Position Of Item Research Articles

Distinct cortical systems reinstate the content and context of episodic memories

Episodic recall depends upon the reinstatement of cortical activity present during the formation of a memory. Evidence from functional neuroimaging and invasive recordings in humans suggest that reinstatement organizes our memories by time or content, yet the neural systems involved in reinstating these unique types of information remain unclear. Here, combining computational modeling and intracranial recordings from 69 epilepsy patients, we show that two cortical systems uniquely reinstate the semantic content and temporal context of previously studied items during free recall. Examining either the posterior medial or anterior temporal networks, we find that forward encoding models trained on the brain’s response to the temporal and semantic attributes of items can predict the serial position and semantic category of unseen items. During memory recall, these models uniquely link reinstatement of temporal context and semantic content to these posterior and anterior networks, respectively. These findings demonstrate how specialized cortical systems enable the human brain to target specific memories.

Wyznaczanie sposobu pakowania palet dla robota

In the paper the problem of an automatic pallet loading with the usage of a robot is considered. In the logistic processes of trade business commodities are distributed from stores to retailers on pallets. In the paper the methods of pallet loading are analyzed in terms of the robot packing abilities. In order to put an item in a given place in a partially loaded pallet, robot needs to have free access to this place, so it cannot be blocked. A graph model is proposed to represent the relative positions of items on pallets and a method for sequencing of robot packing operations is formulated. It is also shown that not all patterns of pallet packing can be realized by a robot.

An Investigation of Item Position Effects by Means of IRT-Based Differential Item Functioning Methods

In this study, whether item position effects lead to DIF in the condition where different test booklets are used was investigated. To do this the methods of Lord’s chi-square and Raju’s unsigned area with the 3PL model under with and without item purification were used. When the performance of the methods was compared, it was revealed that generally, the method of Lord’s chi-square identified more items with DIF than did the method of Raju’s unsigned area. The differentiation of the booklets with respect to item position resulted in a higher number of items displaying DIF with item purification conditions. Based on the findings of the present study, to avoid the occurrence of DIF due to item position effects, it is recommended to position the same items across different booklets in similar locations when forming different booklets.

Investigating visual attention toward foods in a salad buffet with mobile eye tracking

Mobile eye tracking (MET) enables the recording of gaze data in less-controlled research environments, but best practices for its use in studies about visual attention to foods are yet undetermined. This study supports the building of a coherent framework for this methodological approach by discussing current eye-tracking trends in the field, applying MET in an experiment with real foods, and proposing methodological approaches for future studies. In the experiment, 32 female participants’ gaze data were recorded while they inspected a salad buffet for 20 s and then assembled a self-choice salad. The functionality of fixation, scanpath, and pupil size measures was investigated, focusing on associations between eye movements and food item color and position, eye movements and food item preference, and pupil size and selected measures. Dish placement affected the relative amount of visits to a single food item, whereas food item color and preference were not associated with the examined measures. The pupil-size measure did not function with the elderly participants. Importantly, a simple cluster analysis, based on a scanpath and a food selection measure, helped to illustrate different profiles of food view and selection. It was determined that food item position should be carefully considered in MET studies involving real foods, and scanpath measures could be useful in bringing forth behavioral differences that are not revealed by fixation parameters alone. Importantly, identifying “attention-action” profiles by combining eye-tracking and other measures seems to be a fruitful way of approaching individual differences in food viewing and selection.

Mapping Unobserved Item-Respondent Interactions: A Latent Space Item Response Model with Interaction Map.

Classic item response models assume that all items with the same difficulty have the same response probability among all respondents with the same ability. These assumptions, however, may very well be violated in practice, and it is not straightforward to assess whether these assumptions are violated, because neither the abilities of respondents nor the difficulties of items are observed. An example is an educational assessment where unobserved heterogeneity is present, arising from unobserved variables such as cultural background and upbringing of students, the quality of mentorship and other forms of emotional and professional support received by students, and other unobserved variables that may affect response probabilities. To address such violations of assumptions, we introduce a novel latent space model which assumes that both items and respondents are embedded in an unobserved metric space, with the probability of a correct response decreasing as a function of the distance between the respondent's and the item's position in the latent space. The resulting latent space approach provides an interaction map that represents interactions of respondents and items, and helps derive insightful diagnostic information on items as well as respondents. In practice, such interaction maps enable teachers to detect students from underrepresented groups who need more support than other students. We provide empirical evidence to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed latent space approach, along with simulation results.

