Low Familiarity Research Articles

Linguistic and emotional-valence characteristics of reading passages for clinical use and research

PurposeFluency assessment in people who stutter (PWS) includes reading aloud passages. There is little information on properties of these passages that may affect reading performance: emotional valance, arousal, word familiarity and frequency and passage-readability. Our first goal was to present an extensive examination of these factors in three commonly used (“traditional”) passages. The second goal was to compare a traditional passage to a new passage, designed to minimize the impact of these properties. MethodsContent words were rated (129 participants) on arousal, valence and familiarity. Other linguistic features were analyzed based on available datasets. This information was used to assess traditional passages, and to construct a new well-balanced passage, made of neutral, low-arousal and highly-familiar words. Readability for all passages was tested using formula-based and CLOZE tests (31 participants). Finally, 26 PWS were evaluated on fluency comparing the commonly used “Rainbow” passage with the novel one. ResultsThe three traditional passages contain a share of emotionally valenced (22-34%), high arousal (15-18%), lower familiarity (6-8%) and polysyllabic (5-9%) content words. Readability was highest for the novel passage (on formula-based scales). Average disfluencies percent for the Rainbow and our novel passage were not significantly different. Yet half of the individuals in this sample showed a large difference between the two passages. ConclusionWe provide detailed information on potential sources of variance using the traditional passages. Knowledge about these characteristics can inform clinical practice (and research). We suggest a combined procedure, using more than one passage to assess stuttering in individual cases.

Familiarity effects in EEG-based emotion recognition

Although emotion detection using electroencephalogram (EEG) data has become a highly active area of research over the last decades, little attention has been paid to stimulus familiarity, a crucial subjectivity issue. Using both our experimental data and a sophisticated database (DEAP dataset), we investigated the effects of familiarity on brain activity based on EEG signals. Focusing on familiarity studies, we allowed subjects to select the same number of familiar and unfamiliar songs; both resulting datasets demonstrated the importance of reporting self-emotion based on the assumption that the emotional state when experiencing music is subjective. We found evidence that music familiarity influences both the power spectra of brainwaves and the brain functional connectivity to a certain level. We conducted an additional experiment using music familiarity in an attempt to recognize emotional states; our empirical results suggested that the use of only songs with low familiarity levels can enhance the performance of EEG-based emotion classification systems that adopt fractal dimension or power spectral density features and support vector machine, multilayer perceptron or C4.5 classifier. This suggests that unfamiliar songs are most appropriate for the construction of an emotion recognition system.

Attitudes, knowledge and practices concerning delirium: a survey among intensive care unit professionals.

Delirium is a common form of vital organ dysfunction in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and is associated with poor outcomes. Adherence to guideline recommendations pertaining to delirium is still suboptimal. We performed a survey aimed at identifying barriers for implementation that should be addressed in a tailored implementation intervention targeted at improved ICU delirium guideline adherence. The survey was conducted among ICU professionals. An online survey was conducted among 360 ICU health care professionals (nurses, physicians and delirium consultants) from six ICUs in the southwest of the Netherlands as part of a multicentre prospective implementation project [response rate: 64% of 565 invited; 283 (79%) were nurses]. Although the majority (83%) of respondents considered delirium a common and major problem in the ICU, we identified several barriers for implementation of a delirium guideline. The most important barriers were knowledge deficit, low delirium screening rate, lack of trust in the reliability of delirium screening tools, belief that delirium is not preventable, low familiarity with delirium guidelines, low satisfaction with physician-described delirium management, poor collaboration between nurses and physicians, reluctance to change delirium care practices, lack of time, disbelief that patients would receive optimal care when adhering to the guideline and the perception that the delirium guideline is cumbersome or inconvenient in daily practice. Although ICU professionals consider delirium a serious problem, several important barriers to adhere to guidelines on delirium management are still present today. Identification of implementation barriers for adherence to guidelines pertaining to delirium is feasible with a survey. Results of this study may help to design-targeted implementation strategies for ICU delirium management.

