The on-line voyeur: Promises and pitfalls of observing electronic interaction

Studies that compare objective data on communication activity to data provided in verbal reports have indicated that verbal report data are not as accurate as one might hope. Researchers of communication have used verbal reports as their primary source of data because it presents a cheap and easy way to collect the data. This paper presents an easy alternative involving the study ofelectronic communication: a method that allows the collection of objective information on electronic communication, thus avoiding the problems associated with self-reports. The paper reviews the available literature on the accuracy of self-reports of communication, presents the instrument used to collect the objective electronic communication data, and discusses some of the difficulties and limitations encountered in implementing a study using the instrument.     

Computer Communication and Organizational Commitment: Tracing the Relationship in a City Government

Various theories and management policies suggest that there should be a positive relationship between communication and commitment to the organization. However, support for that relationship remains equivocal. We report the results of a questionnaire on communication and commitment filled out by 376 employees of a mid-sized city government. They were asked about the mode and frequency of their communications within the organization and about their commitment to the city government. Consistent with our hypotheses about the nature of computer-mediated communication, use of computer mail and bulletin boards predicted organizational commitment, but use of the telephone and paper modes of communication did not. In addition, those most likely to benefit from the immediacy and memory of computer communication—shift workers—evidenced a stronger relationship between computer mail use and commitment than did regular employees. Two mechanisms for mediating the relationship between communication and commitment were evaluated. Evidence supports active participation in communication as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between communication and commitment. The informational value of communication does not appear to be important in this regard.     

Finding stable support for computing in psychology: Lessons from innovation diffusion in organizations

We present the steps that the Psychology Department, the Academic Computing Center (ACC), and the central administration at St. Olaf College have taken to integrate computing support into the operating budget of the college. In hindsight, we also propose a model of the diffusion of innovations into an organization as a theoretical guide to stabilizing support for computing in academic departments. The theoretical framework highlights the commonality between our particular adaptations and those that would most help at other institutions.     

Differential mastication kinematics of the rabbit in response to food and water: Implications for conditioned movement

Analysis of naturalistic chewing patterns may provide insight into mapping the neural substrates of jaw movement control systems, including their adaptive modification during the classically conditioned jaw movement (CJM) paradigm. Here, New Zealand White rabbits were administered food and water stimuli orally to evaluate the influence of stimulus consistency on masticatory pattern. Chewing patterns were recorded via video camera and movements were analyzed by computerized image analysis. The mandibular kinematics, specifically the extent of dorsal/ventral, medial/lateral, and rostral/caudal movement, were significantly larger in food-evoked than water-evoked chewing. Water-evoked chewing frequency, however, was significantly higher than that of food-evoked movements. In light of known cortical mastication modulatory centers, our findings implicate different neural substrates for the responses to food and water stimuli in the rabbit. A detailed delineation of jaw movement patterns and circuitry is essential to characterize the neural substrates of CJM.     

Visual identification and spatial location in Alzheimer's disease

Twelve patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 15 healthy elderly control subjects were shown sets of luminance-defined letters, texture-defined letters, luminance-defined squares, and texture-defined squares. They were asked to name the letters or point to the target square on each page. The stimuli were graded into four levels of difficulty based on the amount of contrast between the figure and the background. Performance was measured in terms of the maximum level of difficulty at which the participant correctly identified or located the three figures. Contrary to expectations, no significant difference was found between the performance of AD patients and control subjects on texture discrimination tasks vs. luminance discrimination tasks. However, results indicate that AD patients are impaired in performing a task requiring them to locate a texture-defined target of known shape in a noisy background field. By contrast, AD patients show no significant deficit in a task requiring them to locate a texture-defined shape in a known location. This argues that the observed deficit in the location task is not due to a failure in the system that discriminates target texture from background texture (since both location and identification tasks require the same textural discriminations), but rather to an impairment of the system responsible for "finding things" (i.e., locating known targets at unknown locations). This observation suggests that AD patients may suffer selective damage to the dorsal "Where" pathway, which is responsible for localizing objects in space.     