Quantitative cognition in carpenter ants

Processing information about quantities allows animals to make optimal decisions during many natural contexts, such as foraging, territorial defense, offspring care, mate choice, and intra-sexual competition. Compared to the wealth of information available in vertebrates, much less is known in invertebrates, even though the processing of quantities is equally relevant for both taxa. Here, we used two separate ecologically relevant tasks (brood pile preference and landmark-guided foraging) to investigate two dimensions of quantitative cognition in carpenter ants: spontaneous quantitative judgments and trained use of sequential landmarks. Individual ants spontaneously discriminated between two piles of dummy cocoons both when the choice involved smaller (1 vs. 2, 3, 4) and larger numerical contrasts (2 vs. 4, 6, 8). Ants used both chemical and visual/tactile cues and their performance was dependent on the numerical ratio. In the second task, ants preferentially searched near the trained landmark (out of five identical ones) despite alterations in its position, suggesting that they used ordinal information about its location when searching for food. In this experiment, ants showed a limit at four since their performance drastically decreased when they were trained to the 5th landmark. We showed that carpenter ants use both relative quantity and relative position to make efficient decisions. Our study contributes to the scant body of knowledge available on quantitative cognition in invertebrate species. There is ample experimental evidence that non-human animals are able to process quantitative information, in particular mammals, some birds, and fish, and that this ability is useful in a variety of ecologically relevant situations. Yet, information about quantitative cognition in invertebrates is very scarce. We show that individual ants are able to use both relative quantity and relative position of items. Nurse ants spontaneously discriminated between two brood piles of different sizes and foragers were able to learn to identify a landmark associated with food on the basis of its position in a series of identical ones. These results suggest that ants might use quantitative information to make optimal choices in their natural environment although the precise mechanisms underlying this ability should be further investigated.

Total quality control of the cyber-physical production using machine vision technologies

The total control is made for each separate unit of the item being manufactured to prevent any scrap. The automatic control tools are a part of information, measurement and controlling sub-systems, which use the machine vision technology. The information sub-system is done with the cyber-physical production calculation potency. The measurement sub-system is a set of digital cameras (optical detectors) and the artificial illumination semiconductor sources. The controlling sub-system regulates the item position with turning mechanisms inside the closed cyber-physical system technological chamber. A set of sub-systems performs a non-destructible item quality control with the item surface photographic images and stereo-maps program analysis, which should not contain non-homogeneous sections like scars, fissures, inclusions and other and any deviations of geometrical dimensions. The calculator three-dimension item image is formed with reconstruction algorithms of two-dimension photographs received in different views and illumination conditions and the means of laser scanning. The item surface quality requirements in the enlightened areas and obscured ones are defined with rendering equation, which are permitted for the item digital twin with calculator numerous methods. The quality control requires to compare with the reference energy and color measurement item surface characteristics, which are defined with mathematical calculations and optical measurement means. There is a scheme given of information, measurement and controlling cyber-physical system channels, which engage the machine vision technologies to control the item quality.

Multiple-object tracking and visually guided touch.

Multiple-object tracking (MOT) involves keeping track of the positions of multiple independent target items as they move among distractors. According to Pylyshyn (Cognition, 80, 127-158, 2001), the item individuation mechanism used in MOT is also used in visually guided touch. To test this, we compared single-task MOT (MOT alone) with dual-task MOT (MOT while touching items that changed colour), looking for interference: cases where single-task performance was worse than dual-task. Touching items that changed colour interfered with MOT, but effects varied depending on whether the item touched was a target or distractor in MOT. Touching distractors always reduced MOT performance more than touching targets. Touching targets during MOT did not interfere when there was only a single target to track but interfered more once there were two or more targets. We also measured interference based on latencies to touch items that changed colour, comparing single and dual-task conditions (touch alone, touch + track). MOT interfered with touch, increasing RT to touch items that changed colour, with latencies significantly higher when those items were distractors rather than targets. Overall, there was general interference (differences between single and dual-task performance), as might be expected if coordinating the two tasks required a common limited resource such as general attention or working memory. However, there was also differential interference that varied based on whether the touched item was a target or distractor in MOT. This differential interference suggests the specific mechanisms used in MOT may also play a role in visually guided touch.

The Effect of Question Positioning on Data Quality in Web Surveys

The quality of data in surveys is affected by response burden and questionnaire length. With an increasing number of questions, respondents can become bored, tired, and annoyed and may take shortcuts to reduce the effort needed to complete the survey. In this article, direct evidence is presented on how the position of items within a web questionnaire influences respondents’ focus of attention. In two experiments, part of an eye-tracking study and an online survey, respectively, a variety of indicators show that data quality is lower if the experimental question is positioned at the end rather than at the beginning of a questionnaire. Practical implications are discussed.

