Perception Of Affordances Research Articles

How does the prior experience of complementary entrepreneurs affect the perception of multisided platform affordance? Evidences from China

ABSTRACT Evidences from cognitive science and neuroscience suggest that affordance needs to be understood by combining epistemology. However, existing studies have not agreed on whether prior experience affects the perception of affordance, and the specific path remains a black box. Using samples from China, this paper investigates the influence mechanism of complementary entrepreneurs’ prior experience on the perception of multisided platform affordance. The results indicate that the prior experience promotes the perception of multisided platform affordance, and entrepreneurial alertness plays a partial mediating role. Platform leadership and role conflict negatively moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and multisided platform affordance.

KETERJANGKAUAN, DUKUNGAN, DAN KENDALA PELAKSANAAN PROGRAM MAGANG MANDIRI—MBKM PADA PROGRAM STUDI PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INDONESIA FKIP UNIVERSITAS TANJUNGPURA

This research aims to reveal perceptions of affordability, support and obstacles to implementing the Independent-MBKM Internship Program in the Indonesian Language Education Study Program, FKIP, Untan. This research utilizes research data in the form of perceptions of students participating in the 2021-2023 Independent Internship—MBKM program, totaling 26 people regarding the affordability of the program. Research data in the form of perceptions from 7 teaching and educational staff regarding support and obstacles to implementation. The data obtained was analyzed descriptively with the help of the SPSS application. This research succeeded in revealing that students responded positively to the ease of accessing the program. This research also succeeded in revealing that teaching and educational staff have provided good support to students and believe that the Independent Internship program is able to prepare students for the world of work and increase employment opportunities. The obstacles experienced were course recognition and limited time.

Social Media and Perceived Political Polarization: Role of Perceived Platform Affordances, Participation in Uncivil Political Discussion, and Perceived Others’ Engagement

This research applies a perceived affordance approach to examine the distinctive role of social media technologies in shaping (mis)perceptions of political polarization. We argue that users’ perceptions of platform affordances influence both (a) their self-participation in uncivil political discussion on social media and (b) perceptions of others’ engagement, which eventually shape their perceptions of polarization. Our analysis of US survey data found that perceptions of lower privacy and stronger network association on Facebook are related to perceptions of a higher level of uncivil discussion by other users, which in turn predicts greater perceived polarization. Perceptions of higher anonymity relate to higher self-participation in uncivil discussion, which is surprisingly associated with perceptions of reduced polarization. Our follow-up experimental study illustrated that participants with more frequent engagement in uncivil discussion, irrespective of interacting with civil or uncivil comments, showed consistently higher levels of intrapersonal reflection, which reduces perceived polarization.

Affordances for throwing: An uncontrolled manifold analysis.

Movement systems are massively redundant, and there are always multiple movement solutions to any task demand; motor abundance. Movement consequently exhibits 'repetition without repetition', where movement outcomes are preserved but the kinematic details of the movement vary across repetitions. The uncontrolled manifold (UCM) concept is one of several methods that analyses movement variability with respect to task goals, to quantify repetition without repetition and test hypotheses about the control architecture producing a given abundant response to a task demand. However, like all these methods, UCM is under-constrained in how it decomposes a task and performance. In this paper, we propose and test a theoretical framework for constraining UCM analysis, specifically the perception of task-dynamical affordances. Participants threw tennis balls to hit a target set at 5m, 10m or 15m, and we performed UCM analysis on the shoulder-elbow-wrist joint angles with respect to variables derived from an affordance analysis of this task as well as more typical biomechanical variables. The affordance-based UCM analysis performed well, although data also showed thrower dynamics (effectivities) need to be accounted for as well. We discuss how the theoretical framework of affordances and affordance-based control can be connected to motor abundance methods in the future.

