Increase Task Performance Research Articles

Complementary feedback control enables effective gaze stabilization in animals

Visually active animals coordinate vision and movement to achieve spectacular tasks. An essential prerequisite to guide agile locomotion is to keep gaze level and stable. Since the eyes, head and body can move independently to control gaze, how does the brain effectively coordinate these distinct motor outputs? Furthermore, since the eyes, head, and body have distinct mechanical constraints (e.g., inertia), how does the nervous system adapt its control to these constraints? To address these questions, we studied gaze control in flying fruit flies (Drosophila) using a paradigm which permitted direct measurement of head and body movements. By combining experiments with mathematical modeling, we show that body movements are sensitive to the speed of visual motion whereas head movements are sensitive to its acceleration. This complementary tuning of the head and body permitted flies to stabilize a broader range of visual motion frequencies. We discovered that flies implement proportional-derivative (PD) control, but unlike classical engineering control systems, relay the proportional and derivative signals in parallel to two distinct motor outputs. This scheme, although derived from flies, recapitulated classic primate vision responses thus suggesting convergent mechanisms across phyla. By applying scaling laws, we quantify that animals as diverse as flies, mice, and humans as well as bio-inspired robots can benefit energetically by having a high ratio between head, body, and eye inertias. Our results provide insights into the mechanical constraints that may have shaped the evolution of active vision and present testable neural control hypotheses for visually guided behavior across phyla.

Completing a Sustained Attention Task Is Associated With Decreased Distractibility and Increased Task Performance Among Adolescents With Low Levels of Media Multitasking.

ObjectiveTo assess distracted attention and performance on a computer task following completion of a sustained attention and acute media multitasking task among adolescents with varying self-reported usual media multitasking.MethodsNinety-six 13- to 17-year-olds played the video game Tetris following completion of a Go/No-go paradigm to measure sustained attention in the presence of distractors, an acute media multitasking, or a passive viewing condition. Adolescents completed the conditions on separate visits in randomized order. Sustained attention was measured within the Go/No-go task by measuring errors of omission. Distracted attention while playing the Tetris task was measured by computing eye tracking measures of attention (first fixation duration, cumulative fixation duration) to irrelevant distractor images that bordered the Tetris game. Participants also self-reported their daily media multitasking.ResultsThe Go/No-go task revealed important qualitative differences in sustained attention among low and high usual media multitaskers. There was a uniform improvement in sustained attention among low usual media multitaskers, demonstrated by a consistent linear decrease in omission errors (β = −0.01; P < 0.05). Among high usual media multitaskers, there was initially a decrease in sustained attention (β = −0.01; P = 0.05) followed by an increase (β = 0.16; P < 0.001). Completing the Go/No-go task also statistically significantly reduced distractibility and increased performance while playing Tetris compared to the passive viewing condition, but only among those with low usual media multitasking (all Ps ≤ 0.05). There was a non-statistically significant trend that completing the acute media multitask increased subsequent distractibility and performance while playing Tetris among high media multitaskers.ConclusionIn this sample of adolescents, practicing a sustained attention task reduces distractibility and improves task performance among those who have low levels of usual media multitasking.

Linking neurophysiological processes of action monitoring to post-response speed-accuracy adjustments in a neuro-cognitive diffusion model

The cognitive system needs to continuously monitor actions and initiate adaptive measures aimed at increasing task performance and avoiding future errors. To investigate the link between the contributing cognitive processes, we introduce the neuro-cognitive diffusion model, a statistical approach that allows a combination of computational modelling of behavioural and electrophysiological data on a single-trial level. This unique combination of methods allowed us to demonstrate across three experimental datasets that early response monitoring (error negativity; Ne/c) was related to more response caution and increased attention on task-relevant features on the subsequent trial, thereby preventing future errors, whereas later response monitoring (error positivity, Pe/c) maintained the ability of responding fast under speed pressure. Our results suggest that Pe/c-related processes might keep Ne/c-related processes in check regarding their impact on post-response adaptation to reconcile the conflicting criteria of fast and accurate responding.

Work along Both Lines: The Positive Impact of Work-Based Social Media Use on Job Performance.

