Torvald F. Ask

Østfold University College

Introduction A positive relationship between physical exercise training and cognitive function in humans is well-established. However, knowledge of how resistance exercise training affects patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is limited. COPD is usually followed by declines in cognitive functioning. Thus, an examination of how...

Due to their value and interconnected role in our societies, critical infrastructures are vulnerable national assets increasingly becoming targets of cyber-attacks. Despite there being a multitude of training programs in cybersecurity offered, human errors are still accountable for a majority of breaches. As current training and awareness courses a...

Cognitive Warfare takes advantage of novel developments in technology and science to influence how target populations think and act. Establishing adequate defense against Cognitive Warfare requires examination of modus operandi to understand this emerging action space. This includes the goals and methods that can be realized through science and tec...

Background Self-efficacy, the belief in one’s ability and capacity to organize and execute actions required to achieve desired results, is associated with adolescent academic achievement and reduced risk for psychopathology. Adolescent emotion regulation represents an important component in the relationship between self-efficacy and developmental o...

AI-generated “deep fakes” is increasingly used by cybercriminals conducting targeted and tailored social engineering attacks, and for influencing public opinion. To raise awareness and efficiently train individuals in recognizing deep fakes, understanding individual differences in the ability to recognize them is central. Previous research suggeste...

In cyber threat situations, the establishment of a shared situational awareness as a basis for cyber defense decision-making results from adequate communication of a Recognized Cyber Picture (RCP). RCPs consist of actively selected information and have the goal of accurately presenting the severity and potential consequences of the situation. RCPs...

Cognitive Warfare takes advantage of novel developments in technology and science to influence how target populations think and act. Establishing adequate defense against Cognitive Warfare requires examination of modus operandi to understand this emerging action space. This includes the goals and methods that can be realized through science and tec...

For NATO to have the capability to acquire and preserve Decision and Cognitive Superiority over their adversaries and across the conflict spectrum, scientific based knowledge is needed to support and increase NATOs operational readiness to respond to CogWar. CogWar is not necessarily new but has emerged as a product of the integration and confluenc...

Background: Deepfakes are AI-generated synthetic media that is increasingly used by cybercriminals to impersonate other individuals during remote social engineering attacks. Previous studies indicated that political orientation is associated with deepfake detection abilities, while being an IT professional is not. Little is known about the cognitiv...

Background: Self-efficacy, the belief in one’s ability and capacity to organize and execute actions required to achieve desired results, is associated with adolescent academic achievement and reduced risk for psychopathology. Adolescent emotion regulation represents an important component in the relationship between self-efficacy and developmental...

Background Cyber defense decision-making during cyber threat situations is based on human-to-human communication aiming to establish a shared cyber situational awareness. Previous studies suggested that communication inefficiencies were among the biggest problems facing security operation center teams. There is a need for tools that allow for more...

Background: Cyber operations unfold at superhuman speeds where cyber defense decisions are based on human-to-human communication aiming to achieve a shared cyber situational awareness. The recently proposed Orient, Locate, Bridge (OLB) model suggests a three-phase metacognitive approach for successful communication of cyber situational awareness fo...

Background Accumulated senescent cells are proposed to be one of the main drivers of age-related pathology such as dementia and cancer through disruption of tissue structure and function. We recently proposed the Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM), which relates prefrontally modulated vagal tone and subsequent balance between vagal a...

Cyber operations unfold at superhuman speeds where cyber defense decisions are based on human-to-human communication aiming to achieve a shared cyber situational awareness. The recently proposed Orient, Locate, Bridge (OLB) model suggests a three-phase metacognitive approach for successful communication of cyber situational awareness for good cyber...

This study examines whether twelve sessions of heart rate variability biofeedback training would improve vagally mediated heart rate variability. If so, it would go some way in explaining why breathing-based interventions reduce clinical symptoms and improve non-clinical performance outcomes. Methods: Thirty participants (N = 30, Nfemale = 13) ag...

Cyber defense decision-making during cyber threat situations is based on human-to-human communication aiming to establish a shared cyber situational awareness. Previous studies suggested that communication inefficiencies were among the biggest problems facing security operation center teams. There is a need for tools that allow for more efficient c...

