Effects Of Cues Research Articles

Music Rhythmic Cueing for the Production of Non-native Speech Rhythm: Evidence from Chinese Learners of French.

The present study examined the cross-modal cueing effect of musical rhythmic beats on non-native speech rhythm production. Two groups of Chinese learners of French were cued respectively with rhythmic beats that either matched (matching group) or mismatched (mismatching group) the rhythm patterns of the target French sentences. The participants were asked to produce the target sentences after cueing and their speech production was compared with their baseline condition in which no cueing was used. The results showed that the matching group produced the target French rhythm significantly better after cueing with musical rhythmic beats that matched the French rhythm, in contrast to the mismatching group where no significant improvement was found. Individual differences in auditory short-term memory and rhythmic skills were not related to improvement in producing French rhythm after cueing. The results suggest that musical rhythmic cueing can be used to improve non-native speech rhythm production, further indicating a close link between speech and music in the temporal domain.

Laser-light cueing shoes with integrated foot pressure and inertial sensing for investigating the impact of visual cueing on gait characteristics in Parkinson's disease individuals.

Gait disorders are a fundamental challenge in Parkinson's disease (PD). The use of laser-light visual cues emitted from shoes has demonstrated effective in improving freezing of gait within less restrictive environments. However, the effectiveness of shoes-based laser-light cueing may vary among individuals with PD who have different types of impairments. We introduced an innovative laser-light visual shoes system capable of producing alternating visual cues for the left and right feet through one-side cueing at a time, while simultaneously recording foot inertial data and foot pressures. The effects of this visual cueing system on gait patterns were assessed in individuals with PD, both those with well-gait and those with worse-gait. Our device successfully quantified gait characteristics, including the asymmetry in the center of pressure trajectory, in individuals with PD. Furthermore, visual cueing prolonged stride times and increased the percentage of stance phase, while concurrently reducing stride length in PD individuals with well-gait. Conversely, in PD individuals with worse-gait, visual cueing resulted in a decreased freeze index and a reduction in the proportion of intervals prone to freezing episodes. The effects of visual cueing varied between PD individuals with well-gait and those with worse-gait. Visual cueing slowed down gait in the well-gait group while it appeared to mitigate freezing episodes in worse-gait group. Future researches, including enhancements to extend the projection distance of visual cues and clinical assessments conducted in real-world settings, will help establish the clinical utility of our proposed visual cueing system.

Shake it or light it! The effects of cueing in desktop‐VR learning environments on search time and learning

AbstractBackgroundVirtual reality (VR) offers much potential for learning, but it challenges learners' orientation.ObjectivesThis paper investigates whether it is possible to use light or movement cues to facilitate orientation in a search task in a desktop‐VR environment so that participants can better attend to the learning content presented simultaneously.MethodsIn two pre‐registered online experiments, we investigated the effects of cueing (light and movement) on search time, learning, and several evaluation variables. Participants were asked to find tools in a virtual workshop, while information about the respective tool was narrated. Experiment 1 (N = 60) used a within‐subject design, that is, the objects were alternately highlighted by light, movement or not. For Experiment 2 (N = 159) the narration was substantially shortened, and a between‐subject design was used. Cognitive load and presence were measured additionally.Results and conclusionsIn Experiment 1, only the movement cue decreased search time, indicating automatic guidance of learners' attention. There was no effect of cueing on learning, which may be due to the average search time being substantially shorter than the narration, leaving sufficient time to attend to the narration exclusively. In Experiment 2 search times were significantly faster for both cueing methods, but only the light cue resulted in better learning outcomes, which could be explained by the slightly lower presence in the movement cue condition.ImplicationsResults imply that it is important to develop cues that automatically guide attention without reducing presence.

A gel-coated air-liquid-interface culture system with tunable substrate stiffness matching healthy and diseased lung tissues.

