Using Noninvasive Brain Measurement to Explore the Psychological Effects of Computer Malfunctions on Users during Human-Computer Interactions

In today’s technologically driven world, there is a need to better understand the ways that common computer malfunctions affect computer users. These malfunctions may have measurable influences on computer user’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses. An experiment was conducted where participants conducted a series of web search tasks while wearing functional nearinfrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and galvanic skin response sensors. Two computer malfunctions were introduced during the sessions which had the potential to influence correlates of user trust and suspicion. Surveys were given after each session to measure user’s perceived emotional state, cognitive load, and perceived trust. Results suggest that fNIRS can be used to measure the different cognitive and emotional responses associated with computer malfunctions. These cognitive and emotional changes were correlated with users’ self-report levels of suspicion and trust, and they in turn suggest future work that further explores the capability of fNIRS for the measurement of user experience during human-computer interactions

The onus on us? Stage one in developing an i-Trust model for our users.

This article describes a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded project, conducted by a cross-disciplinary team, examining trust in information resources in the web environment employing a literature review and online Delphi study with follow-up community consultation. The project aimed to try to explain how users assess or assert trust in their use of resources in the web environment; to examine how perceptions of trust influence the behavior of information users; and to consider whether ways of asserting trust in information resources could assist the development of information literacy. A trust model was developed from the analysis of the literature and discussed in the consultation. Elements comprising the i-Trust model include external factors, internal factors and user's cognitive state. This article gives a brief overview of the JISC funded project which has now produced the i-Trust model (Pickard et. al. 2010) and focuses on issues of particular relevance for information providers and practitioners

A Cognitive Mind-map Framework to Foster Trust

The explorative mind-map is a dynamic framework, that emerges automatically from the input, it gets. It is unlike a verificative modeling system where existing (human) thoughts are placed and connected together. In this regard, explorative mind-maps change their size continuously, being adaptive with connectionist cells inside; mind-maps process data input incrementally and offer lots of possibilities to interact with the user through an appropriate communication interface. With respect to a cognitive motivated situation like a conversation between partners, mind-maps become interesting as they are able to process stimulating signals whenever they occur. If these signals are close to an own understanding of the world, then the conversational partner becomes automatically more trustful than if the signals do not or less match the own knowledge scheme. In this (position) paper, we therefore motivate explorative mind-maps as a cognitive engine and propose these as a decision support engine to foster trust.Comment: 5 pages, 4 Figures, Extended Version, presented at the 5th International Conference on Natural Computation, 200

Trust and the Decision to Outsource: Affective Responses and Cognitive Processes

Many of the various forms of cooperative strategy that firms are pursuing in today's economy entail the placing of important business functions in the hands of a partner. This paper examines the role of trust in the decision by a producer to place the marketing function in the hands of another entity, namely a cooperative. Although others have studied the effect of what may be termed general trust on inter-organizational relationships, few have examined the antecedents of that trust. We propose a model in which affective responses and cognitive processes are precursors to a sense of general trust, which, in turn, influences the outsourcing decision. These affective responses and cognitive processes have both direct and indirect (mediated) effects on the decision to place an important function in the hands of another entity. Perceptions of partner expertise in the business function at hand and the perceived need for the focal firm to maintain control over that function are also considered in the model. The model is tested in a somewhat novel context: the decision of cotton producers to outsource the marketing of their cotton fiber. Using survey data gathered from the actual decision-maker, and structural equations modeling, we find that the inclusion of affective responses and cognitive processes in our model produces a richer explanation of the outsourcing decision. The differences between the effects of affective responses and cognitive processes have potentially important implications for managers engaged in cooperative strategies and for the scholars who study them.Agribusiness,

The effect of trust on the performance and satisfaction of co-operative members at the 'Zöld-termék’ producer organization

