Psychological Impressions Research Articles

Acute obstructing left-sided colonic lesions: Role of preoperative endoscopic colonic stent insertion

Background: Malignant obstruction due to left-sided colonic malignant lesions is an acute emergent situation which is always dealt with by emergent celiotomy and colostomy for salvage of patient life. Colostomy is considered life-saving in such situations, yet it is of undesirable psychological feedback impressions for patients. The aim of this work is to describe our experience with the use of colonic stent in left-sided malignant obstruction, as a good step to relieve the obstruction, and hence to proceed for one-step resection anastomosis with primary repair without the need for colostomy, which is in itself of good impact for psychological satisfaction and salvage of patient. Patients and Methods: Out of 20 patients with left-sided colonic obstruction, 9 patients were dealt with colonic stent, of them 7 patients had one-step procedure with either left hemicolectomy or sigmoidectomy, and 11 had emergent surgical interference with colostomy. Results: Seven of nine patients had a successful laparoscopic colonic stent, and followed by a successful one-step surgical procedure, two of nine patients had unsuccessful laparoscopic stent with emergent exploration and colostomy. Conclusion: Colonic stent for the left malignant obstruction represents a valuable procedure for one-step resection and primary anastomosis without the need for colostomy.

Effects of meaningful or meaningless noise on psychological impression for annoyance and selective attention to stimuli during intellectual task

The presence of noise during the performance of cognitive task, commonly causes a subjective experience of annoyance, which can lead to a decline in performance. This tendency is stronger for meaningful noise such as a conversation than for meaningless noise such as heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning noise. This paper first focus on the degree of meaningfulness of noise, then discuss the psychological impression of annoyance during auditory or visual cognitive tasks under the meaningful noise or meaningless noise. In addition, we considered how the brain responds on transient event-related potentials (ERPs), elicited by external auditory or visual stimuli, can be measured using electroencephalography (EEG). The present experiment was designed to determine the effects of meaningfulness of the noise on selective attention to stimuli under the odd-ball paradigm. To this end, we examined differences in the N100 and P300 ERPs of these components. The principal component analysis (PCA) was adopted to define a set of components. Our results suggested that degree of meaningfulness of noise has a strong influence on not only the psychological impression of annoyance but also the selective attention to stimuli in cognitive tasks.

Nonverbal behaviors toward an audience and a screen for a presentation by a humanoid robot

Objective: We propose a model which predicts patterns of nonverbal behaviors for a successful presentation by a humanoidrobot, especially focusing on two types of the behaviors. One is the nonverbal behaviors of eye-contact with its face and openpostures with arms to keep an attention of an audience who are listening to the presentation. The other is pointing with its handand approaching to a screen with a step to emphasis important points on the screen which is used in the presentation. Methods: We tested the hypothesis that both types of nonverbal behaviors are effective for ensuring better understanding of thepresentation. We prepared four conditions which show high or low tendency in each type of the nonverbal behaviors. A totalof 139 participants observed a presentation by a humanoid robot in a between-subject design and then completed a surprisedtest. They also evaluated general impressions of the robot based on a psychological scale which is developed for an evaluationof humanoids. Results: We found that both approaches are related to higher scores regarding the audience’s correct understanding of thepresentation, with higher psychological impressions given in relation to utility of the robot and the clearness of the voice of therobot. Additionally, we found that the behaviors toward a screen is more effective than the behaviors toward an audience in thiscase of the presentation by a humanoid robot. Conclusions: We concluded that both types of the nonverbal behaviors are important for the audience’s correct understandingand also the behaviors which emphasize the key points in the screen is crucial rather than the behaviors which keep the attentionsof the audience when a humanoid robot gives a presentation. Finally, we discuss the universality of the proposed model for usewith other humanoid robots.

