The aim of this study was to provide recommendations for reducing the impact of hepatitis B infection on patients with chronic hepatitis B by describing their experiences during the diagnosis process.We conducted face-to-face interviews with 50 hepatitis B patients recruited by convenient sampling from an infectious diseases department of a teaching hospital in Chongqing, China from July to August 2019. Thematic analysis framework included interviewees’ social demographic characteristics, diagnosis approach, signs and symptoms before diagnosis, feelings after diagnosis, and doctor’s instructions.s. Most patients were shocked, scared, or overwhelmed when they were diagnosed with hepatitis B. They were able to remember the doctor’s instructions about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but not impressed by the doctor’s advice about regular follow-up liver function tests. The lack of regular follow-up has caused irreversible damage to some patients.Most patients first detected hepatitis B through various types of physical examinations when the patients were asymptomatic or had only mild symptomMost patients are passively diagnosed with hepatitis B due to their lack of awareness on active hepatitis B prevention. Patients need professional mental health care to overcome the negative emotions that following the diagnosis. Physicians’ instruction should emphasize the importance of regular follow-up liver function tests in addition to a healthy lifestyle. Known as a global health problem with a significant disease burden, chronic hepatitis B has a long course and can lead to many adverse outcomes, including liver cirrhosis and liver cancer . An estiUnderstanding the diagnostic process of hepatitis B is essential to detect the specific barriers to hepatitis prevention and control, thus to formulate effective measures. It is known that HBV can be transmitted from mother to child, blood  and sexual contact . A patieMany researchers have investigated the prevalence of hepatitis B in China. Some studies have described a decreasing trend in the prevalence of hepatitis B among young people and an increasing trend among the elderly –22. AfteThis study was conducted in Chongqing, which is located in the southwest of China and is one of the four municipality cities nationwide. We selected the infectious disease department of a teaching hospital affiliated to a medical university to recruit participants. Patients diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B in this department were chosen as participants. An in-depth qualitative investigation was conducted from July 2019 to August 2019.This research included a total of 50 participants through convenience sampling. All interviews were conducted face-to-face by three interviewers between July 2019 and August 2019 . First, the interview team defined the questions in advance. Six aspects were explored for this study, including social-demographic details, ways of HBV detection, test results, signs and symptoms, feelings at the time of diagnosis, and physician orders. In addition, social-demographic information such as gender, age, education, occupation, marital status, place of residence, and carriers in the household was requested. The questions and responses of the participants were then recorded in qualitative research group interviews and the transcripts were then analyzed.Prior to each interview, participants were informed of the study purpose, their rights to withdraw at any time, and the potential risks and benefits of participation in the study. Each interview lasted approximately 30–60 min. Patients’ names were removed to ensure confidentiality. The semi-structured interview was conducted according to the guidelines and regulations from the ethics committee of Chongqing Medical University.The recorded interviews were firstly transcribed into Mandarin, then two researchers read through the transcripts carefully and listed the recurring themes. Then a thematic framework was established based on the themes and the topic guide used in the interviews. Later, all the transcirptions were imported into a document where they were coded line by line according to the thematic framework. The coded segments under each theme were then summarised and synthesised into an organised chart. Finally, the illustrative quotes selected for the results were first translated into English and then back-translated to Chinese by two researchers independently to assure the quality of translation and consistency.A total of 50 participants diagnosed with hepatitis B were enrolled in this study. Table As shown in Table “I went to check the hepatitis B antibody in May 2018. I had never done physical examination before. I found that I was infected with hepatitis B virus in my first physical examination. “ . A new patient reported that “half a year ago, I was found to have hepatitis B in the hospital of Dazu County. At that time, I felt a little tired, and I didn’t get any other symptoms. “  Other patients described as “in 2012, I was firstly found hepatitis B because of physical examination, now I have been sick for nearly eight years, but physical examination showed no abnormality, no symptoms.”  Another patient mentioned that ‘It was discovered in the physical examination in 1994 or 1993. It has been more than twenty years. I have no symptoms and I do not care about the infection.” .In 2004, companies focusing on enterprise health management began to appear on the market in China. In 2006, companies for personal health management emerged. In 2010, China issued corresponding laws and regulations to advocate regular physical examination. In 2011, a large number of health management companies emerged in the market. According to a respondent who has had a personal physical examination, The Maternal and Child Health Care Law began to be implemented in China, which requires medical and health institutions to provide free and basic prenatal care for all pregnant women in the country. In 2010, free hepatitis B screening was added to prenatal examination, but before that, it was not required. One interviewee who was detected hepatitis B through prenatal examination presented, “I was found a carrier of hepatitis B virus when I was pregnant more than ten years ago. At present, my test indicated that hepatitis B surface antigen is positive and liver function is abnormal.” .In 2001, “when I worked in Guangzhou, I participated the routine physical examination organized by our factory, the HBV test result was normal. But since last year, my transaminase was found elevated.”  Hepatitis B screening was also required for the entrance physical examination of universities in China between 2005 and 2010. As one patient mentioned “I was diagnosed with HBV-positive in the university entrance physical examination.”  The school routine physical examination started in 2007 in China. One patient said “in the first day of my junior high school, we had a physical examination and then knew that the level of my transaminase was relatively high. “ Another patient described “when I was a child in school, I was found as a hepatitis B carrier. My liver function was normal, I needed not to be treated.” .In China, before 2010, HBV test is required in routine physical examination for workers in factory or company and physical examination after being employed. One patient expressed that “After graduation from high school, considering my father was diagnosed hepatitis B, then I went to the hospital to do a test and found that I was also infected with HBV.”  Another patient said“When I was 18 years old ,my mother got hepatitis B, and the doctor suggested that I should also take a HBV test. The doctor did not recommend any medication based on my test results. “ .There were eight patients decided to take a HBV test and found themselves HBV infection after their family members were diagnosed with hepatitis B. Among them, three took the advice on test from a doctor and the remaining five took the advice from their families. One patient said “In 2009, I went to the county hospital for physical examination. Because of the high prevalence of hepatitis B in my village at that time and the fact that many people died from liver cancer, I decided to do a physical examination and finally found that I was sick.”