Power Relations and Group Aggregation in the Multiplicative AHP and SMART

The relative power of the members in a group of decision makers can be incorporated in the multiplicative AHP via power coefficients in the logarithmic least squares whereby we analyse the pairwise comparison matrices. When each decision maker judges every pair of alternatives under each of the criteria, aggregation over the criteria and over the decision makers proceeds via a sequence of geometric-mean calculations which can be carried out in any order, at least with predetermined criterion weights and power coefficients. Hence, since we preserve the rank order of the alternatives, we avoid a deficiency of the original AHP. We also consider SMART, an additive method which is logarithmically related to the multiplicative AHP so that power relations can easily be incorporated in it. Finally, in order to illustrate the proposed model, we analyse a generalized version of the well-known example of Belton and Gear as well as the power relations between member countries of the European Community. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Multi-Crit. Decis. Anal. 6 : 155–165 (1997) No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 6. No. of References: 23.     

Analysis of vehicle-based lateral performance measures during distracted driving due to phone use

Distracted driving due to mobile phone use has been identified as a major contributor to accidents; therefore, it is required to develop ways for detecting driver distraction due to phone use. Though prior literature has documented various visual behavioural and physiological techniques to identify driver distraction, comparatively little is known about vehicle based performance features which can identify driver’s distracted state during phone conversation and texting while driving. Therefore, this study examined the effects of simple conversation, complex conversation, simple texting and complex texting tasks on vehicle based performance parameters such as standard deviation of lane positioning, number of lane excursions, mean and standard deviation of lateral acceleration, mean and standard deviation of steering wheel angle and steering reversal rates (for 1°, 5° and 10° angle differences). All these performance measures were collected for 100 licensed drivers, belonging to three age groups (young, mid-age and old age), with the help of a driving simulator. Effects of all the phone use conditions and driver demographics (age, gender and phone use habits) on the measures were analysed by repeated measures ANOVA tests. Results showed that 1°, 5° SRRs are able to identify all the distracted conditions except for simple conversation; while, 10° SSR can detect all the distracted conditions (including simple conversation). The results suggest that 10° SRR can be included in intelligent in-vehicle devices in order to detect distraction and alert drivers of their distracted state. This can prevent mobile phone use during driving and therefore can help in reducing the road accidents due to mobile phone distractions.     

A belief in trend reversal requires access to cognitive resources

There are two research traditions studying people's reactions to random binary events: one concerns serial choice reaction times, the other concerns predictions of events in a series. The present studies focused on comparing expectations between these two approaches. We formed and tested a general hypothesis that, regardless of the type of task, when an individual faces a sequence of events they initially expect trend continuation. Only when people assume that a sequence is random might they override the default and expect trend reversal instead. In a series of experiments we found that limitation of access to cognitive resources enhances expectations of trend continuation. Our interpretation of this finding is that an expectation of trend continuation is the default for the human cognitive system and that a belief in trend reversal requires access to cognitive resources to overcome the tendency to expect trend continuation.     

认知负荷视角下的知识反转效应

知识反转效应研究始于20世纪90年代中期, 在认知负荷的框架下对学习者先备知识与教学方法有效性之间的交互作用进行研究, 其研究范式起源于能力倾向与教学处置交互作用模型。认知负荷理论认为知识反转效应的产生是由于高先备知识者接受冗余教学而产生了额外的认知负荷, 动机理论却认为, 高先备知识者由于冗余的认知加工而产生的负荷可能是一种动机资源负荷。在优化外在认知负荷与相关认知负荷的教学设计中发现了大量知识反转效应的实验证据, 其教学的启示意义在于需要随着学习者领域知识的不断变化适宜性地调整教学方法。未来需要在完善研究方法、拓展研究领域的基础上, 整合研究成果以建立效应发生与发展的理论模型。     

Why perversion?: False love and the perverse pact1

In this paper, the author works with the awareness that perversion is a socially, historically and theologically loaded term, at the same time as it may be the latest frontier in psychoanalysis, both clinically, and in relation to contemporary art and culture which emphasize the perverse. Positioning itself against tendencies to deny the existence of a category of perversion or, inversely, to abuse it for the power that accrues from the act of diagnosing, she also points to other liabilities in the history of the treatment of this term, such as the narrowing down of perversion to the exclusively sexual domain, or, alternatively, the overextension of it to polymorphously erotic practices that enhance sexual excitement. The paradoxes of perversion and the difficulties of distinguishing the perverse from the non‐perverse are addressed. The case is also made that, in order to understand perversion, one must unlink it from the narrow notion of sexual practice and see what is involved on a deeper level an approach initiated when psychoanalysis turned to perversion as a defense against psychotic anxieties, and began considering the necessary place of perversion in the transference countertransference. Two features common to both sexual and non‐sexual perverse relations are the seductive and bribing aspects of perversion, and its means‐ends reversal. Perversion is a haven for the disguising of hatred and suspicion as excitement and (false) love. Displaced child and beating father, entitled child and seductive mother, are both prototypes of psychoanalytic refiection on parents who excite, deceive and corrupt their children and establish perverse pacts with them. The notion of the perverse pact is foregrounded in Alice's analysis, where first the resurrection and then the dismantling of such a pact were effected through various analytic means.     

