Why good thoughts block better ones: The mechanism of the pernicious Einstellung (set) effect.

The Einstellung (set) effect occurs when the first idea that comes to mind, triggered by familiar features of a problem, prevents a better solution being found. It has been shown to affect both people facing novel problems and experts within their field of expertise. We show that it works by influencing mechanisms that determine what information is attended to. Having found one solution, expert chess players reported that they were looking for a better one. But their eye movements showed that they continued to look at features of the problem related to the solution they had already thought of. The mechanism which allows the first schema activated by familiar aspects of a problem to control the subsequent direction of attention may contribute to a wide range of biases both in everyday and expert thought - from confirmation bias in hypothesis testing to the tendency of scientists to ignore results that do not fit their favoured theories

Specialization effect and its influence on memory and problem solving in expert chess players

Expert chess players, specialized in different openings, recalled positions and solved problems within and outside their area of specialization. While their general expertise was at a similar level players performed better with stimuli from their area of specialization. The effect of specialization on both recall and problem solving was strong enough to override general expertise – players remembering positions and solving problems from their area of specialization performed at around the level of players one standard deviation above them in general skill. Their problem solving strategy also changed depending on whether the problem was within their area of specialization or not. When it was, they searched more in depth and less in breadth; with problems outside their area of specialization, the reverse. The knowledge that comes from familiarity with a problem area is more important than general purpose strategies in determining how an expert will tackle it. These results demonstrate the link in experts between problem solving and memory of specific experiences and indicate that the search for context independent general purpose problem solving strategies to teach to future experts is unlikely to be successful

Inflexibility of experts – Reality or myth? Quantifying the Einstellung effect in chess masters

How does the knowledge of experts affect their behaviour in situations that require unusual methods of dealing? One possibility, loosely originating in research on creativity and skill acquisition, is that an increase in expertise can lead to inflexibility of thought due to automation of procedures. Yet another possibility, based on expertise research, is that experts’ knowledge leads to flexibility of thought. We tested these two possibilities in a series of experiments using the Einstellung (set) effect paradigm. Chess players tried to solve problems that had both a familiar but non-optimal solution and a better but less familiar one. The more familiar solution induced the Einstellung (set) effect even in experts, preventing them from finding the optimal solution. The presence of the non-optimal solution reduced experts' problem solving ability was reduced to about that of players three standard deviations lower in skill level by the presence of the non-optimal solution. Inflexibility of thought induced by prior knowledge (i.e., the blocking effect of the familiar solution) was shown by experts but the more expert they were, the less prone they were to the effect. Inflexibility of experts is both reality and myth. But the greater the level of expertise, the more of a myth it becomes

Discovering predictive variables when evolving cognitive models

A non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm is used to evolve models of learning from different theories for multiple tasks. Correlation analysis is performed to identify parameters which affect performance on specific tasks; these are the predictive variables. Mutation is biased so that changes to parameter values tend to preserve values within the population's current range. Experimental results show that optimal models are evolved, and also that uncovering predictive variables is beneficial in improving the rate of convergence

Evaluation of Synapse Density in Hippocampal Rodent Brain Slices.

In the brain, synapses are specialized junctions between neurons, determining the strength and spread of neuronal signaling. The number of synapses is tightly regulated during development and neuronal maturation. Importantly, deficits in synapse number can lead to cognitive dysfunction. Therefore, the evaluation of synapse number is an integral part of neurobiology. However, as synapses are small and highly compact in the intact brain, the assessment of absolute number is challenging. This protocol describes a method to easily identify and evaluate synapses in hippocampal rodent slices using immunofluorescence microscopy. It includes a three-step procedure to evaluate synapses in high-quality confocal microscopy images by analyzing the co-localization of pre- and postsynaptic proteins in hippocampal slices. It also explains how the analysis is performed and gives representative examples from both excitatory and inhibitory synapses. This protocol provides a solid foundation for the analysis of synapses and can be applied to any research investigating the structure and function of the brain

The mechanism of the Einstellung (set) effect: A pervasive source of cognitive bias

Copyright @ The Authors 2010The eye movements of expert players trying to solve a chess problem show that the first idea that comes to mind directs attention towards sources of information consistent with itself and away from inconsistent information. This bias continues unconsciously even when the player believes he is looking for alternatives. The result is that alternatives to the first idea are ignored. This mechanism for biasing attention ensures a speedy response in familiar situations but it can lead to errors when the first thought that comes to mind is not appropriate. We propose that this mechanism is the source of many cognitive biases from phenomena in problem solving and reasoning, to perceptual errors and failures in memory

