Comparison of a brain-based adaptive system and a manual adaptable system for invoking automation.

Objective: Two experiments are presented examining adaptive and adaptable methods for invoking automation.

Background: Empirical investigations of adaptive automation have focused on methods used to invoke automation or on automation-related performance implications. However, no research has addressed whether performance benefits associated with brain-based systems exceed those in which users have control over task allocations.

An evaluation of an adaptive automation system using a cognitive vigilance task.

The performance of an adaptive automation system was evaluated using a cognitive vigilance task. Participants responded to the presence of a green "K" in an array of two, five, or nine distractor stimuli during a 40-min vigil. The array with the target stimulus was presented once each minute.

Effects of a psychophysiological system for adaptive automation on performance, workload, and the event-related potential P300 component.

The present study examined the effects of an electroencephalographic- (EEG-) based system for adaptive automation on tracking performance and workload. In addition, event-related potentials (ERPs) to a secondary task were derived to determine whether they would provide an additional degree of workload specificity. Participants were run in an adaptive automation condition, in which the system switched between manual and automatic task modes based on the value of each individual's own EEG engagement index; a yoked control condition; or another control group, in which task mode switches followed a random pattern.

Effects of a biocybernetic system on vigilance performance.

The present study was designed to determine whether a biocybernetic, adaptive system could enhance vigilance performance. Participants were asked to monitor the repetitive presentation of white bars on a computer screen for occasional increases in length. An index of task engagement was derived from participants' electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and was used to change the presentation rate of events among 3 values (6, 20, and 60 events/min).

A closed-loop system for examining psychophysiological measures for adaptive task allocation.

A closed-loop system was evaluated for its efficacy in using psychophysiological indexes to moderate workload. Participants were asked to perform either 1 or 3 tasks from the Multiattribute Task Battery and complete the NASA Task Load Index after each trial. An electroencephalogram (EEG) was sampled continuously while they performed the tasks, and an EEG index (beta/alpha plus theta) was derived.

Evaluation of a psychophysiologically controlled adaptive automation system, using performance on a tracking task.

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of a psychophysiologically controlled adaptive automation system. Subjects were asked to perform a compensatory tracking task while their electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded and an engagement index was derived from the EEG, using the alpha, beta, and theta bandwidths: beta/(alpha + theta) and beta/theta. In Experiment I, EEG was recorded from three different sites: frontal, parietal, and temporal.

Evaluation of an adaptive automation system using three EEG indices with a visual tracking task.

A system was evaluated for use in adaptive automation using two experiments with electroencephalogram (EEG) indices based on the beta, alpha, and theta bandwidths. Subjects performed a compensatory tracking task while their EEG was recorded and converted to one of three engagement indices: beta/(alpha + theta), beta/alpha, or 1/alpha. In experiment one, the tracking task was switched between manual and automatic modes depending on whether the subject's engagement index was increasing or decreasing under a positive or negative feedback condition.

Effect of facial familiarity and task requirement on electrodermal activity.

We examined the effect of facial familiarity and task requirement on electrodermal activity (EDA). Proposed models of facial recognition suggest a sequential process wherein a recognition of familiarity precedes any identity-specific search. Prior research has indicated that an automatic increase in EDA occurs to familiar faces.

An alternative biofeedback-based behavior modification treatment for a case of chronic constipation.

A 31-year old female with chronic constipation was referred for treatment of a paradoxical contraction of the external anal sphincter (EAS) muscle during straining to defecate. The patient was dependent on laxative use and the digital removal of feces. The present program emphasized biofeedback training of the EAS utilizing the inexpensive, noninvasive procedure of disposable surface electrodes placed on the anal verge.

Neuropsychological functioning of HIV-infected males.

This article presents a Meta-Analysis of previous HIV-related neuropsychological research and new data from a study with methodological improvements over early investigations. In this study, the authors compared neuropsychological testing for three groups of adult male homosexuals: (a) HIV seronegative controls (n = 30), (b) HIV seropositive non-AIDS subjects (n = 27), and (c) diagnosed AIDS patients (n = 26). Groups were matched for age, education, and handedness, and subjects with other neurobehavioral risk factors were excluded.

