Influence of memory strategies on memory test performance: a study in healthy and pathological aging

The ability to generate memory strategies is a key factor in the performance of episodic memory tasks. Whether the ability to generate memory strategies exerts an influence in the performance of memory tests in the elderly population is still a matter of debate. Here we present results from an experimental memory task (Test of Memory Strategies, TMS), comprised of five lists of words starting from an incidental learning task, and four more lists which progressively gain in their external organization of the material, reducing the necessity of mobilizing complex memory strategies. TMS has been applied to four groups of elderly patients (amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment - aMCI, multidomain (mMCI), and Vascular Cognitive Impairment - VCI and Depression) and a healthy aging group. In conditions with low organization of the material, the mMCI and VCI groups (both showing a greater executive function impairment) have shown lower performance. However, as the material was progressively organized, they improved their performance. The aMCI group showed similar performance to the control group at the lower level of external organization but did not improve performance in conditions with a high level of external organization. The mMCI and VCI groups showed lower performance on all TMS conditions compared with controls. Discriminant analysis revealed 90% sensitivity and specificity to differentiate between groups based on TMS conditions. These results indicate how executive functions influence performance on memory tasks in elderly subjects with different neuropsychological profiles.     

The value of value: Further excursions on the meaning and role of customer value

Grounded on fundamental marketing principles, the concept of customer value has been revisited and refined by academicians and practitioners for the last 30 years. However, research devoted to achieving a consistent theoretical and conceptual development of value‐related concepts has proceeded apace without ever reaching full closure. The present essay seeks reasons behind remaining deficiencies in value‐related research and offers a review intended to move our understanding of customer value toward what promises to become a more enlightened future. The topic of value is approached by theoretical analysis and conceptual development. First, “the challenge” of value research is presented: the researcher faces a topic that is central to the marketing discipline but that suffers from various conceptual and methodological difficulties. Second, among the literature on value from the last three decades, two main research areas are selected: the conceptual delimitation and the methodological links between quality, satisfaction, and value. Third, as a conclusion, we identify several streams of research that promise to expand future knowledge in the area of customer value. Several tables and figures that provide a systematic and structured review of value‐related knowledge support this inventory of the state‐of‐the‐art in value research. Even the most patient theoretical development of value‐related concepts tends to resist full conceptual closure. The breadth of customer value and its richness for marketing implications encourage novel and refreshing approaches. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficacy and feeling of a vibrotactile Frontal Collision Warning implemented in a haptic pedal

A haptic pedal has been designed to emulate the behaviour of a common vehicle pedal and render superimposed vibrations with different characteristics. It was installed in a driving simulator, as an accelerator pedal with the secondary function of a vibrotactile Frontal Collision Warning (FCW). The efficacy and feeling of this solution was tested with 30 subjects using vibrotactile signals with 0.50, 1.05, and 1.60 Nm, at 2.5, 5, and 10 Hz, against a baseline visual FCW. Participants had to match the speed of a leading vehicle when the FCW was triggered. Their braking response was evaluated in terms of brake reaction time, matching speed time, control of velocity and headway reduction. Driver’s feelings were assessed with Kansei methodologies. Haptic stimuli were found to be more effective than visual signals, and the characteristics of the vibration also influenced the results. The best performance was achieved at the maximum amplitude, and in the range between 5 and 10 Hz. The perceived functionality and discomfort followed a trend coherent with the objective measurements. The conclusions of this study may be applied to develop effective and safe warning systems in vehicles, limiting the annoyance that they might cause to drivers.     

The effect of expectancy of a threatening event on time perception in human adults

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of a threatening stimulus in human adults in a temporal bisection task. In Experiment 1, for two anchor duration conditions (400/800 vs. 800/1600 ms), the participants completed trials in which the probe duration was followed by an aversive stimulus or a nonaversive stimulus. The results showed that the duration was judged longer when the participants expected an aversive rather than a nonaversive stimulus. In Experiment 2, the effect of the temporal localization of the aversive stimulus was also tested, with the aversive stimulus being presented at the beginning or at the end of the probe duration. The results revealed a temporal overestimation in each condition compared to the trials in which no aversive stimulus was presented. Furthermore, the temporal overestimation was greater when the expectation for the forthcoming threatening stimulus was longer. This temporal overestimation is explained in terms of a speeding-up of the neural timing system in response to the increase in the arousal level produced by the expectation of a threatening stimulus.     