.Seven of the participants went to the hospital to do HBV test after they heard that their neighbors or friends were HBV positive and finally confirmed that they also had HBV infection. A male patient described“In 2004, I felt uncomfortable, and the main manifestation was soft feet. I went to the hospital to do a physical examination and I was told that my liver function was abnormal. “ “I had symptoms and felt uncomfortable. I thought it was problem of my stomach. Then I was diagnosed with hepatitis B.” .Six patients were diagnosed with the HBV infection after they noticed some mild symptoms including fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and weakness. Patients recalled:“my hepatitis B was first identified during a blood test in a hospital because of a cold, and was eventually diagnosed in 2017 when I was in hospital due to cerebral hemorrhage” .A small number of patients were diagnosed with hepatitis B while they were examined for other diseases. One patient said “While donating blood on the local street, I was taken a small amount of blood for pre-examination. Then I was told that I had HBV infection.” Another patient remembered that “while applying a medical certificate of fitness two years ago, I found my liver function abnormal by a blood test. Then I was diagnosed with HBV infection at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.” .Only two patients found out that they had hepatitis B when they donated blood or applied for a medical certificate of fitness. They all described that they were not aware of it when they were infected with HBV. One female patient said“At that time, I felt no discomfort, so I didn’t feel bad.” The early symptoms they referred mainly include nausea, decreased sleep quality, fatigue and indigestion. Before diagnosis, patients had no or few symptoms similar to those of other diseases, so hepatitis B can be easily overlooked. Years later, if for many reasons, the patients failed to take liver function tests to detect the possible pathologic changes, some patients may suffer permanent liver damage. Patients recollected“At that time, there was no physical discomfort, so I didn’t feel anything. Later, hepatitis B was detected.” “Two years ago, I had a bad stomach and slept poorly. Since I lived in a rural area at the time, I didn’t go for check-ups nor pay any attention to these diseases. It didn’t feel like it mattered physically, I only had poor digestion and my stomach was swollen.”.Many participants reported that they had no obvious symptoms related to hepatitis B before diagnosis. One participant said at that time I didn’t know about the disease, I didn’t feel anything, and the doctor said it was nothing serious”.  “At that time, I did not know what hepatitis B was. I thought it was a minor disease, and I had no understanding about hepatitis B for many years.” “I felt nothing. I do not feel any physical discomfort, so I did not pay any attention to it.”.When patients were diagnosed with hepatitis B, they had two different kinds of feeling. Ten participants expressed their feelings very clearly in the interview. The three of them did not present any negative emotion towards the disease. As they explained, in the early stage of hepatitis B, they had no obvious symptoms and their lives were not affected, hence they could live and work as before. One participant described, “when I was found to have cirrhosis, I was getting scaled because one day it may become liver cancer. After all, I was still young, and my child had just started working.” However, for most of the patients, if their diseases were not very serious, they could accept the fact day by day. One patient recalled “at that time, I was really depressed when I was found out to have hepatitis B because I searched online and found out that hepatitis B cannot be cured, and this made me scared. I was very afraid of it. But now I’m very optimistic and I’m willing to talk to someone about it.”.Most of the patients talked about their anxiety, fear and depression due to the diseases. Patients experienced these feelings after they learned through the Internet and other means that hepatitis B is currently incurable. Besides, they were worried that the disease would be spread to their families especially their children. One patient said ““at that time, the doctor told me that I was the carrier, it does not matter much, I need not to pay much attention. After the treatment started, the doctor ordered that I should pay attention to my diet. Do not eat cold or hard food, oily things, or things that are bad for my liver.”YA 01, Another patient also got this advice “In our daily life, we should not eat stimulating food, cold food, hard food or fat food.” Many patients could recall doctors’ suggestion on taking a good rest very clearly. As one patient mentioned “the doctor told me we should live a regular life, take a good rest and do not engage in excessive physical activities.” Another participant also reported “the doctor asked me to take more rest, but should not drink nor stay up late, we should sleep well.” Very few patients could remember the doctors’ advice on regular check-ups. One patient pointed out this “the doctor said I should take medical check-ups every six months.”.Doctors provided different advices to patients acorrding to stage of the disease. For patients who had no symptoms and their laboratory test indicated no liver damage, they were asked to take healthy food, have a good rest, and check their liver function per six months. Patients who needed treatment were requested to take medication on time and have regular medical check-ups to prevent from liver cancer. Interestingly, most patients were able to remember their doctor’s instructions about healthy diet or good rest, but they were not impressed by the doctor’s reminder of regular follow-up and liver function test. Dietary advice included less oil and salt, avoiding cold, hard, fried foods and drinking alcohol. As one interviewee said,Although hepatitis B is a common disease in China and almost all individuals can afford to be screened, this study indicated that most cases were passively screened. Thus the low detection rate of HBV infection is not surprising , 24. PriOur study found that more than half of hepatitis B patients have carriers in their homes. Some studies have also found that hepatitis B is significantly heritable in families , 28. ThiAfter the diagnosis of hepatitis B, it is also extremely important for doctors to remind patients to follow up for regular checkups. The research findings mainly include two aspects. On the one hand, hepatitis B patients were not impressed by their doctors’ advice about regular follow-up visits; what impressed them was their doctors’ advice about lifestyle and diet. On the other hand, many ignorant patients fail to adhere to regular follow-up for a long time, resulting in further deterioration of their disease . ConsequAnother finding that should not be ignored is that the vast majority of patients are in a negative mood after diagnosis. The main reason is that the patients do not understand their disease and are not aware of hepatitis B. This requires clinicians to explain patiently to patients after diagnosis and to try to eliminate the impact of negative emotions on the patient’s follow-up , which wThis study suggests that the patients’ lack of understanding about hepatitis B, the insufficient knowledge provided to hepatitis B patients at the time of diagnosis, and the failor of regular follow-up physical check-ups could lead to disease progression in the southwest of China.Our findings suggest that there is a considerable gap between the early detection and timely treatment of hepatitis B and the current detection process of hepatitis B patients. There are a large number of problems and barriers in this setting, including inactive physical examinations and family carriers who are not actively prevented and treated, and insufficient impact of patients on follow-up and review, limiting the prevention and control of hepatitis B. Therefore, interventions are needed to improve the rate of detection of HBV infection. In addition, a focus should be placed on a family-based diagnostic model to focus on their condition as early as possible and to control further progression of the disease. Our findings also suggest that the training of health care workers should emphasize the importance of regular follow-up of hepatitis B and health education for the public.


Project Bridge, as a new, contextualized positive education program, is designed to enhance university students’ character strengths and moral development, resulting in the promotion of their psychological wellbeing. Taking into account the differences between Western and Chinese cultures, the project integrated both Western and Asian concepts and values in the delivery of university education that would likely bring about optimal outcomes. In the evaluation, mixed methods were applied to demonstrate the outcomes of this newly developed positive education program. Pre- and post-test, as well as reflective writing, were adopted to measure the outcomes. Both quantitative and qualitative results demonstrated satisfying outcomes. Implications and future developments are discussed in the conclusion. The rapid rise of positive psychology has further expanded to school interventions by emphasizing strength enhancement and development for healthier subjective wellbeing, wellbeing, and happier living . The intAgainst this backdrop, a new, contextualized positive education program, Project Bridge, is designed to promote students’ psychological wellbeing by enhancing their character strengths and moral development. In this program, traditional Chinese virtues and moral values have been integrated into the educational framework in order to fit with the developmental needs of students in Hong Kong. Due to the scarcity of evaluation of such contextualized positive education programs, this study seeks to fill the gap by investigating the project’s outcomes, and generating corresponding