Team situation awareness within the context of human-autonomy teaming

Effective team communication, a fundamental part of team coordination, is crucial for both effective Team Situation Awareness (TSA) and team performance. In this study, we looked at the role that team interaction (i.e., more specifically team verbal behaviors) played in TSA and team performance in order to better understand Human-Autonomy Teaming (HAT). We first analyzed team verbal behaviors (i.e., pushing and pulling information) across conditions of human-autonomy teams and human-human teams, and then analyzed their relationship with TSA and team performance via Growth Curve Modelling (GCM). Good teamwork involves anticipating the needs of teammates and that means pushing information before it is requested. Therefore, if things are going well, there should be little need for pulling information. In this study’s task, participants were instructed to push information to others, and over time master the specific timing of information sharing to the intended recipient. Findings indicate that pushing information was positively associated with TSA and team performance, and human-autonomy teams had lower levels of both pushing and pulling information than all-human teams. Through this study, we have learned that anticipation of other team member behaviors and information requirements in human-autonomy teams are important for effective TSA and team performance. In order to make HAT more effective in terms of teamwork, we need to develop mechanisms to enhance pushing information within HAT.     

The perception of team engagement reduces stress induced situation awareness overconfidence and risk-taking

Much research has examined how stress restricts objective Situation Awareness (SA). Little research, however, has focused on SA overconfidence, the notion that an individual may grasp a situation when in fact they do not. Even less SA research has examined the motivational and emotional states of individuals operating in teams in stressful environments. Expanding on recent data suggesting that stress creates SA overconfidence, not simply SA loss, the present experiment manipulated stress levels and the perception of team engagement, which is thought to be a positive motivational state of task-related well-being. Teams of Soldiers were tested in a virtual combat scenario testing shared risk-taking, objective (i.e., collaborative ability to answer SA probes), and subjective SA. Results indicated that the mere perception of above average team engagement reduced stress induced SA overconfidence and risk-taking of teams. These results suggest simple, virtually costless strategies for improving elements of SA that may impact the behavior of teams and potentially improve their decision-making.     

Two Russellian Arguments for Acquaintance

Bertrand Russell [1912] argued that we are acquainted with our experiences. Although this conclusion has generated a lot of discussion, very little has been said about Russell's actual arguments for it. This paper aims to remedy that. I start by spelling out two Russellian arguments for acquaintance. Then I show that these arguments cannot both succeed. For if one is sound, the other isn't. Finally, I weigh our options with respect to these arguments, and defend one option in particular. I argue that we have good reason to believe that we can be, and sometimes are, acquainted with our experiences.     

Differences in alexithymia and emotional awareness in exhaustion syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome

Symptoms of Exhaustion Syndrome (ES) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are overlapping and create difficulties of differential diagnosis. Empirical studies comparing ES and CFS are scarce. This study aims to investigate if there are any emotional differences between ES and CFS. This cross‐sectional study compared self‐reported alexithymia and observer‐rated emotional awareness in patients with ES (n = 31), CFS (n = 38) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 30). Self‐reported alexithymia was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale‐20 (TAS‐20) and emotional awareness with an observer‐rated performance test, the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). Additionally, depression and anxiety were scored by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results show that patients with ES expressed higher self‐reported alexithymia in the TAS‐20 compared to HC, but had similar emotional awareness capacity in the observer‐rated performance test, the LEAS. Patients with CFS expressed more difficulties in identifying emotions compared to HCs, and performed significantly worse in the LEAS‐total and spent more time completing the LEAS as compared to HC. Correlation and multiple regressions analyses revealed that depression and anxiety positively correlated with and explained part of the variances in alexithymia scores, while age and group explained the major part of the variance in LEAS. Findings of this study indicate that emotional status is different in patients with ES and CFS with respect to both self‐reported alexithymia and observer‐rated emotional awareness. Emotional parameters should be approached both in clinical investigation and psychotherapy for patients with ES and CFS.     

