Clutter Level Research Articles

Representations of imaginary scenes and their properties in cortical alpha activity

Imagining natural scenes enables us to engage with a myriad of simulated environments. How do our brains generate such complex mental images? Recent research suggests that cortical alpha activity carries information about individual objects during visual imagery. However, it remains unclear if more complex imagined contents such as natural scenes are similarly represented in alpha activity. Here, we answer this question by decoding the contents of imagined scenes from rhythmic cortical activity patterns. In an EEG experiment, participants imagined natural scenes based on detailed written descriptions, which conveyed four complementary scene properties: openness, naturalness, clutter level and brightness. By conducting classification analyses on EEG power patterns across neural frequencies, we were able to decode both individual imagined scenes as well as their properties from the alpha band, showing that also the contents of complex visual images are represented in alpha rhythms. A cross-classification analysis between alpha power patterns during the imagery task and during a perception task, in which participants were presented images of the described scenes, showed that scene representations in the alpha band are partly shared between imagery and late stages of perception. This suggests that alpha activity mediates the top-down re-activation of scene-related visual contents during imagery.

Quantitative effects of overlay clutter and information access effort: Examining the scan-clutter trade-off in displays with geospatial maps.

Overlaying images from multiple geospatial databases increases clutter and imposes attentional costs by disrupting focusing attention on each database and dividing attention when comparing databases. Costs of overlay clutter may offset the benefits of reduced scanning between two images displayed separately. In two experiments, we examine these attention issues using computational metrics to quantify clutter. We also examine how the scan-clutter trade-off is modified by different levels of clutter, display separation, and task attentional requirements. Participants viewed information from a geographical terrain database and a schematic map database and made judgments that required focusing attention on either database or integrating information across both. In Experiment 1, databases were presented as either overlaid or adjacent displays, and in Experiment 2, as either overlay, adjacent, or more separated displays. Results showed that response time was modulated by the magnitude of clutter, spatial separation, and task type. Results also revealed that clutter costs dominated those of spatial separation, particularly in tasks requiring focused attention. A computational feature congestion metric of clutter effectively predicted performance but could be improved by incorporating an overlay component, which amplified the costs of clutter. The results provide design guidelines for overlay displays (e.g., head-mounted displays) that will minimize the scan-clutter trade-off. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Temporal dynamics of ocular torsion and vertical vergence during visual, vestibular, and visuovestibular rotations.

Ocular torsion and vertical divergence reflect the brain's sensorimotor integration of motion through the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and the optokinetic reflex (OKR) to roll rotations. Torsion and vergence however express different response patterns depending on several motion variables, but research on their temporal dynamics remains limited. This study investigated the onset times of ocular torsion (OT) and vertical vergence (VV) during visual, vestibular, and visuovestibular motion, as well as their relative decay rates following prolonged optokinetic stimulations. Temporal characteristics were retrieved from three separate investigations where the level of visual clutter and acceleration were controlled. Video eye-tracking was used to retrieve the eye-movement parameters from a total of 41 healthy participants across all trials. Ocular torsion consistently initiated earlier than vertical vergence, particularly evident under intensified visual information density, and higher clutter levels were associated with more balanced decay rates. Additionally, stimulation modality and accelerations affected the onsets of both eye movements, with visuovestibular motion triggering earlier responses compared to vestibular motion, and increased accelerations leading to earlier onsets for both movements. The present study showed that joint visuovestibular responses produced more rapid onsets, indicating a synergetic sensorimotor process. It also showed that visual content acted as a fusional force during the decay period, and imposed greater influence over the torsional onset compared to vergence. Acceleration, by contrast, did not affect the temporal relationship between the two eye movements. Altogether, these findings provide insights into the sensorimotor integration of the vestibulo-ocular and optokinetic reflex arcs.

Rates of diagnosis and service utilization in veterans with hoarding disorder

Hoarding Disorder (HD) is a prominent and disabling neuropsychiatric condition defined by the inability to discard objects resulting in impairing levels of clutter. The prevalence rate is 2–6 % and increases with age. The aging Veteran population is a high risk group for impairment associated with HD. Medical and psychiatric comorbidities as well as associated rates of disability and poor quality of life are very common in both HD and the related disorder of OCD. We examined rates of HD and OCD diagnoses at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Data were obtained from medical records for all Veterans with these diagnoses over 8-years and included information on medical and psychiatric care, homelessness services, and Care Assessment Needs (CAN) scores. Rates of diagnosis for both HD and OCD were well below epidemiological estimates. Veterans with HD were older, had higher rates of medical hospital admissions with longer stays; had more cardiac, neurological, and acquired medical conditions; had more psychiatric comorbidities; had more interactions with the suicide prevent team and homelessness services; and had higher CAN scores than Veterans with OCD. The low rate of diagnosis and high services utilization of Veterans with HD demonstrates an area of unmet need.

