Does More Context Help? Effects of Context Window and Application Source on Retrieval Performance

We study the effect of contextual information obtained from a user’s digital trace on Web search performance. Contextual information is modeled using Dirichlet–Hawkes processes (DHP) and used in augmenting Web search queries. The context is captured by monitoring all naturally occurring user behavior using continuous 24/7 recordings of the screen and associating the context with the queries issued by the users. We report a field study in which 13 participants installed a screen recording and digital activity monitoring system on their laptops for 14 days, resulting in data on all Web search queries and the associated context data. A query augmentation (QAug) model was built to expand the original query with semantically related terms. The effects of context window and source were determined by training context models with temporally varying context windows and varying application sources. The context models were then utilized to re-rank the QAug model. We evaluate the context models by using the Web document rankings of the original query as a control condition compared against various experimental conditions: (1) a search context condition in which the context was sourced from search history; (2) a non-search context condition in which the context was sourced from all interactions excluding search history; (3) a comprehensive context condition in which the context was sourced from both search and non-search histories; and (4) an application-specific condition in which the context was sourced from interaction histories captured on a specific application type. Our results indicated that incorporating more contextual information significantly improved Web search rankings as measured by the positions of the documents on which users clicked in the search result pages. The effects and importance of different context windows and application sources, along with different query types are analyzed, and their impact on Web search performance is discussed.

Contextual effects on smile perception and recognition memory

Most past research has focused on the role played by social context information in emotion classification, such as whether a display is perceived as belonging to one emotion category or another. The current study aims to investigate whether the effect of context extends to the interpretation of emotion displays, i.e. smiles that could be judged either as posed or spontaneous readouts of underlying positive emotion. A between-subjects design (N = 93) was used to investigate the perception and recall of posed smiles, presented together with a happy or polite social context scenario. Results showed that smiles seen in a happy context were judged as more spontaneous than the same smiles presented in a polite context. Also, smiles were misremembered as having more of the physical attributes (i.e., Duchenne marker) associated with spontaneous enjoyment when they appeared in the happy than polite context condition. Together, these findings indicate that social context information is routinely encoded during emotion perception, thereby shaping the interpretation and recognition memory of facial expressions.

EXPRESS: Facilitation effect of incidental environmental context on the computer screen for paired-associate learning

Three experiments, in which a total of 198 undergraduates engaged, investigate whether the incidental environmental context on the computer screen influences paired-associate learning. Experiment 1 compared the learning of foreign and native language words between a constant context condition, where the stimulus and response pairs were presented twice on the same 5-s video background context, and a varied context condition, where the pairs were presented twice on different video contexts. Repetition in the same context resulted in better learning than in different contexts, evaluated with a paper-and-pencil test. Experiment 2 investigated learning of paired-associate foreign and native words in the same video-contexts, or photograph-contexts, or on a neutral gray background. Both the video and the photograph contexts equally facilitated the paired-associate learning compared to the gray background. Experiment 3 investigated whether the incidental environmental context similarly facilitated face-name paired-associate learning. We added a new condition of spot illustrations, and a second testing one day later. The repetition of face-name pairs within the same complex incidental environmental context on the computer screen (either video or photograph background) facilitated the paired-associate learning. There was no significant difference in learning performance between video and photograph background contexts, which were significantly better than gray or spot illustration backgrounds which did not differ from each other. The retention interval did not interact with the effect of the background. The present results show that repetition within the same video or photograph context, covering the entire background of the video screen on which each item pair was superimposed, facilitates paired-associate learning.

