2,576 research outputs found

    The Impact of User Interface Design on Idea Integration in Electronic Brainstorming: An Attention-Based View

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    This paper introduces an attention-based view of idea integration that underscores the importance of IS user interface design. The assumption is that presenting ideas via user interface plays a key role in enabling and motivating idea integration in electronic brainstorming (EBS), and thus advances productivity. Building upon Cognitive Network Model of Creativity and ability-motivation framework, our attention-based theory focuses on two major attributes of user interface: visibility and prioritization. While visibility enables idea integration via directing attention to a limited set of ideas, prioritization enhances the motivation for idea integration by providing individuals with a relevant and legitimate proxy for value of the shared ideas. The theory developed in this paper is distinct from previous research on EBS in at least two ways: (1) this theory exclusively focuses on idea integration as the desired outcome and studies it in the context of IS user interface; and (2) rather than debating whether or not EBS universally outperforms verbal brainstorming, the proposed theory revisits the links between user interface and idea integration as an attention-intensive process that contributes to EBS productivity. Idea integration by individuals within a group is an essential process for organizational creativity and thus for establishing knowledge-based capabilities. Lack of such integration significantly reduces the value of idea sharing, which has been a predominant focus of the EBS literature in the past. The current theory posits that the ability of electronic brain-storming to outperform nominal or verbal brainstorming depends on its ability to leverage information system (IS) artifact capabilities for enhancing idea integration to create a key pattern of productivity. The developed theory provides a foundation for new approaches to EBS research and design, which use visibility and prioritization, and also identify new user interface features for fostering idea integration. By emphasizing idea integration, designers and managers are provided with practical, cognition-based criteria for choosing interface features, which can improve EBS productivity. This theory also has implications for both the practice and research of knowledge management, especially for the attention-based view of the organization.

    Motivational context for response inhibition influences proactive involvement of attention

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    Motoric inhibition is ingrained in human cognition and implicated in pervasive neurological diseases and disorders. The present electroencephalographic (EEG) study investigated proactive motivational adjustments in attention during response inhibition. We compared go-trial data from a stop-signal task, in which infrequently presented stop-signals required response cancellation without extrinsic incentives ("standard-stop"), to data where a monetary reward was posted on some stop-signals ("rewarded-stop"). A novel EEG analysis was used to directly model the covariation between response time and the attention-related N1 component. A positive relationship between response time and N1 amplitudes was found in the standard-stop context, but not in the rewarded-stop context. Simultaneously, average go-trial N1 amplitudes were larger in the rewarded-stop context. This suggests that down-regulation of go-signal-directed attention is dynamically adjusted in the standard-stop trials, but is overridden by a more generalized increase in attention in reward-motivated trials. Further, a diffusion process model indicated that behavior between contexts was the result of partially opposing evidence accumulation processes. Together these analyses suggest that response inhibition relies on dynamic and flexible proactive adjustments of low-level processes and that contextual changes can alter their interplay. This could prove to have ramifications for clinical disorders involving deficient response inhibition and impulsivity

    Preparing for (valenced) action: the role of differential effort in the orthogonalized go/no-go task

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    Associating reward to task performance has been shown to benefit scores of cognitive functions. Importantly, this typically entails associating reward to the execution of a response, hence intertwining action-related processes with motivational ones. However, recently, preparatory action requirements (go/no-go) and outcome valence (reward/punishment) were elegantly separated using a cued orthogonalized go/no-go task. Functional magnetic resonance imaging results from this task showed that typical areas of the “reward network,” like the dopaminergic midbrain and the striatum, predominantly encode action rather than valence, displaying enhanced activity when preparing for action (go) compared to inaction (no-go). In the current study, we used ERPs to probe for differences in preparatory state related to cognitive effort in this task, which has similarly been linked to reward-network activity. Importantly, the contingent negative variation, which is linked to effortful cognitive preparation processes during cue-target intervals, was clearly observed in go trials but not in no-go trials. Moreover, target-locked ERP results (N1 and P3) suggested that attention to the target was enhanced when an action had to be performed (go trials), and typical inhibition-related ERP components were not observed in no-go trials, suggesting a lack of active response inhibition. Finally, feedback-related P3 results could suggest that correct feedback was valued more in motivated go trials, again implying that more effort was required to correctly perform the task. Together, these results indicate that the anticipation of action compared to inaction simultaneously entails differences in mental effort, highlighting the need for further dissociation of these concepts

