1,721,033 research outputs found
Right-left prevalence with task-irrelevant spatial codes.
No full textAbstract
In two experiments the relation between handedness and the size of the Simon effect in each visual hemifield has been investigated. Experiment 1 showed that the Simon effect was larger in the right visual hemifield in right-handers and in the left visual hemifield in left-handers, whereas ambidextrous showed a symmetric Simon effect. In Experiment 2, subjects performed the same Simon task as in Experiment 1, but with crossed hands. The right- and left-handers group showed a reversed pattern of results with respect to Experiment 1. We explained this phenomenon as a part of a more general account where perception and action are embedded in a perception-for-action system. In it, an attentional bias originating from the field of operation of the dominant hand would be at the base of the relationship between the asymmetry of the Simon effect and handedness
Relationship Between Arousal and Technical Performance in the Oil and Gas Sector: An Investigation Using a Simulated Well Control Scenario.
No full textThe present paper summarizes the results of a study investigating the relationship between arousal, as reflected by cardiovascular responses, and technical performance in a simulated well control task. As part of a certification exam at the end of a training session, pairs of rig operators (drillers) and supervisors were involved in a role-play exercise using a simulation equipment, while the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal was recorded from rig supervisors with the Polar H10 device. During the scenario an anomaly in well operations occurred and supervisors were required to adopt specific procedures to restore pressure containment. Our results showed that heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measures differently reflected the changes in the demands imposed by the different phases of the simulated task and highlighted the need to integrate the assessment of technical skills with workload and arousal assessment to increase the effectiveness of training procedures
Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
Full text linkThe time needed to find a visual target amongst distractors (search task) can increase as a function of the distractors’ number (set-size) in the search-array (inefficient search). While the allocation of attention in search tasks has been extensively investigated and debated in the visual domain, little is known about these mechanisms in touch. Initial behavioral evidence shows inefficient search behavior when participants have to distinguish between target and distractors defined by their vibro-tactile frequencies. In the present study, to investigate the allocation of attention to items of the search-array we measured the N140cc during a tactile task in which the set-size was manipulated. The N140cc is a lateralized component of event-related brain potentials recently described as a psychophysiological marker of attentional allocation in tactile search tasks. Participants localized the target, a singleton frequency, while ignoring one, three or five homogeneous distractors. Results showed that error rates linearly increased as a function of set-size, while response times were not affected. Reliable N140cc components were observed for all set-sizes. Crucially, the N140cc amplitude decreased as the number of distractors increased. We argue that the presence of additional distractors hindered the preattentive analysis of the search array resulting in increased uncertainty about the target location (inefficient preattentive stage). This, in turn, increased the variability of the deployment of attention to the target, resulting in reduced N140cc amplitudes. Consistent with existing behavioral evidence, these findings highlight systematic differences between the visual and the tactile attentional systems
Compatibility effects with destination and origin of motion
No full textPrevious studies highlighted spatial compatibility effects other than those strictly arising from stimulus-response locations. In particular, the so-called Destination Compatibility (DC) effect refers to faster responses for dynamic (i.e., moving) stimuli the end point of which is spatially compatible with the response key. Four experiments examined whether the DC effect also occurs with static visual stimuli symbolically representing either motion destination alone (Experiment 1a), or both motion origin and destination (Experiments 1b, 2a, and 2b). Overall, our results are consistent in showing a DC effect; most importantly, the present findings reveal a predominance of the effect of destination of motion over that of origin, even when both the starting and ending positions of the stimulus are symbolically represented and participants are instructed to respond according to motion origin. This finding suggests that the DC effect is independent from other stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effects
Grammatical ambiguity resolution in right hemisphere-damaged patients: Evidence from an insertion task
No full textWe examined the issue of right cerebral hemisphere (RH) participation in sentential syntax processing. A modified version of the Insertion Task of Schneiderman and Saddy (1988) was administered to eight right hemisphere brain-damaged (RHD), eight left hemisphere brain-damage (LHD) and 28 right-handed control (CTR) subjects: 28 word/syntagm insertions required role reassignment of a lexical item in the stimulus sentence (Shift); 25 insertions implied only semantic reinterpretation of the sentence (Nonshift). Age, formal education, cognitive proficiency, mood and verbal intelligence were introduced as covariates in the analysis of the outcomes to partial out their influence on performance. The LHD group outperformed the RHD patients on the Shift items, though both scored similarly on other language tasks. The RHD group performed significantly worse only on the Shift items. However, there were no differences between the RHD and CTR Nonshift scores, or between the LHD and CTR Shift scores. Again, the RHD group scored loafer than both the CTR and the LHD subjects on the Insertion Task as a whole. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings, and an associative model approach to sentence processing is proposed as an explanatory framework. The findings suggest that the RH may be crucial for parallel activation processes underlying resolution of grammatical ambiguity
Hypnotic suggestion modulates cognitive conflict: The case of the flanker compatibility effect
No full textThe present work was aimed at investigating whether the flanker compatibility effect can be eliminated by means of a posthypnotic suggestion influencing attentional focusing. In Experiment 1, participants who scored high and low on hypnotic susceptibility performed the flanker compatibility task when naturally awake and when under a posthypnotic suggestion aimed at increasing the target's discriminability from the flankers. Results showed that the posthypnotic suggestion effectively eliminated the flanker compatibility effect in highly susceptible participants, whereas low-susceptibility participants did not show any reduction in the effect. In Experiment 2, highly susceptible participants performed the task after receiving a suggestion but without the induction of hypnosis. Results showed that the suggestion alone was not sufficient to reduce the flanker compatibility effect. These results support the view that in highly susceptible participants, hypnotic suggestion can influence the ability to focus on relevant information
Is there an action potentiation effect with two-handles objects?
No full textTwo experiments explore the action Potentiation effect with grasped bimanual objects having two symmetrical handles. objects typically used in the kitchen (e.g., mezzaluna knife) and objects typically used during spare time (e.g., joypad) were presented during a categorization task in four experimental conditions: compatible grasping object, incompatible grasping object, object alone, two-handles grasping object. results show a more difficult categorization when objects were shown as grasped on the opposite side than the response rather than on the same side in each of two different response modes (bimanual: experiment 1; unimanual: experiment 2). We discuss implications of these results for action potentiation and spatial coding theories
Observational learning without a model is influenced by the observer’s possibility to act: evidence from the Simon task.
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