Graduating Medical Students' Perceptions of the COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on Their Medical School Experiences and Preparation for Careers as Physicians: A National Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented changes to the medical education learning environment. The graduating class of 2021 was particularly affected. To better understand how students were affected, the authors explored positive and negative experiences described by graduating U.S. medical students. Using the conceptual framework of affordances, the authors examined narrative responses to 2 new open-ended questions on the Association of American Medical Colleges 2021 Graduation Questionnaire in which graduating students described the pandemic's positive and negative effects on their medical school experiences and career preparation. Conventional content analysis was used to identify affordances and themes in responses. Of 16,611 Graduation Questionnaire respondents, 8,926 (54%) provided narrative responses. Of these 8,926 respondents, responses from 2,408 students (27%) were analyzed. Students described positive and negative perceptions of affordances, centering around virtual learning, social connection, and transition to residency. Fewer in-person and increased virtual clinical rotations offered students flexible scheduling, allowing them greater opportunity to explore academic and professional interests. Additionally, students' sense of isolation from their medical school was alleviated when schools exercised intentional open communication and student involvement in decision-making. Although many described a diminished sense of preparedness for residency due to limited access to in-person clinical experiences and to assessing residencies largely through virtual away rotations and interviews, the sense of community, adaptability, and resiliency gained through varied activities reinforced students' professional identity and commitment to medicine during a time of much uncertainty. This national exploration of students' pandemic experiences highlights what students value as fundamental elements of medical education and student support and describes how innovation can improve long-standing practices. These findings, guided by students' insights, can help inform the work of educational leaders as they consider which innovations should remain to continue enhancing student learning, engagement, and well-being.

Perception of Affordances in Female Volleyball Players: Serving Short versus Serving to the Sideline

ABSTRACT Purpose: We investigated youth volleyball players’ perception of affordances for different types of serves. Methods: Participants were separated into Less Experienced (n = 13, maximum of 3 years of competitive volleyball experience) and More Experienced (n = 11, minimum of 4 years of competitive volleyball experience) groups. In the Sideline Condition, participants were asked to report the narrowest gap, relative to either the left or right sideline, into which they could serve the ball. In the Short Condition, participants were asked to report the narrowest gap, relative to the net, into which they could serve the ball. Participants then attempted to serve into their reported gaps. Results: The proportion of successful serves was greater for the More Experienced group than for the Less Experienced group, but a statistically significant interaction revealed that this was true only when performing sideline serves. As expected, reported servable gaps were larger for the Short Serve condition (M = 3.66 m, SD = 0.67 m) than for the Sideline Serve condition (M = 1.93 m, SD = 0.71 m), F(1, 22) = 80.45, p < .001, partial η2 = 0.79. Conclusions: Our study extends previous work to a different sport (volleyball) and to different sport-specific actions (serving the ball). The finding that perceived minimum servable gap sizes were larger for short serves than for sideline serves is consistent with differences in the constraints operating on the two types of serves in the context of game play.

Perceiving IT affordances through the lens of multi-identity goals in rural governance information system

PurposeThis research aims to investigate the impact of the collaborative governance mechanism on the implementation of rural governance information systems in developing countries. By integrating institutional logic theory, affordance theory and social identity theory, the authors propose modeling grassroots officials' affordance perception process and exploring the importance of multi-identities’ information technology (IT) goals in affordance perception.Design/methodology/approachThrough an exploratory case study, the authors identified three affordances of rural governance information systems and investigated the mechanisms influencing the perception of these affordances among grassroots officials. Next, the authors established a research model and collected 490 valid questionnaires from grassroots officials in China and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe authors' study challenges previous assumptions by integrating institutional logic, affordance and social identity theories. The authors establish a perceived affordance path for rural governance information systems, recognize substitute effects among technological affordances and extend the theory to explain social factors influencing IT perception. The authors' findings suggest providing technical training for grassroots officials to enhance IT capabilities, and governments should prioritize essential functionalities in rural governance information systems to optimize resources. Training on collaborative governance mechanisms can improve IT affordance perception, enhancing digital platform utilization in governance processes.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was conducted mainly in China, and therefore, the findings may not be universal to other developing countries. Researchers are therefore encouraged to test the proposal in locations with different rural cultures.Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for the development of IT perception in rural governance, the development of affordance perception theory and studying the relationship between IT goals and affordance perception.Originality/valueOverall, this paper addresses the need to understand how grassroots officials perceive IT affordances in rural governance and study the relationship between multi-identities’ goals and affordance perception.