Since its invention in the late 1980s, the air-liquid-interface (ALI) culture system has been the standard in vitro model for studying human airway biology and pulmonary diseases. However, in a conventional ALI system, cells are cultured on a porous plastic membrane that is much stiffer than human airway tissues. Here, we develop a gel-ALI culture system by simply coating the plastic membrane with a thin layer of hydrogel with tunable stiffness matching that of healthy and fibrotic airway tissues. We determine the optimum gel thickness that does not impair the transport of nutrients and biomolecules essential to cell growth. We show that the gel-ALI system allows human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) to proliferate and differentiate into pseudostratified epithelium. Furthermore, we discover that HBECs migrate significantly faster on hydrogel substrates with stiffness matching that of fibrotic lung tissues, highlighting the importance of mechanical cues in human airway remodeling. The developed gel-ALI system provides a facile approach to studying the effects of mechanical cues in human airway biology and in modeling pulmonary diseases.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In a conventional ALI system, cells are cultured on a plastic membrane that is much stiffer than human airway tissues. We develop a gel-ALI system by coating the plastic membrane with a thin layer of hydrogel with tunable stiffness matching that of healthy and fibrotic airway tissues. We discover that human bronchial epithelial cells migrate significantly faster on hydrogel substrates with pathological stiffness, highlighting the importance of mechanical cues in human airway remodeling.

Goal-directed utilization of threat-relevant and non-threat-relevant expressions in social anxiety: A general deficit related to social-emotional cues in an endogenous cueing task

BackgroundIn various social-emotional situations, it is desirable to use emotional information in a flexible, goal-directed manner. When testing this flexibility in an endogenous spatial cueing task, in which threat-related facial expressions served as informative cues, socially anxious individuals showed a deficit in using the cues for task-relevant attention orienting (Folyi, Rohr, & Wentura, 2023). The present study investigated the scope of the social anxiety-related deficit in endogenous cueing by testing whether it is specifically related to threat-relevant emotions or extends to non-threat-relevant emotional faces. MethodsFirst, we assessed social anxiety; second, participants with low or high social anxiety were invited to the experiment. In a block-balanced design, we presented threat-relevant (i.e., anger and fear) or non-threat-relevant (i.e., sadness and joy) expression cues to test if reduced cueing in high compared to low social anxiety extends to non-threat-relevant cues. ResultsWhereas participants with low social anxiety showed a significant cueing effect, participants with high social anxiety had no significant effect. This pattern extended to all emotional faces. However, the significant group difference was limited to the first of the two task blocks, possibly due to extensive practice and carry-over effects. LimitationsIdentifying the exact processes that hinder the flexible usage of emotional information remains an important question for future research. ConclusionsOur results suggest that prepotent responses to social-emotional stimuli in general can hinder their goal-directed use in socially anxious individuals. Such an imbalance may have clinical implications, as it may interfere with overcoming rigid emotional responses to social-emotional stimuli.

Effects of color cues on eye-hand coordination training with a mirror drawing task in virtual environment.

Mirror drawing is a motor learning task that is used to evaluate and improve eye-hand coordination of users and can be implemented in immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) for training purposes. In this paper, we investigated the effect of color cues on user motor performance in a mirror-drawing task between Virtual Environment (VE) and Real World (RW), with three different colors. We conducted a 5-day user study with twelve participants. The results showed that the participants made fewer errors in RW compared to VR, except for pre-training, which indicated that hardware and software limitations have detrimental effects on the motor learning of the participants across different realities. Furthermore, participants made fewer errors with the colors close to green, which is usually associated with serenity, contentment, and relaxation. According to our findings, VR headsets can be used to evaluate participants' eye-hand coordination in mirror drawing tasks to evaluate the motor-learning of participants. VE and RW training applications could benefit from our findings in order to enhance their effectiveness.

Risk-promoting effects of reward-paired cues in human sign- and goal-trackers

Animal research suggests trait-like individual variation in the degree of incentive salience attribution to reward-predictive cues, defined phenotypically as sign-tracking (high) and goal-tracking (low incentive salience attribution). While these phenotypes have been linked to addiction features in rodents, their translational validity is less clear. Here, we examined whether sign- and goal-tracking in healthy human volunteers modulates the effects of reward-paired cues on decision making. Sign-tracking was measured in a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm as the amount of eye gaze fixation on the reward-predictive cue versus the location of impending reward delivery. In Study 1 (Cherkasova et al., 2018), participants were randomly assigned to perform a binary choice task in which rewards were either accompanied (cued, n = 63) or unaccompanied (uncued, n = 68) by money images and casino jingles. In Study 2, participants (n = 58) performed cued and uncued versions of the task in a within-subjects design. Across both studies, cues promoted riskier choice. Sign-tracking was not associated with risky choice in either study. Goal-tracking rather than sign-tracking was significantly associated with greater risk-promoting effects of cues in Study 1 but not in Study 2, although the direction of findings was consistent across both studies. These findings are at odds with the notion of sign-trackers being preferentially susceptible to the influence of reward cues on behavior and point to the role of mechanisms besides incentive salience in mediating such influences.

