Interpretation Bias Research Articles

Post-migration living difficulties and poor mental health associated with increased interpretation bias for threat.

Previous research has found associations between mental health difficulties and interpretation biases, including heightened interpretation of threat from neutral or ambiguous stimuli. Building on this research, we explored associations between interpretation biases (positive and negative) and three constructs that have been linked to migrant experience: mental health symptoms (Global Severity Index [GSI]), Post-Migration Living Difficulties (PMLD), and Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire (PEDQ). Two hundred thirty students who identified as first- (n = 94) or second-generation ethnic minority migrants (n = 68), and first-generation White migrants (n = 68) completed measures of GSI, PEDQ, and PMLD. They also performed an interpretation bias task using Point Light Walkers (PLW), dynamic stimuli with reduced visual input that are easily perceived as humans performing an action. Five categories of PLW were used: four that clearly depicted human forms undertaking positive, neutral, negative, or ambiguous actions, and a fifth that involved scrambled animations with no clear action or form. Participants were asked to imagine their interaction with the stimuli and rate their friendliness (positive interpretation bias) and aggressiveness (interpretation bias for threat). We found that the three groups differed on PEDQ and PMLD, with no significant differences in GSI, and the three measured were positively correlated. Poorer mental health and increased PMLD were associated with a heightened interpretation for threat of scrambled animations only. These findings have implications for understanding of the role of threat biases in mental health and the migrant experience.

Do markers of daily affect mediate associations between interpretation bias and depressive symptoms? A longitudinal study of early adolescents.

Early adolescence represents a time of heightened vulnerability for depression. Negative interpretation biases have been associated with increases in depressive symptoms during this developmental period; however, the mechanisms underlying the association between interpretation biases and depression remain poorly understood. Cognitive theories posit that interpretation biases give rise to depression by modulating daily affect, particularly in the context of stress. However, this has not yet been directly examined. The present study tested affect intensity and instability as mechanisms linking negative interpretation biases with change in adolescent depressive symptoms. Ninety-four adolescents (aged 11-13 years; 51% boys) from Vancouver, Canada, were recruited for this longitudinal study. At baseline (Time 1), participants self-reported depressive symptoms and completed the Scrambled Sentences Task to assess negative interpretation biases. Next, participants completed daily diaries to assess positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) during a naturalistic stressor-the first 2 weeks of high school (Time 2). Finally, participants self-reported depressive symptoms 3 months later (Time 3). Path models were conducted to test whether PA and NA intensity and instability mediated prospective associations between negative interpretation biases and depressive symptom changes. Although NA intensity, NA instability, and PA instability predicted increases in depressive symptoms, only NA intensity mediated associations between interpretation biases and symptom changes. Neither PA intensity nor instability mediated these associations. Elevated daily NA represents a specific mechanism through which stronger negative interpretation biases predict increases in depressive symptoms in adolescence.

Changes in Learning From Social Feedback After Web-Based Interpretation Bias Modification: Secondary Analysis of a Digital Mental Health Intervention Among Individuals With High Social Anxiety Symptoms.

Biases in social reinforcement learning, or the process of learning to predict and optimize behavior based on rewards and punishments in the social environment, may underlie and maintain some negative cognitive biases that are characteristic of social anxiety. However, little is known about how cognitive and behavioral interventions may change social reinforcement learning in individuals who are anxious. This study assessed whether a scalable, web-based cognitive bias modification for interpretations (CBM-I) intervention changed social reinforcement learning biases in participants with high social anxiety symptoms. This study focused on 2 types of social reinforcement learning relevant to social anxiety: learning about other people and learning about one's own social performance. Participants (N=106) completed 2 laboratory sessions, separated by 5 weeks of ecological momentary assessment tracking emotion regulation strategy use and affect. Approximately half (n=51, 48.1%) of the participants completed up to 6 brief daily sessions of CBM-I in week 3. Participants completed a task that assessed social reinforcement learning about other people in both laboratory sessions and a task that assessed social reinforcement learning about one's own social performance in the second session. Behavioral data from these tasks were computationally modeled using Q-learning and analyzed using mixed effects models. After the CBM-I intervention, participants updated their beliefs about others more slowly (P=.04; Cohen d=-0.29) but used what they learned to make more accurate decisions (P=.005; Cohen d=0.20), choosing rewarding faces more frequently. These effects were not observed among participants who did not complete the CBM-I intervention. Participants who completed the CBM-I intervention also showed less-biased updating about their social performance than participants who did not complete the CBM-I intervention, learning similarly from positive and negative feedback and from feedback on items related to poor versus good social performance. Regardless of the intervention condition, participants at session 2 versus session 1 updated their expectancies about others more from rewarding (P=.003; Cohen d=0.43) and less from punishing outcomes (P=.001; Cohen d=-0.47), and they became more accurate at learning to avoid punishing faces (P=.001; Cohen d=0.20). Taken together, our results provide initial evidence that there may be some beneficial effects of both the CBM-I intervention and self-tracking of emotion regulation on social reinforcement learning in individuals who are socially anxious, although replication will be important.