ОПТИМИЗАЦИЯ РАЗМЕЩЕНИЯ РАВНОГАБАРИТНЫХ ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ РЭА МОДИФИЦИРОВАННЫМ МЕТОДОМ ПОКООРДИНАТНОГО СПУСКА

The problem of optimal placement of elements of electrical and electronic circuits is considered. The minimum weighted connection length is selected as the criterion. A computational method is proposed that is a modification of the coordinate descent method and one of the variants of the General approach based on pair permutations. The scheme is defined by the connection matrix. We consider a fixed set of element positions and a distance matrix based on an orthogonal metric. This problem is a variant of the General mathematical model, called the quadratic assignment problem. Geometric restriction of the problem – no more than one element can be placed in one cell. It is stated that approaches based on paired and similar permutations are economical, and the method of the penalty function leads to” ditching ” and is ineffective. A modified coordinate descent method is described, which is a variant of the pair permutation method, in which pairs are selected based on the coordinate descent method. In the proposed version of the coordinate descent method, two coordinates are changed simultaneously at one stage of calculations (and not one, as in the usual optimization method). one of the coordinates is used for the usual trial step, and the other is used for correction, returning to the acceptable area. Next, the value of the target function is calculated at the found point and compared with the previously reached value. If the value has improved, the found point becomes the new starting point. Otherwise, a step is made on a different coordinate with simultaneous correction of the vector of item position numbers (return to the allowed area). The experience of using the modified method in solving the problem of placing EVA elements has shown its significant advantages in comparison with other known methods, for example, the genetic algorithm, as well as the method of penalty functions. An example of calculations using the proposed method is considered. The connection matrix was set analytically. First, the initial approximation was searched by the Monte Carlo method (10,000 iterations), after which the local optimum was calculated using a modified method of coordinate descent in the permutation space without repetitions (a limit of 100 iterations was set). The initial value of the coordinate step is equal to the size of the permutation, then at each iteration it was reduced by 1 to the minimum possible value of 1. The advantage of this method is that there is no penalty function. The search is performed automatically in the permutation space without repetitions. Computational experiments have shown high computational qualities of the proposed method.

Spatial Attention in Serial Order Working Memory: An EEG Study.

Theoretical models explaining serial order processing link order information to specified position markers. However, the precise characteristics of position marking have remained largely elusive. Recent studies have shown that space is involved in marking serial position of items in verbal working memory (WM). Furthermore, it has been suggested, but not proven, that accessing these items involves horizontal shifts of spatial attention. We used continuous electroencephalography recordings to show that memory search in serial order verbal WM involves spatial attention processes that share the same electrophysiological signatures as those operating on the visuospatial WM and external space. Accessing an item from a sequence in verbal WM induced posterior "early directing attention negativity" and "anterior directing attention negativity" contralateral to the position of the item in mental space (i.e., begin items on the left; end items on the right). In the frequency domain, we observed posterior alpha suppression contralateral to the position of the item. Our results provide clear evidence for the involvement of spatial attention in retrieving serial information from verbal WM. Implications for WM models are discussed.

On the Cover: Is my Test Speeded?

“Is my test speeded?” is a question that test developers should ask when developing a power test, a test that measures ability rather than speed. A test is not speeded if most test takers have sufficient time to answer all test questions in the time allotted. One way to check the speededness of a test is to compute the completion rate – that is, the proportion of test takers who answered the test questions at the end of the test. When the time spent on test questions is available, the second way to evaluate the speededness is to compare the time spent on the questions at the end to the time spent on the questions in the beginning. The graphic shows the average response times for items according to their position in the test sequence and their difficulty (i.e., proportion of correct responses). The visual here answers the following research questions: 1) “Is there a general downward trend in mean item response times toward the end of the test, controlling for item difficulty?” and 2) “Do items become more difficult at the end of the test?” The plot shows data from multiple 60-item modules on a high-stakes certification exam. This graph was generated using the R package ggplot2 (Wickham, 2009), and code is available upon request. The solid black line is the grand mean response time by item position across all modules. First, as indicated by the solid black line, it does not appear that item response times are generally decreasing toward the end of the test, indicating that examinees are not “speeding up” as they reach the time limit. Second, the colored lines, indicating the trends in average response time by position as a function of item difficulty, show that more difficult items take more time to complete than easier items, but this relationship does not depend on item position. That is, items do not become more difficult if placed at the end of the test. Overall, the graphic suggests this exam is not speeded. Interested readers may contact Bozhidar M. Bashkov ([email protected]) for questions on this graph or the code to create it. I would recommend readers try varying the number of categories of item difficulty when creating the graph. The comparison may look sharper with a small number of categories – for example, three.