Processing of basic speech acts following localized brain damage: a new light on the neuroanatomy of language

We examined the effect of localized brain lesions on processing of the basic speech acts (BSAs) of question, assertion, request, and command. Both left and right cerebral damage produced significant deficits relative to normal controls, and left brain damaged patients performed worse than patients with right-sided lesions. This finding argues against the common conjecture that the right hemisphere of most right-handers plays a dominant role in natural language pragmatics. In right-hemisphere damaged patients, there was no correlation between location and extent of lesion in perisylvian cortex and performance on BSAs. By contrast, processing of the different BSAs by left hemisphere-damaged patients was strongly affected by perisylvian lesion location, with each BSA showing a distinct pattern of localization. This finding raises the possibility that the classical left perisylvian localization of language functions, as measured by clinical aphasia batteries, partly reflects the localization of the BSAs required to perform these functions.     

Effects of task interdependence and communication technologies synchrony on performance in virtual teams

Effects of task interdependence and communication technologies synchrony on performance in virtual teams. Survey results of 197 employees from 41 work groups in a large multinational software firm were used to investigate the effects of within-group task interdependence and the degree of communication synchrony on performance in virtual teams (VTs). The analyses revealed a moderating effect of task interdependence on the relationship between the degree of communications synchrony and performance in VT. We found that superior VTs performance is contingent on the fit between the nature of the task (i.e., task interdependence) and the choice of communications modality. This study complements previous research providing additional evidence of how task-technology interaction affects VTs performance, and extends previous findings obtained with ad-hoc groups in laboratory settings to natural, organizational teams.     

Colour and emotion: children also associate red with negative valence

The association of colour with emotion constitutes a growing field of research, as it can affect how humans process their environment. Although there has been increasing interest in the association of red with negative valence in adults, little is known about how it develops. We therefore tested the red–negative association in children for the first time. Children aged 5–10 years performed a face categorization task in the form of a card‐sorting task. They had to judge whether ambiguous faces shown against three different colour backgrounds (red, grey, green) seemed to ‘feel good’ or ‘feel bad’. Results of logistic mixed models showed that – as previously demonstrated in adults – children across the age range provided significantly more ‘feel bad’ responses when the faces were given a red background. This finding is discussed in relation to colour–emotion association theories.     

Seeing the World Through “Pink‐Colored Glasses”: The Link Between Optimism and Pink

This study investigated optimism, which is considered a personality trait, from the grounded cognition perspective. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the association between pink and optimism. In Experiment 1A, 22 undergraduates (10 females; M_age = 23.68) were asked to classify words as optimistic or pessimistic as fast as possible. Half the words were presented in pink and half in black. Experiment 1B (N = 24; 14 females; M_age = 22.82) was identical to 1A except for the color of the words—black and light blue instead of pink—to rule out the possible influence of brightness. Experiment 2 exposed 144 participants (74 females; M_age = 25.18) to pink or yellow and then measured their optimism level. The findings for Experiments 1A and 1B indicated an association between pink and optimism regardless of brightness. Experiment 2 found that mere exposure to pink increased optimism levels for females. These results contribute to the dynamic view of personality, current views on optimism, and the growing literature on grounded cognition.     

Domain differences in absolute judgments of category membership: evidence for an essentialist account of categorization

There has been some debate about the correspondence between typicality gradients and category membership. The present study investigates the relationship between these two measures in the domains of animals and artifacts. Forty-two adults judged the degree of typicality or category membership of 293 animals and artifacts. The subjects’ tendency for animals, but not for artifacts, was to make more absolute ratings on category membership (i.e., judging exemplars as definitely members or definitely not members of their respective category) than on typicality. More importantly, at almost every level of typicality, subjects were more likely to make absolute judgments of category membership for animals than for artifacts. These results indicate that people treat category membership of animals as relatively absolute (which best fits an essentialist model of categorization) and treat category membership of artifacts as relatively graded (which best fits a prototype model of categorization). These domain differences add crucial supporting evidence for claims about the domain-specificity of essentialism.