Form Of Information Processing Research Articles

Survival processing occupies the central bottleneck of cognitive processing: A psychological refractory period analysis

Words judged for relevance in a survival situation are remembered better than words judged for relevance in a nonsurvival context. This survival processing effect has been explained by selective tuning of human memory during evolution to process and retain information specifically relevant for survival. According to the richness-of-encoding hypothesis the survival processing effect arises from a domain-general mechanism—namely, a particularly rich and distinct form of encoding. This form of information processing is effortful and requires limited cognitive capacities. In our experiment, we used the well-established psychological refractory period framework in conjunction with the effect propagation logic to assess the role of central cognitive resources for the survival processing effect. Our data demonstrate that the survival memory advantage indeed relies on the capacity-limited central stage of cognitive processing. Thus, rating words in the context of a survival scenario involves central processing resources to a greater amount than rating words in a nonsurvival control condition. We discuss implications for theories of the survival processing effect.

Severity related neuroanatomical and spontaneous functional activity alteration in adolescents with major depressive disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling and severe psychiatric disorder with a high rate of prevalence, and adolescence is one of the most probable periods for the first onset. The neurobiological mechanism underlying the adolescent MDD remains unexplored. In this study, we examined the cortical and subcortical alterations of neuroanatomical structures and spontaneous functional activation in 50 unmedicated adolescents with MDD vs. 39 healthy controls through the combined structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Significantly altered regional gray matter volume was found at broader frontal-temporal-parietal and subcortical brain areas involved with various forms of information processing in adolescent MDD. Specifically, the increased GM volume at the left paracentral lobule and right supplementary motor cortex was significantly correlated with depression severity in adolescent MDD. Furthermore, lower cortical thickness at brain areas responsible for visual and auditory processing as well as motor movements was found in adolescent MDD. The lower cortical thickness at the superior premotor subdivision was positively correlated with the course of the disease. Moreover, higher spontaneous neuronal activity was found at the anterior cingulum and medial prefrontal cortex, and this hyperactivity was also negatively correlated with the course of the disease. It potentially reflected the rumination, impaired concentration, and physiological arousal in adolescent MDD. The abnormal structural and functional findings at cortico-subcortical areas implied the dysfunctional cognitive control and emotional regulations in adolescent depression. The findings might help elaborate the underlying neural mechanisms of MDD in adolescents.

Learning Outside the Brain: Integrating Cognitive Science and Systems Biology

Learning is commonplace in organisms such as ourselves and even in organisms as far distant as the bee and the octopus. Such learning is implemented by brains, or neuronal networks, and has been extensively studied within ethology, psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Whether learning also takes place in nonneuronal settings has remained a matter of sustained controversy, too often dominated by ideological views. In this survey, I will explain how learning can be rigorously interpreted as a form of information processing and then explore the evidence for whether learning also takes place in organismal contexts outside the brain, such as physiology, development, and individual cells. I will try to explain why it is important to build bridges in this way between cognitive science and systems biology, why concepts and methods from various branches of engineering may be helpful in this task, and what the eventual impact may be on how we think about the organism.

Air delay propagation patterns in Europe from 2015 to 2018: an information processing perspective

The characterisation of delay propagation is one of the major topics of research in air transport management, due to its negative effects on the cost-efficiency, safety and environmental impact of this transportation mode. While most research works have naturally framed it as a transportation process, the successful application of network theory in neuroscience suggests a complementary approach, based on describing delay propagation as a form of information processing. This allows reconstructing propagation patterns from the dynamics of the individual elements, i.e. from the evolution observed at individual airports, without the need of additional a priori information. We here apply this framework to the analysis of delay propagation in the European airspace between 2015 and 2018, describe the evolution of the observed structure, and identify the role of individual airports in it. We further use this analysis to illustrate the limitations and challenges associated to this approach, and to sketch a roadmap of future research in this evolving topic.

