Multiple Difficulty Levels Research Articles

Understanding the Characteristics of Students’ Behavioral Processes in Solving Computational Thinking Problems Based on the Behavioral Sequences

Previous research has not adequately explored students’ behavioral processes when addressing computational thinking (CT) problems of varying difficulty, limiting insights into students’ detailed CT development characteristics. This study seeks to fill this gap by employing gamified CT items across multiple difficulty levels to calculate comprehensive behavioral sequence quality indicators. And then, through latent profile analysis, we identified four distinct latent classes of behavioral process. We then examined the in-game performance differences among these classes, uncovering each class’s unique attributes. Class 1 students consistently demonstrated high-quality, efficient behavioral sequences regardless of item difficulty. In contrast, class 2 students applied significant cognitive effort and trial-and-error strategies, achieving acceptable scores despite low behavioral sequence quality. Class 3 students excelled in simpler items but faltered with more complex ones. Class 4 students displayed low motivation for challenging items, often guessing answers quickly. Additionally, we investigated the predictive value of students’ performance in gamified items and their behavioral process classes for their external CT test scores. The study finally elaborated on the theoretical implications for researchers and the practical suggestions for teachers in CT cultivation.

Piano score rearrangement into multiple difficulty levels via notation-to-notation approach

Musical score rearrangement is an emerging area in symbolic music processing, which aims to transform a musical score into a different style. This study focuses on the task of changing the playing difficulty of piano scores, addressing two challenges in musical score rearrangement. First, we address the challenge of handling musical notation on scores. While symbolic music research often relies on note-level (MIDI-equivalent) information, musical scores contain notation that cannot be adequately represented at the note level. We propose an end-to-end framework that utilizes tokenized representations of notation to directly rearrange musical scores at the notation level. We also propose the ST+ representation, which includes a novel structure and token types for better score rearrangement. Second, we address the challenge of rearranging musical scores across multiple difficulty levels. We introduce a difficulty conditioning scheme to train a single sequence model capable of handling various difficulty levels, while leveraging scores from various levels in model training. We collect commercial-quality pop piano scores at four difficulty levels and train a MEGA model (with 0.3M parameters) to rearrange between these levels. Objective evaluation shows that our method successfully rearranges piano scores into other three difficulty levels, achieving comparable difficulty to human-made scores. Additionally, our method successfully generates musical notation including articulations. Subjective evaluation (by score experts and musicians) also reveals that our generated scores generally surpass the quality of previous rule-based or note-level methods on several criteria. Our framework enables novel notation-to-notation processing of scores and can be applied to various score rearrangement tasks.

Identifying the Science and Art of Interactive Experiences

In game design, player engagement and game attractiveness are important components that influence player interaction and interest. This study examines player interaction with different game design aspects, including different races, difficulty levels, novice tutorials, and character design. A mixed-methods research approach was employed, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. A literature review was conducted to gather existing knowledge and insights. Expert interviews, surveys, and user testing sessions were also shown to collect data. The research findings indicate that allowing players to customize characters of different races enhances player immersion and immersiveness. In addition, multiple difficulty levels tailored to player preferences increase player satisfaction and motivation towards the game. And engaging character design, including unique traits and visually appealing aesthetics, can enhances player enjoyment and emotional connection. The research also emphasized the importance of player-centric design in game development. Developers can create immersive experiences that foster player engagement and enjoyment by incorporating these design elements such as player preferences, motivations, and engagement factors into games.

Art therapy, occupational and play therapy used as multidisciplinary tools for prevention and early recovery for children and adolescents at risk of developing mental health problems and juvenile deliverance

