scholarly journals Mental Model Construction in MedlinePlus Information Searching Involves Changes and Developments in Cognition, Emotion, and Behaviour

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Antonio DeRosa
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Task Group ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Simple Task ◽  
Complex Tasks ◽  
Group Members

Objectives – To explore the construction of mental models as a dynamic process and how users understand a consumer health information system, MedlinePlus, during a search session. Design – Face-to-face interview. Setting – Large university. Subjects – A total of 38 undergraduate students participated in the study. All majoring in non-medical fields, such as art history, psychology, business, and communication studies. Methods – Participants were randomized into two groups: the simple task group and the complex task group. Simple task group members were asked to perform 12 simple tasks while the complex group members performed three more-involved tasks. Simple tasks were defined as succinct questions with finite answers while complex tasks were open-ended and required more cognitive activity and synthesizing on the part of the individual. Participants in both groups were then given four simple tasks and two complex tasks to perform. Data was derived by video recording search sessions with individuals and interview-like questions for the tasks performed. Participants were given a brief introduction to the search session design and sessions took place in a private lab. Since the aim of the study was to track participants’ mental modeling processes over time, coding of data was caught at three different times throughout the search sessions: T1 (MM1) after five minutes of free exploration, T2 (MM2) after the first search session, and T3 (MM3) after the second search session. Main Results – The author discusses the demographic specifics of the population participating in the study. Although participants were split into two groups, the results were combined to be more meaningful. Out of the 38 participants, 20 were female and 18 were male with ages ranging from 18 to 22. They had, on average, 10 years of computer experience and their average spatial ability score was 12.71. Also on average, they spent about 20 minutes completing the first search session and 12 minutes completing the second search session. The results show that participant-developed mental models of the MedlinePlus web space can be clustered into the following five theoretical components (this information is quantified in tables throughout the paper): system, content, information organization, interface, and procedural knowledge. Conclusion – The study allowed participants to articulate their mental models and representations while conducting predefined searches during private sessions using MedlinePlus. The study also illustrates how users’ mental models of a system developed during interactions with an online system, on a theoretical level. Little is actually known about how mental models are developed when users interact with an information system. The study serves to explore this arena and reveals that the mental model construction involves changes and developments in three parallel dimensions: cognition, emotion, and behaviour. Also, these dimensions are accompanied by three mental activities: assimilating new concepts, phasing out previously perceived concepts, and modifying existing concepts. The mental model construction process could be a useful tool to build user models and make better design decisions for information systems.

Mental models, humorous texts and humour evaluation

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henri de Jongste
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Model Theory ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Mental Model Theory ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Manipulation Process ◽  
The Way

Abstract This paper investigates how a mental-model theory of communication can explain differences in humorous texts and how aesthetic criteria to evaluate humour are dependent on the way mental models are exploited. Humour is defined as the deliberate manipulation by speakers of their private mental models of situations in order to create public mental models which contain one or more incongruities. Recipients can re-construct this manipulation process and thereby evaluate its nature and its quality. Humorous texts can be distinguished in terms of ownership of the manipulated mental model, the relationship between the speakers’ private and their public (humorous) mental model, as well as the speed required in the humorous mental model construction. Possible aesthetic criteria are the quality of the mental model manipulation, the pressure under which the humorously manipulated mental models have been constructed and the quality of the presentation of humorous mental models.

The Assignment of Absolute and Relative Depth in Constructing a 3-D Mental Model from Viewed Orthographic Displays

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 178-178
Author(s):  
S T Huang ◽  
G C-W Shyi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Solution Time ◽  
Relative Depth ◽  
Mental Structure ◽  
The One ◽  
D Model

Constructing the 3-D mental structure from viewed 2-D orthographic displays may require establishing both the relative depth relation (RD) between adjacent areas in the orthographic displays and the exact magnitude of absolute depth (AD) for a given area. We examined the processes of depth assignment involved in 3-D model construction by asking subjects to mentally imagine the 3-D object portrayed by a pair of orthographic projections, and then choose among four alternative isometrics the one that matched the imagined 3-D model. One alternative corresponded to the previously shown orthographic views (ie, target). The other alternatives were distractors that differed from the target in terms of RD, AD, or both. Results from four experiments show that (a) when subjects mistook a distractor for target, they were more likely to misidentify the distractor sharing the same RD with target but with different AD, than to misidentify the distractor sharing the same AD but with different RD; (b) subjects could shorten their solution time by 40% without greatly compromising their performances when times available for imagining 3-D models were reduced in proportion to those consumed in a self-pacing condition. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of a model in which an observer may try to decide the relative depth prior to figuring out the exact absolute depth, although it is necessary to consider both aspects of depth assignment in the construction of 3-D mental models.

Where is the body in the mental model for a story?

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur C. Graesser
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Discourse Processing ◽  
On Line

Researchers in the field of discourse processing have investigated how mental models are constructed when adults comprehend stories. They have explored the process of encoding various classes of inferences “on-line” when these mental microworlds are constructed during comprehension. This commentary addresses the extent to which these inferences and mental microworlds are “embodied.”