The Limitations of Decision-Making

In a world faced with technological, health and environmental change and uncertainty, decision-making is challenging. In addition, decision-making itself is becoming a collaborative activity between people and artificial intelligence. This paper analyses decision-making as a form of information processing, using the ideas of information evolution. Information evolution studies the effect of selection pressures and change on information processing and the consequent limitations of that processing. The analysis identifies underlying information evolution factors that affect the quality of information used throughout decision-making and, hence, affect the quality of decisions. These factors imply a set of challenges in which the pressures that drive useful trade-offs in a static environment also hinder decision-making of the required quality in times of change. The analysis indicates the information evolution characteristics of a good decision-making approach and establishes the theoretical basis for tools to demonstrate the information evolution limitations of decision-making.

The Informational Fallacy in the Philosophy of Consciousness

This article argues that theories which regard the mind as merely a form of information processing are guilty of a fallacious conflation of the informational contents of consciousness with consciousness itself, with the consciousness of those contents. Such theories lie behind the thought that a consciousness could be transferred or uploaded onto a substrate other than the brain it initially occurred in. It is argued here that the ontology of information is that of a formal structure that can be instantiated in physical reality innumerable times, whereas the ontology of consciousness is that of an irreducibly singular subjective experience of being alive.

Politikvermittlung an der Schnittstelle von Unterhaltung und Information : Political communication at the interface of entertainment and information

This article presents an extended dual-process model of entertainment effects on political information processing and engagement. We suggest that entertainment consumption can either be driven by hedonic, escapist motivations that are associated with a superficial mode of information processing, or by eudaimonic, truth-seeking motivations that prompt more elaborate forms of information processing. This framework offers substantial extensions to existing dual-process models of entertainment by conceptualizing the effects of entertainment on active and reflective forms of information seeking, knowledge acquisition and political participation.

Politikvermittlung an der Schnittstelle von Unterhaltung und Information : Political communication at the interface of entertainment and information

This article presents an extended dual-process model of entertainment effects on political information processing and engagement. We suggest that entertainment consumption can either be driven by hedonic, escapist motivations that are associated with a superficial mode of information processing, or by eudaimonic, truth-seeking motivations that prompt more elaborate forms of information processing. This framework offers substantial extensions to existing dual-process models of entertainment by conceptualizing the effects of entertainment on active and reflective forms of information seeking, knowledge acquisition and political participation.

Artificial Intelligence and the Limitations of Information

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning promise to make major changes to the relationship of people and organizations with technology and information. However, as with any form of information processing, they are subject to the limitations of information linked to the way in which information evolves in information ecosystems. These limitations are caused by the combinatorial challenges associated with information processing, and by the tradeoffs driven by selection pressures. Analysis of the limitations explains some current difficulties with AI and machine learning and identifies the principles required to resolve the limitations when implementing AI and machine learning in organizations. Applying the same type of analysis to artificial general intelligence (AGI) highlights some key theoretical difficulties and gives some indications about the challenges of resolving them.

Image mosaicing by using random seeds generation based on fuzzy membership function

A mosaic is a combination of two or more images with various combining techniques. One of the computer graphics applications is the image mosaic used for various purposes such as texture maps and better image backgrounds. One of the important things in making image mosaic is how to create small pieces of the image in such a way that it produces a good image mosaic. A number of methods have been proposed to build an image mosaic system that produces good mosaic results, but it usually requires complicated calculations. Fuzzy image processing is a form of information processing that input and output both images. This is a collection of fuzzy approaches that understand, represent and process their images, segments, and features as a fuzzy set. In this study, fuzzy image processing concept is used to create image mosaic by random seed generation using Fuzzy Membership Function (MF).

Housing decision-making process explained by third agers, Finland: ‘we didn’t want this, but we chose it’

This paper investigates housing decision-making processes, using ‘third agers’ as a target group. Third agers offer individual and household level explanations to scrutinize the decision-making process in detail, explaining individual processes and negotiations. A cross-sectional qualitative study combining data from three projects, conducted in Helsinki Region, Finland, indicates that the triggers for moving affect the ways preferences are selected and formed as choice criteria. The interview-based data explains negotiations and other forms of information processing throughout the choice process, ending with unexpected choice outcomes. Despite the focus groups’ relative wide-ranging freedom of choice, residents constantly adjust their preferences as choice criteria throughout the decision-making process. Afterwards, coping strategies are adopted to reconcile eventual discrepancies. The paper indicates that the reasons for dissatisfaction are not communicated to the developers or the architects. The results suggest that the residents are not operating as prosumers with influence on housing design and production.

