Exploring the Link Between Task Complexity and Students’ Affective States During Engineering Laboratory Activities

Author(s):  
Qianyu Hu ◽  
Shruthi Bezawada ◽  
Allison Gray ◽  
Conrad Tucker ◽  
Timothy Brick

Assessment and feedback play an instrumental role in an individual’s learning process. Continued assistance is required to help students learn better and faster. This need is especially prominent in engineering laboratories where students must perform a wide range of tasks using different machines. One approach to understanding how students feel towards using certain machines is to assess their affective states while they use these machines. Affective state can be defined as the state of feeling an emotion. The authors of this work hypothesize that there is a correlation between students’ perceived affective states and task complexity. By adopting the Wood’s complexity model, the authors propose to assess how the correlations of perceived affective states of students change while they perform tasks of different complexity. In this study, each student performs a “hard” and an “easy” task on the same machine. Each student is given the same tasks using the same materials. Knowledge gained from testing this hypothesis will provide a fundamental understanding of the tasks that negatively impact students’ affective states and risk them potentially dropping out of STEM tracks, and the tasks that positively impact students’ affective states and encourage them to engage in more STEM-related activities. A case study involving 22 students using a power saw machine is conducted. Perceived affective states and completion time were collected. It was found that task complexity has an effect on subjects’ affective states. In addition, we observed some weak correlation between some of the perceived affective states and laboratory task performance. The distribution of correlation between affective states may change as the tasks change. With the knowledge of the relationship between task complexity and affective states, there is the potential to predict students’ affective states before starting a given engineering task.

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (19) ◽  
pp. 1202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Bailon ◽  
Miguel Damas ◽  
Hector Pomares ◽  
Daniel Sanabria ◽  
Pandelis Perakakis ◽  
...  

The fluctuation of affective states is a contributing factor to sport performance variability. The context surrounding athletes during their daily life and the evolution of their physiological variables beyond sport events are relevant factors, as they modulate the affective state of the subject over time. However, traditional procedures to assess the affective state are limited to self-reported questionnaires within controlled settings, thus removing the impact of the context. This work proposes a multimodal, context-aware platform that combines the data acquired through smartphones and wearable sensors to assess the affective state of the athlete. The platform is aimed at ubiquitously monitoring the fluctuations of affective states during longitudinal studies within naturalistic environments, overcoming the limitations of previous studies and allowing for the complete evaluation of the factors that could modulate the affective state. This system will also facilitate and expedite the analysis of the relationship between affective states and sport performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Aulia Azzardina

This study investigates the relationship between motivation and task complexity on performance. Monetary incentives are involved in this study as a moderating variable. The motivation examined in this research is intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. A 2x2 quasi-experiment has been conducted and involving 66 university students. Two and three-way ANOVA are used for hypothetical testing. The result shows that individuals with intrinsic motivation have shown better performance than those with extrinsic motivation. After individuals have faced more complex tasks, they achieved lower scores than those who faced less complex tasks. Prior studies suggested that motivation could be destructed by monetary incentives. However, there is no interaction proof when moderating variable is involved. The relationship between motivation and performance is not influenced by monetary incentives. In line with it, the relationship between task complexity and performance is also not strengthened or weakened by the given monetary incentives information. Thus, monetary incentives failed to influence the relationship between motivation, task complexity and performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Marco Haid ◽  
Sabine Graschitz ◽  
Peter Heimerl

Abstract This article examines whether and how several audit-specific attributes influence auditor’s motivation. Following the literature, the research project focuses mainly on the impact of risk preference, task complexity and the liability situation in this issue. A 2x2 mixed-subjects case-based experiment was conducted to gain data for in-depth insights. In sum 209 master students with a major in accounting and auditing participated in the experiment. The results indicate that increased risk aversion leads to a higher observed task motivation. Regarding the task complexity, data analysis shows that increasing task complexity lowers auditor’s motivation. This study contributes to the stream of judgment and decision making literature and offers new insights in to the relationship and dependence of inherent auditor-specific factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 6479-6494
Author(s):  
Felix S. Fauer ◽  
Jana Ulrich ◽  
Oscar E. Jurado ◽  
Henning W. Rust

