Additional Cues Research Articles

Detecting a Stalker: The Effect of Body Posture, Gaze Direction, and Camouflage Pattern on Predator Detection.

The success of a predatory attack is related to how much a predator manages to approach a prey without being detected. Some carnivore mammals use environmental objects (e.g., leaves and branches) as visual obstacles during stalking behavior, allowing them to expose only parts of their bodies while approaching and visual monitoring their prey. Here, we investigate the influence of carnivores' body postures, gaze direction, and camouflage pattern on their detection by prey. To do so, we photographed taxidermized carnivore models (cougar, ocelot, and lesser grison) in their preserved natural habitats and presented these images to human dichromats (i.e., colourblinds) and trichromats (i.e., normal color vision). Our findings highlight the importance of body outline and gaze as search images during predator detection tasks. We also demonstrate that coat and facial color patterns can camouflage predator's body outline and gaze. This is the first behavioral evidence that the facial coloration of natural predators might mask their gaze to potential prey. Furthermore, we observed that carnivore coat color patterns may serve as an additional cue for trichromats, particularly in hidden carnivore detection tasks that proved to be more challenging for dichromats. Our results show possible strategies that evolved between predator and preys, in which prey make use of body outlines, gaze direction, and coat color to improve predator detection, while predators potentially evolved stalking behavior and body/gaze camouflage as counter strategies to cope with the improvements in prey's perception and conceal their presence.

Age differences in mental state inference of sarcasm: Contributions of facial emotion recognition and cognitive performance.

Older age is associated with poorer ability to accurately infer mental states, but some mental states are more complex than others. Sarcasm is a complex mental state because the literal and intended meaning of a speaker's words are in opposition. Individuals must rely on additional cues (e.g., facial expressions, intonation) for accurate inference. We hypothesized that understanding of sarcastic versus sincere exchanges would be more sensitive to age-related difficulty in mental state understanding. We examined accuracy at identifying sarcasm among 263 adults (ages 18-90 years) using videos of social interactions in The Awareness of Social Inference Test. Hypotheses were tested using a logistic linear mixed effects model predicting correct/incorrect trial-level responses. To characterize why sarcasm differed with age, we measured two abilities commonly implicated in mental state understanding: facial emotion recognition and cognitive performance. Sarcasm understanding declined with age, whereas understanding of sincere exchanges did not. Both better emotion recognition and cognitive performance related to better understanding of sarcastic but not sincere exchanges. Only cognitive performance showed an age-related effect such that the cognitive performance among the oldest participants facilitated their understanding of both sarcastic and sincere exchanges. We showed that individual variation related to age and social and cognitive performance is more pronounced when the use of multiple mental state cues is more (sarcasm) or less (sincerity) necessary for accurate understanding of social interactions. Naturalistic paradigms involving multiple mental state cues can address important questions about how older adults make decisions in the real world.

Traceable teleportation: Improving spatial learning in virtual locomotion

In virtual reality, point-and-teleport (P&T) is a locomotion technique that is popular for its user-friendliness, lowering workload and mitigating cybersickness. However, most P&T schemes use instantaneous transitions, which has been known to hinder spatial learning. While replacing instantaneous transitions with animated interpolations can address this issue, they may inadvertently induce cybersickness. To counter these deficiencies, we propose Traceable Teleportation (TTP), an enhanced locomotion technique grounded in a theoretical framework that was designed to improve spatial learning. TTP incorporates two novel features: an Undo-Redo mechanism that facilitates rapid back-and-forth movements, and a Visualized Path that offers additional visual cues. We have conducted a user study via a set of spatial learning tests within a virtual labyrinth to assess the effect of these enhancements on the P&T technique. Our findings indicate that the TTP Undo-Redo design generally facilitates the learning of orientational spatial knowledge without incurring additional cybersickness or diminishing sense of presence.

Accommodative and Vergence Responses to a Moving Stimulus in Concussion.