The Effects of Cognitive Bias Modification on Hostile Interpretation Bias and Aggressive Behavior: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

The Effects of Cognitive Bias Modification on Hostile Interpretation Bias and Aggressive Behavior: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Early Attrition Prediction for Web-Based Interpretation Bias Modification to Reduce Anxious Thinking: Machine Learning Study (Preprint)

Early Attrition Prediction for Web-Based Interpretation Bias Modification to Reduce Anxious Thinking: Machine Learning Study (Preprint)

Fear of progression, imagery, interpretation bias, and their relationship with endometriosis pain.

Endometriosis is a chronic gynaecological condition, of which pain is both the most common and most debilitating symptom. As with other forms of pain, there is increasing recognition of the role of psychological processes in bridging the gap between pain and pain impact, and yet these processes are not well understood in endometriosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relevance of fear of progression, imagery, and interpretation bias in endometriosis, and their contribution to pain interference. A total of 221 participants (mean age = 38 years, SD = 7.8) with endometriosis were recruited from Endometriosis Australia. This cross-sectional study included relevant demographics and endometriosis characteristics; questionnaires to measure fear of progression, imagery, interpretation bias, and pain; and the word association task to measure interpretation bias. Participants reported high scores on the Fear of Progression Questionnaire (M = 38/60), higher than that has been found in cancer. Controlling for age and pain intensity, we found that imagery, interpretation bias, and their interaction were associated with increased fear of progression and that fear of progression was associated with greater pain-related interference. In exploratory analysis, we also found that the frequency and distress of endometriosis-related intrusive imagery were associated with greater fear of progression and pain interference, after controlling for age and pain intensity. These findings provide the first support of the importance of fear of progression in people with endometriosis and suggest possible pathways for causal investigation.

Glass ceiling or glass cliff: an examination of the role of female board members on market performance in Poland

ABSTRACT We examine gender bias related to the effect of women in executive management leadership. Specifically, we examine when women are recruited to executive positions and follow companies’ market performance before and after their appointment. Our study is conceptually situated within the field of queuing theory, suggesting certain patterns of labour market queuing behaviour according to race, gender, and class. We formulate two hypotheses: (1) the presence of female executives is associated with lower firm value; and (2) companies with female-centric executive boards are valued lower by investors than companies with male-centric boards. We test these hypotheses employing panel data, using a unique sample of 159 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the years 2006–2015, with hand-collected data on the number of female directors on executive boards. Our results suggest that market queuing behaviour is evident in the case of Poland. Men are more often hired in executive roles than women, whereas females are more likely to be appointed to executive boards in firms which are performing poorly. Moreover, higher participation of women in executive positions is associated with resulting lower value in the long run. According to our interpretation, isomorphism and gender bias diffuse through the reproduction and valuation of capitalist markets.

Separating Hydraulic Fracturing Microseismicity From Induced Seismicity by Bayesian Inference of Non‐Linear Pressure Diffusivity

AbstractMicroseismic data acquired during hydraulic stimulations is routinely used to characterize hydraulic fracture (HF) propagation away from a wellbore. When the data include induced seismicity (IS) related to induced fault slip, separating HF‐related and IS‐related events is essential for HF treatment optimization and IS mitigation. Linear and non‐linear analytical diffusivity models can be used to interpret microseismic data and quantify the propagation of HFs, but their accuracy reduces when significant induced microseismicity is present. A Bayesian quantile regression is used to extend these existing diffusivity models to data contaminated with IS. A plausible ellipsoid filters events that are clearly anomalous prior to the quantile regression. The regression effectively separates HF‐related microseismic events from induced events in a case study for all stages without interpretative bias. This reveals faults that are directed connected to HFs, as well as those solely related with induced seismicity.

