Cognitive Costs Research Articles

Повседневная речь и принцип экономии артикуляционных и мануальных усилий в реальной и виртуальной коммуникации

The article discusses the issues of saving articulatory efforts and related cognitive costs. The research relied on Western studies that link some phonetic changes to the desire of communicants to reduce articulatory efforts in the process of voicing speech segments. This desire is connected with the need to optimize the language system. Communicants try to simplify complex articulations and get rid of sounds that require significant muscular efforts of speech organs, thus changing the language system. The paper introduces examples of how some linguistic units are used in everyday speech and how these units are simplified due to the high frequency of their use. The author comes to the conclusion that frequency generates careless articulation while maintaining effective communication. The reasons for simplified articulation should be sought primarily at the deep level of the generation of primary semantic recording, i.e., in cognition, and not in the muscular work of the speech apparatus. If language is a tool that shapes a product of mental activity, the answers to the questions of language transformations should be sought directly in the cognitive sphere.

Walking (and talking) the plank: dual-task performance costs in a virtual balance-threatening environment.

We evaluated the effects of engaging in extemporaneous speech in healthy young adults while they walked in a virtual environment meant to elicit low or high levels of mobility-related anxiety. We expected that mobility-related anxiety imposed by a simulated balance threat (i.e., virtual elevation) would impair walking behavior and lead to greater dual-task costs. Altogether, 15 adults (age = 25.6 ± 4.7 yrs, 7 women) walked at their self-selected speed within a VR environment that simulated a low (ground) and high elevation (15m) setting while speaking extemporaneously (dual-task) or not speaking (single-task). Likert-scale ratings of cognitive and somatic anxiety, confidence, and mental effort were evaluated and gait speed, step length, and step width, as well as the variability of each, was calculated for every trial. Silent speech pauses (> 150ms) were determined from audio recordings to infer the cognitive costs of extemporaneous speech planning at low and high virtual elevation. Results indicated thatthe presence of a balance threat and the inclusion of a concurrent speech task both perturbed gait kinematics, but the virtual height illusion led to increased anxiety and mental effort and a decrease in confidence. The extemporaneous speech pauses were longer on average when walking, but no effects of virtual elevation were reported. Trends toward interaction effects arose in self-reported responses, with participants reporting more comfort walking at virtual heights if they engaged in extemporaneous speech. Walking at virtual elevation and while talking mayhave independent and significant effects on gait; both effects were robust and did not support an interaction when combined (i.e., walking and talking at virtual heights). The nature of extemporaneous speech may have distracted participants from the detrimental effects of walking in anxiety-inducing settings.

Generation of Visual Representations for Multi-Modal Mathematical Knowledge

In this paper we introduce MaRE, a tool designed to generate representations in multiple modalities for a given mathematical problem while ensuring the correctness and interpretability of the transformations between different representations. The theoretical foundation for this tool is Representational Systems Theory (RST), a mathematical framework for studying the structure and transformations of representations. In MaRE’s web front-end user interface, a set of probability equations in Bayesian Notation can be rigorously transformed into Area Diagrams, Contingency Tables, and Probability Trees with just one click, utilising a back-end engine based on RST. A table of cognitive costs, based on the cognitive Representational Interpretive Structure Theory (RIST), that a representation places on a particular profile of user is produced at the same time. MaRE is general and domain independent, applicable to other representations encoded in RST. It may enhance mathematical education and research, facilitating multi-modal knowledge representation and discovery.

Onscreen presence of instructors in video lectures affects learners’ neural synchrony and visual attention during multimedia learning

COVID-19 forced students to rely on online learning using multimedia tools, and multimedia learning continues to impact education beyond the pandemic. In this study, we combined behavioral, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging paradigms to identify multimedia learning processes and outcomes. College students viewed four video lectures including slides with either an onscreen human instructor, an animated instructor, or no onscreen instructor. Brain activity was recorded via fMRI, visual attention was recorded via eye-tracking, and learning outcome was assessed via post-tests. Onscreen presence of instructor, compared with no instructor presence, resulted in superior post-test performance, less visual attention on the slide, more synchronized eye movements during learning, and higher neural synchronization in cortical networks associated with socio-emotional processing and working memory. Individual variation in cognitive and socio-emotional abilities and intersubject neural synchronization revealed different levels of cognitive and socio-emotional processing in different learning conditions. The instructor-present condition evoked increased synchronization, likely reflecting extra processing demands in attentional control, working memory engagement, and socio-emotional processing. Although human instructors and animated instructors led to comparable learning outcomes, the effects were due to the dynamic interplay of information processing vs. attentional distraction. These findings reflect a benefit-cost trade-off where multimedia learning outcome is enhanced only when the cognitive benefits motivated by the social presence of onscreen instructor outweigh the cognitive costs brought about by concurrent attentional distraction unrelated to learning.

