1,721,205 research outputs found
La salute nelle ristrutturazioni (HIRES). Raccomandazioni, iniziative nazionali e strategie politiche nell'Unione Europea
No full text
Speed Overestimation in Chasing Events
No full textMany studies show an association between speed and animacy: objects moving faster tend to be judged as more animated. We explored the effect of different contexts on speed perception of objects with different degrees of animacy. Paired-comparisons were used to compare the perceived speed of a square moving on the screen alone or in the context of a second square. The context element was either static or moved showing an animate-like or a physical-like trajectory, and the target moved toward it or away from it, always at the same physical speed. Results showed that the target perceived speed was greater in some of the contexts in which it was seen as more alive. The effect, however, was only significant when the target was moving away from the context square and the context square showed an animate-like trajectory, suggesting a specific association between speed and chasing, but not between speed and animacy tout court
Does an escaping object look faster? Animacy induced speed overestimation in chasing events
No full textIn Michotte's paradigm an object A moves toward, and makes contact with, another object B, which then moves away. If B’s motion is faster than A’s, and starts before the arrival of A, B is perceived to intentionally escape from A. Many studies show an association between speed and animacy, in that objects moving faster are judged as more animated. In our study, conversely, we explored how much a square looks faster when intentionally escaping from another square. We used the method of constant stimuli to measure the speed overestimation of the escaping object in comparison to different levels of speed of a single moving object. We also varied the behaviour of the chasing object, allowing it to move either in a linear or in a caterpillar-like way. Paired comparisons data were analysed using generalized linear mixed-effects models to estimate the PSE in the different conditions. We found a significant overestimation of the escaping object in the fast speed condition, both in the caterpillar-like motion and in the linear motion. These results suggest an interesting connection between specific emotional qualities of motion and its apparent speed, supporting the hypothesis that social causality and animacy are deeply rooted in visual processing
The Internal Structure of a Rectangular Frame: Position, Orientation, and Direction
No full textPrevious research has shown that the structure of a rectangular frame strongly influences perceived goodness-of-fit for a small circular probe positioned within it (Palmer and Guidi, 2011). The center is consistently rated as the best position, followed by positions along the global vertical, global horizontal, and local diagonal symmetry axes. Here we report how goodness-of-fit within a surrounding frame is influenced by the relation between with the orientational and directional structure of the probe and that of the frame. In Experiment 1, fit ratings of short line segments and small ovals (each with two symmetry axes) at 35 positions and four orientations within the frame revealed strong orientational effects, especially when the probe's and frame's axes of symmetry were aligned. Experiment 2 extended the paradigm using triangular probes (with a single symmetry axis) at 15 positions and eight pointing directions. The results showed high fit ratings when the probe was aligned with global and local symmetry axes of the frame, and directional increments when the probes pointed upward, rightward, and into the frame. Experiment 3 confirmed the upward, rightward, and inward directional effects of Experiment 2 using a more sensitive Two-Alternative Forced Choice (2AFC) task. Experiment 4 showed that orientational effects were more strongly driven by alignment with the rectangle's sides than with gravitational or retinal reference frames, especially when the probe was near the sides and vertices of the frame. The relevance of these findings to the empirical study of aesthetic response to images within rectangular frames is discussed
Mapping the perceptual structure of rectangles through goodness-of-fit ratings
No full textThree experiments were carried out to investigate the internal structure of a rectangular frame to test Arnheim's (1974 Art and Visual Perception, 1988 The Power of the Center) proposals about its 'structural skeleton'. Observers made subjective ratings of how well a small probe circle fit within a rectangle at different interior positions. In experiment 1, ratings of 77 locations were highest in the center, decreased with distance from the center, greatly elevated along vertical and horizontal symmetry axes, and somewhat elevated along the local symmetry axes. A linear regression model with six symmetry-related factors accounted for 95% of the variance. In experiment 2 we measured perceived fit along local symmetry axes versus global diagonals near the corners to determine which factor was relevant. 2AFC probabilities were elevated only along the local symmetry axes and were higher when the probe was closer to the vertex. In experiment 3 we examined the effect of dividing a rectangular frame into two rectangular 'subframes' using an additional line. The results show that the primary determinant of good fit is the position of the target circle within the local subframes. In general, the results are consistent with Arnheim's proposals about the internal structure of a rectangular frame, but an alternative interpretation is offered in terms of the Gestalt concept of figural goodness. © 2011 a Pion publication
The HSE Indicator Tool, psychological distress and work ability
No full textBackground
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) indicator tool is one of the most commonly used tools for
assessing the risk of work-related stress. Few studies, however, have investigated whether and how its
scales are related to psychological distress or other work-related health outcomes.
Aims
To investigate the relationship between the HSE indicator tool, psychological distress, as measured by
the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12, and work ability, assessed by the Work Ability Index
(WAI).
...................................................................................................................................................................................
Methods
All the employees of a mid-sized bank in Italy were asked to fill in an anonymous cross-sectional ques-
tionnaire. The questionnaire was structured in four sections: the first one comprised socio-
demographic questions and the other three corresponded, respectively, to the Italian translations
of the GHQ-12, the HSE and the WAI questionnaires.
Results
Four hundred and thirteen employees completed the questionnaire. The response rate was 99%. Con-
trolling for age and gender, the indicator subscales were negatively associated with the adopted meas-
ures of psychological distress and work ability. The GHQ score was also highly correlated with the
WAI score and able to explain $47% of its variance. The only subscale that was still significantly
associated with the WAI after removing the effect of psychological distress was ‘control’.
Conclusions
The study presents new evidence for the validity of the HSE indicator tool to estimate the risk of work-
related stress and suggests that most but not all the effects of psychosocial conditions on work ability
might be mediated by the level of psychological distress induced by these conditions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