IntroductionThe new type of postmodern art can be interpreted from the point of view of self expression polarized between: art - art-therapy, ludic, occupational therapy - religion. The computer becomes the new medium after the impact of television, and by integrating computers into the network, their communication function has become more prevalent than that of data processing. Contemporary visual arts bring together, in different degrees of relationship and fusion, fields of art that until now were understood and practiced more individually. Multimedia and mixed media technology, which has evolved into meaningful visual representations, incorporates the science behind human perception and knowledge.Objectives The purpose of art in art-therapy, in this context, is not an exercise of the already acquired knowledge upon the artistic material, but a discovery of the yet unknown. Art-based therapies, as nondirective methods, attempt to visualize past traumatic experiences and harmonize the individual with himself and with others.Methods In the preventive activities, we include all activities involving nonverbal communication and holistic engagement of people in creative activities, specific to visual arts (plastic, decorative design, and multimedia).”Beneficiaries can create their own images with which they want to interact, to arrange their environment…We experiment with art-specific ways to make interdisciplinary exchanges and cultural interferences using the universal language of visual arts along with intercultural elements and religious ecumenism” . The child expresses various issues related to his feelings, like the search of his identity, the generated anxieties, the family and professional environment, the situations of neglect and abuse. For the same purpose, as a complement to activities in nature camps, where education/art therapy takes place in the artist’s studio, special care must be taken to create an evocative and stimulating work environment.Results We detect hidden capacities through the specific means of the visual arts with the aim of providing the freedom to follow one’s own destiny, encouraging the joy of creatively manifesting at multiple levels of difficulty in any activity. Harmonizing cultural differences develop self-esteem, tolerance, resilience, and necessary adaptation to the conditions of a multiethnic society.Image:ConclusionsThere is an equidistant trialogue and circular relations between art, religion, and science, without any specific supremacy. This can offer up from the start the possibility of a lasting harmonization, of information transfers and professional enhancements to support new developments, uplifting the human being through positive reorientations and beneficial recoveries.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Quantifying Acute Behavioral Reactions of Bali Mynas (Leucopsar rothschildi) to Environmental and Progressively Challenging Enrichment

Animals use specific behaviors and skills to overcome challenges and access resources. Environmental enrichment is provided to animals in human care to both promote species-appropriate behaviors and reduce undesired behaviors. Feather pecking in birds is an undesired behavior without a clear cause. The Saint Louis Zoo houses three pairs of young Bali mynas (Leucopsar rothschildi) who pluck neck feathers from conspecifics. To reduce this behavior, animal care staff presented the birds with seven enrichment items from four categories, presenting each item twice. The enrichment included a modifiable, progressively challenging bamboo tube device at multiple levels of difficulty. While plucking was not affected by any enrichment item, we observed significant increases in locomotion and decreases in autopreening, allogrooming, and head bobbing. Leafy greens produced the greatest changes when compared to other enrichment types. Overall engagement with the progressively challenging enrichment increased with the change from the first to the second level of difficulty, and interaction with the device was highest for the third and most difficult version. These increases suggest that no habituation to the progressively challenging device occurred, while a possible neophobic effect declined with multiple uses and increased familiarity.

The depth of executive function: Depth information aids executive function under challenging task conditions.

The present studies investigated how three core aspects of executive functioning may be influenced by the presence of depth information. Specifically, participants were assigned to one of three executive functioning tasks: working memory (i.e., a change detection task), selective attention (i.e., a visual search task), or inhibitory control (i.e., a flanker task). For all three tasks, participants completed trials where the items in the display were presented either all in one depth plane or the target item was isolated in depth. For the working memory and selective attention tasks, there was an additional condition where items were evenly distributed across two depth planes. Each task also had multiple levels of difficulty to explore if task conditions influence the effect of depth information. Results indicated that although depth information can improve both working memory and selective attention performance, this benefit is specific to the task difficulty and depth information can even hinder performance under certain circumstances. Depth information did not appear to influence inhibitory control performance. Future work is required to investigate if depth can improve inhibitory control performance, and how/what task conditions influence the benefit of depth information. Until further research is completed, researchers and designers should be cautious when implementing multidimensional (3D) displays, as it remains unclear if the performance benefits of including depth information outweigh the present costs.