insights. In the following, the framework of Project Bridge will be illustrated in the light of positive education and its implications when being applied in the Chinese culture.Positive education is an educational approach characterized by “the application of positive psychology to educational settings”  p. 92).2.9]   (p. 300)Despite the benefits of positive education, some criticisms have arisen. Positive psychology, which grounds the development of positive education, is scrutinized for over-emphasizing individual hedonic pleasure, and “exclusively” promoting “a particular personality type: a cheerful, outgoing, goal-driven, status-seeking extrovert”, which turns out to be “shallow”  p. 88) 8 8] .The different cultures in the Western and Chinese contexts, in turn, constitute differences in morality. Although “all moral codes encompass personal rights, personal duties, and social goals” ,27, the In contrast, in the Chinese context, morality is based on “maintaining social order”, in which “role relationships within one’s primary group are especially unchangeable through one’s own efforts”  p. 808)088].In summary, Western-based positive education has to bear in mind the cultural differences when applying it to Chinese contexts because the Western and Chinese cultures uphold conflicting sets of values and moral codes. This constitutes a different understanding of wellbeing between the two contexts. In terms of the development of self, whereas individual hedonistic happiness and competence development  are valued in Western cultures as ways to achieve wellbeing (self-esteem and life satisfaction), virtues and character strengths based on individual obligations  and social harmony  are more valued in Chinese cultures ,8. In teGiven the benefits of positive education for students, and the consideration of Chinese cultures, Project Bridge was implemented in a university in Hong Kong to offer positive education for university students. Project Bridge is a positive education program that aims to build and enhance students’ character, ethics, and morality. To achieve this aim, the positive education framework incorporated the Chinese values and virtues of “xiu shen, qi jia, zhi guo, ping tian xia” , translating into English as: “the ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated themselves”  (p. 5); Hence, six domains of self-development are encompassed in this project: (1) cultivating self (修心); (2) harmonizing the family (齊家); 3) advocating group spirit (樂群); (4) committing to professionalism (敬業); (5) caring for society (關社); and (6) exploring the world (看天下) see . These s advocatiTo achieve the expected educational outcomes, the following theoretical concepts were included, with the use of a wide range of educational tools, including lectures, classroom activities, group discussions, and online learning platforms, to implement the education see .Theories of self: The understanding of self comprises both the personal level—i.e., one’s overall perception of oneself in terms of competence and other attributes —and the Social systems theory: The relationship between self and society can be illustrated by social systems theory ,42. SociThe ABC model of rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT) and task-centered approach: Apart from the above, two action approaches in daily social interactions were taught. Firstly, the ABC concepts of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) are introduced. REBT is a therapy aimed at helping individuals change their irrational beliefs to reduce their negative emotions, and enhance their sense of wellbeing . Ellis  developeKohlberg’s stages of moral development: Kohlberg  put forwIn sum, the above theories aim to help enhance students’ understanding of self in different dimensions, as well as the understanding of self in relation to society. As students understand how their sense of self is formed, they will be able to recognize their inner strengths and resources on a deeper level and from a broader perspective, without being influenced simply by how other people in society see them. As such, they are able to achieve a balanced self and all-round wellbeing, recognizing their own abilities while being able to handle their relationships with society, and cope with various challenges in life. Also, it is expected that they will become socially responsible persons and communicants who have good will, and show ethics of care and moral conscience for others in society.Thirteen lectures were arranged for students in each semester to enhance their ethical and philosophical thinking and promote character education for youths in tertiary education. The first three lectures cover the theories of self and social systems theory to acquire basic knowledge about youth studies, revealing their individual self and social self for later discussions in the course. Then, the ABC model and task-centered approach will be taught to uncover the impacts of irrational beliefs on various social contexts, resulting in a better balance between social self and individual self. After the theoretical knowledge, real-life youth issues in contemporary society, such as LGBT+, cybercrimes, bullying, drugs, conflict management, slash youth, and positive youth development, are discussed to connect the social issues with the learned theories, contextualizing the former learnings with various settings. Particularly, Chinese moral values are merged into the curriculum through discussion and demonstration in lectures. Examples used in the lectures were updated from time to time to match with the social situation that students were experiencing.Besides, students are engaged in discussions and debates after each lecture to connect their learning with current issues related to youth development in the local and global contexts. Through reviewing different perspectives among group members, students can deepen their understanding, and integrate their experience with concepts learnt in the lectures. They have to collaborate and build upon each other’s opinions to reach a consensus. In this process, effective communication and interpretation skills are required to produce the final outcome of their discussion, giving rise to reciprocal interactions among students.Apart from the lectures and in-class activities, tutors will arrange individual consultation sessions to help students develop a deep view of youth issues, and help them reach an appropriate academic standard throughout the preparation of course assignments. The interaction between instructors and students is meaningful to clarify theoretical understandings, enhance learning outcomes, and transmit positive values throughout the preparation of, and consultations on, assignments. Due to the scarcity of evaluation of contextualized positive education programs in Chinese contexts, this study aims to investigate the outcomes of Project Bridge, a university course, in terms of students’ self-development and development of social relationships. It is expected that corresponding insights for implementing positive education in Chinese contexts will be generated.Since the project is operated as a university course, all students enrolled in the course are eligible for participating in the evaluation on a voluntary basis. Purposive sampling method is adopted.Questionnaires with a pre-test and post-test design were administered to students to measure if there were any significant changes in students’ self and the three practices, as shown in The following items and scales were included in the questionnaire.Students’ demographic backgrounds were sought, including gender, age, academic program studied, and monthly household income.(1)Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale . This te(2)Moral Development Scale for Professionals (MDSP) . This 12(3)Collective Self-Esteem Scale (CSES) . This 12(4)Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS) . This 48(1)Personal–Social Development Self-Efficacy Inventory . A total(2)Empowerment Scale . This 28(1)Personal Responsibility Scale for Adolescents . This 23(1)Openness to Diversity Scale . This 12The pre- and post-test data were inputted to SPSS 26 to conduct paired t-tests to examine whether students had experienced significant changes in relevant aspects. The project framework comprises six domains and three practices . Given tAccording to Fullana and colleagues , reflectQualitative analysis of the reflective content from students can further complement the quantitative data to produce a more comprehensive picture of the learning outcomes by offering detailed explanations in each domain. Hence, the experiences and knowledge that the students have acquired and enhanced by attending the project are revealed.The reflective contents were coded according to the six domains shown in Although many students mentioned the keywords, and made some reflections on the domains, only in-depth reflections were counted to ensure that the content reflected the growth of students. Hence, the context of reflection was assessed to check the depth. Reflections that contained solely descriptive and repetitive content of the knowledge, theory, or course