Is the mind-body interface microscopic?

This paper puts forward the hypothesis that consciousness might be linked to matter in a way which is more sophisticated than the traditional macroscopic Cartesian hypothesis suggests.Advances in the biophysics of the nervous system, not only on the level of its macroscopic functioning but also on the level of individual ion channels, have made the question of how finely consciousness is tied to matter and its dynamics more important. Quantum mechanics limits the attainable resolution and puts into doubt the idea of an infinitely fine-woven attachment. A recent approach to physics rekindles such a rationalist hope. Endophysics focuses on the global implications of microscopic computer simulations of chemical and biophysical processes. A complete artificial universe can be set up in the computer. It produces non-classical and nonlocal effects inside — on the interface that exists between an internal observer (fluid neuron) and the rest of the world. This interface is finer than any brain property to which the status of the mind-body interface has been attributed hitherto. A new class of experiments becomes possible in the artificial world and, by analogy, in the real world. Magnetic resonance imaging experiments, routinely performed under open-loop conditions, can be repeated under psychophysical (closed-loop) conditions — in search for microscopically induced changes in the perceived and measured structure of the world.     

MP3播放器外观设计效果的眼动评估

以大学生为被试,利用眼动法和主观评定法,分析了大学生在评估不同颜色（银白色、红色）、不同外形（椭圆形、圆形、长方体形和四棱柱形）MP3播放器外观设计时的眼动特征。结果发现：对于MP3播放器的外观来说,被试最关注的区域是功能键区域,即就是关注MP3播放器的人机交流功能;对于不同外形的MP3播放器,被试对圆形MP3播放器最感兴趣。     

The Net in the Park

Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing, Physical Computing, Everyware, Tangible User Interface, and the Internet of Things all share the same viewpoint—a viewpoint that sees computers, phones, and game consoles as no longer being the only devices in our environment deemed worthy to embody computation and be connected. Each of these approaches focuses on slightly different aspects of the features and potentialities of the enabling technologies (i.e., Physical Computing focuses on the growing power of microcontrollers; IOT on the increasing influence of tagging systems; Everyware on the pervasiveness of the web through wired and wireless connections, etc.) We understand and place more emphasis on the similarities then the differences among these approaches, and at the same time, we try to address specific human activity issues by exploiting these new enabling technologies and visions. In the paper, we present a project, Wi-roni, that addresses two issues: in-person communication and the added value of being in a given location when accessing a given content. To this end, we considered in some detail the possibilities of three of these enabling technologies: ultrasound sensors, MEMS, and mash-up of Internet application. These technologies were chosen based on the nature of the human activity, and not vice versa. In Wi-roni, an Urban Architecture project located in the La Gora public park in Monteroni d'Arbia, a small village in the province of Siena (Italy), we developed two interconnect solutions: Wi-wave, a column for accessing web audio content in public spaces, and Wi-swing, a children’s swing that tells stories while swinging. These devices represent both the concrete grounds from which to begin to address the abovementioned human activity issues and the playground in which to explore the new, emerging interaction modalities that the enabling technologies could allow.     

Regularity re-revisited: modality matters

The issue of regular-irregular past tense formation was examined in a cross-modal lexical decision task in Modern Greek, a language where the orthographic and phonological overlap between present and past tense stems is the same for both regular and irregular verbs. The experiment described here is a follow-up study of previous visual lexical decision experiments (Tsapkini, Kehayia, & Harema, 2002) that also addressed the regular-irregular distinction in Greek. In the present experiment, we investigated the effect of input modality in lexical processing and compared different types of regular and irregular verbs. In contrast to our previous intra-modal (visual-visual) priming experiments, in this cross-modal (auditory-visual) priming study, we found that regular verbs with an orthographically salient morphemic aspectual marker elicited the same facilitation as those without an orthographically salient marker. However, irregular verbs did not exhibit a different priming pattern with respect to modality. We interpret these results in the framework of a two-level lexical processing approach with modality-specific access representations at a surface level and modality-independent morphemic representations at a deeper level.     