Relationship between familiarity and humanness of robots – quantification of psychological impressions toward humanoid robots

We investigate the relationships between familiarity and humanness of humanoids from psychological perspective of view. Two thousand six hundred and twenty-four people from their 10s to 70s in Japan evaluated familiarity and humanness of different 11 humanoids based on the psychological scales which are developed for evaluation of humanoids. Results showed that robot-like robots which have round shapes are evaluated higher in familiarity and lower in humanness than robot-like robots which have mechanic appearance. Androids which have totally human-like appearances are evaluated higher in humanness and familiarity than robots which are partly human-like, while one android was rated high in humanness but low in familiarity. Relatedly, repulsion which reflects a value toward the existence of humanoids bears a proportionate relationship to humanness. Higher humanness with humanoids related to higher repulsion. In sum, the relationship between familiarity and humanness is curvilinear, while repulsion and humanness shows a linear relationship. We discussed the importance of appearance of robots and interaction with robots to introduce robots toward ordinary people.

Direct comparison of psychological evaluation between virtual and real humanoids: Personal space and subjective impressions

The aim of this study was to compare psychological evaluations of a robot constructed using a virtual reality (VR) system (VR robot) with a real robot. The same design was used for both the VR and real robot in order to make a direct comparison. For the psychological evaluation, we measured behavioral reactions (the amount of personal space the participants desired between themselves and the robot) and subjective impressions (from a psychological scale). The psychological scale included six dimensions that are typically used to evaluate a humanoid: utility, clumsiness of motion, possibility of communication, controllability, vulnerability, and objective hardness. Sixty-one participants observed both the VR and real robots walking toward them and reported their level of desired personal space. Next, the participants evaluated their psychological impressions of the robots. The results indicated no significant difference in the level of desired personal space between the situations with the real and VR robots. However, regarding the psychological dimensions, participants reported higher scores for utility and the possibility of communication, and lower scores for controllability for the real robot as compared with the VR robot. The usability of a VR robot is discussed.

To Be at Home in Darkness: An Interview with Susan Tiberghien

Susan Tiberghien is an American writer living in Switzerland who has written a book reflecting on her time in Jungian analysis. Here she describes her interest in Jung, the inner world, and impressions of Jungian psychology from giving workshops at Jungian institutes around the world.

縮尺模型実験による夜間街路の光環境に対する明るさ感と活動性印象の評価指標の検討

In our previous study, we proposed two indexes for the brightness and activity impressions for outdoor lighting environments in the night-time using street images. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of these indexes using a scaled street model. Subjects evaluated the psychological impressions, brightness, activity, anxiety, harmony, comfort and preference. Based on the results, the median value of the road surface luminance highly correlates with brightness impression. It is also shown that the activity impression could be predicted based on the median value of the road surface luminance and the number of locally bright area. We validate two indexes of brightness and activity impressions.

On the Application of Green Ionic Liquids in the Preparation Process of the Gel-Type Wood Composites Materials

Due to the excellent physical and chemical properties of low melting point, high stability, low vapor pressure, and adjustable solubility, the ionic liquid is widely used in the dissolution of cellulose, regeneration and applied research. This thesis selects the ionic liquid to dissolve the wooden ponder in the processed wood residues and observes its dissolution behavior including the dissolution process of the cellulose in the ionic liquid and the cellulose dissolution as well as its regeneration mechanism. It turns out that the chemical structure of successfully prepared gel-type wood composite material does not changes and its microstructure retains a complete timber microscopic structure. For the fiber bundle formed after the celluloses dissolution, one part functions as the support skeleton, another forms a closed three-dimensional crosslinked network, which possesses stable chemical and physical properties. The gel-type wood composites owns suitable visual characteristics, which can render the "natural", "comfortable", "simple and elegant", and "crisp" visual psychological impression.

A consideration on sound masking system for achieving speech privacy using parametric acoustic array speaker

Speech privacy in open spaces is becoming increasingly important in various situations. Although measures such as the use of sound partitions are already used in many cases, measures that mask speech by emitting sounds have also been considered. A method of masking meaningful speech with meaningless noise would be valuable. Because of this, previous studies have investigated the ability of meaningless steady noise to mask speech and consequently achieve speech privacy. However, the research to date has focused on evaluating speech privacy when the masking noise is emitted from the normal loud speaker system all over the room. The masking noise emitted to the area where high level of speech privacy is not required, may cause an increased psychological impression of annoyance, leading to a decline in performance. In this study, we used a highly directional sound from modulated ultrasound as a masking noise for achieving speech privacy in the narrow area. Psychological experiments were conducted in which the masking sound was transmitted to participants from frontal or above directions with a parametric acoustic array speaker. Using the experimental data, the relationships between the degree of speech privacy and frequency characteristics and directivity of parametric acoustic array speaker were investigated. The results suggested that it is possible to maintain speech privacy in the narrow area by presenting highly directional masking sound.