Three-Dimensional Information Delivery for Design and Construction of Prefabricated Bridge Piers

This paper reports on the development and fabrication of precast bridge piers with unique creative shapes and more accurate geometry control methods using building information modelling, a new form of information processing and collaboration in which data are embedded within 3D models. Panelized formworks were created by digital fabrication from the 3D design models and attached to common steel formworks. During fabrication of precast segments, key parameters for geometry control were captured by laser scanning. The design models from the algorithm modelling were compared to fabrication models to provide error adjustment during assembly. Before assembly of the segments at a construction site, instructions for geometry control were provided to ensure the final target geometry of the bridge piers. Information delivery from design to maintenance can be achieved by 3D information models and a new format for drawings that includes QR codes and 3D models.

How consumer physical activity monitors could transform human physiology research.

A sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity are well-established risk factors for chronic disease and adverse health outcomes. Thus, there is enormous interest in measuring physical activity in biomedical research. Many consumer physical activity monitors, including Basis Health Tracker, BodyMedia Fit, DirectLife, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One, Fitbit Zip, Garmin Vivofit, Jawbone UP, MisFit Shine, Nike FuelBand, Polar Loop, Withings Pulse O2, and others have accuracies similar to that of research-grade physical activity monitors for measuring steps. This review focuses on the unprecedented opportunities that consumer physical activity monitors offer for human physiology and pathophysiology research because of their ability to measure activity continuously under real-life conditions and because they are already widely used by consumers. We examine current and potential uses of consumer physical activity monitors as a measuring or monitoring device, or as an intervention in strategies to change behavior and predict health outcomes. The accuracy, reliability, reproducibility, and validity of consumer physical activity monitors are reviewed, as are limitations and challenges associated with using these devices in research. Other topics covered include how smartphone apps and platforms, such as the Apple ResearchKit, can be used in conjunction with consumer physical activity monitors for research. Lastly, the future of consumer physical activity monitors and related technology is considered: pattern recognition, integration of sleep monitors, and other biosensors in combination with new forms of information processing.

The expressive rationality of inaccurate perceptions.

This commentary uses the dynamic of identity-protective cognition to pose a friendly challenge to Jussim (2012). Like other forms of information processing, this one is too readily characterized as a bias. It is no mistake, however, to view identity-protective cognition as generating inaccurate perceptions. The "bounded rationality" paradigm incorrectly equates rationality with forming accurate beliefs. But so does Jussim's critique.

Influence of Rating Prediction on the Accuracy of a Group Recommender System that Detects Groups

Recommender systems suggest items that might be interesting for a user. In order to do so, rating prediction is the main form of information processing performed by them. In this paper, we tackle the problem of predicting ratings in a group recommender system, by analyzing how the accuracy of a system is influenced by the choice of a different prediction approach and by a solution that employs the predicted values to avoid data sparsity. The results of more than one hundred experiments show that, by predicting the ratings for the individual users instead of predicting them for the groups, and by using these predictions in the group detection task of a system, the accuracy increases and the problems caused by data sparsity are reduced.

Editorial: Perinatology in the Era of Big Data and Nanoparticles

Editorial: Perinatology in the Era of Big Data and Nanoparticles

Objective Computation Versus Subjective Computation

The question ‘What is computation?’ might seem a trivial one to many, but this is far from being in consensus in philosophy of mind, cognitive science and even in physics. The lack of consensus leads to some interesting, yet contentious, claims, such as that cognition or even the universe is computational. Some have argued, though, that computation is a subjective phenomenon: whether or not a physical system is computational, and if so, which computation it performs, is entirely a matter of an observer choosing to view it as such. According to one view, which we dub bold anti-realist pancomputationalism, every physical object (can be said to) computes every computer program. According to another, more modest view, some computational systems can be ascribed multiple computational descriptions. We argue that the first view is misguided, and that the second view need not entail observer-relativity of computation. At least to a large extent, computation is an objective phenomenon. Construed as a form of information processing, we argue that information-processing considerations determine what type of computation takes place in physical systems.