Developing an interpretation bias modification training task for alleviating loneliness in young people

ObjectiveLoneliness is common among young people and is associated with negative health outcomes. Because loneliness is associated with a bias for interpreting social situations as threatening, cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) training is a potential early intervention tool. We developed and delivered a single session of mental imagery enhanced digital CBM-I training, assessing feasibility, acceptability, and magnitude of change in interpretational style and loneliness. MethodCBM-I training materials were developed using a co-creation approach with 18–25-year-olds with experience of loneliness. Another group of 18–25-year-olds with high loneliness received either online CBM-I (n = 29) or control (n = 27) training. ResultsCBM-I training uptake and retention rates were 88% and 92%, respectively. Participants found the training acceptable. The CBM-I group showed a reduction in social threat interpretations (d = 0.77), an increase in social benign interpretations (d = 0.84), and a decrease in loneliness (d = 0.56). The control group showed a small reduction in social threat interpretations (d = 0.21), no change in social benign interpretations (d = 0.04), and an increase in loneliness (d = 0.41). ConclusionsInterpretation biases relevant to youth loneliness may be modifiable, and CBM-I training could reduce feelings of loneliness. This informs psychological models of loneliness, and the development of CBM-I interventions targeting loneliness in young people.

Health anxiety and the negative interpretation of children’s bodily symptoms in mothers of cancer patients

PurposeFear of progression (FoP) is a substantial concern for family caregivers of cancer survivors and is related to a number of adverse outcomes, including increased mental distress and worse quality of life. Previous research has revealed that health anxiety (HA) contributes to fear of relapse, but cognitive factors underlying establishing and maintaining FoP in mothers of cancer patients have not been examined. In this study, we were looking to investigate this association.MethodsWe used the computerized interpretation bias (IB) assessment to investigate the biased interpretation of ambiguous bodily information and its association with FoP through HA among 69 mothers of cancer patients and 42 mothers of healthy kids.ResultsMothers of cancer patients interpreted more negatively ambiguous bodily symptoms than mothers of healthy kids. Moreover, they had higher levels of HA and FoP and lower quality of life than the healthy group. Also, among mothers of cancer patients, the relationship between negative IB and FoP is mediated by their HA.ConclusionsThe findings of this study imply that negative IB may contribute to increased HA, which in turn contributes to higher levels of FoP among the mothers of cancer patients, which may reduce the quality of life of their children.Implications for Cancer SurvivorsFrom these findings, we propose that changing HA through modification of IB might lower the FoP in mothers of kids with cancer and improve the mother and child’s quality of life.

A detailed analysis of single-channel Nav 1.5 recordings does not reveal any cooperative gating.

Cardiac voltage-gated sodium (Na+ ) channels (Nav 1.5) are crucial for myocardial electrical excitation. Recent studies based on single-channel recordings have suggested that Na+ channels interact functionally and exhibit coupled gating. However, the analysis of such recordings frequently relies on manual interventions, which can lead to bias. Here, we developed an automated pipeline to de-trend and idealize single-channel currents, and assessed possible functional interactions in cell-attached patch clamp experiments in HEK293 cells expressing human Nav 1.5 channels as well as in adult mouse and rabbit ventricular cardiomyocytes. Our pipeline involved de-trending individual sweeps by linear optimization using a library of predefined functions, followed by digital filtering and baseline offset. Subsequently, the processed sweeps were idealized based on the idea that the ensemble average of the idealized current identified by thresholds between current levels reconstructs at best the ensemble average current from the de-trended sweeps. This reconstruction was achieved by non-linear optimization. To ascertain functional interactions, we examined the distribution of the numbers of open channels at every time point during the activation protocol and compared it to the distribution expected for independent channels. We also examined whether the channels tended to synchronize their openings and closings. However, we did not uncover any solid evidence of such interactions in our recordings. Rather, our results indicate that wild-type Nav 1.5 channels are independent entities or exhibit only very weak functional interactions that are probably irrelevant under physiological conditions. Nevertheless, our unbiased analysis will be important for further studies examining whether auxiliary proteins potentiate functional Na+ channel interactions. KEY POINTS: Nav 1.5 channels are critical for cardiac excitation. They are part of macromolecular interacting complexes, and it was previously suggested that two neighbouring channels may functionally interact and exhibit coupled gating. Manual interventions when processing single-channel recordings can lead to bias and inaccurate data interpretation. We developed an automated pipeline to de-trend and idealize single-channel currents and assessed possible functional interactions between Nav 1.5 channels in HEK293 cells and cardiomyocytes during activation protocols using the cell-attached patch clamp technique. In recordings consisting of up to 1000 sweeps from the same patch, our analysis did not reveal any evidence of functional interactions or coupled gating between wild-type Nav 1.5 channels. Our unbiased analysis may be useful in further studies examining how Na+ channel interactions are affected by mutations and auxiliary proteins.

