Disruption of writing by background speech: Does sound source location and number of voices matter?

It is not unusual that people have to write in an environment where background speech is present. Background speech can vary in both speech intelligibility and location of the sound source. Earlier research has shown disruptive effects of background speech on writing performance. To expand and reinforce this knowledge, the present study investigated the role of number of voices and sound source location in the relation between background speech and writing performance. Participants wrote texts in quiet or in background speech consisting of one or seven voices talking simultaneously located in front of or behind them. Overall, one voice was more disruptive than seven voices talking simultaneously. Self‐reports showed that sound from the front was more disruptive compared with sound from behind. Results are in line with theory of interference‐by‐process, attentional capture, and the cross‐modal theory of attention. The relevance of the results for open‐office environments is discussed.     

Acceptable timing error at ball-bat impact for different pitches and its implications for baseball skills

In baseball hitting, batters need high precision timing control to hit the ball with bat’s sweet spot. Knowing the acceptable range of timing error for hitting the ball in the aimed direction for various pitch types is helpful to understand whether the cause of the batter's mis-hit is a spatial or temporal error and highlight the motor skills required by the batter. The purpose of this study was to determine the acceptable timing error in different baseball pitches and the impact characteristics of mis-hits. Twenty-six high school baseball players hit a ball launched from a pitching machine with three types of pitches: fastballs, curveballs, and slowballs. We recorded the three-dimensional behavior of the ball, bat, and human body (pelvis) using an optical motion capture system. We then defined the optimal impact location based on timing accuracy, and determined the acceptable range of timing error by the interactive relationship between the horizontal orientation of the bat’s long axis at the time of ball impact and the horizontal direction of the batted ball. The ±30° width in the horizontal direction of the batted ball was set as the precondition for the tolerance of timing. The acceptable timing error was ±7.9 ms for fastballs, ±10.7 ms for curveballs, and ±10.7 ms for slowballs, and the optimal timing for outside pitches was approximately 10 ms later than that for inside pitches. The timing error was also explained 38.1% by variation in the impact location along the long axis of the bat (R² = 0.381, P < 0.001) and was minimized at a position close to the bat’s sweet spot. These results suggest that the optimal impact location and acceptable range of timing error depend on the pitching course and speed and that timing accuracy is essential to achieve the spatial accuracy required to hit the ball at the bat’s sweet spot.     

Gender differences in memory for objects and their locations: a study on automatic versus controlled encoding and retrieval contexts

Object-location memory is the only spatial task where female subjects have been shown to outperform males. This result is not consistent across all studies, and may be due to the combination of the multi-component structure of object location memory with the conditions under which different studies were done. Possible gender differences in object location memory and its component object identity memory were assessed in the present study. In order to disentangle these two components, an object location memory task (in which objects had to be relocated in daily environments), and a separate object identity recognition task were carried out. This study also focused on the conditions under which object locations were encoded and retrieved. Only half of the participants were aware of the fact that object locations had to be retrieved later on. Moreover, by applying the 'process dissociation procedure' to the object location memory assessments and the 'remember-know' paradigm to the object identity measure, the amount of explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) retrieval was estimated for each component. In general, females performed better than males on the object location memory task. However, when controlled for object identity memory, females no longer outperformed males, whereas they did not obtain a higher general object identity memory score, nor did they have more explicit or implicit recollection of the object identities. These complicated effects might stem from a difference between males and females, in the way locations or associations between objects and locations are retrieved. In general, participants had more explicit (conscious) recollection than implicit (unconscious) recollection. No effect of encoding context was found, nor any interaction effect of gender, encoding and retrieval context.     

Particularism and the Spatial Location of Events

According to the Particularist Theory of Events, events are real things that have a spatiotemporal location. I argue that some events do not have a spatial location in the sense required by the theory. These events are ordinary, nonmental events like Smith’s investigating the murder and Carol’s putting her coat on the chair. I discuss the significance of these counterexamples for the theory.