Role of Talented Student Office in Encouraging Medical Science Students for Participating in Scientific Olympiads

Introduction: Scientific Olympiads and the Talented Student Office (TSO) are two strategies for the identification and training of gifted and talented medical science students. The aim of the present study is to identify students’ viewpoints about the facilities and privileges of the TSO in stimulating them to participate in the Medical Science Olympiad. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study and all participating in the 4th and 5 National Medical Science Olympiad in Iran from 2011 to 21012 were selected using the census method. The validity of a researcher-made questionnaire was confirmed by experts. The content validity index (CVI) was 0.95. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha (a=0.8) and the test-retest method (ICC=0.85). Descriptive statistics including frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation were calculated by SPSS 19. Results: In total, 261 students responded to the questionnaires. About 36% of participants in this study had low or very low familiarity with regulations of the TSO. Continuing education to higher levels (master’s, Ph.D., residency) and being recruited as a faculty member were the most motivational factors for participation and the least was the permission to select more courses (up to 27 units). Conclusion: Continuing education to higher levels and recruitment as a faculty member were two important factors for participating in the National Medical Science Olympiad. Therefore, personnel in the TSO and related managers should prompt medical students to these centers by highlighting the facilities.

Effectiveness of preventive medicine education and its determinants among medical students in Malaysia.

Preventive medicine has been incorporated in the medical school curriculum, but its effectiveness and the factors that affect it are yet to be widely looked into in the context of Malaysia. We aimed to measure the familiarity with, perception about the importance to learn, and the ability to practice preventive medicine as well as its determinants among the medical students in Malaysia. Thus, a cross sectional study was conducted through an anonymous online survey among 387 randomly selected final year medical students of four large public medical schools in Malaysia from March to September 2014. Of the total sample, 340 (response rate 87.8%) gave a written informed consent and took part in the survey. The familiarity of the sample with preventive medicine was measured in 19 preventive medicine areas, and their perception about the importance of preventive medicine and their ability to practice it were gauged on a Likert scale (low score indicates disagreement and high indicates agreement). Descriptive statistical analysis was performed, followed by logistic regression. The mean age of the respondents was 23.7 (SD 0.77) years, and 61.2% (n = 208) of them were females. Results showed that 22.9% of the sample (n = 78) had a low familiarity with preventive medicine, whereas 76.8% (n = 261) had a high familiarity. The study sample specified that among all the preventive medicine subjects, screening and control as well as smoking cessation and immunization are "extremely important to learn." In univariable analysis, being a female, medical school, family size, and perception about the importance to learn preventive medicine were associated with the ability to practice it. In multivariable analysis, the perception towards the importance to learn preventive medicine was the only significant determinant: aOR (adjusted odds ratio) for those who "agreed" 17.28 (95% CI aOR 4.44-67.26, P < 0.001) and for "strongly agreed" 35.87 (95% CI aOR 8.04-159.87, P < 0.001). Considering these findings, the familiarity of medical students with preventive medicine should be increased. The perception about the importance to learn preventive medicine is a strong determinant for the ability to practice it.

Efectos de las características del problema, captación de su estructura y uso de analogías sobre el éxito de los estudiantes de secundaria en la resolución de problemas

En este trabajo se analiza la influencia del nivel académico, de los estudios cursados, de la estructura y contexto del problema, de la captación de la estructura y del uso de analogías, en la resolución de problemas. Se ha utilizado un diseño factorial con un factor intra-sujetos y varios factores entre-sujetos, que se han seleccionado en función de la hipótesis a contrastar. Se ha administrado a 181 estudiantes de secundaria dos tipos de cuadernillos que contienen dos problemas y preguntas sobre la captación de la estructura y uso de analogías. Los resultados de pruebas estadísticas no paramétricas muestran que: a) El nivel académico y el tipo de estudios cursados son variables cruciales en la resolución de problemas; b) La captación de la estructura influye decisivamente para resolver los problemas, pero no el uso de analogías; y c) Los estudiantes resuelven significativamente mejor los problemas de estructura sencilla y contexto familiar.

Accuracy of Outcome Anticipation, But Not Gaze Behavior, Differs Against Left- and Right-Handed Penalties in Team-Handball Goalkeeping.

