Evidence for Graded Central Processing Resources in a Sequential Movement Task

Experiments utilizing reaction time to measure the effects of fatigue on cognition must discern sensitivity of peripheral and central processing to strenuous exercise. The additive factors method enables one to stipulate that if fatigue interacts with subjects' reaction time in a decision task, central processing is affected by fatigue. While pedaling at different intensities, 13 physically-fit men had to perform a series of short-term memory tests. The tests were executed during a constant workload session and a progressive workload session in which subjects pedaled until exhaustion. Subjects provided ratings on Borg's 1970 scale to measure the psychological effects of the physical effort such as perceived exertion. Allocation of processing resources was also measured to determine attentional constraints exerted by the dual-task situation. Analysis showed that decision reaction time was affected only during the exhausting bout of the progressive workload session and for the more difficult decision task. We discuss our results in the context of arousal and the allocation of processing resources.

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The effects of facial attractiveness and perceiver's mate value on adaptive allocation of central processing resources

Evolution and Human Behavior ◽

10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.11.002 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 96-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Laura K. Morgan ◽

Michael A. Kisley

Keyword(s):

Facial Attractiveness ◽

Mate Value ◽

Central Processing ◽

Adaptive Allocation ◽

Processing Resources

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abilities monitor much more information than central conceptual abilities can pro-cess; and second, central abilities always have plenty of unﬁnished business. The key problem for efﬁcient short-term information processing is thus to achieve an optimal allocation of central processing resources. Resources have to be allocated to the processing of information which is likely to bring about the greatest con-tribution to the mind’s general cognitive goals at the smallest processing cost. Some information is old: it is already present in the individual’s representa-tion of the world. Unless it is needed for the performance of a particular cogni-tive task, and is easier to access from the environment than from memory, such information is not worth processing at all. Other information is not only new but entirely unconnected with anything in the individual’s representation of the world. It can only be added to this representation as isolated bits and pieces, and this usually means too much processing cost for too little beneﬁt. Still other informa-tion is new but connected with old information. When these interconnected new and old items of information are used together as premises in an inference pro-cess, further new information can be derived: information which could not have been inferred without this combination of old and new premises. When the pro-cessing of new information gives rise to such a multiplication effect, we call it relevant. The greater the multiplication effect, the greater the relevance. Consider an example. Mary and Peter are sitting on a park bench. He leans back, which alters her view. By leaning back, he modiﬁes her cognitive environ-ment; he reveals to her certain phenomena, which she may look at or not, and describe to herself in different ways. Why should she pay attention to one phe-nomenon rather than another, or describe it to herself in one way rather than another? In other words, why should she mentally process any of the assumptions which have become manifest or more manifest to her as a result of the change in her environment? Our answer is that she should process those assumptions that are most relevant to her at the time. Imagine, for instance, that as a result of Peter’s leaning back she can see, among other things, three people: an ice-cream vendor who she had noticed before when she sat down on the bench, an ordinary stroller who she has never seen before, and her acquaintance William, who is coming towards them and is a dread-ful bore. Many assumptions about each of these characters are more or less man-ifest to her. She may already have considered the implications of the presence of the ice-cream vendor when she ﬁrst noticed him; if so, it would be a waste of processing resources to pay further attention to him now. The presence of the unknown stroller is new information to her, but little or nothing follows from it; so there again, what she can perceive and infer about him is not likely to be of much relevance to her. By contrast, from the fact that William is coming her way, she can draw many conclusions from which many more conclusions will fol-low. This, then, is the one truly relevant change in her cognitive environment; this is the particular phenomenon she should pay attention to. She should do so, that is, if she is aiming at cognitive efﬁciency. Our claim is that all human beings automatically aim at the most efﬁcient information processing possible. This is so whether they are conscious of it or not;

Pragmatics and Discourse ◽

10.4324/9780203994597-25 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 154-154

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Optimal Allocation ◽

Ice Cream ◽

Central Processing ◽

New Information ◽

Processing Cost ◽

The World ◽

Other Information ◽

Processing Resources ◽

The One

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Limits on Introspection

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02211.x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 19 (11) ◽

pp. 1110-1117 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Guido Corallo ◽

Jérôme Sackur ◽

Stanislas Dehaene ◽

Mariano Sigman

Keyword(s):

Response Time ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Psychological Refractory Period ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Objective Response ◽

