Two experiments examined processing of "near-nonsense" noun-noun combinations (e.g., dictionary treatment, olive signals). In the first experiment, readers’ eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing such combinations, or control sentences containing easy-to-interpret adjective-noun combinations. A preceding context sentence either did or did not support a specific interpretation of the critical noun-noun combination. The earliest measures of processing difficulty were not modulated by the context manipulation, but on later measures, the potentially helpful context did alleviate difficulty. In the second experiment, participants provided detailed interpretations of the critical combinations, with and without the potentially helpful context sentence; the results confirmed that the context sentences encouraged specific interpretations of these combinations. The results suggest that a noun-noun combination is initially interpreted without taking into account the immediate context, but that this context may ultimately play a critical role.

No description available.

Evidence of systematic misreading has been taken to argue that language processing is noisy, and that readers take noise into consideration and therefore sometimes interpret sentences non-literally (rational inference over a noisy channel). The present study investigates one specific misreading phenomenon: failure to notice word transpositions in a sentence. While this phenomenon can be explained by rational inference, it also has been argued to arise due to parallel lexical processing. The study explored these two accounts. Visual, lexical, and syntactic properties of the two transposed words were manipulated in three experiments. Failure to notice the transposition was more likely when both words were short, and when readers' eyes skipped, rather than directly fixated, one of the two words. Failure to notice the transposition also occurred when one word was long. The position of ungrammaticality elicited by transposition (the first vs. second transposed word) influenced tendency to miss the error; the direction of the effect, however, depended on word classes of the transposed words. Failure of detection was not more likely when the second transposed word was easier to recognize than the first transposed word. Finally, readers’ eye movements on the transposed words revealed no disruption in those trials when they ultimately accepted the sentence to be grammatical. We consider the findings to be only partially supportive of parallel lexical processing and instead propose that word recognition is serial, but integration is not perfectly incremental, and that rational inference may take place before an ungrammatical representation is constructed.

No description available.

Previous mathematical modeling work has produced a transfer function that relates otoconial layer displacement to stimulus acceleration. Due to the complexity of this transfer function, time domain solutions may be obtained only through numerical methods. In the current work, several approximations are introduced to the transfer function that result in its simplification. This simplified version can be inverted to yield analytic time domain solutions. Results from a frequency response analysis of the simplified transfer function are compared with the same results from the complete transfer function, and with mammalian first-order neuron frequency response data. There is good agreement in the comparisons. Time domain solutions of the approximation are compared to numerical solutions of the full transfer function, and again there is a good match. System time constants are calculated from the simplified transfer function. A 2-D finite element model of a mammalian utricular macula is presented. Physical dimensions used in the model are taken from mammalian anatomical studies. Values for the material properties of the problem are not readily available; however, ranges are chosen to produce realistic physiologic behavior. Deflections predicted by this model show that a single value for hair bundle stiffness throughout the organ is inadequate for the organ to respond to the entire range of human acceleration perception. Therefore, it is necessary for a range of hair bundle stiffnesses to exist in each organ. Natural frequencies calculated in this model support previous studies on vestibular damage due to low frequency sound. Divers exposed to high-intensity underwater sound have experienced symptoms attributed to vestibular stimulation. An in-water video-oculography (VOG) system was developed to monitor divers' eye movements, particularly torsional, during exposure to varying underwater sound signals. The system included an underwater closed-circuit video camera with infrared lights attached to the diver's mask with an adjustable mounting bracket. The video image was sent to a surface control room for real-time and post-experiment processing. Six divers at 60 feet in open water received 15 minutes daily cumulative exposure of 240-320 Hertz underwater sound at 160 dB re 1 mPa for 10 days. No spontaneous primary position nystagmus, horizontal, vertical or torsional, was detected in any diver. This experiment was the first successful attempt to record and analyze eye movements underwater. / Ph. D.