The role of affective and cognitive involvement in the mitigating effects of AI source cues on hostile media bias

With an experimental design, this study examined the effect of source cues (Human vs. AI) on hostile media bias through heuristic machine evaluation of machine and human social media profiles. This study also explored the effects of affective and cognitive involvement as moderators along with media source-self ideological incongruity (source incongruity). A 2 (human vs. AI) x 3 (CNN vs. USA Today vs. Fox News) experimental study was conducted (n = 434). Participants exhibited less hostile media bias when presented with a news story with AI source cues through heuristic machine evaluation. The mitigating effect was stronger for those viewing news from an incongruent news source. Such moderated mediated effect was further moderated by two types of involvement (i.e., affective and cognitive). Implications for future research surrounding the two types of involvement, source incongruity, machine heuristic evaluations, and hostile media bias are discussed in light of our findings.

What's the point? Infants' and adults' perception of different pointing gestures.

Adults and infants as young as 4months old orient to pointing gestures. Although adults are shown to orient faster to index-finger pointing than other hand shapes, it is unknown whether hand shapes influence infants' perception of pointing. In this study, we used a spatial cueing paradigm on an eye tracker to investigate whether and to what extent adults and 12-month-old infants orient their attention in the direction of pointing gestures with different hand shapes: index finger, whole hand, and pinky finger. Furthermore, we assessed infants' and their parents' pointing production. Results revealed that adults showed a reliable cueing effect: shorter saccadic reaction times (SRTs) to congruent than incongruent targets, for all hand shapes. However, they did not show a larger cueing effect triggered by the index or any other finger. This contradicts previous findings and is discussed with respect to the differences in methodology. Infants showed a cueing effect only for the whole hand but not for the index or pinky fingers. The current results suggest that infants' orienting to pointing may be more robust for the whole hand shape in the first year, and tuning in to the social-communicative relevance of the canonical index finger shape may develop later or require additional social-communicative cues.

Temperament Affected Visuospatial Orienting on Discrimination Tasks.

In the Posner cueing paradigm, the early attentional capture and subsequent inhibition of return (IOR) of attention to the same location, although they are microscale phenomena measured in milliseconds, seem to encapsulate the interaction between two fundamental dimensions of behavior - engaging in and sustaining activity versus withdrawing from and inhibiting activity. In the field of differential psychology, the dynamics of reciprocal relations between these behavioral dimensions have been thought to be determined by central nervous system properties that constitute an individual's temperament. Yet the research on any differential effects of temperament on visuospatial orienting is rather sparse and has produced ambiguous results. Here, we used saccadic responses to measure whether individual differences in reactivity as a temperamental trait might affect orienting of visuospatial attention on discrimination cueing tasks. Our results suggested that, in individuals with lower reactivity, attentional capture took place at a short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), producing a facilitatory cueing effect, which was not the case in those who were higher in reactivity. We explain and discuss these results with the Regulative Theory of Temperament.

Linear perspective cues have a greater effect on the perceptual rescaling of distant stimuli than textures in the virtual environment.

The presence of pictorial depth cues in virtual environments is important for minimising distortions driven by unnatural viewing conditions (e.g., vergence-accommodation conflict). Our aim was to determine how different pictorial depth cues affect size constancy in virtual environments under binocular and monocular viewing conditions. We systematically removed linear perspective cues and textures of a hallway in a virtual environment. The experiment was performed using the method of constant stimuli. The task required participants to compare the size of 'far' (10 m) and 'near' (5 m) circles displayed inside a virtual environment with one or both or none of the pictorial depth cues. Participants performed the experiment under binocular and monocular viewing conditions while wearing a virtual reality headset. ANOVA revealed that size constancy was greater for both the far and the near circles in the virtual environment with pictorial depth cues compared to the one without cues. However, the effect of linear perspective cues was stronger than textures, especially for the far circle. We found no difference between the binocular and monocular viewing conditions across the different virtual environments. We conclude that linear perspective cues exert a stronger effect than textures on the perceptual rescaling of far stimuli placed in the virtual environment, and that this effect does not vary between binocular and monocular viewing conditions.