Social interpretation inflexibility moderates emotional reactions to social situations in children and adolescents.

Interpretation biases and inflexibility (i.e., difficulties revising interpretations) have been linked to increased internalizing symptoms. Although adolescence is a developmental period characterized by novel social situations and increased vulnerability to internalizing disorders, no studies have examined interpretation inflexibility in adolescents. Additionally, no studies (on adolescents or adults) have examined interpretation flexibility as a protective factor against adverse outcomes of interpersonal events. Using a novel task and a 28-day diary we examined relations among interpretation bias and inflexibility, internalizing symptoms, and negative interpersonal events in a sample of children and adolescents (N = 159, ages 9-18). At baseline, negative interpretation bias was positively correlated with social anxiety symptoms, and positive interpretation bias negatively correlated with social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Inflexible positive interpretations were correlated with higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms, while inflexible negative interpretations were correlated with higher social anxiety. Finally, interpretation inflexibility moderated daily associations between negative interpersonal events and depressive symptoms in daily life, such that higher inflexibility was associated with stronger associations between interpersonal events and subsequent depressive symptoms, potentially increasing depressive symptom instability. These results suggest that interpretation biases and inflexibility may act as both risk and protective factors for adolescent anxiety and depression.

Visualisasi Wanita dalam Al-Qur’an: Penerapan Pendekatan Interpretasi Teks Nashr Hamid Abu Zayd

Women are often identified with a beauty, as is the case in the selection of the language style of the Qur'an. The diction used by the Qur'an in visualizing women, starting from their creation, association with an angel, as well as the description of their physical characteristics show how noble and honorable they are. The glory of the woman is a symbol of liberation from dehumanization and discrimination against women in jahiliyah and a form of human equality in the eyes of Allah Swt. The purpose of this study was to determine the concept of text interpretation in comprehensively interpreting women and to know the comparison of the formulation of classical interpretation and modern interpretation of the existence of women in the Qur'an and to know what the formulation of intertextuality of the verses visualizing women. The method in this study uses library research that focuses on library data, which are primary sources to classical commentaries and works of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd as one of the figures of "hermeneutics of liberation" and other secondary sources. The results of this study concluded related agrumen Nashr Hamid Abu Zayd regarding the Qur'an is a cultural product, the author is more inclined to the opinion of Quraish Shihab, that the Qur'an is kalâmullah, not a creature. The concept of interpretation of the text of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd in reading the verses visualizing women in the Qur'an is to do a more in-depth reading by prioritizing objectivity and considering the historical and socio-cultural facts from which the text of the Qur'an was revealed. This study has implications in reconstructing the pattern of inheritance relay understandings of women in the verses visualization of women who tend to the interpretation and understanding of patriarchal bias.

A probabilistic bias analysis on the magnitude of unmeasured confounding: The impact of driving mileage on road traffic crashes

IntroductionUnmeasured confounding can lead to biased interpretations of empirical findings. This paper aimed to assess the magnitude of suspected unmeasured confounding due to driving mileage and simulate the statistical power required to detect a discrepancy in the effect of polypharmacy on road traffic crashes (RTCs) among older adults. MethodsBased on Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) approach, we estimated 1) the magnitude of confounding of driving mileage on the association of polypharmacy and RTCs and 2) the statistical power of to detect a discrepancy from no adjusted effect. A total of 1000 studies, each of 500000 observations, were simulated. ResultsUnder the assumption of a modest adjusted exposure-outcome odds ratio of 1.35, the magnitude of confounding bias by driving mileage was estimated to be 16% higher with a statistical power of 50%. Only an adjusted odds ratio of at least 1.60 would be associated with a statistical power of about 80% ConclusionThis applied probabilistic bias analysis showed that not adjusting for driving mileage as a confounder can lead to an overestimation of the effect of polypharmacy on RTCs in older adults. Even considering a large sample, small to moderate adjusted exposure effects were difficult to be detected.