Looks can be deceiving: Investigating change blindness in an online setting.

In the real world, we often fail to notice changes in our environment. In some cases, such as not noticing a car moving into our lane, the results can be catastrophic. This so-called change blindness has been seen experimentally both through failing to notice changes to images on-screen as well as failing to notice a change in other people's identity. However, less is known regarding how change blindness manifests in virtual settings varying in visual clutter or with varying types of interaction with someone prior to the change. Across two studies (n = 134), participants engaged in an online video chat with a confederate, with two levels of visual clutter (none, a lot) and three levels of interaction (none, light conversations about weather/TV, deeper conversations about goals/greatest regrets). We found no modulation of change blindness rates across perceptual clutter. Curiously, we found a large discrepancy in change blindness rates in Experiment 1 (79%; 52/66) versus Experiment 2 (16%; 11/68) that we explored, leading to some evidence that increasing the level of interaction led to greater change blindness rates, but only for pairs who identified as belonging to different ethnicities. Taken together, our work suggests that we may pay attention to people differently in virtual settings compared to in-person, that in-group and out-group biases may have an effect on change blindness rates, and that while clutter does not seem to affect change blindness rates, one's level of interaction just might. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

CLUTTER AS A BARRIER TO MAINTAINING FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE

Abstract Excessive levels of household clutter can increase fall risk and subsequently prevent older adults from living independently. This may be a particular concern for rural-dwelling older adults, who are likely to have a stronger sense of connection with their physical location. This talk will present data from a comprehensive baseline assessment administered to older adults enrolled in treatment studies for hoarding disorder in rural Mississippi (n = 25; mean age: 67). The majority of participants described themselves as “collectors,” (79%) and individuals who considered themselves to be collectors were more likely to have experienced at least one intervention from friends, family, or the community (42% vs. 20%). Thirty-two percent of participants reported they had experienced at least one fall in their home in the previous year and 60% reported they were at least “a little bit” concerned about falling in their home, with 20% indicating that they or someone else had expressed concern specifically about clutter increasing their risk of falling. In addition to fall risk, 28% of participants indicated having at least one health hazard in the home (e.g., mold, insect infestation). Forty-three percent of the sample reported low physical functioning and 50% of the sample indicated a high degree of loneliness. These results highlight the impairment experienced by rural-dwelling older adults with high amounts of clutter. Interventions that target de-cluttering may provide additional utility by also increasing the ability of these older adults to age in place.

Work stress, office clutter and employees’ performance during COVID-19 waves

PurposeThe aim of the study is to test the integrated model involving work stress, office clutter and employee performance with the moderating roles of training and self-discipline (SD) after the re-opening of the banks after the COVID-19 wave.Design/methodology/approach The study used 333 respondents from banking industry, whose responses were recorded using a closed ended questionnaire. The authors used partial least square path anaysis to analyze the data.Findings Work stress significantly increases office clutter, which harms the employees’ performance. Moreover, SD and training significantly improve employees’ performance by reducing work stress and thereby office clutter. There are various mechanisms through which both these factors reduced stress and office clutter.Practical implications The employee’s performance can be enhanced with lower levels of office clutter. The office clutter can be managed through having lower levels of stress and providing people with training and inculcating SD among them. A greater understanding of the factors that count toward office clutter might help bank managers and employees to address the issues related to their performance.Originality/value The authors have proposed a new framework involving conservation of resources theory for the employees’ performance. They posit employees’ performance is an organizational resource, which can be conserved as well as enriched both by employers and employees through their own contribution.

Improved Radar Detection of Small Drones Using Doppler Signal-to-Clutter Ratio (DSCR) Detector

The detection of drones using radar presents challenges due to their small radar cross-section (RCS) values, slow velocities, and low altitudes. Traditional signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) detectors often fail to detect weak radar signals from small drones, resulting in high “Missed Target” rates due to the dependence of SNR values on RCS and detection range. To overcome this issue, we propose the use of a Doppler signal-to-clutter ratio (DSCR) detector that can extract both amplitude and Doppler information from drone signals. Theoretical calculations suggest that the DSCR of a target is less dependent on the detection range than the SNR. Experimental results using a Ku-band pulsed-Doppler surface surveillance radar and an X-band marine surveillance radar demonstrate that the DSCR detector can effectively extract radar signals from small drones, even when the signals are similar to clutter levels. Compared to the SNR detector, the DSCR detector reduces missed target rates by utilizing a lower detection threshold. Our tests include quad-rotor, fixed-wing, and hybrid vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones, with mean SNR values comparable to the surrounding clutter but with DSCR values above 10 dB, significantly higher than the clutter. The simplicity and low radar requirements of the DSCR detector make it a promising solution for drone detection in radar engineering applications.

