scholarly journals Choice ball: a response interface for two-choice psychometric discrimination in head-fixed mice

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (12) ◽  
pp. 3416-3423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua I. Sanders ◽  
Adam Kepecs
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Model System ◽  
Response Device ◽  
Low Contrast ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Control ◽  
Level Analysis

The mouse is an important model system for investigating the neural circuits mediating behavior. Because of advances in imaging and optogenetic methods, head-fixed mouse preparations provide an unparalleled opportunity to observe and control neural circuits. To investigate how neural circuits produce behavior, these methods need to be paired with equally well-controlled and monitored behavioral paradigms. Here, we introduce the choice ball, a response device that enables two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks in head-fixed mice based on the readout of lateral paw movements. We demonstrate the advantages of the choice ball by training mice in the random-click task, a two-choice auditory discrimination behavior. For each trial, mice listened to binaural streams of Poisson-distributed clicks and were required to roll the choice ball laterally toward the side with the greater click rate. In this assay, mice performed hundreds of trials per session with accuracy ranging from 95% for easy stimuli (large interaural click-rate contrast) to near chance level for low-contrast stimuli. We also show, using the record of individual paw strokes, that mice often reverse decisions they have already initiated and that decision reversals correlate with improved performance. The choice ball enables head-fixed 2AFC paradigms, facilitating the circuit-level analysis of sensory processing, decision making, and motor control in mice.

Attention Allocation to Physically Separate Task and Situation Displays in a Command and Control Setting

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1130-1134
Author(s):  
H. Golan ◽  
A. Parush ◽  
E. Jaffe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Medical Services ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Command And Control ◽  
Attention Allocation ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Allocation Strategy ◽  
Individual Task ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Control

Using a simulated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) dispatch center during multi-casualty incident management, this study explored whether the presence of a separate situation display in a Command and Control (C2) setting might require attention at the expense of attending an individual task display, and how it influenced performance and situational awareness. Overall, participants always attended the task display more than the situation display. However, the situation display drew attention at the expense of attending less the task display. The presence of the situation display was related to improved performance and better situational awareness (SA), particularly in the projection level of the SA, which could account also for the better decision-making performance. Participants may have developed an attention allocation strategy to effectively utilize the information of the situation display and execute their tasks on the task display.

Human Performance Modeling and Decision Analysis in a Concept Crew Workstation

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (23) ◽  
pp. 1910-1914
Author(s):  
Thaddeus M. Wojcik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Control Unit ◽  
Performance Model ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Ground Vehicles ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Operator Control ◽  
And Control

As part of the effort to evaluate the performance of soldiers operating in the Vetronics Testbed Technology (VTT), a human performance model of operator processes and tasks was developed. The purpose of this effort was to gather insight into operator workload constraints, points of operator overload due to task demands, and key decision-making points and strategies employed by the operators. Operator performance was modeled when the operators were confronted with the task of controlling multiple experimental unmanned ground vehicles (XUV) in addition to performing standard Command and Control (C2) operations. The model was built using the Improved Performance Research Integration Tool (IMPRINT). Development began with a task decomposition of the current VTT system and operator control unit (OCU) and was decomposed to the button-push level of operator interaction with the unit. Next, several operational scenarios were developed to drive the simulated operator actions in the OCU and obtain measures of performance. Finally, a decision-making architecture was implemented in the model to examine points where intelligent agents and system automation could potentially aid in reducing operator cognitive demands.

scholarly journals Movement vigor as a traitlike attribute of individuality

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 741-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Reppert ◽  
Ioannis Rigas ◽  
David J. Herzfeld ◽  
Ehsan Sedaghat-Nejad ◽  
Oleg Komogortsev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Peak Velocity ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Willingness To Accept ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Speed Accuracy

A common aspect of individuality is our subjective preferences in evaluation of reward and effort. The neural circuits that evaluate these commodities influence circuits that control our movements, raising the possibility that vigor differences between individuals may also be a trait of individuality, reflecting a willingness to expend effort. In contrast, classic theories in motor control suggest that vigor differences reflect a speed-accuracy trade-off, predicting that those who move fast are sacrificing accuracy for speed. Here we tested these contrasting hypotheses. We measured motion of the eyes, head, and arm in healthy humans during various elementary movements (saccades, head-free gaze shifts, and reaching). For each person we characterized their vigor, i.e., the speed with which they moved a body part (peak velocity) with respect to the population mean. Some moved with low vigor, while others moved with high vigor. Those with high vigor tended to react sooner to a visual stimulus, moving both their eyes and arm with a shorter reaction time. Arm and head vigor were tightly linked: individuals who moved their head with high vigor also moved their arm with high vigor. However, eye vigor did not correspond strongly with arm or head vigor. In all modalities, vigor had no impact on end-point accuracy, demonstrating that differences in vigor were not due to a speed-accuracy trade-off. Our results suggest that movement vigor may be a trait of individuality, not reflecting a willingness to accept inaccuracy but demonstrating a propensity to expend effort. NEW & NOTEWORTHY A common aspect of individuality is how we evaluate economic variables like reward and effort. This valuation affects not only decision making but also motor control, raising the possibility that vigor may be distinct between individuals but conserved across movements within an individual. Here we report conservation of vigor across elementary skeletal movements, but not eye movements, raising the possibility that the individuality of our movements may be driven by a common neural mechanism of effort evaluation across modalities of skeletal motor control.

