scholarly journals Testing Causal Explanations of Viewing Time Measures of Sexual Interests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander F. Schmidt ◽  
Judith Koppehele-Gossel ◽  
Rainer Banse ◽  
Roland Imhoff
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Viewing Time ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Heterosexual Women ◽  
Unobtrusive Measure

The term viewing time (VT) effect refers to a phenomenon whereby respondents typically take longer to judge the sexual attractiveness of targets from sexually preferred (versus nonpreferred) categories. Although frequently characterized as an unobtrusive measure of respondents’ sexually motivated reactions to the stimulus images themselves, the typical pattern of response times might be sufficiently explained by the task demands of the seemingly less relevant rating task. Utilizing three different VT variants, the present paper reports an experimental investigation (N = 136 heterosexual women and men) that tested hypotheses derived from hot stimulus-based processes versus cold cognitive task-based processes. Specifically, stimulus-based processes would predict VT effects even without a rating task, greater VT effects for sexually more suggestive images, and correlations of VT effects with individual sex drive differences. The task-based processes would not imply such predictions, but instead suggest identical response patterns for abstract non-pictorial stimuli that require the same feature integration. Results unanimously speak to the relevance of task demands but provide no support for stimulus-based processes. Implications of these findings for the causal explanation of VT effects are discussed.

Individual Differences in Mental Rotation

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Khooshabeh ◽  
Mary Hegarty ◽  
Thomas F. Shipley
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Alternative Strategies

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that imagery ability and figural complexity interact to affect the choice of mental rotation strategies. Participants performed the Shepard and Metzler (1971) mental rotation task. On half of the trials, the 3-D figures were manipulated to create “fragmented” figures, with some cubes missing. Good imagers were less accurate and had longer response times on fragmented figures than on complete figures. Poor imagers performed similarly on fragmented and complete figures. These results suggest that good imagers use holistic mental rotation strategies by default, but switch to alternative strategies depending on task demands, whereas poor imagers are less flexible and use piecemeal strategies regardless of the task demands.

Area MT Neurons Respond to Visual Motion Distant From Their Receptive Fields

2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 4156-4167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Zaksas ◽  
Tatiana Pasternak
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Area Mt ◽  
Mt Neurons ◽  
Stimulus Offset

Neurons in cortical area MT have localized receptive fields (RF) representing the contralateral hemifield and play an important role in processing visual motion. We recorded the activity of these neurons during a behavioral task in which two monkeys were required to discriminate and remember visual motion presented in the ipsilateral hemifield. During the task, the monkeys viewed two stimuli, sample and test, separated by a brief delay and reported whether they contained motion in the same or in opposite directions. Fifty to 70% of MT neurons were activated by the motion stimuli presented in the ipsilateral hemifield at locations far removed from their classical receptive fields. These responses were in the form of excitation or suppression and were delayed relative to conventional MT responses. Both excitatory and suppressive responses were direction selective, but the nature and the time course of their directionality differed from the conventional excitatory responses recorded with stimuli in the RF. Direction selectivity of the excitatory remote response was transient and early, whereas the suppressive response developed later and persisted after stimulus offset. The presence or absence of these unusual responses on error trials, as well as their magnitude, was affected by the behavioral significance of stimuli used in the task. We hypothesize that these responses represent top-down signals from brain region(s) accessing information about stimuli in the entire visual field and about the behavioral state of the animal. The recruitment of neurons in the opposite hemisphere during processing of behaviorally relevant visual signals reveals a mechanism by which sensory processing can be affected by cognitive task demands.

scholarly journals Effects of All-Night Driving on Selective Attention in Professional Truck Drivers: A Preliminary Functional Magnetic Resonance Study

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 5409
Author(s):  
Stefan P. Gazdzinski ◽  
Marek Binder ◽  
Alicja Bortkiewicz ◽  
Paulina Baran ◽  
Łukasz Dziuda
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
The Neural Network ◽  
Spatially Extended

Fatigue affects multiple aspects of cognitive performance among drivers. However, even after fatigue builds up, some are still able to maintain the level of behavioral performance. To evaluate these adaptations on the neural network level, we utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Seventeen male professional drivers underwent two fMRI sessions, once while rested and once in a fatigued condition after 10-h of overnight driving. The cognitive task used in the study involved the detection of visual feature conjunctions, namely the shape and the color. There were no significant differences in the task performance between the conditions except for longer reaction times in the fatigued condition. However, we observed substantial differences in the activation patterns during the cognitive task involving selective attention between the conditions. On the global level, we observed a general decrease in activation strength in the fatigued condition, which appeared to be more pronounced in the left hemisphere. On the local level, we observed a (spatially) extended activation of the medial prefrontal regions in the fatigued condition, which reflected increased cognitive control mechanisms compensating for the diminished efficiency of mechanisms involved in meeting task demands.