Concussed adolescents often report visual symptoms, especially for moving targets, but the mechanisms resulting in oculomotor deficits remain unclear. We objectively measured accommodative and vergence responses to a moving target in concussed adolescents and controls. Thirty-two symptomatic concussed participants (mean age, 14.4 ± 2.6years; mean days since concussion, 107days; range, 36-273days) and 32 healthy controls (mean age, 12.7 ± 2.1years) viewed a movie binocularly (closed-loop) and monocularly (vergence open-loop), as well as a Difference of Gaussians (DoG) target binocularly (accommodation open-loop). The movie or DoG target sinusoidally moved toward and away from participants at a 0.1-hertz (Hz) frequency at four separate stimulus amplitudes (1.50 diopters [D], 1.00 D, 0.50 D, 0.25 D) around a 2.50-D midpoint. Accommodation and vergence were continuously measured at 50 Hz using the PowerRef 3. Fourier analysis was used to assess the response amplitudes at the 0.1-Hz frequency. A 2 × 3 analysis of variance with the factors group (concussed, control) and viewing condition (binocular, monocular, DoG) was conducted on response amplitudes. Across groups, accommodative and vergence responses were significantly higher in binocular than monocular conditions (P < 0.001), but not DoG conditions. Compared to controls, concussed participants had significantly reduced monocular accommodative responses (P < 0.012; e.g., at 1.50 D, controls = 1.09 ± 0.47 D and concussed = 0.80 ± 0.36 D, P = 0.011). No group differences were observed for vergence responses in any viewing condition. Accommodative and vergence responses to the moving target were largely driven by disparity cues for both groups, with only minimal improvements in the presence of additional blur cues. Concussed participants showed reduced accommodative responses to a 0.1-Hz stimulus in monocular conditions, indicating mild accommodative deficits in the absence of disparity cues.

Second Language Listeners’ Emotion and Eye Gaze: A Web-Based Eye-Tracking Study

ABSTRACT While previous studies have shown that L2 listeners tend to focus more on videos with additional information, like presentation slides, the amount of eye gaze did not necessarily translate to higher listening test scores . Unlike previous research focusing on the benefits of additional visual cues, this study explores how emotions impact L2 listeners’ viewing behavior. Sixty-four adults completed the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS), watched three academic lectures with their eye movements tracked, and answered comprehension questions. According to the results, listening anxiety was not a significant predictor of viewing videos. The relationship between viewing time and comprehension scores was non-significant. Interviews and survey responses highlighted diverse attitudes toward the videos. The findings suggest that individual differences in listening anxiety may not significantly influence how much participants look at the videos. Furthermore, adding context videos to listening tests to increase authenticity does not seem to affect comprehension scores, consistent with previous studies. The implications for developing video-based listening tests are discussed.

Scenario Validation for Opioid Use Disorder Stigma-Related Nursing Simulations.

Six high-fidelity simulations were developed to promote empathetic, evidence-based care devoid of stigma for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). Study aim was to validate simulation scenario and content for accuracy and clinical relevance. Simulations were video recorded in August 2022 for content validation. Expert assessment was conducted in September 2022 via focus groups using videoconferencing. A panel of OUD experts that included healthcare providers (n = 10), who were also nurse educators (n = 5) or family members affected by OUD (n = 1), validated simulation content. Thematic analysis identified themes: (a) strategies for enhancing realism, (b) recognition for diverse patients, (c) additional cueing to generate empathetic responses, (d) refining cueing to focus on stigma, (e) recognizing OUD as a chronic illness, (f) novel approach to standardized patients, and (g) limitations of mannequins. Evaluation of simulations provided content validation increasing the potential effectiveness of the simulations to achieve desired learning outcomes.

Individual variability in the use of tonal and non-tonal cues in intonationa).

