Productivity effects of innovation, stress and social relations

Innovation is a source of increasing productivity, but it is also a source of stress. Psychological research shows that moderate stress increases the productivity of an actor, but above a certain level, additional stress decreases productivity. Stress is reduced by coping behaviour of the actor, and in addition it is buffered by social relations. However, high levels of stress negatively affect social relations, causing social erosion. In a formal model including inter-agent dynamics, we show that the variables moderating stress levels are of crucial importance for identifying the overall effects of different rates of innovation on productivity. The model shows among other things that the existence and nature of relationships of people determine the extent to which a certain rate of innovation effectively results in increasing productivity. In addition, it shows the possibility of multiple equilibria - under some parameter values both high- and low-stress steady states exist; and the dynamics exhibit hysteresis. At very high levels of stress, innovation can result in a dissolution of social relations, and has a negative relationship with the rate of economic growth.innovation, work-related stress, social relationships

Contextual and Ethical Issues with Predictive Process Monitoring

This thesis addresses contextual and ethical issues in the predictive process monitoring framework and several related issues. Regarding contextual issues, even though the importance of case, process, social and external contextual factors in the predictive business process monitoring framework has been acknowledged, few studies have incorporated these into the framework or measured their impact. Regarding ethical issues, we examine how human agents make decisions with the assistance of process monitoring tools and provide recommendation to facilitate the design of tools which enables a user to recognise the presence of algorithmic discrimination in the predictions provided. First, a systematic literature review is undertaken to identify existing studies which adopt a clustering-based remaining-time predictive process monitoring approach, and a comparative analysis is performed to compare and benchmark the output of the identified studies using 5 real-life event logs. This curates the studies which have adopted this important family of predictive process monitoring approaches but also facilitates comparison as the various studies utilised different datasets, parameters, and evaluation measures. Subsequently, the next two chapter investigate the impact of social and spatial contextual factors in the predictive process monitoring framework. Social factors encompass the way humans and automated agents interact within a particular organisation to execute process-related activities. The impact of social contextual features in the predictive process monitoring framework is investigated utilising a survival analysis approach. The proposed approach is benchmarked against existing approaches using five real-life event logs and outperforms these approaches. Spatial context (a type of external context) is also shown to improve the predictive power of business process monitoring models. The penultimate chapter examines the nature of the relationship between workload (a process contextual factor) and stress (a social contextual factor) by utilising a simulation-based approach to investigate the diffusion of workload-induced stress in the workplace. In conclusion, the thesis examines how users utilise predictive process monitoring (and AI) tools to make decisions. Whilst these tools have delivered real benefits in terms of improved service quality and reduction in processing time, among others, they have also raised issues which have real-world ethical implications such as recommending different credit outcomes for individuals who have an identical financial profile but different characteristics (e.g., gender, race). This chapter amalgamates the literature in the fields of ethical decision making and explainable AI and proposes, but does not attempt to validate empirically, propositions and belief statements based on the synthesis of the existing literature, observation, logic, and empirical analogy

