The work is devoted to Human-computer interaction and its main goal is to get closer to the field. The first part describes two main areas, namely Cognitive Science and Cogni-tive Psychology, from which HCI is based on. The second part deals specifically with Human-computer interaction, the history of the origins, aspects of human factor, ele-ments of interaction and modeling of interaction together with examples from everyday life.

Abductive reasoning is the process of finding a best explanation for a set of observations. In many abductive problems, like medical diagnosis, scientific discovery, debugging or troubleshooting, an amount of information far beyond the capacity limits of working memory (WM) must be processed. Although WM plays a central role in theories of human cognition, theories of abductive reasoning do not specify WM processes during the generation of explanations. On the basis of a computational model of abductive reasoning and of theories of text comprehension a mechanism is proposed that reduces WM load during abductive reasoning. The computational model views abductive reasoning as the sequential comprehension and integration of observations into a situation model that represents the current best explanation for the observations. The proposed WM mechanism assumes that the situation model is only partly kept in WM, whereas other pieces are stored in long-term memory. These long-term representation part can be reliably accessed through retrieval structures to reinstatiate information in WM during abductive reasoning. It is assumed that unexplained observations are actively maintained in WM until an explanation for them could be generated. Thereafter their representation is lost from WM. But these explained observations can be recalled from long-term memory via their integration into the situation model. This mechanism makes predictions about the availability of the mental representation of explained and unexplained observations. These predictions were tested in four experiments, using different memory tests for observations. In Experiments 1 and 2 a recognition test was used, in Experiment 3 an implicit menory test was used and in Experiment 4 the participants had to perform an unexpected recall after task interruption. The results show that unexplained observations are accessed faster than explained ones during abductive reasoning. This confirms the mechanism's assumption that unexplained observations are kept in WM and explained ones not. But explained observations seem not to be represented in long-term memory. Rather, it seems that observations are rapidly forgotten afer they are explained. Different possible reasons for this pattern of result are discussed.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan individers olika tidsperspektiv (TP) med deras rörelse i samhället och mängd av fysiska kontakter i relation till de nationella rekommendationerna om fysisk distansering under COVID-19-pandemin. En studie (n = 52) utfördes med syftet av att samla grundläggande information om deltagarna tillsammans med ett mått av deras respektive TP utifrån den korta versionen av Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI). Efter rekrytering skickades dagliga enkäter till varje deltagare under en vecka för att samla data om deras dagliga aktiviteter innehållandes bl.a. rörelser och sociala interaktioner. En kvantitativ mätning analyserades utifrån deltagarnas antal besök på diverse ställen i samhället samt mängden av fysiska kontakter under en veckas deltagande. Hypotesen var att deltagares poäng på FP-dimensionen från S-ZTPI skulle visa ett negativt samband mellan antalet besökta platser och mängden av fysiska kontakter. Deltagares poäng på PH-dimensionen förväntades i stället att visa ett positivt samband mellan antalet besökta platser och mängden av fysiska kontakter. Resultaten visade inget signifikant samband mellan varken TP (PH och FP) och aktivitet eller TP och mängd fysiska kontakter under en veckas tids medverkande i studien. / The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between individuals different time perspectives (TP), movement in their community and amount of psychical contacts in relation to the national recommendations about physical distancing during the COVID-19-pandemic. A study (n = 52) was conducted with the purpose of collecting basic information about the participants along with a measure of their respective TP using the short version of the Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI). After recruitment, daily questionnaires were sent to each participant during a week to collect data about their daily activities involving e.g. movement and social interactions. A quantitative measure was analyzed using participants number of places visited in their community along with the amount of physical contacts during a week’s participation. The hypothesis of this thesis was that participants score on the FP-dimension from the S-ZTPI would be negatively related to the number of places visited and the amount of physical contacts. In contrast, participants PH-score was expected to be positively related with number of places visited and the amount of physical contacts. The results showed no significant relation between neither TP (PH and FP) and activity or TP and physical contacts during a week’s participation in the study.

