Browsing by discipline "Cognitive science"

The most common behavioral tasks used to assess risk-taking, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), have been moderately successful in predicting various kinds of real-life risk behaviors. Both tasks involve repeated choices between options that are presented according to the metaphor of the task (a deck of cards in the IGT, the number of pumps to a balloon in the BART). The options differ from each other in respect of the amounts and probabilities of rewards and penalties, and hence also in respect of riskiness and expected return. Typically, the choices made differ from the profit maximizing optimum stated by decision theory, with nearly every subject's risk-taking greater (in the IGT) or lesser (in the BART) than optimal. In this setting, greater risk-taking in IGT results in lower average return, while in the BART greater risk-taking results in higher average return. Risk-taking and return are thus confounded, which can lead to invalid conclusions: a difference between groups in risk-taking may be interpreted as a difference in risk-taking propensity, even if it is really caused by a difference in profit optimizing ability, for example. A new computer based behavioral risk-taking task was developed for this research. The Helsinki Aiming Task (HAT) was designed by combining IGT and BART features with Näätänen and Summala's dart throwing task, which simulated behavior in hazardous activities. In the HAT, the subjects used an inaccurate gun to shoot at targets that included reward and penalty regions. The statistical information relevant to the task was given to the subjects not by means of numerical description but by means of visual feedback, i.e. experience. Based on a study (n = 51), the HAT was compared to the BART and its feasibility as a measure of risk-taking propensity was evaluated. Manipulation of both the severity and the probability of the harm had an impact on aiming, which was the basis for concluding that the subjects formed an internal model of the risk. This supports the view that the HAT is measuring risk-taking propensity. The results also offered reasonable evidence of the reliability of the task. Since the level of risk-taking in the HAT didn't deviate from the optimum, the confounding of risk-taking and profit in the HAT was assessed to be less severe than in the BART.

The use of service design is growing business at the moment. There is a need for a renewal of services both in public and private sector. Also both public and private organizations are facing the need to reorganize their work based on the need of new services. This creates the environment for many organizational changes in short time period. The employees and stakeholders should be able to follow all these changes taking place in the services, organizations and way of working. This Master's Thesis will focus on three aspects; human cognition and change, organizational change and service design supporting the change. The focus in this research is on the usage of service design methods in a strategic change process of organization and how it influences the motivation of individual employee or stakeholder to adapt the new way of working or using the new services. The research object is the service design project of Aalto University Library where the library is facing a strategic change from traditional library towards more multi-functioning learning center. The research is executed by interviewing the participants of the research object project and observing the project work. The research showed that the co-design methods can be helpful when organization faces the strategic change by motivating and supporting the employees and stakeholders in the change process. The co-design methods can support the change of employees' and stakeholder's mindset and behavior. Communication, collaboration and community atmosphere are also supported by the co-design methods. Service design is also offering the tools to create and support the feeling of influencing in the change process. All these aspects can be supported by service design when both public and private organizations are facing the need to reorganize their work together with creating new services.

Objectives: According to previous observations, the magnitude of variation in the working memory-related electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha oscillations between different subjects is remarkable. The purpose of this study was (1) to find out whether the standard deviation in the oscillatory responses between subjects and within the subject is greater in the alpha band than in the lower or higher frequencies, (2) to examine individual oscillatory responses of subjects, and (3) to localize the neural sources of working memory encoding and retrieval related alpha synchronization and desynchronization and study the effects of different source localizations to the observed oscillatory responses during an auditory working memory task. Methods: Eighteen subjects performed a modified version of Sternberg's memory search paradigm in which they were auditorily presented memory sets consisting of five words. The subjects' task was to decide whether the probe word was included in the previously presented memory set. EEG was recorded during the task and the data was analyzed using the event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD), clustering, and beamforming methods. Both averaged and individual alpha band event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP), standard deviations of ERSP responses between and within the subjects, power spectra of the subjects, and source localization results of the ERSP responses were examined. Results and conclusions: ERSP responses averaged across the subjects support previous studies: Alpha-band ERS was perceived during the memory encoding and alpha-band ERD during the memory retrieval. Standard deviations of the ERSP responses both in the group and individual level were greater in the alpha band than in the lower or higher frequencies. The individual ERSP responses varied remarkably which is not observed in studies that examine only averaged ERSP responses. Calculating distances between individual and averaged ERSP responses and clustering the obtained values provided important information on the individual variation of these responses. Memory encoding -related alpha ERS and memory retrieval -related alpha ERD sources were localized in the occipital and parietal brain areas when these responses were similar to those obtained via averaging across the subjects. This finding, which is new in connection with auditorily presented stimuli, corresponds to the results of previously conducted visual working memory studies and reveals important general level knowledge of connections between working memory processes and oscillatory EEG responses.