Handling complex real-world data with two cognitive engineering tools: COGENT and MacSHAPA

The ultimate concern of cognitive engineering is how complex sociotechnical systems might be designed so that humans can work within them and control them safely and effectively. Because of this, large amounts of observational data analysis and knowledge elicitation are incorporated in cognitive engineering. At many points, these two methodologies coalesce. In this paper, we describe two complementary cognitive engineering software tools—MacSHAPA and COGENT—that are being developed alongside each other. MacSHAPA is designed for observational data analysis, and COGENT is designed for knowledge elicitation and cognitive engineering, but both sup-port requirements gathering. We first outline current trends in cognitive engineering that have given rise to the need for tools like MacSHAPA and COGENT. We then describe the two tools in more detail, and point to their similarities and differences. Finally, we show how the two tools are complementary, and how they can be used together in engineering psychology research.     

Dynamic visual acuity: a possible factor in catching performance

Forty subjects took part in a one-handed catching ask in which the period for which the mechanically projected tennis ball was illuminated in flight was varied systematically. Additionally, they were tested for (a) static visual acuity and (b) dynamic visual acuity, in which angular velocity was varied. As expected, both viewing period in the catching task and angular velocity in the acuity task were significant variables in performance. Correlation and principal-components analyses confirmed the findings of a previous experiment in that the correlated static visual acuity tasks were unrelated to both dynamic visual acuity (even when angular velocity was only 75 degrees /sec) and catching performance. Further, dynamic acuity and catching were related under the majority of the combinations, and most frequently at the highest angular velocity, a fact which suggested that the dynamic element in both tasks is the common factor.     

Emotional engagement in the context of development and spirituality research

An awareness of spirituality and religion is increasingly being integrated within development theory and practice in order to recognise the way that many people approach community development. There are significant implications for researchers and their methodological practice that arise in paying attention to this area of development studies, particularly with regard to spiritual aspects of emotional engagement for researchers. This paper explores some of those implications from an analysis of my participatory research into geographies of development and spirituality. Two community groups with self-identified Christian spiritualities took part: a Melanesian settlement in Fiji and a women’s church-based group in rural Tanzania. I argue that emotional engagement and spiritual engagement are implicitly connected and demonstrate how attention to emotional knowledge provides valuable insight within this area of research. In particular, I illustrate how a relational approach to emotional knowledge, inspired by the philosophic and psychoanalytic work of Luce Irigaray, is particularly suited to approaching human and spiritual relationships and resonates with key concerns within participatory and community development. Paying particular attention to the concept of fidelity and the spatiality of subjectivity within her work, this paper illustrates the challenge from Luce Irigaray’s work regarding the relational framing of emotional knowledge and the transformational potential implicit within all research relationships.     

Look who's talking? Sound changes gaze behaviour in a dynamic social scene

Humans often look at other people in natural scenes, and previous research has shown that these looks follow the conversation and that they are sensitive to sound in audiovisual speech perception. In the present experiment, participants viewed video clips of four people involved in a discussion. By removing the sound, we asked whether auditory information would affect when speakers were fixated, how fixations between different observers were synchronized, and whether the eyes or mouth were looked at most often. The results showed that sound changed the timing of looks—by alerting observers to changes in conversation and attracting attention to the speaker. Clips with sound also led to greater attentional synchrony, with more observers fixating the same regions at the same time. However, looks towards the eyes of the people continued to dominate and were unaffected by removing the sound. These findings provide a rich example of multimodal social attention.     

Interest in Participating in Smoking Cessation Treatment Among Latino Primary Care Patients

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death for U.S. Latinos. This study identified correlates of interest in participating in a smoking cessation program among urban Latinos seen in community clinics. Interviews were completed with 141 current smokers. Participants were predominantly Spanish-speaking (93%) males (66%), who were on average 37.6 years old and smoked 8.7 cigarettes per day. Over two-thirds (63%) of participants were “definitely interested” in participating in a smoking cessation program. Participants who smoked more cigarettes per day and reported greater nicotine dependence, depression, and readiness to quit were more likely to be interested, while those employed fulltime were less likely to report high interest. Treatment preferences were consistent with Clinical Practice Guidelines recommending counseling, social support, and pharmacotherapy. Results support recommendations that healthcare providers intervene with all Latino smokers, including light smokers and those who do not report initial interest in smoking cessation.     

Deletion of the GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit impairs recency-dependent object recognition memory

Deletion of the GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit impairs short-term spatial recognition memory. It has been suggested that short-term recognition depends upon memory caused by the recent presentation of a stimulus that is independent of contextual-retrieval processes. The aim of the present set of experiments was to test whether the role of GluA1 extends to nonspatial recognition memory. Wild-type and GluA1 knockout mice were tested on the standard object recognition task and a context-independent recognition task that required recency-dependent memory. In a first set of experiments it was found that GluA1 deletion failed to impair performance on either of the object recognition or recency-dependent tasks. However, GluA1 knockout mice displayed increased levels of exploration of the objects in both the sample and test phases compared to controls. In contrast, when the time that GluA1 knockout mice spent exploring the objects was yoked to control mice during the sample phase, it was found that GluA1 deletion now impaired performance on both the object recognition and the recency-dependent tasks. GluA1 deletion failed to impair performance on a context-dependent recognition task regardless of whether object exposure in knockout mice was yoked to controls or not. These results demonstrate that GluA1 is necessary for nonspatial as well as spatial recognition memory and plays an important role in recency-dependent memory processes.