Processing Of Peripheral Information Research Articles

The role of peripheral vision during decision-making in dynamic viewing sequences

ABSTRACT Decision-making in team sports necessitates monitoring multiple performers located at different distances (i.e., viewing eccentricities) from a critical information source. The processing of peripheral information is generally impaired under anxiety and when responding to stimuli located at larger eccentricities. These hypotheses have not been sufficiently tested in dynamic performance environments. We examined how pressure and eccentricities affect decision-making and visual behaviour in 4v4 basketball defensive scenarios using a head mounted display. Experienced players monitored plays from the first-person perspective (centre position) and made defensive steps towards opponents threatening the basket from different eccentricities under low- and high-pressure. To tax working memory, participants simultaneously performed a backward counting task. Players responded slower and with lower accuracy to opponents at larger eccentricities. Players mostly fixated on the ball-carrier, but over 50% of fixations were located on peripheral players, indicating that information in the periphery must be frequently updated with foveal vision (i.e., pivot strategy). When pressured, participants increased mental effort and improved counting performance; however, gaze behaviour and decision-making were relatively unaffected. Findings suggest that basketball players respond more quickly to opponents positioned at lower compared to higher eccentricities at the cost of impaired responses to opponents in the periphery.

The influence of peripheral information on a proactive process during multitasking.

The aim of this study was to examine whether peripheral information facilitates proactive processes during multitasking. For this purpose, peripheral information was presented regularly during multitasking and its effects on the performance of a tracking task (main task: reactive process) and a discrimination task (sub-task: proactive process) were examined. Experiment 1 presented peripheral information (white circles) in the same sensory modality (visual) as the information used for multitasking and the number of circle presentations was manipulated. In Experiment 2, a pure tone (auditory) was presented as peripheral information. We found that, in both experiments, the difficulty of the tracking task influenced discrimination performance, showing that as the difficulty of the tracking task (reactive process) increased, more cognitive resources were consumed in the tracking task, resulting in a decrease in cognitive resources available for the discrimination task (proactive process). In addition, regular presentation of peripheral information facilitated discrimination task performance in both experiments. Interestingly, this peripheral information also facilitated the tracking task performance (reactive process) even if the tracking task was difficult. Moreover, this promoting effect of the peripheral information occurred regardless of the sensory modality. This study revealed that processing of peripheral information facilitates the proactive process even if more cognitive resources are consumed, and that this facilitating effect does not conflict with multitasking and provides a margin of cognitive resources and also facilitates the reactive process. Our results provide evidence of how peripheral information and cognitive resources are used during multitasking.

Why Do Chinese Older Adults in Hong Kong Delay or Refuse COVID-19 Vaccination? AQualitative Study Based on Grounded Theory.

Older adults have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. While COVID-19 vaccines are effective for reducing mortality and severe complications, vaccine hesitancy remains a substantial concern particularly among older adults. This was a qualitative study to explore how Chinese older adults reached a decision to delay or refuse the COVID-19 vaccines in Hong Kong. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 older adults aged ≥60years who had never received COVID-19 vaccines. The grounded theory approach guided the selection of informants, data collection, data analysis, and report writing. Older adults' vaccine hesitancy and resistance weaved into the context of lacking sufficient decisional support and attitude roots of negative perception of aging, fatalistic risk attitudes, present-oriented time perspectives, and negative values on western biomedicine. Attitude roots were used as thedecisional anchors to further shape older adults' peripheral processing of vaccine-related information, resulting into a spectrum of vaccine-resistant and vaccine-hesitant attitudes. While participants refused or delayed COVID-19 vaccination, they engaged in alternative coping strategies to regain self-control and justify their vaccination disengagement in the pandemic. Interventions to address vaccine hesitancy in older adults should focus on addressing attitude roots and strengthening the connectivity of older adults with family, doctors, and government to engage older adults in the vaccination decision making. Risk communication should shift to provide more personal relevant information in a caring style, meet older adults' preference for peripheral information processing, and address their existing misperceptions about COVID-19 vaccines.

Are predictive saccades linked to the processing of peripheral information?

High-level athletes can predict the actions of an opposing player. Interestingly, such predictions are also reflected by the athlete’s gaze behavior. In cricket, for example, players first pursue the ball with their eyes before they very often initiate two predictive saccades: one to the predicted ball-bounce point and a second to the predicted ball-bat-contact point. That means, they move their eyes ahead of the ball and “wait” for the ball at the new fixation location, potentially using their peripheral vision to update information about the ball’s trajectory. In this study, we investigated whether predictive saccades are linked to the processing of information in peripheral vision and if predictive saccades are superior to continuously following the ball with foveal vision using smooth-pursuit eye-movements (SPEMs). In the first two experiments, we evoked the typical eye-movements observed in cricket and showed that the information gathered during SPEMs is sufficient to predict when the moving object will hit the target location and that (additional) peripheral monitoring of the object does not help to improve performance. In a third experiment, we show that it could actually be beneficial to use SPEMs rather than predictive saccades to improve performance. Thus, predictive saccades ahead of a target are unlikely to be performed to enhance the peripheral monitoring of target.