Convolutional neural network for fast adaptive beamforming of phased array weather radar

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a deep-learning-based beamforming method for phased array weather radars, especially whose antenna arrays are equipped with large number of elements, for fast and accurate detection of weather observations.Design/methodology/approachThe beamforming weights are computed by a convolutional neural network (CNN), which is trained with input–output pairs obtained from the Wiener solution.FindingsTo validate the robustness of the CNN-based beamformer, it is compared with the traditional beamforming methods, namely, Fourier (FR) beamforming and Capon beamforming. Moreover, the CNN is compared with a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) which is a shallow type of neural network. It is shown that the CNN method has an excellent performance in radar signal simulations compared to the other methods. In addition to simulations, the robustness of the CNN beamformer is further validated by using real weather data collected by the phased array radar at Osaka University (PAR@OU) and compared to, besides the FR and RBFNN methods, the minimum mean square error beamforming method. It is shown that the CNN has the ability to rapidly and accurately detect the reflectivity of the PAR@OU with even less clutter level in comparison to the other methods.Originality/valueMotivated by the inherit advantages of the CNN, this paper proposes the development of a CNN-based approach to the beamforming of PAR using both simulated and real data. In this paper, the CNN is trained on the optimum weights of Wiener solution. In simulations, it is applied on a large 32 × 32 planar phased array antenna. Moreover, it is operated on real data collected by the PAR@OU.

Development of a quantitative measurement on visual clutter in see through display.

With the wide use of transmission displays to improve operation performance, the display information highlights clutter because of the contradiction between the massive amount of information and limited display area. Our study aimed to develop a quantitative measurement for declutter design and appraisal. Using the ergonomics research system of characters and symbols in a see-through cockpit display, we set the simulated flight task interface at four pixel scale levels by enlarging all the display elements in a certain ratio. Flight task videos of 12 clutter degrees were recorded using each flight interface matched with three flight scene complexity levels. A total of 60 pilots completed the visual search tasks in the flight task video while the eye tracker was used to record the view path in real time. Visual search performance was analyzed to study the effect of various clutter factors and levels on pilots' performance in visual search tasks, and acquire quantitative clutter measure parameters. GLM univariate test revealed that there were significant differences among the fixation time in areas of interest (AOI), total Fixation point number, total fixation time at four pixel scale levels, and three flight scene complexity levels (P < 0.05). Visual search performance declined after the cutoff point, while the clutter degree increased. According to the visual search performance data, the recommend feature congestion upper pixel number limit in a 600*800 display was 18,576, and the pixel ratio was 3.87%. A quantitative measurement for declutter design and appraisal of cockpit displays was developed, which can be used to support see-through display design.

Anosognosia in hoarding disorder is predicted by alterations in cognitive and inhibitory control

Insight impairment contributes significantly to morbidity in psychiatric disorders. The neurologic concept of anosognosia, reflecting deficits in metacognitive awareness of illness, is increasingly understood as relevant to psychopathology, but has been little explored in psychiatric disorders other than schizophrenia. We explored anosognosia as an aspect of insight impairment in n = 71 individuals with DSM-5 hoarding disorder. We used a standardized clutter severity measure to assess whether individuals with hoarding disorder underreport home clutter levels relative to independent examiners. We then explored whether underreporting, as a proxy for anosognosia, is predicted by clinical or neurocognitive behavioral measures. We found that individuals with hoarding disorder underreport their clutter, and that underreporting is predicted by objective severity of clutter. In an n = 53 subset of participants, we found that underreporting is predicted by altered performance on tests of cognitive control and inhibition, specifically Go/No-Go and Stroop tests. The relation of underreporting to objective clutter, the cardinal symptom of hoarding disorder, suggests that anosognosia may reflect core pathophysiology of the disorder. The neurocognitive predictors of clutter underreporting suggest that anosognosia in hoarding disorder shares a neural basis with metacognitive awareness deficits in other neuropsychiatric disorders and that executive anosognosia may be a transdiagnostic manifestation of psychopathology.

The generational impact of household clutter.