materials were excluded. Some students also demonstrated their development in the framework domains by reflecting on their past experiences before attending this course , but these reflections were excluded. Meanwhile, if one student made multiple comments in one domain, all quotations were extracted for qualitative analysis, but the student was only counted as one participant in the results to illustrate the number of students inspired in each domain. Project Bridge reached 950 undergraduate students throughout its implementation across four semesters at City University of Hong Kong . The majCronbach’s alpha for each scale varied between 0.63 and 0.968, which were acceptable . Given tThe data were analyzed with paired t-tests that compared the scores before and after the students attended the project. We found significant changes in all evaluation items: students’ self-esteem, personal–social development, self-efficacy, empowerment, collective self-esteem, emotional maturity, personal responsibility, openness to diversity, and moral development. The results demonstrated a satisfactory outcome for Project Bridge, especially its effectiveness in strengthening self-reliance, bearing responsibility, and appreciating diversity see . In partTo conclude, Project Bridge demonstrated a satisfying outcome. Students’ self-concept and image, morality, and character strengths were significantly enhanced, as reflected through the three practices of being self-reliant, bearing responsibility, and appreciating diversity. Hence, Project Bridge has undoubtedly achieved the intended student learning outcomes, implying the potential of merging Western and Chinese concepts in positive education.Consequently, the qualitative results confirmed the project design, which began with the first domain: cultivating the students’ self, and then continuing to develop the other five domains. Undoubtedly, most students reflected on their cultivation of self, and demonstrated enhanced self-understanding. The other five domains were also demonstrated in a sufficient number of reflections, illustrating students’ development . Hence, Overall, most students made in-depth reflections on cultivating the self after attending the course. Caring for society and advocating group spirit were the second and third leading domains. Next, the domains of committing to professionalism and harmonizing the family ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. Exploring the world was consistently low across the semesters. Explanations in each domain are discussed further below.For the cultivation of self, most of the students could identify their irrational beliefs after learning the ABC model, which facilitated better self-understanding to deal with irrational beliefs and negative emotions.“I could deal with the negative feelings and no longer treat myself as a ‘loser’.”“Identifying my irrational beliefs behind the response is the first step for self-change. … Thus, I can think clearly and respond appropriately to the event.”“I realized that I should not let all my negative thoughts dominate my mind. After knowing this concept, I feel better about myself, and I start not blaming myself when facing problems during the day.”By taking an alternative perspective, students built a better and fairer judgment of themselves, and thus, understood the two sides of the coin. This improvement allowed them to be more confident in developing self-reliance, and exploring new potential. With the cultivation of self, students were thus able to react more fairly and objectively when interacting with others. “I plan to actively participate in more co-curricular activities in the future to expand my social network and explore my potential. I hope this will allow me to understand my strengths and weaknesses better and particularly enable me to embrace my flaws and imperfections.”“It is impossible to fully understand ‘who I am’ and ‘what is self’ by relying on individuals. Sometimes communicating with others is a good way to know your self.”Hence, through the cultivation of self, they can better understand not only themselves, but also others, resulting in enhancement in other domains.“This course has helped me broaden my perspective on other people and myself…It made me reflect a lot on choices that I have made or my family made for me.”“To a friend who has gone through that developmental journey, it is beneficial that we express our care and concern, empathy, and regard him positively.”The reflections confirm that the project design that presumes better self-understanding can generate positive influences in other domains. Regarding caring for society, two guest lecturers were invited to share the issues of LGBT+ and refugees. In the summer term 2019/2020, a transgender person shared his personal experiences, struggles, and public attitudes toward this population. This real story inspired lots of students to obtain a deeper understanding of this specific social issue.“I realized that transgender people face many challenges in their family relationships, friendships, or even in their daily lives.”“I learned more about transgender and how they think they are … They must suffer from pain and take risks to have such major surgery.”On the other hand, a guest lecturer highlighted refugee issues in Hong Kong in Semester A 2020/2021. The guest lecturer caught a lot of our students’ attention by illustrating the reasons for becoming a refugee, social policy, and the lived hardships. “In the past, I seldom glanced at the issue of refugees in Hong Kong as it is not close to my personal interest.”“Before attending the class, I would describe myself as a discriminator against those refugees.”“Living with a legal identity seems like an ordinary thing to us, but it is hard to imagine there is still a group of people who live in Hong Kong without an identity card.”In the reflections, students indicated a vast contrast in their understanding of this social issue and population before and after the lecture; hence, more reflections were triggered regarding their care for society. The project also covered other social issues, such as youth suicide, bullying, drug abuse, mental health, discrimination, and NEET , so the scope and range of students’ reflections were expanded.Peers are a critical source of influence and relationships during adolescence, even outweighing familial and parental influences . Accordi“I also know how to take the initiative, give opinions, dare to communicate with others.”“The lecture reminds me not to have a self-serving bias and to be more considerate. … I would consider other people’s thoughts more.”“We all need to consider each other as humans and that even the slightest thing can harm someone’s mental health. We all need to respect differences with an open mind… We all need to be more empathetic so that things can get better in life.”With the above characteristics, students are capable of ensuring smooth and effective group interactions with others in any environment. Moreover, most students gained an understanding of the issue of bullying, since they had experienced or witnessed traumatic bullying experiences in secondary school. In-depth reflections on bullying were cultivated during the lecture on the subject. Some of the students were somehow trapped by their past.“What I regret most is when I know my friend became depressed after being bullied, I did not give her any consolation, and I just ignored her feelings.”Reflective writing allowed students to alleviate past pain, which can be regarded as a self-healing process . Further“I was a victim of cyberbullying … What I would do is to be objective and try to respond with rational beliefs … It is not that terrible because I’ve got close friends and family who love me and support me all the time.”Hence, they can move on and overcome the negative influences in the past to develop self-reliance and healthy relationships with others. Development in advocating group spirit also benefits other domains, including harmonizing family, committing to professionalism, caring for society, and exploring the world.“I understand the importance of connection in all relationships. I should be more able to share my feelings with my parents and listen to their perspectives rather than refusing to speak up.”“Maybe we will have conflicts with our colleagues or supervisors, arguing from our different positions in a job. If we can settle them rationally, the arguments will bring about a positive result, career satisfaction, or stable relationships with each other.”“We have to respect and accept the truth that everyone is unique, and we should embrace the differences in our society.”Group spirit is not restricted to peers, as students can use the learning in their interactions with family members, work colleagues, and members of society. Entering the labor market is the next stage of life for undergraduate students. Committing to professionalism also urged them to think deeply about their future career and life. Some students developed a higher commitment to their future profession. They believed that this course provided meaningful tools, knowledge, and attitudes for them to tackle future challenges in the workplace.