Low perceptual familiarity with relatively rarer left-handed as opposed to more common right-handed individuals may result in athletes' poorer ability to anticipate the former's action intentions. Part of such left-right asymmetry in visual anticipation could be due to an inefficient gaze strategy during confrontation with left-handed individuals. To exemplify, observers may not mirror their gaze when viewing left- vs. right-handed actions but preferentially fixate on an opponent's right body side, irrespective of an opponent's handedness, owing to the predominant exposure to right-handed actions. So far empirical verification of such assumption, however, is lacking. Here we report on an experiment where team-handball goalkeepers' and non-goalkeepers' gaze behavior was recorded while they predicted throw direction of left- and right-handed 7-m penalties shown as videos on a computer monitor. As expected, goalkeepers were considerably more accurate than non-goalkeepers and prediction was better against right- than left-handed penalties. However, there was no indication of differences in gaze measures (i.e., number of fixations, overall and final fixation duration, time-course of horizontal or vertical fixation deviation) as a function of skill group or the penalty-takers' handedness. Findings suggest that inferior anticipation of left-handed compared to right-handed individuals' action intentions may not be associated with misalignment in gaze behavior. Rather, albeit looking similarly, accuracy differences could be due to observers' differential ability of picking up and interpreting the visual information provided by left- vs. right-handed movements.

MÉTODOS DE LECTURA Y ACCESO AL LÉXICO ON-LINE EN LECTORES PRINCIPIANTES

El presente estudio fue diseñado con el objetivo de analizar el acceso al léxico on-line en alumnos de primero de primaria teniendo en cuenta el método de aprendizaje utilizado en la escuela. Con este fin seleccionamos dos grupos de alumnos (receptores de un método global y receptores de un método sintético-fonético) donde se analizaron las respuestas de los sujetos en base a las tasas de verificación (lectura de palabras) y tiempos de lectura. Para ello manipulamos los estímulos en base a una serie de criterios (grado de familiaridad de la palabra, longitud de la misma y frecuencia silábica posicional). Los estudiantes del método global mostraron mayores dificultades de decodificación ya que los tiempos de lectura en palabras de familiaridad baja y frecuencia silábica posicional baja fueron significativamente mayores. Mientras que los alumnos del método sintético resultaron ser más hábiles con la decodificación pero sus tiempos de lectura fueron significativamente mayores en prácticamente todos los parámetros. Por lo que se constata la idea de que el método de aprendizaje influye en las estrategias utilizadas por los estudiantes dependiendo de las características léxicas y subléxicas de la palabra.

Eye-tracking customers' visual attention in the wild: Dynamic gaze behavior moderates the effect of store familiarity on navigational fluency

A retail store is a multi-sensory environment filled with messages to tempt customers into making unplanned purchases. The purpose of this field study was to examine the interplay between three factors claimed to precede and influence unplanned purchases: store familiarity, visual attention, and navigational fluency (the subjective ease of navigating). Eye-tracking recordings and post-study questionnaires from 100 grocery store shoppers showed that store familiarity was positively associated with navigational fluency. However, customers' levels of dynamic gaze behavior (a frequent, widely distributed viewing pattern) moderated this effect. Dynamic gaze behavior significantly predicted navigational fluency among customers with low and moderate store familiarity, but not among customers familiar with the store. These findings challenge the formerly held assumption that store familiarity automatically implies navigational ease, and store unfamiliarity implies navigational difficulty. The results have implications for navigational aspects in stores.

다양한 한국식 소스를 이용한 닭강정의 관능적 특성과 중국 및 한국 소비자의 교차문화적 소비자 기호도

This study investigated sensory characteristics and cross-cultural consumer acceptability of sweet crispy chicken (Dakgangjeong) prepared with six types of Korean-style sauces among Korean and Chinese consumers. The main ingredient(s) of each sauce was soy sauce (SOY), Japanese apricot extract and soy sauce (JASOY), gochujang (SPICY), minced garlic (GARL), and ketchup (KET-I and KET-II); KET-I and KET-II were modified to possess ethnic Korean flavors. In general, Korean and Chinese consumers preferred all types of Dakgangjeong, except for GARL and SPICY, respectively. Least preferred products of each country had the lowest familiarity rating among consumers of the respective countries. Similar to previous studies, these results showed that familiarity is an important factor affecting consumer preference in a cross-cultural context. Particularly, it was found that higher familiarity of the product was not found to influence consumer to like a product, but rather low familiarity seemed to affect consumers to reject a product.