Working memory and serial order: Evidence against numerical order codes but for item-position associations.

The processing of ordinally organized information is a characteristic of both serial-order working memory and numerical cognition. Serial positions of items presented within a list follow an ordinal organization when stored in working memory, whereas numbers are based on an ordinal structure stored in long-term memory. We tested the hypothesis that long-term numerical ordinal representations support the coding of temporary serial position information in working memory. In Experiment 1, learned word-number associations appeared to have a negative instead of a positive impact on immediate serial recall performance relative to control conditions. Experiments 2 showed that this effect was due to a stronger opportunity for learning associations of words to serial positions in the control lists as compared to the experimental lists. Experiment 3 showed that when controlling for these positional learning effects, there was no reliable effect of learned word-number associations on immediate serial recall performance. This study indicates that numerical codes do not play a major role in coding serial position information in working tasks. At the same time, the robust item-position learning effects demonstrate a contribution of long-term item-position associations to immediate memory for order. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Absolute and relative knowledge of ordinal position on implied lists.

Does serial learning result in specific associations between pairs of items, or does it result in a cognitive map based on relations of all items? In 2 experiments, we trained human participants to learn various lists of photographic images. We then tested the participants on new lists of photographic images. These new lists were constructed by selecting only 1 image from each list learned during training. In Experiment 1, participants were trained to choose the earlier (experimenter defined) item when presented with adjacent pairs of items on each of 5 different 5-item lists. Participants were then tested on derived lists, in which each item retained its original ordinal position, even though each of the presented pairs was novel. Participants performed above chance on all of the derived lists. In Experiment 2, a different group of participants received the same training as those of Experiment 1, but the ordinal positions of items were systematically changed on each derived list. The response accuracy for Experiment 2 varied inversely with the degree to which an item's original ordinal position was changed. These results can be explained by a model in which participants learned to make both positional inferences about the absolute rank of each stimulus, and transitive inferences about the relative ranks of pairs of stimuli. These inferences enhanced response accuracy when ordinal position was maintained, but not when it was changed. Our results demonstrate quantitatively that, in addition to item-item associations that participants acquire while learning a list of arbitrary items, they form a cognitive map that represents both experienced and inferred relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Vascular cognitive impairment due to dilated perivascular spaces in putamen: Connections with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and neurological deficits

AbstractBackgroundAnatomical studies in animals have described multiple striatal circuits and suggested that sub‐components of the striatum project to distinct cortical areas. Researchers that reconstructed tracts of the left and right putamen have shown ipsilateral projections to the primary motor area, primary somatosensory area, supplementary motor area, premotor area, cerebellum, thalamus and prefrontal cortex (specifically to the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex appears to have a specific role in spatial processing and memory retrieval.MethodCase report and analyses of MR Images (T1, T2 and Flair) of a patient presenting with vascular cognitive impairment due to dilated perivascular spaces in putamen bilaterally.ResultMale patient, 81 years‐old, right‐handed, with four years of formal education and high cerebrovascular risk. His cognitive complaints began twelve years ago, and worsened in the last two years (losing personal belongings inside his own house, sometimes forgetting names of well‐known persons, with word finding difficulties). He denied impairment in activities of daily living, was able to organize his home budget, take his medications and go to the market alone. Now, he is physically and intellectually active (walking, reading newspapers, and talking about Philosophy), and still drives cars. His CDR score is 0.5, and his MMSE score is 29 (with 3 points in evoked memory). Word List Memory Task (Immediate Recall):4/5/8 (intrusion of "vessel" in the first two lists); Evocation:6 (intrusion of "vessel"); Recognition:10; Verbal Fluency (Animals):20; Verbal Fluency (Fruits):9. MR (10/15/2018): mild supratentorial microangiopathy; encephalomalacia/gliosis in the vermis and the left cerebellar hemisphere; Fasekas = 1 / Scheltens = 1 (bilaterally); bilateral supratentorial dilated perivascular spaces, particularly in the putamen.ConclusionOur patient does not have dementia, regardless of more than ten years of cognitive impairment. Bilateral dilated perivascular spaces in the putamen may cause deficits in memory retrieval and spatial processing. Neuropsychological evaluations must consider specific areas of brain injury. Our patient has impaired memory retrieval (with false memories verified by constant intrusions in the Word List Memory Task), and the high occurrence of losing personal belongings inside his house can be due to difficulties in spatial processing (mental map of positions of items in space).