Hoarding disorder can create long-term problems for adult children of individuals with hoarding symptoms; however, the extent of the psychosocial consequences of growing up in a cluttered household are not yet fully understood. This study investigated the extent to which generational clutter (i.e., parent/caregiver and grandparent) influenced individuals' self-reported hoarding severity and psychiatric and psychosocial functioning. A total of 1306 adults completed an online survey that included measures of hoarding, anxiety, depression, companionship and emotional support. A subsample (n=198) reported on parent and grandparent household clutter, as well as family impact from hoarding. We used correlations, t-tests, linear and hierarchical regressions and mediation analyses to investigate whether hoarding symptoms were predicted by parent or grandparent hoarding. Parent clutter level significantly predicted participant hoarding symptoms. For participants who reported having caregivers with elevated clutter, self-reported psychosocial functioning was lower overall. Self-reported behaviour modification due to family hoarding symptoms (accommodation) was a significant predictor of participant hoarding symptoms. Parent clutter and family accommodation behaviours may be a risk factor for future clutter in adult children. Further comparisons between parents and children are needed to determine whether this association increases children's risk for future hoarding symptoms.

Supervisor Support, Self-Efficacy, and Employee Performance: The Mediating Role of Office De-Clutter

The study aims to test the impact of social support from supervisors and self-efficacy on employee performance through office de-clutter (a mediator) in banks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the supporting factors (social support and self-efficacy) to de-clutter for maintaining employee performance is a novel contribution to the literature and is supported by the social exchange theory—SET. The employee’s performance can be maintained with lower levels of office clutter (de-clutter). The office clutter can be managed through the availability of managerial social support and employee self-efficacy. The impact of supervisor support and self-efficacy on employee performance is examined through the lens of the social exchange theory. A cross-sectional and quantitative study was conducted with 202 primary responses from bank employees. The responses were recorded using closed-ended questionnaires. A response rate of 73.9% was achieved. Reliability and validity were assessed using Cronbach’s alpha scores and AVE, respectively. PLS-SEM was used as a data analysis and hypotheses testing technique. The results revealed that supervisors’ social support and self-efficacy significantly and positively affect employee performance. Moreover, supervisors’ social support and self-efficacy helped in office de-clutter, further ensuring better performance.

Performance Evaluation of a UWB Positioning System Applied to Static and Mobile Use Cases in Industrial Scenarios

Indoor positioning systems are essential in the industrial domain for optimized production and safe operation of mobile elements, such as mobile robots, especially in the presence of static machinery and human operators. In this paper, we assess the performance of a commercial UWB radio-based positioning system deployed in a realistic industrial scenario, considering both static and mobile use cases. Our goal is to characterize the accuracy of this system in the context of industrial use cases and applications. For the static case, an extensive analysis was presented based on measurements performed at 72 measurement positions at 3 different heights (above, at similar a level to, and below the average clutter level) in different industrial clutter conditions (open and cluttered spaces). The extensive analysis in the mobile case considered several runs of a route covered by an autonomous mobile robot equipped with multiple tags in different positions. The results indicate that a similar degree of accuracy with a median 2D positioning error smaller than 20 cm is possible in both static and mobile conditions with an optimized anchor deployment. The paper provides a complete statistical characterization of the system’s accuracy and addresses the multiple deployment trade-offs and system dynamics observed for the different configurations.

The Robustness of Human Advantage in Swarm Leader Identification

Control of robotic swarms through control over a leader(s) has become the dominant approach to supervisory control over these largely autonomous systems. Resilience in the face of attrition is one of the primary advantages attributed to swarms yet the presence of leader(s) makes them vulnerable to decapitation. Algorithms which allow a swarm to hide its leader are a promising solution. In prior work we found that using a graph neural network, GNN, a swarm could be trained to flock following a leader. An Adversary NN trained to identify that leader (naïve condition) performed substantially better than human observers. When the swarm was trained to hide its leader (deception conditions), however, the advantage reversed with humans outperforming the Adversary. This human advantage persisted even when the swarm and Adversary were jointly trained, allowing the Adversary to adapt to the swarm’s evolving strategies for hiding its leader. The present study investigates the robustness of human leader identification by testing identifications made in the presence of medium and high levels of visual clutter. Clutter degraded human performance to some extent but human accuracy in leader identification remained well above that of the Adversary in deception conditions. Human performance even approached that for an unhidden leader under joint training. This study confirms the robustness of the human superiority effect and argues for the inclusion of humans in AI systems which may confront learned deception.