Part of the aim of this thesis was to explore a model for producing very fast saccade latencies in the 80 to 120ms range. Its primary motivation was to explore a possible interaction by uniquely combining three independent saccade factors: the gap effect, target-feature-discrimination, and saccadic inhibition of return (IOR). Its secondary motivation was to replicate (in a more conservative and tightly controlled design) the surprising findings of Trottier and Pratt (2005), who found that requiring a high resolution task at the saccade target location speeded saccades, apparently by disinhibition. Trottier and Pratt’s finding was so surprising it raised the question: Could the oculomotor braking effect of saccadic IOR to previously viewed locations be reduced or removed by requiring a high resolution task at the target location? Twenty naïve untrained undergraduate students participated in exchange for course credit. Multiple randomised temporal and spatial target parameters were introduced in order to increase probability of exogenous responses. The primary measured variable was saccade latency in milliseconds, with the expectation of higher probability of very fast saccades (i.e. 80-120ms). Previous research suggested that these very fast saccades could be elicited in special testing circumstances with naïve participants, such as during the gap task, or in highly trained observers in non-gap tasks (Fischer & Weber, 1993). Trottier and Pratt (2005) found that adding a task demand that required naïve untrained participants to obtain a feature of the target stimulus (and to then make a discriminatory decision) also produced a higher probability of very fast saccade latencies. They stated that these saccades were not the same as saccade latencies previously referred to as express saccades produced in the gap paradigm, and proposed that such very fast saccades were normal. Carpenter (2001) found that in trained participants the probability of finding very fast saccades during the gap task increased when the horizontal direction of the current saccade continued in the same direction as the previous saccade (as opposed to reversing direction) – giving a distinct bimodality in the distribution of latencies in five out of seven participants, and likened his findings to the well known IOR effect. The IOR effect has previously been found in both manual key-press RT and saccadic latency paradigms. Hunt and Kingstone (2003) stated that there were both cortical top-down and oculomotor hard-wired aspects to IOR. An experiment was designed that included obtain-target-feature and oculomotor-prior-direction, crossed with two gap level offsets (0ms & 200ms-gap). Target-feature discrimination accuracy was high (97%). Under-additive main effects were found for each factor, with a three-way interaction effect for gap by obtain-feature by oculomotor-prior-direction. Another new three-way interaction was also found for anticipatory saccade type. Anticipatory saccades became significantly more likely under obtain-target-feature for the continuing oculomotor direction. This appears to be a similar effect to the increased anticipatory direction-error rate in the antisaccade task. These findings add to the saccadic latency knowledge base and in agreement with both Carpenter and Trottier and Pratt, laboratory testing paradigms can affect saccadic latency distributions. That is, salient (meaningful) targets that follow more natural oculomotor trajectories produce higher probability of very fast latencies in the 80-120ms range. In agreement with Hunt and Kingstone, there appears to be an oculomotor component to IOR. Specifically, saccadic target-prior-location interacts differently for obtain-target-feature under 200-ms gap than under 0ms-gap, and is most likely due predominantly to a predictive disinhibitory oculomotor momentum effect, rather than being due to the attentional inhibitory effect proposed for key-press IOR. A new interpretation for the paradigm previously referred to as IOR is offered that includes a link to the smooth pursuit system. Additional studies are planned to explore saccadic interactions in more detail.

No description available.

