[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s40064-016-2461-5.].

Do perfectionists try harder? Previous research on perfectionism and effort has used self-report items and task performance as indicators of effort. The current study investigated whether individual differences in perfectionism predicted effort-related cardiac activity during a mental effort task. Based on past research that suggests adaptive perfectionism is associated with higher effort, it w...

Cardiac output was determined by impedance cardiography (Q(imp)) and a rebreathing method (Q(reb)) during exercise of loads up to 90 W. The correlation between Q(imp) and Q(reb) was generally good, but it was found in two of four subjects that Q(imp) was slightly lower than Q(reb) at the higher exercise levels. The regression equation for both Q values was: Q(imp) = 0.91 Q(reb) + 0.25 (l/min, r...

This study examined cardiovascular activity and autonomic involvement during sleep in essential hypotension. We compared young female hypotensives and normotensives using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, impedance cardiography, and frequency-domain analysis of heart rate variability during a night of polysomnographic recording. Hypotensives, as compared to normotensives, exhibited lower bl...

Executive approaches to creativity emphasize that generating creative ideas can be hard and requires mental effort. Few studies, however, have examined effort-related physiological activity during creativity tasks. Using motivational intensity theory as a framework, we examined predictors of effort-related cardiac activity during a creative challenge. A sample of 111 adults completed a divergen...

BACKGROUND Previous studies addressing teaching and learning in point-of-care ultrasound have primarily focussed on image interpretation and not on the technical quality of the images. We hypothesized that a limited intervention of 10 supervised examinations would improve the technical skills in Focus Assessed Transthoracic Echocardiography (FATE) and that physicians with no experience in FATE ...