INTUITIVE USER INTERFACES

The paper outlines an approach to the development of intuitively understandable on-screen user interfaces. Users have been found to explain the operation of equipment with screen based user interfaces in terms of handling “objects” and interacting with “agents” in a virtual “space”. These metaphorical descriptions may reflect general and fundamental principles of cognition that are rooted in the evolution of the human species. It is postulated that presentation of information on the interface as scenes, objects and actors can call upon instinctive capacities for direct perceptual information pickup, intuitive cognitive functions and natural behavioral tendencies. In order to initiate learning of complex functions that cannot be perceived directly may necessitate the use of symbolic information. This must be based on an analysis of the most appropriate way to map the new functions to the users’ prior conceptual understanding of technological objects and functions

Viden-indhentning og -modellering:: Et nyt arbejdsområde for psykologer?

The acquisition, formalization and representation of expert knowledge in computer programs is a rapidly expanding field in the wake of computer technology developments. In the following it will be pointed out that this work to a large extent is based ontheories of human cognition and applies psychological methods such as interview, observation, experiments and protocol analysis. Experiences from modelling of the knowledge and reasoning by machinists concerning the state of the process in a power plantshow how these methods can be used in developing expert programs. This illustrates the fact that you do not have to be a computer expert to start working on such a project.Indhentning, formalisering og repræsentation af ekspertviden i edb-programmer er et stærkt ekspanderende område i kølvandet på computer-udviklingen. Det vil her blive fremhævet, hvorledes dette arbejde i stor udstrækning er baseret på teorier om den menneskelige kognition og anvender psykologiske metoder som interviews, observationer, eksperimenter og protokolanalyse. Erfaringerne fra en videnmodellering af maskinmestres ræsonnementer over anlægstilstande på et kraftværk illustrerer, hvorledes disse metoder kan bruges til udviklingen af ekspertprogrammer, og at man ikke behøver at være edb-ekspert for at kunne gå i gang med et sådant projekt

Listen, Learn, Like! Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Involved in the Mere Exposure Effect in Music

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural basis of the mere exposure effect in music listening, which links previous exposure to liking. Prior to scanning, participants underwent a learning phase, where exposure to melodies was systematically varied. During scanning, participants rated liking for each melody and, later, their recognition of them. Participants showed learning effects, better recognising melodies heard more often. Melodies heard most often were most liked, consistent with the mere exposure effect. We found neural activations as a function of previous exposure in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex, probably reflecting retrieval and working memory-related processes. This was despite the fact that the task during scanning was to judge liking, not recognition, thus suggesting that appreciation of music relies strongly on memory processes. Subjective liking per se caused differential activation in the left hemisphere, of the anterior insula, the caudate nucleus, and the putamen

MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION OG HJERNEPROCESSER

Meditation er en klassisk spirituel praksis, rettet mod at bringe sindet i ro. I artiklen rapporteres en undersøgelse af hjerne­processer under meditation med anvendelse af fMRI. Formålet er at identificere og karakterisere hjerneprocessernes forløb under skiftet fra normal hvile til meditation og under kontinuert vedvarende meditation. Under skiftet til meditation blev der fundet øget aktivitet i hjerneområder, som er involverede i regulering af strukturerede aktiviteter, og mindsket aktivitet i områder af cortex, som er af stor betydning for selvrelateret opmærksomhed. I scanninger af skiftet fra hvile til meditation, kontinuert meditation, almindelig hvile og fingertapning blev identificeret komponenter af hjerneprocesser, som kendes fra undersøgelser af hvile. Komponenterne udviser forskellige mønstre af skiftende indbyrdes korrelation under de forskel­lige bevidsthedstilstande. På baggrund af undersøgelsens resultater fremsættes den hypotese, at hjerneprocesser under meditation ikke primært er karakteriserede ved, at specifikke dele af hjernen er særlig aktive, men ved at hjernens processer som helhed udviser en særlig dynamik

INTUITIVE USER INTERFACES

The paper outlines an approach to the development of intuitively understandable on-screen user interfaces. Users have been found to explain the operation of equipment with screen based user interfaces in terms of handling “objects ” and interacting with “agents ” in a virtual “space”. These metaphorical descriptions may reflect general and fundamental principles of cognition that are rooted in the evolution of the human species. It is postulated that presentation of information on the interface as scenes, objects and actors can call upon instinctive capacities for direct percep-tual information pickup, intuitive cognitive functions and natural behavioral tendencies. In order to initiate learning of complex functions that cannot be perceived directly may necessitate the use of symbolic information. This must be based on an analysis of the most appropriate way to map the new functions to the users ’ prior conceptual understanding of technological objects and func-tions. Keywords

Global crises

Dette nummer af Psyke & Logos handler om globale kriser – først og fremmest klimakrisen og dens betydning for menneskers liv og mentale helbred. Det handler også om et relateret tema: vores fælles forståelse og behandling af naturen omkring os, ikke mindst vores egen natur – og i den forbindelse vores krop og sind. En krop og et sind, som ifølge diverse samfundskritikere også er i krise, hvilket bl.a. kommer til udtryk i den stigende forekomst af psykiske og kropslige forstyrrelser (f.eks. Honneth, 2003; Rosa, 2019). Bør vi da ikke spørge os selv, hvilken rolle og hvilket ansvar psykologien har i disse tider? Og hvordan skal vi i grunden forstå disse tider, hvor diverse kriser er definerende for vores nutidige og fremtidige livsform

Method for Subjective Assessment of Immersion in Audiovisual Experiences

Studying immersion in audiovisual experiences can help technologists deliver engaging and enhanced experiences. As a first step toward this goal this paper details an investigation conducted to establish an experimental paradigm for quantifying immersion and determining the influence of immersive tendency (susceptibility to become immersed) on immersion. A balanced incomplete block design was employed where 21 assessors rated 15 commercially available stimuli (representative of the highest quality encountered in domestic AV applications) without repetitions and simultaneous comparisons. The assessors were instructed to rate immersion on a graphic line scale and document their familiarity with the content. A questionnaire was administered to measure the immersive tendency after the rating experiment. The results show that the assessors can comprehend the description of immersion and follow the experimental protocol. It is found that immersion is a graded experience and the correlation between immersive tendencies and immersion ratings is predominantly statistically insignificant. The experimental paradigm presented in this paper can form the framework for assessing immersion and developing novel methods to thoroughly explore the concept of immersion in audiovisual experiences