The Role of Eye Gaze in Subjective Decision Making

Shimojo, Simion, Shimojo and Scheier (2003) provided preliminary evidence that eye movements have an active role in preference formation. In their study, subjects were presented with two faces and chose which was more attractive. By manipulating how long subjects were able to look at each face after an eye movement, Shimojo et al. (2003) showed that faces presented for a longer duration were more likely to be chosen as more attractive. However, a recent study from Nittono and Wada (2009) showed that an eye movement may not be necessary for this effect, as novel graphic patterns presented in the centre of the screen (thus requiring no eye movements) for longer durations were also more likely to be preferred. The purpose of the current study was to further investigate whether eye movements do have an active role in preference formation. The present study used the same paradigm as Shimojo et al.’s (2003) study. Subjects in Experiment 1 were presented with images of two real faces, alternatively (one for 900ms, one for 300ms) for six repetitions. There were 3 independent experimental conditions. One group were required to make eye movements to laterally presented faces and judge attractiveness (lateral attractiveness condition), a second were not required to make eye movements to centrally presented faces and judge attractiveness (central attractiveness condition). The third were required to make eye movements to laterally presented faces and judge roundness (lateral roundness condition). The findings indicated that subjects were more likely to choose the longer presented faces in the lateral attractiveness and central attractiveness conditions, but not the lateral roundness conditions. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 with the exception of the type of stimuli, which consisted of computer generated faces (CGFs). Subjects were more likely to choose the longer presented CGF in the lateral attractiveness, central attractiveness and lateral roundness conditions. The findings of the present study were not in line with Shimojo et al.’s (2003) previous findings, who found that faces presented for a longer duration were only preferred in the lateral attractiveness condition of their study. It is possible that the faces that are presented for the longer duration in the current paradigm are preferred due to the increase in exposure duration irrespective of an eye movement (as per the findings from Nittono and Wada, 2009). As it is unclear as to whether eye movements play an active role in preference formation, the findings of the present study have not been able to contribute to computational models of decision making

Study of single muons with the Large Volume Detector at Gran Sasso Laboratory

The present study is based on the sample of about 3 mln single muons observed by LVD at underground Gran Sasso Laboratory during 36500 live hours from June 1992 to February 1998. We have measured the muon intensity at slant depths from 3 km w.e. to 20 km w.e. Most events are high energy downward muons produced by meson decay in the atmosphere. The analysis of these muons has revealed the power index of pion and kaon spectrum: 2.76 \pm 0.05. The reminders are horizontal muons produced by the neutrino interactions in the rock surrounding LVD. The value of this flux is obtained. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations and the world data.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in "Physics of Atomic Nuclei

Measurement of the Proton Structure Function F\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e at Very Low Q\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e at HERA

A measurement of the proton structure function F2(x, Q2) is presented in the kinematic range 0.045 GeV2 \u3c Q2 \u3c 0.65 GeV2 and 6 · 10-7 \u3c x \u3c 1 · 10-3. The results were obtained using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.9pb-1 in e+ p reactions recorded with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Information from a silicon-strip tracking detector, installed in front of the small electromagnetic calorimeter used to measure the energy of the final-state positron at small scattering angles, together with an enhanced simulation of the hadronic final state, has permitted the extension of the kinematic range beyond that of previous measurements. The uncertainties in F2 are typically less than 4%. At the low Q2 values of the present measurement, the rise of F2 at low x is slower than observed in HERA data at higher Q2 and can be described by Regge theory with a constant logarithmic slope δlnF2/δln(1/x). The dependence of F2 on Q2 is stronger than at higher Q2 values, approaching, at the lowest Q2 values of this measurement, a region where F2 becomes nearly proportional to Q2. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V

Measurement of Multiplicity and Momentum Spectra in the Current and Target Regions of the Breit Frame in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Charged particle production in neutral current deep inelastic scattering (DIS) has been studied using the ZEUS detector. The evolution of the mean multiplicities, scaled momenta and transverse momenta in Q2 and cursive Greek chi for 10 \u3c Q2 \u3c 5120 GeV2 and cursive Greek chi \u3e 6 × 10-4 has been investigated in the current and target fragmentation regions of the Breit frame. Distributions in the target region, using HERA data for the first time, are compared to distributions in the current region. Predictions based on MLLA and LPHD are inconsistent with the data

