scholarly journals The effect of expertise, target usefulness and domain-specificity on visual search

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Gebhard Robson ◽  
Jason Marcus Tangen ◽  
Rachel A Searston

People who have had extensive training in a domain perform far better on many perceptual tasks than those without any training. Perceptual experts tend to constrain their attention to features that will enable them to make decisions quickly and accurately, and time and again their expertise is shown to be domain-specific. We compared a group of fingerprint examiners to a group of novices on their visual search ability across two experiments – one where participants searched for corresponding features and another where they searched for points of difference. We varied how useful the target feature was and whether participants searched for these targets in a typical fingerprint or one that had been scrambled. In both instances, the experts more efficiently located target fragments (or changes) when searching for them in intact fingerprints, but not scrambled fingerprints. In Experiment 1, experts more efficiently located useful target fragments compared to novices, but not less useful fragments. Even though the nature of the task may influence the strategies that participants use, the visual search advantages that experts enjoy appear to hinge on a sensitivity to what is useful and on the structural regularities of their domain. These results align with a domain-specific account of expertise and suggest that perceptual training ought to involve learning to attend to task-critical features.

Author(s):  
Samuel G. Robson ◽  
Jason M. Tangen ◽  
Rachel A. Searston

AbstractExperts outperform novices on many cognitive and perceptual tasks. Extensive training has tuned experts to the most relevant information in their specific domain, allowing them to make decisions quickly and accurately. We compared a group of fingerprint examiners to a group of novices on their ability to search for information in fingerprints across two experiments—one where participants searched for target features within a single fingerprint and another where they searched for points of difference between two fingerprints. In both experiments, we also varied how useful the target feature was and whether participants searched for these targets in a typical fingerprint or one that had been scrambled. Experts more efficiently located targets when searching for them in intact but not scrambled fingerprints. In Experiment 1, we also found that experts more efficiently located target features classified as more useful compared to novices, but this expert-novice difference was not present when the target feature was classified as less useful. The usefulness of the target may therefore have influenced the search strategies that participants used, and the visual search advantages that experts display appear to depend on their vast experience with visual regularity in fingerprints. These results align with a domain-specific account of expertise and suggest that perceptual training ought to involve learning to attend to task-critical features.


2008 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda A. Métrailler ◽  
Ester Reijnen ◽  
Cornelia Kneser ◽  
Klaus Opwis

This study compared individuals with pairs in a scientific problem-solving task. Participants interacted with a virtual psychological laboratory called Virtue to reason about a visual search theory. To this end, they created hypotheses, designed experiments, and analyzed and interpreted the results of their experiments in order to discover which of five possible factors affected the visual search process. Before and after their interaction with Virtue, participants took a test measuring theoretical and methodological knowledge. In addition, process data reflecting participants’ experimental activities and verbal data were collected. The results showed a significant but equal increase in knowledge for both groups. We found differences between individuals and pairs in the evaluation of hypotheses in the process data, and in descriptive and explanatory statements in the verbal data. Interacting with Virtue helped all students improve their domain-specific and domain-general psychological knowledge.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Matzen ◽  
Michael Haass ◽  
Austin Silva ◽  
Michael Trumbo ◽  
Susan Stevens-Adams ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Dekydtspotter

This article presents evidence that supports the claim that second language (L2) grammars arise in a domain-specific, informationally encapsulated module with contents provided by Universal Grammar and enriched by native language knowledge, as entertained by Schwartz (1986, 1987, 1999) contra Bley-Vroman (1990). I consider state-of-the-art evidence representative of a body of research on the poverty of the stimulus (POS) that argues for the domain-specificity of L2 representations, with a main focus on interpretation. Then I examine interpretive evidence relevant to the role of informational encapsulation and compositionality in SLA. I seek to demonstrate that the acquisition of syntax-linked interpretive properties where the POS is severe provides opportunities for a type of fingerprinting of mental organization that can inform a variety of epistemologically relevant questions.


