Observed Variability and Values Matter: Toward a Better Understanding of Information Search and Decisions from Experience

The search for different options before making a consequential choice is a central aspect of many important decisions, such as mate selection or purchasing a house. Despite its importance, surprisingly little is known about how search and choice are affected by the observed and objective properties of the decision problem. Here, we analyze the effects of two key properties in a binary choice task: the options' observed and objective values, and the variability of payoffs. First, in a large public data set of a binary choice task, we investigate how the observed value and variability relate to decision‐makers' efforts and preferences during search. Furthermore, we test how these properties influence the chance of correctly identifying the objectively maximizing option, and how they affect choice. Second, we designed a novel experiment to systematically analyze the role of the objective difference between the options. We find that a larger objective difference between options increases the chance for correctly identifying the maximizing option, but it does not affect behavior during search and choice. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eye blink detection for different driver states in conditionally automated driving and manual driving using EOG and a driver camera

In this article, we examine the performance of different eye blink detection algorithms under various constraints. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the performance of an electrooculogram- and camera-based blink detection process in both manually and conditionally automated driving phases. A further comparison between alert and drowsy drivers was performed in order to evaluate the impact of drowsiness on the performance of blink detection algorithms in both driving modes. Data snippets from 14 monotonous manually driven sessions (mean 2 h 46 min) and 16 monotonous conditionally automated driven sessions (mean 2 h 45 min) were used. In addition to comparing two data-sampling frequencies for the electrooculogram measures (50 vs. 25 Hz) and four different signal-processing algorithms for the camera videos, we compared the blink detection performance of 24 reference groups. The analysis of the videos was based on very detailed definitions of eyelid closure events. The correct detection rates for the alert and manual driving phases (maximum 94%) decreased significantly in the drowsy (minus 2% or more) and conditionally automated (minus 9% or more) phases. Blinking behavior is therefore significantly impacted by drowsiness as well as by automated driving, resulting in less accurate blink detection.     

Reactivity of the Reward System in Artists During Acceptance and Rejection of Monetary Rewards

Humans possess an invaluable ability of self-expression that extends into visual, literary, musical, and many other fields of creation. More than any other profession, artists are in close contact with this subdomain of creativity. Probably one of the most intriguing aspects of creativity is its negative correlation with the availability of monetary reward. The aim of this study was to investigate the reactivity of the dopaminergic reward system in artists and nonartist controls using the desire-reason-dilemma (DRD) paradigm, which allows separate evaluation of reactivity to the acceptance and rejection of rewards. Using fMRI, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses were measured in key regions of the reward system, namely the ventral striatum (VS), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and the anterior ventral prefrontal cortex (AVPFC). In contrast to controls, artists presented significantly weaker VS activation in reward acceptance. Additionally, they showed stronger suppression of the VS by the AVPFC in reward rejection. No other differences in demographic or behavioral data were evidenced. These results support the existence of characteristic neural traits in artists, who display reduced reactions to monetary reward acceptance and increased reactions to monetary reward rejection.     

Sex Differences in Variability in Vocational Interests: Evidence from Two Large Samples

Greater male variability has been established in cognitive abilities and physical attributes. This study investigated sex differences in variability in vocational interests with two large samples (N > 40 000 and N > 70 000). The results show that although men varied more in Realistic and Enterprising interests, women varied more in Artistic and Conventional interests. These differences in variability had considerable influence on the female–male tail ratios in vocational interests that have been found to contribute to reported gender disparities in certain fields of work and academic disciplines. Moreover, differences in means and variability interacted non‐linearly in shaping tail‐ratio imbalances. An age‐specific analysis additionally revealed that differences in variability diminished with age: Older samples showed smaller differences in variance in Realistic, Artistic, and Social interests than younger samples. Thus, I found no evidence that greater male variability applies for vocational interests in general. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Middle childhood and adolescent contextual and personal predictors of adult educational and occupational outcomes: a mediational model in two countries