SUMMARY FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS The paper investigates the effect of trust between members and between members and the management in an agricultural marketing co-operative in the Hungarian horticultural sector. More specifically, we looked at how trust affected the performance and satisfaction of members of the co-operative, as well as their intention to remain part of the co-operative. We analyzed the role of trust from two aspects: cognitive and affective. In line with our prior hypothesis, we found differences between cognitive and affective trust in terms of how it affected group cohesion and the level of satisfaction of co-op members. Our results suggest that trust between co-operative members has a positive effect on group cohesion. The trust between members (cognitive and affective together) affects group cohesion to a greater effect than trust between members and management (cognitive and affective together). Affective trust between the members and affective trust between members and the management, when looked at together, has a greater impact on group cohesion than cognitive trust between members plus cognitive trust between members and the management. Our results confirm that group cohesion has a positive effect on the members’ satisfaction. Additionally, affective trust has a greater impact on members’ satisfaction than cognitive trust does. The greater impact of affective trust indicates that currently, the emotional basis of co-operation is stronger than its tangible economic benefits. The management of the Producer Organization (PO) should improve the reliability of the PO and strengthen personal relationships (between members, as well as between members and the management) in order to boost cohesion within the organization. This would increase satisfaction of the members and help retain members. Naturally, the PO has to ensure safe sale and marketing, which is the most important expectation of the members to the OP. -------------------------------- A cikk a tagok közötti, valamint a tagok és menedzsment közötti bizalom hatását vizsgálja egy magyarországi kertészeti ágazatban működÅ‘ mezÅ‘gazdasági marketingszövetkezet példáján. Ezen belül a bizalom szövetkezeti tagok teljesítményére és elégedettségére gyakorolt hatását, valamint a szövetkezetben való maradásban betöltött szerepét vizsgáljuk. Racionális és érzelmi alapúmeg¬közelítésben vizsgáljuk a bizalom szerepét. Összhangban az elÅ‘zetes feltételezésekkel, különbséget találtunk a racionális és érzelmi alapúbizalom csoportkohézióra és a szövetkezeti tagok elégedett¬ségére gyakorolt hatásában. A kapott eredmények azt mutatják, hogy a szövetkezeti tagok közötti bizalom pozitív hatással van a csoportkohézióra. A tagok közötti bizalom (racionális és érzelmi alapú) nagyobb hatással van a csoportkohézióra, mint a tagok és menedzsment közötti bizalom (racionális és érzelmi alapú). A tagok közötti, valamint a tagok és a menedzsment közötti érzelmi alapú bizalom együttesen na¬gyobb hatással van a csoportkohézióra, mint a tagok közötti, valamint a tagok és a menedzsment közötti racionális alapú bizalom. Az eredmények megerÅ‘sítik a csoportkohézió pozitív hatását a tagok elégedettségének megítélésében. Továbbá az érzelmi alapúbizalom gyakorol nagyobb hatást a tagok elégedettségére, szemben a racionális alapúbizalommal. Az érzelmi alapú bizalom nagyobb hatása arra utal, hogy a szövetkezés, együttműködés érzelmi alapjai jelenleg erÅ‘sebbek, mint a szövetkezés kézzel fogható gazdasági eredményei. A TÉSZ veze¬tése a szervezet megbízhatóságának növelésével és a személyes kapcsolatok (tagok közötti, tagok és vezetés közötti) erÅ‘sítésével tudja javítani a szövetkezeten belüli kohéziót, ezáltal a tagok elégedett¬ségérzését, szövetkezetben való maradását. Természetesen a TÉSZ-nek meg kell teremtenie az érté¬kesítés biztonságát, ami a tagok legfontosabb elvárása a TÉSZ-szel szemben.trust, marketing cooperative, horticultural sector, case study, Hungary, bizalom, marketingszövetkezet, kertészeti ágazat, esettanulmány, Magyarország, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Neurosystems: brain rhythms and cognitive processing

Neuronal rhythms are ubiquitous features of brain dynamics, and are highly correlated with cognitive processing. However, the relationship between the physiological mechanisms producing these rhythms and the functions associated with the rhythms remains mysterious. This article investigates the contributions of rhythms to basic cognitive computations (such as filtering signals by coherence and/or frequency) and to major cognitive functions (such as attention and multi-modal coordination). We offer support to the premise that the physiology underlying brain rhythms plays an essential role in how these rhythms facilitate some cognitive operations.098352 - Wellcome Trust; 5R01NS067199 - NINDS NIH HH

Facing Openness with Socio Cognitive Trust and Categories.

Typical solutions for agents assessing trust relies on the circulation of information on the individual level, i.e. reputational images, subjective experiences, statistical analysis, etc. This work presents an alternative approach, inspired to the cognitive heuristics enabling humans to reason at a categorial level. The approach is envisaged as a crucial ability for agents in order to: (1) estimate trustworthiness of unknown trustees based on an ascribed membership to categories; (2) learn a series of emergent relations between trustees observable properties and their effective abilities to fulfill tasks in situated conditions. On such a basis, categorization is provided to recognize signs (Manifesta) through which hidden capabilities (Kripta) can be inferred. Learning is provided to refine reasoning attitudes needed to ascribe tasks to categories. A series of architectures combining categorization abilities, individual experiences and context awareness are evaluated and compared in simulated experiments

Artificial Intelligence and Public Trust

The future is here. With the exploding commercial market for high-powered, cloud-computing AI services provided by the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, the reach of artificial intelligence technologies is virtually unlimited. What does this mean for humans? How will we adapt to a world in which we increasingly find ourselves in economic, creative, and cognitive competition with machines? Will we embrace these new technologies with the same fervor as we embraced televisions and smartphones? Will we trust them? Should we trust them

Social Trust, Cooperation, and Human Capital

The importance of social trust on economic growth has been suggested by many empirical works. This paper formalizes the concept of social trust and studies its formation process in a game theoretic setting. It provides plausible explanations for a wide range of empirical and experimental findings. The main results of the paper are as follows. For utility-maximizing players, cooperation arises in one-period prisoner’s dilemmas if and only if there is social trust. The amount of social trust in a given game is determined by the distribution of players’ cooperative tendency. Cooperative tendency is in essence a component of human capital distinct from cognitive ability. Its investment, however, is typically not efficient because the social returns are always strictly larger than individual returns. This positive investment externality leads to multiple equilibria in social trust formation, but a unique stable equilibrium may also exist. The different effects of legal institutions, information structure and education programs on social trust are also investigatedsocial trust, cooperative tendency, prisoner's dilemma