Greek uses H*, L + H*, and H* + L, all followed by L-L% edge tones, as nuclear pitch accents in statements. A previous analysis demonstrated that these accents are distinguished by F0 scaling and contour shape. This study expands the earlier investigation by exploring additional cues, namely, voice quality, amplitude, and duration, in distinguishing the pitch accents, and investigating individual variability in the selection of both F0 and non-F0 cues. Bayesian multivariate analysis and hierarchical clustering demonstrate that the accents are distinguished not only by F0 but also by additional cues at the group level, with individual variability in cue selection.

Influences of heart rate feedback and autistic traits on affective mindreading

Although mindreading is an important prerequisite for successful social interactions, the underlying mechanisms are still matter of debate. It is unclear, for example, if inferring others’ and own mental states are distinct processes or are based on a common mechanism. Using an affect-induction experimental set-up with an acoustic heart rate feedback that addresses affective mindreading in self and others, we investigated if non-autistic study participants relied on similar information for self- and other-directed mindreading. We assumed that due to altered mindreading capacities in autism, mainly individuals with low autistic traits would focus on additional sensory cues, such as heart rate, to infer their own and their gambling partner’s affective states. Our analyses showed that the interpretation of a heart rate signal differed in self- and other-directed mindreading trials. This effect was modulated by autistic traits suggesting that individuals with higher autistic traits might not have interpreted the heart rate feedback for gambling partner ratings and differentiated less between self- and other-directed mindreading trials. We discuss these results in the context of a common mechanism underlying self- and other-directed mindreading and hypothesize that the weighting of internal and external sensory information might contribute to how we make sense of our and others’ mental states.

Leaning-Based Interfaces Improve Simultaneous Locomotion and Object Interaction in VR Compared to the Handheld Controller.

Physical walking is often considered the gold standard for VR travel whenever feasible. However, limited free-space walking areas in the real-world do not allow exploring larger-scale virtual environments by actual walking. Therefore, users often require handheld controllers for navigation, which can reduce believability, interfere with simultaneous interaction tasks, and exacerbate adverse effects such as motion sickness and disorientation. To investigate alternative locomotion options, we compared handheld Controller (thumbstick-based) and physical walking versus a seated (HeadJoystick) and standing/stepping (NaviBoard) leaning-based locomotion interface, where seated/standing users travel by moving their head toward the target direction. Rotations were always physically performed. To compare these interfaces, we designed a novel simultaneous locomotion and object interaction task, where users needed to keep touching the center of upward moving target balloons with their virtual lightsaber, while simultaneously staying inside a horizontally moving enclosure. Walking resulted in the best locomotion, interaction, and combined performances while the controller performed worst. Leaning-based interfaces improved user experience and performance compared to Controller, especially when standing/stepping using NaviBoard, but did not reach walking performance. That is, leaning-based interfaces HeadJoystick (sitting) and NaviBoard (standing) that provided additional physical self-motion cues compared to controller improved enjoyment, preference, spatial presence, vection intensity, motion sickness, as well as performance for locomotion, object interaction, and combined locomotion and object interaction. Our results also showed that less embodied interfaces (and in particular the controller) caused a more pronounced performance deterioration when increasing locomotion speed. Moreover, observed differences between our interfaces were not affected by repeated interface usage.

Leveraging Tendon Vibration to Enhance Pseudo-Haptic Perceptions in VR.

Pseudo-haptic techniques are used to modify haptic perception by appropriately changing visual feedback to body movements. Based on the knowledge that tendon vibration can affect our somatosensory perception, this article proposes a method for leveraging tendon vibration to enhance pseudo-haptics during free arm motion. Three experiments were performed to examine the impact of tendon vibration on the range and resolution of pseudo-haptics. The first experiment investigated the effect of tendon vibration on the detection threshold of the discrepancy between visual and physical motion. The results indicated that vibrations applied to the inner tendons of the wrist and elbow increased the threshold, suggesting that tendon vibration can augment the applicable visual motion gain by approximately 13% without users detecting the visual/physical discrepancy. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that tendon vibration acts as noise on haptic motion cues. The second experiment assessed the impact of tendon vibration on the resolution of pseudo-haptics by determining the just noticeable difference in pseudo-weight perception. The results suggested that the tendon vibration does not largely compromise the resolution of pseudo-haptics. The third experiment evaluated the equivalence between the weight perception triggered by tendon vibration and that by visual motion gain, that is, the point of subjective equality. The results revealed that vibration amplifies the weight perception and its effect was equivalent to that obtained using a gain of 0.64 without vibration, implying that the tendon vibration also functions as an additional haptic cue. Our results provide design guidelines and future work for enhancing pseudo-haptics with tendon vibration.

