scholarly journals Image Memorability in the Eye of the Beholder: Tracking the Decay of Visual Scene Representations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Le-Hoa Võ ◽  
Zoya Bylinskii ◽  
Aude Oliva

ABSTRACTSome images stick in your mind for days or even years, while others seem to vanish quickly from memory. We tested whether differences in image memorability 1) are already evident immediately after encoding, 2) produce different rates of forgetting, and 3) whether the retrieval of images with different memorability scores affords differential degrees of cognitive load, mirrored by graded pupillary and blink rate responses. We monitored participants’ eye activity while they viewed a sequence of >1200 images in a repetition detection paradigm. 240 target images from 3 non-overlapping memorability classes were repeated at 4 different lags. Overall, performance decreased log-linearly with time. Differences in memorability were already visible at the shortest lag (~ 20 sec) and became more pronounced as time passed on. The rate of forgetting was steepest for low memorable images. We found that pupils dilated significantly more to correctly identified targets than correctly rejected distractors. Importantly, this “pupil old/new effect” increased with increasing number of lags and decreasing image memorability. A similar modulation of blink rates corroborated these findings. These results suggest that during memory retrieval of scenes, image inherent characteristics pose differential degrees of cognitive load on observers as seen in their eyes.

2020 ◽  
Vol 736 ◽  
pp. 135293
Author(s):  
Alfonso Magliacano ◽  
Salvatore Fiorenza ◽  
Anna Estraneo ◽  
Luigi Trojano

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh M. Riby ◽  
Hazel McMurtrie ◽  
Jonathan Smallwood ◽  
Carrie Ballantyne ◽  
Andrew Meikle ◽  
...  

The ingestion of a glucose-containing drink has been shown to improve cognitive performance, particularly memory functioning. However, it remains unclear as to the extent to which task domain and task difficulty moderate the glucose enhancement effect. The aim of this research was to determine whether boosts in performance are restricted to particular classes of memory (episodic v. semantic) or to tasks of considerable cognitive load. A repeated measures (25g glucose v saccharin), counterbalanced, double-blind design was used with younger and older adults. Participants performed a battery of episodic (e.g. paired associate learning) and semantic memory (e.g. category verification) tasks under low and high cognitive load. Electrophysiological measures (heart rate and galvanic skin response) of arousal and mental effort were also gathered. The results indicated that whilst glucose appeared to aid episodic remembering, cognitive load did not exaggerate the facilitative effect. For semantic memory, there was little evidence to suggest that glucose can boost semantic memory retrieval even when the load was manipulated. One exception was that glucose facilitated performance during the difficult category fluency task. Regardless, the present findings are consistent with the domain-specific account in which glucose acts primarily on the hippocampal region, which is known to support episodic memory. The possible contribution of the hippocampus in semantic memory processing is also discussed.


Author(s):  
David C Joy

The electron source is the most important component of the Scanning electron microscope (SEM) since it is this which will determine the overall performance of the machine. The gun performance can be described in terms of quantities such as its brightness, its source size, its energy spread, and its stability and, depending on the chosen application, any of these factors may be the most significant one. The task of the electron gun in an SEM is, in fact, particularly difficult because of the very wide range of operational parameters that may be required e.g a variation in probe size of from a few angstroms to a few microns, and a probe current which may go from less than a pico-amp to more than a microamp. This wide range of operating parameters makes the choice of the optimum source for scanning microscopy a difficult decision.Historically, the first step up from the sealed glass tube ‘cathode ray generator’ was the simple, diode, tungsten thermionic emitter.