Staff experiences within the implementation of computer-based nursing records in residential aged care facilities: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research.

BackgroundSince the introduction of electronic nursing documentation systems, its implementation in recent years has increased rapidly in Germany. The objectives of such systems are to save time, to improve information handling and to improve quality. To integrate IT in the daily working processes, the employee is the pivotal element. Therefore it is important to understand nurses’ experience with IT implementation. At present the literature shows a lack of understanding exploring staff experiences within the implementation process.MethodsA systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis of primary studies using qualitative methods was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane. It adheres to the principles of the PRISMA statement. The studies were original, peer-reviewed articles from 2000 to 2013, focusing on computer-based nursing documentation in Residential Aged Care Facilities.ResultsThe use of IT requires a different form of information processing. Some experience this new form of information processing as a benefit while others do not. The latter find it more difficult to enter data and this result in poor clinical documentation. Improvement in the quality of residents’ records leads to an overall improvement in the quality of care. However, if the quality of those records is poor, some residents do not receive the necessary care. Furthermore, the length of time necessary to complete the documentation is a prominent theme within that process. Those who are more efficient with the electronic documentation demonstrate improved time management. For those who are less efficient with electronic documentation the information processing is perceived as time consuming. Normally, it is possible to experience benefits when using IT, but this depends on either promoting or hindering factors, e.g. ease of use and ability to use it, equipment availability and technical functionality, as well as attitude.ConclusionsIn summary, the findings showed that members of staff experience IT as a benefit when it simplifies their daily working routines and as a burden when it complicates their working processes. Whether IT complicates or simplifies their routines depends on influencing factors. The line between benefit and burden is semipermeable. The experiences differ according to duties and responsibilities.

Survey of social search from the perspectives of the village paradigm and online social networks

Two paradigms currently exist for information search. The first is the library paradigm, which has been largely automated and is the prevailing paradigm in today’s web search. The second is the village paradigm, and although it is older than the library paradigm, its automation has not been considered, yet certain elements of its key aspects have been automated, as in the cases of the Q&A communities or novel services such as Quora. The increasing popularity and availability of online social networks and question-answering communities have encouraged revisiting of the automation of the village paradigm owing to new helpful developments, primarily that people are more connected with their acquaintances on the internet and their contact lists are available. In this survey, we study how the village paradigm is today partially automated: we consider the selection of candidates for answering questions, answering questions automatically and helping candidates to decide what questions to answer. Other aspects are also considered, for example, the automation of a reward system. We conclude that a next step towards the automation of the village paradigm involves intelligent agents that can leverage a P2P (peer-to-peer) social network, which will create new and interesting issues deeply entwined with social networks in the form of information processing by agents in parallel and side by side with people.

Ideology, motivated reasoning, and cognitive reflection

AbstractDecision scientists have identified various plausible sources of ideological polarization over climate change, gun violence, national security, and like issues that turn on empirical evidence. This paper describes a study of three of them: the predominance of heuristic-driven information processing by members of the public; ideologically motivated reasoning; and the cognitive-style correlates of political conservativism. The study generated both observational and experimental data inconsistent with the hypothesis that political conservatism is distinctively associated with either unreflective thinking or motivated reasoning. Conservatives did no better or worse than liberals on the Cognitive Reflection Test (Frederick, 2005), an objective measure of information-processing dispositions associated with cognitive biases. In addition, the study found that ideologically motivated reasoning is not a consequence of over-reliance on heuristic or intuitive forms of reasoning generally. On the contrary, subjects who scored highest in cognitive reflection were themostlikely to display ideologically motivated cognition. These findings corroborated an alternative hypothesis, which identifies ideologically motivated cognition as a form of information processing that promotes individuals’ interests in forming and maintaining beliefs that signify their loyalty to important affinity groups. The paper discusses the practical significance of these findings, including the need to develop science communication strategies that shield policy-relevant facts from the influences that turn them into divisive symbols of political identity.