Capturing non-linear temporally embedded processes in organizations using recurrence quantification analysis

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing consensus that the majority of psychological phenomena at work are temporally embedded and highly dynamic, existing research is often based on simplified theoretical and methodological models, which take limited account of process dynamics and especially non-linear growth trajectories. In this paper, we highlight the potentials of using recurrence quantifications analysis (RQA) and an extension of RQA – cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) – for researching process dynamics in organizations. (C)RQA is a powerful technique that can be used to both visualize and quantify time-series data such as repeated measurements of psychological states or sequentially coded dyadic and team interactions. To illustrate the manifold opportunities of (C)RQA, we present three application examples focusing on individuals as systems, dyads as systems, and teams as systems. Specifically, we highlight how (C)RQA can be applied to individual diary data, to leader-follower communication dynamics observed during annual appraisal interviews, and to high-density coded team interactions observed during organizational meetings. We discuss the strengths and limitations of (C)RQA and provide recommendations for researchers interested in using the method.     

The Responses of Health Systems to Marital Sexual Violence – A Perspective from Southern India

ABSTRACT

Marital sexual violence is a serious problem in India. However, marital rape and most other forms of marital sexual violence are not criminalized in the country. This qualitative study with healthcare providers (physicians and nurses), lawyers, members of a non-profit organization that offers domestic violence support services out of a hospital, a journalist and two lawyers suggest that the majority of care providers recognize that marital sexual violence is a serious concern, and agree that health systems can play a vital role in addressing both the immediate biomedical concerns of survivors, and also overall well-being. The study reveals several systemic and internal factors that hinder responsiveness of Indian health institutions. These include, the absence of a protocol or uniform internal guidelines in most hospitals, a lack of screening programs to capture the presence of violence occurring when patients visit hospitals for other reasons, a large patient load, a lack of gender sensitivity in providers’ education, an absence of domestic violence shelters, and poor interlinkages between support services such as counseling and legal services. Notwithstanding these challenges, some exemplar physicians and nurses assist survivors of sexual violence, sometimes risking their own safety. The Indian health system can be made more responsive, provided these factors are addressed, and crucially budgets are allocated for interventions.     

Memory systems and the control of skilled action

ABSTRACT

In keeping with the dominant view that skills are largely automatic, the standard view of memory systems distinguishes between a representational declarative system associated with cognitive processes and a performance-based procedural system. The procedural system is thought to be largely responsible for the performance of well-learned skilled actions. Here we argue that most skills do not fully automate, which entails that the declarative system should make a substantial contribution to skilled performance. To support this view, we review evidence showing that the declarative system does indeed play a number of roles in skilled action.     

Out on a limb? On multiple cognitive systems within the octopus nervous system

The idea that there can be only one cognitive system within any single given cognitive organism is an established albeit implicit one within cognitive science and related studies of the mind. The firm foothold of this notion is due largely to the immense corpus of empirical evidence for the correlation of a high level of cognitive sophistication with a centralized nervous system. However, it must be pointed out that these findings are sourced in large part from studies on vertebrates. This paper presents a potential counterexample to the notion that only one cognitive system can be realized within any single genuine cognitive organism. This counterexample is the octopus, an invertebrate with what initially appears to be a paradoxical combination of vertebrate-like cognitive and behavioral capacities and a functionally decentralized nervous system. The extensive relegation of sensorimotor processing and control responsibilities to the peripheral nervous system which controls the arms of the octopus raises principled reasons to believe that the octopus is an organism that may house multiple independent cognitive systems.     

Generation and evaluation of user tailored responses in multimodal dialogue

When people engage in conversation, they tailor their utterances to their conversational partners, whether these partners are other humans or computational systems. This tailoring, or adaptation to the partner takes place in all facets of human language use, and is based on a mental model or a user model of the conversational partner. Such adaptation has been shown to improve listeners’ comprehension, their satisfaction with an interactive system, the efficiency with which they execute conversational tasks, and the likelihood of achieving higher level goals such as changing the listener’s beliefs and attitudes. We focus on one aspect of adaptation, namely the tailoring of the content of dialogue system utterances for the higher level processes of persuasion, argumentation and advice-giving. Our hypothesis is that algorithms that adapt content for these processes, according to a user model, will improve the usability, efficiency, and effectiveness of dialogue systems. We describe a multimodal dialogue system and algorithms for adaptive content selection based on multi-attribute decision theory. We demonstrate experimentally the improved efficacy of system responses through the use of user models to both tailor the content of system utterances and to manipulate their conciseness.     