Collaborative Management of HIV Infection in the Community: An Effort to Improve the Quality of HIV Care

Our hospital led a multidisciplinary community team to improve the quality of care delivered to HIV-infected clients utilizing a disease management approach in a US metropolitan community of 150,000 people. Community needs assessment and client and community surveys were used to define the problems. Patient care flowcharting and the creation of an electronic patient database facilitated patient tracking across the entire community. Clinical guidelines and a consultation and referral immunology clinic standardized care practices. Measurable improvements in the quality of care were noted in multiple areas. Flowchart completion rates rose from 44% to 100%; medication adherence assessment rose from 82% to 100%; immunization rates rose from a mean of 72% to a mean of 87%; PPD screening rose from a low of 35% to a high of 87%; perinatal transmission rates fell from 31% to 4%; and Emergency Department utilization decreased. Two essential components of the effort were the establishment of a full-time leadership position in the form of a clinical nurse practitioner and the creation of an electronic database with flowcharting to standardize the measurement, delivery and tracking of care. The programme has become an example of successful disease management through hospital-community collaboration

Obscuration in the Host Galaxies of Soft X-ray Selected Seyferts

We define a new sample of 96 low-redshift (z<0.1), soft X-ray selected Seyferts from the catalog of the Einstein Slew Survey (Elvis etal. 1992, Plummer et al. 1994). We probe the geometry and column depth of obscuring material in the host-galaxy disks using galaxian axial ratios determined mainly from the Digitized Sky Survey. The distribution of host-galaxy axial ratios clearly shows a bias against edge-on spirals, confirming the existence of a geometrically thick layer of obscuring material in the host-galaxy planes. Soft X-ray selection recovers some of the edge-on objects missed in UV and visible surveys but still results in 30% incompleteness for Type 1's. We speculate that thick rings of obscuring material like the ones we infer for these Seyferts might be commonly present in early type spirals, sitting at the Inner Lindblad Resonances of the nonaxisymmetric potentials of the host galaxies.Comment: 14 pages including 2 tables and 3 eps figures, aas2pp4.sty, to appear in Ap

An optical parsec-scale jet from a massive young star in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Highly collimated parsec-scale jets, generally linked to the presence of an accretion disk, are a commonly observed phenomenon from revealed low-mass young stellar objects. In the past two decades, only a very few of these objects have been directly (or indirectly) observed towards high-mass (M > 8 M$_{\odot}$) young stellar objects, adding to the growing evidence that disk-mediated accretion is a phenomenon also occurring in high-mass stars, the formation mechanism of which is still poorly understood. Of the observed jets from massive young stars, none is in the optical regime (due to these being typically highly obscured by their native material), and none are found outside of the Milky Way. Here, we report the detection of HH 1177, the first extragalactic optical ionized jet originating from a massive young stellar object located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The jet is highly collimated over the entire measured extent of at least 10 pc, and has a bipolar geometry. The presence of a jet indicates ongoing, disk-mediated accretion, and together with the high degree of collimation, this system is therefore likely to be an up-scaled version of low-mass star formation. We conclude that the physics governing jet launching and collimation is independent of stellar mass.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Into the Mystic: ALMA ACA observations of the Mystic Mountains in Carina

We present new observations of the Mystic Mountains cloud complex in the Carina Nebula using the ALMA Atacama Compact Array (ACA) to quantify the impact of strong UV radiation on the structure and kinematics of the gas. Our Band 6 observations target CO, 13CO, and C18O; we also detect DCN J=3–2 and 13CS J=5–4. A dendrogram analysis reveals that the Mystic Mountains are a coherent structure, with continuous emission over −10.5 km s−1 < v < −2 km s−1. We perform multiple analyses to isolate non-thermal motions in the Mystic Mountains including computing the turbulent driving parameter, b, which indicates whether compressive or solenoidal modes dominate. Each analysis yields values similar to other pillars in Carina that have been observed in a similar way but are subject to an order of magnitude less intense ionizing radiation. We find no clearcorrelation between the velocity or turbulent structure of the gas and the incident radiation, in contrast to other studies targeting different regions of Carina. This may reflect differences in the initial densities of regions that go on to collapse into pillars and those that still look like clouds or walls in the present day. Pre-existing over-densities that enable pillar formation may also explain why star formation in the pillars appears more evolved (from the presence of jets) than in other heavily irradiated but non-pillar-like regions. High resolution observations of regions subject to an array of incident radiation are required to test this hypothesis