“The task-centered approach is a good way for me to tackle problems. After learning this approach from class, it is easier for me to solve problems when facing them at university and in my career.”“I felt extremely bad before attending the course, as I could not tolerate being unemployed and having nothing to do after graduation. However, the introduction of the ABC model made me reconsider my interpretation of this situation. I started to generate a new interpretation that it does not greatly matter whether I can find a job immediately after graduation, and I can use the free time to learn some new stuff and equip myself further.”“I think the current difficulties I face can enhance my resilience, and some low-paid jobs can also cultivate my work skills, increase my competitiveness in the job market, and help me find high-tech jobs in the future … Regardless of job title or status, I should treat my job with respect and rigor, try my best to complete my work, and improve my vocational skills.”Apart from that, it is probable that due to the relevance of the content, students who wanted to be professional educators deepened their career orientation.“I aspire to be a teacher, and all the theory and knowledge in this course equipped me to understand how I can better support my students in the future.”“In the future, to prepare me to become a teacher, my goal is to enhance my character strengths, in which the wisdom and knowledge, self-discipline, and humanity that I learned in this course are especially important.”The students became more dedicated to their study major, and intended to use the learning outcomes of this course to help their future careers. With reference to the reflections, students were often bounded by the social expectations of finding a high-paid job without considering their own interests and abilities. “We are told by society what is best, like getting into a university, getting a well-paid job, and buying a flat. Profession and money are closely linked. We may have neglected our dreams that might be perceived as cheap or unrealistic, like being an athlete or an actor.”Through attending the course, students were given an opportunity to rethink and listen to their authentic voices to clarify their future career path, rather than blindly following others’ voices. “I believe every individual should have their own definition; they do not need to blindly follow what the general public believes to be good. … I follow my own interest in studying linguistics and want to be a teacher after graduation. Therefore, there is always more than one path to take.”“I understand other people’s perceptions of me constitute a great part of my self … However, I am more aware of the phase ‘I’ now … I really want to pursue my dream job as a freelance photographer. The choice between a stable job and a dream job is hard to make. I believe we should try to strike a balance between what we want and what others want us to do.”Other people’s expectations of our students forbid them from chasing their ideal profession, resulting in the suppression of their career orientation. Building better self-understanding facilitates students to value their thoughts and autonomy, and voice their desired future.Family conflicts commonly happen during adolescence, as this developmental stage is a time of irrationality, moodiness, and turbulence . Misunde“In the past, I chose to argue with my parents. I was very stubborn and stuck to my view, which might have worsened the relationship between my parents and me.”“As an adolescent during high school age, I always interpreted my parents’ behavior as purposefully and intentionally forcing their children, including me, to comply with their demands.”“As the youngest family member, I often have value conflicts with my mother. We try to challenge each other’s thoughts and values since neither wants to lose the battle.”In this program, students acquired the ability to recognize the efforts made by their parents instead of blaming them without a second thought. “The attribution theory explains why my parents have irrational thoughts, so I can explain it to let them understand they should not have these thoughts. Also, this theory reminds me that I should not judge a person in a specific situation, and I should admit my faults when I am truly doing wrong.”“I understand that it is essential to listen to and respect others’ opinions. Therefore, I have started to listen to my parents’ words. One day, I asked my parents how they viewed some social issues, exchanging our views. I would also let my parents know my feelings and thoughts.”By taking the perspective of family members, students were more patient, and tried to listen to their parents, and explain some issues to them, resulting in an enhanced mutual understanding that can help create a harmonized family environment. In addition, the family is harmonized by developing more empathy for parents and younger siblings. By advocating the strength perspective and a humanistic approach, students understood that it is crucial to be genuine and to actively listen, understand, and accept others.“Undeniably, the way my parents treated me with destructive language and physical abuse did cause childhood trauma. Yet, most importantly, I am now able to address these as challenges, motivations, and chances for change.”“Sometimes, I get angry with my younger brother and shout at him because he always bothers me when I am studying. After self-reflection with the use of the ABC model, I think although I don’t like it, actually, I can endure it and take it as a chance to have a short break from my study. Then I will no longer shout at him because of this, and it will make both him and me happier.”Projecting these learning outcomes to family issues, students have acquired the capacity to facilitate positive and constructive family communication. Beyond that, some students indicated the sustainability of their learning, as they can utilize their knowledge to develop a supportive and warm family environment for their siblings and even future children.“I understand that we, humans, need unconditional love and acceptance to unearth our deepest potential; otherwise, it will lead to mental health problems or the thought that ‘I am worthless’. When I have a child, I need to remind myself to love and accept my child unconditionally, even if he or she fails to meet my expectations.”“I hope that my issues will be improved in the near future. I have a little brother who is nine years old. I would use the knowledge learned in this course to guide him toward better development.”Some reflections in this domain were contributed by overseas students, who were more conscious of cultural differences, and able to make a worldwide comparison. “I am Burundian … The course covered how cultures can affect youth development, and it allowed me to realize that it is normal for my experience to be different from others.”“I am a Korean student who has experience studying in both my own and an overseas country. As the Korean education system typically demands a considerable amount of internet use, cyberbullying is common … From the lecture, I understand bullying in cyberspace has exceeded the rate of physical harassment in Korea and Hong Kong.”With their learning experiences in Hong Kong, students spontaneously reflected on the differences between the two places, and compared them to expand their understanding, and destroy myths. For the local students, the course also motivated them to reflect and gain a more profound and expanded view of the world.“In the past, I just thought young people were the same everywhere when we were teens; the younger generations in different countries of the world are the same. But now I understand that is not true.”“Interestingly, the course offers a glimpse of adolescents’ issues that were entirely new to me … we should develop a broad-minded analysis in handling various social phenomena locally and globally.”It is understandable that students reflect relatively less on exploring the world than in other domains, since it is hard to reflect on the world while situated within a classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic has limited students’ travel. However, this issue was re-examined in the individual essay, in which students were required to analyze youth issues worldwide from an academic perspective. This practice helped students to explore the world in an alternative way. Moreover, reflections on exploring the world were commonly linked to an appreciation of social diversity, which the quantitative results prove exists among students.Project Bridge is an innovative curriculum in the form of a positive education program that combines traditional Chinese virtues with Western theories with the purpose of building, enhancing, and promoting character and moral strengths. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data, we can confidently confirm its effectiveness in achieving this objective. The significant increases in self-reliance, responsibility bearing, and diversity appreciation are proven. As reflected in the qualitative data, there are certain degrees of enhancement in the six domains of the development journey. Students demonstrated significant growth in self-understanding of their development in the six character strength domains , which are aligned with positive education’s aim of nurturing individuals’ intrapersonal and interpersonal wellbeing ,9. StudeOn the other hand, students showed an understanding that the self is influenced by various social systems ,42. TheyHigher education is important in facilitating students’ personal and professional development so that they can apply their knowledge and skills learnt in universities to manage their work and daily lives . The posIn view of the positive outcomes of Project Bridge, this project can be extended in the future to secondary schools to promote the wellbeing of students in a broader manner. According to a meta-analysis conducted by Quinlan, Swain, and Vella-Brodrick , embraci