Bayesian IRT Guessing Models for Partial Guessing Behaviors

According to the recent Nation’s Report Card, 12th-graders failed to produce gains on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) despite earning better grades on average. One possible explanation is that 12th-graders were not motivated taking the NAEP, which is a low-stakes test. We develop three Bayesian IRT mixture models to describe the results from a group of examinees including both nonguessers and partial guessers. The first assumes that the guesser answers questions based on his or her knowledge up to a certain test item, and guesses thereafter. The second model assumes that the guesser answers relatively easy questions based on his or her knowledge and guesses randomly on the remaining items. The third is constructed to describe more general low-motivation behavior. It assumes that the guesser gives less and less effort as he or she proceeds through the test. The models can provide not only consistent estimates of IRT parameters but also estimates of each examinee’s nonguesser/guesser status and degree of guessing behavior. We show results of a simulation study comparing the performance of the three guessing models to the 2PL-IRT model. Finally, an analysis of real data from a low-stakes test administered to university students is presented.     

抑制能力与工作记忆能量的相关研究

采用汉字材料的负启动范式,考察了大学生和老年人被试的特性和空间位置抑制能力,及其与工作记忆能量的相关。结果发现：位置抑制能力与工作记忆能量无显著相关,而特性抑制能力与工作记忆能量存在正相关。说明个体的分心抑制能力是影响其工作记忆能量的重要因素。但工作记忆的年龄差异可能还受分心抑制之外其它认知因素的影响。     

Robustness in the Pareto‐solutions for the multi‐criteria minisum location problem

In this paper, a new trend is introduced into the field of multi‐criteria location problems. We combine the robustness approach using the minmax regret criterion together with Pareto‐optimality. We consider the multi‐criteria squared Euclidean minisum location problem which consists of simultaneously minimizing a number of weighted sum‐distance functions and the set of Pareto‐optimal locations as its solution concept. The Pareto‐optimal solutions for the set of robust locations with respect to the original weighted sum‐distance functions is completely characterized. These Pareto‐optimal solutions have both the properties of stability and non‐domination which are required in robust and multi‐criteria programming. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

论政治道德的定位

政治生活的整合和政治文明的建设要求对政治道德进行合理的定位。政治道德的定位问题既涉及政治道德体系的内容问题,又关涉什么样的政治道德才是合理的问题。政治道德应该定位于政治公共领域这一客观基础;应该定位于个人权利与公共利益相结合的视角;应该定位于目的（或者功利）与道义（或者义务）的统一。     

Dissecting the conditioned pecking response: an integrated system for the analysis of pecking response parameters.

The conventional pecking response key, although an excellent transducer of response rate, can provide minimal information on the topography, coordination, or localization of conditioned pecking. We describe the hardware and software components of a system that, in addition to recording response rates, permits simultaneous "on-line" monitoring of head acceleration, jaw movement, terminal peck location, and duration of pecking response. Head movements are monitored with a miniature accelerometer, jaw movements with a magnetosensitive transducer, and peck location with modified touch screen technology. Initial experiments with the system suggest that it will be useful in studies of response differentiation, acquisition and maintenance of complex discriminations, and interaction of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli in the control of pecking response probability and response topography.     

MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE PERFORMANCE IN RATS: A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY?

Three rats had previously acquired a simultaneous matching-to-sample performance with steady and blinking lights. In training, the sample stimulus had always appeared on the middle of three horizontally arranged keys with the comparison stimuli on the side keys. In Experiment 1, the sample stimulus appeared on any of the three keys with the comparison stimuli on the remaining two. The matching-to-sample performance broke down with variable sample and comparison locations; the sample stimulus did not control responding to the comparison stimuli when it appeared on a side key, but it retained control when it appeared on the middle key (as in training). In Experiment 2, the rats were trained with the sample always on the left key. When the sample appeared on either of the trained locations (left or middle key), it retained control for both locations. When the sample then appeared on any of the three keys, as in Experiment 1, sample control did not transfer to the untrained location (right key). The experiments demonstrate that training with fixed sample and comparison locations may establish spatial location as an additional controlling aspect of the stimuli displayed on the keys; stimulus location had become part of the definition of the controlling stimuli. The rats' performance seemed best described as specific discriminations involving the visual stimuli and their spatial locations rather than as identity matching.