逃生决策中的信息源直觉和分析对采纳偏向的影响

选取82名被试,探讨在突发危急事件的逃生判断和决策中人们对不同信息源的采纳偏向,同时探讨直觉和分析两种思维倾向以及直觉和分析两种决策风格对逃生判断和决策中信息源采纳的影响。结果：（1）在模拟突发危急事件的逃生判断和决策中人们对不同信息源的采纳倾向存在明显差异,来自权威、熟悉以及具有高信任度的信息源更容易被采纳;（2）直觉性思维倾向启动条件下和分析性思维倾向启动条件下的信息源采纳倾向差异不明显;（3）直觉型决策风格对信息源的采纳倾向具有明显预测性,而分析型决策风格对信息源的采纳倾向不具有明显预测性。主要结论     

语义表征具身理论:情绪在概念表征中的作用

概念如何被表征是认知科学的热点问题,其中抽象概念如何表征是当前具身认知最具争议性的话题之一。与前期概念隐喻理论(强调意象图式)和知觉符号理论(强调情境内省信息)的观点不同,语义表征具身理论强调情绪经验信息在抽象概念表征和加工中的作用。具体而言,具体概念的表征主要来自感觉运动信息,而抽象概念的表征主要来自情绪经验信息和语言信息。研究证明,抽象概念的高情绪经验信息能够促进词汇的加工,且这一促进作用受词汇情绪效价的调节。未来研究应进一步考虑影响情绪经验信息发挥作用的因素,比如语言信息的丰富性、情绪唤醒或个体的情绪状态等。     

不同风险态度大学生职业决策的线索偏好及信息搜索特点

探讨不同风险态度的大学生在职业决策中的线索偏好及信息搜索特点。以大学生为被试,以Weber的风险态度问卷为工具,筛选出风险寻求大学生26名,风险规避大学生23名,采用信息板技术进行模拟职业决策研究。结果发现：（1）风险寻求和风险规避大学生在职业决策中点击次数最多的职业属性均依次是工资、发展空间和兴趣;（2）在信息板的点击次数上,风险寻求被试比风险规避被试更多;在搜索模式上,风险寻求组被试和风险规避组的得分均为正值,但风险寻求组被试的得分显著高于风险规避组。因此,大学生职业决策中偏好的线索主要是工资、发展空间和兴趣;风险寻求者的信息搜索模式与风险规避者不同,风险寻求者更倾向于以选项为基础的搜索模式。     

Well Trained Users in a Small Theological Library?

Abstract

Few published studies report on user training in theological libraries, despite the growing complexity in the task of finding theological information. This paper is a case study of the evaluation of user training in one small theological library. Using information literacy as a framework, the researcher describes his qualitative research design, then interprets the results. He found little formal evaluation. Additionally, library staff did not put together various pieces of information about the quality of user training available to them. Based on this case, the researcher proposes five lessons for other small theological libraries.     

Curricular Information Demand in Theological Degrees: Operationalizing a Key Concept for Library Services

If seminary libraries exist to support student information needs, then librarians need specific knowledge about how a given school's curriculum shapes such needs. This article puts forward a model of the intended curriculum in master's-level theological education. Based on analysis of the intended theological curriculum (giving special attention to the use of student time), the author posits curricular information demand (CID) as a way to describe with precision how courses and degree programs expect students to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. CID has a weaker measure based on analysis of syllabi and a stronger measure based on analysis of actual student work. The author presents examples of CID for courses at Austin Presbyterian Theological School. Finally, the author calls for research to analyze the usefulness of the model.     