A linear ontogeny accounts for the development of naive, memory and tumour-infiltrating regulatory T cells in mice.

Foxp3 + Regulatory T cells (Treg) are a subset of CD4 + T cells that play critical functions in maintaining tolerance to self antigens and suppressing autoimmunity, regulating immune responses to pathogens and have a role in the pathophysiology of anti-tumoural immunity. Treg ontogeny is complex since they are generated following recognition of self antigens in the thymus during normal T cell development (thymic Treg), but are also induced from mature conventional T cells when activated by foreign antigen with appropriate additional cues (inducible Treg). How these distinct ontogenic pathways contribute to the maintenance and function of the mature Treg compartment in health and disease remains unclear. Here, we use a combination of fate mapping approaches in mice to map the ontogeny of Treg subsets throughout life and estimate rates of production, loss and self-renewal. We find that naive and effector/memory (EM) Treg subsets exhibit distinct dynamics but are both continuously replenished by de novo generation throughout life. Using an inducible Foxp3-dependent Cre fate reporter system, we show that naive Treg and not conventional T cells, are the predominant precursors of EM Treg in adults. Tonic development of new EM Treg is not influenced by foreign antigens from commensals, rather suggesting a role for self recognition. To investigate the ontogeny of Treg development in malignant disease, we used the same fate reporter systems to characterise the Treg infiltrate of three different model tumours. In all three cases, we found that Treg derived from pre-existing, EM Treg. Together, these results reveal a predominantly linear pathway of Treg development from thymic origin to EM Treg associated with pathophysiology of malignant disease, that is driven by self antigen recognition throughout.

Prosodic and Visual Cues Facilitate Irony Comprehension by Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants.

This study investigated irony comprehension by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants, focusing on how prosodic and visual cues contribute to their comprehension, and whether second-order Theory of Mind is required for using these cues. We tested 52 Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (aged 3-7 years) and 52 age- and gender-matched children with normal hearing. All children completed a Theory of Mind test and a story comprehension test. Ironic stories were presented in three conditions, each providing different cues: (a) context-only, (b) context and prosody, and (c) context, prosody, and visual cues. Comparisons were conducted on the accuracy of story understanding across the three conditions to examine the role of prosodic and visual cues. The results showed that, compared to the context-only condition, the additional prosodic and visual cues both improved the accuracy of irony comprehension for children with cochlear implants, similar to their normal-hearing peers. Furthermore, such improvements were observed for all children, regardless of whether they passed the second-order Theory of Mind test or not. This study is the first to demonstrate the benefits of prosodic and visual cues in irony comprehension, without reliance on second-order Theory of Mind, for Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. It implies potential insights for utilizing prosodic and visual cues in intervention strategies to promote irony comprehension.

Viewers’ sensations: Using skin sensor technology to assess wearable technology

Wearable technology garments have been displayed for aesthetic evaluation in museums. With the additional multisensory cues in wearable technology garments such as digital sounds and LED lights, this study examined 44 museum visitors’ electrodermal activity (EDA) sensory responses to a wearable technology garment in a museum. Results support that apparel with music-only sensory cues (rather than lights-only, no music or lights and both music along with lights) created an enhanced sensory response due to viewers of the music-only garment having the highest EDA response after accounting for their baseline EDA. It is suggested that apparel designers and museum curators consider incorporating music and even music with lights into their designs for display at museums to promote enhanced sensory engagement for viewers. Conversely, it is not recommended that designs utilize lights-only in these designs without the presence of music.