The Effects of Cognitive and Visual Workload on Peripheral Detection in the Detection Response Task

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 855-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim van Winsum
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Stimulus Eccentricity

Objective: The independent effects of cognitive and visual load on visual Detection Response Task (vDRT) reaction times were studied in a driving simulator by performing a backwards counting task and a simple driving task that required continuous focused visual attention to the forward view of the road. The study aimed to unravel the attentional processes underlying the Detection Response Task effects. Background: The claim of previous studies that performance degradation on the vDRT is due to a general interference instead of visual tunneling was challenged in this experiment. Method: vDRT stimulus eccentricity and stimulus conspicuity were applied as within-subject factors. Results: Increased cognitive load and visual load both resulted in increased response times (RTs) on the vDRT. Cognitive load increased RT but revealed no task by stimulus eccentricity interaction. However, effects of visual load on RT showed a strong task by stimulus eccentricity interaction under conditions of low stimulus conspicuity. Also, more experienced drivers performed better on the vDRT while driving. Conclusion: This was seen as evidence for a differential effect of cognitive and visual workload. The results supported the tunnel vision model for visual workload, where the sensitivity of the peripheral visual field reduced as a function of visual load. However, the results supported the general interference model for cognitive workload. Application: This has implications for the diagnosticity of the vDRT: The pattern of results differentiated between visual task load and cognitive task load. It also has implications for theory development and workload measurement for different types of tasks.

scholarly journals Mechanism, process and the wider context of economic geography

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie MacLeavy
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Economic Geography ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Methodological Development ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Analytical Approaches

This commentary responds to Henry Wai-chung Yeung’s call to develop clearer causal explanations in geography through mechanism-based thinking. His suggested use of a critical realist framework to ground geographical research on economies is, on one level, appealing and may help to counteract taken-for-granted assumptions about socio-spatial conditions and the significance of economic structures for everyday lived experiences. However, the general lack of applied critical realist research means the distinction between ‘mechanism’ and ‘process’ is often difficult to define in analyses of specific empirical events or geographical episodes. Not only is there a need for methodological development but, I suggest, also for greater recognition of critical realism as a reflective practice. We need to consider the means by which scholars distinguish between contingent and necessary relations, identify structures and counterfactuals and infer how mechanisms work out in particular places. The critical realist goal of advancing transformative change through the provision of causal explanation relies upon inferences made on the basis of researcher experience. Hence, we need to recognise that research is always a political practice and be careful not to discount knowledge borne from other analytical approaches.

Effects of Task Demands and Age on Vigilance and Subjective Workload

1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (19) ◽  
pp. 1458-1462 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Deaton ◽  
Raja Parasuraman
Keyword(s):  
Event Rate ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Adult Life Span ◽  
Subjective Workload ◽  
Aged Subjects ◽  
High Event ◽  
High Event Rate

Sensory and cognitive vigilance were directly compared in two experiments. The question of whether sensory and cognitive vigilance task demands can be differentiated on the basis of perceived workload was also addressed. A third focus of the study was to investigate changes in sensory and cognitive vigilance across the adult life span. In Experiment 1 60 subjects from three age categories—young, middle, and elderly were studied. Experiment 2 consisted of 20 subjects from only the young and old age categories. Subjects performed a visual sensory and a cognitive vigilance task at low and high event rates. Each task used identical stimulus sets (pairs of digits) and differed only in the definition of a critical target. Task demands were a major determinant of vigilance performance. Cognitive vigilance was more resistant to decrement over time than sensory vigilance. On the other hand, the cognitive task was more adversely affected by high event rate than the sensory task. Older subjects had lower hit rates than young and middle-aged subjects on the cognitive task, particularly at the high event rate. Subjective workload results suggested that the increased mental demands required of the cognitive task at the high event rate were associated with performance differences between sensory and cognitive tasks. However, the results also revealed an apparent dissociation between performance and subjective workload measures. Implications of the results for display design and assessment of individual differences in monitoring capability are discussed.

scholarly journals The effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of English simple past tense: Age and cognitive task demands

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Benati ◽  
Tanja Angelovska
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test

AbstractThe present study investigates the effects of Processing Instruction on two different age groups and the role that cognitive task demands might play in the results generated by Processing Instruction. This study includes school-age children and adult native speakers of German learning English as a foreign language – a language combination not previously investigated within the Processing Instruction and individual differences research paradigm. The present study investigates directly whether two different age groups will benefit equally from Processing Instruction in altering their reliance on lexical temporal indicators and redirecting their attention to verb forms on Processing Instruction activities with different cognitive demands. The grammatical feature chosen for this study is the English past simple tense marking tested on both interpretation and production measures. The results from this study provide further evidence that the Processing Instruction is an effective instructional treatment in helping school-age children and adult L2 learners to make accurate form-meaning connections. The results from the first sentence-level interpretation task and the production task showed that Processing Instruction has positive and equal effects on both age groups (school-age learners and adults). The positive effects of instruction were maintained over the delayed post-test for both age groups who made similar gains on the immediate post-test. The results from the second (cognitively more complex) sentence-level interpretation task indicated that the adults made greater gains than school-age learners. However, both groups retained the positive effects of instruction over time. The difference in gains between the two age groups on the second sentence-level interpretation task can be explained in terms of cognitive processing load.