Att köra fastän trötthet upplevs är en erkänd trafikfara. Om en förare idag kör när denne är trött klassas det som vårdslöshet i trafiken. Dock är det nästan omöjligt att vid en olycka påvisa att olyckan skedde för att en förare var trött. Det praktiska resultatet är att det lämnas åt föraren att själv avgöra om denne är för trött för att föra fram fordonet säkert. Hela situationen om att vara en trafikfara eller ej lämnas då åt en subjektiv bedömning.   I denna rapport undersöks olika sömnstadier, och metoder för att avgöra när och hur det är lämpligast att vakna för att vakna i ett mer alert tillstånd. För att sedan använda de metoder som visar sig vara lämpade som indata och parametrar till en algoritm som ska avgöra när det är som lämpligast att vakna för att vakna mer alert. Rapporten gör också en kalkyl som kan användas för att fastställa prototypens utvecklingskostnader.   Arbetet resulterar i en prototyp som föreslår en lösning till problemet med trötthet i trafiken. De kostnader som framkommer i samband med prototyputveckling fastställs och presenteras.   Undersökningen och utvecklandet av den tekniska lösningen har delats upp i två moduler och kommer att göras i samverkan med en extern studentgrupp på skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS) vid Kungliga Tekniska högskolan. / Driving although experiencing fatigue is a recognized traffic hazard. Today, if a driver is driving despite being tired, it is considered to be reckless driving. However, in the event of an accident, it is almost impossible to prove that the accident occurred because the driver was tired. The practical result is that it is left to the driver to decide if one is too tired or not to drive the vehicle safely. The whole situation of being a traffic hazard or not is then subjected to a subjective assessment. This report examines different sleep stages and methods for determining when it’s most appropriate, and how it’s most appropriate to wake up, with the aim on waking up in a more alert state. Further, to use the methods that prove to be suitable as inputs and parameters of an algorithm. The report also examines different calculations that can be used to determine the development cost of the prototype. The result consists of a prototype that is a beginning on addressing the problem with fatigue in traffic. It also consist of a calculation determining the development cost. The research and development of the technical solution has been divided into two modules and will be done in collaboration with an external student group at School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As I engaged in a therapy journey with a single client, the possibilities for research on the integrative use of narrative therapy and EMDR unfolded. I investigated recent literature and realised that much had been written about narrative therapy as single approach to therapy within the postmodern paradigm. There was also extensive writing on EMDR and its integrative use with other therapies in assisting people who struggle with upsetting memories of trauma. Since I was unable to find any literature to date on the integrative use of narrative therapy and EMDR, I realized that there was much to be discovered and learned on such an integrative research journey. The client's experiences and descriptions of overwhelming emotional distress (as the problem in her life) during the process of integration was the main focus of this qualitative case study. During our therapy conversations knowledges were gathered and deconstructed. Video or tape recordings, photographs, work with clay, sketches, letters and other documents were useful in keeping track of the research journey. A reflecting team and the participation of the client's boyfriend contributed and enriched both the therapy and research journeys. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tydens terapeutiese werk met 'n enkele kliënt het die moontlikhede van navorsing oor die integrasie van narratiewe terapie en EMDR vir my 'n werklikheid geword. Ek het onlangse navorsing bestudeer en besef dat narratiewe terapie as 'n enkele benadering tot terapie binne die post-moderne paradigma, al 'n geruime tyd lank nagevors is. Daar bestaan ook literatuur oor EMDR en die integrasie daarvan met ander terapeutiese benaderings in die ondersteuning van persone wat probleme ondervind met ontstellende herinnerings van trauma. Aangesien ek tot op hede geen literatuur oor die integrasie van narratiewe terapie en EMDR kon vind nie, het ek vermoed dat 'n navorsingsreis op hierdie terrein verskeie ontdekkings en die ontginning van nuwe kennis moontlik sou maak. Die fokus van hierdie kwalitatiewe gevallestudie val op die kliënt se belewing en beskrywings van oorweldigende emosies (as probleem in haar lewe) tydens die terapeutiese integrasieproses. Waarhede of kennis is tydens terapiegesprekke versamel en gedekonstrueer. Video- of bandopnames, foto's, kleiwerk, sketse, briewe en ander dokumente was waardevol om die koers van die navorsingsreis aan te dui. Insette en deelname van 'n refekterende span, asook die kliënt se kêrel, het beide die terapie- en navorsingsreise verryk en uitgebrei.

In a rapidly changing visual environment, the delay between perception and action might impair the probability of survival of a prey or the efficiency of a predator. In order to compensate for delays associated with sensory-motor processing, primates often make predictions about future events and initiate anticipatory movements. To prepare an anticipatory movement, an estimation of when and where to a target is likely to move is necessary. Such an internal representation is often termed 'expectation'. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the gradual changes of a subject's expectation at the behavioral and electrophysiological levels. Anticipatory smooth pursuit was used in order to study temporal and directional changes in expectation. We found that temporal uncertainty strongly modulated the latency and the velocity of anticipatory movements suggesting that monkeys could estimate the hazard rate of target motion onset in order to decide when to initiate an anticipatory movement. In addition, we have shown that monkeys could use prior directional information in order to voluntarily initiate anticipatory responses in the direction of expected target motion. This prior directional information significantly affected the latency and velocity of these movements. Finally, we have shown that the majority of recorded supplementary eye field (SEF) neurons encoded expected target motion direction. The presence of a directional cue induced an increase of activity in the preferred direction of the neuron. Moreover, a large sub-population of neurons encoded the direction of future anticipatory movement. These results suggest that the SEF could be involved in the cognitive control of anticipatory pursuit eye movements when prior temporal and directional information is provided.