The effect of foreigner talk on children’s evaluations of addressees

Children evaluate others based on how they speak, but do children evaluate others based on how they are spoken to? We examined how U.S. children and adults (N = 170 5- to 10-year-olds, 49 % female; 107 adults; in a city with a foreign population of 17.9 %) evaluated addressees of Foreigner Talk (i.e., slow, loud, simplified speech). In Study 1, children and adults evaluated Foreigner Talk addressees more negatively than Peer Talk or Teacher Talk addressees. In Study 2, adults and older children incorporated Foreigner Talk with additional contextual cues to inform their evaluations: a local peer receiving Foreigner Talk received lower evaluations than a foreign peer receiving Foreigner Talk. With medium to large effect sizes, these studies indicate the importance of speech register in children’s social inferences.

Does 3D simulation impact clinical reasoning for orthodontic treatment planning of impacted maxillary canines?

Clinical reasoning is an essential competence to develop in the diagnosis and treatment planning of impacted maxillary canines to ensure good treatment outcomes. It involves skills of radiographic interpretation and mental visualization. To master these, postgraduate students learn to interpret 2D and 3D X-rays to locate these canines accurately. This process demands the creation of mental models of the impaction and resolving it either by envisioning the canine's movement to its correct position or considering its removal. To facilitate this cognitive exercise, a 3D-printed simulator, derived from Cone Beam Computed Tomography scans, serves as a tool to allow students to experiment with various movement simulations, helping them select the most viable treatment approach.This project aimed to assess the differences in expert and novice orthodontists’ clinical reasoning for impacted maxillary canines, and whether the addition of a 3D simulator would affect their reasoning. Thirteen (13) novices randomly assigned to a control and intervention group and three (3) experts took part in a Think-Aloud exercise to diagnose and treatment plan a case of bilaterally impacted maxillary canines. Experts and intervention group novices had the 3D simulator in addition to standardized patient records. Their responses were recorded and analyzed according to a coding scheme reflecting the clinical reasoning process. While experts demonstrated quick clinical judgment and found the 3D simulator redundant, novices were more uncertain and required additional cues. Novices using the 3D simulator described more elaborate treatment plans and had increased awareness of potential complications as compared to the control group.

T cells use focal adhesions to pull themselves through confined environments.

Immune cells are highly dynamic and able to migrate through environments with diverse biochemical and mechanical compositions. Their migration has classically been defined as amoeboid under the assumption that it is integrin independent. Here, we show that activated primary Th1 T cells require both confinement and extracellular matrix proteins to migrate efficiently. This migration is mediated through small and dynamic focal adhesions that are composed of the same proteins associated with canonical mesenchymal cell focal adhesions, such as integrins, talin, and vinculin. These focal adhesions, furthermore, localize to sites of contractile traction stresses, enabling T cells to pull themselves through confined spaces. Finally, we show that Th1 T cells preferentially follow tracks of other T cells, suggesting that these adhesions modify the extracellular matrix to provide additional environmental guidance cues. These results demonstrate not only that the boundaries between amoeboid and mesenchymal migration modes are ambiguous, but that integrin-mediated focal adhesions play a key role in T cell motility.

Teaching Without Thinking: Negative Evaluations of Rote Pedagogy.

When people make decisions, they act in a way that is either automatic ("rote"), or more thoughtful ("reflective"). But do people notice when others are behaving in a rote way, and do they care? We examine the detection of rote behavior and its consequences in U.S. adults, focusing specifically on pedagogy and learning. We establish repetitiveness as a cue for rote behavior (Experiment 1), and find that rote people are seen as worse teachers (Experiment 2). We also find that the more a person's feedback seems similar across groups (indicating greater rote-ness), the more negatively their teaching is evaluated (Experiment 3). A word-embedding analysis of an open-response task shows people naturally cluster rote and reflective teachers into different semantic categories (Experiment 4). We also show that repetitiveness can be decoupled from perceptions of rote-ness given contextual explanation (Experiment 5). Finally, we establish two additional cues to rote behavior that can be tied to quality of teaching (Experiment 6). These results empirically show that people detect and care about scripted behaviors in pedagogy, and suggest an important extension to formal frameworks of socialreasoning.