Learning additional language(s) in collegiate multilingual education programmes: how learners perceive and utilise institutional affordance

ABSTRACT Previous studies of affordance have not explored in detail how a special type of affordance – institutional affordance – worked in multilingualism. By drawing empirical voices of students, this study investigates how institutional affordance supplied by a collegiate multilingual education policy was perceived and utilised by students. A thematic analysis of data collected from ethnographic observation, narrative frame writing and semi-structured interview reveals that learners first carry out affordance perception screening and that those present in classroom learning opportunities are easily perceived, while those in forms of social and technological learning opportunities outside the classroom might encounter affordance blindness. However, a successful perception does not guarantee full utilisation; as learning continues, either full utilisation or abandonment of perceived affordance may occur depending on the dynamic interaction between learner agency and affordance. This article ends with suggestions to teachers, curriculum designers, and policy makers on how to improve collegiate multilingual education programmes from an ecological perspective.

Barking up which tree? Characterizing farmers, farms, and a behavioral framework regarding livestock guardian dog use in South Africa

Livestock guardian dogs are one of several predator control methods employed by livestock farmers around the world, but little is known about the factors that predict their use. Here we aim to understand the dimensions which influence guardian dog use by farmers. In a quantitative survey among 113 livestock farmers in South Africa, using Boosted Regression Trees, we explored and characterized the factors associated with guardian dog use. We showed that practical factors (e.g., predator type, number of farming enterprises, mitigation methods, and the frequency and extent of specific predator problems) were more likely to be significant determinants of guardian dog use than sociodemographic factors. However, psychosocial constructs relating to wildlife value orientations, empathy for predators, tolerance to predators, tangible and intangible cost, benefits of predators, like or dislike of predators, and number of positive experiences, were also determinants of guardian dog use. Utilizing the foundational constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Wildlife Tolerance Model (WTM) we built upon these findings to show that constructs of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control explained 49 % of the variance in behavioral intention to use or continue using a guardian dog. The relationship between attitude and the behavioral intent to use or continue using a guardian dog had less significant association with guardian dog use than either perceived behavioral control or subjective norms had. Nonetheless, attitude was most strongly associated with the constructs of belief in a specific non-governmental organization, mutualistic Wildlife Value Orientations and perceptions of affordability, ease of use and the effectiveness of guardian dogs. The TPB model, incorporating elements of the WTM, provides a framework to guide and improve adoption of guardian dog programs or other intervention strategies within conservation contexts.

The effects of non-fungible token platform affordances on customer loyalty: A Buyer–Creator duality perspective

Prior academic research on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), an application of blockchain technology in the metaverse environment, has focused primarily on the market demand side (i.e., buyers), with limited attention given to the supply side (i.e., creators). To address this gap, we seek to understand creators' and buyers’ perceptions of platform affordances that can aid NFT platforms in developing functions that address the needs and expectations of both parties. To do this, we draw on affordance theory and psychological contract theory and use a mixed-methods approach consisting of text mining, structural equation modeling, and importance-performance map analysis. The results show that platform affordances (transaction, aesthetics, status, and user interface affordance) facilitate the creation of psychological contracts, which in turn promotes customer loyalty. Moreover, the relationships identified differ between creators and buyers. Overall, these results point to the value of using a user-centric human–computer interaction perspective to study emerging blockchain-based systems. They can inform design principles and guidelines for NFT platforms to effectively support creator–buyer interactions, transactions, and relationships through enhanced affordances and user-centric experience. This study advances knowledge of design in the nascent NFT domain relevant to the cross-disciplinary human–computer interaction community.

A Preliminary Study on Graduate Student Instructors' Exploration, Perception, and Use of ChatGPT

Research on teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has been burgeoning recently. Yet, little is known about how teachers integrate AI tools such as ChatGPT in language teaching. This preliminary qualitative study investigates the exploration and incorporation of ChatGPT in language teaching by graduate student instructors (GSIs). By analyzing data from questionnaires, focus group interviews, screenshots of interactions with ChatGPT, and participants' lesson plans, this study shows how instructors develop their knowledge about ChatGPT and mobilize content and pedagogy knowledge to enact technology integration. Findings reveal that GSIs adopted various strategies when exploring the affordances of ChatGPT. Furthermore, while GSIs form positive perceptions of ChatGPT affordances, negative perceptions pertain to its limited capacity to process the Chinese language. Lastly, GSIs drew on various aspects of TPACK to design lessons, among which content knowledge and its interplay with technology seem to be prominent.