The authors examined the prediction of occupational attainment by age 40 from contextual and personal variables assessed during childhood and adolescence in 2 participant samples: (a) the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a study of 856 third graders in a semirural county in New York State that began in 1960, and (b) the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, a study of 369 eight-year-olds in Jyv?skyl?, Finland, that began in 1968. Both samples were followed up during adolescence and early and middle adulthood. Structural modeling analyses revealed that in both countries, for both genders, children's age 8 cognitive-academic functioning and their parents' occupational status had independent positive long-term effects on the children's adult occupational attainment, even after other childhood and adolescent personal variables were controlled for. Further, childhood and adolescent aggressive behavior negatively affected educational status in early adulthood, which in turn predicted lower occupational status in middle adulthood.     

Structure and Continuity of Well-Being in Mid-Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study

The present study analyzed whether the tripartite model of well-being (Keyes in J Health Soc Res 43:207–222, 2002; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 73:539–548, 2005a) and low depression can be captured by a core factor. Furthermore, it examined whether well-being shows continuity from early middle adulthood to middle adulthood. The study was based on the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (Pulkkinen 2006), where the same participants (initial N = 369; 53% males) have been followed from age 8 until middle age. Data gathered at ages 36 and 42 were used. Well-being was indicated by (a) emotional well-being (including positive mood and low negative mood, satisfaction with different life-domains, and happiness); (b) Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff in J Pers Soc Psychol 57:1069–1081, 1989); (c) Scales of Social Well-Being (Keyes in Soc Psychol Q 61:121–140, 1998); and (d) low level of depression. These measures were administered at both ages (except for social well-being, which was available only at age 42). The results, based on structural equation modeling, showed that a latent factor consisting of the above dimensions of well-being fit the data and that the structure of well-being was the same across genders and time. Well-being showed a high continuity from age 36 to 42 (standardized coefficient 0.84). As a conclusion, the different dimensions of well-being had only little variance of their own and a core factor of well-being was empirically established.     

Perceiving minority members as individuals: the effects of relative group size in social categorization

According to the account by comparative distinctiveness, minorities draw attention by virtue of their relative size, leading to more individuation and more stereotyping of their members. Using the ‘Who said what?’ paradigm by Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff, and Ruderman ( 1978 ) in Klauer and Wegener's ( 1998 ) modified version, relative group size of gender categories and age categories was varied in a pilot study and a main experiment, respectively. In the pilot study, memory for discussion statements and in both studies, memory for individuating information increased as subgroup size decreased. Rating measures obtained in the main experiment revealed most stereotyping of minority members. The findings thereby support major predictions of the account by comparative distinctiveness, but demonstrate dissociations between different modes of category‐based processing, i.e. category memory, reconstructive category use, and stereotyping. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of changes in posture and clothing on the development of unfamiliar person recognition

In contrast to face recognition little is known about the development of unfamiliar whole‐person recognition. Various cues in a person's appearance may contribute to recognition performance. An age‐related influence of different features on person recognition performance is possible. Here, we investigated two variable features of person recognition, namely posture and clothing, in 4‐year‐olds, 6‐year‐olds, 8‐year‐olds, 10‐year‐olds and adults. The experimental methodology of a short‐term recognition‐test with an immediate four alternative forced choice (4AFC)‐array was used. Targets were shown for 5 seconds. Experiment 1 clearly indicates that a variation of both posture and clothing decreases performance in all age groups compared to a standard, i.e. a no‐change condition. An interaction age×variation of posture and clothing was not observed. In order to untangle the two aspects of posture and clothing, Experiment 2 varied only posture between encoding and recognition. An age‐effect was shown, but no other significant result occurred. Experiment 3 investigated variation of clothing only, and found main effects of clothing and age. Because there was no interaction between the two factors we infer that a change of clothing impairs all subjects' recognition performance. Children's person recognition performance suffers in a way similar to adults' person recognition performance when clothing is varied. In contrast, changing posture does not necessarily decrease recognition accuracy, neither in children nor in adults. No developmental gains were found for dealing with the transformation of posture and clothing between the encoding and recognition phase. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.