Social media has rapidly become an important tool in organizations and has a significant impact on employees’ work and organizational operations. By applying social media to their daily work, employees gain access to important information resources that can help them get things done. Using the conservation of resources theory, this study examines the impact of work resources generated by employees’ work-based social media use on work status, as well as job performance. Data were collected from the employees of Internet companies in Henan Province and Shanghai, China. We distributed 519 pairs of questionnaires, and 369 pairs of valid paired questionnaires were returned. To estimate the proposed relationships in the theoretical framework, we used SPSS and MPLUS. The results show that work-based social media use can increase employees’ work engagement, which in turn increases task performance, job dedication and interpersonal facilitation. It also reduces the negative effects of work interruptions on task performance and job dedication. Therefore, we conclude the positive effects of work-based social media use on job performance can be achieved by increasing work engagement and by reducing work interruptions.

How does receiving gossip from coworkers influence employees’ task performance and interpersonal deviance? The moderating roles of regulatory focus and the mediating role of vicarious learning

Based on social learning theory and regulatory focus theory, we propose that receiving positive and negative gossip from coworkers increases individuals’ vicarious learning, which subsequently improves their adaptive behaviours in the workplace, namely, increasing task performance and decreasing interpersonal deviance. Furthermore, we propose that gossip receivers’ regulatory foci determine the extent to which receivers engage in vicarious learning and change their behaviours. Results from two studies testing a moderated mediation model (Study 1: N = 214; Study 2: N = 189) showed that negative and positive gossip were indirectly related to increased receivers’ task performance and decreased interpersonal deviance through vicarious learning. The indirect effect of negative gossip was stronger for receivers with a high prevention focus, and the indirect effect of positive gossip was stronger for receivers with a high promotion focus. This research documents the beneficial role of receiving gossip from coworkers and advances our understanding of its consequences in the workplace.Practitioner points Managers should recognize gossip as a potentially effective channel for disseminating information, providing a valuable learning tool for the receivers, which they use according to their learning needs, as shaped by their regulatory focus. Organizations could implement measures to share experiences and bolster employees’ vicarious learning through other means than gossip to mitigate potential negative effects of workplace gossip for the targets. Managers should support higher transparency and access to information to facilitate learning and improve organizational effectiveness.

두 가지 다요소 중재가 자폐스펙트럼 장애 고등학생의 음성상동행동과 과제 수행에 미치는 영향*

This study evaluated the effect of two multi-component interventions in reducing vocal stereotypy and increasing task engagement especially in learning situations among children with developmental disabilities. The participant was a 17-year-old high school student with autism spectrum disorder. He had very limited communication skills and a high level of vocal stereotypy that interfered with learning. Based on an alternating treatment design, a multi-component intervention with a redirection prompt using sound and a multi-component intervention with a redirection prompt using activity engagement were conducted by behavioral therapists during learning activities in a hospital-based behavioral therapy room. According to the results of the study, both multi-component interventions were effective not only in reducing vocal stereotypy but also in increasing task performance in learning situations. There was no significant difference between the two multi-component interventions in reducing vocal stereotypy. Based on these results, practical applications of the vocal stereotypy intervention methods were discussed.

“I Made It Work”: How Using a Self‐Assembled Product Increases Task Performance

Although it is well established that consumers have an increased valuation for self‐assembled products, less is known about how using such products influences objective consumption outcomes. Across three experiments, the current research demonstrates that consumers perform better on tasks when they use a product they have self‐assembled—as opposed to an identical but ready‐to‐use product. We show that this effect results from an increase in self‐efficacy and rule out possible alternative accounts (i.e., product efficacy beliefs, performance motivation, feelings of psychological ownership, and product liking). In addition, we demonstrate that the self‐assembly effect emerges only when consumers actually use the self‐assembled product, is robust when product assembly requires different amounts of time and effort, and is not merely the result of a question‐behavior effect. Theoretical contributions and opportunities for future research are discussed.

Relevance of Predictive and Postdictive Error Information in the Course of Motor Learning

The prediction of the sensory consequences of physical movements is a fundamental feature of the human brain. This function is attributed to a forward model, which generates predictions based on sensory and efferent information. The neural processes underlying such predictions have been studied using the error-related negativity (ERN) as a fronto-central event-related potential in electroencephalogram (EEG) tracings. In this experiment, 16 participants practiced a novel motor task for 4000 trials over ten sessions. Neural correlates of error processing were recorded in sessions one, five, and ten. Along with significant improvements in task performance, the ERN amplitude increased over the sessions. Simultaneously, the feedback-related negativity (FRN), a neural marker corresponding to the processing of movement-outcome feedback, attenuated with learning. The findings suggest that early in learning, the motor control system relies more on information from external feedback about terminal outcome. With increasing task performance, the forward model is able to generate more accurate outcome predictions, which, as a result, increasingly contributes to error processing. The data also suggests a complementary relationship between the ERN and the FRN over motor learning.