Advancing the presentation of IS certifications: theory-driven guidelines for designing peripheral cues to increase users’ trust perceptions

ABSTRACT Whereas the importance of information system (IS) certifications is increasing to prove compliance with regulatory and industry requirements, research reveals inconsistent findings concerning the effectiveness of IS certifications. Prior studies have concluded that such inconsistent findings stem partly from users’ limited understanding of the nature and role of certifications due to ineffective certification presentations. We follow a three-phase, theory-driven design science approach to examine how to design effective certification presentations. First, we identified sources of users’ limited understanding and formulated a revised certification presentation that facilitates users’ peripheral information processing. We tested our design proposal in an online experiment with 300 participants. Second, we derived meta-requirements and design guidelines by validating a theory-driven model of certification presentations through an online survey with 352 participants. Third, we implemented three certification presentations complying with example guidelines and ran an online experiment with 400 participants to test whether these presentations are effective. We contribute to research and practice by proposing a design theory for certification presentations composed of peripheral cues inducing authority, social proof and likeability to increase users’ trust perceptions.

Did you even see that? visual sensory processing of single stimuli under different locomotor loads.

Modern living and working environments are more and more interspersed with the concurrent execution of locomotion and sensory processing, most often in the visual domain. Many job profiles involve the presentation of visual information while walking, for example in warehouse logistics work, where a worker has to manage walking to the correct aisle to pick up a package while being presented with visual information over data-glasses concerning the next order. Similar use-cases can be found in manufacturing jobs, for example in car montage assembly lines where next steps are presented via augmented reality headsets while walking at a slow pace. Considering the overall scarcity of cognitive resources available to be deployed to either the cognitive or motor processes, task performance decrements were found when increasing load in either domain. Interestingly, the walking motion also had beneficial effects on peripheral contrast detection and the inhibition of visual stream information. Taking these findings into account, we conducted a study that comprised the detection of single visual targets (Landolt Cs) within a broad range of the visual field (-40° to +40° visual angle) while either standing, walking, or walking with concurrent perturbations. We used questionnaire (NASA-TLX), behavioral (response times and accuracy), and neurophysiological data (ERPs and ERSPs) to quantify the effects of cognitive-motor interference. The study was conducted in a Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Laboratory (GRAIL), using a 180° projection screen and a swayable and tiltable dual-belt treadmill. Questionnaire and behavioral measures showed common patterns. We found increasing subjective physical workload and behavioral decrements with increasing stimulus eccentricity and motor complexity. Electrophysiological results also indicated decrements in stimulus processing with higher stimulus eccentricity and movement complexity (P3, Theta), but highlighted a beneficial role when walking without perturbations and processing more peripheral stimuli regarding earlier sensory components (N1pc/N2pc, N2). These findings suggest that walking without impediments can enhance the visual processing of peripheral information and therefore help with perceiving non-foveal sensory content. Also, our results could help with re-evaluating previous findings in the context of cognitive-motor interference, as increased motor complexity might not always impede cognitive processing and performance.

What drives the helpfulness of online reviews? A deep learning study of sentiment analysis, pictorial content and reviewer expertise for mature destinations

Tourist destinations are increasingly affected by travel-related information shared through social media. Drawing on dual-process theories on how individuals process information, this study examines the role of central and peripheral information processing routes in the formation of consumers' perceptions of the helpfulness of online reviews of mature destinations. We carried out a two-step process to address the perceived helpfulness of user-generated content, a sentiment analysis using advanced machine-learning techniques (deep learning), and a regression analysis. The database was 2023 comments posted on TripAdvisor about two iconic Venetian cultural attractions, St. Mark's Square (an open, free attraction) and the Doge's Palace (which charges an entry fee). Using deep-learning techniques, with logistic regression, we first identified which factors influenced whether a review received a “helpful” vote. Second, we selected those reviews which received at least one helpful vote to identify, through linear regression, the significant determinants of TripAdvisor users' voting behaviour. The results showed that reviewer expertise is influential in both free and paid-for attractions, although the impact of central cues (sentiment polarity, subjectivity, pictorial content) differs for both attractions. Our study suggests that managers should look beyond individual ratings and focus on the sentiment analysis of online reviews, which are shown to be based on the nature of the attraction (free vs. paid-for).