Abstract. Assessing the relationship between the intensity, duration, and frequency (IDF) of extreme precipitation is required for the design of water management systems. However, when modeling sub-daily precipitation extremes, there are commonly only short observation time series available. This problem can be overcome by applying the duration-dependent formulation of the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution which fits an IDF model with a range of durations simultaneously. The originally proposed duration-dependent GEV model exhibits a power-law-like behavior of the quantiles and takes care of a deviation from this scaling relation (curvature) for sub-hourly durations (Koutsoyiannis et al., 1998). We suggest that a more flexible model might be required to model a wide range of durations (1 min to 5 d). Therefore, we extend the model with the following two features: (i) different slopes for different quantiles (multiscaling) and (ii) the deviation from the power law for large durations (flattening), which is newly introduced in this study. Based on the quantile skill score, we investigate the performance of the resulting flexible model with respect to the benefit of the individual features (curvature, multiscaling, and flattening) with simulated and empirical data. We provide detailed information on the duration and probability ranges for which specific features or a systematic combination of features leads to improvements for stations in a case study area in the Wupper catchment (Germany). Our results show that allowing curvature or multiscaling improves the model only for very short or long durations, respectively, but leads to disadvantages in modeling the other duration ranges. In contrast, allowing flattening on average leads to an improvement for medium durations between 1 h and 1 d, without affecting other duration regimes. Overall, the new parametric form offers a flexible and enhanced performance model for consistently describing IDF relations over a wide range of durations, which has not been done before as most existing studies focus on durations longer than 1 h or day and do not address the deviation from the power law for very long durations (2–5 d).


Author(s):  
David Lyell ◽  
Farah Magrabi ◽  
Enrico Coiera

Objective: Determine the relationship between cognitive load (CL) and automation bias (AB). Background: Clinical decision support (CDS) for electronic prescribing can improve safety but introduces the risk of AB, where reliance on CDS replaces vigilance in information seeking and processing. We hypothesized high CL generated by high task complexity would increase AB errors. Method: One hundred twenty medical students prescribed medicines for clinical scenarios using a simulated e-prescribing system in a randomized controlled experiment. Quality of CDS (correct, incorrect, and no CDS) and task complexity (low and high) were varied. CL, omission errors (failure to detect prescribing errors), and commission errors (acceptance of false positive alerts) were measured. Results: Increasing complexity from low to high significantly increased CL, F(1, 118) = 71.6, p < .001. CDS reduced CL in high-complexity conditions compared to no CDS, F(2, 117) = 4.72, p = .015. Participants who made omission errors in incorrect and no CDS conditions exhibited lower CL compared to those who did not, F(1, 636.49) = 3.79, p = .023. Conclusion: Results challenge the notion that AB is triggered by increasing task complexity and associated increases in CL. Omission errors were associated with lower CL, suggesting errors may stem from an insufficient allocation of cognitive resources. Application: This is the first research to examine the relationship between CL and AB. Findings suggest designers and users of CDS systems need to be aware of the risks of AB. Interventions that increase user vigilance and engagement may be beneficial and deserve further investigation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah ◽  
Shu Z. Schiller ◽  
Brian E. Mennecke ◽  
Keng Siau ◽  
Brenda Eschenbrenner ◽  
...  