A machine learning investigation of factors that contribute to predicting cognitive performance: Difficulty level, reaction time and eye-movements

Predicting accuracy in cognitively challenging tasks has potential applications in education and industry. Task demand has been linked with increases in response time and variations in reaction time and eye-tracking metrics, however, machine learning research has not been used to predict performance on tasks with multiple levels of difficulty. We report data on adult participants who performed tasks of mental attentional capacity with six levels of difficulty and use machine learning methods to predict accuracy scores considering metrics associated with task difficulty, reaction time and eye movements. Results show that machine learning models can robustly predict performance with reaction times and difficulty level being the strongest predictors. Eye-tracking indices can also predict accuracy independently, with the most important features of the model driven by the number of fixations, number of saccades, duration of the current fixation and pupil size. Practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Construction of a 3D Surgical Model for Minimally Invasive Partial Nephrectomy: the Urotrainer VK-1.

Minimally invasive partial nephrectomy (MIPN) is a very challenging technique and complications may occur during its learning curve. It is important to acquire surgical skills to minimize operative risks. Surgical skills may be acquired through simulation devices or mentoring by a mentor. We designed a 3D operable model with multiple and variant surgical scenarios in order to facilitate surgical training in MIPN. The model delivered a real-life feel and handle. To our knowledge, this is the first minimally invasive partial nephrectomy simulator to encompass a series of scenarios with multiple levels of difficulty while delivering a real-life experience.

Optimizing Mental Workload Estimation by Detecting Baseline State Using Vector Phase Analysis Approach.

Improper baseline return from the previous task-evoked hemodynamic response (HR) can contribute to a large variation in the subsequent HR, affecting the estimation of mental workload in brain-computer interface systems. In this study, we proposed a method using vector phase analysis to detect the baseline state as being optimal or suboptimal. We hypothesize that selecting neuronal-related HR as observed in the optimal-baseline blocks can lead to an improvement in estimating mental workload. Oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration changes were integrated as parts of the vector phase. The proposed method was applied to a block-design functional near-infrared spectroscopy dataset (total blocks = 1384), measured on 24 subjects performing multiple difficulty levels of mental arithmetic task. Significant differences in hemodynamic signal change were observed between the optimal- and suboptimal-baseline blocks detected using the proposed method. This supports the effectiveness of the proposed method in detecting baseline state for better estimation of mental workload. The results further highlight the need of customized recovery duration. In short, the proposed method offers a practical approach to detect task-evoked signals, without the need of extra probes.

Towards On-Demand Virtual Physical Therapist: Machine Learning-Based Patient Action Understanding, Assessment and Task Recommendation.

In this paper, we propose a machine learning-based virtual physical therapist (PT) system to enable personalized remote training for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Three physical therapy tasks with multiple difficulty levels are selected to help patients with PD improve balance and mobility. Patients' movements are captured by a Kinect sensor. Criteria for each task are carefully designed by our PT co-author such that the patient's performance can be evaluated in an automated manner. Given the patient's motion data, we propose a two-phase human action understanding algorithm TPHAU to understand the patient's movements, and an error identification model to identify the patient's movement errors. To enable automated task recommendation, a machine learning-based model is trained from real patient and PT data to provide accurate, personalized, and timely task update recommendation for patients with PD, thereby emulating a real PT's behavior. Real patient data have been collected in the clinic to train the models. Experiments show that the proposed methods achieve high accuracy in patient action understanding, error identification and task recommendation. The proposed virtual PT system has the potential of enabling on-demand virtual care and significantly reducing cost for both patients and care providers.

Speech-driven mobile games for speech therapy: User experiences and feasibility

Purpose: To assist in remote treatment, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) rely on mobile games, which though entertaining, lack feedback mechanisms. Games integrated with automatic speech recognition (ASR) offer a solution where speech productions control gameplay. We therefore performed a feasibility study to assess children’s and SLPs’ experiences towards speech-controlled games, game feature preferences and ASR accuracy.Method: Ten children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), six typically developing (TD) children and seven SLPs trialled five games and answered questionnaires. Researchers also compared the results of ASR to perceptual judgment.Result: Children and SLPs found speech-controlled games interesting and fun, despite ASR–human disagreements. They preferred games with rewards, challenge and multiple difficulty levels. Automatic speech recognition–human agreement was higher for SLPs than children, similar between TD and CAS and unaffected by CAS severity (77% TD, 75% CAS – incorrect; 51% TD, 47% CAS, 71% SLP – correct). Manual stop recording yielded higher agreement than automatic. Word length did not influence agreement.Conclusion: Children’s and SLPs’ positive responses towards speech-controlled games suggest that they can engage children in higher intensity practice. Our findings can guide future improvements to the ASR, recording methods and game features to improve the user experience and therapy adherence.