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In recent years, there has been an increase in environmental awareness in the United States leading to steady growth in environmentally conscious consumerism. These changes have come in response to issues such as the energy crisis, climate change, exponential population growth, and rapid urbanization. This fact is further supported by environmental campaigns and the green movement. Looking to the future of green home marketing, understanding the green consumer behavior of Generation Z (GenZ) is important for environmental and business reasons. The purpose of this research is to better understand the perception of GenZ on Green Homes (GHs). The study uses the lenses of dual inheritance and normative motivation theory to explain the influence of benefits and norms related to environmentalism and sustainability on GenZ consumers’ green behavior. This study seeks to evaluate 1) GenZ’s preferences related to Green Home Features (GHFs), 3) the extent of the influence of certain barriers on the adoption of GHFs, and 3) the types of motivation (intrinsic, instrumental and non-normative) influencing GenZ towards green home consumerism. Data was collected using an online survey questionnaire exclusively at Purdue University during March – April of 2021 (IRB 2020-1414). One hundred sixteen GenZ participants responded to the survey.The findings show that these GenZ consumers prefer a certain type of GHFs over others. Additionally, based on descriptive tests of GHFs, energy-related features were the most prized features, while the least preferred was water-efficient features. Descriptive tests on barriers suggest that GenZ consumers perceive the lack of choice in selecting GHFs in their homes to be a top barrier, followed by a lack of information and the perceived effort to analyze GHFs. Inferential tests for the same indicated that GenZ consumers perceive these barriers differently. Lastly, for GenZ consumers, intrinsic and non-normative motivations significantly affect their willingness to buy GHs. The findings concur with previous studies on green consumer behavior, yet they provide a new benchmark for understanding GenZ consumer behavior on GHs and an updated view of what GHFs they prefer. This research can be used by home marketers and policy makers to study future home trends, attract more potential homeowners to GHs, and help create a sustainable environment for future generations.

Mgr. Věra Pilecká The interaction of information science and cognitive sciences with emphasis on information retrieval (dissertation thesis) (Vzájemné ovlivňování informační vědy a kognitivních věd s důrazem na vyhledávání informací) Abstract Focus of this thesis is on the description of the interaction of information science and cognitive sciences with emphasis on information retrieval which is influenced by some of the cognitive aspects. The introductory chapter deals with the definition of information science and paradigms inspired by a cognitive approach (cognitive and socio-cognitive paradigm). Then a cognitive science is defined including its basis, methods and application. In the third chapter, a comparison between information and cognitive science is included, and their interaction and common interests are described. Fourth chapter focuses on information retrieval and influencing factors, including search methods, user information behaviour, and user cognitive characteristics and mental models. The final chapter presents two surveys focused on the use of intuitive and analytical information retrieval styles during searching on Google, and the perception of the differences between traditional and online teaching of the effective reading techniques. Both surveys illustrate the influence of users'...

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This paper identifies theories and cognitive aspects that shed light on the transcultural unifying identity power of Masonic initiation rituals and illustrates this more closely using the case study of the German master ritual. It suggests that the potential of the unifying identity of Masonic rituals does not reside solely in their symbolism, but rather primarily in their enactment as performance. By breaking down the basic elements of the performative character of rituals and comparing the Masonic ritual to that of male initiation among the Chambri people of Papua New Guinea within Whitehouse’s theoretical model of modes of religiosity, this paper also explores the transcultural unifying identity power of rituals while outlining a novel explanatory framework in the field of Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) and Ritual Studies. The present paper suggests that religious and religiously connoted transcultural unifying identity, including its inherent capacity for meaning creation and meaning attribution, is more strongly and stably achieved the more Framed Cognitive Immersion (FCI) is engaged, that is, the more corresponding cognitive processes of the participants are triggered together.:1. Why ritual research? 1.2 The concept of religion used in this study 1.3 The concept of ritual used in this study 1.4 The three basic elements of a ritual 2. Symbols and the performative character of rituals 2.1 The holistic approach to human cognition (Embodiment) 3. The power of rituals: The performative dimension 3.1 The performance of the legend of Hiram Abif 3.2 Generation of Reality 3.3 Scenic Staging 3.4 Corporeality or Physical Presence 4. Framed Cognitive Immersion (FCI) in ritual context

