Modulation of P3 and the Late Positive Potential ERP Components by Standard Stimulus Restorativeness and Naturalness

Tests of attention restoration theory (ART) consistently support that exposure to restorative environments can replenish finite cognitive resources, needed to focus attention, from a depleted state. These environments are usually natural, but the dimensions of naturalness and restorativeness are not one and the same, and yet have not been empirically delineated. The restorative effect has been documented in children and adults. However, neuroscientists have barely begun to test for neural correlates of ART. In this dissertation, I employ electroencephalography (EEG) to record electrophysiological brain activity during an active visual oddball task to capture and analyze p3 elicitation and late positive potential (LPP) activation, event-related potential (ERP) components. The p3 component is a pronounced, positive-going potential in brain activity occurring in the window between 200 and 600 milliseconds after the onset of a stimulus. Previous research has shown that the amplitude of the p3 potential is attenuated – and latency increased – when task difficulty is high and/or attentional resources are depleted. Conversely, when task demands are low, p3 amplitude is greater without an accompanying increase in latency, suggesting cognitive efficiency. LPP is positive activity from 500 ms or more after stimulus onset until stimulus termination that is associated with stimulus emotional valence. I hypothesized that, in an active discrimination oddball task adults would show increased p3 amplitude for low-frequency target images occurring amidst standard (high-frequency) images of highly restorative environments versus when standard images are of lowly restorative environments or a solid brown tile, and that naturalness would not interact with restorativeness such that targets amidst restorative natural environments elicit p3’s that are no stronger than targets amidst restorative built environments. Results showed p3 amplitude was greater, and latency earlier, for HR standard stimuli, rather than targets, which was unusual for the oddball paradigm but is explained within the framework of ART according to standard stimulus content. Also, LPP activity was only different between one occipital channel and three frontal channels between 600 ms and 1000 ms post stimulus onset, but greater in the nature stimulus group than the built between 1000 ms and 2000 ms post stimulus onset. This finding is consistent with previous research and interpreted to mean that natural stimuli are more pleasant and arousing than built stimuli. Limitations and future directions are also discussed

Natural Categorization: Electrophysiological Responses to Viewing Natural Versus Built Environments

Environments are unique in terms of structural composition and evoked human experience. Previous studies suggest that natural compared to built environments may increase positive emotions. Humans in natural environments also demonstrate greater performance on attention-based tasks. Few studies have investigated cortical mechanisms underlying these phenomena or probed these differences from a neural perspective. Using a temporally sensitive electrophysiological approach, we employ an event-related, implicit passive viewing task to demonstrate that in humans, a greater late positive potential (LPP) occurs with exposure to built than natural environments, resulting in a faster return of activation to pre-stimulus baseline levels when viewing natural environments. Our research thus provides new evidence suggesting natural environments are perceived differently from built environments, converging with previous behavioral findings and theoretical assumptions from environmental psychology

An Examination of Children’s Learning Progression Shifts While Using Touch Screen Virtual Manipulative Mathematics Apps

The purpose of this study was to examine shifts in young children\u27s learning progression levels while they interacted with virtual manipulative mathematics apps on touch-screen devices. A total of 100 children participated in six mathematics learning sequences while using 18 virtual manipulative mathematics touch-screen apps during clinical interviews. Researchers developed a micro-scoring tool to analyze video data from two camera sources (i.e., GoPro camera, wall-mounted camera). Our results showed that it is possible to document evidence of shifts in children\u27s learning progressions while they are interacting with mathematics apps on touch-screen devices. Our results also indicated patterns in the children\u27s interactions that were related to the shifts in their learning progression levels. These results suggest that an open-ended number of tasks with a variety of representations and tasks at varying levels of difficulty led to children refining their understanding and shaping their concept image of mathematical ideas resulting in incremental shifts in learning. The results of this study have important implications about how mathematical tasks in touch-screen apps may prompt children\u27s incremental learning progression shifts to occur, and thereby promote opportunities for learning. We propose that design features in mathematics apps can be created to support and encourage these learning shifts