Effects of task complexity on the learning of genre specific rhetorical moves and linguistic forms: the case of contrast and argumentative essays

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Pia Gomez Laich ◽  
Naoko Taguchi
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Private University ◽  
Task Group ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Simple Task ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Abstract This study investigates whether task complexity improves L2 English learners’ ability to write contrast and argumentative essays as measured by the use of rhetorical moves and linguistic forms characteristic of these essays. The participants were 62 students in an undergraduate-level composition class in a private university in the U.S. The study involved a first phase that targeted contrast writing and a second phase that targeted argumentative writing. In both phases, students were assigned randomly to a simple or complex task group and wrote an essay in dyads. In terms of rhetorical moves, the complex task group outperformed the simple task group in the immediate and delayed post-test of contrast essays. For argumentative essays, this superiority of the complex group was only found in the immediate post-test. As per linguistic forms, the complex task group outperformed the simple task group in the immediate and delayed post-test of both contrast and argumentative essays.

Watch For Failing Objects: What Inappropriate Compliance Reveals About Shared Mental Models In Autonomous Cars

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 643-647
Author(s):  
Yosef S. Razin ◽  
Jack Gale ◽  
Jiaojiao Fan ◽  
Jaznae’ Smith ◽  
Karen M. Feigh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
False Positive Rate ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
True Positive Rate ◽  
Shared Mental Models ◽  
Shared Mental Model ◽  
Autonomous Cars ◽  
Positive Rate ◽  
Dispositional Factors

This paper evaluates Banks et al.’s Human-AI Shared Mental Model theory by examining how a self-driving vehicle’s hazard assessment facilitates shared mental models. Participants were asked to affirm the vehicle’s assessment of road objects as either hazards or mistakes in real-time as behavioral and subjective measures were collected. The baseline performance of the AI was purposefully low (<50%) to examine how the human’s shared mental model might lead to inappropriate compliance. Results indicated that while the participant true positive rate was high, overall performance was reduced by the large false positive rate, indicating that participants were indeed being influenced by the Al’s faulty assessments, despite full transparency as to the ground-truth. Both performance and compliance were directly affected by frustration, mental, and even physical demands. Dispositional factors such as faith in other people’s cooperativeness and in technology companies were also significant. Thus, our findings strongly supported the theory that shared mental models play a measurable role in performance and compliance, in a complex interplay with trust.

scholarly journals Problem based learning: Students’ mental models on water conductivity concept

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 269
Author(s):  
John Rafafy Batlolona ◽  
Haryo Franky Souisa
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Water Conductivity ◽  
Education Change ◽  
Pbl Model

This paper tells about the mental model of prospective scholars on the topic of temperature and heat. The purpose of this research is to improve students’ mental model by using problem based learning (PBL) model. The number of samples in the study amounted to 72 students with two different classes. The results of the study showed that, (1) the improvement of mental model that studied with PBL was higher than that studied with conventional learning. (2) high-skilled student mental models that are learning with PBL are higher than those studied by conventional learning. (3) low-skilled student mental models that study with PBL are higher than students learning with conventional learning. The conclusion of this study is the improvement of students' mental models using PBL models on the topic of conductivity in water. Thus the PBL model can be recommended in improving students' mental models on temperature and heat topics. The implication in this research is to improve the students' mental model as the agent of science education change.

scholarly journals How Influential Are Mental Models on Interaction Performance? Exploring the Gap between Users’ and Designers’ Mental Models through a New Quantitative Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingjun Xie ◽  
Jia Zhou ◽  
Huilin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Quantitative Method ◽  
User Performance ◽  
Card Sorting ◽  
Information Structures ◽  
Path Diagram ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Model Similarity ◽  
The Relationship

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the gap between two different mental models on interaction performance through a quantitative way. To achieve that, an index called mental model similarity and a new method called path diagram to elicit mental models were introduced. There are two kinds of similarity: directionless similarity calculated from card sorting and directional similarity calculated from path diagram. An experiment was designed to test their influence. A total of 32 college students participated and their performance was recorded. Through mathematical analysis of the results, three findings were derived. Frist, the more complex the information structures, the lower the directional similarity. Second, directional similarity (rather than directionless similarity) had significant influence on user performance, indicating that it is more effective in eliciting mental models using path diagram than card sorting. Third, the relationship between information structures and user performance was partially mediated by directional similarity. Our findings provide practitioners with a new perspective of bridging the gap between users’ and designers’ mental models.

Mental Models

2011 ◽  
pp. 574-579
Author(s):  
Daniel Churchill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Repeated Application ◽  
Internal Representations ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Mind's Eye ◽  
Cognitive Practice

It is widely assumed that mental models are internal representations. Humans are capable of constructing these models when required by demands of an external task or by a self-generated stimulus. “Mind’s eye” can see, run, and interact with these mental models. Rather than stored in strictly fixed form in the mind, mental models are constructed on the spot when needed. Repeated application leads to refinement of a mental model and possible automation of its construction and use processes in one’s cognitive practice.

Shared Mental Models of the Late Soviet Period

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-77
Author(s):  
Gulnaz Sharafutdinova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Shared Mental Models ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
Group Members

This chapter advances a conceptualization of collective identity as a set of shared cognitive structures (or mental models) about the collective self. Below I argue that the Soviet Union was successful in instilling a Soviet collective identity and that the two main mental models that constituted this identity were a sense of Soviet exceptionalism and a sense of the Soviet state being surrounded by the enemy. These shared mental models represented important pillars supporting individual-level dignity and self-esteem for many Soviet citizens as well as a source of their perceptions of in-group and out-group members. Empirical findings from Yuri Levada’s “simple Soviet person” project and a variety of secondary data are used to support the central claims of this chapter.

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