Effect of subsequent context on the real-time interpretation of ambiguous target words in spectrally degraded speech

Subsequent context in a sentence can be used to revise the interpretation of a word that was not clearly heard, a frequent occurrence in degraded speech. One strategy for avoiding the cognitive cost associated with revising an initial interpretation is to delay commitment to an interpretation until the end of the sentence, sometimes called a “wait-and-see” strategy. Listening with a significant hearing loss (i.e., constantly hearing degraded speech), may prompt a listener to use this strategy even in relatively easy listening conditions. This study used an eye-tracker to record gaze patterns during a phoneme classification task of ambiguous target words in two levels of background noise ( + 5 and −5 dB SNR). Participants either used cochlear implants (CIs) or were presented 8-channel noise vocoded speech. The target words were at the beginning of sentences; the subsequent context cued one target word interpretation (based on phoneme classification) or the other. We hypothesized that listeners who use CIs will demonstrate a delaying strategy at both levels of background noise, while listeners who have acoustic hearing will only demonstrate a delaying strategy at the highest level of background noise. These findings have implications for rehabilitative strategies to improve communication outcomes in adults with CIs.

Cortical activation and brain network efficiency during dual tasks: An fNIRS study

ObjectiveDual task (DT) is a commonly used paradigm indicative of executive functions. Brain activities during DT walking is usually measured by portable functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Previous studies focused on cortical activation in prefrontal cortex and overlooked other brain regions such as sensorimotor cortices. This study is aimed at investigating the modulations of cortical activation and brain network efficiency in multiple brain regions from single to dual tasks with different complexities and their relationships with DT performance. MethodsForty-two healthy adults [12 males; mean age: 27.7 (SD=6.5) years] participated in this study. Participants performed behavioral tasks with portable fNIRS simultaneous recording. There were three parts of behavioral tasks: cognitive tasks while standing (serial subtraction of 3′s and 7′s), walking alone and DT (walk while subtraction, including serial subtraction of 3′s and 7′s). Cognitive cost, walking cost and cost sum (i.e., sum of cognitive and walking costs) were calculated for DT. Cortical activation, local and global network efficiency were calculated for each task. ResultsThe cognitive cost was greater and the walking cost was less during DT with subtraction 3′s compared with 7′s (P’s = 0.032 and 0.019, respectively). Cortical activation and network efficiency were differentially modulated among single and dual tasks (P's < 0.05). Prefrontal activation during DT was positively correlated with DT costs, while network efficiency was negatively correlated with DT costs (P's < 0.05). ConclusionsOur results revealed prefrontal over-activation and reduced network efficiency in individuals with poor DT performance. Our findings suggest that reduced network efficiency could be a possible mechanism contributing to poor DT performance, which is accompanied by compensatory prefrontal over-activation.

Reasoning More Efficiently with Primary Knowledge Despite Extraneous Cognitive Load.

Geary's evolutionary approach in educational psychology differentiates between primary (low cognitive costs and motivational advantage) and secondary knowledge (high cognitive costs and no motivational benefit). Although these features have been well demonstrated in previous work, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To investigate it, in a reasoning task, the present study varies (i) the content of the problems (primary knowledge vs. secondary; e.g., food vs. grammar rules), (ii) the intrinsic cognitive load (conflict or non-conflict syllogism, the former requiring more cognitive resources to be properly processed than the latter) and (iii) the extraneous cognitive load (via a Dot Memory Task with three modalities: low, medium and high cognitive load). Analyses assessed the influence of these variables on performance, problem solving speed and perceived cognitive load. Results confirmed the positive impact of primary knowledge on efficiency, particularly when intrinsic cognitive load was high. Surprisingly, the extraneous cognitive load did not influence the performance in secondary knowledge content but that in primary knowledge content: the higher the additional load was, the better the performance was, only for primary knowledge and especially for syllogisms with high intrinsic load. Findings support evolutionary theory as secondary knowledge would overload cognitive resources, preventing participants from allocating sufficient resources to solve problems. Primary knowledge would allow participants to process the additional load and to increase their performance despite this. This study also raises the hypothesis that a minimum cognitive load is necessary for participants to be invested in the task.