Humans quickly and effortlessly impose context onto ambiguous stimuli, as demonstrated through psychological projective testing and ambiguous figures. This feature of human cognition may be weaponized as part of an information operation. Such Ambiguous Self-Induced Disinformation (ASID) attacks would employ the following elements: the introduction...

Abstract. The emergence of synthetic media such as deep fakes is considered to be a disruptive technology shaping the fight against cybercrime as well as enabling political disinformation. Deep faked material exploits humans’ interpersonal trust and is usually applied where technical solutions of deep fake authentication are not in place, unknown,...

Background Accumulated senescent cells are proposed to be one of the main drivers of age-related pathology through disruption of tissue structure and function. We recently proposed the Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM; Ask et al., 2018) which relates prefrontally modulated vagal tone and subsequent balance between vagal and sympathe...

The emergence of synthetic media such as deep fakes is considered to be a disruptive technology shaping the fight against cybercrime as well as enabling political disinformation. Deep faked material exploits humans’ interpersonal trust and is usually applied where technical solutions of deep fake authentication are not in place, unknown, or unaffor...

This study examines whether twelve sessions of heart rate variability biofeedback training would improve vagally mediated heart rate variability. If so, it would go some way in explaining why breathing-based interventions reduce clinical symptoms and improve non-clinical performance outcomes. Methods: Thirty participants (N = 30, Nfemale = 13) aged...

In cyber threat situations, the establishment of a shared situational awareness as a basis for cyber defense decision-making results from adequate communication of a Recognized Cyber Picture (RCP). RCPs consist of actively selected information and have the goal of accurately presenting the severity and potential consequences of the situation. RCPs...

AI-generated "deep fakes" are becoming increasingly professional and can be expected to become an essential tool for cybercriminals conducting targeted and tailored social engineering attacks, as well as for others aiming for influencing public opinion in a more general sense. While the technological arms race is resulting in increasingly efficient...

Cyber operations are increasingly automated processes that can occur at computational speed with the intent of reducing, or denying time for good decision making or time to ground communication between human agents. There is a lack of performance measures and metrics in cyber operation settings. One potential setting describing human performance co...

In cyber threat situations, decision-making processes within organizations and between the affected organization and external entities are high-stake. They require human communication entailing technical complexity, time pressure, interdisciplinary factors, and often an insufficient information basis. Communication in cyber threat situations can th...

Cyber defense is dependent on individual functioning as well as teamwork. Research has identified teamwork factors, such as communication and coordination, that increase performance, while more supporting behaviours, i.e. emotional and team support, have shown to inhibit team performance but currently the understanding of impact workloads have on p...

Humans quickly and effortlessly impose narrative context onto ambiguous stimuli, as demonstrated through psychological projective testing and ambiguous figures. We suggest that this feature of human cognition may be weaponized as part of an information operation. Such Ambiguous Self-Induced Disinformation (ASID) attacks would employ the following e...

In cyber threat situations, decision-making processes within organizations and between the affected organization and external entities are high-stake. They require human communication entailing technical complexity, time pressure , interdisciplinary factors, and often an insufficient information basis. Communication in cyber threat situations can t...

Cyber operations are increasingly automated processes that can occur at computational speed with the intent of reducing, or denying time for good decision making or time to ground communication between human agents. There is a lack of performance measures and metrics in cyber operation settings. One potential setting describing human performance co...

Background Many young children in developing countries do not reach their developmental potential. Traditional methods for assessing developmental outcome are time consuming, thus, physiological measures that can contribute to the prediction of developmental outcomes in high risk groups have been suggested. Vagally mediated heart rate variability (...

An ongoing project presented at the 19th Conference on Social and Community Psychology. The study is pre-registered and the datacollection will begin in February 2019.

There is evidence that accumulated senescent cells drive age-related pathologies, but the antecedents to the cellular stressors that induce senescence remain poorly understood. Previous research suggests that there is a relationship between shorter telomere length, an antecedent to cellular senescence, and psychological stress. Existing models do n...