Processing "d-linked" phrases

Linguists draw a distinction between two types of interrogatives: discourse linked (d-linked) phrases such as which man, which implies the existence of a set of contextually determined entities (men) from which the speaker is asking for a choice, and non–d-linked interrogatives such as who, which carry no such implication. Two questionnaires and an on-line reading study showed that readers prefer a d-linked phrase more than a non–d-linked phrase as the antecedent for a pronoun, suggesting that d-linked phrases are immediately instantiated in a discourse representation that is checked during the process of pronoun interpretation. Comparable difficulty is not observed for non–d-linked interrogatives. A questionnaire and an on-line listening study also showed that readers and listeners were more willing to accept a grammatical island violation containing a pronoun when the pronoun's antecendent was a d-linked interrogative than when the antecedent was non–d-linked, suggesting that they check a discourse representation for the pronoun antecedent. All results suggest that d-linked phrases are immediately interpreted in a discourse representation, not just in a syntactic representation.     

Strengthening parent well‐being at the work—family interface: A German trial on workplace Triple P

This study examines the efficacy of a parenting training (Workplace Triple P (WPTP)) especially designed for the needs of employed parents. The program aims to reduce stress at the work–parenting interface by targeting family risk and protective factors and assisting parents to manage competing work and family demands. Ninety‐seven part‐ and full‐time working parents (74 mothers and 23 fathers; intervention group: n = 42 parents; waitlist‐control group n = 55 parents) from multiple organizations and multiple occupations with children between 2 and 10 years were randomly assigned to an intervention and a waitlist‐control condition. After the training, parents from the intervention condition, compared to those from the waitlist‐control condition, reported a significant reduction in individual and work‐related stress. Additionally, they reported a significant reduction in dysfunctional parenting and significant higher levels of parental and occupational self‐efficacy. Within the intervention condition all effects were maintained at the 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up examinations. The findings support the notion that WPTP promotes parental well‐being and reduces stress at the work–parenting interface. Given that strengthening parenting skills has the potential to strengthen work, strategies to implement WPTP in organizational resources and community‐based services are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

耳标在小屏幕界面设计中的应用

耳标是一种向用户提供计算机客体、操作或交互信息的非言语听觉信号。本文比较了言语听觉界面与非言语听觉界面的特点 ,并就非言语听觉界面设计中的两种基本表征方式———耳标技术和听标技术的优缺点做了简单介绍 ,指出耳标技术是用于小屏幕界面设计的有效方式之一。作者重点概述了耳标的构成元素、构成方式以及信息呈现方式 ,并从功效学角度对耳标设计原则作了简要总结     

Effect of mindfulness meditation on brain–computer interface performance

Electroencephalogram based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) enable stroke and motor neuron disease patients to communicate and control devices. Mindfulness meditation has been claimed to enhance metacognitive regulation. The current study explores whether mindfulness meditation training can thus improve the performance of BCI users. To eliminate the possibility of expectation of improvement influencing the results, we introduced a music training condition. A norming study found that both meditation and music interventions elicited clear expectations for improvement on the BCI task, with the strength of expectation being closely matched. In the main 12 week intervention study, seventy-six healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups: a meditation training group; a music training group; and a no treatment control group. The mindfulness meditation training group obtained a significantly higher BCI accuracy compared to both the music training and no-treatment control groups after the intervention, indicating effects of meditation above and beyond expectancy effects.     

Dynamics of the relationships among work and family resource gain and loss,enrichment, and conflict over time

Dynamics of the relationships among work and family resource gain and loss, work-to-family enrichment (WFE), and work-to-family conflict (WFC) over time were examined using the data collected from 382 employees of Chinese firms at two points of time one year apart. Work resource gain at time 1 weakened the positive relationship between WFC at times 1 and 2, and work resource loss at time 1 weakened the positive relationship between WFE at times 1 and 2. However, WFC at time 1 strengthened the positive relationship between work resource gain at time 1 and family resource gain at time 2. Overall, these results suggest the existence of complementary forces that maintain the status quo of individuals' work–family experiences, such that high losses diminish the transfer of gains and high gains diminish the transfer of losses, but also that unexpected gains may result from individuals having to deal with painful situations. Implications of these dynamics for theory, research, and practice are discussed.