    Embedding Reward Signals into Perception and Cognition

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    Despite considerable interest in the neural basis of valuation, the question of how valuation affects cognitive processing has received relatively less attention. Here, we review evidence from recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies supporting the notion that motivation can enhance perceptual and executive control processes to achieve more efficient goal-directed behavior. Specifically, in the context of cognitive tasks offering monetary gains, improved behavioral performance has been repeatedly observed in conjunction with elevated neural activations in task-relevant perceptual, cognitive and reward-related regions. We address the neural basis of motivation-cognition interactions by suggesting various modes of communication between relevant neural networks: (1) global hub regions may integrate information from multiple inputs providing a communicative link between specialized networks; (2) point-to-point interactions allow for more specific cross-network communication; and (3) diffuse neuromodulatory systems can relay motivational signals to cortex and enhance signal processing. Together, these modes of communication allow information regarding motivational significance to reach relevant brain regions and shape behavior

    Theories of anterior cingulate cortex function : opportunity cost

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    The target article highlights the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in conflict monitoring, but ACC function may be better understood in terms of the hierarchical organization of behavior. This proposal suggests that the ACC selects extended goal-directed actions according to their learned costs and benefits and executes those behaviors subject to depleting resources

    Where expectation meets attention: the dynamic interplay between optimism bias and attention bias

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    Optimism bias and positive attention bias are crucial components of healthy information processing. Even though recent theories (e.g., the combined cognitive biases hypothesis) suggest that different cognitive biases usually interact and mutually enforce each other, optimism bias and positive attention bias have mostly been examined separately. However, investigating dynamic interactions between the two biases can uncover how they maintain over time and thereby contribute to mental health. Thus, the goal of the current thesis was to investigate the interplay between optimism and attention bias and its underlying neural mechanisms. First, an integrative theoretical framework suggesting that optimism bias and positive attention bias mutually enforce each other and recruit a common neural network (e.g., comprising of the anterior cingulate cortex [ACC] and the limbic system) is presented. Furthermore, this framework proposes that biased memory processes may influence the optimism-attention interplay. Based on the ideas derived from this framework, two empirical studies have been conducted to demonstrate the influence of optimistic expectancies on attention deployment. In both studies, induced optimistic (and pessimistic) expectancies guided attention to expected rewarding (and punishing) information, whereas processing of unexpected information enhanced activity in the brain´s salience and executive control network (e.g., comprising of the insula, ACC, and posterior parietal cortex). Notably, these effects were stronger for optimistic than for pessimistic expectancies, supporting the idea that optimistic expectancies are particularly powerful in biasing attention to rewarding information. A subsequent empirical study additionally revealed that paying attention to positive information in turn enhances optimism bias. Specifically, performing a two-week attention bias modification training toward accepting and away from rejecting face stimuli increased optimism bias whereas performing a neutral control attention training did not. In sum, the studies reported in this thesis provide first empirical support for mutual optimism-attention interactions that can explain how the two biases maintain over time. Importantly, such dynamic optimism-attention interactions may instigate an upward spiral of positivity that protects mental health

    Motivation and Value: Effects on Attentional Control and Learning

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    My dissertation presents two lines of research that examine motivation-cognition interactions. The first focuses on the effects of gain and loss incentive on attentional performance in young and older adults, examines which aspects of attention/cognitive control may be most sensitive to incentive manipulations, and takes steps towards elucidating the cognitive-motivational states and traits that may mediate those effects. When monetary incentives were offered throughout the experiments, they tended to have no effect or a small beneficial effect on the focused attention of young adults, and decreased young adults’ subjective reports of mind-wandering. In contrast, older adults had worse performance and more mind-wandering under incentive, especially loss incentive. Monetary incentives offered in alternating runs reduced the overall performance of both young and older adults compared to groups for which incentive was not offered at all, whereas within the alternating-run groups, performance was worse on the runs without incentive. Additional results from self-report measures suggest that for young adults, decreased performance under incentive may be the result of distraction. In contrast, older adults were more intrinsically motivated, and decreases in motivation under external incentive may underlie their reduced performance. In short, these results demonstrate that incentives may sometimes paradoxically reduce, rather than increase, performance, and that the direction and underlying mechanisms of incentive effects are influenced by factors including age (young vs old) and incentive structure (between- or within-subject manipulation). The second line of research investigates how outcome probability and valence may influence learning as well as subsequent explicit memory. Participants first learned to associate scenes with wins or losses that occurred at high or low probability, with probability thought to influence the “motivational salience” of the scene. The task objective was to maximize the reward (points or points and money) earned in each trial, and the optimal choices are the high probability win scene and the low probability loss scene. Contrary to the common assumption that win and loss outcome associations are learned equally, win associations were learned better than loss associations, suggesting an advantage for learning outcomes with a positive valence. A subsequent recognition task assessed explicit knowledge of the learned value associations. Regardless of learning level or incentive conditions, memory for the association between a scene and its valence and motivational salience was superior for scenes that had previously been the optimal choice (high probability win and low probability loss). However. accurate recognition was significantly better for optimal win scenes than optimal loss scenes. These findings indicate that learning to select the optimal choice is dissociable from explicit knowledge about the outcome contingencies, especially for loss and low probability outcomes. Moreover, motivational salience is represented differentially in explicit memory for win and loss outcomes. Together, this research examines several common assumptions about incentives and motivation in attention, learning, and memory in previous research studies, and demonstrates that the effects are more complex than currently realized. The discussion considers the implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying incentive effects on different types of cognition, as well as the effects of incentive in everyday life.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146000/1/ziyong_1.pd