Illusion of SNS influence: are popular SNS influential

People influence each other in the environment of social networking sites (SNS). Some SNS have gained popularity. Practitioners and researchers assume that these popular SNS are influential. However, influence and popularity are two different concepts. This research aims to provide two clear concepts of influence and popularity as well as their relationship. Popularity is hypothesised that it is affected by elements in the surroundings (e.g. societal position of a SNS owner) of SNS based on a peripheral information processing mechanism, whereas influence is hypothesised that it is affected by core elements (e.g. quality of content on a SNS message) of SNS based on a central information processing mechanism. The results indicate that influence is solely affected by the central information processing mechanism, but popularity is affected by both central and peripheral information processing mechanisms. There is a relationship between influence and popularity but it is marginal. Therefore, it should not be assumed that popular SNS are influential and vice versa.

The effect of alcohol consumption and contextual cues on the evaluation of new brands of alcoholic beverages at the POS

As per ELM, consumers' motivation and ability influence the route through which they process new information. A higher magnitude of these two factors leads to systematic information processing whereas a lower level leads to peripheral information processing. This research manipulated consumers' motivation by varying the contextual cues like bundle partner's brand image and functional relationship between the items whereas their ability was manipulated by alcohol administration to test its impact on the quality perception of a new brand of alcoholic beverage and the purchase intention of the bundle. A lower magnitude of motivation and ability increases the chances of adopting a categorisation approach to evaluate the new brand, and subsequently, the entire bundle. Therefore, a bundle's contextual cues dictate the evaluation of the new brand. Additionally, the alcohol priming effect leads to a greater propensity to try new brands of alcoholic beverages even if their quality is perceived to be inferior.

The Diogenes Effect in retail buyer information processing

The search for an ethical vendor who is honest and trustworthy in the exchange process is conceptualized as the Diogenes Effect, an innovative concept. In the light of this effect, the theoretical framework of the current study's model involved retail buyer responses to vendor persuasive communications. The model was tested by having a sample of retailer buyers complete a survey of information processing in the search for a product and vendor. This study innovatively links vendor communication effects to retailer buyer decision-making and evaluations by incorporating and integrating elements of Elaboration Likelihood Theory. Contributing to theory-building, it was found that when retailer buyers searched for a vendor with an ethical orientation, the result was intensified central processing of information and decreased peripheral information processing. This was especially salient when retailer buyers had greater longevity of professional experience. The next stage, information processing, led to feedback that enabled assessment of vendor trustworthiness. Finally, the research measured the level of fulfillment in the post-purchase phase. In the end, typical outcomes included the generation of favorable expectations of vendor performance, as well as the positive impact of those heightened favorable expectations on greater satisfaction with the value ultimately received from the vendor.

Recurrent network as a tool for calibration in automated systems and interactive simulators

We have constructed a method for the auto-calibration and correction of values of the vector of magnetic induction, which is suitable for use under conditions of limited computational resources in microcontrollers and SoC System-on-a-Chip. The efficiency of the system in general was investigated experimentally by using an additional board, which holds six pairwise connected primary Hall sensors. Correctness of work of the algorithm was checked at the designed and fabricated microprocessor test module, the prototype of which was the most simplified variant of the popular microcontroller board Arduino. We have implemented the structure of a recurrent network that is built based on vectors-indicators and recurrent decomposition; and examined the efficiency of algorithms for the calibration and processing of peripheral information. The microprocessor module was designed and manufactured, using which we studied dependence of the magnitude of measurement error on the properties of the sensor and hardware features for the automated systems and interactive simulators. A principle of the modular structure of software was employed, which increases the percentage of reuse of software parts by the organization of requests, as well as makes it possible to create new functions without making significant changes to the existing code. To ensure the independence of software from the hardware platform of sensor realization and the system of data processing and transfer, it is equipped with a module that adapts the level of hardware abstraction. The result of its implementation is the simplified procedure for software deployment in other hardware means. All platform-dependent system functions are implemented at this level. Independence from the hardware features of platforms is provided by engaging the computational tools, techniques, tools and modules of SPI, UART interfaces, and Modbus-RTU protocol. They help configure and exchange data with peripheral devices for its further processing by a personal computer.