Assessing the effects of auditory-vocal distraction on driving performance and physiological measures using a driving simulator

In this research, a driving simulator experiment with physiological sensors is conducted to quantify the effect of an increase in workload on driving performance and physiological state in the presence of particular road situations. A secondary cognitive task with multiple levels of difficulty designed to simulate auditory-vocal distraction is added to the primary driving task. Driving performance and physiological indices such as heart rate and skin conductance level are monitored throughout the experiment. Nonparametric statistical tests are used to test the effect of the secondary task at three different road situations frequently encountered in an urban context. It is hypothesized that an increase in workload leads to variations in the driver’s physiology as well as decrement in his/her driving performance. Results of the study showed that the driver adopts a regulatory behavior at the operational level (e.g., reduces the speed) in order to allow the performance of the additional task and driving at the same time. The effect of the regulatory behavior is minor on the longitudinal and lateral control measures (e.g., the speed, the pedal depression, the lane position). However, the impact on the reaction time can have important implications for road safety. An increase in the heart rate and skin conductance level reflects the increase in the cognitive workload when performing the secondary task. No major differences are found in terms of the driving performance and the physiological measures across the difficulty levels of the secondary task at the three considered road situations. In order to maintain control of driving, particularly at the high levels of difficulty, some subjects are found to pay less attention to the secondary task and shift their focus towards the primary driving task. The study highlights the advantage of implementing the driver’s cognitive workload measures in the development, design, and assessment of effective in-vehicle safety systems.

T73. NOVEL VISUAL TRAINING FOR COGNITIVE REMEDIATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

BackgroundThough cognitive remediation has shown modest benefits for schizophrenia, relatively few training programs for have targeted the visual processing deficits common in the illness. Residual visual processing deficits following cognitive remediation may explain why cognitive remediation has had limited effects on visual learning and memory compared to auditory learning and memory. We sought to test whether training early visual processing would improve visual memory and facial affect recognition by targeting a well-characterized visual deficit in schizophrenia: visual backward masking (VBM). The deficit is so common in schizophrenia, and in non-affected family members to a lesser degree, that it is viewed as an endophenotype. The VBM deficit, however, can normalize as we have previously shown. In our prior open-label pilot study, individuals with schizophrenia (Surti and Wexler, 2012) made substantial gains in VBM performance with rudimentary computerized VBM training. The VBM improvements were also accompanied by improvements in visual memory.To test the hypothesis that improved early sensory training could lead to other cognitive gains in the same domain, we conducted a randomized control study with a new, more sophisticated computerized VBM training program, and compared it to an active control condition. We expected that visual memory and facial affect recognition would improve with the novel visual training (VT), and that VBM would improve with the VT as well.Methods23 individuals with stable schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomized to receive 20 sessions of VT or an active control. The VT consisted of VBM training with multiple levels of difficulty, adaptive tracking, virtual rewards, and a variety of letters, numbers, and shapes to train different areas of the visual field. The active control condition was a commercially available computerized typing tutorial (TT) with animation, game narrative, and multiple typing activities. Participants were tested before and after training with: the Matrics Cognitive Consensus Battery (MCCB), including the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT) as the study’s primary outcome; the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (mini-PONS) to assess non-verbal social cues; standardized VBM tests; and typing assessments. Repeated measure ANOVAs were conducted in SPSS24 after checking for normality.Results22 of 23 individuals completed the study, and by participants’ reports, both interventions were well tolerated, equally enjoyable and equally motivating, though the VT was slightly more frustrating for participants. Even when co-varying for education, which was higher in the VT group, there were no condition by time interactions for the BVMT, the mini-PONS, overall MCCB, or typing ability. There was a significant condition by time interactions for VBM performance (F = 5.8, p =0.028), with a substantial improvement in the VT group (Cohen’s d = 0.54; p=0.004).DiscussionPatients with schizophrenia equally tolerated a computerized visual training designed in-house and an off-the shelf highly gamified control training, but only the visual training, specifically designed for individuals with schizophrenia, had effects on the trained task. The effects of the visual training did not generalize to visual memory, facial affect recognition, or global cognition, so further work is needed to facilitate generalization.