Theories underlying environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure: a systematic review of accounting studies

PurposeEnvironmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure has gained momentum in corporate reporting. Addressing a research gap on the subject, this paper aims to explore the theories involved in ESG disclosure studies, thereby shedding light on the dominant theoretical approaches and emerging perspectives that inform this type of disclosure.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of 142 selected accounting studies published up to June 2023 devoted to ESG – and corporate social responsibility (CSR) – disclosure was conducted. The theories underlying these studies were examined through a descriptive performance analysis complemented by a systematic qualitative text analysis using RStudio and QDA Miner software tools.FindingsThe study reveals that five dominant theories stand out among the overall 32 found: stakeholder theory first, followed by legitimacy, institutional, agency and signaling theories. Theories are often combined into an integrated theoretical framework. The findings also show an array of minor constructs – many of them unconventional – that offer fresh perspectives for studying ESG disclosure, such as upper echelons, stakeholder salience, cognitive cost and reputation theories, among others.Originality/valueThis paper provides an original literature contribution by offering a comprehensive overview of the mainstream and niche theoretical perspectives underpinning accounting studies focused on ESG disclosure, with a nuanced scope of discussion on the use of ESG/CSR terms.

Reconsidering reappraisal: in emotionally intense contexts, people choose distraction or minimizing over reconstrual to regulate others’ emotions

Prior research has established that people use reappraisal to regulate others’ emotions in higher-emotional intensities but use distraction in lower-emotional intensities. However, research has not compared different reappraisal subtypes, such as reconstrual versus minimizing. In three pre-registered studies, participants completed a novel advice-giving task where they selected regulation strategies (distraction, reconstrual, or minimizing) to help a ‘partner’ who was ostensibly experiencing stimuli of differing emotional intensities and types (the partner was, in fact, non-existent). In Experiment 1, participants selected reconstrual over distraction significantly more for low versus high intensity stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants showed no significant preference for minimizing over distraction on low versus high intensity stimuli. In Experiment 3, participants selected reconstrual over minimizing significantly more on low versus high intensity stimuli. Results indicate that previous findings regarding the effect of emotional intensity on ‘reappraisal’ preference are limited to reconstrual and may not generalize to other reappraisal subtypes (i.e., minimizing) which require lower cognitive costs and emotional engagement with the stimuli.

The invisibility of the cognitive cost of military police work.

To assess the cognitive cost of work for military police officers in the state of Rio de Janeiro. This is a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, carried out with 446 military police officers, of both sexes, distributed between non-commissioned officers and officers, in the 7th, 15th, 20th, 24th and 41st Military Police Battalions. An instrument was used to depict sociodemographic, work, lifestyle and health conditions and a scale for assessing the human cost of work, which analyses the demands of the job through physical, cognitive and affective costs. The data was organized, processed and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 13.1. The cognitive cost had the highest means, with severe results (μ = 3.86; SD = 0.86), representing greater demands in relation to the human cost of work among military police officers in the state of Rio de Janeiro and significant associations in relation to obesity, cognitive alterations in attention and memory, age and hours of sleep. In assessing the human cost of work, the cognitive cost was the most demanding in the work context of the military police officers surveyed, presenting a serious risk of illness.

Vulture Funds, Cognitive Costs, and LBO Bankruptcies

The financial distress of companies subject to leveraged buyouts (LBO) might help explain their bankruptcy. The current research establishes a link between the presence of vulture funds and an increased probability of bankruptcy following LBOs. With an exploratory study, the author reveals that the characteristics of companies under LBO facilitate the actions of vulture funds, whose strategy is not limited to the use of discretionary control power but also extends to unconventional methods, such as media campaigns and other informal tactics. Such actions by vulture funds contribute to increase the chances of bankruptcy, through two main routes: different biases in valuation at each stage of action and residual cognitive costs. Notably though, the increase in cognitive costs created by divergences between managers and vulture funds is unrelated to managerial competence.