Studying Migrants with the Help of the Internet: Methods from Psychology

The article describes how the Internet can be used for research both with migrants and on the psychological impressions others have of migrants. Internet-based research methods are currently one of the hot fields in methodology. Though Internet-based research has only a brief history—around 15 years—the field has seen a massive increase in the number of studies conducted on the Internet, and the collection of tools with which to conduct Internet-based research. This development demonstrates a grass-roots change in how research in the behavioural and social sciences is often conducted. In our paper, we use the example of examining social networking Web pages (in terms both of its quantitative and its qualitative aspects) for markers of biculturalism in migrants to illustrate how this type of investigation can be a fruitful avenue for researchers in the area.

Determination of Favorite Wine from Comparison of Wine Aroma Attributes

The decision to choose the appropriate product matching the preference of each individual is based on the psychological impression of the adjective and the alternatives. The preference for a product group and physical condition also affect decision-making. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of differences in the preference of wine and changes in hunger level on the psychological and neuro-physiological aspects of decision-making where the subjects were asked to choose their most favorite wine after sniffing the aroma of several wines. The psychological aspects of decision-making while sniffing five different kinds of wine were evaluated by the analytical hierarchal process (AHP) method, while the neuro-physiological aspects were evaluated by measuring the level of oxygenated hemoglobin concentrations (O2Hb) in the process of smelling the wine aromas within three minutes compared to when the non-odor and alcoholic solutions were presented. AHP analysis showed that the adjective “Favorite” was given the highest importance and a white wine with a sweet aroma was the most favored wine, regardless of the wine preference. The normalized mean O2Hb levels in each minute showed that, in the case of the wine lovers, the time course of the O2Hb level, decreased when they sensed the wine aroma compared to when they sensed non-odor solutions, and, in non-wine lovers, the O2Hb levels remained at higher values compared to the smell of the non-odor solution when they sensed the aroma of the alcoholic solution. The results indicate that there are differences with regard to decision-making between the psychological and physiological aspects when people are made to choose their most favorite wine by sniffing wine aromas.

Psychological Impressions from Mothers May Affect Women's Decisions for Employment

In this research we investigate an interdisciplinary issue between psychology and economy. During a series of workshops conducted in Tehran, in 2010, we presented basic and daily applications of simple economic principles to women. We found that there is a relationship between the women's decisions for employment and the psychological impressions they have obtained from their mothers. The theoretical background of this investigation lies in archetypal psychology and the women heroine's journey. We derived a hypothesis that those women who have dependent and housewife mothers, display a stronger tendency to decide to work and to choose an economic occupation. Questionnaires were prepared on the basis of this hypothesis for the women who took part in workshops. Statistical studies on the results proved our hypothesis about this relationship. We also found that the mother's psychological impression on daughters is not limited to denying the mother's lifestyle. Additional studies in this area can elucidate some of the complex issues involved in women's decisions for employment.

Programming hearing instruments to make live music more enjoyable

Programming hearing instruments to make live music more enjoyable

Study on Acoustical Characteristics and Psychological Impressions of an Escape Guidance Sound

Study on Acoustical Characteristics and Psychological Impressions of an Escape Guidance Sound

AN ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF VIEWS FROM HIGH POINTS BY EVALUATION GRID METHOD (EGM)

