Methods of sensory augmentation through electro-tactile stimulation of the tongue

This paper details an investigation into sensory substitution by means of direct electrical stimulation of the tongue for the purpose of information input to the human brain. In particular, a device has been constructed and a series of trials have been performed in order to demonstrate the efficacy and performance of an electro-tactile array mounted onto the tongue surface for the purpose of sensory augmentation. Tests have shown that by using a low resolution array a computer-human feedback loop can be successfully implemented by humans in order to complete tasks such as object tracking, surface shape identification and shape recognition with no training or prior experience with the device. Comparisons of this technique have been made with visual alternatives and these show that the tongue based tactile array can match such methods in convenience and accuracy in performing simple tasks.

Achievement motivation and memory: achievement goals differentially influence immediate and delayed remember–know recognition memory

Little research has been conducted on achievement motivation and memory and, more specifically, on achievement goals and memory. In the present research, the authors conducted two experiments designed to examine the influence of mastery-approach and performance-approach goals on immediate and delayed remember–know recognition memory. The experiments revealed differential effects for achievement goals over time: Performance-approach goals showed higher correct remember responding on an immediate recognition test, whereas mastery-approach goals showed higher correct remember responding on a delayed recognition test. Achievement goals had no influence on overall recognition memory and no consistent influence on know responding across experiments. These findings indicate that it is important to consider quality, not just quantity, in both motivation and memory, when studying relations between these constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)

Anion recognition and transport properties of sulfamide-, phosphoric triamide- and thiophosphoric triamide-based receptors

Studies of sulfamide, phosphoric triamide and thiophosphoric triamidebased organocatalysts show that the phosphorus containing systems are effective new hydrogen bonding motifs for the recognition and transport of anions.

The effects of distraction on metacognition and metacognition on distraction: evidence from recognition memory

The effects of auditory distraction in memory tasks have been examined to date with procedures that minimize participants’ control over their own memory processes. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to metacognitive control factors which might affect memory performance. In this study, we investigate the effects of auditory distraction on metacognitive control of memory, examining the effects of auditory distraction in recognition tasks utilizing the metacognitive framework of Koriat and Goldsmith (1996), to determine whether strategic regulation of memory accuracy is impacted by auditory distraction. Results replicated previous findings in showing that auditory distraction impairs memory performance in tasks minimizing participants’ metacognitive control (forced-report test). However, the results revealed also that when metacognitive control is allowed (free-report tests), auditory distraction impacts upon a range of metacognitive indices. In the present study, auditory distraction undermined accuracy of metacognitive monitoring (resolution), reduced confidence in responses provided and, correspondingly, increased participants’ propensity to withhold responses in free-report recognition. Crucially, changes in metacognitive processes were related to impairment in free-report recognition performance, as the use of the ‘don’t know’ option under distraction led to a reduction in the number of correct responses volunteered in free-report tests. Overall, the present results show how auditory distraction exerts its influence on memory performance via both memory and metamemory processes.

Representing 3D shape and location

The 3D shape of an object and its 3D location have traditionally thought of as very separate entities, although both can be described within a single 3D coordinate frame. Here, 3D shape and location are considered as two aspects of a view-based approach to representing depth, avoiding the use of 3D coordinate frames.

Type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance are associated with word memory source monitoring recollection deficits but not simple recognition familiarity deficits following water, low glycaemic load, and high glycaemic load breakfasts.

Isolated source monitoring recollection deficits indicate that abnormalities in glucose metabolism are not detrimental for global episodic memory processes. This enhances our understanding of how metabolic disorders are associated with memory impairments.

Spectral design of temperature-invariant narrow bandpass filters for the mid-infrared

The ability of narrow bandpass filters to discriminate wavelengths between closely-separated gas absorption lines is crucial in many areas of infrared spectroscopy. As improvements to the sensitivity of infrared detectors enables operation in uncontrolled high-temperature environments, this imposes demands on the explicit bandpass design to provide temperature-invariant behavior. The unique negative temperature coefficient (dn/dT<0) of Lead-based (Pb) salts, in combination with dielectric materials enable bandpass filters with exclusive immunity to shifts in wavelength with temperature. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the interdependence between multilayer bandpass design and optical materials together with a review on invariance at elevated temperatures.