Automatic Complaints Categorization Using Random Forest and Gradient Boosting

Capturing and responding to complaints from the public is an important effort to develop a good city/country. This project aims to utilize Data Mining to automatize complaints categorization. More than 35,000 complaints in Bangalore city, India, were retrieved from the “I Change My City” website (https://www.ichangemycity.com). The vector space of the complaints was created using Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) and the multi-class text classifications were done using Random Forest (RF) and Gradient Boosting (GB). Results showed that both RF and GB have similar performance with an accuracy of 73% on the 10-classes multi-class classification task. Result also showed that the model is highly dependent on the word usage in the complaint's description. Future research directions to increase task performance are also suggested.

A novel resilient and reconfigurable swarm management scheme

As we witness the fast growth of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) field, new applications and services emerge at a rapid pace. Above all, the interest in groups of UAVs working together (swarms) is gaining momentum. This interest emerges since swarms are able to undertake more sophisticated tasks. Furthermore, they can also increase task performance and/or robustness. However, organizing a multi-UAV flight is not easy, involving challenges in terms of (i) swarm formation definition, (ii) takeoff procedure, (iii) in-flight coordination, (iv) communication between the swarm elements, (v) swarm layout reconfiguration, (vi) handling the loss of swarms elements, and (vii) controlled landing. These and other issues still hold back the mainstream adoption of swarms in sectors such as agriculture, border surveillance, and parcel delivery.In this work we provide solutions for two of the main critical challenges: (a) swarm layout reconfiguration, and (b) handling the loss of swarm elements. A wide set of experiments were made using our own realistic UAV emulation tool (ArduSim) in order to validate our proposals. The experiments show that the chances of facing collisions during the reconfiguration are greatly reduced even in error-prone scenarios, and that, in many cases, the loss of a UAV is handled seamlessly; otherwise (in the worst-case scenarios) a delay of just a few seconds is introduced. Additionally, this work addresses cases where, due to the lack of proper communication between the swarm elements, a swarm splits up. Experiments show that with our swarm resilience mechanisms those cases are inherently solved by creating autonomous sub-swarms which will then complete their part of the mission independently.

The self-sacrificial nature of leader identity: Understanding the costs and benefits at work and home.

The leader role carries several complexities, suggesting that identifying closely with one's role as a leader might be both beneficial and costly on a day-to-day basis. We integrate theories of leader identity, self-sacrificial leadership, and self-regulation to develop a conceptual model articulating the manner in which strongly identifying with one's leader role on a daily basis yields benefits (i.e., increased task performance and perceived prosocial impact) and costs (i.e., increased depletion and conflict at home) via increased self-sacrificial leader behavior. Further, we theorize and test whether work addiction moderates the indirect effects of leader identity on the aforementioned processes. Using an experience sampling investigation of 80 leaders who completed 3 surveys per day for 10 workdays (Level 1 n = 645), we found that daily leader identity was positively associated with self-sacrificial leader behavior which, in turn, was positively associated with task performance and perceived prosocial impact (leader benefits) and positively associated with resource depletion and conflict at home (leader costs). Moreover, these effects were stronger for leaders who reported higher (vs. lower) levels of work addiction. In an exploration considering the effects of leader identity on daily well-being, results indicated that leader identity also indirectly helped and hindered psychological detachment from work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Promoting Motor Variability During Robotic Assistance Enhances Motor Learning of Dynamic Tasks.

Despite recent advances in robot-assisted training, the benefits of haptic guidance on motor (re)learning are still limited. While haptic guidance may increase task performance during training, it may also decrease participants' effort and interfere with the perception of the environment dynamics, hindering somatosensory information crucial for motor learning. Importantly, haptic guidance limits motor variability, a factor considered essential for learning. We propose that Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) might be good alternatives to haptic guidance since they minimize the assisting forces and promote motor variability during training. We conducted a study with 40 healthy participants to investigate the effectiveness of MPCs on learning a dynamic task. The task consisted of swinging a virtual pendulum to hit incoming targets with the pendulum ball. The environment was haptically rendered using a Delta robot. We designed two MPCs: the first MPC—end-effector MPC—applied the optimal assisting forces on the end-effector. A second MPC—ball MPC—applied its forces on the virtual pendulum ball to further reduce the assisting forces. The participants' performance during training and learning at short- and long-term retention tests were compared to a control group who trained without assistance, and a group that trained with conventional haptic guidance. We hypothesized that the end-effector MPC would promote motor variability and minimize the assisting forces during training, and thus, promote learning. Moreover, we hypothesized that the ball MPC would enhance the performance and motivation during training but limit the motor variability and sense of agency (i.e., the feeling of having control over their movements), and therefore, limit learning. We found that the MPCs reduce the assisting forces compared to haptic guidance. Training with the end-effector MPC increases the movement variability and does not hinder the pendulum swing variability during training, ultimately enhancing the learning of the task dynamics compared to the other groups. Finally, we observed that increases in the sense of agency seemed to be associated with learning when training with the end-effector MPC. In conclusion, training with MPCs enhances motor learning of tasks with complex dynamics and are promising strategies to improve robotic training outcomes in neurological patients.