scholarly journals Individual preferences for task coordination strategies in multitasking: exploring the link between preferred modes of processing and strategies of response organization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jovita Brüning ◽  
Jessika Reissland ◽  
Dietrich Manzey
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Task Coordination ◽  
Processing Mode ◽  
Coordination Strategies ◽  
Individual Preferences ◽  
Modes Of Processing ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
Task Processing

Abstract Recent investigation of individual differences in multitasking revealed evidence for individual preferences for modes of task processing (serial vs. overlapping) in a task switching with preview (TSWP) paradigm and different strategies of response organization (blocking, switching, and response grouping) in a free concurrent dual-tasking (FCDT) paradigm. However, this research on individual differences at the levels of cognitive task processing and behavioral response organization has been pursued separately, thus far, by testing independent samples of participants. In the current study, we investigated whether these two levels of task coordination were linked intra-individually. As individuals preferring an overlapping task processing mode can generate time gains particularly at task switches, we predicted that they prefer a switching strategy of response organization. In contrast, individuals preferring a serial processing mode are expected to prefer a blocking strategy to reduce dual-task demands. These predictions were confirmed in an experiment based on n = 70 participants. Indeed, most serial processors preferred a blocking strategy, whereas overlapping processors predominantly preferred to switch between the tasks. This finding suggests a strong correspondence between individual preferences emerging in both aspects of task coordination, which might reflect a common basic difference in the preferred style of cognitive control (flexible vs. persistent). Moreover, in case the preferred modes of task processing and strategies of response organization did not correspond to each other, the overall multitasking efficiency was comparably low. Thus, the distinction between the preferences for both aspects of multitasking seems to be an important aspect of understanding multitasking performance and should be considered in future studies.

Actual Causality

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Y. Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Program Verification ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Actual Causation ◽  
Legal Case ◽  
The World ◽  
Legal Arguments ◽  
Definition Of

Causality plays a central role in the way people structure the world; we constantly seek causal explanations for our observations. But what does it even mean that an event C “actually caused” event E? The problem of defining actual causation goes beyond mere philosophical speculation. For example, in many legal arguments, it is precisely what needs to be established in order to determine responsibility. The philosophy literature has been struggling with the problem of defining causality since Hume. In this book, Joseph Halpern explores actual causality, and such related notions as degree of responsibility, degree of blame, and causal explanation. The goal is to arrive at a definition of causality that matches our natural language usage and is helpful, for example, to a jury deciding a legal case, a programmer looking for the line of code that cause some software to fail, or an economist trying to determine whether austerity caused a subsequent depression. Halpern applies and expands an approach to causality that he and Judea Pearl developed, based on structural equations. He carefully formulates a definition of causality, and building on this, defines degree of responsibility, degree of blame, and causal explanation. He concludes by discussing how these ideas can be applied to such practical problems as accountability and program verification.

Seeing the Talker's Face Improves Free Recall of Speech for Young Adults With Normal Hearing but Not Older Adults With Hearing Loss

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Rudner ◽  
Sushmit Mishra ◽  
Stefan Stenfelt ◽  
Thomas Lunner ◽  
Jerker Rönnberg
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Audiovisual Integration

Purpose Seeing the talker's face improves speech understanding in noise, possibly releasing resources for cognitive processing. We investigated whether it improves free recall of spoken two-digit numbers. Method Twenty younger adults with normal hearing and 24 older adults with hearing loss listened to and subsequently recalled lists of 13 two-digit numbers, with alternating male and female talkers. Lists were presented in quiet as well as in stationary and speech-like noise at a signal-to-noise ratio giving approximately 90% intelligibility. Amplification compensated for loss of audibility. Results Seeing the talker's face improved free recall performance for the younger but not the older group. Poorer performance in background noise was contingent on individual differences in working memory capacity. The effect of seeing the talker's face did not differ in quiet and noise. Conclusions We have argued that the absence of an effect of seeing the talker's face for older adults with hearing loss may be due to modulation of audiovisual integration mechanisms caused by an interaction between task demands and participant characteristics. In particular, we suggest that executive task demands and interindividual executive skills may play a key role in determining the benefit of seeing the talker's face during a speech-based cognitive task.

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