An angular vs. circular servicescape? The impact of shape cues and music tempo on solo diners

With the increasing number of solo diners, creating a stimulating dining environment for solo diners is of great importance. While angular and circular shape cues are ubiquitous in the service context, their impact on solo dining experiences has been overlooked. Therefore, this research examines the joint effect of shape cues and background music on solo diners’ responses. The findings of Study 1 show that solo diners exhibit higher arousal when exposed to angular (vs. circular) shape cues, leading to enhanced dining experiences and revisit intention. However, such a shape effect is not observed among social diners. Furthermore, the findings of Study 2 demonstrate that the shape effect is more pronounced when solo diners listen to slow-tempo (vs. fast-tempo) music. This study contributes to the growing literature on solo dining and servicescape in hospitality. Our findings provide practitioners with a novel sensory strategy for enhancing solo dining experiences.

Effects of Eco-Labels and Perceived Influencer Expertise on Perceived Healthfulness, Perceived Product Quality, and Behavioral Intention

Sales of eco-friendly products have increased exponentially in the United States. To determine whether products of interest are eco-friendly, consumers often rely on informational cues from advertisements. While previous literature has examined individuals’ attitudes toward different types of eco-labels, less is known about the effects of different eco-labels in product promotions within social-media environments. To address this gap, the current study focuses on the sources of eco-labels and the perceived levels of influencer expertise as informational cues and examines how these cues may influence perceived product quality, perceived healthfulness of the product, and advertising effectiveness (i.e., purchase intention and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention). This study employs a 2 × 2 experimental design (N = 295), considering two factors: eco-label source (regulated vs. nonregulated) and perceived influencer expertise (high vs. low). The results from the experiment indicate that advertisements featuring a regulated eco-label and an influencer with higher perceived expertise led to higher eWOM intentions. Additionally, perceived product quality mediated the effects of informational cues on advertising-related outcomes. These findings have both theoretical and managerial implications for social-media-influencer marketing in the context of eco-labeled products.

Attention computing for enhanced visuomotor skill performance: Testing the effectiveness of gaze-adaptive cues in virtual reality golf putting

This work explored how immersive technologies like virtual reality can be exploited for improved motor learning. While virtual reality is becoming a practical replacement for training that is otherwise expensive, dangerous, or inconvenient to deliver, virtual simulations can also enhance the learning process. Based on the concept of ‘attention computing’, we developed and tested a novel ‘gaze-adaptive’ training method within a virtual putting environment augmented with eye and motion tracking. To our knowledge, this work is the first application of attention computing and adaptive virtual reality to sports skill training. Novice golfers were randomly assigned to either standard putting practice in virtual reality (control) or gaze-adaptive training conditions. For gaze-adaptive training, the golf ball was sensitive to the participant’s gaze and illuminated when fixated upon, to prompt longer and more stable pre-shot fixations. We recorded the effect of these training conditions on task performance, gaze control, and putting kinematics. Gaze-adaptive training was successful in generating more expert-like gaze control and putting kinematics, although this did not transfer to improved performance outcomes within the abbreviated training paradigm. These findings suggest that gaze-adaptive environments can enhance visuomotor learning and may be a promising method for augmenting virtual training environments.

The role of conventionality and design in children’s function judgments about malfunctioning artifacts

This study investigated the individual influences of conventionality and designer’s intent on function judgments of possibly malfunctioning artifacts. Children aged 4 and 5 years and 6 to 8 years were presented with stories about an artifact with two equally plausible functions, one labeled as either conventional or designed. Subsequently, a character attempted to use the artifact for the cued function, which resulted in either malfunction or successful use. The children’s task was to identify the real function of the artifact. When the use attempt succeeded, 4- and 5-year-olds preferred conventional functions to the alternative (but did not show a clear preference between design functions and the alternative), and 6- to 8-year-olds preferred conventional and designed functions to the alternative. In case of malfunction, children’s choices were at chance, where the effect of either conventional or design cues was less salient. This contrasts with a baseline condition where children avoided the malfunctioning alternatives. Presenting additional cues about an artifact’s function can affect function judgments in cases of malfunction.

