Browsing by Subject "perception"

Human perception is seriously limited in relation to the countless stimuli of one’s surroundings. It is guided by attention, which can be directed only at a fraction of all available stimuli at a given moment. The topic of this thesis is a phenomenon illustrating the constrained nature of attention called the attentional blink. One of the goals is to consider the origin and mechanisms behind the phenomenon as well as the current applications of 1) the phenomenon itself and 2) the methods used in attentional blink research. The attentional blink occurs in a rapid succession of stimuli, which unveils the limits of temporal capacity of attention. As a consequence of the blink, some of the target stimuli do not reach conscious processing. The phenomenon has sparked wide interest since the 1980’s, but the mechanisms, operating principle and especially the neural correlates of attentional blink are still under debate, which makes the topic relevant even today. Attentional blink is most commonly studied with the rapid serial visual presentation –method (RSVP). This method, however, can be applied to many more contexts as well, some of which are addressed here. The thesis is a review covering 32 articles and publications of the attentional blink or topics directly related to it. They include only reports of studies done on healthy individuals and reviews of such experiments. Although there is much more literature on the topic besides the ones chosen here, these 32 provide a critical, yet comprehensive review of an attentional limit called the attentional blink. Attentional blink is commonly known as a consistent and universally occurring phenomenon, during which attentional resources are temporarily suppressed. According to most theories it occurs due to choosing specific target items to be processed in working memory, though contradicting evidence exists. Somewhat surprisingly, there are individual differences in the duration and magnitude of the blink, which are affected by the processing speed of working memory and the ability to update its contents. Thus the blink does not appear exactly the same way for everyone. Actual applications of the blink seem to be very few in number, possibly due to limited benefits of application or the specificity of the phenomenon. The RSVP-method used in attentional blink research is more widely applied in modern technology, for example in text presentation. For any application to be useful, it needs to reduce the overload on attentional and working memory systems in order to heighten perception. However, to be able to utilize attentional blink and RSVP maximally, more research is needed.

Research shows that Finnish people could increase the consumption of some domestic fish species. Increased consumption has been calculated to have economic, social, and environmental benefits. The current situation of fish consumption is unsustainable. Academic literature on consumption and food systems emphasizes the importance of a holistic view to sustainability. Environmental sustainability has been emphasized and other dimensions of sustainability have been neglected, regarding policies and regulations of the fish industry. In this study, it is argued that observing the consumer perceptions of sustainability dimensions could help to develop a more sustainable fish industry and consumption patterns. The theoretical framework was formed based on literature review. A three-dimensional view to sustainability was used including social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The relevant factors to measure the importance of the dimensions were formed with previous studies on fish consumption. The research aims to reveal perceptions to sustainability dimensions importance from a consumer interface. The research questions are: Which dimensions of sustainability have importance to consumers regarding fish consumption? Are any of the dimensions and factors involved more important than the others? Are there differences between groups on the perception of the dimensions? The research was carried out as a quantitative online survey and shared on social media platforms. Data (N=107) was analysed with quantitative methods (descriptive statistics, crosstabulation and Kruskal-Wallis’s test). Most participants considered all sustainability dimensions important. Environmental dimension was the most important, and especially the factors of protecting the ecosystems, fish stocks and waterbodies. Between age groups a statistically significant difference was found in the importance of the environmental dimension. The results indicate that Finnish people are willing to consume more domestic fish, and care about the sustainability of fish consumption. This study contributes to the discussion of sustainable fish consumption and provides a new approach on developing more sustainable food systems.

Karelia has numerous questions regarding to whom its soul belongs with accompanying loyalties, identities and senses of belonging. Underlying assumptions may affect personal, political or business perceptions. Through explorations in discourse through selections of memory, ontology and reality we examine the necessity to rethink perceptions about Russian and Finnish relations as seen in the Karelian borderlands. Further, addressing how Karelia is constructed in Soviet literature and more contemporary opinion. Discourse from two periods of time is digested to reflect on the nature of knowing, remembering, learning and realizing. I include Soviet novels from 1940s to the 1980s about Karelia and newspaper letters to the editor and editorials from 2000 to 2015 to serve as gauges of perceptions and time periods. The discourse is examined for patterns and evidence of perceptions. The examined discourses suggest there is a disconnection between knowing and experiencing. Evidence is seen through government steering committees in Soviet literature and in memory and political exposure in popular opinion. Communicative acts in Soviet literature and published opinion pieces show how Karelian discourse can be affected. By addressing these perceptions we create opportunities to develop more realistic knowledge to aid in personal, political or business relations.

The study examines various uses of computer technology in acquisition of information for visually impaired people. For this study 29 visually impaired persons took part in a survey about their experiences concerning acquisition of infomation and use of computers, especially with a screen magnification program, a speech synthesizer and a braille display. According to the responses, the evolution of computer technology offers an important possibility for visually impaired people to cope with everyday activities and interacting with the environment. Nevertheless, the functionality of assistive technology needs further development to become more usable and versatile. Since the challenges of independent observation of environment were emphasized in the survey, the study led into developing a portable text vision system called Tekstinäkö. Contrary to typical stand-alone applications, Tekstinäkö system was constructed by combining devices and programs that are readily available on consumer market. As the system operates, pictures are taken by a digital camera and instantly transmitted to a text recognition program in a laptop computer that talks out loud the text using a speech synthesizer. Visually impaired test users described that even unsure interpretations of the texts in the environment given by Tekstinäkö system are at least a welcome addition to complete perception of the environment. It became clear that even with a modest development work it is possible to bring new, useful and valuable methods to everyday life of disabled people. Unconventional production process of the system appeared to be efficient as well. Achieved results and the proposed working model offer one suggestion for giving enough attention to easily overlooked needs of the people with special abilities. ACM Computing Classification System (1998): K.4.2 Social Issues: Assistive technologies for persons with disabilities I.4.9 Image processing and computer vision: Applications