Feature synchrony-asynchrony and rate of change in visual search

ABSTRACT

Attention is known to be sensitive to the temporal structure of scenes. We initially tested whether feature synchrony, an attribute with potential special status because of its association with objecthood, is something which draws attention. Search items were surrounded by colours which periodically changed either in synchrony or out-of synchrony with periodic changes in their shape. Search for a target was notably faster when the target location contained a unique synchronous feature change amongst asynchronous changes. However, the reverse situation produced no search advantage. A second experiment showed that this effect of unique synchrony was actually a consequence of the lower rate of perceived flicker in the synchronous compared to the asynchronous items, not the synchrony itself. In our displays it seems that attention is drawn towards a location which has a relatively low rate of change. Overall, the pattern of results suggested the attentional bias we find is for relative temporal stability. Results stand in contrast to other work which has found high and low flicker rates to both draw attention equally [Cass, J., Van der Burg, E., & Alais, D. (2011). Finding flicker: Critical differences in temporal frequency capture attention. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 320]. Further work needs to determine the exact conditions under which this bias is and is not found when searching in complex dynamically-changing displays.     

Differential activation of a central inhibition system by motion and colour distractors

ABSTRACT

The selection of relevant stimuli is partially achieved through inhibition of irrelevant distractors. Using the distractor induced blindness (DIB) paradigm, we investigated whether these inhibitory processes depend on the feature dimension that is used to define distractors. Following a pilot study that found motion and colour targets to be comparably salient, we analysed distractor effects of those two feature dimensions. In both feature dimensions, an inhibition effect depended on the number of distractors. Colour, however, was more sensitive to distractor episodes as compared to motion: The level of inhibition was more pronounced, and its activation required less distractors. The results of a control experiment provided further evidence that, in fact, the feature dimension -instead of design differences between tasks- is responsible for this observation. The dimension-sensitive bias in the activation of a central inhibition system may be attributed to a differential processing of visual signals, depending on their behavioural relevance.     

Dissociations in Visual Attention Deficits among Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment

ABSTRACT

Impairments in visual attention and visual information processing have been identified as part of the neuropsychological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD), even in its earliest stages. There is increasing recognition that these deficits may be selective rather than global, with some attentional subtypes being more vulnerable than others. The few studies that have investigated attentional deficits in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a putatively prodromal phase of AD, have not satisfactorily addressed the possible selectivity in attentional deficits in MCI. This study examined potential dissociations in visual attention deficits in MCI using a measure that assesses simple, divided, and selective attention. The results indicated a hierarchy of attentional impairments, with divided attention being the most affected and simple attention the least. Among participants with MCI, 53% showed evidence of impairment in divided attention compared to 19% of controls (OR = 4.81, p < .001). Poorer visual attention was also associated with poorer overall cognitive status. The implications of these findings for early identification of MCI, prevention of functional decline in MCI, and delay/reversal of cognitive degradation in MCI are discussed.     

The face inversion effect—Parts and wholes: Individual features and their configuration

The face inversion effect (FIE) is a reduction in recognition performance for inverted faces (compared to upright faces) that is greater than that typically observed with other stimulus types (e.g., houses). The work of Diamond and Carey, suggests that a special type of configural information, “second-order relational information” is critical in generating this inversion effect. However, Tanaka and Farah concluded that greater reliance on second-order relational information did not directly result in greater sensitivity to inversion, and they suggested that the FIE is not entirely due to a reliance on this type of configural information. A more recent review by McKone and Yovel provides a meta-analysis that makes a similar point. In this paper, we investigated the contributions made by configural and featural information to the FIE. Experiments 1a and1b investigated the link between configural information and the FIE. Remarkably, Experiment 1b showed that disruption of all configural information of the type considered in Diamond and Carey's analysis (both first and second order) was effective in reducing recognition performance, but did not significantly impact on the FIE. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that face processing is affected by the orientation of individual features and that this plays a major role in producing the FIE. The FIE was only completely eliminated when we disrupted the single feature orientation information in addition to the configural information, by using a new type of transformation similar to Thatcherizing our sets of scrambled faces. We conclude by noting that our results for scrambled faces are consistent with an account that has recognition performance entirely determined by the proportion of upright facial features within a stimulus, and that any ability to make use of the spatial configuration of these features seems to benefit upright and inverted normal faces alike.