Relation of frontal N100 to psychopathy-related differences in selective attention

Research indicates that psychopathy may be characterized by early attentional abnormalities that undermine the processing of peripheral information during goal-directed activity (Baskin-Sommers & Newman, 2012). Past work has found that psychopathic individuals show reduced interference on the Box Stroop task, in which color names are spatially separated from (i.e., peripheral to) colored stimuli (Hiatt, Schmitt, & Newman, 2004). The present study sought to replicate and extend these findings. A priori predictions were that psychopathy scores would be inversely related to interference and that psychopathy-related differences in Box Stroop conflict processing would emerge at an early stage as measured by event-related potentials (ERP). Results supported both hypotheses. Moreover, the association between the early attention-related component (N100) and interference was moderated by level of psychopathy. These findings suggest that psychopathic individuals have less coordinated responses to conflict than healthy individuals, a conjecture that has implications for information integration and self-regulation.

Spike count, spike timing and temporal information in the cortex of awake, freely moving rats

Objective. Sensory processing of peripheral information is not stationary but is, in general, a dynamic process related to the behavioral state of the animal. Yet the link between the state of the behavior and the encoding properties of neurons is unclear. This report investigates the impact of the behavioral state on the encoding mechanisms used by cortical neurons for both detection and discrimination of somatosensory stimuli in awake, freely moving, rats. Approach. Neuronal activity was recorded from the primary somatosensory cortex of five rats under two different behavioral states (quiet versus whisking) while electrical stimulation of increasing stimulus strength was delivered to the mystacial pad. Information theoretical measures were then used to measure the contribution of different encoding mechanisms to the information carried by neurons in response to the whisker stimulation. Main results. We found that the behavioral state of the animal modulated the total amount of information conveyed by neurons and that the timing of individual spikes increased the information compared to the total count of spikes alone. However, the temporal information, i.e. information exclusively related to when the spikes occur, was not modulated by behavioral state. Significance. We conclude that information about somatosensory stimuli is modulated by the behavior of the animal and this modulation is mainly expressed in the spike count while the temporal information is more robust to changes in behavioral state.

The Impact of Country-of-Origin and Joy on Product Evaluation: A Comparison of Chinese and German Intimate Apparel

Abstract Consumer’s differentiated perception and appraisal of a product’s country-of-origin (COO) exerts large influence on perception of the COO-image (COI) and on the perceived product quality. At peripheral information processing COO-Image (COI) provides a basis to ease requirements for information processing in form of heuristics. Most of internationalization literature examines the COO effect with respect to high-involvement products and in context of cognitive processing. However studies from Maheswaran and Chen (2006) point out, that besides cognitive influences, also specific emotions impact on COO-effects. Whereas the influence of negative emotions like anger, sadness or frustration on processing and judgments could be exposed, the issue of positive emotions’ impact still stays open. Since the question should be answered, if emotions impact on COO-Effects, it is emphasized to focus on COO as an affective heuristic operating as a “halo” effect on attitudes towards a product. Because both marketin...

Beautiful beyond Useful? The Role of Web Aesthetics

Past research has long set web usability as the ultimate goal in the evaluation of web design attributes. This study examines the roles of web aesthetics and web usability in online shoppers' central and peripheral information processing. The results indicate that: (1) web usability has a positive effect on the intention to purchase and a negative effect on the activation of search; (2) web aesthetics has positive effects both on the intention to purchase and on the activation of search, and its effect on the activation of search is much stronger than its effect on the intention to purchase; and (3) web usability has a stronger effect on the intention to purchase than web aesthetics does. The findings reinforce the determinant role of web usability in online shoppers' central information processing, and reveal that, although its role in central information processing is supportive, web aesthetics plays a substantial role in activating online shoppers' peripheral information processing. Managerial implications are provided for web planners and web designers.

Attention Moderates the Fearlessness of Psychopathic Offenders

Psychopathic behavior is generally attributed to a fundamental, amygdala-mediated deficit in fearlessness that undermines social conformity. An alternative view is that psychopathy involves an attention-related deficit that undermines the processing of peripheral information, including fear stimuli. We evaluated these alternative hypotheses by measuring fear-potentiated startle (FPS) in a group of 125 prisoners under experimental conditions that 1) focused attention directly on fear-relevant information or 2) established an alternative attentional focus. Psychopathy was assessed using Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Psychopathic individuals displayed normal FPS under threat-focused conditions but manifested a significant deficit in FPS under alternative-focus conditions. Moreover, these findings were essentially unchanged when analyses employed the interpersonal/affective factor of the PCL-R instead of PCL-R total scores. The results provide unprecedented evidence that higher-order cognitive processes moderate the fear deficits of psychopathic individuals. These findings suggest that psychopaths' diminished reactivity to fear stimuli, and emotion-related cues more generally, reflect idiosyncrasies in attention that limit their processing of peripheral information. Although psychopathic individuals are commonly described as cold-blooded predators who are unmotivated to change, the attentional dysfunction identified in this study supports an alternative interpretation of their chronic disinhibition and insensitive interpersonal style.