Fostering task and adaptive performance through employee well-being: The role of servant leadership

In this study, we provide insights on how servant leadership may promote employee performance. We investigate whether the associations between increases in servant leadership and employees’ task and adaptive performance are mediated by changes in the two antipodes of employee well-being: work engagement and burnout. We utilized a two-wave survey data ( N = 2453) collected from 34 organizations and latent change score modeling as an analytical approach to examine associations among within-person changes. Our findings showed that increased perceptions of servant leadership were associated with increases in work engagement and decreases in burnout. Increases in work engagement were associated with increases in task performance and four subfacets of adaptive performance (i.e., stress management, reactivity, creativity, and interpersonal adaptivity). Decreases in burnout were associated with increases in task performance. Our findings suggest that improved servant leadership practices may foster employees’ task and adaptive performance especially through the promotion of work engagement. JEL CLASSIFICATION: L200 Firm Objectives, Organization, Behavior: General

Improving Time Use and Self-Efficacy Increases Task Performance: Validation of A Novel Process

College students are expected to develop time management skills to minimize procrastination and best perform in the tasks they face during education, but many do not implement time management practices and nearly all have trouble focusing on and completing assignments. Contemporary work and theory suggest that time management does not have an effect on task performance, but it can improve self-efficacy, which does correlate with task performance. A time management tool that also worked to improve self-efficacy was thus used to see if increasing self-efficacy could decrease time spent on tasks, i.e., task performance. Analysis of data collected from time and mood tracking before and after intervention demonstrated a significant decrease in time spent working (p&lt;0.001) and significant increases in actual and in perceived productivity (p=0.039 and p=0.009 respectively). The results suggest that implementing practices to improve time management and self-efficacy may increase task performance, but further research must be done to control for specific factors that may confound this effect.

System Dialog Message and Its Effect on Task Switching by Age

ABSTRACT System dialog messages are often troublesome for mobile users. In this study, behavioral experiments were conducted on 18 younger (age; 24.7 ± 1.7) and 18 older (63.8 ± 2.0) age groups using mobile devices. In the experiment, system dialog messages were popped up on a smartphone as an interruption in the task switching process, and which attributes of the dialog messages (the amount of jargon and length of the message) significantly affected the performance of the whole task switching process was observed. The results showed that the younger participants did not show significant differences in their task switching performance according to the attributes of the dialog message. However, the older participants showed increased task performance time for the interruption task with extensive jargon. Furthermore, the older participants also revealed difficulty transferring information as they resumed the primary task just after processing the interrupting dialog messages, suggested by correlations between temporal and subjective workload responses. Based on the analysis results, we proposed some guidelines to design system dialog messages for older mobile device users.

Sacrificing reward to avoid threat: Characterizing PTSD in the context of a trauma-related approach-avoidance conflict task.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by heightened avoidance, cognitive inflexibility, and impaired reward processing. Maladaptive behavior in PTSD may reflect an imbalance between approach and avoidance, but no research has investigated approach-avoidance conflict (AAC) in PTSD. The current study investigated approach-avoidance behavior in PTSD using a trauma-related AAC (trAAC) task in two independent samples. In Study 1, 43 women with a current diagnosis of PTSD and 18 healthy comparison subjects were recruited from the community. In Study 2, 53 women with trauma exposure and a range of PTSD symptoms were recruited from a correctional institution. Trials were separated into two phases: conflict (the option most likely to win points was most likely to show a trauma-related image) and congruent (the option most likely to win points was least likely to show a trauma-related image). In Study 1, reward obtainment varied with the task manipulation (i.e., fewer points earned during conflict compared to congruent Phase) in PTSD but not healthy subjects. These results indicate that when avoidance is advantageous (congruent phase), individuals with PTSD show increased task performance, whereas when avoidance is maladaptive (conflict phase), individuals with PTSD show increased sacrifice of reward. In Study 2, higher PTSD symptoms predicted decreased reward earning during the conflict phase, again indicating a sacrifice of reward when avoidance is maladaptive. Across both studies, PTSD associated with increased AAC and sacrifice of reward in the presence of trauma-related stimuli. These studies shed light on AAC in PTSD and could inform more targeted therapy approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Influence of virtual keyboard design and usage posture on typing performance and muscle activity during tablet interaction