The evolution of quantitative sensitivity

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Programme grant no. DGE-1419118 to S.E.K., and NSF 2000759 from the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) to S.T.P., the Austrian Science Fund (FWF project no. P33928_B) to F.R., the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship grant no. 220020300 to J.F.C., National Institutes of Health grant no. R01 HD085996 to J.F.C. and S.T.P. and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.The ability to represent approximate quantities appears to be phylogenetically widespread, but the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms favouring this ability remain unknown. We analysed quantity discrimination data from 672 subjects across 33 bird and mammal species, using a novel Bayesian model that combined phylogenetic regression with a model of number psychophysics and random effect components. This allowed us to combine data from 49 studies and calculate the Weber fraction (a measure of quantity representation precision) for each species. We then examined which cognitive, socioecological and biological factors were related to variance in Weber fraction. We found contributions of phylogeny to quantity discrimination performance across taxa. Of the neural, socioecological and general cognitive factors we tested, cortical neuron density and domain-general cognition were the strongest predictors of Weber fraction, controlling for phylogeny. Our study is a new demonstration of evolutionary constraints on cognition, as well as of a relation between species-specific neuron density and a particular cognitive ability. This article is part of the theme issue 'Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory'.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Coyote Numerical Discrimination on Based Memor

This study builds upon previous findings in numerical cognition with animals by testing whether coyotes are able to quantitatively discriminate proportions based on memory as has been shown in domestic dogs (Ward & Smuts, 2006). Former research was conducted with domestic dogs and coyote populations to discern their visual ability to quantitatively discriminate between different numerical ratios. It has been shown that such canids have an ability to visually discriminate between simultaneously displayed larger and smaller portions of food (Baker, Shivik, & Jordan, 2011; Ward & Smuts, 2006). These findings are consistent with Weber\u27s Law, which states that the just-noticeable difference between two stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimuli. Here we assessed coyotes_ quantitative discrimination abilities by displaying different quantities of food pieces to coyotes before placing the choices out of their visual field. We coded their choices to determine whether they can discriminate between different quantities based on their memory of these quantities and if it adheres to Weber\u27s Law. Contrary to our expectations, our results show that coyotes do not discriminate quantities as predicted by Weber\u27s Law when using their memory. However, two variables significantly predicted the coyote choosing the greater portion: 1) the side the larger portion was placed and 2) if the larger or smaller ratios were presented first. We further discuss why this might be the case from an evolutionary perspective and why these particular factors might affect the choices made by coyotes

Memory-Based Quantity Discrimination in Coyotes (\u3ci\u3eCanis latrans\u3c/i\u3e)

Previous research has shown that the ratio between competing quantities of food significantly mediates coyotes‘ (Canis latrans) ability to choose the larger of two food options. These previous findings are consistent with predictions made by Weber‘s Law and indicate that coyotes possess quantity discrimination abilities that are similar to other species. Importantly, coyotes‘ discrimination abilities are similar to domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), indicating that quantitative discrimination may remain stable throughout certain species‘ evolution. However, while previously shown in two domestic dogs, it is unknown whether coyotes possess the ability to discriminate visual quantities from memory. Here, we address this question by displaying different ratios of food quantities to 14 coyotes before placing the choices out of sight. The coyotes were then allowed to select one of either non-visible food quantities. Coyotes‘ discrimination of quantity from memory does not follow Weber‘s Law in this particular task. These results suggest that working memory in coyotes may not be adapted to maintain information regarding quantity as well as in domestic dogs. The likelihood of a coyote‘s choosing the large option increased when it was presented with difficult ratios of food options first, before it was later presented with trials using more easily discriminable ratios, and when the large option was placed on one particular side. This suggests that learning or motivation increased across trials when coyotes experienced difficult ratios first, and that location of food may have been more salient in working memory than quantity of food

Learning Progression Shifts: How Touch-Screen Virtual Manipulative Mathematics App Design Promotes Children’s Productive Struggle

The purpose of this study was to examine shifts in young children’s learning progression levels while they interacted with virtual manipulative mathematics apps on touch-screen devices. Researchers developed learning progressions to analyze video data of the interviews. Our results showed that it is possible to document evidence of shifts in children’s learning progressions while they are interacting with mathematics apps and indicated patterns in the children’s interactions that were related to the shifts in their learning progression levels. Design features such as an open-ended number of tasks with a variety of representations and tasks at varying levels of difficulty led to children refining their understanding and shaping their concept image of mathematical ideas resulting in incremental shifts in learning