Transfer of training of the biofeedback-assisted control of hand temperature.

This study examined the effect of prior biofeedback-assisted training of hand warming or hand cooling on the subsequent ability to train the opposite response. A two-group crossover design employed 43 subjects with one group receiving three days of hand warming followed by three days of hand cooling, while the second group received the opposite sequence. Analysis indicated subjects were able to produce the appropriate changes in hand temperature and were more successful at hand cooling than hand warming.

Attitudinal body-image assessment: factor analysis of the Body-Self Relations Questionnaire.

This article presents an analysis of the factor structure of the Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (BSRQ), an attitudinal body-image instrument. Random stratified samples, drawn from a national survey, included 1,064 females and 988 males. In order to evaluate the replicability of the BSRQ factor structure, separate split-sample factor analyses (principal components with varimax rotation) were conducted for each sex.

Validity of Million's computerized interpretation system for the MCMI: comment on Moreland and Onstad.

Moreland and Onstad (1987) reported the results of a "controlled study" to determine the incremental validity of Million's computerized interpretive system for the Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) in relation to the Barnum effect. Eight clinicians rated the accuracy of actual case reports and paired control reports that were randomly generated but designated experimental. However, in view of several limitations of their experimental design and statistical analyses, the authors may have prematurely concluded that the perceived accuracy of the interpretive system exceeds a Barnum base rate.

Differential conditioning of environmental cues with amygdala kindling.

Recent evidence suggests that the pairing of environmental cues with kindling stimulation can affect the rate at which seizures develop. In the present study, the effect of differential conditioning was evaluated. Rats were kindled in either a black box or a highly illuminated white box.

The effect of amygdala-kindled seizures on the acquisition of taste and odor aversions.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of amygdala-kindled seizures on the acquisition of fluid aversions using taste, odor, and compound taste-odor cues. In Experiment 1 all subjects were poisoned with lithium chloride 30 minutes after ingesting a novel taste. Experimental subjects were either kindled 15 minutes following ingestion or 15 minutes following LiCl injection.

Multidimensionality of the Nowicki-Strickland locus of control scale for adults.

In order to investigate the dimensionality of the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (ANS-IE), the responses of 120 undergraduate psychology majors were subjected to one principal components factor analysis using Kaiser's varimax criterion, Five meaningful factors emerged which accounted or 80.6% of the total variance. Results were discussed in terms of their similarity to other factor analyses using the children's version of this scale and to a factor analysis of the ANS-IE (chandler & Dugovics, 1977) which used a modified response format.

Resistance to extinction of a taste aversion: effects of level of training and procedures used in acquisition and extinction.

Two studies investigated the relationship between acquisition and extinction procedures on the development and elimination of a taste aversion. In the first experiment, subjects were given either forced or free choice acquisition to a common acquisition criterion. Then, their aversion was extinguished under either the free or forced choice procedure.

A Comparison Of The Adjective Check List, Bem Sex Role Inventory, And Personal Attributes Questionnaire Masculinity And Femininity Subscales.

Ninety-two male and 131 female undergraduate psychology students were administered the Adjective Check List (ACL), Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), and Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). The masculinity (M) and femininity (F) subscale scores for each of these three measures were correlated and subjected to a principal factor analysis with varimax rotation separately for males and females. Results indicated that: (1) the ACL-F shared only a modest amount of variance with the BSRI and PAQ-F subscales, and was not responded to in the same manner by males and females; (2) the ACL-M subscale tended to be more strongly negatively related to F subscales than did the BSRI and PAQ-M subscales; (3) the BSRI and PAQ-M and F subscales shared a substantial proportion of variance between themselves, for both males and females; and (4) a masculine factor and a feminine factor, accounting for approximately the same amount of the entire common variance, emerged for both males and females.

Illness-alone exposure as a source of interference with the acquisition and retention of a taste aversion.

Four studies were conducted to explore the effects of unpaired lithium chloride (LiCl) injections, the unconditioned stimulus (US), on the acquisition and retention of a taste aversion. In Experiment 1, subjects were preexposed to a US; for one group the US was paired with a distinctive taste, whereas for a second group it was not. Following this preparation, both groups received the US paired with a novel taste.