Adaptive cognitive-control involves a hierarchical cortico-striatal gating system that supports selective updating, maintenance, and retrieval of useful cognitive and motor information. Here, we developed a task that independently manipulates selective gating operations into working-memory (input gating), from working-memory (output gating), and of responses (motor gating) and tested the neural dynamics and computational principles that support them. Increases in gating demands, captured by gate switches, were expressed by distinct EEG correlates at each gating level that evolved dynamically in partially overlapping time windows. Further, categorical representations of specific maintained items and of motor responses could be decoded from EEG when the corresponding gate was switching, thereby linking gating operations to prioritization. Finally, gate switching at all levels was related to increases in the motor decision threshold as quantified by the drift diffusion model. Together these results support the notion that cognitive gating operations scaffold on top of mechanisms involved in motor gating. How do humans decide which information is relevant to attend to in memory, which cognitive operation to take, and when? Flexibly updating, maintenance and retrieval of relevant information from working memory (WM) are thought to be managed by gating computations in the frontostriatal network, supporting higher order learning and cognitive flexibility. Using the reference-back-2 task, we tested the key properties of gating. Namely that they are selective (“content-addressable”) and that principles of cognitive “actions”  are scaffold on top of the motor gating operations. Using trial-by-trial EEG indexing and quantitative computational modeling  we showed that action selection at all three levels of gating have separable neural signatures but they operate partly in parallel, such that decisions about a response are processed to some degree even while the identity of the cognitive rule were uncertain. Furthermore, we showed analogous computations across levels of gating as selection of WM representation and of motor action lead to increase in the estimated decision threshold and to enhanced neural coding of the selected information thereby providing a novel link between WM gating and WM prioritization. Optimal flexible behavior requires an agent to not only respond to incoming sensory events but to adaptively adjust action selection based on context, including previous events in memory . Moreoveinput gating, whereby BG can control access to stored information in PFC, and output gating, whereby other BG circuits can control which among several maintained WM items should influence motor decisions . Moreover, PBWM extensions further assume that frontostriatal gating processes operate across a spectrum of abstract actions ranging from action plans in premotor cortex (PMC) to context-relevant cognitive information (like rules and task sets) in more anterior PFC )Notably, these threshold effects were obtained even though drift rate was also allowed to vary by condition see . In the A key property of the cortico-striatal model that gained support by current findings is that higher order cognitive “actions” (input and output gating operations) scaffold on top of the canonical computational motor gating operations. Indeed, striatal dysfunctions such as in Parkinson’s disease causes not only progressive motor degeneration but also cognitive deficits that are both related to the dysfunction of the gating system . More reLastly, our study has various limitations. First and foremost, while the EEG method allowed us to assess the temporal dynamics of gating signals and representation decoding, it does not afford the ability to assess the involvement of corticostriatal circuits specifically. Functional imaging studies have implicated striatum in input gating in the reference back task , and outSecond, with the aim to increase our understanding of the latent cognitive processes that give rise to the full behavior in the reference-back-2 task and not just the mean RT and error rate, we leveraged the HDDM framework. However, it is likely that the decision process engaged during working memory gating diverges from that assumed by the standard DDM, and other models should be considered in future work (including those with time-varying drift rates and/or boundaries). Such models are difficult to estimate, but recent tools open the door for such investigations . MoreoveAll participants were compensated for their participation and gave written informed consent as approved by the Human Research Protection Office of Brown University under protocol 0901992629, “Learning and Decision Making Genetics and EEG”https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.00000002t )a, drift rate v, and non-decision time t. Threshold is the distance between the response boundaries, where higher threshold indicates that more evidence needs to be accumulated before committing to a choice, leading to slower but more accurate responses. Conflict or switching in motor responses leads to elevated decision thresholds  A letter containing a detailed list of your responses to the review comments and a description of the changes you have made in the manuscript. Please note while forming your response, if your article is accepted, you may have the opportunity to make the peer review history publicly available. The record will include editor decision letters (with reviews) and your responses to reviewer comments. If eligible, we will contact you to opt in or out.[2] Two versions of the revised manuscript: one with either highlights or tracked changes denoting where the text has been changed; the other a clean version (uploaded as the manuscript file).Important additional instructions are given below your reviewer comments.Please prepare and submit your revised manuscript within 60 days. If you anticipate any delay, please let us know the expected resubmission date by replying to this email. Please note that revised manuscripts received after the 60-day due date may require evaluation and peer review similar to newly submitted manuscripts.Thank you again for your submission. We hope that our editorial process has been constructive so far, and we welcome your feedback at any time. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments.Sincerely,Daniel BushAssociate EditorPLOS Computational BiologySamuel GershmanDeputy EditorPLOS Computational Biology***********************Reviewer's Responses to QuestionsComments to the Authors:Reviewer #1: “Analogous computations in working memory input, output and motor gating: Electrophysiological and computational modeling evidence,” Rac-Lubashevsky and Frank. This is an interesting and carefully carried out EEG study of the “reference-back-2” working memory task that uses quantitative fits to the PBWM model to derive EEG correlates of gating operations specified by PBWM. This work makes a potentially very impactful contribution to the study of the neural bases of cognitive control because, as the authors state in the Introduction, “to date the gating WM literature and the WM prioritization literatures have not been linked.” Indeed, this statement could have been lifted from a grant proposal submitted by this reviewer just two months ago. My overall assessment is that I’m very enthusiastic about this work. However, there are several points where the exposition could be clearer, and some where the authors might consider making contact with other literature.Overall, the paper would be easier to read if the Introduction were more coherent with the rest of the manuscript. For example, there are several constructs and/or distinctive empirical patterns that pop up in the Results section that relate to ideas introduced in the Introduction, but for which different words are used. For example, in the Intro we read that “switches give rise to a transient period of conflict;” but only in the Results are we told why: “In PBWM, gating signals are used to displace prefrontal activity states with new information.” This same section of the results introduces the importance of under-additive interactions, and these are illustrated in Figure 3. Only further along in this section is it explicitly