Spatial reference in multiple object tracking

Spatial reference in multiple object tracking is available from configurations of dynamic objects and static reference objects. In three experiments, we studied the use of spatial reference in tracking and in relocating targets after abrupt scene rotations. Observers tracked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 targets in 3D scenes, in which white balls moved on a square floor plane. The floor plane was either visible thus providing static spatial reference or it was invisible. Without scene rotations, the configuration of dynamic objects provided sufficient spatial reference and static spatial reference was not advantageous. In contrast, with abrupt scene rotations of 20°, static spatial reference supported in relocating targets. A wireframe floor plane lacking local visual detail was as effective as a checkerboard. Individually colored geometric forms as static reference objects provided no additional benefit either, even if targets were centered on these forms at the abrupt scene rotation. Individualizing the dynamic objects themselves by color for a brief interval around the abrupt scene rotation, however, did improve performance. We conclude that attentional tracking of moving targets proceeds within dynamic configurations but detached from static local background.     

Brain activation during spatial updating and attentive tracking of moving targets

Keeping aware of the locations of objects while one is moving requires the updating of spatial representations. As long as the objects are visible, attentional tracking is sufficient, but knowing where objects out of view went in relation to one's own body involves an updating of spatial working memory. Here, multiple object tracking was employed to study spatial updating and its neural correlates. In a dynamic 3D-scene, targets moved among visually indistinguishable distractors. The targets and distractors either stayed visible during continuous viewpoint changes or they turned invisible. The parametric variation of tracking load revealed load-dependent activations of the intraparietal sulcus, the superior parietal lobule, and the lateral occipital cortex in response to the attentive tracking task. Viewpoint changes with invisible objects that demanded retention and updating produced load-dependent activation only in the precuneus in line with its presumed involvement in updating spatial working memory.     

Interobject spacing explains the attentional bias toward interacting objects

Spatio-temporal interactions between simple geometrical shapes typically elicit strong impressions of intentionality. Recent research has started to explore the link between attentional processes and the detection of interacting objects. Here, we asked whether visual attention is biased toward such interactions. We investigated probe discrimination performance in algorithmically generated animations that involved two chasing objects and two randomly moving objects. In Experiment 1, we observed a pronounced attention capture effect for chasing objects. Because reduced interobject spacing is an inherent feature of interacting objects, in Experiment 2 we designed randomly moving objects that were matched to the chasing objects with respect to interobject spacing at probe onset. In this experiment, the capture effect attenuated completely. Therefore, we argue that reduced interobject spacing reflects an efficient cue to guide visual attention toward objects that interact intentionally.     

Electrical Brain Activity,Family Functioning,and Parent–Adolescent Conflict Communication

As family conflict tends to escalate during the adolescent years, the subsequent effects of adolescence on parent–child dynamics are systemically experienced, both intra- and inter-personally. As such, widening the scope of literature targeted towards better understanding the parent–adolescent conflict relationship is merited. To offer a more gestalt view of parent–adolescent conflict processes, the present study takes a biopsychosocial view of the mother–father–adolescent relationship by considering electrical brain activity using electroencephalography technology. Specifically, electrical brain activity was recorded during two problem-solving family discussions between a mother, father, and adolescent child. Data is analyzed from a pilot study of 11 triads, for a total of 33 participants, examining the statistical relationships between brain waves and self-reported measures of family functioning and distress. Findings suggest that hemispheric lateralization occurs during parent–adolescent problem-solving discussions thus reminding therapists of the importance in using a biopsychosocial lens when assisting families.     

Oculomotion mediates attentional guidance toward temporarily close objects

Previous research has identified multiple features of individual objects that are capable of guiding visual attention. However, in dynamic multi-element displays not only individual object features but also changing spatial relations between two or more objects might signal relevance. Here we report a series of experiments that investigated the hypothesis that reduced inter-object spacing guides visual attention toward the corresponding objects. Our participants discriminated between different probes that appeared on moving objects while we manipulated spatial proximity between the objects at the moment of probe onset. Indeed, our results confirm that there is a bias toward temporarily close objects, which persists even when such a bias is harmful for the actual task (Experiments 1a and 1b). Remarkably, this bias is mediated by oculomotor processes. Controlling for eye-movements reverses the pattern of results (Experiment 2a), whereas the location of the gaze tends toward the temporarily close objects under free viewing conditions (Experiment 2b). Taken together, our results provide insights into the interplay of attentional and oculomotor processes during dynamic scene processing. Thereby, they also add to the growing body of evidence showing that within dynamic perception, attentional and oculomotor processes act conjointly and are hardly separable.