The Experience of Affordances in an Intersubjective World

Our paper is concerned with theories of direct perception in ecological psychology that first emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. Ecological psychology continues to be influential among philosophers and cognitive scientists today who defend a 4E (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive) approach to the scientific study of cognition. Ecological psychologists have experimentally investigated how animals are able to directly perceive their surrounding environment and what it affords to them. We pursue questions about direct perception through a discussion of the ecological psychologist’s concept of affordances. In recent years, psychologists and philosophers have begun to mark out two explanatory roles for the affordance concept. In one role, affordances are cast as belonging to a shared, publicly available environment, and existing independent of the experience of any perceiving and acting animal. In a second role, affordances are described in phenomenological terms, in relation to an experiencing animal that has its own peculiar needs, interests and personal history. Our aim in this paper is to argue for a single phenomenological or experiential understanding of the affordance concept. We make our argument, first of all, based on William James’ concept of pure experience developed in his later, radical empiricist writings. James thought of pure experience as having a field structure that is organized by the selective interest and needs of the perceiver. We will argue however that James did not emphasize sufficiently the social and intersubjective character of the field of experience. Drawing on the phenomenologist Aron Gurwitsch, we will argue that psychological factors like individual needs and attention must be thought of as already confronted with a social reality. On the phenomenological reading of affordances we develop, direct perception of affordances is understood as taking place within an intersubjective world structured by human social and cultural life.

A psychosocial network approach studying biomedical HIV prevention uptake between 2017 and 2019

Biomedical HIV-prevention strategies (BmPS) among men who have sex with men (MSM), such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and viral load sorting (VLS), are essential but relatively new and their uptake gradual. Using an extension of the causal attitude network approach, we investigated which beliefs are related to uptake of PrEP and VLS at each time-point. We included 632 HIV-negative MSM from the Amsterdam Cohort Studies from four data-waves between 2017 and 2019. We estimated weighted, undirected networks for each time-point, where we included pairwise interactions of PrEP and VLS uptake and related beliefs. PrEP use increased from 10 to 31% (p < 0.001), while VLS was reported by 7–10% at each time-point. Uptake of both BmPS was directly related to the perceived positive impact of the strategy on one’s quality of sex life and perceived supportive social norms. Overall network structure differed between time points, specifically in regard to PrEP. At earlier time points, perceptions of efficacy and affordability played an important role for PrEP uptake, while more recently social and health-related concerns became increasingly important.The network structure differed across data-waves, suggesting specific time changes in uptake motives. These findings may be used in communication to increase prevention uptake.

EFL Teachers’ Burnout: Do Mobile Teaching Affordances Matter?

In recent years, integrating mobile devices and network technologies has been a critical issue in the teaching and learning process, especially within the scope of English teaching and learning. The importance of technology integration in the learning and teaching process by teachers can only be deemed effective if users can realize the intended affordances in the teaching. Teachers’ affordances, accordingly, can be defined as the relationship between the properties of an educational intervention and the characteristics of the learner that enable particular kinds of learning by individuals. On the other hand, one of the critical core barriers that EFL teachers encounter in their job is the issue of burnout. Thus, because of the increased attention to the capabilities and affordances of mobile usage among teachers, this study intended to examine the relationship between EFL teachers’ mobile affordances and their burnout as its main focus. The study also aimed at determining whether gender differences influence the teachers` mobile affordances and their burnout. To this aim, 228 EFL teachers were invited to participate in this study. Data were gathered using Mobile Teaching Affordances and Maslach Burnout Inventory, and processed, analyzed, and reported using Pearson product-moment correlations and independent samples t-test. Findings proposed teachers` perceptions of mobile affordances and their burnout had significantly and negatively correlated. Furthermore, the results indicated that there was not a significant difference between males' and females` mobile affordances, however, there was a significant difference between males and females in burnout scores favoring males.

To Text or Talk in Person? Social Anxiety, Media Affordances, and Preferences for Texting Over Face-To-Face Communication in Dating Relationships

ABSTRACT Collocated dating couples have the choice between interacting in person or via communication media, inviting theorizing about when and why they gravitate toward mediated communication. Drawing on O’Sullivan’s (2000) model, we investigated young adults’ preference for texting over face-to-face (FtF) communication in situations varying in threat (mundane talk vs. difficult conversations vs. breakups), as a function of individuals’ social anxiety and perceptions of media affordances. Results show that higher social anxiety predicted preferences for texting, and this relationship got stronger as relational episodes were more threatening. The perceived importance of editability mediated the relationship between social anxiety and preferences for texting under threatening circumstances. The results shed light on the factors that drive media preferences in relational contexts.