This study aimed to determine the effects of virtual keyboard designs and postures on task performance and muscle activity during tablet use. Eighteen healthy adults were randomly assigned to one of three postures (DESK, LAP, BED) to complete six sessions of 60-minute typing on a tablet with three virtual keyboards (STD, WIDE, SPLIT) twice in an experimental laboratory. Keystroke dynamics and muscle activity of the forearm and neck-shoulder regions were measured by electromyography. The split virtual keyboard was found to be associated with faster typing speed (SPLIT vs STD, p = .015; SPLIT vs WIDE, p < .001) and decreased muscle activity of extensor digitorum communis (SPLIT vs STD, p = .021). Lap posture was associated with faster typing speed (p = .018) and higher forearm muscle activity (p < .05). Typing performance decreased (p < .001) with elevated neck extensor muscle activity (p = .042) when the task duration prolonged. The split virtual keyboard showed potential to improve tablet ergonomics under various postures. Practitioner Summary: Tablets have become widely used for a variety of tasks and have gradually expanded into the realm of mobile productivity and education. Adequate designs of virtual keyboards for tablets show the potential for increased task performance and decreased muscle activity pertinent to typing activity and posture constraints imposed by non-traditional work positions. Abbreviations: WPM: words per minute; IKI: inter-key press interval; EMG: electromyography; EDC: extensor digitorum communis; FDS: flexor digitorum superficialis; CES: cervical erector spinae; UT: upper trapezius; EA: electrical activity; MVC: maximum voluntary contraction; APDF: amplitude probability distribution function

Does Improved Sound Rendering Increase Player Performance? A Graph-Based Spatial Audio Framework

Spatial audio is an important component of realistic simulations in virtual environments. However, there have been shortcomings in existing spatial audio rendering systems, due to the computational cost of rendering realistic sound propagation. In this article, we present a novel spatial audio rendering method using 3-D graphs to simulate sound propagation in real time. We then ask if such a distinction in accuracy makes a difference to task performance, and test this proposition in a 3-D game. We conclude that improvements in spatial audio rendering do increase task performance.

Toward Enhanced Teleoperation Through Embodiment.

Telerobotics aims to transfer human manipulation skills and dexterity over an arbitrary distance and at an arbitrary scale to a remote workplace. A telerobotic system that is transparent enables a natural and intuitive interaction. We postulate that embodiment (with three sub-components: sense of ownership, agency, and self-location) of the robotic system leads to optimal perceptual transparency and increases task performance. However, this has not yet been investigated directly. We reason along four premises and present findings from the literature that substantiate each of them: (1) the brain can embody non-bodily objects (e.g., robotic hands), (2) embodiment can be elicited with mediated sensorimotor interaction, (3) embodiment is robust against inconsistencies between the robotic system and the operator's body, and (4) embodiment positively correlates to dexterous task performance. We use the predictive encoding theory as a framework to interpret and discuss the results reported in the literature. Numerous previous studies have shown that it is possible to induce embodiment over a wide range of virtual and real extracorporeal objects (including artificial limbs, avatars, and android robots) through mediated sensorimotor interaction. Also, embodiment can occur for non-human morphologies including for elongated arms and a tail. In accordance with the predictive encoding theory, none of the sensory modalities is critical in establishing ownership, and discrepancies in multisensory signals do not necessarily lead to loss of embodiment. However, large discrepancies in terms of multisensory synchrony or visual likeness can prohibit embodiment from occurring. The literature provides less extensive support for the link between embodiment and (dexterous) task performance. However, data gathered with prosthetic hands do indicate a positive correlation. We conclude that all four premises are supported by direct or indirect evidence in the literature, suggesting that embodiment of a remote manipulator may improve dexterous performance in telerobotics. This warrants further implementation testing of embodiment in telerobotics. We formulate a first set of guidelines to apply embodiment in telerobotics and identify some important research topics.

Supportive supervisors: the key to employee retention?

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsThe study, based in higher education institutions in Pakistan, finds that perceived supervisor support decreases turnover intention and increases task performance through the mediation of self-efficacy.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.