Background: We studied two different visual effects: In brightness induction, the perceived brightness of the stimulus is altered by the luminance of its surround, and in orientation selective contrast suppression the contrast of the stimulus appears lower when surrounded by a collinear surround of higher contrast. In previous studies, orientation selective contrast suppression has been found to be altered in patients who have been diagnosed with depression. Objectives: We measured symptoms of anxiety and depression in our non-clinical sample in order to compare them to their performance in the visual experiments. The goal of our online experiment was also to replicate both of the visual effects without a tightly controlled environment. Methods: Our online experiment consisted of a repeated measures design, with separate blocks for randomised brightness trials, randomised contrast trials, and self-report mental health questionnaires. In the visual trials participants were asked to estimate the brightness or contrast level of a central stimulus, while its surround was varied in luminance or contrast. Our sample consisted of 76 healthy participants with a mean age of 25. Results and conclusions: We managed to replicate both the brightness induction and the orientation selective contrast suppression effects, and found that the use of different electronic devices in completion of the study had no significant effect on the results. Participants reported varying levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression, and 61.6 % of them crossed clinically relevant cut-off points. We did not find a statistically significant connection between the visual effects and symptoms of anxiety and depression. This is encouraging, as it indicates that having only a few symptoms of mental disorders does not alter contrast perception. However, finding out at what point is the contrast perception altered, warrants further study.

Illegal logging has become one of the most prominent issues in the last few decades. It causes environmental damage, lost in government revenue from timber production as well as promotes negative social issues such as corruption, conflict, etc. Various efforts such as enhance forest law enforcement, logs banned, public procurement policies, etc., have been propose by both consuming and producing countries. FLEGT Action Plan introduced by European Union in 2003 is the Union attempts to minimise illegal logging by exclude illegal timber product from EU’s market together with enhance and support the law enforcement as well as governance in producing countries. The purpose of this study is to provide useful information concerning operators’ perception of FLEGT issues. The main question of the study is: “What are the EU timber operators’ perceptions concerning FLEGT and EUTR?” Quantitative method is applied to the study. Data for the study is obtain through various channels, including online survey, distribution of questionnaire in conference and calling session. The result shows that operators are aware of negative effects of illegal logging and they believe that company needs to have good environmental image. Operators also support strict policy measure to be implemented in order to prevent illegal timber trade. However, they are reluctant to cope with the constraints cause by these policies. Operators acknowledge the benefit FLEGT Action Plan and EUTR create such as improve forest governance for producing countries, preventing illegal timber entering EU market. However, they still have doubt on the ability to prevent illegal logging of FLEGT Action Plan as well as the benefit EUTR able to offer both operators and the supplying countries. Furthermore, the result of this study also shows that the operators might have negative attitude toward EUTR since their perceived sacrifice on EUTR is dominated over the perceived benefits. This negative attitude can be caused by the incomprehension on FLEGT issues. The operators might gain positive attitude toward FLEGT issues once they truly understand the long term goal of FLEGT Action Plan. Finally, it is important to have an effective communication strategy which would help operators comprehend FLEGT issues so they would be able to have appropriate perception toward FLEGT Action Plan in general and EUTR in particular.

Bioeconomy is a concept that aims to provide sustainable solutions for economic growth by utilizing renewable natural resources. In Finland, the forest-based bioeconomy forms the base for bioeconomy. The Finnish Bioeconomy Strategy by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy has set ambitious targets regarding employment, output and innovative products and services. However, to date these solutions still remain by large in the theoretical level and the overall sustainability of bioeconomy is questioned by stakeholders. Urbanization is a world-wide phenomenon and also in Finland the biggest cities are expected to grow whilst the country-side becomes less inhabited. Thus, the importance of urban citizens becomes increasingly important in the implementation of forest-based bioeconomy, as they are the future consumers of biobased products and practices. Thereby understanding urban citizens’ perceptions, level of knowledge and opinions regarding the emerging bioeconomy practices is of fundamental importance. This thesis aims to provide insights into the topic with the research questions “what are the worldviews through which urban citizens understand the forest-based bioeconomy?” Furthermore, this thesis aims to provide insights into the question, “how do these worldviews affect the urban citizens’ perceptions of the forest-based bioeconomy?” These worldviews are screened through the Integrative Worldview Framework (IWF) to explain and understand the underlying latent elements of perceptions and acceptance. Additionally, this thesis contributes to a European-wide research network aiming to understand the regional disparities of forest-based bioeconomy perceptions and policies. To answer these questions, a quantitative survey was conducted in Helsinki city center in December 2018 and January 2019. The survey included 34 claims regarding wooden multistory buildings, forest carbon storage and forest-based bioeconomy. With a randomized approach, 206 responses were gathered in total. The statistical methods include descriptive statistics, crosstabulations and exploratory factor analysis and were done using the SPSS 25 Programme. The results proved to be positive and encouraging for the Finnish forest-based bioeconomy. Four worldview factors were detected: Utilitarian, Biocentric, Anti-bioeconomy, and Anthropocentric. Nearly 59% of the respondents perceived to be familiar with the meaning of forest-based bioeconomy and even more with both wooden multistory buildings (WMC) and forest carbon storage. Additionally, forest-based bioeconomy was associated with positive attributes such as generating new jobs and wellbeing.