Practical Stimulus Design for a Multi-Tone Fit

When people are choosing among different options, context seems to play a vital role. For instance, adding a third option can increase the probability of choosing a similar dominating option. This attraction effect is one of the most widely studied phenomena in decision-making research. Its prevalence, however, has been challenged recently by the tainting hypothesis, according to which the inferior option contaminates the attribute space in which it is located, leading to a repulsion effect. In an attempt to test the tainting hypothesis and explore the conditions under which dominated options make dominating options look bad, we conducted four preregistered perceptual decision-making studies with a total of 301 participants. We identified two factors influencing individuals’ behavior: stimulus display and stimulus design. Our results contribute to a growing body of literature showing how presentation format influences behavior in preferential and perceptual decision-making tasks.

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Evaluation of the US governors decision when to issue stay-at-home orders [Running title: When to shut down: the Weber-Fechner law describes the timing of U. S. governors decisions to issue stay-at-home orders]

10.1101/2020.05.14.20093633 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin Djulbegovic ◽

David J Weiss ◽

Iztok Hozo

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Cox Model ◽

New York Times ◽

Just Noticeable Difference ◽

Infected People ◽

The Us ◽

Clear Dose Response ◽

Using Data ◽

Stimulus Design ◽

At Home

Objectives To evaluate if the US governors decision to issue the stay-at-home orders reflects the classic Weber-Fechner law of psychophysics, the amount by which a stimulus (such as number of cases or deaths) must increase in order to be noticed-the just noticeable difference- as a fraction of the intensity of that stimulus. Design A prospective observational study using data on the daily number of infected patients and deaths from the New York Times daily database. Setting 50 States and the District of Columbia Participants All individuals judged to be positive for the coronavirus or to have died from COVID19. Main outcome measures Number of people diagnosed with or died from COVID19. Results We found that the decision to issue the state-at-home order reflects the Weber-Fechner law of psychophysics. Both the number of infections (p=<0.0001; R2=0.79) and deaths (p<0.0001; R2=0.63) were highly statistically significantly associated with the decision to issue the stay-at-home orders. The results indicate that for each doubling of infections or deaths within their state, an additional four to six governors will issue the stay-at-home order. We also observed a clear dose-response relationship in the Cox model: the larger the number of cases, or deaths, the higher the probability that the stay-at-home order will be made. When the number of deaths reached 256 or the number of infected people was greater than 16,384, the probability of issuing a stay-at-home order was close to 100%. Conclusions When there are not clearly articulated rules to follow, decision-makers in times of crisis such as COVID19 resort to use of simple heuristics consistent with the Weber-Fechner law of psychophysics. The findings are important for the public to understand how their elected officials make important public health decisions.

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Magnocellular system and visual mismatch negativity: stimulus design and clinical findings

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.148 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Cizek J.

Keyword(s):

Mismatch Negativity ◽

Clinical Findings ◽

Magnocellular System ◽

Visual Mismatch Negativity ◽

Stimulus Design

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Target eccentricity and form influences disparity vergence eye movements responses: A temporal and dynamic analysis

Journal of Eye Movement Research ◽

10.16910/jemr.12.4.7 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Chang Yaramothu ◽

Rajbir Jaswal ◽

Tara Lynn Alvarez

Keyword(s):

Eye Movement ◽

Response Latency ◽

Peak Velocity ◽

Dynamic Features ◽

Midsagittal Plane ◽

Impact Peak ◽

Different Color ◽

Therapy Interventions ◽

Color Combinations ◽

Stimulus Design

This study sought to investigate whether stimulation to the fovea or the parafovea with different color combinations influenced the temporal and dynamic features of 4° disparity vergence step responses. Twelve unique types of stimuli were displayed within a haploscope presented along the participant’s midsagittal plane. Vergence eye movement responses from fifteen naive participants were recorded using video-based infrared eye tracking instrumentation. Latency and peak velocity from left and right eye movement responses were quantified. Results show that the type of stimulus projection (foveal versus parafoveal) significantly (p<0.001) influences the vergence response latency but did not impact peak velocity. Vergence responses to eccentric circles with 6° eccentricity targeting the parafovea resulted in a significantly faster response latency compared to vergence responses to a cross with 2° eccentricity stimuli targeting the fovea. Results have implications for the stimulus design of a variety of applications from virtual reality to vision therapy interventions.

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