Time sharing performance of egocentric and allocentric frames of reference as an indicator of resource pool

2021 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The Multiple Resource Model (MRM) sets forth groups of cognitive resources and is used to predict dual task interference. Recent updates to the model suggest that it may not be all encompassing. The current studies aim to determine the resource use of egocentric and allocentric frames of reference (FoR) within the criteria of the MRM. Egocentric and allocentric FoR have been widely studied for their use in navigation aids, especially in aviation, and a plethora of neurological research has attempted to determine the neural correlates of each FoR. These two bodies of literature support the first two criteria of being considered separate resources, but the time sharing capabilities (the last criterion) have not been investigated. The current research used a dual task paradigm under intermediate and heavy resource use to determine how these FoR can be time shared. Results between experiments conflicted but indicated a stronger tendency toward improved performance under conditions in which the FoR being used for both tasks was the same. This was unexpected and does not fit into the MRM. Improved performance may be a result of task similarity, which can improve performance according to the shared processing routines hypothesis. Implications for navigation aid design are discussed

A NATURALISTIC COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN NAVIGATION AND SEARCH TASKS

Planning, navigation, and search are fundamental human cognitive abilities central to spatial problem solving in search and rescue, law enforcement, and military operations. Despite a wealth of literature concerning naturalistic spatial problem solving in animals, literature on naturalistic spatial problem solving in humans is comparatively lacking and generally conducted by separate camps among which there is little crosstalk. Addressing this deficiency will allow us to predict spatial decision making in operational environments, and understand the factors leading to those decisions. The present dissertation is comprised of two related efforts, (1) a set of empirical research studies intended to identify characteristics of planning, execution, and memory in naturalistic spatial problem solving tasks, and (2) a computational modeling effort to develop a model of naturalistic spatial problem solving. The results of the behavioral studies indicate that problem space hierarchical representations are linear in shape, and that human solutions are produced according to multiple optimization criteria. The Mixed Criteria Model presented in this dissertation accounts for global and local human performance in a traditional and naturalistic Traveling Salesman Problem. The results of the empirical and modeling efforts hold implications for basic and applied science in domains such as problem solving, operations research, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence

Just Around the Corner: The Impact of Instruction Method and Corner Geometry on Teleoperation of Virtual Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Teleoperated robots have proven useful across various domains, as they can more readily search for survivors, survey collapsed and structurally unsound buildings, map out safe routes for rescue workers, and monitor rescue environments. A significant drawback of these robots is that they require the operator to perceive the environment indirectly. As such, camera angles, uneven terrain, lighting, and other environmental conditions can result in robots colliding with obstacles, getting stuck in rubble, and falling over (Casper & Murphy, 2003). To better understand how operators remotely perceive and navigate unmanned ground vehicles, the present work investigated operators’ abilities to negotiate corners of varying widths. In Experiment 1, we evaluated how instruction method impacts cornering time and collisions, looking specifically at the speed-accuracy tradeoff for negotiating corners. Participants navigated a virtual vehicle around corners under the instruction to focus on accuracy (i.e., avoiding collisions) or speed (i.e., negotiating the corners as quickly as possible). We found that as the task became more difficult, subjects’ cornering times increased, and their probability of successful cornering decreased. We also demonstrated that the Fitts’ law speed-accuracy tradeoff could be extended to a cornering task. In Experiment 2, we challenged two of the assumptions of Pastel et al.’s (2007) cornering law and assessed how corner angle and differences in path widths impacted cornering time. Participants navigated a virtual vehicle around corners of varying angles (45°, 90°, and 135°) and varying path widths. We found that increases in corner angle resulted in increased cornering times and a decreased probability of successful cornering. The findings from these experiments are applicable to contexts where an individual is tasked with remotely navigating around corners (e.g., video gaming, USAR, surveillance, military operations, training)