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 40-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Healey ◽  
Ernest T. Parker ◽  
Rachel T. Barrow ◽  
Pete Lollar

Abstract Hemophilia A inhibitor patients and patients with acquired hemophilia A recognize immunodominant epitopes in the A2 and C2 domains of human factor VIII (fVIII). Hemophilia A mice also recognize A2 and C2 domain epitopes when immunized with human fVIII using a dosing schedule that mimics clinical use. We compared the immune responses of hemophilia A mice to human and porcine fVIII using a domain specific ELISA. In this assay, monoclonal antibodies are tested against a panel of six single human fVIII domain hybrid human/porcine fVIII molecules that contain the human A1, A2, ap, A3, C1 or C2 domains. With anti-human antibodies, a positive signal with one of the single human domain proteins identifies domain specificity, whereas loss of signal indicates domain specificity of anti-porcine fVIII antibodies. Exon16 (E16) - disrupted hemophilia A mice (n = 3) received six weekly μ10 g/kg intravenous injections of recombinant B-domain deleted human fVIII and a final 25 μg/kg boost. To obtain comparable inhibitor titers, E16 mice (n = 3) received six weekly injections of μ40 g/kg of recombinant B-domain deleted porcine fVIII. Spleens from high titer mice were fused with NS1 mouse myeloma cells and 485 of the resulting hybridomas were analyzed for fVIII domain specificity (Table). Only two hybridomas secreted antibodies specific for the ap domain. Human fVIII elicited a significantly greater number of antibodies to the A2 domain, whereas porcine fVIII elicited a significantly greater number of antibodies to the A1 and A3 domains (p < 0.01, chi square test). The greater number of anti-C2 antibodies to human fVIII was not significant at the 95% confidence level (p = 0.08). The differential immunodominance of human and porcine fVIII epitopes suggests that it may be possible to design a recombinant hybrid human/porcine fVIII molecule that is less immunogenic than human fVIII in the treatment of patients with hemophilia A. Domain Specificity of Anti-FVIII MAbs Mouse ID: Immunogen No. of MAbs A1 A2 A3 C1 C2 CR & MD CR: Cross Reactive MD: Multidomain 1- Human fVIII 95 2 16 2 7 21 23 & 24 2- Human fVIII 126 13 23 1 2 27 39 & 21 3- Human fVIII 54 1 15 2 1 10 9 & 15 4- Porcine fVIII 123 39 7 19 8 16 33 & 0 5- Porcine fVIII 27 13 5 0 0 4 2 & 3 6- Porcine fVIII 60 9 6 12 1 9 13 & 10


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Martín-Moncunill ◽  
Miguel-Ángel Sicilia-Urban ◽  
Elena García-Barriocanal ◽  
Salvador Sánchez-Alonso

Purpose – Large terminologies usually contain a mix of terms that are either generic or domain specific, which makes the use of the terminology itself a difficult task that may limit the positive effects of these systems. The purpose of this paper is to systematically evaluate the degree of domain specificity of the AGROVOC controlled vocabulary terms as a representative of a large terminology in the agricultural domain and discuss the generic/specific boundaries across its hierarchy. Design/methodology/approach – A user-oriented study with domain-experts in conjunction with quantitative and systematic analysis. First an in-depth analysis of AGROVOC was carried out to make a proper selection of terms for the experiment. Then domain-experts were asked to classify the terms according to their domain specificity. An evaluation was conducted to analyse the domain-experts’ results. Finally, the resulting data set was automatically compared with the terms in SUMO, an upper ontology and MILO, a mid-level ontology; to analyse the coincidences. Findings – Results show the existence of a high number of generic terms. The motivation for several of the unclear cases is also depicted. The automatic evaluation showed that there is not a direct way to assess the specificity degree of a term by using SUMO and MILO ontologies, however, it provided additional validation of the results gathered from the domain-experts. Research limitations/implications – The “domain-analysis” concept has long been discussed and it could be addressed from different perspectives. A resume of these perspectives and an explanation of the approach followed in this experiment is included in the background section. Originality/value – The authors propose an approach to identify the domain specificity of terms in large domain-specific terminologies and a criterion to measure the overall domain specificity of a knowledge organisation system, based on domain-experts analysis. The authors also provide a first insight about using automated measures to determine the degree to which a given term can be considered domain specific. The resulting data set from the domain-experts’ evaluation can be reused as a gold standard for further research about these automatic measures.


