Familiar size effects on reaction time: When congruent is better

Familiar size is known to influence our perception of object’s size and distance. In this study, we examined whether or not simple RTs (RTs) are also affected by prior knowledge of objects’ size. In a series of experiments, participants were asked to respond as quickly as possible to briefly presented images of familiar objects, equated for luminance and retinal size. The effects of familiar size and object animacy on RTs were investigated under natural (Experiment 1) and reduced (Experiment 2) viewing conditions. Restricted viewing conditions were introduced to manipulate the availability of depth cues. A systematic effect of familiar size on RTs was considered for progressively “shrunken” (Experiment 3) and “enlarged” (Experiment 4) objects on the screen with respect to their familiar size. Measures of perceived size were also taken by means of a manual estimation task (Experiment 5). Results showed an effect of animacy on simple RTs: Participants were faster to respond to images of animals than nonanimals. An effect of familiar size on simple RTs was also observed under reduced viewing conditions only: Objects shown closer to their real-world size were detected significantly more quickly than those further from their familiar size. However, this familiar-size advantage did not reflect perceived size. Hence, simple RTs under reduced viewing conditions are modulated by the degree of compatibility between physical size and long-term representations of size. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved

The effects of spiritual care nursing education on nurses\u27 comfort in the delivery of spiritual care

Spiritual care of patients has been an important part of nursing since Florence Nightingale\u27s days, although the spiritual nature of nursing care is often overlooked in today\u27s nursing community. According to Highfield (1992) and Lilley (1987), issues regarding the physical and psychosocial aspects of nursing care continue to predominate nursing literature despite the long standing documented value of spiritual aspects of nursing care (Burkhardt and Nagai-Jacobson, 1994; Robinson, 1994 and Ross, 1994), resulting in limited available learning opportunities related to spiritual care. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an educational intervention concerning spiritual nursing care on spiritual care knowledge and comfort level in the delivery of spiritual care. Forty-six registered nurses were tested pre- and post-seminar in order to determine the effect of the educational intervention; Findings revealed high base knowledge and comfort level related to spiritual care. Despite this high level, knowledge increased significantly post-seminar (p.008). Comfort level was also increased (p =.057), but this increase was not significant. Anecdotal comments from seminar participants supported the findings and reflected interest and excitement about spirituality and nursing; This study provided evidence of interest in spiritual nursing care among registered nurses. Documentation of objective and subjective findings related to education and spiritual care nursing has the potential to impact nursing education and practice

The temporal dynamics of size perception in adults and children

In a series of experiments, the influence of familiar object size on the speed of processing was investigated in adults and children, using a simple reaction time (RT) approach. In chapter 2, we demonstrated that children exhibited size-constancy-like responses starting from the age of five, although this conclusion was limited by task accuracy (experiment 1). The influence of symbolic and familiar size on simple RT was explored in 3 to 6-year-olds and adults (experiment 2). The task was conducted under reduced viewing conditions to enhance the contribution of familiar size as a visual cue. Although, we were unable to observe an effect of familiar or symbolic size on RT, we attributed this result to important methodological issues. In chapter 3, we report six experiments where we tested the influence of familiar size on simple RTs, measured under regular and reduced viewing conditions. The effect of animacy on RTs was also examined. We found that RTs were affected by familiar size in a manner that reflected the level of congruency between the physical size and the stored representation of size, such that congruent stimuli were responded to faster than incongruent stimuli. We also observed an animacy effect on RT: participants reacted faster to animals than non-animals. Finally, in chapter 4 we report an ERP study that investigated the electrophysiological correlates of familiar size. Results showed that the visual system processes familiar size around 100 ms after stimulus onset. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that familiar size is an automatic property of visual processing that can affect speeded motor responses. Future research could investigate the neural mechanisms underlying familiar object size and animacy, and specifically whether these mechanisms develop with age

Rapid classification methods of potatoes

The wonderful diversity of potatoes allows them to be celebrated in a variety of dishes that are wellloved by many cultures. Potatoes are grown all over the world with country-specific cultivars being developed at a rapid pace that are explicitly cultivated according to regional conditions.https://journals.co.za/journal/vp.chipsam2023Animal and Wildlife Science

Beyond Likert ratings: Improving the robustness of developmental research measurement using best-worst scaling

Some of the ‘best practice’ approaches to ensuring reproducibility of research can be difficult to implement in the developmental and clinical domains, where sample sizes and session lengths are constrained by the practicalities of recruitment and testing. For this reason, an important area of improvement to target is the reliability of measurement. Here we demonstrate that best–worst scaling (BWS) provides a superior alternative to Likert ratings for measuring children’s subjective impressions. Seventy-three children aged 5–6 years rated the trustworthiness of faces using either Likert ratings or BWS over two sessions. Individual children’s ratings in the BWS condition were significantly more consistent from session 1 to session 2 than those in the Likert condition, a finding we also replicate with a large adult sample (N = 72). BWS also produced more reliable ratings at the group level than Likert ratings in the child sample. These findings indicate that BWS is a developmentally appropriate response format that can deliver substantial improvements in reliability of measurement, which can increase our confidence in the robustness of findings with children

On formal specification of emergent behaviours in swarm robotic systems

It is a characteristic of swarm robotics that specifying overall emergent swarm behaviours in terms of the low-level behaviours of individual robots is very difficult. Yet if swarm robotics is to make the transition from the laboratory to real-world engineering realisation we need such specifications. This paper explores the use of temporal logic to formally specify, and possibly also prove, the emergent behaviours of a robotic swarm. The paper makes use of a simplified wireless connected swarm as a case study with which to illustrate the approach. Such a formal approach could be an important step toward a disciplined design methodology for swarm robotics

Broken symmetry and the variation of critical properties in the phase behaviour of supramolecular rhombus tilings

The degree of randomness, or partial order, present in two-dimensional supramolecular arrays of isophthalate tetracarboxylic acids is shown to vary due to subtle chemical changes such as the choice of solvent or small differences in molecular dimensions. This variation may be quantified using an order parameter and reveals a novel phase behaviour including random tiling with varying critical properties as well as ordered phases dominated by either parallel or non-parallel alignment of neighbouring molecules, consistent with long-standing theoretical studies. The balance between order and randomness is driven by small differences in the intermolecular interaction energies, which we show, using numerical simulations, can be related to the measured order parameter. Significant variations occur even when the energy difference is much less than the thermal energy highlighting the delicate balance between entropic and energetic effects in complex self-assembly processes

Targeted Drug-Resistance Testing Strategy for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Detection, Lima, Peru, 2005–2008

Running head: Targeted Drug-Resistance Testing Strategy for MDR T