Epistemic cultures in the social sciences: the modeling dilemma - dissolved

'In diesem Artikel soll ein spezielles Problemgebiet gelöst werden, das als Modellierungs-Dilemma bezeichnet wird und das den prekären Status vieler Annahmen im Bereich der Modellbildung in der Ökonomie, der Soziologie oder auch der Politikwissenschaft zum Inhalt hat. Mit dem angebotenen Lösungsansatz sollen zudem gleich zwei neuartige Behauptungen verbunden sein. So können, so die erste Behauptung, die Sozialwissenschaften wenigstens durch zwei unterschiedliche und hochgradig ausdifferenzierte Modellierungsweisen charakterisiert werden, welche zudem komplementäre Informationen bereitstellen und jeweils auf ihre Weise einen Beitrag zum Verständnis komplexer sozio-ökonomischer Ensembles leisten. Zweitens gehören diese beiden unterschiedlichen Modellzugänge mittlerweile zu jeweils unterschiedlichen epistemischen Kulturen, welche hinkünftig ko-evolutiv wichtige Ziel- und Brennpunkte für die sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschungen darstellen werden.' (Autorenreferat)'The main purpose of this paper lies in the solution of a specific problem area, referred to as modeling dilemma. In doing so, two major and, hopefully, innovative claims can be made: first, the social sciences can be characterized by at least two pragmatically highly differentiated modeling approaches to the socio-economic ensembles which, in different degrees, offer complementary classes of information and which, moreover, increase the understanding of the complexities of these socio-economic universes. Second, these two major modeling approaches have become, by now, part and parcel of separate epistemic cultures which will, in a process of co-evolution, form major basins of attraction for future practices within the social sciences.' (author's abstract)

A Personal Journey Through Instructional Technology: A Vision of Excellence Approached From a System of Magnanimity

This paper is a summary of what I have learned through my studies and observations in the eclectic field of Instructional Technology. In order to provide a comprehensive narrative, I desire to take the reader on a phenomenological journey into some personal insights acquired from my academic studies in Instructional Technology as well as my past and present experiences, my teaching, medical and musical background and my beliefs. Throughout this journey, I will endeavour to substantiate the need for Instructional Technologists and all educators to design and implement tools and methods that address all aspects of the human intelligence and uniqueness of the learner. I will also explore the purposes and ends of education. This phenomenological exploration will look at the need to establish learning communities based on firm moral underpinnings and will present an approach to Instructional Technology founded on research and experience from other disciplines. In conclusion, I will present a personal vision of excellence for Instructional Technology that will be approached from a system of magnanimity. I would ask the reader to proceed through this personal journey with an open mind and heart. Though you may find many areas of commonality and divergence, I would ask that this be a shared enterprise by which each of us evaluates honestly where Instructional Technology is presently and in what direction we need to take design, development and application of instruction and technology in the future to make it a truly human oriented activity. It is my hope that because of this search, guided by a vision of excellence and magnanimity, new approaches to design, education, assessment and evaluation may be considered that will lead every learner to a greater understanding, appreciation and acceptance of self in order to contribute more fully in a worldwide community. This paper will draw upon the thoughts and research of many experts in diverse disciplines while being directed by my own reflective inquiry. Some of my questions will be answered in this report. However, many will require more time and thought before they can be fully addressed. Several of these foundational questions guiding my inquiry include: 1. What is, or should be, the purpose or purposes of education in a global society? 2. Can a common purpose for education be reached when there are so many differing assumptions and epistemologies? 3. What is the role of instructional and technological design in education? 4. How can Instructional Technology bring a greater sense of personal worth and peace to the learner? 5. What are the various aspects of intelligence that would need to be a part of any vision for education? 6. What is transformational education? 7. What is transcendental education? 8. What is the difference between transformational and transcendental education? 9. Given the global zeitgeist is it possible to develop a more comprehensive and congruent approach for Instructional Technology? 10. What could other fields and disciplines contribute to the design of such an approach? 11. What would an integrated, congruent, transcendent model of Instructional Technology look like? 12. What could this model be called

Emotion word processing: evidence from electrophysiology, eye movements and decision making