Time for De-cluttering: Digital clutter scaling for individuals and enterprises

The clutter of files can crash a PC and create psychological stress for individuals and cyber-security risks for enterprises. Therefore, managing digital data has become a significant issue for individuals and organizations. Although there are several articles and some research on individuals’ digital hoarding and cluttering habits, there are limited numbers of studies that associate these behaviors with people’s business lives. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been found that measures and correlates individuals’ digital clutter behaviors and businesses’ digital clutter levels. This study defines digital hoarding as the acquisition of and failure to discard digital clutter and explores it as an issue. This study’s main objective is to raise awareness about digital clutter and reveal the importance and potential risks of this concept for firms and employees. The research also aims to introduce a scale related to digital clutter into the literature and present a structure for measuring the digital clutter levels of individuals and enterprises and reveal the relationship among the factors. The digital clutter status of both individuals and enterprises was derived from 600 responses. This research reveals that those at the lower level of the organizational hierarchy, people with a high level of education, young people, and those with multiple social media accounts are more prone to digital hoarding behavior. The enterprise-related analyzes reveal that 6 to 10-year-old businesses and small businesses were more vulnerable to digital clutter. The study reveals that as firms transform digitally, they also transform their employees, and even if this is not enough to make the 50 and above age group superior, it still allows them to exceed expectations. This finding strengthens the estimation that the data management policies of elder firms may be interiorized by individuals, increase their awareness and prevent digital hoarding.

Household clutter and crowding constrain associations between maternal sensitivity and child theory of mind.

Social interactions between parents and children are important for developing theory of mind, but these may be disrupted by aspects of the proximal home environment. The current study observed maternal sensitivity and its associations with child theory of mind and the housing environment (index by clutter and crowding) in a sample of mothers and their 3.5-year-old twins (N=250 children). Maternal sensitivity and housing environment were measured from experimenter report and child theory of mind was measured through behavioural tasks. Results show that the association between maternal sensitivity and child theory of mind was moderated by the housing environment, where the positive associations between maternal sensitivity and child theory of mind were only observed at lower levels of clutter and crowding in the housing environment. Additional contextual variables and processes are discussed.

Robust Variability Index CFAR Detector Based on Bayesian Interference Control

The methods of Bayesian predictive inference and variation index are vital in the constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection, which adaptively predicts and evaluates the background level to achieve target detection. However, in complex scenarios, the interference effect can lead to imprecise prediction and complex calculations of the background level, which results in severely degraded CFAR performance. To solve the above situation, a robust variation index CFAR detector based on Bayesian interference control (BVI-CFAR) is proposed. The clutter range profile (CRP) is equally divided and the decision-making selection is optimized to dynamically evaluate the background clutter level in this algorithm; meanwhile, the clutter level will feedback control the former. Then, based on the Bayesian interference control theory, the Bayesian classification interference control idea is proposed to simultaneously predict inference multiple targets in the background. Therefore, the anti-interference ability of the detector is improved while reducing the computational complexity. The false alarm rate and decision expression are given, and the detection is extended when the segmentation and interference are arbitrary. Both the simulation results and the field test results verify the favorable performance of the algorithm in complex scenarios.

Residential Environment, Depressive Symptoms, and Anxiety Symptoms Among Community-Living Older Adults

Past literature has suggested significant relationships between neighborhood environment and mental health of older adults. However, the effect of residential environments is underexplored. The present study aims to study: (Q1) how residential built environments are associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms among community-living older adults, and (Q2) whether the associations of their physical and cognitive health status with mental health vary by residential environments. We analyzed data from Round 9 of National Health and Aging Trends Study. Residential environments were indicated by home despair, cluttered home, and existence of entrance ramp. Covariates included age, gender, race, living arrangement, ADL limitations, physical capacity, and cognitive status. The logistic regression results show that higher levels of clutter at home and the lack of entrance ramp were significantly associated with more depressive symptoms and that levels of clutter were positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Residential environments significantly moderated the association between physical health and mental health. With similar physical capacity, older adults with higher levels of home despair and clutter had more depressive and anxiety symptoms. Older adults who had more cluttered home reported significantly higher levels of anxiety than those who had similar ADL limitations, but lived in a less cluttered housing environment. However, we didn’t find any moderating effect of residential environments on cognitive impairment and mental health. Our findings promote the necessity for practitioners and policymakers to consider the effect of residential environments on mental health among both physically healthy and impaired older adults in the United States.

Levels of visual clutter differentially impact search-based learning in naturalistic scenes.

Levels of visual clutter differentially impact search-based learning in naturalistic scenes.