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional, computer-generated worlds in which team collaboration can be facilitated through the use of shared virtual space and mediated using avatars. This article examines the effect of task complexity on team collaboration. A puzzle game in Second Life was used as the collaborative task and task complexity was manipulated by varying the number of pieces in the puzzle. The hypotheses are that task complexity influences team trust, and team trust influences team process satisfaction in virtual team collaboration. The experimental results indicate that task complexity has significant effects on team trust and team process satisfaction, and team trust fully mediates the relationship between task complexity and team process satisfaction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashenif Melese ◽  
K. V. Suryabhagavan ◽  
M. Balakrishnan

Drought is a water related climatic natural disaster affecting wide range of environmental, biological and social factors. Short, poor and delayed rainfall in 2015 caused critical water shortage, livestock causality and decline in milk production in the pastoral areas of Ethiopia. The relationship between rainfall and vegetation indices was analyzed to identify drought-vulnerable areas in Afar region of Ethiopia using 11 years time series of decadal NDVI, VCI, DSI and SPI using SPOT (2005-2013) and PROVA-V (2014-2015) data. For the validation of drought indices, correlation and regression analyses between NDVI and rainfall (r = 75%), NDVI and crop yield, and VCI and rainfall (r = 90%) were done. The findings showed that there was extreme drought in the Afar region in 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2015. The region was highly prone to drought, even though its severity levels varied in different years. Drought was severe, longer and intense in most of the areas in the region, adversely affecting agricultural productivity and livestock maintenance and management. Assessments of such natural disasters are useful to plan mitigative measures in advance for effective management programmes, including drought hazards.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Delmastro ◽  
Marinella Paciello

Abstract Beliefs about misinformation and conspiracy theories are often associated with a state of mind. With the spread of the pandemic there has been an outbreak of depression cases among the population. In this paper, we attempt to test the relationship between affective states and beliefs in misinformation about COVID-19 during the early phase of the pandemic. We do this through a survey carried out on a random and representative sample of the Italian population that allows us to go and verify the co-evolution of many factors: i.e., beliefs in misinformation, symptoms of depression, perceptions and misperceptions about COVID-19, ways in which citizens got informed about the pandemic, and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education). The results show that the relationship between affective state and beliefs in misinformation exists but is more complex than hypothesized.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Samełko ◽  
Monika Guszkowska

Abstract Introduction. The aim of this article is to discuss the relationship between affective states experienced by athletes and the outcome of their performance. The article presents the findings of a pilot study which made it possible to determine the relationship between the emotional states, mood, and level of stress of a group of pentathletes and the outcomes they achieved in a sports competition. Material and methods. The study involved 12 senior modern pentathletes, including 7 male and 5 female athletes. The following standard psychology questionnaires were used in the study: the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the Profile of Mood State (POMS). Performance was assessed based on the number of points achieved by the pentathletes in particular events in the pentathlon, which are held according to the rules set by the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM). Results. The findings of the study confirmed that there was a correlation between the athletes’ mood and emotions and the outcome of their performance. The level of stress strongly negatively correlated with both the outcome they expected to achieve and the one they actually achieved for the combined event (running and shooting). For this event a relationship was also found between the athletes’ affective states and their outcomes: in running and shooting there was a positive and statistically significant correlation between the level of positive emotions and anger and the results achieved. However, friendliness, one of the other affective state variables that were measured, correlated negatively with the outcomes of the athletes’ performance. Conclusions. In the group of pentathletes who participated in the study, a high level of anger was associated with better outcomes, and a high level of friendliness had an adverse effect on the results achieved. The findings of the current study confirm that there is a relationship between affective states and performance outcomes, but the findings do not correspond with Morgan’s iceberg profile.


1978 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Mack ◽  
N. James Carlson

Category Test performance of 41 bright aged normals was compared with the performance of 40 young normals and a group of 43 patients with suspected neurological dysfunction. The aged normals were not only as deficient as the neurologic patients but showed a similar pattern of deficits on Category subtests. The extreme difficulty experienced by aged normals and patients on Subtests III and IV was explained as a function of task complexity rather than of conceptual difficulty. Further investigation of the relationship between the relative difficulty of conceptual principles and task complexity in a variety of impaired groups was suggested.


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