Attribute weighting methods and decision quality in the presence of response error: a simulation study

This paper uses a simulation approach to investigate how different attribute weighting techniques affect the quality of decisions based on multiattribute value models. The weighting methods considered include equal weighting of all attributes, two methods for using judgments about the rank ordering of weights, and a method for using judgments about the ratios of weights. The question addressed is: How well does each method perform when based on judgments of attribute weights that are unbiased but subject to random error? To address this question, we employ simulation methods. The simulation results indicate that ratio weights were either better than rank order weights (when error in the ratio weights was small or moderate) or tied with them (when error was large). Both ratio weights and rank order weights were substantially superior to the equal weights method in all cases studied. Our findings suggest that it will usually be worth the extra time and effort required to assess ratio weights. In cases where the extra time or effort required is too great, rank order weights will usually give a good approximation to the true weights. Comparisons of the two rank-order weighting methods favored the rank-order-centroid method over the rank-sum method. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pedestrians’ road crossing behaviour in front of automated vehicles: Results from a pedestrian simulation experiment using agent-based modelling

The objective of this research is to explore the relation between personal characteristics of pedestrians and their crossing behaviour in front of an automated vehicle (AV). For this purpose, a simulation experiment was developed using Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) techniques. Sixty participants were asked to cross the road in a virtual environment displayed on a computer screen, allowing to record their crossing behaviour when in the presence of AVs and conventional vehicles (CVs). In some experimental configurations, the AVs communicated their intention to continue or not to continue their trajectories through the use of lights. The ABM allowed controlling the behaviour of the vehicles when interacting with the simulated avatar of the respondents. The subjects of the experiment were also asked to fill in a questionnaire about usual behaviour in traffic, as well as attitudes and risk perceptions toward crossing roads. The questionnaire data were used to estimate individual specific behavioural latent variables by means of principal component analysis which resulted in three main factors named: violations, lapses, and trust in AVs. The results of generalized linear mixed models applied to the data showed that besides the distance from the approaching vehicle and existence of a zebra crossing, pedestrians’ crossing decisions are significantly affected by the participants’ age, familiarity with AVs, the communication between the AV and the pedestrian, and whether the approaching vehicle is an AV. Moreover, the introduction of the latent factors as explanatory variables into the regression models indicated that individual specific characteristics like willingness to take risks and violate traffic rules, and trust in AVs can have additional explanatory power in the crossing decisions.     

Is Complex Visual Information Implicated During Language Comprehension? The Case of Cast Shadows

Previous research showed that sensorimotor information affects the perception of properties associated with implied perceptual context during language comprehension. Three experiments addressed a novel question of whether perceptual context may contribute to a simulation of information about such out-of-sight objects as cast shadows. In Experiment 1, participants read a sentence that implied a particular shadow cast on a target (blinds vs. an open window) and then verified the picture of the object onto which a shadow was cast. Responses were faster when the shadow of blinds cast on the object matched that implied by the sentence. However, the data did not show the same matching effect for pictures with cast shadows from an open window. In Experiments 2 and 3, we found that verification times for pictures with no cast shadows were faster when preceded by an “open window” sentence, thus suggesting that reading the sentence does not elicit a visual simulation of any specific shadow. Experiment 3 showed that the objects superimposed with a cast shadow of the blinds and blinds themselves were verified faster after reading a “blinds” sentence. However, the results of an order analysis showed the temporal stability of the “blinds shadows” effect, but the disappearance of the “blinds” effect in the second half of the data. We conclude that the results are compatible, to a lesser or greater extent, with multiple accounts, and discuss our findings in the context of a mental imagery view, a mental simulation view, and an amodal representation view.     

Models for ordinal hierarchical classes analysis

This paper proposes an ordinal generalization of the hierarchical classes model originally proposed by De Boeck and Rosenberg (1998). Any hierarchical classes model implies a decomposition of a two-way two-mode binary arrayM into two component matrices, called bundle matrices, which represent the association relation and the set-theoretical relations among the elements of both modes inM. Whereas the original model restricts the bundle matrices to be binary, the ordinal hierarchical classes model assumes that the bundles are ordinal variables with a prespecified number of values. This generalization results in a classification model with classes ordered along ordinal dimensions. The ordinal hierarchical classes model is shown to subsume Coombs and Kao's (1955) model for nonmetric factor analysis. An algorithm is described to fit the model to a given data set and is subsequently evaluated in an extensive simulation study. An application of the model to student housing data is discussed.     