외식기업의 모브랜드와 확장브랜드간의 상호작용 연구

This study aims to find the interaction between parent brand and extended brand, using Category Extension that is appropriate for food service. Study 1 focuses on how the parent brand affects the extended brand. To be more specific, 2X2 between subject design is set with the information of parent brand (exist/non-exist) and brand familiarity (high/low) as treatment variable. Dependent variables consist of purchase intention. Study 2 focuses on how the extended brand affects the parent brand. To be more specific, 2X2 within subject design is set with the brand familiarity (high/low) and perceived fit (high/low) as treatment variables. Dependent variables consist of purchase intention. Since the purchase intention are increased by utilizing parent brand’s information to the extended brand with low brand familiarity, introducing parent brand’s information on behalf of the new extended brand will bring positive results. This study reviews the influence of relationship variables of brand extension strategy from a food service company point of view. This is significant in providing a positive data base for establishing an effective brand extension strategy based on academic research.

Islamic Education Teachers’ Content Knowledge of Islamic Law Matters: A Study in Yogyakarta City

This paper was aimed to analyze Islamic education teachers’ content knowledge of matters related to Islamic law. A cross-section survey research was conducted on twenty Islamic education teachers in several schools in Yogyakarta City pursuing master study in Postgraduate Program, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Islamic University of Indonesia. Respondents can be characterized as teachers with civil servants status, having minimum of five years teaching experience, mostly active in social mass organizations. The result shows that respondents have relatively low familiarity with sources of Islamic law, especially the classical ones. Other result also indicate low content knowledge in teachers about matters related to Islamic law, especially in economics and heredity. From the results, the research suggests a more active role in both government and higher education institutions to contribute in improving teachers’ knowledge. Contributions proposed can mainly be formed in training of teachers and creating useful website with Islamic education contents for their teaching sources. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5p441

Evaluation of the impact of Brazil's sustainability on the behavioral intentions of stakeholders toward the country

This paper examines the influence of sustainability as a dimension of country image on behavioral intentions (so-called conations) of stakeholders toward Brazil. In addition, sustainable consumption, a moderating variable of the country-of-origin effect (not been identified in other studies), and consumers’ gender and familiarity with the country are investigated as moderating variables. The empirical research is of a descriptive nature, and in terms of data collection, a survey method has been used on a sample of undergraduate students from foreign institutions. In total, 427 questionnaires have been considered in the analysis. The results of a multiple regression analyses show that the dimensions of country image (affective, political, technical and sustainability) are reliable factors that have a positive influence on conations toward Brazil, with the affective dimension exerting the strongest influence. Further comparisons show that the sustainability dimension is more important in shaping the conations of female respondents and those with low familiarity with Brazil, whereas the political dimension is more relevant in shaping the conations of male respondents and those with high familiarity with Brazil. Finally, the sustainability dimension has a minor influence on individuals with higher levels of sustainable consumption.

A Role for Identification in the Gradual Decline in the Pleasantness of Flavors With Age.

Objectives:This study investigated a possible role for identification in the decline in flavor pleasantness with age.Methods:Two hundred sixty-four individuals aged from 16 to 85 years tasted 6 flavored drinks of varying identity and ease of identification, and rated each on pleasantness, a range of other characteristics and identified all flavors.Results:Using regression, firstly, pleasantness was inversely associated with age (β = −0.22, p < .01). Secondly, the decline in pleasantness with age was associated with poorer identification (β = 0.30, p < .01), lower perceptions of sweetness (β = 0.01, p < .01), lower strength of flavor (β = 0.00, p = .02), lower familiarity (β = 0.01, p < .01), and a lower frequency of usual drink consumption (β = 0.04, p < .01). Thirdly, improved identification with age was associated with increased drink familiarity (β =< 0.01, p < .01), coloration compared with no color (β = <0.06, p < .01), and correct compared with incorrect coloration (β = <0.27, p < .01).Discussion:These findings demonstrate a clear role for identification in the decline in flavor pleasantness with age. These findings thus provide clear evidence for a cognitive and perceptual element to these hedonic processes. Our findings suggest that likings for flavors in older individuals may be increased/maintained through the use of improved visual cues, easily recognizable foods, and/or identity labels.