Item position effects in listening but not in reading in the European Survey of Language Competences

In contrast with the assumptions made in standard measurement models used in large-scale assessments, students’ performance may change during the test administration. This change can be modeled as a function of item position in case of a test booklet design with item-order manipulations. The present study used an explanatory item response theory (IRT) framework to analyze item position effects in the 2012 European Survey on Language Competences. Consistent item position effects were found for listening but not for reading. More specifically, for a large subset of items, item difficulty decreased along with item position, which is known as a practice effect. The effect was found across all tested languages, although the effect sizes varied across items, test levels, and countries.

Collinear Motion Strengthens Local Context in Visual Detection.

Detection of elongated objects in the visual scene can be improved by additional elements flanking the object on the collinear axis. This is the collinear context effect (CE) and is represented in the long-range horizontal connection plexus in V1. The aim of this study was to test whether the visual collinear motion can improve the CE. In the three experiments of this study, the flank was presented with different types of motion. In particular, the collinear motion aligned with the longitudinal axis of the to-be-detected object: toward or away from it, and the orthogonal motion with a direction perpendicular to the collinear axis. Only collinear motion toward the target showed a robust and replicable empowerment of the CE. This dynamic modulation of the CE likely is implemented in the long-range horizontal connection plexus in V1, but, given that in addition it conveys the time information of motion, there must be a direct feedback in V1 from higher visual areas where motion perception is implemented, such as Middle Temporal (MT). Elongated visual objects moving along their longitudinal axis favor a propagation of activation in front of them via a network of interconnected units that allows the visual system to predict future positions of relevant items in the visual scene.

Concordancia variable en español de herencia: estudio del grupo nominal

Los hablantes de herencia en la zona norte de Texas tienen español como lengua familiar e inglés como lengua vehicular. El español queda relegado al habla coloquial, dejando al margen el registro formal y la escritura. Por este motivo, la competencia lingüística en español de estos hablantes no es completa y existen problemas concretos con la concordancia dentro de grupos nominales con tres constituyentes (artículo, nombre y adjetivo). En esta investigación se realizaron entrevistas semidirigidas a una muestra de hablantes de herencia de tres generaciones sociolingüísticas (G1, G2 y G3) para crear un corpus oral. Se analizaron un total de 24 entrevistas para contabilizar el número de grupos nominales con tres constituyentes utilizados y relacionarlos con las variables de generación sociolingüística, género del hablante, posición del ítem con respecto al verbo (preverbal, posverbal o aislado) y concordancia interna (género y número). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el uso de grupos nominales compuestos disminuye mientras que los casos sin concordancia aumentan porcentualmente según crece la generación sociolingüística.

Aplikasi Informasi Pelaporan Dan Penemuan Barang Tertinggal Berbasis Android (Studi Kasus: Pt Kereta Commuter Indonesia)

In carrying out the process of reporting and finding items left behind at PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia, the mechanism is still using making a loss letter. When the Passenger wants to know the items left behind are reported to the station clerk, then he must contact the passanger officer and fill in the loss form, then from the passanger service, coordinate via mobile phone to find out the item's position. The method used in the analysis is the PIECES application method, the development method used is the waterfall method but only to the needs analysis and system design while the data collection methods used in this study are literature studies, observations and interviews. The results of this study are android-based applications that can be used by PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia, Passanger Service Officers in reporting and finding leftovers, the value of paper writing into storage in the database.

Reclassification of income statement items and weight adjustment of compensation performance indicators

ABSTRACT The selection and weighting of performance indicators are of vital importance for an effective compensation contract. We examine the effect of the reclassification of income statement items, caused by China’s new Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises (ASBE) in 2007 on the weight adjustment of compensation performance indicators. The results show that the sensitivity of executive pay and investment income increases significantly after ASBE moves investment income in the income statement from below-the-line of operating income to above-the-line, which indicates that the disclosure position of income statement items is directly related to the weight of compensation performance indicators. We also find that the earnings persistence of investment income increases significantly after ASBE, which implies that the reclassification of investment income conforms to business practice and also performs well. However, the increased sensitivity of executive pay and investment income may induce management’s opportunistic investment in financial assets.