Task Context ◽

Central Processing ◽

Processing Resources ◽

Novel Method ◽

Processing Delay

Which cognitive processes are accessible to conscious report? To study the limits of conscious reportability, we designed a novel method of quantified introspection, in which subjects were asked, after each trial of a standard cognitive task, to estimate the time spent completing the task. We then applied classical mental-chronometry techniques, such as the additive-factors method, to analyze these introspective estimates of response time. We demonstrate that introspective response time can be a sensitive measure, tightly correlated with objective response time in a single-task context. In a psychological-refractory-period task, however, the objective processing delay resulting from interference by a second concurrent task is totally absent from introspective estimates. These results suggest that introspective estimates of time spent on a task tightly correlate with the period of availability of central processing resources.

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The bright future of digital imaging in scanning electron microscopy

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100149672 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 51 ◽

pp. 768-769

Author(s):

M. T. Postek ◽

A. E. Vladar

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽

Digital Imaging ◽

High Speed ◽

High Performance ◽

Mass Storage ◽

Analog To Digital ◽

Central Processing ◽

Digital Imaging Technology ◽

Scanning Electron

One of the major advancements applied to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) during the past 10 years has been the development and application of digital imaging technology. Advancements in technology, notably the availability of less expensive, high-density memory chips and the development of high speed analog-to-digital converters, mass storage and high performance central processing units have fostered this revolution. Today, most modern SEM instruments have digital electronics as a standard feature. These instruments, generally have 8 bit or 256 gray levels with, at least, 512 × 512 pixel density operating at TV rate. In addition, current slow-scan commercial frame-grabber cards, directly applicable to the SEM, can have upwards of 12-14 bit lateral resolution permitting image acquisition at 4096 × 4096 resolution or greater. The two major categories of SEM systems to which digital technology have been applied are:In the analog SEM system the scan generator is normally operated in an analog manner and the image is displayed in an analog or "slow scan" mode.

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Response and Reinforcement in Operant Audiometry

Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders ◽

10.1044/jshd.5203.294 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 294-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Michael A. Primus

Keyword(s):

Operant Conditioning ◽

Space Versus ◽

Visual Space ◽

Central Processing ◽

Operant Discrimination ◽

Conditioning Rate ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Simple Detection ◽

Variable Success ◽

Response Task

Variable success in audiometric assessment of young children with operant conditioning indicates the need for systematic examination of commonly employed techniques. The current study investigated response and reinforcement features of two operant discrimination paradigms with normal I7-month-old children. Findings indicated more responses prior to the onset of habituation when the response task was based on complex central processing skills (localization and coordination of auditory/visual space) versus simple detection. Use of animation in toy reinforcers resulted in more than a twofold increase in the number of subject responses. Results showed no significant difference in response conditioning rate or consistency for the response tasks and forms of reinforcement examined.

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EEG Measurement of Emotion Processing in Children with Daytime Urinary Incontinence

Zeitschrift für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie ◽

10.1024/1422-4917/a000563 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (4) ◽

pp. 336-341

Author(s):

Justine Niemczyk ◽

Monika Equit ◽

Katja Rieck ◽

Mathias Rubly ◽

Catharina Wagner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urinary Incontinence ◽

Patient Group ◽

Imaging Techniques ◽

Emotion Processing ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Oddball Paradigm ◽

Control Group ◽

Central Processing ◽

Daytime Urinary Incontinence ◽

Related Potentials

Abstract. Objective: Daytime urinary incontinence (DUI) is common in childhood. The aim of the study was to neurophysiologically analyse the central emotion processing in children with DUI. Method: In 20 children with DUI (mean age 8.1 years, 55 % male) and 20 controls (mean age 9.1 years, 75 % male) visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded after presenting emotionally valent (80 neutral, 40 positive, and 40 negative) pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) as an oddball-paradigm. All children received a full organic and psychiatric assessment. Results: Children with DUI did not differ significantly from controls regarding responses to emotional pictures in the frontal, central, and parietal regions and in the time intervals 250–450 ms, 450–650 ms, and 650–850 ms after stimulus onset. The patient group had more psychological symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities than the control group. Conclusions: EEG responses to emotional stimuli are not altered in children with DUI. Central emotion processing does not play a major role in DUI. Further research, including a larger sample size, a more homogeneous patient group (regarding subtype of DUI) or brain imaging techniques, could reveal more about the central processing in DUI.

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