It is beyond controversy that in bimanual coordination tasks, parameter planning related to the movements of one hand influences the planning and execution of movements simultaneously performed with the other hand. A well-researched example of such bimanual interference is the finding that reaction times tend to be longer when preparing bimanual pointing movements with different amplitudes than for equal amplitude movements. Interestingly, these reaction time costs were found to increase when movement targets were cued symbolically (e.g., using letters) as compared to spatially. Therefore, it was suggested that interference may be primarily related to cue translation and response selection processes rather than resulting from cross-talk at the motor programming level. Here, we argue that spatial interference effects do not necessarily depend on the type of cues used but instead depend on the general task demands (difficulty). In two experiments we show that bimanual interference effects can (1) be abolished in symbolic cueing conditions when highly compatible cues placing minimal demands on response selection processes are used and (2) occur in direct/spatial cueing conditions when a secondary cognitively demanding, but movement-unrelated task is performed. Thus, our findings suggest that whether or not interference effects emerge during movement planning depends on the overall task difficulty and hence the resources available during movement preparation.

Background:There are significant gaps in the literature regarding sleep, mental health, and cognition for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite being important aspects of patients’ overall quality of life. Similarly, there is a lack of understanding about the role of rheumatoid factor (RF) on these domains.Objectives:The aim of the current study was to characterize mental health, cognition, and sleep variables in people with RA and to compare these associations in people with positive RF (RF+) and negative RF (RF-) in a large population cohort.Methods:This cross-sectional study used baseline data from the UK Biobank cohort (n= 502,506) to compare people with and without RA and people that are RF+ versus RF- on a variety of sociodemographic, lifestyle, illness-related factors and depression, neuroticism, performance on cognitive tests and sleep-related factors. Logistic regression analyses were also performed to determine whether RF seropositivity was associated with mental health, cognition, and sleep variables. We adjusted for the covariates of age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation index, smoking status, BMI and alcohol intake.Results:In this sample 5,907 people self-reported having RA (1.17%), of which 74% were RF- and 26% were RF+. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) between people with and without RA for depression, neuroticism, nap during the day, getting up in the morning, insomnia, reaction time, fluid intelligence and prospective memory. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) between RF+ and RF- people for depression, neuroticism, sleep duration, nap during the day, getting up in the morning, insomnia, and reaction time. In the unadjusted regression analyses neuroticism (B=-0.06, SE= 0.01, p < 0.001), sleep duration (B=0.02, SE= 0.005, p < 0.001), nap during the day (OR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.02-1.65, p < 0.05) and reaction time (B=4.55, SE=0.53, p< 0.001) were significantly associated with RF status. After adjusting for covariates, only sleep duration (B=0.01, SE=0.005, p< 0.01) remained significant.Conclusion:The current study suggests that RA diagnosis and RF status are associated with differences in mental health, sleep, and cognition, highlighting the importance of addressing these aspects in clinical settings and future research.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

We present a genome-wide association study of a general happiness measure in 118,851 participants from the UK Biobank. Using BOLT-LMM, we identify 3 significant loci with a heritability estimate of 0.8%. Linkage disequilibrium score regression was performed on the 'big five' personality traits finding significant associations with lower neuroticism and higher extraversion and conscientiousness. Using a novel approach, we construct LDpred-inf polygenic risk scores in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort and the Add Health cohort. We detected nominally significant associations with several well-being measures in ABCD and significant correlations with a happiness measure in Add Health. Additionally, we tested for associations with several brain regions in a white British subsample of UK Biobank finding significant associations with several brain structure and integrity phenotypes. We demonstrated a genetic basis for general happiness level and brain structure that appears to remain consistent throughout the lifespan and across multiple ancestral backgrounds.

Objectives: While previous rheumatoid arthritis (RA) studies have focussed on cardiometabolic and lifestyle factors, less research has focussed on psychological variables including mood and cognitive health, and/or sleep parameters. This study reports observational, cross-sectional associations between self-reported RA, and positive rheumatoid factor (binary RF+ vs. not) prevalence with psychological/sleep data in UK Biobank. Methods: Analyses tested for associations between RA and RF+ vs. mental health (depression, anxiety, neuroticism), sleep variables and cognitive test scores in UK Biobank (total n = 484, 064 of whom 5, 722 had RA and 25, 772 had RF+ based on blood-based biomarker data). We controlled for age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation index, smoking, BMI and alcohol and used Pearson 2 and Kruskal-Wallis tests and logistic/linear regression models for categorical/continuous data respectively. Results: Those RF+ were more likely to report longer sleep duration (standardized beta β= 0.01, SE=0.004, p&lt; 0.01). Those that self-reported RA were more likely to score higher for neuroticism (β=0.05, SE= 0.01, p&lt; 0.001), to have difficulties getting up in the morning (odds ratio [OR] =0.57, 95% CI: 0.53-0.61, p&lt;0.001), to have slower reaction times (β=0.02, SE= 0.008, p&lt;0.005) and score less for fluid intelligence (β= -0.03, SE=0.01, p&lt;0.05). Anxiety also became a significant negative predictor for RA (OR= 0.80, 95% CI: 0.67-0.95, p&lt; 0.01).Conclusion: The current study suggests that prevalent RA, and RF+ status are associated with differences in mental health, sleep, and cognition, highlighting the importance of addressing these aspects in clinical settings and future research.