The Baldwin effect: a neglected influence on C. G. Jung's evolutionary thinking

This paper considers the claim that C. G. Jung used a Lamarckian model of evolution to underwrite his theory of archetypes. This claim is challenged on the basis of Jung's familiarity with and use of the writings of James Mark Baldwin and Conway Lloyd Morgan, both of whom were noted and forceful opponents of neo-Lamarckian theory from within a neo-Darwinian framework. The paper then outlines the evolutionary model proposed by Baldwin and Lloyd Morgan, which has come to be known as Baldwinian evolution or the Baldwin effect. This model explicitly views psychological factors as central to the evolutionary process. Finally, the use of Baldwinian thinking in contemporary theorizing regarding language and other symbolic systems is reviewed and suggestions are made regarding the implications of Baldwinian models for theory building in analytical psychology.     

心理模拟对陆军士兵构建沙盘表征的增强效应

跟随路径的心理模拟是一种想象练习。通过设定对照组检验了基于学习的第一人称和第三人称心理模拟完成方位判断任务和场景再认任务的情况,考察不同心理模拟条件下位置关系表征和视觉记忆表征的构建质量。结果发现,和休息条件相比,第三人称心理模拟和第一人称心理模拟均易于完成方位判断任务和场景再认任务;且第三人称模拟比第一人称心理模拟更易于完成两个任务。结果提示,心理模拟对表征质量有增强效应,场景外强化比场景内强化更易构建表征质量。结果支持位置关系表征一种表征假说。     

Stochastic choice models: A comparison between Bush-Mosteller and a source-independent reward-following model

Horner and Staddon (1987) argued that a class of reward-following processes defined by a property they termed ratio invariance is a better model for the probabilistic choice performance of pigeons than competing molecular accounts such as momentary maximizing, melioration, and the Bush-Mosteller model. The critical data were provided by choice distributions-distributions of a variable S, the proportion of Right choices, defined on a moving window typically 32 choices long-obtained under a frequency-dependent schedule. The schedule prescribed equal payoff probabilities, p(S), for both choices. p(S) was a maximum when S = 0.5 and declined linearly for S values above and below 0.5. Pigeons showed generally bimodal choice distributions with the modes at equal p(S) values. These data do not follow easily from melioration or momentary maximizing and are inconsistent with molar maximizing, but they may be consistent with Bush-Mosteller. We present here the results of computer simulations showing that the ratio-invariance model studied yields, as expected, choice modes at equal p(S) values, but that Bush-Mosteller, although capable of generating bimodal choice distributions, does not have choice modes at equal p(S) values.     

TEACHING SELF-CATHETERIZATION SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH NEUROGENIC BLADDER COMPLICATIONS

We examined the effects of simulation training on the acquisition of self-catheterization skills in 2 female children with spina bifida. Based on a task analysis, the children were taught to perform on a doll each of the components of preparation, and, using a mirror to locate the urinary meatus, to insert and remove the catheter and to clean-up. Before, during, and after training, the children's performance of the skills on the doll and on themselves was assessed. Results of a multiple baseline design across subjects and skill components showed that doll training facilitated the children's acquisition of self-catheterization skills.     

GENERALIZED EFFECTS OF A PEER-DELIVERED FIRST AID PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS WITH MODERATE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Peers with mild intellectual disabilities taught first aid skills to 4 students with moderate intellectual disabilities. A multiple probe design across participants was used to examine the effects of the peer teaching program during an acquisition and a partial sequential withdrawal phase. Generalization assessments were conducted in the participants' homes using novel, randomized simulated injuries. Results suggested that the peer teaching program resulted in acquisition of first aid skills, and the participants' skills generalized to the home, to novel simulated-injury locations, and to new trainers. Additionally, a more detailed analysis of the generalized responding suggested that when given a choice among first aid materials, participants treated burns using large adhesive bandages rather than the materials used in training. Participants also successfully treated injuries when novel instructional cues were used. The findings are discussed with respect to training issues, generalization and maintenance of the acquired skills, and the use of peer tutors with disabilities.