Post-Marketing Safety Surveillance of Tofacitinib over 9 Years in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The safety of tofacitinib in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been demonstrated in clinical studies of≤ 4 and 9.5years, respectively. Post-marketing surveillance (PMS) data for tofacitinib from spontaneous and voluntary adverse event (AE) reports have been published for RA, but not PsA. To inform the real-world safety profile of tofacitinib in PsA, we evaluated AE reports submitted to the Pfizer safety database (including RA data for context). Endpoints included AEs, serious AEs (SAEs), AEs of special interest (AESIs; serious infections, herpes zoster, cardiovascular events, malignancies, venous thromboembolism), and fatal cases. Exposure was estimated using IQVIA global commercial sales data. Number, frequency, and reporting rates (RRs; number of events/100 patient-years' [PY] exposure) were summarized by indication and formulation (immediate release [IR] 5 or 10mg twice daily], modified release [MR] 11mg once daily, or all tofacitinib). The data-collection period differed by indication (PsA: 14December2017 [US approval, IR/MR]to6November2021; RA: 6November2012 [US approval, IR]to6November2021; MR approval, 24February2016). A total of 73,525 case reports were reviewed (PsA = 5394/RA = 68,131), with 20,706/439,370 PY (PsA/RA) ofexposure. More AEs were reported for IR versus MR (IR/MR: PsA = 8349/7602; RA = 137,476/82,153). RRs for AEs (IR/MR: PsA = 59.6/113.4; RA = 44.0/64.8) and SAEs (PsA = 8.1/13.6; RA = 8.0/9.5) were higher with MR versus IR. AE RRs (RA) in the first 4years after IR approval were 95.9 (IR; 49,439 PY) and 147.0 (MR; 2000 PY). Frequency of SAEs, AESIs, and fatal cases was mostly similar across formulations and indications. The most frequently-reported AE Preferred Terms (PsA/RA) included drug ineffective (20.0%/17.8%), pain (9.7%/10.6%), condition aggravated (9.9%/10.5%), headache (8.8%/7.9%) and, for PsA, off-label use (10.5%/3.4%). Tofacitinib PMS safety data from submitted AE reports were consistent between PsA and RA, and aligned with its known safety profile. Exposure data (lower MR versus IR; estimation from commercial sales data), reporting bias, reporter identity, and regional differences in formulation use limit interpretation.

Autonomic reactivity during acute social stress: exploratory investigation of an interaction by threat interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties

ABSTRACT Objective: This preliminary study examined the interactive influences of interpretation bias and emotion dysregulation in predicting autonomic stress response. Methods: Participants (N = 72 college students; ages 18–25, 70% female, 47% Hispanic/Latinx), completed a performance-based assessment of threat interpretation bias and self-report measures of emotion regulation difficulties. Electrodermal activity (EDA; skin conductance level) was collected while participants completed a standardized psychosocial stressor task. Results: Interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties interacted to predict EDA trajectories (β = 0.054, SE = .001, CI:.007, .002, p < .001) during acute stress: presence of either interpretation bias toward threat (β = 6.950, SE = 2.826, CI: 1.407, 12.488, p = .013) or emotion regulation difficulties (β = 9.387, SE = 3.685, CI: 2.141, 16.636, p = .011) was associated with greater reactivity and poorer recovery; presence of both was associated with the lowest resting state EDA and blunted reactivity (β = 1.340, SE = 3.085, CI: −4.721, 7.407, p = .66). Conclusions: Preliminary findings support interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties, and their distinct interactive patterns, as predictors of autonomic reactivity trajectories during stress. Interpretation bias modification and emotion regulation skills may be important intervention targets for common psychological conditions that are influenced by aberrant psychophysiological processes.

과학기술연구자들의 목적지향 동기기반추론 경험과 극복 전략

Objectives The purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore the phenomenon of goal-directed motivated reasoning experienced by Korean S&amp;T researchers during the research process and their own strategies for overcoming it. Based on the findings, we hope to draw implications for science education.&#x0D; Methods 8 Korean science and technology researchers participated in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted with each researcher to collect research data, and the collected research data was analyzed through grounded theory analysis. For this purpose, open and axial coding were conducted. Based on the result of coding, We attempted to construct paradigme model.&#x0D; Results As a result of open and axial coding, three broad categories were revealed: First, triggers of motivated reasoning, patterns of motivated reasoning, and strategies for overcoming motivated reasoning. Specifically, in terms of triggers of motivated reasoning, the four themes emerged: “culture of intolerance for failure,” “race to the priority,” “pressure for new results,” and “superficial understanding of theory”. In terms of patterns of motivated reasoning, the three themes emerged: “Avoiding reversal of position,” “Getting wanted data,” and “Between manipulation and control”. Finally, the nine themes were identified as strategies for preventing motivated reasoning: “Pause”, “Doubt”, “Self-objectification”, “Letting go of obsession for the significance”, “Enjoying research”, “learning from failure”, “Sharing”, “Organized skepticism”, and “Listening to others”. Based on those results, a paradigm model of S&amp;T researchers' experiences with motivated reasoning was identified.&#x0D; Conclusions S&amp;T researchers experienced motivated reasoning under social pressure and expectations for research performance. Nevertheless, they have tried to prevent motivated reasoning based on a collaborative research culture that is wary of biased interpretations and the culture with mutual criticism. This led to the objectivity of the research. Based on these findings, this study suggested that it is necessary to make a science education culture that is tolerant of failure and encourages the process of actively overcoming failure. It also suggested that students need to experienced the “organized skepticism” during collaborative inquiry.