stated that hierarchical gating processes that “evolve partly in parallel lead to under-additive interactions.” This is an important pattern in the data that returns several times, and its significance really should have been introduced in the portion of the Introduction that introduces the architecture of the PBWM. Additionally, the at-face-value contradiction of a hierarchically organized set of operations and “partly” parallel engagement needs to be explained more explicitly. E.g., even later we will encounter HDDM modeling of gating operations; is it perhaps possible that there is leakage from the decision that’s underway at, say, the input gating level that gets the output gating operation started before input gating is finished? Whether or not this is true, there are presumably quantifiable dynamics in PBWM that would provide a more rigorous level of understanding than just the verbal statement that some of these processes can be “partly” parallel. It strikes me as backward to say that “WM prioritization is thought to support ‘controlled attention’ by enhanding top-down influence…” Isn’t WM prioritization itself an example of controlled attention?Is “BG gating” (p. 9) different from “gating”?Contact with other literature. I’m hesitant to write this, because the authors already do a good job of citing a lot of the relevant literature, but there are some additional areas where contact can be made with work that one doesn’t necessarily classify as “PLoS Computational Biology”. The first is that the reference-back-2 is reminiscent of the “Garavan task,” a running span task that Hugh Garavan published back in the 90s(?) that, for a while at least, captured a lot of interest in the cognitive psychology of cognitive control. A second oldie is Marcia Johnson’s MEM, particularly the ‘refresh’ operation in relation to the increased decodability described here. Indeed, one of the things that so appealing about models like PBWM is that they posit explicit quantifiable mechanisms that can either ‘confirm’ and elaborate on older verbal models (as may be the case here with ‘refresh’), or, in other cases, provide better accounts. More recently than MEM, studies of retrocuing effects in working memory, some of them already cited, are germane. One question I’m thinking about came up in a finding of ‘enhanced decodability’ that Sprague and Serences interpreted as evidence for reactivation of ‘activity-silent’ components of a stimulus representation, but that others argued might just be akin to the sharpening one can see in bump attractor models when more energy is added. Do the present findings shed light on this, or is there perhaps a ‘future direction’ with this approach that could do so?Finally, thinking about Figure 4, is there a way to relate any of the “gating components” extracted by the model to more classical ERP components, or perhaps to something like frontal midline theta?Other comments- There’s reference to RL in the intro, but no apparent explicit role for RL in the Results. But presumably there are prediction errors associated with many of the operations carried out in performing this task. Even if they’re not explicitly modeled here, some consideration of how they would be incorporated into a more complete simulation would be useful? This is also another chance to make contact with other literature, in that the model that underlies the Olivers and Roelfsema (2020) commentary (which is cited) very explicitly incorporates principles of RL on a trial-by-trial basis.- The comparisons of 2-back vs. reference-back-2 tasks feel forced. For example, on one hand, reference-back-2 could also be thought to require “encoding, inhibition, binding, matching, maintenance, updating and removal,” and on the other hand, these operations derive from intuition, but people have successfully trained 3-layer RNNs to perform n-back tasks, and these models don’t explicitly implement most of these operations.- Relatedly, in the Discussion , the authors claim that the reference-back-2 task can assess prioritization without being contaminated by removal. However, when a certain category is prioritized  and the item needs to be updated (X -> O), the old item still needs to be removed.- Figure colors: The authors tend to use very similar colors in figures which are hard to distinguish. For example, Figure 1 uses light and dark orange, and bar graphs in later figures were colored with slightly different shades of green, blue or orange. Maybe consider using colors with higher contrast.- Figures 5 and 8 have a lot of bar graphs that are difficult to grok.a. All the figures look kind of similar and it is not easy to tell what metrics and what kind of comparisons they are showing without perusing the figure captions and main text. The authors can consider using letter indices  instead of “left corner”, “top” to refer to specific graphs. Consider using titles and sub-titles for columns/rows to refer to groups of figures, e.g., for the 4 RT graphs and the 4 Error Rate graphs.b. Even though in each group there are 4 figures with 4 bars each, upon a closer look, there are only 8 distinct bars , with a lot of redundancy. I understand the authors want to showcase the separate interactions, but maybe they can condense the plots into 1 or 2, or think of a clearer and more concise way to present the data.c. Consider using asterisks and brackets to indicate significant main effects and interactions: right now it’s hard to see what the authors are trying to show us. Also it is not easy to locate the “under-additive interactions” just by looking at the bars. Highlight them in some way.- Figure 5 (page 16):a. Panel a is not clear. It seems to be a cartoon/schematic as we don’t know what the GLM mask is for (category or response). Moreover, the text around the heatmap is too small to decipher, the figure titles are not informative, and the axes are not labeled. And, where is the “red rectangle” that the caption referred to Line 369)?b. In Panel b, it might be better if authors can have a significance bar that indicate time frames with significant differences between switch and repeat conditions. And why the big swaths of white on the bottom row?- Both Figures 6 and 7 show that the HDDM fits the data well. Maybe one figure is sufficient and move the other one to the Supplemental Materials?- Page 20: Line 440 says “drift rate was also allowed to vary by condition” whereas Line 449 says that the decision threshold effect holds “while accounting for impact of difficulty on drift rate.” I thought “accounting for …” means to “hold constant”? Please clarifyWhy is drift rate negative? Does this correspond to a reduction of drift rate? Because drift rate also increases as it goes from high to low (response) level, why is the story mainly about the decision threshold but not about drift rate?- Linking gating and prioritization: seems like looking at the similarity of EEG pattern to the masks that care about the representation (category or response) is a weird way of decoding… The word “decoding” gets used a lot, and often not very precisely. Here, you are not decoding an item’s identity per se, but rather looking at how much the brain signal looks like the pattern that is distinguishing the items?- P. 23, line 509: should it be “than” instead of “then”?Reviewer #2: PCOMPBIOL-D-21-00030Analogous computations in working memory input, output and motor gating:Electrophysiological and computational modeling evidenceBy Rac-Lubashevsky and FrankSUMMARYThis study utilized behavior paradigms, EEG, decoding analyses of EEG signals, and a DDM to evaluate the PBWM  model that posits working memory involves a hierarchy of selective input, output, and response gating operations. They adapted the reference-back task, which had previously been used to study PFC-BG connections related to input gating, to require subjects to track two independent categories over trials, which allowed the experimenters to require input gating while orthogonally manipulating output gating. Univariate analysis of EEG data showed a confirmation of their hypothesis that neural correlates of different gating types evolve dynamically and have similar behavioral effects. They found that motor responses were enhanced following responses switches, and that the decodability of the relevant WM category was enhanced after an ‘output gate switch’. This could result from a change in the “active neural trace” or an increase in the accessibility for “read-out”. Regardless, they argue that the cognitive gating operations are implemented by similar cortico-striatal circuits that have been linked to motor gating operations. The authors then used computational modeling, HDDM , to corroborate their findings. They found that switches at any gating level related to increases in the decision threshold. Finally, the researchers also described the “under-additive” interactions when more than one type of switching was needed. The results suggest that actions selection is at least partially parallel, and that decisions are processed even while the identity of the cognitive rule is uncertain.EVALUATIONThis study is well motivated and addresses and important question about the