To be at the tail of the lions or the head of the foxes?

Agents seeking an opportunity for profit often have to compete with others who pursue the same opportunity. When having to choose between a number of opportunities differing in their value and if individuals differ in their chances of outperforming others, the choice can be cognitively and emotionally demanding. We explore choice between opportunities using stylized Lions–Foxes games. In such a game, each of three players, with different odds of beating others, has to choose one of two contests that offer different rewards. After game theoretically analyzing the games, which we have experimentally employed, we report four experiments that vary in choice elicitation (repeated play or strategy method), in players' matching (random strangers or partners) and in rewards. Regarding contest choices, we found the choice of the higher value (and seemingly more prestigious) contest to be positively related to winning odds, contrary to what four out of the five (mixed, partially mixed, or pure) equilibria predict. Participants started out rather optimistic, with a large majority choosing the higher value option, but with experience, they approached the only viable of two pure strategy equilibria. Still, mixing continued via reacting to past play and outcome, apparently balancing dissatisfaction from choosing either contest.     

Focal lung pathology detection in radiology: Is there an effect of experience on visual search behavior?

In radiology, 60% to 80% of diagnostic errors are perceptual. The use of more efficient visual search behaviors is expected to reduce these errors. We collected eye-tracking data from participants with different levels of experience when interpreting chest X-rays during the completion of a pathology-detection task. Eye-tracking measures were assessed in the context of three existing visual search theories from the literature to understand the association between visual search behavior and underlying processes: the long-term working memory theory, the information-reduction hypothesis, and the holistic model of image perception. The most experienced participants (radiology residents) showed the highest level of performance, albeit their visual search behaviors did not differ from the intermediate group. This suggests that radiology residents better processed the represented information on the X-ray, using a visual search strategy similar to the intermediate group. Since similar visual search resulted in more information extraction in the radiology residents compared with the intermediates, we suggest that this result might support the long-term working memory theory. Furthermore, compared with novices, intermediates and radiology residents fixated longer on areas that were more important to avoid missing any pathology, which possibly confirms the information-reduction hypothesis. Finally, the larger distances between fixations observed in more experienced participants could support the holistic model of image perception. In addition, measures of generic skills were related to a lower time cost for switching between global and local information processing. Our findings suggest that the three theories may be complementary in chest X-ray interpretation. Therefore, a unified theory explaining perceptual-cognitive superiority in radiology is considered.

     

The Music Experience Questionnaire: development and correlates

The authors introduce the Music Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), a self-report measure of individual differences in reactions to music. In analyses of responses in a derivation sample of 211 undergraduates and a replication sample of 105 undergraduates, scores on the 6 scales of this measure showed acceptable alpha coefficients and test-retest correlations. The authors found 2 principal factors: subjective/physical reactions to music and active involvement. MEQ scores were, at most, weakly correlated with 2 measures of favorability of self-presentation, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1960) and the Responding Desirability on Attitudes and Opinions Scale (K. Schuessler, D. H. Hittle, & J. Cardascia, 1978). Examination of correlations between MEQ scores and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (L. S. Radloff, 1977), as well as factor scores on the Adjective Check List (H. G. Gough & A. B. Heilbrun, 1983), suggested areas of similarity and difference in the correlates of music experience for women and men. The authors discuss directions for future research as well as potential uses of the MEQ.     

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Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Perceived internal depth in rotating and translating objects

Previous research has indicated that observers use differences between velocities and ratios of velocities to judge the depth within a moving object, although depth cannot in general be determined from these quantities. In four experiments we examined the relative effects of velocity difference and velocity ratio on judged depth within a transparent object that was rotating about a vertical axis and translating horizontally, examined the effects of the velocity difference for pure rotations and pure translations, and examined the effect of the velocity difference for objects that varied in simulated internal depth. Both the velocity difference and the velocity ratio affected judged depth, with difference having the larger effect. The effect of velocity difference was greater for pure rotations than for pure translations. Simulated depth did not affect judged depth unless there was a corresponding change in the projected width of the object. Observers appear to use the velocity difference, the velocity ratio, and the projected width of the object heuristically to judge internal object depth, rather than using image information from which relative depth could potentially be recovered.     

Stress modulates the use of spatial versus stimulus-response learning strategies in humans

Animal studies provided evidence that stress modulates multiple memory systems, favoring caudate nucleus-based "habit" memory over hippocampus-based "cognitive" memory. However, effects of stress on learning strategy and memory consolidation were not differentiated. We specifically address the effects of psychosocial stress on the applied learning strategy in humans. We designed a spatial learning task that allowed differentiating spatial from stimulus-response learning strategies during acquisition. In 13 subsequent trials, participants (88 male and female students) had to locate a "win" card out of four placed at a fixed location in a 3D model of a room. Relocating one cue in the last trial allowed inferring the applied learning strategy. Half of them participated first in the "Trier Social Stress Test." Salivary cortisol and heart rate measurements were taken. Stressed participants used a stimulus-response strategy significantly more often than controls. Subsequent verbal report revealed that spatial learners had a more complete awareness of response options than stimulus-response learners. Importantly, learning performance was not affected by stress. Taken together, stress prior to learning facilitated simple stimulus-response learning strategies in humans-at the expense of a more cognitive learning strategy. Depending on the context, we consider this as an adaptive response.