Attraction comes from many sources. Attentional and comparative processes in decoy effects

The attraction effect emerges when adding a seemingly irrelevant option(decoy) to a binary choice shifts preference towardsa target option. This suggests that choice behaviour is dynamic, i.e., choice values are developed during deliberation, rather thanmanifesting some pre-existing preference set. Whereas several models of multialternative and multiattribute decision makingconsider dynamic choice processes as crucial to explain the attraction effect, empirically investigating the exact nature of suchprocesses requires complementing choice output with other data. In this study, we focused on asymmetrically dominateddecoys (i.e., decoys that are clearly dominated only by the target option) to examine the attentional and comparative processesresponsible for the attraction effect. Through an eye-tracker paradigm, we showed that the decoy option can affect subjects’preferences in two different and not mutually exclusive ways: by focusing the attention on the salient option and the dominanceattribute, and by increasing comparisons with the choice dominant pattern.Although conceptually and procedurally distinct,both pathways for decoy effects produce an increase in preferencesfor the target option, in line with attentional and dynamicmodels of decision making. Eye-tracking data provide further details to theverification of such models, by highlighting thecontext-dependent nature of attention and the development of similarity-driven competitive decisional processes

How Soundtracks Shape What We See: Analyzing the Influence of Music on Visual Scenes Through Self-Assessment, Eye Tracking, and Pupillometry

This article presents two studies that deepen the theme of how soundtracks shape our interpretation of audiovisuals. Embracing a multivariate perspective, Study 1 (N = 118) demonstrated, through an online between-subjects experiment, that two different music scores (melancholic vs. anxious) deeply affected the interpretations of an unknown movie scene in terms of empathy felt toward the main character, impressions of his personality, plot anticipations, and perception of the environment of the scene. With the melancholic music, participants felt empathy toward the character, viewing him as more agreeable and introverted, more oriented to memories than to decisions, while perceiving the environment as cozier. An almost opposite pattern emerged with the anxious music. In Study 2 (N = 92), we replicated the experiment in our lab but with the addition of eye-tracking and pupillometric measurements. Results of Study 1 were largely replicated; moreover, we proved that the anxious score, by increasing the participants’ vigilance and state of alert (wider pupil dilation), favored greater attention to minor details, as in the case of another character who was very hard to be noticed (more time spent on his figure). Results highlight the pervasive nature of the influence of music within the process of interpretation of visual scenes

eGLU-Box Mobile:A Smartphone App for Usability Testing by Italian Public Administration Webmasters

Smartphones and tablets now offer consumers unique advantages such as portability and accessibility. Developers are also working with a mobile-first approach, and are prioritizing mobile applications over desktop versions. This study introduces eGLU-box Mobile, an application for performing a drive usability test directly from a smartphone. An experimental study was conducted in which the participants were divided into two groups: an experimental group, which used the new mobile application from a smartphone, and a control group, which used the desktop application from a computer. The participants’ behavior was assessed using explicit (self-report questionnaires) and implicit measures (eye movement data). The results were encouraging, and showed that both the mobile and desktop versions of eGLU-box enabled participants to test the usability with a similar level of UX, despite some minimal (although significant) differences in terms of satisfaction of use

Sull'importanza del silenzio

Sull'importanza del Silenzio è una riflessione interdisciplinare sul ruolo che il silenzio occupa, o meglio, dovrebbe occupare, nella società occidentale del XXI secolo: un'apologia che intende riscattare il silenzio e farlo riemergere dalla spirale di sospetto e intolleranza in cui è drammaticamente finito. I punti di vista sono quelli della psicologia, della linguistica pragmatica, della filosofia, della letteratura, della musica e della sociologia

The Fifth International Conference on Human and Social Analytics - HUSO 2019

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XVI AISC Annual Conference 2019 THE COMPLEXITY OF COGNITION: MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

The literature on the interpretation of audiovisuals proved the ability of music to convey meanings through associations (Cohen, 2013) and activation of cognitive schemata (Boltz, 2001). Nevertheless, as pointed out by Herget (2019), research on this issue is sparse. This results in experiments each analysing single psychological constructs, with no consideration to interpretation as a holistic process involving several interconnected operations, such as attribution of emotions and personality traits to the characters on the scene, empathy felt toward them, perception of the depicted environment and attention focusing. Here we present a study (N = 109, age = 37 ± 14) addressing the abovementioned cognitive operations. In a between-subject design, our participants watched a scene (01’ 55’’) from an unknown short movie (L’homme atlantique by M. Duras, 1981): an emotionally neutral male character slowly walks toward some large windows in a lonesome building, with the seaside in the distance. He walks, looks outside, stops, and moves out of the frame. In the first and last framing, a camera operator can be barely glimpsed reflected in a mirror for a couple of seconds. In three experimental conditions, the video was accompanied respectively by a dogged and anxious orchestral piece (The Isle of the Dead by S. Rachmaninov), a soft, melancholic and jazz solo piano (Like someone in love by B. Evans) or by ambient sound only. After the viewing, participants were asked how they felt toward the character and what they thought he was thinking and feeling, what kind of personality he could have, and whether they had seen another character in the video. Differently from previous works in the field, we used well-established and validated scales to measure the constructs at hand. Our results indicate that the soundtrack did not influence the attribution of emotions to the character, except for nostalgia, i.e., those who listened to Evans attributed more nostalgia to the main character. On the contrary, music deeply affected parasocial interactions: Evans group experienced more empathy toward the character; conversely, Rachmaninov group experienced more distress toward him. We also observed marginal effects on the attributed personality traits: Evans group made the participants attribute a more flexible and balanced personality. Lastly, by orienting subjects’ gazes and expectations, Rachmaninov disquieting piece created false memories: the participants in that condition more often reported seeing someone else in the scene, but they seldom guessed who/where this hidden camera operator was. Moreover, in an open question they claimed seeing items and animals which were not in the scene at all. We are currently working on an eye-tracking follow-up hypothesising that anxious music affected gaze patterns by widening fixations and saccades

Nuove tecnologie e convergenza economica: teoria ed evidenza empirica da un'analisi delle regioni europee

In questo lavoro si analizzano innanzitutto le specificità delle nuove tecnologie legate all'informatica (ICT) e il loro effetto sulla crescita economica e sulla convergenza. In particolare, si analizzano da un punto di vista macroeconomico le implicazioni in termini di convergenza derivanti dall'utilizzo di tecnologia basata sulla conoscenza. In seguito, mediante l'utilizzo di tecniche non parametriche, si sottopongono a verifica empirica alcune ipotesi teoriche identificate in precedenza su dati di un campione di regioni europee. I risultati confermano l'ipotesi di concentrazione geografica dell'attività economica, contrariamente all'ipotesi di "morte della distanza" che deriverebbe dall'adozione di ICT. Inoltre si evidenzia che una maggiore presenza di occupati nei settori "hi-tech" determinerebbe una maggiore convergenza nella distribuzione del reddito pro capite

Geert Brône and Bert Oben (Eds.): Eye-tracking in interaction

Book review of: Geert Brône and Bert Oben (Eds.): Eye-tracking in interaction (2018), ISBN 978 90 272 0152 2, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 329 p