The Screen Paradox: Cognitive Costs in the Digital Age

The Screen Paradox: Cognitive Costs in the Digital Age

Human-in-the-Loop Reinforcement Learning in Continuous-Action Space.

Human-in-the-loop for reinforcement learning (RL) is usually employed to overcome the challenge of sample inefficiency, in which the human expert provides advice for the agent when necessary. The current human-in-the-loop RL (HRL) results mainly focus on discrete action space. In this article, we propose a Q value-dependent policy (QDP)-based HRL (QDP-HRL) algorithm for continuous action space. Considering the cognitive costs of human monitoring, the human expert only selectively gives advice in the early stage of agent learning, where the agent implements human-advised action instead. The QDP framework is adapted to the twin delayed deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm (TD3) in this article for the convenience of comparison with the state-of-the-art TD3. Specifically, the human expert in the QDP-HRL considers giving advice in the case that the difference between the twin Q -networks' output exceeds the maximum difference in the current queue. Moreover, to guide the update of the critic network, the advantage loss function is developed using expert experience and agent policy, which provides the learning direction for the QDP-HRL algorithm to some extent. To verify the effectiveness of QDP-HRL, the experiments are conducted on several continuous action space tasks in the OpenAI gym environment, and the results demonstrate that QDP-HRL greatly improves learning speed and performance.

Supplemental Material for The Cognitive Cost of Going the Extra Mile: How Striving for Improvement Relates to Cognitive Performance

Supplemental Material for The Cognitive Cost of Going the Extra Mile: How Striving for Improvement Relates to Cognitive Performance

The invisibility of the cognitive cost of military police work

RESUMO Objetivo: Analisar o custo cognitivo no trabalho dos policiais militares do estado do Rio de Janeiro. Método: Trata-se de um estudo de corte transversal com abordagem quantitativa, realizado com 446 policiais militares, de ambos os sexos, distribuídos entre praças e oficiais, nos 7°, 15°, 20°, 24° e 41° batalhões de Polícia Militar. Utilizou-se um instrumento para a caracterização sociodemográfica, laboral, hábitos de vida e condições de saúde e uma escala de avaliação do custo humano no trabalho, que analisa as exigências relativas ao trabalho por meio dos custos físico, cognitivo e afetivo. Os dados foram organizados, processados e analisados com o auxílio do programa Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), versão 13.1. Resultados: O custo cognitivo apresentou as maiores médias, com resultados graves (μ = 3,86; DP = 0,86), representando maior exigência em relação ao custo humano no trabalho entre os policiais militares do estado do Rio de Janeiro e associações significativas em relação à obesidade, alterações cognitivas de atenção e memória, idade e horas de sono. Conclusão: Na avaliação do custo humano no trabalho, o custo cognitivo foi o mais exigido no contexto de trabalho dos policiais militares pesquisados apresentando um risco grave para o adoecimento.

Does emotional valence affect cognitive performance and neurophysiological response during decision making? A preliminary study.

This study investigated the impact of the emotional valence of external situations (EVES) on cognitive performance and electrophysiological (EEG) responses during decision-making. 26 healthy adults underwent a modified version of the Trier social stress test, performing five interview-style discourses. Each discourse entailed preparing a speech under increasingly stressful conditions. Participants were also exposed to gradually increasing EVES (i.e., an examining committee displaying progressively more negative-connoted emotional facial expressions). In addition, after each speech, participants completed an arithmetic task to test how emotional manipulation affected cognitive performance. Behavioral data (preparation times) and EEG data (frequency bands) were collected to assess stress regulation, stress resilience, and cognitive performance. The results indicate that EVES significantly influenced stress regulation and resilience, as reflected in the behavioral data. Neurophysiological findings showed increased parietal lobe activity (P4) in the theta and delta bands with rising emotional valence, plateauing from the preparation of the second discourse onward. This suggests enhanced emotional processing and attentional demands. However, gamma band activity decreased in P4 during the preparations for the two discourses following the first, indicating a shift of cognitive resources from higher cognitive functions to emotional processing. This highlights the cognitive cost of maintaining performance and stress regulation under emotionally charged conditions. Such findings suggest that emotional valence modulates cognitive performance and that specific neural mechanisms are involved in managing stress responses. The findings underscore the complex relationship between emotion, cognition, and neural mechanisms, offering valuable insights for stress regulation and resilience, and enhancing performance under pressure.