This article is a fundamental study of the favorability of the townscape. Especially, the study aimed to clarify what kind of elements are most important and what kind of psychological impressions occur when subjects take in views from high points. Personal cognitive constructs of desirability were determined using the Evaluation Grid Method (EGM). Seven kinds of bird's-eye views were used, such as a townscape in which a rice field remains, a traditional residential section with tiled rooftops, and so on. These pictures were printed in A4 size with color and without color by laser printer. The results of this research showed that various imaginations are awakened by color images. From visual clues about the degree of modernity such as an electric wire, a steel tower, a bridge or a road, subjects understood the state of the natural environment of the town, ease of living and general atmosphere. Also, it was shown that factors such as the greenness of the plants, the newness (oldness) of buildings and the layout of buildings were key elements for estimation. The lucidity of scene structure and natural abundance participate in the likability of a bird's-eye view scene. It was shown that a mixture of traditional houses and new houses, agricultural land and residential/commercial establishments create a confused impression without a feeling of unification.

A Statistical Framework for Image Category Search from a Mental Picture

Starting from a member of an image database designated the "query image," traditional image retrieval techniques, for example, search by visual similarity, allow one to locate additional instances of a target category residing in the database. However, in many cases, the query image or, more generally, the target category, resides only in the mind of the user as a set of subjective visual patterns, psychological impressions, or "mental pictures." Consequently, since image databases available today are often unstructured and lack reliable semantic annotations, it is often not obvious how to initiate a search session; this is the "page zero problem." We propose a new statistical framework based on relevance feedback to locate an instance of a semantic category in an unstructured image database with no semantic annotation. A search session is initiated from a random sample of images. At each retrieval round, the user is asked to select one image from among a set of displayed images-the one that is closest in his opinion to the target class. The matching is then "mental." Performance is measured by the number of iterations necessary to display an image which satisfies the user, at which point standard techniques can be employed to display other instances. Our core contribution is a Bayesian formulation which scales to large databases. The two key components are a response model which accounts for the user's subjective perception of similarity and a display algorithm which seeks to maximize the flow of information. Experiments with real users and two databases of 20,000 and 60,000 images demonstrate the efficiency of the search process.

Prediction method for listening score and psychological impression taking into account hearing loss due to factors such as aging

This paper considers how the listening scores obtained for audio signals and psychological impressions for speech audibility change when factors such as hearing loss due to aging are taken into account. Concretely, frequency filters for simulating hearing loss due to factors such as aging are first prepared. Next, psychological listening experiments are conducted in which both the audio signal and the noise passing through the above-mentioned filters are transmitted to subjects with normal hearing. Using the observed experimental data, the relationships between the weighted-mean spectral distance and the listening scores of the audio signals and psychological impressions with respect to speech audibility are investigated. Next, based on these relationships, problems associated with the prediction of listening scores of audio signals and psychological impressions with respect to speech audibility are discussed. The predicted results are in good agreement with the observed values.

Study on achieving speech privacy using masking noise

This study focuses on achieving speech privacy using a meaningless steady masking noise. The most effective index for achieving a satisfactory level of speech privacy was selected, choosing between spectral distance and the articulation index. From a result, spectral distance was selected as the best and most practical index for achieving speech privacy. Next, speech along with a masking noise with a sound pressure level value corresponding to various speech privacy levels were presented to subjects who judged the psychological impression of the particular speech privacy level. Theoretical calculations were in good agreement with the experimental results.

A Comparison of Personality Characteristics in Trigeminal Neuralgia and Atypical Facial Pain Using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Background: Trigeminal neuralgia and atypical facial pain are representative disease entities of chronic facial pain. Most patients of these disaeses could be accompanied with psychological, emotional problems as their pain become chronic. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether different types of chronic facial pain lead to alteration in personality disorder or they are associated with particular characteristics of personality disorders using Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI). Methods: 40 patients of trigeminal neuralgia and 21 patients of atypical facial pain who had responded MMPI were enrolled in this study. Two groups were compared for age, sex, pain intensity (Visual analogue scale, VAS), duration of pain, MMPI scores and psychological impression from MMPI results. Results: Pain intensity and chronicity were more severe and longer in trigeminal neuralgia group than atypical facial pain. However, some MMPI profiles such as hypochondriasis and hysteria were significantly elevated in atypical facial pain. Pain intensity and duration did not correlate with MMPI profiles in each group. Meaningful psychological impression from MMPI results which were interpreted by one psychologist were shown in 13 patients of trigeminal neuralgia (32.5%) and 14 patients of atypical facial pain (66.7%). Especially, psychosomatic disorder was most frequently found in atypical facial pain patients (47.6%). Conclusions: Atypical facial pain have more psychologic and emotional problems than trigeminal neuralgia, regardless of pain intensity and chronicity. Therefore, psychologic evaluation and treatment should be considered in atypical facial pain.