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Studying newborns in the first days of life prior to experiencing the world provides remarkable insights into the neurocognitive predispositions that humans are endowed with. First, it helps us to improve our current knowledge of the development of a typical brain. Secondly, it potentially opens new pathways for earlier diagnosis of several developmental neurocognitive disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). While most studies investigating early cognition in the literature are purely behavioural, recently there has been an increasing number of neuroimaging studies in newborns and infants. Electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the most optimal neuroimaging technique to investigate neurocognitive functions in human newborns because it is non-invasive and quick and easy to mount on the head. Since EEG offers a versatile design with custom number of channels/electrodes, an ergonomic wearable solution could help study newborns outside clinical settings such as their homes. Compared to adult EEG, newborn EEG data are different in two main aspects: 1) In experimental designs investigating stimulus-related neural responses, collected data is extremely short in length due to the reduced attentional span of newborns; 2) Data is heavily contaminated with noise due to their uncontrollable movement artifacts. Since EEG processing methods for adults are not adapted to very short data length and usually deal with well-defined, stereotyped artifacts, they are unsuitable for newborn EEG. As a result, researchers manually clean the data, which is a subjective and time-consuming task. This thesis work is specifically dedicated to developing (semi-) automated novel signal processing methods for noise removal and for extracting reliable neural responses specific to this population. The solutions are proposed for both high-density EEG for traditional lab-based research and wearable EEG for clinical applications. To this end, this thesis, first, presents novel signal processing methods applied to newborn EEG: 1) Local Outlier Factor (LOF) for detecting and removing bad/noisy channels; 2) Artifacts Subspace Reconstruction (ASR) for detecting and removing or correcting bad/noisy segments. Then, based on these algorithms and other preprocessing functionalities, a robust preprocessing pipeline, Newborn EEG Artifact Removal (NEAR), is proposed. Notably, this is the first time LOF is explored for EEG bad channel detection, despite being a popular outlier detection technique in other kinds of data such as Electrocardiogram (ECG). Even if ASR is already an established artifact real algorithm originally developed for mobile adult EEG, this thesis explores the possibility of adapting ASR for short newborn EEG data, which is the first of its kind. NEAR is validated on simulated, real newborn, and infant EEG datasets. We used the SEREEGA toolbox to simulate neurologically plausible synthetic data and contaminated a certain number of channels and segments with artifacts commonly manifested in developmental EEG. We used newborn EEG data (n = 10, age range: 1 and 4 days) recorded in our lab based on a frequency-tagging paradigm. The chosen paradigm consists of visual stimuli to investigate the cortical bases of facelike pattern processing, and the results were published in 2019. To test NEAR performance on an older population with an event-related design (ERP) and with data recorded in another lab, we also evaluated NEAR on infant EEG data recorded on 9-months-old infants (n = 14) with an ERP paradigm. The experimental paradigm for these datasets consists of auditory stimulus to investigate the electrophysiological evidence for understanding maternal speech, and the results were published in 2012. Since authors of these independent studies employed manual artifact removal, the obtained neural responses serve as ground truth for validating NEAR’s artifact removal performance. For comparative evaluation, we considered the performance of two state-of-the-art pipelines designed for older infants. Results show that NEAR is successful in recovering the neural responses (specific to the EEG paradigm and the stimuli) compared to the other pipelines. In sum, this thesis presents a set of methods for artifact removal and extraction of stimulus-related neural responses specifically adapted to newborn and infant EEG data that will hopefully contribute to strengthening the reliability and reproducibility of developmental cognitive neuroscience studies, both in research laboratories and in clinical applications.