The role of product familiarity and consumer involvement on liking and perceptions of fresh meat

The objective of this work was to compare consumer’s liking and perception of meat quality attributes as a function of their familiarity and involvement with fresh meat.Ninety-three meat consumers were classified on the basis of their familiarity with fresh meats. Socio-demographic differences between the clusters were found to relate to gender and age, and high familiarity (HF) consumers showed higher involvement with meat. HF consumers enjoyed consuming meat, and they associated a symbolic value to it. In addition, their liking ratings were higher than those of low familiarity (LF) consumers for both appearance and taste of three specific types of fresh meat over the course of product shelf-life. The perceived risks associated with meat consumption and product choice were similar between groups. Both consumer segments reported that the most important driver of fresh meat purchase is its appearance, while the role of extrinsic cues differed among the groups. The HF group needed more information when choosing meat. Regardless of familiarity level, liking was consistent with beef appearance as affected by storage, but the prediction of experienced sensory quality lacked consistency when the perceived intrinsic cue variation was not associated with meat freshness.

Effects of Topic Familiarity on Analogical Transfer in Problem-Solving: A Think-Aloud Study of Two Singular Cases

We conducted a qualitative research of case studies based on think-aloud protocols. The aim was to carry out in-depth analyse secondary students’ cognitive difficulties appearing in early stages of transfer processes in problem-solving. The task was to relate several source problems to a target problem, in order to solve it effectively. Source and target problems had different Surface and/or Structural similarities. In this paper, the solvers’ high or low Familiarity with the problem stories on transfer processes was also focused on. Two emergent instructional phenomena are described, both associated to specific students’ cognitive obstacles to achieve success in solving the target problem: the ‘Screen effect’ and the ‘Sisyphus effect’. The obstacles were harder for low Familiarity problems.

Citizens' distrust of government and their protest responses in a contingent valuation study of urban heritage trees in Guangzhou, China

Protest response is a common aspect of contingent valuation (CV) studies, which has attracted growing attention from scholars worldwide. Distrust of government, understood as one of the major reasons for protest response, has been prevalent across transitional China experiencing dramatic changes in its economy, society and natural environment. Citizen distrust of government would significantly hinder the efficiency and validity of the contingent valuation method (CVM) application focusing on the provision of public environmental and ecological goods in China, as a large proportion of protest responses might be induced. Hitherto little has been done to link residents’ trust in government to their environmental behaviors in developing and transitional economies like China where CVM has been increasingly applied to generate meaningful and reliable information for integrating both ecological and socioeconomic perspectives into policy decisions. This study aims to investigate the discrepancies between protest responses induced by distrust of government and non-protest responses, using the contingent valuation of heritage trees in Guangzhou as a case. The combination of a set of debriefing questions and several attitudinal questions is employed in the questionnaire. Based on logit analysis and discriminant analysis, it has been found that protestors who distrust government and non-protestors share similar salient values associated with urban heritage trees in Guangzhou, especially their distinctive historical and cultural values, in comparison with ordinary urban trees. Residents with low familiarity with heritage trees (who rarely visit sites with heritage trees, know little about management and conservation techniques, and consider present management to be ineffective) are likely to act as protesters with the “distrust of government” belief. Only if more opportunities are provided for residents to obtain access to urban heritage tree sites, more information (about urban heritage trees and other environmental and ecological goods) is disseminated, and more effective management is implemented, can better governmental trust be developed and stronger public participation and support secured. The results of this study can shed light on understanding protest responses in CV studies and improving the reliability and efficiency of CVM in China and other developing countries where a low level of trust in government prevails.