Idioms in Context: Evidence from a Time Cloze-Response Study

Summary This article reports on two timed cloze-response experiments which examine the impact of context on idiom recognition. Study 1 presented participants with the beginnings of Polish VP idioms without any prior context. Cloze probabilities and response times for idiom continuations were measured to establish the idiom recognition point (IRP) for each idiom. In Study 2, we used the same idioms in two kinds of contexts: (i) supporting a figurative meaning and (ii) supporting a literal meaning. Cloze probability and response times were measured at the IRP and one word before and after it. The figurative meaning of idioms was automatically activated at the IRP independently of the type of context. Additionally, the figurative context did not move the IRP to an earlier position, whereas in the literal context the responses were significantly slower at the IRP as compared to the figurative context condition. Such a finding indicates that, irrespective of the literal context, the comprehenders automatically activated the figurative meaning of an idiom at the IRP, but they had to discard it later. The literal meaning was computed from the literal meanings of idiom constituents stored in idiom lexical representation, which was computationally costly.

Context Affects Quiet Eye Duration and Motor Performance Independent of Cognitive Effort

Extensive literature has shown the effect of “quiet eye” (QE) on motor performance. However, little attention has been paid to the context in which tasks are executed (independent of anxiety) and the mechanisms that underpin the phenomenon. Here, the authors aimed to investigate the effects of context (independent of anxiety) on QE and performance while examining if the mechanisms underpinning QE are rooted in cognitive effort. In this study, 21 novice participants completed golf putts while pupil dilation, QE duration, and putting accuracy were measured. Results showed that putting to win was more accurate compared with the control (no context) condition, and QE duration was longer when putting to win or tie a hole compared with control. There was no effect of context on pupil dilation. Results suggest that, while the task was challenging, performance scenarios can enhance representativeness of practice without adding additional load to cognitive resources, even for novice performers.

Does the macroeconomic context condition the prediction of business failure?

The objective of this study is to identify both micro and macroeconomic variables that allow us to analyze in advance the probabilities of business failure. The selected sample contains all the listed companies of the IPC index of Mexico, IBEX-35 of Spain and EURO STOXX50 of Europe for a time horizon of 5 years. Our contribution lies in the empirical testing of the results by two different techniques: general estimating equations (a parametric technique) and a decision tree (a non-parametric technique based on artificial intelligence). The obtained results show that the factors of liquidity, indebtedness and profitability are the ones that affect the prediction of corporatebankruptcy for listed companies, but not the macroeconomic ones, since the macroeconomic peculiarities of each country are diluted by the importance of the economic-financial structure of each company.

The influence of scene context on parafoveal processing of objects

Many studies in reading have shown the enhancing effect of context on the processing of a word before it is directly fixated (parafoveal processing of words). Here, we examined whether scene context influences the parafoveal processing of objects and enhances the extraction of object information. Using a modified boundary paradigm called the Dot-Boundary paradigm, participants fixated on a suddenly onsetting cue before the preview object would onset 4° away. The preview object could be identical to the target, visually similar, visually dissimilar or a control (black rectangle). The preview changed to the target object once a saccade toward the object was made. Critically, the objects were presented on either a consistent or an inconsistent scene background. Results revealed that there was a greater processing benefit for consistent than inconsistent scene backgrounds and that identical and visually similar previews produced greater processing benefits than other previews. In the second experiment, we added an additional context condition in which the target location was inconsistent, but the scene semantics remained consistent. We found that changing the location of the target object disrupted the processing benefit derived from the consistent context. Most importantly, across both experiments, the effect of preview was not enhanced by scene context. Thus, preview information and scene context appear to independently boost the parafoveal processing of objects without any interaction from object–scene congruency.

Effects of Context on Processing Emotionally Neutral Abstract and Concrete Concepts

The abstractness effect describes the phenomenon of individuals processing abstract concepts faster and more accurately than they process concrete concepts. In this study, we explored the effects of context on how 43 college students processed words, controlling for the emotional valence of the words. The participants performed a lexical decision task in which they were shown individual abstract and concrete words, or abstract and concrete words embedded in sentences. The results showed that in the word-context condition the participants' processing of concrete concepts improved, whereas in the sentence-context condition their processing of abstract concepts improved. These findings support the embodied cognition theory of concept processing.