Ecobiopsychology

The latest scientific discoveries acknowledge that the universe, from the atom to the galaxies, is a system behaving as a whole where each single set composing it seems informed by the global state of the system. In-formation can be exemplified as a “software” governing the “hardware” that is composed of the objects of the universe. This in formation comes from an Akashic Field or archetypal field that can breed each single form as well as the relevant states of consciousness. Ecobiopsychology, through the study of vital analogies and symbols, supports reflective consciousness to have access to the archetypal field studying the relation between the aspects of matter (infrared) and those referred to the psyche (ultraviolet). With this perspective the human's reflective consciousness field can gradually expand until becoming accessible to the reality of the Unus Mundus, represented by the coherence of the single structures of the universe and their own embedded state of implicit consciousness.     

The missing pieces in the scientific study of bodily awareness

Research on bodily awareness has focused on body illusions with an aim to explore the possible dissociation of our bodily awareness from our own body. It has provided insights into how our sensory modalities shape our sense of embodiment, and it has raised important questions regarding the malleability of our sense of ownership over our own body. The issue, however, is that this research fails to consider an important distinction in how we experience our body. There are indeed two ways in which we can be aware of our body: via observational awareness, which involves attending to the body as an object, and via non-observational awareness, where the body is given as the subject of experience and does not involve attention. The research to date has focused on the former—observational bodily awareness—and has left the latter—non-observational bodily awareness—in the dark. This is detrimental to ever formulating a complete account of how we are aware of our body. It is understandable, however, because of the inherent problem in studying non-observational bodily awareness: how would you instruct subjects to report on their unattended bodily awareness? In view to resolving this problem, I propose here a working hypothesis on the basis of research on interoception and the rubber hand illusion, and on the effect of meditation on awareness and attention. This working hypothesis can show us a way to begin studying non-observational bodily awareness, and finally build a complete theory of bodily awareness.     

A response to Martina and Wimmer’s review of The Given

In this paper I respond to Martina and Wimmer’s review of The Given, focusing on their criticisms of the awareness of awareness thesis.     

语音意识、命名速度和语素意识在汉语阅读发展中的作用

以123名小学四、五年级汉语儿童为研究对象,采用回归分析、结构方程模型探讨语音意识、命名速度和语素意识在阅读能力不同方面（准确性、流畅性和理解）的作用。结果显示,语音意识、命名速度和语素意识都是影响阅读能力的重要认知因素,但对不同方面阅读能力的作用存在差异：（1）语音意识、命名速度和语素意识均直接影响阅读准确性,且语素意识的贡献相对较大;（2）命名速度除直接影响阅读流畅性外,还通过阅读准确性的部分中介作用影响阅读流畅性,而语音意识和语素意识则通过阅读准确性的完全中介作用影响阅读流畅性;（3）语音意识、命名速度和语素意识对阅读理解均无直接影响,分别通过阅读准确性和阅读流畅性间接影响阅读理解。     

Mindfulness and mind wandering: The protective effects of brief meditation in anxious individuals

Mind wandering can be costly, especially when we are engaged in attentionally demanding tasks. Preliminary studies suggest that mindfulness can be a promising antidote for mind wandering, albeit the evidence is mixed. To better understand the exact impact of mindfulness on mind wandering, we had a sample of highly anxious undergraduate students complete a sustained-attention task during which off-task thoughts including mind wandering were assessed. Participants were randomly assigned to a meditation or control condition, after which the sustained-attention task was repeated. In general, our results indicate that mindfulness training may only have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals. Meditation prevented the increase of mind wandering over time and ameliorated performance disruption during off-task episodes. In addition, we found that the meditation intervention appeared to promote a switch of attentional focus from the internal to present-moment external world, suggesting important implications for treating worrying in anxious populations.     

不相关言语对视觉觉察的影响

前人多在记忆层面探讨不相关言语效应(the Irrelevant Speech Effect, ISE), 而本文选择在意识觉察(conscious awareness)阶段观察这一现象。所有实验均采用视觉掩蔽及听觉输入不相关声音的视听交互方式。实验1在安静、纯音及不相关言语3种听觉背景下让被试对简单图片做视觉觉察判断, 结果发现不相关言语干扰了视觉觉察, 而纯音则未产生干扰。实验2在相同的3种听觉背景下要求被试对复杂图片做视觉觉察判断, 结果同实验1。实验3采用事件相关电位技术, 在同样的3种听觉背景下观察被试对简单图片做视觉觉察判断时的脑电变化, 结果发现不相关言语干扰了视觉觉察负波的形成, 验证了行为学研究的结果。本文结果表明不相干言语在视觉意识觉察阶段就对被试的行为产生了干扰。