Masculinity and Spectacle in Mew's "A White Night": Into the Cave, Not Up the River

Masculinity and Spectacle in Mew's "A White Night": Into the Cave, Not Up the River Bryn Gribben Northwest Missouri State University "A FEMINIST counterpart of Conrad's apocalyptic Heart of Darkness " is what Elaine Showalter calls the 1903 Charlotte Mew short story "A White Night."1 Her analogy seems apt, to some extent: in each story, a central spectacle separates the civilized from the primeval; the observers of the spectacle are granted power over it, while its participants are granted only horror. In Conrad's novella, Marlow and company journey upriver to witness the multilayered deterioration of Captain Kurtz; and in Mew's work, a newlywed couple and the wife's brother journey into a Spanish cloister, where they are trapped overnight and witness a woman's live burial. However, while Heart of Darkness is arguably a confrontation of the "civilized" self with the unknowable self,2 Mew's narrative is more precisely a frightening allegory of patriarchal silencing , one in which the veneer of the exotic and foreign contributes little by way of the ritual's motive or explanation. Showalter claims the story's most disturbing element is not the burial, but the "voyeuristic [male] Cameron, a photographic presence, a camera eye who voyeuristically watches events";3 he is "a detached bachelor observer" in the vein of "Conrad's Marlow or the narrators of Henry James."4 Reiterating the words of Cameron's sister Ella, though, Showalter notes that there is a particular difference in this "feminist counterpart": whereas all eyes focus on Kurtz to find meaning, even as meaning is lost, for the male observer, Cameron, "'the woman didn't really count.' She is only a spectacle."5 We might do better, then, to consider "A White Night" not as an exploration of the "self" and "other," but in terms of a gendered crime, instigated and perpetuated by a masculine notion of spectacle, which Cameron repeatedly—and mistakenly—calls "art." In fact, Mew's story 311 ELT 49 : 3 2006 is less a counterpart to Heart of Darkness than it is an illustration of Elaine Scarry's On Beauty and Being Just and the ethics surrounding the experience of beauty. Scarry insists that beauty "swings" one forward to engage with it, rather than allows one to remain in a safely objective position; moreover, beauty never involves the harmful objectification of the viewed. Invoking Simone Weil, Scarry claims that "at the moment we see something beautiful, we undergo a radical decentering . Beauty, according to Weil, requires us 'to give up our imaginary position as the center.... A transformation then takes place at the very roots of our sensibility, in our immediate reception of sense impressions and psychological impressions.'"6 The episode in Mew's literary cloister, not only demonstrates the slippery slope between the un-beautiful and the beautiful, that which is spectacle and that which is art, it seems to insist that the murder of an unwilling woman can never be art7 and that a viewer must always do something more than watch. What is most significant about Showalter's equation of "A White Night" with Heart of Darkness is its implicit criticism of Cameron's confusion of "society" with humanity. For this reason, he is the character who most clearly illustrates the problems involved with what might be called "ethical viewing." Narrating the spectacle of female sacrifice, Cameron chooses to—even forces himself to be—oblivious to the spectacle 's broader implications, regarding the social narrative of passive femininity. Observing the killing, Cameron is devoid of the very feelings that make one a social creature, calling into question the humanity of civilization. The "bachelor narrator" illustrates that one can only see and interpret events without compassion if one has the luxury to perceive the body viewed as object and not subject, as "art" and not as life. From the story's onset, Cameron frames the events as a problematic of reading. In differentiating between art and the real, he underscores how the spectacle is necessarily a combination of both. Nevertheless, such a combination results, persistently, in an unsatisfactory position for him, reducing the "live" pleasure of the aesthetic to a superficial report of stark cruelty: "The...