Analysis Of Factors Affecting Bird Identification Mechanisms and Suggestions for Environmental Protection

Recognition, happening between species, kin, neighbors, and mates, is the basis of most animal interactions such as mating, food provisioning, and territory protection. The identification accuracy of conspecifics is facilitated by some factors but impeded by others, such as the cost of acquiring and memorizing social information. Avians primarily use vocal and visual identity signals to recognize other individuals, such as the general song characteristics or spot patterns on the feathers. By analyzing the identification context, signature production, and signal perception and response, the article reviews recent works to recommend environmental conservation approaches from the perspective of bird identification. Factors including sex, behavioral context, vocalization types, distance, and cognitive cost are demonstrated in their influence on recognition, and the lack of research on visual recognition does not indicate the more adaptive and complex nature of vocal recognition. Furthermore, the review encourages reducing anthropogenic effects on noise, light, and climate; avoiding behavioral disturbance; and restoring natural habitats. The review provides insights into the current state of individual animal recognition research by organizing the main findings of recent studies.

The impact of electronic word-of-mouth on patients’ choices in online health communities: A cross-media perspective

Despite extensive research into electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in the healthcare sector, its impact on patients’ choice of online consultation in Online Health Communities (OHCs) remains largely unexplored. The current study aims to fill this research gap by investigating the heterogeneous effect of different eWOM characteristics on both OHCs and Social Networking Sites (SNSs) from a cross-media perspective. Drawing upon the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and cognitive cost model, a research model is proposed and hypotheses are examined employing data gathered from 8,472 physicians across two platforms. The findings indicate that both the quality and quantity of eWOM in OHCs positively affects patients’ choice of online selection, eWOM on SNSs is also positively related to patients’ choice. Additionally, eWOM on SNSs negatively moderates the relationship between eWOM quality in OHCs and patients’ choice, while eWOM on SNSs exhibits a U-shape moderating influence on the relationship between eWOM quantity in OHCs and patients’ choice.

Mutual interference between memory encoding and motor skills: the influence of motor expertise.

In cognitive-motor dual-task situations, the extent of performance decrements is influenced by the attentional requirements of each task. Well-learned motor skills should be automatized, leading to less interference. This study presents two studies combining an episodic memory encoding task with well-practiced motor tasks in athletes. Study 1 asked 40 rowers (early teenagers to middle adulthood) to row on ergometers at slow or fast speeds. In study 2, Taekwondo athletes (n = 37) of different skill levels performed a well-practiced sequence of martial arts movements. Performing the motor task during encoding led to pronounced performance reductions in memory in both studies, with costs of up to 80%. Cognitive costs were even larger when rowing with the fast compared to the slow speed in study 1. Both studies also revealed decrements in motor performances under dual-task conditions: Rowing became slower and more irregular (study 1), and the quality of the Taekwondo performance was reduced. Although higher-level athletes outperformed others in motor skills under single-task conditions, proportional dual-task costs were similar across skill levels for most domains. This indicates that even well-practiced motor tasks require cognitive resources.

The impact of narration, sentiment, and emotional modulation on economic of decision-making: a multidisciplinary study

The article delves into the interplay between narration, sentiment, and decision-making processes, particularly within the realm of economic choices. Emphasizing the pivotal role of message content, the authors present a hypothesis depicting the profound impact of narration, characters, and sentiment in the communication process. These components wield significant influence over the emotional facets of decision-making, influencing the process or prompting alterations to initial decisions. Critically challenging established economic paradigms, the article underscores the indispensable emotional dimension inherent in communication. Drawing upon the scholarly contributions of eminent figures like Robert J. Shiller, the authors synthesize insights from psychology and neurobiology, unraveling the manipulative essence inherent in narration. In the theoretical section, the article also references Uri Hasson's theories and research on brain synchronization during the communication process. The practical segment of the article substantiates these claims through the presentation of findings from neuropsychological studies. The study confirms the hypothesis that narratives infused with high sentiment resulting from emotional interactions, following a cause-and-effect structure with a visible beginning, development, and end, lead to better synchronization and intensify neuronal responses. The structure, plot shaping, and sentiment in messages, influenced by word choice, shape narrative economy and impact cognitive costs in decision-making. The obtained results confirm that precisely tailored narration effectively reduces cognitive costs associated with the decision-making process. This validates the authors' hypothesis, opening up space for research replication and falsification of the results obtained.