Habituation and learning in a steering task

Tavoitteet. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tarkastella tehtäväsidonnaisten fysiologisten vasteiden ajallisia muutoksia ja näiden yhteyttä suorituskykyyn toistetussa ohjaustehtävässä. Kohtalaisen fysiologisen virittymisen uskotaan suuntaavan tarkkaavaisuutta kohti tehtäväsuorituksen kannalta olennaisia ärsykkeitä ja siten parantavan suoriutumista, kun taas liian matala tai korkea virittyminen on haitallista tehtäväsuorituksen kannalta (Yerkes-Dodson-laki). Tämä lähestymistapa ei kuitenkaan selkeästi huomioi ajallisia muutoksia fysiologisessa virittymisessä. Tässä tutkielmassa tehtäväsidonnaisen sympaattisen virittymisen ajallisia muutoksia mallinnetaan habituaationa, jota on perinteisesti käytetty kuvaamaan orientaatiovasteiden muutoksia toistettujen ärsykkeiden passiivisessa asetelmassa. Tehtäväsuorituksen aikaista habituaatiota tulkitaan ennustettavuuden ja merkittävyyden näkökulmasta, tavoitteena kuvata oppimisen aikaisia tarkkaavaisuuden muutoksia evolutiivisesti uskottavalla tavalla. Lisäksi tarkastellaan tehtäväsuoriutumisen yhteyksiä yksilöllisiin eroihin habituaatiotahdissa ja spontaanissa (ei-tehtäväsidonnaisessa) sympaattisessa aktivaatiossa. Lopuksi habituaatiota verrataan poikkeamiin ennustetusta suoritustasosta. Menetelmät. Koehenkilöt (N = 9) pelasivat nopeatempoista ohjaustehtävää yhteensä 40 kierroksen ajan kahdeksassa eri sessiossa 2-3 viikon jakson aikana. Ihon sähkönjohtavuuden vasteita (skin conductance responses, SCR) mitattiin viidessä sessiossa perustason ja tehtäväsuorituksen aikana. Yksilöllinen habituaatiotahti määritettiin tehtäväsidonnaisten SCR-frekvenssien muutoksista sessioiden aikana. Perustasomittausten SCR-frekvenssi puolestaan ilmaisi yksilöllistä spontaania aktiivisuutta. Kierrostason SCR-frekvenssien erojen avulla tutkittiin habituaation ja oppimiskäyrämallin avulla ennustetun suoriutumisen välisiä yhteyksiä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tehtäväsidonnaisen virittymisen havaittiin vähenevän toistuvien kierrosten mittaan kaikilla koehenkilöillä lähes kaikissa sessioissa, mikä osoitti habituaatiomallin sopivan tehtäväsidonnaisen virittymisen ajallisten muutosten kuvaamiseen. Lisäksi pitkäaikainen tehtäväsidonnainen virittyminen (hidas habituaatio) yhdistyi parempaan suorituskykyyn sekä yksilö- että kierrostasolla. Korkea spontaani aktiivisuus sen sijaan yhdistyi huonompaan suoriutumiseen. Kokonaisuudessaan tulokset viittaavat siihen, että tehtäväsidonnaisen virittymisen ajalliset muutokset oppimisen aikana heijastavat tehtävään liittyvien vihjeiden prosessointia ja otaksuttavasti ilmentävät motivaatiota, joka suuntaa tarkkaavaisuutta, kun taas korkea spontaani aktiivisuus on yhteydessä huonompaan suoritukseen mahdollisesti tehtävään liittymättömän stressin häiritsevän vaikutuksen vuoksi.Objectives. This thesis aims to explore temporal changes in task-related physiological arousal and their connection to performance in repeated trials of a steering task. Moderate physiological arousal is believed to direct attention towards task-relevant stimuli, leading to performance improvements, while too high or low arousal is detrimental (the Yerkes-Dodson law). However, this approach does not explicitly account for changes in arousal over time. In this study, temporal changes in task-related sympathetic arousal are modelled as habituation, which has traditionally been used to describe changes in orienting responses to repeated presentations of non-target stimuli. Habituation during task performance is interpreted in terms of predictability and significance, aiming to describe changes in attentional processing during learning in an evolutionarily plausible manner. Furthermore, connections between performance and individual differences in habituation rate and spontaneous (task-unrelated) sympathetic activity are examined. Finally, habituation is compared to deviations from predicted performance. Methods. Participants (N = 9) played a total of 40 trials of a high-speed steering task in eight sessions over a period of 2-3 weeks. Electrodermal activity during baseline and task performance was recorded in five sessions. Change in task-related skin conductance response (SCR) frequency over trials 1-5 within sessions was used to determine individual rates of habituation whereas SCR frequency during baseline indicated individual spontaneous activity. Trial-level difference scores were used to explore habituation and deviations from predicted performance (a power-law learning curve) within participants. Results and conclusions. Task-related arousal was found to decrease with repeated trials for all participants in nearly all sessions, indicating that a habituation model was successful in capturing changes in arousal in a task situation. Furthermore, sustained task-related arousal (slow habituation) was connected to better performance both between and within participants. High spontaneous activity, on the other hand, was associated with performance decrements. Taken together, these results suggest that temporal changes in task-related arousal during learning are related to the processing of task-relevant cues and may reflect motivational states that direct selective attention, while high spontaneous activity is related to performance decrements, perhaps due to interference from task-unrelated stress

How To Make the Most of Your Human: Design Considerations for Single Pilot Operations

Reconsidering the function allocation between automation and the pilot in the flight deck is the next step in improving aviation safety. The current allocation, based on who does what best, makes poor use of the pilot's resources and abilities. In some cases it may actually handicap pilots from performing their role. Improving pilot performance first lies in defining the role of the pilot - why a human is needed in the first place. The next step is allocating functions based on the needs of that role (rather than fitness), then using automation to target specific human weaknesses in performing that role. Examples are provided (some of which could be implemented in conventional cockpits now). Along the way, the definition of human error and the idea that eliminating/automating the pilot will reduce instances of human error will be challenged

Media Multitasking in University Students: Relatedness of Video to Learning Content