Enabling affordances of blockchain in agri-food supply chains: A value-driver framework using Q-methodology

The application of blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies has received increasing attention from industry and scholars alike. Given predicted looming food crises, some of the most impactful deployments of blockchains are likely to concern food supply chains. This study outlined how blockchain adoption can result in positive affordances in the food supply chain. Using Q- methodology, this study explored the current status of the agri-food supply chain and how blockchain technology could be useful in addressing existing challenges. This theorization leads to the proposition of the 3TIC value-driver framework for determining the enabling affordances of blockchain that would increase shared value for stakeholders. First, we propose a framework based on the most promising features of blockchain technology to overcome current challenges in the agri-food industry. Our value-driver framework is driven by the Q-study findings of respondents closely associated with the agri-food supply chain. This framework can provide supply chain stakeholders with a clear perception of blockchain affordances and serve as a guideline for utilizing appropriate features of technology that match organizations’ capabilities, core competencies, goals, and limitations. Therefore, it could assist top-level decision-makers in systematically evaluating parts of the organization to focus on and improve the infrastructure for successful blockchain implementation along the agri-food supply chain. We conclude by noting certain significant challenges that must be carefully addressed to successfully adopt blockchain technology.

From child-peer similarity in imitative behavior to matched peer-mediated interventions in autism.

Self-consciousness develops through a long process, from pre-reflexive consciousness relying on body perception, to "meta" self-awareness. It emerges from the imitative experience between children and their peers. This experience linked to the capacity to test structural similarities between oneself and others, is addressed according to the concept of interpersonal affordance. We hypothesize that the opportunity for co-actors to engage in a process of interpersonal coordination is underlined by their similarity in terms of morphological, behavioral and motor features. This experience can sustain the emergence of new affordances for objects for each co-actor, as well as new affordances in terms of joint actions. We apply this idea in the context of peer-mediated interventions (PMI) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We argue that, in PMI, an encounter between children with autism and similar peers would foster the opportunity to engage in a spontaneous process of interpersonal coordination. This process would enable the development of self-consciousness and the emergence of perception of interpersonal, self and other's affordances for children with autism. We conclude that metrics to assess morphological, behavioral and motor similarity should then be defined and used in future studies to test our hypothesis in children with autism versus TD children or between children with autism.

The Need for Optionality and Learning Guidance in Self-Access Audiovisual Language Learning Material

This research set out to evaluate video material contained within the English learning coursebook English M1 which was designed for self-access use. English M1 is a Brazilian government-sponsored piece of material available for free. It is the first stage of a course that learners would complete independently, unmediated by a teacher. The audiovisual material included a short narrative and two aspects of this were chosen for evaluation: the learners’ perception of the language learning affordances of the episodes and how the story appealed to their interest. There is little research carried out on the post use of materials which draws on learners’ reports about how they engaged with self-access material. Retrospective evaluations, however, can generate relevant and learner-based criteria for future materials design. This research used semi-structured interviews to gather data about how the learners engaged with the videos, their reasons for doing things in the way they did and their opinion about the plot. Key findings included that self-access materials must provide learners with guidance concerning the affordances of the material and how it could be used as well as optionality in what is delivered for increased chances of relevance and engagement. The article ends with recommendations for the design of video material in self-access materials.

Development of navigational affordance perception in infancy

Development of navigational affordance perception in infancy

Exploring the Multilingual Applications of ChatGPT

ChatGPT's ability to realistically mimic human conversation and its high level of ability to handle linguistic ambiguity opens new and exciting avenues in language learning. Building upon the technical affordances of ChatGPT, this study explores the perceptions of educational affordances when incorporating ChatGPT across languages discussed by language communities on YouTube and identifies best practices for its effective use in language education. Through inductive content analysis, this study discussed 18 languages categorized into four groups: (1) romanized languages with high resources, (2) non-romanized languages with high resources, (3) languages with medium resources, and (4) less frequently used languages. The findings reveal consensus that (a) ChatGPT is a valuable and remarkable tool for language teaching and, (b) learning and it cannot fully replace teachers, as humor, wit, and sympathy cannot be programmed. Two potentially significant issues or two gaps were identified and discussed: namely, the learning optimization gap and the knowledge comprehension gap.