neural mechanisms of working memory. The reference-back task paradigm is an appropriate choice and well suited for the EEG approach taken. The addition of the DDM modeling allowed them to support and extend their findings. My biggest area of concern is in how the data are presented and how the results are explained . The plots are too cluttered, with insufficiently contrasting colors for different conditions, and without any visual markers of statistical significance for key findings. Also, while the DDM modeling was used to support their findings, its inclusion is not sufficiently justified and should be more clearly motivated.MAJOR CONCERNS1. THEORY EXPLANATION. The description of the PBWM architecture in Figure 1 is quite confusing. There are so many different uses of colored arrows, colored arrow heads, colored letters, yellow squares, etc. It is really challenging to follow and does not serve the authors well in explaining the proposed gating model. This figure should be reconceptualized and more clearly explained to the reader.2. DATA PRESENTATION. The presentation of the data severely limits their interpretability and impact. For example, Figs 3, 6, 7, and 8 present large piles of data that are insufficiently labeled, poorly differentiated by subtle color variations (dark green vs. light green), and poorly organized so that interpreting the results is challenging if not nearly impossible. I cannot emphasize how much the use of “dark green / light green” contrasting colors makes these plots even worse. This comes up often and cannot be overlooked. Many subplots in these figures lack titles or other organizational signposts to help explain the results. The Results section is littered with statistical comparisons and significance results which are not found in the figures referenced. This puts the onus on the reader to “figure things out” which is not acceptable. Also, bar plots are presented without the underling individual data points, and often it is not clear if the error bars shown are STD, SEM, or 95% CI.3. MODEL JUSTIFICATION. The use of the computational model is not sufficiently justified in the paper. It is unclear what value is added by the modeling that was not already found from the EEG results. I believe their *is* value added, but this needs to be spelled out in detail for the reader. In the Introduction, the authors say that the DDM can approximate BG dynamics, which is helpful, but not sufficient motivation for the added complexity (and inherent assumptions) of the model. The indecipherable Figure 8 compounds this issue by obscuring the results of the model. The metrics in this figure are explained in a single line: “We thus assessed whether gate switches at all levels of the WM hierarchy are quantitatively related to adjustments in decision threshold , or whether any such effects could be attributed to alterations in drift rate (thought to reflect increased difficulty and thus slower and less accurate) .” This needs to be fleshed out more, especially for readers who are less familiar with DDMs and how their parameters may correspond to different neural mechanisms. Finally, near the end of the Discussion, the authors note a limitation of the HDDM framework that opens up more questions: “other models should be considered in future work (including those with time-varying drift rates and/or boundaries)”. It is unclear why their current model cannot address these issues.4. WHY THE BG? The only evidence presented that supports the supposition that the BG is involved in the gating mechanisms being targeted here is based on the HDDM model, which itself is built on assumptions. There is no direct evidence in the EEG data of the BG involvement, of course, because of the ‘inverse problem’ and the impossibility of localizing the source of EEG signals. However, there are analytic approximations  for localizing electrical potentials from scalp recordings. Some approach like this should be used attempted to justify the neural circuit claims of the PBWM model. Relying on assumptions of the HDDM model alone to describe the involvement of the BG is insufficient without a significant amount of further explanation and justification.MINOR CONCERNSa. Fig. 5 notes that it contains a “red rectangle” to indicate the sliding window for the similarity index, which is not present. That section of the figure, panel a, is confusing, with impossibly small labels, and overall hard to interpret.b. The concept of “under-additive” interaction should be better explained in the text. This is a concept that may not be self-evident and as a reader I had to spend time try to understand the specific point made in the context of this paper.c. Figs. 6 and 7 could easily be combined into one smaller plot. The display of every level in multiple subplots is unnecessary when the main take away is a lack of difference.d. Fig. 5b is using SEM, not 95% Cis, for error shades, so significance between conditions needs to explicitly marked in the figure, else the errors should be switched to 95% CIs.https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-structure-of-the-Long-Short-Term-Memory-LSTM-neural-network-Reproduced-from-Yan_fig8_334268507.e. Fig. 1 could be improved by following conventions from other model diagrams, such as an LSTM unit: **********Have all data underlying the figures and results presented in the manuscript been provided?PLOS Computational Biologydata availability policy, and numerical data that underlies graphs or summary statistics should be provided in spreadsheet form as supporting information.Large-scale datasets should be made available via a public repository as described in the Reviewer #1: YesReviewer #2: Yes**********what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article  digital diagnostic tool, Data Requirements:http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001908#s5.Please note that, as a condition of publication, PLOS' data policy requires that you make available all data used to draw the conclusions outlined in your manuscript. 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For instructions, please see  19 Mar 2021AttachmentReviewers comments final.docxSubmitted filename: Click here for additional data file. 17 Apr 2021Dear Dr. Rac-Lubashevsky,We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript 'Analogous computations in working memory input, output and motor gating: Electrophysiological and computational modeling evidence' has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Computational Biology.Before your manuscript can be formally accepted you will need to complete some formatting changes, which you will receive in a follow up email. A member of our team will be in touch with a set of requests.Please note that your manuscript will not be scheduled for publication until you have made the required changes, so a swift response is appreciated.IMPORTANT: The editorial review process is now complete. PLOS will only permit corrections to spelling, formatting or significant scientific errors from this point onwards. 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All press must be co-ordinated with PLOS.Thank you again for supporting Open Access publishing; we are looking forward to publishing your work in PLOS Computational Biology. Best regards,Daniel BushAssociate EditorPLOS Computational BiologySamuel GershmanDeputy EditorPLOS Computational Biology***********************************************************Reviewer's Responses to QuestionsComments to the Authors:Reviewer #1: It is interesting and important, but kind of "inside baseball" for the general public.Reviewer #2: The authors have sufficiently addressed our concerns.**********Have all data underlying the figures and results presented in the manuscript been provided?PLOS Computational Biologydata availability policy, and numerical data that underlies graphs or summary statistics should be provided in spreadsheet form as supporting information.Large-scale datasets should be made available via a public repository as described in the Reviewer #1: Yes**********what does this mean?). 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If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data or code —e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.The Reviewer #2: Yes 2 Jun 2021PCOMPBIOL-D-21-00030R1 Analogous computations in working memory input, output and motor gating: Electrophysiological and computational modeling evidenceDear Dr Rac-Lubashevsky,I am pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been formally accepted for publication in PLOS Computational Biology. Your manuscript is now with our production department and you will be notified of the publication date in due course.The corresponding author will soon be receiving a typeset proof for review, to ensure errors have not been introduced during production. Please review the PDF proof of your manuscript carefully, as this is the last chance to correct any errors. Please note that major changes, or those which affect the scientific understanding of the work, will likely cause delays to the publication date of your manuscript. 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