A degree of confusion currently exists regarding how the emotionality of a textual stimulus influences its processing. Despite a wealth of research recently being conducted in the area, heterogeneity of stimuli used and methodologies utilized prevented general conclusion from being confidently drawn. This thesis aimed to clarify understanding of cognitive processes associated with emotional textual stimuli by employing well controlled stimuli in a range of simple but innovative paradigms. Emotion words used in this thesis were defined by their valence and arousal ratings. The questions asked here concerned early stages of processing of emotional words, the attention capturing properties of such words, any spill-over effects which would impact the processing of neutral text presented subsequently to the emotional material, and the effect of emotional words on higher cognitive processes such as attitude formation. The first experiment (Chapter 2) manipulated the emotionality of words (positive, negative, neutral) and their frequency (HF – high frequency, LF – low frequency) while ERPs were recorded. An emotion x frequency interaction was found, with emotional LF words responded to fastest, but only positive LF words responded to fastest. Negative HF words were also associated with a large N1 component. Chapter 3 investigated the attention-capturing properties of positive and negative words presented above and below a central fixation cross. The only significant effects appeared when a positive word was presented in the top condition, and a negative word in the bottom condition. Here saccade latencies were longer and there were a fewer number of errors made. Chapter 4 reports an eye tracking study which examined the effect of target words’ emotion (positive, negative, neutral) and their frequency (HF, LF). The pattern of results, produced in a variety of fixation time measurements such as first fixation duration and single fixation duration, was similar to those reported in Chapter 2. The existence of any spill-over effect of emotion onto subsequently presented neutral text was examined in a number of ways. Chapter 5 describes priming with emotional primes and neutral targets but no effect of emotion was found. Chapter 6 employed the same design as Chapter 4 but presented positive, negative or neutral sentences in the middle of neutral paragraphs. It was found that the positive sentences were read fastest, but the neutral sentences following the negative sentences were read faster than those following neutral sentences. Chapters 7 and 8 employed a version of the Velten mood-induction tool to examine the effect of mood when reading emotional text. Chapter 7 was a replication of Chapter 4 with 4 participant groups: positive, negative and neutral mood. While the neutral group showed similar results to those produced in Chapter 4, the positive group only fixated on the positive HF words faster, the negative group showed a frequency effect within each emotional word type, but within HF words positive words were viewed for less time than neutral words. Chapter 8 had participants read 4 product reviews and then afterwards rate each of the products on a set of semantic differentials. This was a 3 (mood: positive, negative, neutral) x 2 (message type: positive negative) x 2 (word type: positive negative). There was no effect of mood but positive messages were read quicker when they contained positive words and negative messages were read quicker when they contained negative words. Participants were asked to recommend each product to individuals in either a prevention in a promotion focus. When the focus was prevention there were additive effects of message and word type, but when the focus was positive there was an interaction, with the positive message conveyed using negative words being rated highest. The same pattern also emerged in the series of semantic differentials. Possible mechanisms to account for these findings are discussed, including many incarnations of McGinnies’s (1949) perceptual defense theory. Future studies should possibly aim to combine the current knowledge with motivational, goal-orientated models such as Higgins’s (1998) theory of regulatory focus

Developmental Psychology

BeSt programmi toetusel loodud kursusel käsitletakse inimese psühhosotsiaalset arengut läbi elukaare, sünnist surmani

Testing and training lifeguard visual search

Lifeguards play a crucial role in drowning prevention. However, current U.K. lifeguard qualifications are limited in training and assessing visual surveillance skills, and little is known about how lifeguards successfully detect drowning swimmers. To improve our understanding of lifeguard visual search skill, and explore the potential for improving this skill through training, this thesis had the following aims: (a) to identify whether visual skills for drowning detection improve with lifeguard experience, (b) to understand why such differences occur, and (c) design and valid a visual training intervention to improve drowning detection on the basis of these results. The first two studies investigated drowning-detection skills of participants with differing levels of lifeguard experience in a dynamic search task with simulated drownings. Lifeguards were found to detect drownings faster and more often than non-lifeguards. In three follow-up studies these results were replicated with more naturalistic stimuli. Video footage from an American wave pool was extracted, which showed genuine instances of swimmer distress. Results again demonstrated lifeguard superiority in detecting the drowning targets. Eye tracking measures, recorded on both the simulated and naturalistic clips, failed to reveal any differences between lifeguards and non-lifeguards, suggesting that superior drowning detection for lifeguards did not result from better scanning strategies per se. Following this, two cognitive mechanisms that may underlie drowning-detection skill were investigated. Lifeguard and non-lifeguard performance on Multiple Object Avoidance (MOA) and Functional Field of View (FFOV) tests was assessed. Although lifeguards had better MOA task performance compared to non-lifeguards, only the lifeguards’ accuracy at detecting the central target in the FFOV task predicted performance on a subsequent drowning detection task. It was concluded that superior drowning detection was a result of better classification recognition of drowning swimmers (which was the central task in the FFOV test). Based on these findings the final experiment explored the effectiveness of an intense classification training task to improve drowning detection. An intervention was designed that required participants to differentiate between videos of isolated drowning and non-drowning swimmers. Non-lifeguards trained in this intervention showed greater improvement on a subsequent drowning-detection task compared to untrained control participants, who completed an active-control task. The results of this thesis suggest that drowning-detection skill can be reliably assessed, and that foveal processing of drowning characteristics is key to lifeguards' superior performance. Isolating and training this key sub-skill improves drowning-detection performance and offers a method for training future lifeguards