Measurement of Three-Jet Distributions in Photoproduction at HERA

The cross section for the photoproduction of events containing three jets with a three-jet invariant mass of M31 \u3e 50 GeV has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The three-jet angular distributions are inconsistent with a uniform population of the available phase space but are well described by parton shower models and script O sign(α α2s) pQCD calculations. Comparisons with the parton shower model indicate a strong contribution from initial state radiation as well as a sensitivity to the effects of colour coherence. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

A high resolution, low power time-of-flight system for the space experiment AMS

The system of plastic scintillator counters for the AMS experiment is described. The main characteristics of the detector are: (a) large sensitive area (four 1.6 m2 planes) with small dead space; (b) low-power consumption (150 W for the power and the read-out electronics of 336 PMs); (c) 120 ps time resolution. ( 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Measurement of Dijet Photoproduction at High Transverse Energies at HERA

The cross section for dijet photoproduction at high transverse energies is presented as a function of the transverse energies and the pseudorapidities of the jets. The measurement is performed using a sample of ep-interactions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.3 pb-1, recorded by the ZEUS detector. Jets are defined by applying a kT-clustering algorithm to the hadrons observed in the final state. The measured cross sections are compared to next-to-leading order QCD calculations. In a kinematic regime where theoretical uncertainties are expected to be small, the measured cross sections are higher than these calculations

Search for Lepton Flavor Violation in ep Collisions at 300 GeV Center of Mass Energy

Using the ZEUS detector at the HERA electron-proton collider, we have searched for lepton flavor violation in ep collisions at a center-of-mass energy (√s) of 300 GeV. Events of the type e + p → ℓ + X with a final-state lepton of high transverse momentum, ℓ = μ or τ, were sought. No evidence was found for lepton flavor violation in the combined 1993 and 1994 data samples, for which the integrated luminosities were 0.84 pb-1 for e-p collisions and 2.94 pb-1 for e+p collisions. Limits on coupling vs. mass are provided for leptoquarks and R-parity violating squarks. For flavor violating couplings of electromagnetic strength, we set 95% confidence level lower limits on leptoquark masses between 207 GeV and 272 GeV, depending on the leptoquark species and final-state lepton. For leptoquark masses larger than 300 GeV, limits on flavor-changing couplings are determined, many of which supersede prior limits from rare decay processes. © Springer-Verlag 1997

Dijet Angular Distributions in Direct and Resolved Photoproduction at HERA

Jet photoproduction, where the two highest transverse energy (ETjet) jets have ETjet above 6 GeV and a jet-jet invariant mass above 23 GeV, has been studied with the ZEUS detector at the HERA ep collider. Resolved and direct photoproduction samples have been separated. The cross section as a function of the angle between the jet-jet axis and the beam direction in the dijet rest frame has been measured for the two samples. The measured angular distributions differ markedly from each other. They agree with the predictions of QCD calculations, where the different angular distributions reflect the different spins of the quark and gluon exchanged in the hard subprocess

Measurement of the E(T,Jet)/ \u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e /Q \u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e Dependence of Forward-Jet Production at HERA

The forward-jet cross section in deep inelastic e + p scattering has been measured using the ZEUS detector at HERA with an integrated luminosity of 6.36 pb -1 . The jet cross section is presented as a function of jet transverse energy squared, E(T,jet)/ 2 , and Q 2 in the kinematic ranges 10 -2 \u3c E(T,jet)/ 2 /Q 2 \u3c 10 2 and 2.5 · 10 -4 \u3c x \u3c 8.0 · 10 -2 . Since the perturbative QCD predictions for this cross section are sensitive to the treatment of the log(E(T,jet)/ 2 /Q2) terms, this measurement provides an important test. The measured cross section is compared to the predictions of a next-to-leading order pQCD calculation as well as to various leading-order Monte Carlo models. Whereas the predictions of all models agree with the measured cross section in the region of small E(T,jet/ 2 /Q 2 only one model, which includes a resolved photon component, describes the data over the whole kinematic range. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V