To rebuild or not to rebuild in coastal flood zones: The effects of framing and partisan cues on public support

AbstractCoastal storms are likely to increase in frequency and become even more damaging. An unresolved policy issue is whether current residents should receive federal subsidies through such programs as the Federal Flood Insurance Program or the FEMA disaster relief program that encourage thembe encouraged to rebuild in the same locations that have suffered damage through federal subsidies such as subsidized flood insurance or the FEMA disaster relief fund. This research investigated the impact that messages framed to either support or oppose such government assistance for rebuilding had on respondent opinion. We looked at opinion on not only the rebuilding itself but also other related subjects such as the economic and environmental impacts of rebuilding in situ. The research further looked at the ways in which attributing these messages to partisan sources affected response. We found that message frames either highlighting the benefits or the costs of rebuilding had a marked impact on public opinion and that partisan source cues played a smaller role. This issue of responsibility for rebuilding is likely to continue to become even more important as climate change puts even more coastal residents at risk.

A study of the mechanism of the types of emotions in retailers' review request text on consumers' reviewing intention

PurposeThis study aims to delve into the varying impacts of different types of emotions conveyed through retailers' review request texts on consumers' intention to write a review.Design/methodology/approachTo verify the relationships between these variables, two laboratory experiments were conducted in this study.FindingsThe findings indicate that when accompanied by an objective statement, texts that evoke empathy and favor have a positive influence on consumers' inclination to write a review. Moreover, by examining the underlying mechanism, this study uncovers two interconnected mediators, namely persuasive intent and cognitive (affective) resistance, along with empathy and helping intention. Additionally, the study explores the moderating role of customer satisfaction with the product, shedding light on the contextual factors that influence the effects of emotional cues in review texts.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature and practice by focusing on the process of retailers' generating online reviews. This is one of the first studies to systematically examine the effects of emotional text in retailers' review request on consumers' reviewing intention from the perspective of emotional evocation. The experimental findings and the underlying mechanisms emphasize the impact of different types of emotions in retailers' review requests texts on consumers' reviewing intentions. It can help retailers better understand the psychological reactions of consumers when they ask reviews, which provide theoretical support for retailers to design more reasonable asking texts.

Subliminal Cueing in Visual Attention: Top-down and Bottomup Processing

Exogenous subliminal cues have been shown to have both top-down and bottom-up effects. There are many research studies have confirmed that the effect of top-down variables dependent on cue characteristics. In response, other studies have attempted to exhibit ‘purely’ stimulus-driven attention capture. The superiority of attention capture effects and the level of superiority in top-down cues have not been evidenced previously. The present study attempted to observe differential effects of cues with different levels of task relevancy, in both valid and invalid cues. As an addendum, conditions with valid cues and incorrect feature match allowed for the exploration of same-location costs in subliminal cues. The results indicated attentional capture effects of all valid cues irrespective of the level of task relevance in subliminal conditions. The cues with the highest task relevancy led to the most attention capture. There were no inhibitory effects of invalid cues on attention capture in subliminal cues. The study reiterates the possibility of attentional mechanisms in same-location costs implicating processing outside of memory. Further, facilitation and inhibition of attention capture in subliminal cues may have two independent mechanisms. The inhibitory mechanism may be contingent to conscious awareness of cues. The result of the study shows how attention can be exogenously oriented without conscious awareness and what kinds of cues might be most effective. These findings can be useful in educational and training settings and other settings where sustained attention is crucial.

Conveying chatbot personality through conversational cues in social media messages

A perceived personality of a chatbot or conversational agent is mainly conveyed by the way they communicate verbally. In this online vignette study (N = 168) we examined the possibility of conveying personality in short social-media-like messages by adding simple conversational cues. Social-oriented and responsive conversational cues, as well as their combination had distinct effects on the perceived personalities of the chatbots. Social-oriented cues had a clear effect on most OCEAN personality traits, warmth, and anthropomorphism, while responsive cues only affected neuroticism. In combination, effects of social-oriented cues were countered by responsive cues, but not for all personality traits. Competence and trust were not affected by any of the used conversational cues. The findings show that very few conversational cues are sufficient to convey distinct personalities in short messages.

Effects of infectious disease cues and donation protagonists on blood donation intention

Effects of infectious disease cues and donation protagonists on blood donation intention