Using an integrated simulation environment for the risk based design of advanced driver assistance systems

When designing new Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), the existing guidelines like the RESPONSE 3 Code of Practice imply intense testing of the system prior series production. Within the EU-FP7-Project ISi-PADAS a new methodology of risk based design has been established which includes an integrated simulation platform. This integration enables intense testing of new prototypes in an accelerated way and therefore enhances the design process while directly combining the simulation results with a risk matrix.This paper describes the new methodology while focussing on the software framework and the procedure of risk assessment in detail. It shows the general approach as well as the appropriate steps taken for an ADAS prototype developed in the context of ISi-PADAS.     

Response interference under near-concurrent presentation of safety and non-safety information

The growing advent of Connected Vehicle Systems (CVS) is changing the information environment within the vehicle cab. As vehicles add the capability to receive data from the road infrastructure or share data with other vehicles, there is an expanding amount of safety and non-safety information from these systems with which the driver must contend. The information processing demands for the driver may become more complex, especially under conditions that present multiple information signals to the driver at the same time. To manage this complexity, the design of CVS will need to incorporate information management functions to prioritize information so as to be compatible with the processing capacity of the driver. The objective of this research was to examine the potential interference effect of non-safety critical information on driver responses to near concurrent, critical safety warnings. The study design was based on theory and evidence that there is a “bottle neck” in a human’s central processing of information, such that the processing of early signals (S1) in the environment may delay the response to a later signal (S2) until such time as the response to the first stimulus has been initiated. The results of the study suggest that there is the possibility that near concurrent presentation of safety and non-safety critical information may generate interference effects, but the combination of signal parameters (modality, timing) that are most likely to create this interference may be infrequent in most real world conditions. Future research should focus on the specific parameters that increase the probability of such interference. Such research would then provide a better estimate of the potential frequency of this interference and also guide the formulation of design guidelines to minimize this potential.     

A non‐representational approach to imagined action

This study addresses the dynamical nature of a “representation‐hungry” cognitive task involving an imagined action. In our experiment, participants were handed rods that systematically increased or decreased in length on subsequent trials. Participants were asked to judge whether or not they thought they could reach for a distant object with the hand‐held rod. The results are in agreement with a dynamical model, extended from Tuller, Case, Ding, and Kelso (1994). The dynamical effects observed in this study suggest that predictive judgments regarding the possibility or impossibility of a certain action can be understood in terms of dynamically evolving basins of attraction instead of as depending on representational structures.     

A comparison of information processing and dynamical systems perspectives on problem solving

Abstract

This article compares the information processing and dynamical systems perspectives on problem solving. Key theoretical constructs of the information-processing perspective include “searching” a “problem space” by using “heuristics” that produce “incremental” changes such as reaching a “subgoal” to solve a puzzle. Key theoretical constructs of the dynamical-systems perspective include “positive attractors”, “negative attractors”, and “latent attractors” that can cause large “nonincremental” changes in the possibility of a solution through the “emergence” of new ideas and beliefs that can resolve a conflict. The proposed alignment maps dynamical-system constructs to information-processing constructs: state space to problem space, negative attractor to impasse, positive attractor to productive subgoal, latent attractor to implicit cognition, and nonincremental change to insight. The purpose of the mapping is to explore similarities and differences between these constructs. Research from cognitive and social psychology illustrates how using constructs from both perspectives is helpful. The concluding section on Future Directions recommends an agenda based on three objectives: (1) create ontologies to organise current knowledge, (2) conduct research to obtain new knowledge, and (3) provide education to inform students about this knowledge.     

Family systems psychiatry in an acute in‐patient setting: the implementation and sustainability 5 years after its introduction

From 2003 to 2008 a multicentre research project, systems therapy methods in acute psychiatry (SYMPA), attempted to establish structured in‐patient treatment based on systemic interventions in German non‐university psychiatric hospitals. Utilising multi‐professional family systems training for team members in six in‐patient wards, its main goal was to improve the involvement of familial and non‐familial important others. This follow‐up study explores the sustainability of family systems psychiatry by evaluating the frequency of the utilisation of four core systemic interventions; elements of a systemic organizational culture in psychiatry; and institutional barriers to this new approach. The degree of implementation was high to moderate, depending on the intervention. More intense communication developed among staff of different professions and the status of nursing staff improved. Organizational barriers to implementation included the ambiguous role of junior doctors in teams, continuously understaffed wards and frequent over‐occupancy.