The power of cognitive psychology lies in the promise of cognitive technology.
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The power of cognitive psychology lies in the promise of cognitive technology.
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Abstracts - Fall 2004
THEORETICAL AND RESEARCH ARTICLES 4 The Focus on Cognition in the Psychopathology Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis Preface to Special Section 22 Search efficiency for multiple targets 26 Oculomotor Scanning and Target Recognition in Luggage X-Ray Screening 30 Individual Differences in Sustained Attention and Threat Detection 34 Stimulus Competition During Perceptual Learning: Training and Aptitude Considerations in the X-ray Security Process 40 Considering Science and Security from a Broader Research Perspective Stephen M. Fiore, Ph.D., Joshua Rubinstein, Ph.D. and Florian Jentsch, Ph.D. 43 The Effects of Computer-Mediated Communication on Knowledge Structures in Problem-Solving Situations 49 Adding Voice to the Lineup and the Confidence-Accuracy Relationship: Tests Using the MSL Lineup
The Focus on Cognition in the Psychopathology Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis June Sprock, Ph.D. Douglas Herrmann, Ph.D. The present review assessed the degree to which cognitive psychology has been applied to the study of psychopathology. Two studies were conducted using bibliometric analyses (i.e., keyword searches) to review the psychopathology literature (1991-1997; 1998-1999). In both, the name of each disorder in the DSM-IV was combined with terms from cognitive psychology in keyword searches of the abstracts provided in the APA’s electronic databases. The cognitive terms were selected to represent basic topic areas in cognitive psychology. Most of the articles referring to the cognitive terms were limited to the literature on certain diagnostic groups and disorders (i.e., cognitive, psychotic, mood, eating, anxiety, and childhood disorders), and there were very few articles that cited some of the cognitive terms (i.e., problem solving, decision making, and reasoning). The second study added an examination of different cognitive approaches in the psychopathology literature. Although neuropsychology and cognitive therapy were mentioned with some frequency in the literature, references to cognitive neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive theory, or cognitive rehabilitation were rare. Despite limitations of the bibliometric method, the results suggest that some basic topics and some approaches in cognitive psychology have received little attention within the psychopathology literature. Reasons for these findings are discussed and recommendations are made for a systematic evaluation of cognitive functioning associated with specific mental disorders in order to bring about a more complete understanding of these disorders and their treatment.
Stephen M. Fiore, Ph.D. Florian Jentsch, Ph.D. Joshua Rubinstein, Ph.D. Critical to meeting the needs arising from the government’s evolving role in our nation’s security is a broader understanding of how to guide, and even change, the interaction between science practice and science policy. From a practical standpoint, it is important that technologies be investigated for their potential applicability to national security. From a theoretical standpoint, the concepts that drive the investigation and development of new technologies and the refinement of emerging technologies must also be identified.
Tammy Menneer, Ph.D. Luke Phillips, M.S. Nick Donnelly, Ph.D. Doug J. K. Barrett, Ph.D. Kyle R. Cave, Ph.D. In most visual search experiments, there is only one possible target object or class of objects. The experiment reported here compares performance in these single-target searches against performance when the target can be either of two different stimuli. The targets used in this experiment were color squares. Results showed that conducting two single-target searches is more efficient than carrying out a dual target search. If visual search is driven by a mental template of the object to be found, then searches for two targets may require a very general template, or a pair of templates that are active simultaneously, which apparently produces less efficient search. Many real world search tasks, such as searches of X-ray images by baggage screeners, require simultaneous search for very different targets (“Find any guns or knives or explosive devices.”). This need for generality could result in search that is less directed and therefore less efficient.
Oculomotor Scanning and Target Recognition in Luggage X-Ray Screening Jason S. McCarley, Ph.D. Daniel W. Carruth, B.S. Visual search for a camouflaged target requires effective oculomotor scanning and object recognition. Our studies of eye movement behavior show that as subjects practice a simulated luggage screening task, increases in sensitivity arise from improvements in the ability to recognize targets, not from changes in the effectiveness of visual scanning. Improvements in recognition, however, show only partial transfer following the introduction of novel targets. Results carry implications for the design of screener training and support systems. Individual Differences in Sustained Attention and Threat Detection David A. Washburn, Ph.D. Lauren A. Taglialatela, Ph.D. Pamela R. Rice, M.A. J. David Smith, Ph.D. When one asks a question such as, “What is the effect of time-on-task on performance?” the answer (e.g., a vigilance decrement) is likely to describe the results for a group of participants without necessarily characterizing the data from any particular participant. We examined the effects of time-on-task on participants who were searching for guns, knives and scissors in X-ray images of suitcases. Although performance did change across the 25-minute test session, the characteristics of this change varied as a function of the sustained-attention skills brought to the task by participants, as measured with a continuous-performance task. These data have implications for selection and training of airport security personnel, for the ways in which scientists address basic questions about the variables influencing performance in dynamic environments, and for the ways in which administrators frame research policy pertaining to complex applied settings.
Stephen M. Fiore, Ph.D. Sondro Scielzo, B.S. Florian Jentsch, Ph.D. In this paper, we describe an effort designed to understand some of the fundamental perceptual learning processes associated with X-ray security screening. We manipulated the learning environment by varying amount of “clutter” in the training stimuli. We then explored the differential benefits of training threat item detection based upon spatial aptitudes by using test items varying in “occlusion” (X-ray images with/without overlapping items) and “difficulty” (X-ray images varying in amount of distracting clutter). Spatial aptitude differentially influenced learning dependent upon both clutter in the training environment and the nature of the test items. Results are discussed in the context of aptitude-treatment interactions in perceptual learning. Implications for training in the security screener task are drawn.
Stephen M. Fiore, Ph.D. Joshua Rubinstein, Ph.D. Florian Jentsch, Ph.D. In this paper we discuss some of the broader research issues surrounding science and society and how to potentially conceptualize some of the research policy decisions related to national security. We describe recent publications on science policy and the practice of science and how it is that the scientific and policy communities must recognize that fundamental scientific research and applied research are not mutually exclusive. We discuss how the framework of use-inspired basic research fits well with current needs associated with science and security and how it is that policy can be devised to support efforts that simultaneously pursue theoretical and practical goals.
Ami L. Barile-Spears, Ph.D. Suzanne Booher, M.S. Francis T. Durso, Ph.D. Knowledge structures in problem solving for different modes of communication were examined. Groups solved a murder mystery problem either via computer or in person and then rated concepts for relatedness. Individuals also solved the problem and rated the concepts. Performance scores did not differ among conditions. Ratings were analyzed using the Pathfinder scaling algorithm. The Pathfinder analysis revealed that CMC (computer-mediated communication) groups are not at a disadvantage when communicating distantly. Furthermore, results suggest that, overall; group work may be more individual and less synergistic than is generally believed.
Avraham M. Levi, Ph.D. Kobi Wimisberg, M.S. The jury is still out regarding whether adding voice to a lineup improves its performance. Theory and research are in conflict. The confidence-accuracy relationship is also controversial. This experiment tested the effect of adding voice to the video-clips of lineup members in the MSL (Multiple choice-Sequential- Large) lineup and confidence judgements to choices. The MSL lineup is an enlarged sequential lineup that allows witnesses to choose more than once. The author and one of two confederates recruited the witnesses. The confederate was the “culprit” in a target-present or -absent lineup viewed later. The videoclips were either with or without the voice of the lineup member. Confidence judgments were taken for each lineup choice made. Identification accuracy was no better in the culprit-present voice conditions, nor was there less mistaken choices in the culprit-absent ones. However, if the suspect was chosen with a high degree of confidence, the probability of his guilt was greater.
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