ПРИНЦИП БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ЭЛЕКТРОННОЙ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЙ СРЕДЫ В ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ ПОДГОТОВКЕ СТУДЕНТОВ ВЫСШЕГО УЧЕБНОГО ЗАВЕДЕНИЯ

The article considers the problem of professional training of students in e-learning environment in accordance with the principle of security. The authors offer the essay technology of multiple difficulty levels. In the article the description of each level of technology proves its conformity to the positions of principle of security. The main methods of measurement performance were made by expert assessment and subjective scaling. The analysis of results of approbation of essay technology of multiple difficulty levels in the experimental sample showed an increase of objective and subjective indicators. Positive methodological and personal effects of the introduction of technology into the process of university education were identified, corresponding to the positions of principle of security. Methodical recommendations of application of technology were formulated.

Consistent Performance Differences between Children and Adults Despite Manipulation of Cue-Target Variables.

Two behavioral experiments assessed the plasticity and short-term improvement of task switching in 215 children and adults. Specifically, we studied manipulations of cued attention to different features of a target stimulus as a way to assess the development of cognitive flexibility. Each experiment had multiple levels of difficulty via manipulation of number of cued features (2–4) and number of response options (2 or 4). Working memory demand was manipulated across the two experiments. Impact of memory demand and task level manipulations on task accuracy and response times were measured. There were three overall goals: First, these task manipulations (number of cued features, response choices, and working memory load) were tested to assess the stability of group differences in performance between children ages 6–16 years and adults 18–27 years, with the goal of reducing age group differences. Second, age-related transitions to adult-level performance were examined within subgroups of the child sample. Third, short-term improvement from the beginning to the end of the study session was measured to probe whether children can improve with task experience. Attempts to use task manipulations to reduce age differences in cued task switching performance were unsuccessful: children performed consistently worse and were more susceptible to task manipulations than adults. However, across both studies, adult-like performance was observed around mid-adolescence, by ages 13-16 years. Certain task manipulations, especially increasing number of response options when working memory demand was low, produced differences from adults even in the oldest children. Interestingly, there was similar performance improvement with practice for both child and adult groups. The higher memory demand version of the task (Experiment 2) prompted greater short-term improvement in accuracy and response times than the lower memory demand version (Experiment 1). These results reveal stable differences in cued switching performance over development, but also relative flexibility within a given individual over time.

Virtual figure model crafting with VR HMD and Leap Motion

ABSTRACTHandcrafting has been used for purposes ranging from learning and entertainment to stress relief. However, clay art and handicrafts require specialized space and physical materials. In this paper, we propose a virtual figure model crafting system that is developed to allow users to directly experience the figure model crafting process using a head-mounted, display-based, virtual reality environment. In the proposed system, users can freely generate the shape of a figure and decorate its exterior. In order to provide realistic crafting user experiences, we leverage motion grammar-based gestural input with Leap Motion and consider the support of multiple difficulty levels for user engagement. The preliminary user study results confirm that the proposed system provides immersive and interactive crafting experiences in a virtual environment.

Dynamic Functional Segregation and Integration in Human Brain Network During Complex Tasks.

