclusion This study revealed the factors associated with higher moral distress and its characteristics in each country. These results can be used for reducing moral distress in the future. (shrink)

Background: Moral distress has various adverse effects on nurses working in critical care. Differences in personal values, and between values and self-perception of behaviour are factors that may cause moral distress. Research aims: The aims of this study were (1) to identify ethical values and self-perception of behaviour of critical care nurses in Japan and (2) to determine the items with a large difference between value and behaviour and the items with a large difference in value from others. Research design: (...) A nationwide, cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants and research context: We developed a self-administered questionnaire with 28 items, which was completed by 1014 critical care nurses in Japan. The difference between value and self-perception of behaviour was calculated from the score of each value item minus the score of each self-perception of behaviour item. The size of the difference in value from the others was judged by the standard deviation of each item. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214, M2019-045). Results: The items with a large difference between value and behaviour sources were related to the working environment and decision-making support. The items with a large difference in value from others were related to hospital management and disclosure of information to patients. Discussion: Improving the working environment for nurses is important for reducing moral distress. Nurses are faced with a variety of choices, including advocating for patients and protecting the fair distribution of medical resources, and each nurse’s priorities might diverge from those of other team members, which can lead to conflict within the team. Conclusion: This study revealed items with particularly high risks of moral distress for nurses. The results provide foundational information that can guide the development of strategies to mitigate moral distress. (shrink)

「カワイイ」価値をめぐる冒険の旅へ。「カワイイ」に代表されるポピュラーな感性的価値に、一流の研究者たちが学問領域の枠を超えて真摯に向き合う。社会のダイナミズムとメカニズムの実態に迫る、シリーズ第二弾。 .

A total of 366 UK children in four different schools, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland, and two in England, were asked to respond to 20 potentially stressful life experiences. Each event was rated on a scale ranging from 7 to 1 , and the scale value and interquartile range were calculated. In addition, whether or not a given event was actually experienced was noted. Across the groups, there was a very high degree of agreement on all three measures, (...) the median correlations being 0.95 for scale values, 0.70 for interquartile ranges, and 0.92 for incidence. Furthermore, the pooled UK results were found to correlate equally closely with the figures previously obtained in the USA and five other countries. The possibility of a prevalent ‘culture of childhood’, cutting across geo‐political boundaries and ethnic groupings, appears to receive further support. (shrink)

In a typical reversal-learning experiment, one learns stimulus–outcome contingencies that then switch without warning. For instance, participants might have to repeatedly choose between two faces, one of which yields points whereas the other does not, with a reversal at some point in which face yields points. The current study examined age differences in the effects of outcome type on reversal learning. In the first experiment, the participants’ task was either to select the person who would be in a better mood (...) or to select the person who would yield more points. Reversals in which face was the correct option occurred several times. Older adults did worse in blocks in which the correct response was to select the person who would not be angry than in blocks in which the correct response was to select the person who would smile. Younger adults did not show a difference by emotional valence. In the second study, the negative condition was switched to have the same format as the positive condition (to select who will be angry). Again, older adults did worse with negative than positive outcomes, whereas younger adults did not show a difference by emotional valence. A third experiment replicated the lack of valence effects in younger adults with a harder probabilistic reversal-learning task. In the first two experiments, older adults performed about as well as younger adults in the positive conditions but performed worse in the negative conditions. These findings suggest that negative emotional outcomes selectively impair older adults’ reversal learning. (shrink)

Experimental phenomenology has demonstrated that perception is much richer than stimulus. As is seen in color perception, one and the same stimulus provides more than several modes of appearance or perceptual dimensions. Similarly, there are various perceptual dimensions in form perception. Even a simple geometrical figure inducing visual illusion gives not only perceptual impressions of size, shape, slant, depth, and orientation, but also affective or aesthetic impressions. The present study reviews our experimental phenomenological work on visual illusion and experimental aesthetics, (...) and examines how aesthetic preference is influenced by stimulus factors determining visual illusions including anomalous surface and transparency as well as geometrical illusion. Along with line figures producing geometrical illusions, illusory surface figures inducing neon color spreading and transparency effects were used as test patterns. Participants made both of psychophysical judgments and of aesthetic judgments for the same test pattern. Both of geometrical illusions and aesthetic preferences were found to change similarly as a function of stimulus variables such as the number of filling lines and the size ratio of the inner and outer figural components. Also, following specific stimulus variables such as lightness contrast ratio and spatial interval between inducing figural elements (so called ``packmen''), strong effects of color spreading and transparency were accompanied with strong preferences. It seems that the paradigm to investigate aesthetic phenomena along with perceptual dimensions is useful to bridge the gap between experimental phenomenology and experimental aesthetics. (shrink)

