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Magnetic resonance multitasking for motion-resolved quantitative cardiovascular imaging.
Quantitative cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can be used to characterize fibrosis, oedema, ischaemia, inflammation and other disease conditions. However, the need to reduce artefacts arising from body motion through a combination of electrocardiography (ECG) control, respiration control, and contrast-weighting selection makes CMR exams lengthy. Here, we show that physiological motions and other dynamic processes can be conceptualized as multiple time dimensions that can be resolved via low-rank tensor imaging, allowing for motion-resolved quantitative imaging with up to four time dimensions. This continuous-acquisition approach, which we name cardiovascular MR multitasking, captures - rather than avoids - motion, relaxation and other dynamics to efficiently perform quantitative CMR without the use of ECG triggering or breath holds. We demonstrate that CMR multitasking allows for T1 mapping, T1-T2 mapping and time-resolved T1 mapping of myocardial perfusion without ECG information and/or in free-breathing conditions. CMR multitasking may provide a foundation for the development of setup-free CMR imaging for the quantitative evaluation of cardiovascular health
Alcohol Hangover and Multitasking: Effects on Mood, Cognitive Performance, Stress Reactivity, and Perceived Effort
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of hangover on mood, multitasking ability, and psychological stress reactivity to cognitive demand. Using a crossover design and semi-naturalistic methodology, 25 participants attended the laboratory in the morning following a night of (i) alcohol abstinence and (ii) alcohol self-administration during a typical night out (with order counterbalanced across participants). They completed a four-module multitasking framework (MTF, a widely used laboratory stressor) and a battery of questionnaires assessing mood, hangover symptom severity, and previous night’s sleep. The effects of the MTF on mood and perceived workload were also assessed. Participants in the hangover condition reported significantly lower alertness and contentment coupled with a higher mental fatigue and anxiety. Multitasking ability was also significantly impaired in the hangover condition. Completion of the cognitive stressor increased reported levels of mental demand, effort, and frustration, and decreased perceived level of performance. MTF completion did not differentially affect mood. Lastly, participants rated their sleep as significantly worse during the night prior to the hangover compared with the control condition. These findings confirm the negative cognitive and mood effects of hangover on mood. They also demonstrate that hangover is associated with greater perceived effort during task performance
Attentional control and engagement with digital technology
Multiple demands comprise the efficiency of attentional control. There is abundant evidence that when an individual attempts two or more attentionally demanding activities at the same time, the allocation of attention to the tasks is limited and performance suffers as a result. Yet, recent technological innovations require many individuals to manage multiple digital technologies simultaneously or to switch attentional control between tasks. The ability to multitask with various digital technologies involves dividing attention, switching between tasks, and keeping track of multiple strands of information in working memory
Multitasking, Competition and Provider Payment
Many important dimensions of quality health care are difficult to observe, monitor, and motivate. This paper examines how competition among providers interacts with payment system incentives when the allocation of provider effort among multiple such dimensions or ‘tasks’ is noncontractible. The framework highlights that an optimal provider payment system, including optimal risk adjustment, should take account of provider multitasking.payment incentives, competition, multitasking, capitation, managed care, rationing, risk adjustment
Are women better than men at multi-tasking?
Background:
There seems to be a common belief that women are better in multi-tasking than men, but there is practically no scientific research on this topic. Here, we tested whether women have better multi-tasking skills than men.<p></p>
Methods:
In Experiment 1, we compared performance of 120 women and 120 men in a computer-based task-switching paradigm. In Experiment 2, we compared a different group of 47 women and 47 men on "paper-and-pencil" multi-tasking tests.<p></p>
Results:
In Experiment 1, both men and women performed more slowly when two tasks were rapidly interleaved than when the two tasks were performed separately. Importantly, this slow down was significantly larger in the male participants (Cohen’s d = 0.27). In an everyday multi-tasking scenario (Experiment 2), men and women did not differ significantly at solving simple arithmetic problems, searching for restaurants on a map, or answering general knowledge questions on the phone, but women were significantly better at devising strategies for locating a lost key (Cohen’s d = 0.49).<p></p>
Conclusions:
Women outperform men in these multi-tasking paradigms, but the near lack of empirical studies on gender differences in multitasking should caution against making strong generalisations. Instead, we hope that other researchers will aim to replicate and elaborate on our findings.<p></p>
Setting Incentives for Scientists Who Engage in Research and Other Activities: An Application of Principal-Agent Theory
The objective of this paper is to develop an optimal incentive system for multitaskingscientists in universities or professors under repeat contracting. With the aid of a principalagentmodel under repeat contracting, we show that (i) when a second task is assigned to aprofessor and the two tasks are related, the size of the optimal incentive rate for the first task isreduced in some situations but not others relative to that of a single task, (ii) with an increasein the noise in the technical relationship of the second task or imprecision in outputmeasurement, the optimal incentive rate for that task is reduced and for the first task may bereduced or increased , (iii) with greater efficiency of the professor in producing the secondoutput, as reflected in ability relative to cost of effort, the optimal incentive rate for the firsttask generally decreases, (iv) if the output of the professor’s two tasks are negativelycorrelated then the optimal incentive rate on the first task declines as the size of thiscorrelation increases. The size of the guarantee is always reduced as the professor’s ability fora task increases, but is increased as his cost of effort, noisiness of the technology ormeasurement of output, or correlation between the two outputs increases. It is also possiblethat, as a professor undertakes several difficult-to-measure tasks, the incentive rate will bereduced to the point that an optimal compensation system will involve only a guaranteedsalary, which is a very weak incentive for effort. Selective audits may be useful in thesesituations.incentives; Principal-agent model; Multitask; scientists; professors; respeat contracting; linear contracts
When Intrusive Can Be Likable: Product Placement Effects on Multitasking Consumers
Using movie scenes, this study examines how multitasking by viewers influences the product-plot integration effect. Findings indicate that multitasking dampens a well-integrated placement\u27s brand-enhancing effect and mitigates an intrusive placement\u27s brand-damaging effect. Well-integrated placement produces an assimilation effect, leading to convergence of viewers\u27 attitudes toward the placed versus competing brands, while intrusive placement triggers a contrast effect that results in divergence of these attitudes. Among single-tasking viewers, the boomerang effect of an intrusive placement decreases the favorability of the placed brand and increases the favorability of the not-shown competitor. The opposite is true among multitasking viewers, however
m-Reading: Fiction reading from mobile phones
Mobile phones are reportedly the most rapidly expanding e-reading device worldwide. However, the embodied, cognitive and affective implications of smartphone-supported fiction reading for leisure (m-reading) have yet to be investigated empirically. Revisiting the theoretical work of digitization scholar Anne Mangen, we argue that the digital reading experience is not only contingent on patterns of embodied reader–device interaction (Mangen, 2008 and later) but also embedded in the immediate environment and broader situational context. We call this the situation constraint. Its application to Mangen’s general framework enables us to identify four novel research areas, wherein m-reading should be investigated with regard to its unique affordances. The areas are reader–device affectivity, situated embodiment, attention training and long-term immersion
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