2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha R. Magson ◽  
Gawaian H. Bodkin-Andrews ◽  
Rhonda G. Craven ◽  
Genevieve F. Nelson ◽  
Alexander Seeshing Yeung

Most past models of student motivation have assumed that student motivation generalises across various achievement situations and curriculum domains; however, research has not fully explored the extent to which motivation may be domain-specific (Green, Martin, & Marsh, 2007; Martin, 2008). The purpose of the present investigation was to explore this issue by comparing and contrasting generalised models of motivation with domain-specific models and how they relate to achievement outcomes in mathematics and English. Secondary students (N = 476) completed both the domain-general (ISM, McInerney, 2003) and the researcher-derived domain-specific motivational measure (DSSM) followed by a standardised achievement test (WRAT-3, Wilkinson, 1993). Overall, the study resulted in mixed findings. There was some indication that there was enough independent variance between the domain-specific goal types to suggest they were tapping distinct constructs as found in previous research (Green et al., 2007). However, the small and often inconsistent correlations with achievement outcomes brings into question the usefulness for educators and the research practicality of pursuing such a division.


Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Czaplicki

AbstractModularity of grammar has been explicitly or tacitly assumed in many generative analyses. Modules are separate computational systems that perform specific tasks and make use of domain-specific information. It is argued that the concept is difficult to maintain in the light of evidence from Polish. I look at palatalization effects before vowels and conclude that phonological regularities must have access to morphosyntactic information. In addition, certain regularities in the selection of diminutive allomorphs suggest that morphology must have access to phonetic information. As domain specificity, the core concept of modular approaches, is compromised, modularity does not seem a likely candidate for a universal property of grammar.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinger Yu ◽  
Joy J. Geng

Theories of attention hypothesize the existence of an "attentional" or "target" template that contains task-relevant information in memory when searching for an object. The target template contributes to visual search by directing visual attention towards potential targets and serving as a decisional boundary for target identification. However, debate still exists regarding how template information is stored in the human brain. Here, we conducted a pattern-based fMRI study to assess how template information is encoded to optimize target-match decisions during visual search. To ensure that match decisions reflect visual search demands, we used a visual search paradigm in which all distractors were linearly separable but highly similar to the target and were known to shift the target representation away from the distractor features (Yu & Geng, 2019). In a separate match-to-sample probe task, we measured the target representation used for match decisions across two resting state networks that have long been hypothesized to maintain and control target information: the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) and the visual network (VisN). Our results showed that lateral prefrontal cortex in FPCN maintained the context-dependent "off-veridical" template; in contrast, VisN encoded a veridical copy of the target feature during match decisions. By using behavioral drift diffusion modeling, we verified that the decision criterion during visual search and the probe task relied on a common biased target template. Taken together, our results suggest that sensory-veridical information is transformed in lateral prefrontal cortex into an adaptive code of target-relevant information that optimizes decision processes during visual search.


2021 ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
John Zerilli

“Neural reuse” refers to the exaptation of established and relatively fixed neural circuits without loss of original function/use. Reuse arises over the course of normal development and evolution. The evidence of this phenomenon speaks most loudly against the idea of strict domain-specificity. It seems that no area of the brain is exempt from redeployment, with areas of the brain traditionally considered to be among the most domain-specific (such as sensory areas) also contributing their computational/structural resources to other domains, including those involving language. The evidence supporting reuse takes many forms, among them evolutionary and developmental considerations, computational considerations, and the neuroimaging and biobehavioral literature.


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