Automated fluvial hydromorphology mapping from airborne remote sensing

AbstractMapping fluvial hydromorphology is an important part of defining river habitat. Mapping via field sampling or hydraulic modeling is however time consuming, and mapping hydromorphology directly from remote sensing data may offer an efficient solution. Here, we present a system for automated classification of fluvial hydromorphology based on a deep learning classification scheme applied to aerial orthophotos. Using selected rivers in Norway, we show how surface flow patterns (smooth or rippled surfaces vs. standing waves) can be classified in imagery using a trained convolutional neural network (achieving a training and validation accuracy of &gt;95%). We show how integration of these classified surface flow patterns with information on channel gradient, obtained from airborne topographic LiDAR data, can be used to compartmentalize the rivers into hydromorphological units (HMUs) that represent the dominant flow features. Automated classifications were broadly consistent with manual classifications that had been made in previous ground surveys, with equivalency in automated and manually derived HMU classes ranging from 61.5% to 87.7%, depending on the river stretch considered. They were found to be discharge‐dependent, showing the temporally dynamic aspect of hydromorphology. The proposed system is quick, flexible, generalizable, and provides consistent classifications free from interpretation bias. The deep learning approach used here can be customized to provide more detailed information on flow features, such as delineating between standing waves and advective diffusion of air bubbles/foam, to provide a more refined classification of surface flow patterns, and the classification approach can be further advanced by inclusion of additional remote sensing methods that provide further information on hydromorphological features.

Emotion category-modulated interpretation bias in perceiving ambiguous facial expressions.

In contrast to prototypical facial expressions, we show less perceptual tolerance in perceiving vague expressions by demonstrating an interpretation bias, such as more frequent perception of anger or happiness when categorizing ambiguous expressions of angry and happy faces that are morphed in different proportions and displayed under high- or low-quality conditions. However, it remains unclear whether this interpretation bias is specific to emotion categories or reflects a general negativity versus positivity bias and whether the degree of this bias is affected by the valence or category of two morphed expressions. These questions were examined in two eye-tracking experiments by systematically manipulating expression ambiguity and image quality in fear- and sad-happiness faces (Experiment 1) and by directly comparing anger-, fear-, sadness-, and disgust-happiness expressions (Experiment 2). We found that increasing expression ambiguity and degrading image quality induced a general negativity versus positivity bias in expression categorization. The degree of negativity bias, the associated reaction time and face-viewing gaze allocation were further manipulated by different expression combinations. It seems that although we show a viewing condition-dependent bias in interpreting vague facial expressions that display valence-contradicting expressive cues, it appears that the perception of these ambiguous expressions is guided by a categorical process similar to that involved in perceiving prototypical expressions.

Bayesian evidential learning of soil-rock interface identification using boreholes

Identification of the soil-rock interface of geological profiles has been a challenging task for underground construction because of lack of sufficient borehole data. Traditional spatial prediction methods for geostatistics require subjective assumptions in the functional form of the variograms or covariance models. This study aims to evaluate the uncertainty of the soil-rock interface using the Bayesian evidential learning (BEL) framework without the subjective assumptions. A borehole-intensive site is selected to investigate the impact of borehole number and layout on the estimation of the soil-rock interface. The BEL is further applied to predict the soil-rock interface for metro tunnelling, and the results are validated through geophysical interpretations. The study has shown that BEL can effectively learn the covariance features of the priors. The results underscore the importance of borehole planning in obtaining an optimal reduction in geological uncertainty. Sequential estimation of soil-rock interface can significantly reduce uncertainty in elevations across the site, particularly in areas near the boreholes. To mitigate biases in geophysical interpretation of the soil-rock interface, the utilization of BEL prediction could be beneficial.