How does preference reversal appear and disappear? Effects of the evaluation mode

Preference reversal is a systematic change in the preference order between options when different response methods are used (e.g., choice vs. judgment). The present study focuses on procedures used to elicit preferences according to an evaluability hypothesis. Two experiments compared joint vs. separate evaluations and explicit vs. non‐explicit joint evaluations. Subjects had to express preferences between high‐variance gambles (HVGs) and low‐variance gambles (LVGs) either by choosing one gamble to play in a lottery or by assigning gambles minimum selling prices. We show that HVGs are preferred in both choice and pricing conditions when gambles are evaluated separately, and LVGs are preferred in both choice and selling conditions when gambles are evaluated in pairs: i.e., when the evaluation mode is held constant, classic preference reversal disappears. These results support the evaluability hypothesis, and suggest that preferences depend on whether subjects are allowed to compare the options they are asked to choose from or judge, independently of the nature of the scale (i.e., attractiveness vs. minimum selling price) they are required to adopt. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

决策任务反应模式对偏好反转的影响

在经典彩票问题研究的基础上,探讨了匹配和选择两种反应模式及其先后顺序对被试偏好反转的影响,以及被试性别与其偏好反转的关系。研究结果发现:(1)反应模式的变化导致偏好反转的发生;(2)偏好反转存在反应顺序效应,先匹配后选择条件下的偏好反转率显著大于先选择后匹配条件下的偏好反转率;研究结果不支持后悔理论;(3)不同性别被试在选择和匹配任务中的偏好及其反转率没有显著性差异。     

大鼠注意定势转移任务模型的深入研究：种系和检测程序的影响

注意定势转移任务(attentional set-shifting task, AST)可用于特异性检测啮齿类动物前额叶皮层及其皮层下神经通路介导的认知灵活性, 是目前研究认知灵活性及其障碍神经基础的重要模型。本研究系统调查了大鼠种系和检测程序差异对AST结果的影响。通过比较Wistar和Sprague Dawley (SD)两个种系大鼠在七阶段和五阶段两种AST检测程序中的认知表现, 研究发现：(1) SD和Wistar大鼠前额叶认知功能存在差异, 后者的总体认知表现优于前者。尤其是Wistar大鼠在逆反学习阶段的达标训练次数及错误率显著低于SD大鼠, 表明Wistar大鼠具有更高的策略转换灵活性。(2)在AST测试中逆反学习和外维度定势转移是认知灵活性评价的核心指标。这两种认知转换过程分别以前期策略和注意定势建立为基础。结果显示在两种AST检测程序中Wistar和SD大鼠在逆反学习和/或外维度定势转移等复杂学习阶段的达标训练次数和错误率均高于其它简单关联学习阶段, 表明在目前实验条件下大鼠均表现出定势形成和转换困难的反应模式, 不同认知反应间的结构关系具有稳定性。这些结果提示大鼠前额叶皮质介导的认知灵活性存在种系差异, AST各阶段认知反应间的结构效度不受目前使用的大鼠种系和检测程序差异的影响, 扩展了对AST模型的认识。     

Dissociations among ABA, ABC, and AAB recovery effects

In a human predictive learning experiment, the strengths of ABA, ABC, and AAB recovery effects after discrimination reversal learning were compared. Initially, a discrimination between two stimuli (X+, Y−) was trained in Context A. During Phase 2, participants received discrimination reversal training (X−, Y+) either in Context A (Group AAB) or in Context B (Group ABA, Group ABC). Testing occurred in the reversal context and in a neutral context (Group AAB, Group ABC) or in the reversal context and in the acquisition context (Group ABA). Recovery effects were similar in ABA and ABC procedures, whereas no AAB recovery effect occurred. Furthermore, the rate of discrimination reversal learning during Phase 2 was unaffected by whether training was conducted in the same or in a different context as initial learning. Results indicate that contextual stimuli are processed before interfering information is presented. These representations, however, do not acquire the ability to control performance.     

A Note on the Aesthetics of Mirror Reversal

According to Roy Sorensen [Philosophical Studies 100 (2000) 175–191] an object cannot differ aesthetically from its mirror image. On his view, mirror-reversing an object – changing its left/right orientation – cannot bring about any aesthetic change. However, in arguing for this thesis Sorensen assumes that aesthetic properties supervene on intrinsic properties alone. This is a highly controversial assumption and nothing is offered in its support. Moreover, a plausible weakening of the assumption does not improve the argument. Finally, Sorensen’s second argument is shown to be formally flawed. As a result, the case for the aesthetic irrelevancy of orientation seems still open.