Drawing from research on moral judgment and affective dysfunction, we examined how trait psychopathy and alexithymia, which are characterized as empathic deficits, relate to utilitarian moral judgments in sacrificial dilemmas. As predicted, primary and secondary psychopathy traits and alexithymia were associated with reduced empathic concern. However, primary psychopathy and difficulty identifying feelings (one of three alexithymia traits), but not secondary psychopathy and other two alexithymia traits, were associated with utilitarian judgments. Moreover, hierarchical regression analysis showed that primary psychopathy, difficulty identifying (...) feelings, and empathic concern made unique contributions to the prediction of direct harm on the victim, whereas alexithymia traits made weaker contributions. Although the lack of affective empathy is found in psychopathy and alexithymia, the process through which the two traits lead to utilitarian judgment in sacrificial dilemmas may be distinct. The present findings add to the growing literature, contributing to a fuller picture of the relationship between empathy, trait psychopathy, and alexithymia. (shrink)

In a legal expert system based on CBR (Case-Based Reasoning), legal statute rules are interpreted on the basis of precedents. This interpretation, because of its vagueness and uncertainty of the interpretation cannot be handled with the means used for crisp cases. In our legal expert system, on the basis of the facts of precedents, the statute rule is interpreted as a form of case rule, the application of which involves the concepts of membership and vagueness. The case rule is stored (...) in a data base by means of fuzzy frames. The inference based on a case rule is made by fuzzy YES and fuzzy NO, and the degree of similarity of cases. The system proposed here will be used for legal education; its main area of application is contract, especially in relation to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). (shrink)

Recent fMRI studies have shown that functional networks can be extracted even from resting state data, the so called “resting state networks” (RSNs) by applying independent component analysis (ICA). However, compared to fMRI, EEG and MEG have much higher temporal resolution and provide a direct estimation of cortical activity. To date, MEG studies have applied ICA for separate frequency bands only, disregarding cross-frequency couplings. In this study, we aimed to detect EEG-RSNs and their interactions in all frequency bands. We applied (...) low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography-ICA (LORETA-ICA) to resting-state EEG data in 80 healthy subjects using five frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma band) and found five RSNs in alpha, beta and gamma frequency bands. Next, taking into account these frequency properties, five RSNs were identified; 1) the visual network, 2) dual-process of visual perception network, characterized by a negative correlation between the right ventral visual pathway (VVP) and left posterior dorsal visual pathway (DVP), 3) self-referential processing network, characterized by a positive correlation between the medial PFC and right VVP, 4) dual-process of memory perception network, functionally related to a negative correlation between the left VVP and the precuneus and 5) sensorimotor network. To detect aging-related changes of these five RSNs, the subjects were divided into three age groups: younger, middle aged, and elderly group, and Student's t test with Bonferroni correction on each coefficient of five independent components were performed. We found a significant attenuation in dual-process of visual perception network in elderly relative to middle aged subjects. Overall findings indicate that LORETA-ICA with EEG data can precisely identify five RSNs in their intrinsic frequency bands, and correct correlations and aging-related changes between and within RSNs. (shrink)

We investigated the effect of culture, moral discourse, and motivation to engage in prosocial behavior on benefactors’ positive affect. Participants from three cultures responded to scenarios in which they could perform small acts of kindness for different targets. A stronger relationship between agentic and obligated motivation to perform acts of kindness, as well as between obligated motivation and positive affect, was observed for participants from Japan, and for individuals with higher endorsement of the Community Ethic. Agentic motivation to engage in (...) prosocial behavior was related to benefactors’ positive affect, regardless of relationship type. (shrink)

The progression of research and scholarly inquiry does not occur in isolation and is wholly dependent on accurate reporting of methods and results, and successful replication of prior work. Without mechanisms to correct the literature, much time and money is wasted on research based on a crumbling foundation. These guidelines serve to outline the respective responsibilities of researchers, institutions, agencies, and publishers or editors in maintaining the integrity of the research record. Delineating these complementary roles and proposing solutions for common (...) barriers provide a foundation for best practices. (shrink)

