Relation between functional brain imaging, cognitive impairment and cognitive rehabilitation in patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract : Cognitive impairment belongs to the core symptoms in MS affecting quality of life, self-esteem, and social as well as occupational functioning. Due to this high impact on patients' well-being efficient treatment concepts are required. Imaging studies on cognition have shown that functional reorganisation takes place spontaneously to compensate for deficits. In mildly to moderately impaired patients these processes may support coping with emerging deficits. However, these compensatory processes seem to be limited as brain activation of cognitively severely impaired patients is characterised by decreased additional recruitment of brain regions. Cognitive rehabilitation concentrates on the question whether induction of brain plasticity is possible for both the support of the spontaneous processes and the initiation of new ones. Combining cognition, brain imaging and cognitive rehabilitation in MS, an intriguing question is whether fMRI can provide further insights into the mechanisms of induced plasticity and serve as objective outcome measures for efficient cognitive interventio

Breaking immersion: A theoretical framework of alienated play to facilitate critical reflection on interactive media

There is a growing interest in understanding how to best represent complexity using IDNs. We conceptualize this as the aim to make players of such IDNs reflect critically on the complexity being represented. We argue that current understandings of player experience do not lend themselves to this aim. Research on interactive media has assumed immersion to be a universal positive for the player experience. However, in this article we argue that immersion into the Magic Circle of an IDN could be antagonistic to a critical experience. This is because immersion persuades players into suspending their disbelief, rather than facilitating critical reflection. Instead we propose, on the basis of the Epic Theater, an alternative form of play called alienated play. Meaning, a form of play in which the player is playing, while also observing themselves play. This form of play should allow for players to benefit from the enjoyable nature of play, while simultaneously remaining at a critical distance. To illustrate our theory we design two models, one for immersed play and one for alienated play. Furthermore, we present examples of the design for alienation in commercial video games, as well as hypotheses to test out theory in future research. Therefore, this work contributes an initial theoretical and practical informed form of play, specifically designed to facilitate critical reflection on IDNs representing complexity

Response to the Reviews on Bargas-Avila et al. (2009) ‘Intranet Satisfaction Questionnaire: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Measure User Satisfaction with the Intranet'

This article contains the response to the reviews regarding the development and validation of the Intranet Satisfaction Questionnaire (ISQ), which measures user satisfaction with the Intranet. Where appropriate additional data analysis and interpretation is provided, the data show further evidence for the good validity, reliability and sensitivity of this tool. In addition, we provide a short preview of a follow-up publication and show that the ISQ can differentiate effectively between bad and good Intranet

The quality of data collected online: An investigation of careless responding in a crowdsourced sample

Despite recent concerns about data quality, various academic fields rely increasingly on crowdsourced samples. Thus, the goal of this study was to systematically assess carelessness in a crowdsourced sample (N = 394) by applying various measures and detection methods. A Latent Profile Analysis revealed that 45.9% of the participants showed some form of careless behavior. Excluding these participants increased the effect size in an experiment included in the survey. Based on our findings, several recommendations of easy to apply measures for assessing data quality are given

User-friendly locations of error messages in web forms: Put them on the right side of the erroneous input field

There are many ways of placing error messages in web forms. A study of web conventions shows that the most common approach is to display error messages embedded in the form at the top of the entire form. Six frequent locations (right, left, above and below the erroneous input field, as well as on the top and at the bottom of the form) were tested in an online study with n = 303 participants. Results of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction show that the locations near the erroneous input field lead to a significantly better performance than the error messages on the top and at the bottom of the form; in addition error messages on the right side of the erroneous input field were subjectively evaluated as the most satisfying and intuitive by participants. The results indicate possible improvements for online shops, where error messages are currently mostly placed on the top of the for

Images Influencing Images: How Pictorial Context Affects the Emotional Interpretation of Art Photographs

Images are never seen in isolation. Instead, they are perceived within a spatial and temporal tapestry of neighboring images. What impact do other images have on our emotional response toward a particular image? Answers to this basic question have vital implications for a range of fields—especially for visual communication and for curating art, where resources are invested in arranging images within a visual context. Previous studies have provided mixed results, suggesting that juxtaposed images may lead to contrast or assimilation processes increasing and decreasing our liking of an image. But how specific image features in neighboring images (image’s ambiguity or formal similarities between images) modulate our affective interpretation of an image has almost never been explored. In Study 1, we compared the emotion perceived in art photographs (“target” images) when displayed on their own versus when displayed in juxtaposition with negatively or positively valenced nonart (“context”) images. Additionally, we analyzed the influence of the artwork’s perceived ambiguity. In Study 2, we examined the effect of the perceiver’s expertise and the formal similarity between the images on the rated valence of the target image. Our results show that the emotion perceived in the artwork contrasted away from or assimilated toward the valence perceived in the context image depending on which evaluative dimension was activated. Moreover, the influence of negative contextual material on the target image’s valence was more pronounced. We conclude by saying that the evaluative dimension is part of the pictorial context that influences the affective interpretation of an image

Enhancing online forms: Use format specifications for fields with format restrictions to help respondents

Field format restrictions are often used in online forms to impose certain formatting and content rules on users, such as minimum password length or date entry format. In this study, the question whether and how format restrictions for fields in online forms should be communicated to Internet users was explored. In an online study with n = 166 participants, four ways to communicate format restrictions were investigated: (1) no visual format restriction, (2) format examples, (3) format specifications, and (4) both format restrictions (examples and specifications). Results show that providing details of any format restriction to users in advance leads to significantly fewer errors and trials. The most efficient way to communicate field format restrictions to users is by stating the imposed rule (format specification). Providing an additional example neither helps nor constrains user

Usable error message presentation in the World Wide Web: Do not show errors right away

Online form validation can be performed in several ways. This article discusses two empirical studies with 77 and 90 participants, which have found evidence that the best way of presenting error messages is to provide the erroneous fields after users have completed the whole form. Immediate error feedback recommended by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) showed the worst performance in these studies. Where presented with immediate feedback, users often simply ignored the messages on the screen and continued completing the form as if nothing happened. These results lead to the postulation of the "Modal Theory of Form Completion”: Users are in either "Completion” or "Revision Mode” when filling out online forms. These modes affect the users' way of interaction with the system: During Completion Mode the users' disposition to correct mistakes is reduced, therefore error messages are often ignore

Error prevention in online forms: Use color instead of asterisks to mark required-fields

In this study, a simple but important user interface design choice is examined: when marking required-fields in online forms, should GUI designers stick with the often used asterisk that many form design guidelines cite as the de-facto web standard, or should they choose a colored background as a new design solution to visually signal which input fields are required? An experiment with 24 participants was conducted to test the hypotheses that efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction ratings of colored required-fields exceed those of asterisk-marked required-fields. Results indicate that colored required field marking leads to fewer errors, faster form fill-in in and higher user satisfactio

Are engineers condemned to design? a survey on software engineering and

Abstract. In this paper we present the results of a descriptive online survey conducted among Swiss software developers regarding their engineering practices with a special focus on the design and development of user interfaces. This enables an insight into the everyday life of a software engineer and can lead usability practitioners, project managers and clients to a better level of cooperation in designing user interfaces through understanding how software engineers work. While software is developed and tested in a professional way, several problem areas were detected: firstly, software engineers frequently develop user interfaces alone, without the help of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) professionals. Secondly, they have a limited knowledge of HCI. Thirdly, whilst they have contact to end users, they do not make use of this for user interface design. Finally, usability tests are rare and seldom result in big changes