1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Jane Lieberman ◽  
Ann Marie C. Heffron ◽  
Stephanie J. West ◽  
Edward C. Hutchinson ◽  
Thomas W. Swem

Four recently developed adolescent language tests, the Fullerton Test for Adolescents (FLTA), the Test of Adolescent Language (TOAL), the Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions (CELF), and the Screening Test of Adolescent Language (STAL), were compared to determine: (a) whether they measured the same language skills (content) in the same way (procedures); and (b) whether students performed similarly on each of the tests. First, respective manuals were reviewed to compare selection of subtest content areas and subtest procedures. Then, each of the tests was administered according to standardized procedures to 30 unselected sixth-grade students. Despite apparent differences in test content and procedures, there was no significant difference in students' performance on three of the four tests, and correlations among test performance were moderate to high. A comparison of the pass/fail rates for overall performance on the tests, however, revealed a significant discrepancy between the proportions of students identified in need of further evaluation on the STAL (20%) and the proportion diagnosed as language impaired on the three diagnostic tests (60-73%). Clinical implications are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1258-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan K. MacPherson

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest.MethodTwelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger adults produced multiple repetitions of 4 sentences containing an embedded Stroop task in 2 cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. The incongruent condition, which required participants to suppress orthographic information to say the font colors in which color words were written, represented an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which word text and font color matched. Kinematic measures of articulatory coordination variability and movement duration as well as a behavioral measure of sentence production accuracy were compared between groups and conditions and across 3 sentence segments (pre-, during-, and post-Stroop).ResultsIncreased cognitive load in the incongruent condition was associated with increased articulatory coordination variability and movement duration, compared to the congruent Stroop condition, for both age groups. Overall, the effect of increased cognitive load was greater for older adults than younger adults and was greatest in the portion of the sentence in which cognitive load was manipulated (during-Stroop), followed by the pre-Stroop segment. Sentence production accuracy was reduced for older adults in the incongruent condition.ConclusionsIncreased cognitive load involving response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory processes within a speech production task disrupted both the stability and timing with which speech was produced by both age groups. Older adults' speech motor performance may have been more affected due to age-related changes in cognitive and motoric functions that result in altered motor cognition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Holyfield ◽  
Sydney Brooks ◽  
Allison Schluterman

Purpose Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an intervention approach that can promote communication and language in children with multiple disabilities who are beginning communicators. While a wide range of AAC technologies are available, little is known about the comparative effects of specific technology options. Given that engagement can be low for beginning communicators with multiple disabilities, the current study provides initial information about the comparative effects of 2 AAC technology options—high-tech visual scene displays (VSDs) and low-tech isolated picture symbols—on engagement. Method Three elementary-age beginning communicators with multiple disabilities participated. The study used a single-subject, alternating treatment design with each technology serving as a condition. Participants interacted with their school speech-language pathologists using each of the 2 technologies across 5 sessions in a block randomized order. Results According to visual analysis and nonoverlap of all pairs calculations, all 3 participants demonstrated more engagement with the high-tech VSDs than the low-tech isolated picture symbols as measured by their seconds of gaze toward each technology option. Despite the difference in engagement observed, there was no clear difference across the 2 conditions in engagement toward the communication partner or use of the AAC. Conclusions Clinicians can consider measuring engagement when evaluating AAC technology options for children with multiple disabilities and should consider evaluating high-tech VSDs as 1 technology option for them. Future research must explore the extent to which differences in engagement to particular AAC technologies result in differences in communication and language learning over time as might be expected.


1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 4-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Welch

Abstract Functional capacity evaluations (FCEs) have become an important component of disability evaluation during the past 10 years to assess an individual's ability to perform the essential or specific functions of a job, both preplacement and during rehabilitation. Evaluating both job performance and physical ability is a complex assessment, and some practitioners are not yet certain that an FCE can achieve these goals. An FCE is useful only if it predicts job performance, and factors that should be assessed include overall performance; consistency of performance across similar areas of the FCE; consistency between observed behaviors during the FCE and limitations or abilities reported by the worker; objective changes (eg, blood pressure and pulse) that are appropriate relative to performance; external factors (illness, lack of sleep, or medication); and a coefficient of variation that can be measured and assessed. FCEs can identify specific movement patterns or weaknesses; measure improvement during rehabilitation; identify a specific limitation that is amenable to accommodation; and identify a worker who appears to be providing a submaximal effort. FCEs are less reliable at predicting injury risk; they cannot tell us much about endurance over a time period longer than the time required for the FCE; and the FCE may measure simple muscular functions when the job requires more complex ones.


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