Many studies have reported neural correlates of visual awareness across several brain regions, including the sensory, parietal, and frontal areas. In most of these studies, participants were instructed to explicitly report their perceptual experience through a button press or verbal report. It is conceivable, however, that explicit reporting itself may trigger specific neural responses that can confound the direct examination of the neural correlates of visual awareness. This suggests the need to assess visual awareness without explicit reporting. One way to (...) achieve this is to develop a technique to predict the visual awareness of participants based on their peripheral responses. Here, we used eye movements and pupil sizes to decode trial-by-trial changes in the awareness of a stimulus whose visibility was deteriorated due to adaptation-induced blindness. In the experiment, participants judged whether they perceived a target stimulus and rated the confidence they had in their perceptual judgment, while their eye movements and pupil sizes were recorded. We found that not only perceptual decision but also perceptual confidence can be separately decoded from the eye movement and pupil size. We discuss the potential of this technique with regard to assessing visual awareness in future neuroimaging experiments. (shrink)

Neuronal activities have recently been reported to exhibit power-law scaling behavior. However, it has not been demonstrated that the power-law component can play an important role in human perceptual functions. Here, we demonstrate that the power spectrum of magnetoencephalograph recordings of brain activity varies in coordination with perception of subthreshold visual stimuli. We observed that perceptual performance could be better explained by modulation of the power-law component than by modulation of the peak power in particular narrow frequency ranges. The results (...) suggest that the brain operates in a state of self-organized criticality, modulating the power spectral exponent of its activity to optimize its internal state for response to external stimuli. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of perceived vulnerability to disease, emotions (disgust, anger), and perceived norms in predicting moral judgments of anti-COVID-19-preventive behaviors in US and Japan. A total of 442 Japanese and 365 American participants completed an online survey. Disgust and anger mediated the link between perceived vulnerability to disease (germ aversion) and moral judgments of preventive behaviors across both cultures. Perceived social norms among friends and family were associated with harsh judgments of anti-preventive (...) behaviors for Japanese but not for American participants. Overall, our results suggest that effective strategies for promoting preventive behaviors may be culturally valid if they focus on the fear for infectious disease and related aversive affect. We also discussed the possibility that some strategies could be characteristic of collectivistic cultures, warranting further cross-cultural comparisons. (shrink)

Intervention studies on sedentary older adults have demonstrated that commencing physical exercise at an older age has a positive effect on brain structure. Although this suggests that older athletes with lifelong sports training have larger gray matter volume in some brain regions compared to age-matched non-athletes, evidence in the literature is scarce. Moreover, it remains unclear whether a larger GMV is associated with training intensity or period of training in life. To address these gaps in the literature, we compared regional (...) brain GMV between 24 older athletes and 24 age-matched non-athletes. The period of sports training and the current training time of the athletes were assessed. Both groups were evaluated for physical activity intensity as well as cognitive and motor performance. Although no group differences were noted in cognitive and motor performance, athletes reported higher physical activity intensity than non-athletes. Whole-brain structural analysis revealed a significantly larger GMV in several brain regions in athletes. Notably, the GMV of the precuneus in athletes was positively correlated with earlier commencement of sports training and training duration but was negatively correlated with current training time. Our findings demonstrate that early-commenced and continued sports training predicts structural maintenance of the precuneus in old age. Our results also suggest that excessive training time in old age may have a negative impact on the GMV of the precuneus; thereby delineating how the precuneus is associated with lifelong sports training in older athletes. (shrink)

This study compared 30 older musicians and 30 age-matched non-musicians to investigate the association between lifelong musical instrument training and age-related cognitive decline and brain atrophy. Although previous research has demonstrated that young musicians have larger gray matter volume in the auditory-motor cortices and cerebellum than non-musicians, little is known about older musicians. Music imagery in young musicians is also known to share a neural underpinning [the supramarginal gyrus and cerebellum] with music performance. Thus, we hypothesized that older musicians would (...) show superiority to non-musicians in some of the abovementioned brain regions. Behavioral performance, GMV, and brain activity, including functional connectivity during melodic working memory tasks, were evaluated in both groups. Behaviorally, musicians exhibited a much higher tapping speed than non-musicians, and tapping speed was correlated with executive function in musicians. Structural analyses revealed larger GMVs in both sides of the cerebellum of musicians, and importantly, this was maintained until very old age. Task-related FC analyses revealed that musicians possessed greater cerebellar-hippocampal FC, which was correlated with tapping speed. Furthermore, musicians showed higher activation in the SMG during MWM tasks; this was correlated with earlier commencement of instrumental training. These results indicate advantages or heightened coupling in brain regions associated with music performance and imagery in musicians. We suggest that lifelong instrumental training highly predicts the structural maintenance of the cerebellum and related cognitive maintenance in old age. (shrink)