Sensory stimulation accelerates dopamine release in the basal ganglia

We report herein the modulation of dopamine release in the basal ganglia during peripheral electrical stimulation in animals. The endogenous dopamine release during electrical stimulation was measured in anesthetized cats by positron emission tomography (PET) using the D2 receptor agonist [ 11C]-raclopride. Binding potential (BP) parametric maps were calculated using a simplified reference region model. The regional dopamine release evoked by electrical stimulation was estimated both by region of interest (ROI) analysis and statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99). Both ROI analysis and statistical parametric mapping showed significant release of endogenous dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and the striatum contralateral to the stimulated side as compared to the resting condition as well as the ipsilateral side. Accordingly, we suggest that the activity of the dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain projecting to the nucleus accumbens and the striatum is modulated by the input from the afferent nerves. This provides an in vivo evidence for the importance of the basal ganglia in the processing of peripheral information required for normal movement. This may also explain the clinically observed sensory system abnormalities in patients with movement disorders.

Distinguishing between feelings and emotions in understanding communication effects

This article explores measures that may be particularly relevant in connection with peripheral or low-involvement information processing. For FMCG, peripheral information processing is dominant, but in terms of most measures used in communication research, central information processing is more efficient. The only exception relates to emotional responses. The more positive and strong effects are registered following peripheral information processing. This directs the attention towards contemporary neurophysiological research into memory and emotional processing. In addition to measuring emotional processes in terms of behavioural, glandular and autonomous responses, it is possible to infer something about underlying emotional dispositions from analyses of questions about feelings.

The impact of motivationally neutral cues on psychopathic individuals: assessing the generality of the response modulation hypothesis.

Psychopathic individuals' lack of responsiveness to punishment cues and poor self-regulation have been attributed to fearlessness (D. T. Lykken, 1957, 1982, 1995). Alternatively, deficient response modulation (RM) may hinder the psychopathic individual's processing of peripheral information and self-regulation when they are engaged in goal-directed behavior (C. M. Patterson & J. P. Newman, 1993). Although more specific than the fearlessness hypothesis in some respects, the RM hypothesis makes the more general prediction that psychopathic individuals will have difficulty processing motivationally neutral as well as fear-related stimuli. The authors assessed this prediction by using psychopathic and nonpsychopathic male inmates subdivided by level of anxiety/negative affectivity (NA). As predicted by the RM hypothesis, peripheral presentation of motivationally neutral cues produced significantly less interference in low-NA psychopathic individuals than in low-NA controls.

Peripheral Vision and Peripheral Displays

Technological advances have signi-ficantly altered the nature of the man-machine inter-face. Notable changes include: 1) a redefinition of the role of the human from that of a manual operator to a monitor/manager of complex systems; and 2) the availability of large amounts of data, presented or updated at rapid rates. As a result of such changes, the human operator must monitor, integrate, evaluate, and utilize continually changing information from a large number of spatially separated displays. Such demands require complex scanning patterns among numerous displays, and maintaining large amounts of information in working memory. These requirements and demands often overload the human's limited processing capabilities, and lead to degraded performance and increased probability of error. One possible solution to this propagation of displays and consequent information overload is to make more efficient use of human visual capabilities by offloading some types of information from foveal vision to peripheral vision. If appropriate types of information are presented to each aspect of vision (foveal and peripheral), then the human operator's bandwidth of information intake may be usefully increased. However, significant issues must be addressed before attempts are made to design peripheral displays. Such issues may be grouped into three categories: 1) determine the characteristics of peripheral vision relevant to display design (e.g., luminance sensitivity, contrast sensitivity, and acuity); 2) determine the characteristics of peripheral information processing (e.g., the costs and benefits of covert orienting of attention, the effects of foveal load on peripheral processing and vice-versa, and events in peripheral vision that cause a saccade); and 3) determine what types of information structure provide useful information in peripheral vision, which would indicate what types of information should be displayed in peripheral vision. The answers to these issues will provide data that may help determine whether it is feasible to display useable information to both foveal and peripheral vision, and provide guidelines for the design of peripheral displays. The purpose of this symposium is to address theoretical and applied issues of peripheral vision. The description and evaluation of the properties and characteristics of peripheral vision will serve as fundamental knowledge in determining the feasibility and design of peripheral displays. The symposium will be empirical in nature, with the participants presenting experimental data relevant to the above issues.