scholarly journals Multimodal sensory processing in Caenorhabditis elegans

Open Biology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 180049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasios Metaxakis ◽  
Dionysia Petratou ◽  
Nektarios Tavernarakis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Model System ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disease ◽  
Behavioural Responses ◽  
External Stimuli

Multisensory integration is a mechanism that allows organisms to simultaneously sense and understand external stimuli from different modalities. These distinct signals are transduced into neuronal signals that converge into decision-making neuronal entities. Such decision-making centres receive information through neuromodulators regarding the organism's physiological state and accordingly trigger behavioural responses. Despite the importance of multisensory integration for efficient functioning of the nervous system, and also the implication of dysfunctional multisensory integration in the aetiology of neuropsychiatric disease, little is known about the relative molecular mechanisms. Caenorhabditis elegans is an appropriate model system to study such mechanisms and elucidate the molecular ways through which organisms understand external environments in an accurate and coherent fashion.

The impact of pendular model on decision-making and tactical-technical performance of U18 male volleyball players

2021 ◽  
pp. 174795412110485
Author(s):  
Henrique de Oliveira Castro ◽  
Gibson M Praça ◽  
Isabel MR Mesquita ◽  
José Afonso ◽  
Gustavo De Conti Teixeira Costa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Technical Performance ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Tactical Knowledge ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Regular Training ◽  
Level Analysis

This study aimed to verify the influence of applying the Pendular Model of Tactical-Technical Training (Pendular Model) on decision-making and tactical-technical performance of U18 male volleyball athletes. A total of 44 U18 volleyball athletes participated in the study, divided into two groups: experimental group ( n = 23) and control group ( n = 21). The Declarative Tactical Knowledge Test in Volleyball was used for the decision-making analysis, while the Instrument for Technical-Tactical Performance Assessment in Volleyball was used for the specific tactical-technical performance components level analysis in the game. Experimental group athletes performed 24 training sessions using the Pendular Model, and control group athletes maintained 24 sessions of regular training. There was a significant difference in decision-making in the extremity attack and setting situations, being better in the experimental group than the control group in the pre and postintervention moments. There were significant differences in the adjustment, decision-making, and effectiveness components in athletes’ tactical-technical performance in game situations, being greater in the experimental group compared to the control group in the moments after 12 sessions and postintervention. It is concluded that the Pendular Model proved to be effective for improving decision-making in extremity attack and setting video situations and in the tactical-technical performance in the game in the adjustment, decision-making, and effectiveness components for male U18 volleyball athletes.

Resistance Monitor and Control for Vacuum Evaporation of Metals and Carbon

1976 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 572-573
Author(s):  
Russell L. Steere ◽  
Eric F. Erbe ◽  
J. Michael Moseley
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Device ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
High Contrast ◽  
Variable Resistor ◽  
Quality Of Results ◽  
Low Contrast ◽  
Evaporation Source ◽  
And Control ◽  
At Will

We have designed and built an electronic device which compares the resistance of a defined area of vacuum evaporated material with a variable resistor. When the two resistances are matched, the device automatically disconnects the primary side of the substrate transformer and stops further evaporation.This approach to controlled evaporation in conjunction with the modified guns and evaporation source permits reliably reproducible multiple Pt shadow films from a single Pt wrapped carbon point source. The reproducibility from consecutive C point sources is also reliable. Furthermore, the device we have developed permits us to select a predetermined resistance so that low contrast high-resolution shadows, heavy high contrast shadows, or any grade in between can be selected at will. The reproducibility and quality of results are demonstrated in Figures 1-4 which represent evaporations at various settings of the variable resistor.

Linking decision-making research and cancer prevention and control: Important themes.

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (4, Suppl) ◽  
pp. S106-S110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. McCaul ◽  
Ellen Peters ◽  
Wendy Nelson ◽  
Michael Stefanek
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cancer Prevention ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Cancer Prevention And Control ◽  
And Control

Scham und Autonomie

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-192
Author(s):  
Sonja Rinofner-Kreidl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Intentional Content ◽  
Conceptual Clarification ◽  
The Social ◽  
Conventional Behavior ◽  
And Control

Autonomy is associated with intellectual self-preservation and self-determination. Shame, on the contrary, bears a loss of approval, self-esteem and control. Being afflicted with shame, we suffer from social dependencies that by no means have been freely chosen. Moreover, undergoing various experiences of shame, our power of reflection turns out to be severly limited owing to emotional embarrassment. In both ways, shame seems to be bound to heteronomy. This situation strongly calls for conceptual clarification. For this purpose, we introduce a threestage model of self-determination which comprises i) autonomy as capability of decision-making relating to given sets of choices, ii) self-commitment in terms of setting and harmonizing goals, and iii) self-realization in compliance with some range of persistently approved goals. Accordingly, the presuppositions and distinctive marks of shame-experiences are made explicit. Within this framework, we explore the intricate relation between autonomy and shame by focusing on two questions: on what conditions could conventional behavior be considered as self-determined? How should one characterize the varying roles of actors that are involved in typical cases of shame-experiences? In this connection, we advance the thesis that the social dynamics of shame turns into ambiguous positions relating to motivation, intentional content,and actors’ roles.

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