The Effect of Congruency and Familiarity of Background Music in TV Advertising on the Music’s Role as a Retrieval Cue

Assuming that not all background music in advertising function as effective retrieval cues for the advertised messages, this study proposes that we should be able to distinguish the retrieval cue effect of music from the simple ad exposure effect. This study tries to identify which specific characteristics of music are related to the retrieval cue effect. Our experiment focuses on congruency and familiarity of music as key characteristics of music which affect the effectiveness of the music’s role as a retrieval cue for the advertised messages. We used four groups of subjects to test the retrieval cue effect of the background music. Each group was exposed to one of the four different types of background music and was again sub-divided into an experimental and a control group (i.e., a total of eight independent sub-groups were included in the experiment.) The first two sub-groups were exposed to the experimental advertisement with the background music of high congruency and high familiarity. After the ad exposure, the background music was provided as a retrieval cue to only one of the two sub-groups. Comparison of the memory performance between the two sub-groups will reveal the net retrieval cue effect of the music of high congruency and high familiarity. Similarly, another two sub-groups watched the same ad but with the background music of high congruency and low familiarity. Also the same ad but with the music of low congruency/ high familiarity was shown to another two sub-groups and that of low congruency and low familiarity music was to another two. Among the two sub-groups with the same music, only one group had the music cue at the memory tasks. One hundred and seventy four undergraduate students at the college of one of authors in Asia participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 18 to 24 with a median of 20. The sample was composed of 51.7 percent male subjects. They were randomly assigned to each of the eight sub-group. The results show that the music highly congruent with the advertised message facilitates the message retrieval, while the low congruency music cue does not. It was also found that the low familiarity music cue improves memory performance only when the music is perceived as congruent with the advertised message. From a theoretical and practical perspective, this study provides boundary conditions for effective retrieval and suggests that the congruent music specifically created for the ad is a more effective retrieval cue than other types of music cues.

The Effect of Congruency and Familiarity of Background Music in TV Advertising on the Music’s Role as a Retrieval Cue

Assuming that not all background music in advertising function as effective retrieval cues for the advertised messages, this study proposes that we should be able to distinguish the retrieval cue effect of music from the simple ad exposure effect. This study tries to identify which specific characteristics of music are related to the retrieval cue effect. Our experiment focuses on congruency and familiarity of music as key characteristics of music which affect the effectiveness of the music’s role as a retrieval cue for the advertised messages. We used four groups of subjects to test the retrieval cue effect of the background music. Each group was exposed to one of the four different types of background music and was again sub-divided into an experimental and a control group (i.e., a total of eight independent sub-groups were included in the experiment.) The first two sub-groups were exposed to the experimental advertisement with the background music of high congruency and high familiarity. After the ad exposure, the background music was provided as a retrieval cue to only one of the two sub-groups. Comparison of the memory performance between the two sub-groups will reveal the net retrieval cue effect of the music of high congruency and high familiarity. Similarly, another two sub-groups watched the same ad but with the background music of high congruency and low familiarity. Also the same ad but with the music of low congruency/ high familiarity was shown to another two sub-groups and that of low congruency and low familiarity music was to another two. Among the two sub-groups with the same music, only one group had the music cue at the memory tasks. One hundred and seventy four undergraduate students at the college of one of authors in Asia participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 18 to 24 with a median of 20. The sample was composed of 51.7 percent male subjects. They were randomly assigned to each of the eight sub-group. The results show that the music highly congruent with the advertised message facilitates the message retrieval, while the low congruency music cue does not. It was also found that the low familiarity music cue improves memory performance only when the music is perceived as congruent with the advertised message. From a theoretical and practical perspective, this study provides boundary conditions for effective retrieval and suggests that the congruent music specifically created for the ad is a more effective retrieval cue than other types of music cues.

Differences in allocation patterns and in the use of distributive principles emerge from children of Brazilian parents in Brazil and in the United States

This study aimed to investigate differences in the way children in Brazil and USA allocate resources and justify their decisions in a fictional situation. The sample was composed by 178 children of Brazilian parents: 98 Brazilian, living in Brazil, and 80 American children, who had low familiarity with Brazilian culture. Participants were requested to resolve a distributive dilemma during which characters with different personal attributes reunited to a picnic in a public park. The results showed that most children preferred equality or near-equality patterns of distribution to allocate the food among the characters of the dilemma. Preference for other patterns of distribution like equity and need was related to age and nationality. Also, children who used equality as justification for their distributions were more consistent (that is, they distributed the food using an allocation system who matched their justification) than children who used other types of justifications. Results are discussed in light of recent works on sharing and processes of socialization during childhood.