A unified approach to the recognition of complex actions from sequences of zone-crossings

We present a method for the recognition of complex actions. Our method combines automatic learning of simple actions and manual definition of complex actions in a single grammar. Contrary to the general trend in complex action recognition that consists in dividing recognition into two stages, our method performs recognition of simple and complex actions in a unified way. This is performed by encoding simple action HMMs within the stochastic grammar that models complex actions. This unified approach enables a more effective influence of the higher activity layers into the recognition of simple actions which leads to a substantial improvement in the classification of complex actions. We consider the recognition of complex actions based on person transits between areas in the scene. As input, our method receives crossings of tracks along a set of zones which are derived using unsupervised learning of the movement patterns of the objects in the scene. We evaluate our method on a large dataset showing normal, suspicious and threat behaviour on a parking lot. Experiments show an improvement of ~ 30% in the recognition of both high-level scenarios and their composing simple actions with respect to a two-stage approach. Experiments with synthetic noise simulating the most common tracking failures show that our method only experiences a limited decrease in performance when moderate amounts of noise are added.

ReadingAct RGB-D action dataset and human action recognition from local features

For general home monitoring, a system should automatically interpret people’s actions. The system should be non-intrusive, and able to deal with a cluttered background, and loose clothes. An approach based on spatio-temporal local features and a Bag-of-Words (BoW) model is proposed for single-person action recognition from combined intensity and depth images. To restore the temporal structure lost in the traditional BoW method, a dynamic time alignment technique with temporal binning is applied in this work, which has not been previously implemented in the literature for human action recognition on depth imagery. A novel human action dataset with depth data has been created using two Microsoft Kinect sensors. The ReadingAct dataset contains 20 subjects and 19 actions for a total of 2340 videos. To investigate the effect of using depth images and the proposed method, testing was conducted on three depth datasets, and the proposed method was compared to traditional Bag-of-Words methods. Results showed that the proposed method improves recognition accuracy when adding depth to the conventional intensity data, and has advantages when dealing with long actions.

Is it me? Self-recognition bias across sensory modalities and its relationship to autistic traits

Background Atypical self-processing is an emerging theme in autism research, suggested by lower self-reference effect in memory, and atypical neural responses to visual self-representations. Most research on physical self-processing in autism uses visual stimuli. However, the self is a multimodal construct, and therefore, it is essential to test self-recognition in other sensory modalities as well. Self-recognition in the auditory modality remains relatively unexplored and has not been tested in relation to autism and related traits. This study investigates self-recognition in auditory and visual domain in the general population and tests if it is associated with autistic traits. Methods Thirty-nine neurotypical adults participated in a two-part study. In the first session, individual participant’s voice was recorded and face was photographed and morphed respectively with voices and faces from unfamiliar identities. In the second session, participants performed a ‘self-identification’ task, classifying each morph as ‘self’ voice (or face) or an ‘other’ voice (or face). All participants also completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). For each sensory modality, slope of the self-recognition curve was used as individual self-recognition metric. These two self-recognition metrics were tested for association between each other, and with autistic traits. Results Fifty percent ‘self’ response was reached for a higher percentage of self in the auditory domain compared to the visual domain (t = 3.142; P < 0.01). No significant correlation was noted between self-recognition bias across sensory modalities (τ = −0.165, P = 0.204). Higher recognition bias for self-voice was observed in individuals higher in autistic traits (τ AQ = 0.301, P = 0.008). No such correlation was observed between recognition bias for self-face and autistic traits (τ AQ = −0.020, P = 0.438). Conclusions Our data shows that recognition bias for physical self-representation is not related across sensory modalities. Further, individuals with higher autistic traits were better able to discriminate self from other voices, but this relation was not observed with self-face. A narrow self-other overlap in the auditory domain seen in individuals with high autistic traits could arise due to enhanced perceptual processing of auditory stimuli often observed in individuals with autism.

Object-love at the Science Museum: cultural geographies of museum storerooms

The field of museum geography is taking on new significance as geographers and museum-studies scholars make sense of the spatial relations between the people, things, practices and buildings that make and remake museums. In order to strengthen this spatial interest in museums, this paper makes important connections between recent work in cultural geography and museum studies on love, materiality and the museum effect. This paper marks a departure from the preoccupation with the public spaces of museums to go behind the scenes of the Science Museum in London to explore its rarely visited, but nonetheless lively, small-to-medium-sized object storerooms at Blythe House. Incorporating field diary entries and interview extracts from two research projects based upon the museum storerooms at Blythe House, this paper brings to life the social interactions that take place between museum curators and conservators and the objects they care for. This focus on object-love enables scholars to consider anew what museums are and what they are for, the life of the museum object in the storeroom, and the emotional practices of professional curatorship and conservation. This journey into the storeroom at Blythe House makes explicit how object-love shapes museum space.