The analysis of the topology and organization of brain networks is known to greatly benefit from network measures in graph theory. However, to evaluate dynamic changes of brain functional connectivity, more sophisticated quantitative metrics characterizing temporal evolution of brain topological features are required. To simplify conversion of time-varying brain connectivity to a static graph representation is straightforward but the procedure loses temporal information that could be critical in understanding the brain functions. To extend the understandings of functional segregation and integration to a dynamic fashion, we recommend dynamic graph metrics to characterise temporal changes of topological features of brain networks. This study investigated functional segregation and integration of brain networks over time by dynamic graph metrics derived from EEG signals during an experimental protocol: performance of complex flight simulation tasks with multiple levels of difficulty. We modelled time-varying brain functional connectivity as multi-layer networks, in which each layer models brain connectivity at time window t + Δt. Dynamic graph metrics were calculated to quantify temporal and topological properties of the network. Results show that brain networks under the performance of complex tasks reveal a dynamic small-world architecture with a number of frequently connected nodes or hubs, which supports the balance of information segregation and integration in brain over time. The results also show that greater cognitive workloads caused by more difficult tasks induced a more globally efficient but less clustered dynamic small-world functional network. Our study illustrates that task-related changes of functional brain network segregation and integration can be characterized by dynamic graph metrics.

GOLIAH: A Gaming Platform for Home-Based Intervention in Autism - Principles and Design.

Children with Autism need intensive intervention and this is challenging in terms of manpower, costs, and time. Advances in Information Communication Technology and computer gaming may help in this respect by creating a nomadically deployable closed-loop intervention system involving the child and active participation of parents and therapists. An automated serious gaming platform enabling intensive intervention in nomadic settings has been developed by mapping two pivotal skills in autism spectrum disorder: Imitation and Joint Attention (JA). Eleven games – seven Imitations and four JA – were derived from the Early Start Denver Model. The games involved application of visual and audio stimuli with multiple difficulty levels and a wide variety of tasks and actions pertaining to the Imitation and JA. The platform runs on mobile devices and allows the therapist to (1) characterize the child’s initial difficulties/strengths, ensuring tailored and adapted intervention by choosing appropriate games and (2) investigate and track the temporal evolution of the child’s progress through a set of automatically extracted quantitative performance metrics. The platform allows the therapist to change the game or its difficulty levels during the intervention depending on the child’s progress. Performance of the platform was assessed in a 3-month open trial with 10 children with autism (Trial ID: NCT02560415, Clinicaltrials.gov). The children and the parents participated in 80% of the sessions both at home (77.5%) and at the hospital (90%). All children went through all the games but, given the diversity of the games and the heterogeneity of children profiles and abilities, for a given game the number of sessions dedicated to the game varied and could be tailored through automatic scoring. Parents (N = 10) highlighted enhancement in the child’s concentration, flexibility, and self-esteem in 78, 89, and 44% of the cases, respectively, and 56% observed an enhanced parents–child relationship. This pilot study shows the feasibility of using the developed gaming platform for home-based intensive intervention. However, the overall capability of the platform in delivering intervention needs to be assessed in a bigger open trial.

“Tone deaf”— The touch based ear-training game

Inspired by the color matching game “Colorblind” by ChewSoft, Tone Deaf is the new game that challenges players to match the pitch and timbre of a note by touching the screen to draw a single cycle of the waveform. The shape of the waveform is then used to determine the appropriate harmonics and their phases, while the length of the cycle determines the frequency. Players will progress through multiple levels of difficulty, starting with simple waveforms such as sine waves, sawtooth waves, and square waves, and finally emulating the complex patterns of instruments such as the piano, trumpet, and violin.

Inverse relationship between task complexity and performance deficit in 5 m water immersion

Previous research on cognitive deficits during shallow water immersion led to inconsistent results: some authors observed deficits at 5m, but others only at depths well beyond 5m. The present study evaluates whether this discrepancy could be related to different levels of difficulty. Forty-eight subjects participated in a mental rotation task and in a color-word task, both having multiple levels of difficulty. The two tasks were administered once 5m below the water's surface and once on dry land. Compared to land, subjects' reaction time increased in 5m depth when task difficulty was low, but it did not increase when task difficulty was high. Thus, performance deficits in 5m depth were inversely related to task complexity. We interpret this counter-intuitive finding within the framework of a multiple-channel parallel processing model, with channels that are differentially sensitive to immersion. This model correctly predicts performance deficits on simple, but not on complex skills at smaller depths, and deficits on simple as well as complex skills at larger depths, in accordance with the present findings and data from literature.