This study examines the impact of multitasking on memory. Specifically, how the relatedness of a medium affects learning. The media used for the purposes of the current study were documentaries. The study consisted of 36 students recruited from Brescia University College. Participants completed a set of questionnaires which included their demographics, academic information, computer/internet usage, and their perceived ability to multitask. They then completed a reading comprehension task while the documentary was played in the background. Although there was no significant effect, participants scored higher on the first part of the multiple-choice test which suggests that they understood the general idea of the passage. Contrary to the hypothesis, no significant effect was found on participant’s performance and video similarity while students media multitasked. Further research could examine the effect of multitasking across different cultures and ethnic backgrounds

Psychobiological Aspects of Panic Disorder

Anxiety is a useful warning sign that helps an individual face potential or real danger. At appropriate levels, it serves as a warning for the presence of internal or external threats, causing a person to be alert and prepare to deal appropriately with such situations. Moreover, moderate levels of anxiety can lead to improved performance in several activities. However, anxiety becomes pathological when its duration is excessively long or its intensity is extremely high and leads to significant suffering and distress. In such cases, anxiety is appropriately described as part of a pathological response, characterizing an anxiety disorder. The historical concept of a unitary anxiety disorder has been replaced by a heterogeneous group of psychopathologies with different etiologies. Panic disorder is a complex anxiety disorder that involves both recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, and persistent concern about having additional attacks. The present chapter reviews current psychobiological perspectives in the etiology and treatment of panic disorder. The first section describes the current classification of this anxiety disorder. We then explore possible neural circuitry associated with panic disorder. Finally, the chapter addresses current treatment approaches, considering the efficacy of different forms of psychotherapy and pharmacological treatments

Human Performance Modeling: Analysis of the Effects of Manned-Unmanned Teaming on Pilot Workload and Mission Performance

Due to the advent of autonomous technology coupled with the extreme expense of manned aircraft, the Department of Defense (DoD) has increased interest in developing affordable, expendable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to become autonomous wingmen for jet fighters in mosaic warfare. Like a mosaic that forms a whole picture out of smaller pieces, battlefield commanders can utilize disaggregated capabilities, such as Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T), to operate in contested environments. With a single pilot controlling both the UAVs and manned aircraft, it may be challenging for pilots to manage all systems should the system design not be conducive to a steady state level of workload. To understand the potential effects of MUM-T on the pilot’s cognitive workload, an Improved Performance Research Integration Tool (IMPRINT) Pro pilot workload model was developed. The model predicts the cognitive workload of the pilot in a simulated environment when interacting with both the cockpit and multiple UAVs to provide insight into the effect of Human-Agent Interactions (HAI) and increasing autonomous control abstraction on the pilot’s cognitive workload and mission performance. This research concluded that peaks in workload occur for the pilot during periods of high communications load and this communication may be degraded or delayed during air-to-air engagements. Nonetheless, autonomous control of the UAVs through a combination of Vector Steering, Pilot Directed Engagements, and Tactical Battle Management would enable pilots to successfully command up to 3 UAVs as well as their own aircraft against 4 enemy targets, while maintaining acceptable pilot cognitive workload in an air-to-air mission scenario

Hormetic and Non-Hormetic Dose-Response Functions in Stress Effects on Memory and Synaptic Plasticity: Issues and Mechanisms

Abstract: Over a century of behavioral research has shown that stress can exert both positive and negative effects on memory. We have explored the idea that the complex effects of stress on learning and memory can be characterized by hormetic-and non-hormetic dose-response functions, in which stress may either stimulate or impair brain memory mechanisms, depending, in part, on the timing and duration of the stress experience. Extensive work has shown that acute stress or corticosteroid administration has a biphasic effect specifically on hippocampus-dependent learning, memory and synaptic plasticity. We suggest that brief stress exerts a rapid enhancement of memory-related functions of the hippocampus, produced by the amygdala-induced activation of hippocampal synaptic plasticity in conjunction with excitatory effects of neuromodulators, including glucocorticoids, norepinephrine, corticotropin-releasing hormone, acetylcholine and dopamine. We propose that the rapid stress-induced activation of the amygdala-hippocampus brain memory system results in a linear (non-hormetic) dose-response relation between emotional strength and memory formation. In response to more prolonged stress, a delayed inhibition of hippocampal function develops, which can be attributed to compensatory cellular responses which protect hippocampal neurons from excitotoxicity. The inhibition of hippocampal functioning in response to prolonged stress is potentially relevant to the well-described curvilinear (hormetic) dose-response relationship between arousal and memory. In summary, our emphasis on the temporal features of stress-brain interactions addresses how stress can activate, as well as impair, hippocampal functioning to produce differently shaped (nonhormetic/hormetic) stress-memory dose response functions