Evaluation of Biomechanical and Mental Workload During Human-Robot Collaborative Pollination Task.

The purpose of this study is to identify the potential biomechanical and cognitive workload effects induced by human robot collaborative pollination task, how additional cues and reliability of the robot influence these effects and whether interacting with the robot influences the participant's anxiety and attitude towards robots. Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) could be used to alleviate pollinator shortages and robot performance issues. However, the effects of HRC for this setting have not been investigated. Sixteen participants were recruited. Four HRC modes, no cue, with cue, unreliable, and manual control were included. Three categories of dependent variables were measured: (1) spine kinematics (L5/S1, L1/T12, and T1/C7), (2) pupillary activation data, and (3) subjective measures such as perceived workload, robot-related anxiety, and negative attitudes towards robotics. HRC reduced anxiety towards the cobot, decreased joint angles and angular velocity for the L5/S1 and L1/T12 joints, and reduced pupil dilation, with the "with cue" mode producing the lowest values. However, unreliability was detrimental to these gains. In addition, HRC resulted in a higher flexion angle for the neck (i.e., T1/C7). HRC reduced the physical and mental workload during the simulated pollination task. Benefits of the additional cue were minimal compared to no cues. The increased joint angle in the neck and unreliability affecting lower and mid back joint angles and workload requires further investigation. These findings could be used to inform design decisions for HRC frameworks for agricultural applications that are cognizant of the different effects induced by HRC.

The effect of anxiety and its interplay with social cues when perceiving aggressive behaviours.

Contextual cues and emotional states carry expectations and biases that are used to attribute meaning to what we see. In addition, emotional states, such as anxiety, shape our visual systems, increasing overall, and particularly threat-related, sensitivity. It remains unclear, however, how anxiety interacts with additional cues when categorising sensory input. This is especially important in social scenarios where ambiguous gestures are commonplace, thus requiring the integration of cues for a proper interpretation. To this end, we decided to assess how states of anxiety might bias the perception of potentially aggressive social interactions, and how external cues are incorporated in this process. Participants (N = 71) were tasked with signalling the presence of aggression in ambiguous social interactions. Simultaneously, an observer (facial expression) reacted (by showing an emotional expression) to this interaction. Importantly, participants performed this task under safety and threat of shock conditions. Decision measures and eye-tracking data were collected. Our results showed that threat of shock did not affect sensitivity nor criterion when detecting aggressive interactions. The same pattern was observed for response times. Drift diffusion modelling analysis, however, suggested quicker evidence accumulation when under threat. Finally, dwell times over the observer were higher when under threat, indicating a possible association between anxiety states and a bias towards potentially threat-related indicators. Future probing into this topic remains a necessity to better explain the current findings.

Beyond the Wizard of Oz: Negative Effects of Imperfect Machine Learning to Examine the Impact of Reliability of Augmented Reality Cues on Visual Search Performance.

Despite knowing exactly what an object looks like, searching for it in a person's visual field is a time-consuming and error-prone experience. In Augmented Reality systems, new algorithms are proposed to speed up search time and reduce human errors. However, these algorithms might not always provide 100% accurate visual cues, which might affect users' perceived reliability of the algorithm and, thus, search performance. Here, we examined the detrimental effects of automation bias caused by imperfect cues presented in the Augmented Reality head-mounted display using the YOLOv5 machine learning model. 53 participants in the two groups received either 100% accurate visual cues or 88.9% accurate visual cues. Their performance was compared with the control condition, which did not include any additional cues. The results show how cueing may increase performance and shorten search times. The results also showed that performance with imperfect automation was much worse than perfect automation and that, consistent with automation bias, participants were frequently enticed by incorrect cues.