    Salience in decision-making: a neuroeconomic analysis

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    Attention and the closely related concept of salience play an important role in the complex process of human decision-making. In 2012, Bordalo et al. (2012a) proposed a theory on human decision-making that is based on salience. They suggest that salience differences within a decision problem may explain many decision biases. Concerning decisions under risk, Bordalo and colleagues developed a formula to calculate salience differences that are shaped by bottom-up processes. These salience differences have been experimentally investigated. Reaction times in a dot-probe task served as indicator of attentional biases. Data revealed a significant salience effect after a lottery exposure duration of 150 ms. This supports the salience concept proposed by Bordalo et al. (2012a) and suggests an early attentional orienting towards salient payoffs. In order to further differentiate attentional processes involved in the salience effect EEG has been recorded. Different ERP-components may indicate attentional biases at different stages of attentional processing and give a hint at more detailed reasons behind the salience effect. All investigated components, namely, P1, N1, P3a and P3b, showed no significant salience differences. Part III presents a further experiment that was devoted to nudges. These interventions often work by altering the salience within a decision problem or by directing the attention to the decision task itself. Since these interventions influence decisions at least partly on an unconscious level, nudges are subject to criticism. The experiment aimed at investigating the effect of transparent information accompanying the nudges on their efficacy. In line with previous research adding information on the nudge itself, on its purpose and the combination of both had no significant effect on the efficacy of the nudge, even though this additional information again alters salience ratios within the decision problem

    Transient and sustained incentive effects on electrophysiological indices of cognitive control in younger and older adults

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    Preparing for upcoming events, separating task-relevant from task-irrelevant information and efficiently responding to stimuli all require cognitive control. The adaptive recruitment of cognitive control depends on activity in the dopaminergic reward system as well as the frontoparietal control network. In healthy aging, dopaminergic neuromodulation is reduced, resulting in altered incentive-based recruitment of control mechanisms. In the present study, younger adults (18–28 years) and healthy older adults (66–89 years) completed an incentivized flanker task that included gain, loss, and neutral trials. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded at the time of incentive cue and target presentation. We examined the contingent negative variation (CNV), implicated in stimulus anticipation and response preparation, as well as the P3, which is involved in the evaluation of visual stimuli. Both younger and older adults showed transient incentive-based modulation of CNV. Critically, cue-locked and target-locked P3s were influenced by transient and sustained effects of incentives in younger adults, while such modulation was limited to a sustained effect of gain incentives on cue-P3 in older adults. Overall, these findings are in line with an age-related reduction in the flexible recruitment of preparatory and target-related cognitive control processes in the presence of motivational incentives

    Self-Control in Cyberspace: Applying Dual Systems Theory to a Review of Digital Self-Control Tools

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    Many people struggle to control their use of digital devices. However, our understanding of the design mechanisms that support user self-control remains limited. In this paper, we make two contributions to HCI research in this space: first, we analyse 367 apps and browser extensions from the Google Play, Chrome Web, and Apple App stores to identify common core design features and intervention strategies afforded by current tools for digital self-control. Second, we adapt and apply an integrative dual systems model of self-regulation as a framework for organising and evaluating the design features found. Our analysis aims to help the design of better tools in two ways: (i) by identifying how, through a well-established model of self-regulation, current tools overlap and differ in how they support self-control; and (ii) by using the model to reveal underexplored cognitive mechanisms that could aid the design of new tools.Comment: 11.5 pages (excl. references), 6 figures, 1 tabl
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