Browsing by master's degree program "Cognitive Science"

This master's thesis investigates how the saliency of user interface components affect users when they choose between two options. Many services have moved online and they usually ask their users to accept web cookies that are either necessary for the functioning of the service or improve it. Users are enticed to operate to the advantage of the service provider by offering an attention-grabbing salient option for acceptance. For this thesis, software was developed, in which users were presented with three types of dialogues, with a difference in visibility between the two UI components. The user was offered two normal buttons to choose from, a normal button with a background-free button, or a normal button with a link. The experiment had 20 participants who were monitored using eye-tracking camera glasses, and the speed and accuracy of their tasks were measured using timestamps at the clicking of a button. The tasks were so easy that almost all participants were able to choose requested action even though the task was asked to be done as fast as possible. The layout of the buttons had no statistically significant effect on speed, but the text of the button had: the quickest was to select the button that contained the text OK. In the experiment, the marking of the areas of the direction of the gaze was not precise enough to determine where the user first looks. However, statistically significant the fastest was to complete the task where the most salient option was the correct option, regardless of whether the user looked at only this side or both sides of the dialogue, or those cases where the right answer was a positive option on the right side of the dialog. Surprisingly, without the ecologically valid framing created by the task, the mere visibility of the component was not a significant factor, but the text of the UI component was.

Understanding who develops a positive attitude towards science is an important topic to study as the relevance of science and understanding of science have become more and more important in contemporary societies. This thesis examines cognitive correlates of science attitudes. Science attitudes are defined as attitudes the general public has towards scientific research and the scientific community. Additionally, science attitudes were characterised as consisting of three dimensions: science identity, trust in science and the importance of science. Cognitive correlates of science attitudes are studied because it is a scarcely studied topic. The theoretical framework for cognition is an adaptation of Stanovich’s tripartite theory of the mind, which is a specification of dual process models. The theory concerns rational thought and action and proposes three kinds of cognition: reflective, algorithmic, and autonomous. The cognitive factors examined are characterised according to the framework: reflective cognition is represented by analytical thinking, epistemic curiosity and probability heuristics and algorithmic cognition is represented by fluid intelligence. In addition to these, creative thinking is examined, and it is represented by divergent thinking and insight. Sociodemographic determinants were also considered. The data is survey data, which was collected with a non-probabilistic volunteer sampling method. After excluding the non-valid participants, the sample size was 153 observations (F=108, M= 34, other =16). The age range was 19-74 years (mean = 48.6, median = 53). Due to missingness, a data imputation was performed. The study applied linear regression analysis. The results of the study indicate that the different dimensions of science attitudes have different cognitive correlates. Analytical thinking was positively associated with science identity whereas epistemic curiosity, performance in probability heuristics as well as fluid intelligence were positively associated with importance of science. Trust in science did not have any cognitive correlates. Additionally, having a lower level of education was related to having a more negative attitude towards science. Science attitudes seem to be multidimensional constructs that have cognitive and sociodemographic determinants. The topic requires more research in order to clarify the relationships of the determinants of science attitudes. In addition, more attention should be paid on the definition of “science” in science attitudes as it may affect comparability of the results.

Objectives. This study delves into the cognitive load of multi-objective decision-making (MODM) tasks. It employs a multi-dimensional measurement approach using brain oscillations, eye activity, and self-reports to examine the increase in cognitive load. The study wants to answer how an increasing number of objectives affect the development of cognitive load in the two-alternative choice task. The framework consists of cognitive load and working memory capacity limitations literature and considers decision-making in consumer products. Methods. The participants’ (N=50) task was to choose which one they preferred from two consumer product bundles. The objectives were manipulated with the number of products (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) included in bundles. The variables used to examine the cognitive load in the MODM task were self-reported cognitive load, EEG measures of frontal theta synchronization, and frontal alpha desynchronization, as well as blink rate and pupil size difference. Results and conclusions. Overall, the findings were partially mixed as the results indicated that the self-reported cognitive load and information overload were increasing linearly as the decision objectives (the number of products in the bundles) increased. However, brain oscillations were not significantly affected by the increase in objectives. Interestingly, the blink rate decreased, but pupil size was not detected to change as a function of an increasing number of objectives. Instead, the eye activity indicated a visual load when there were more objectives in the bundles.

Tarkastelen abrahamilaisen institutionaalisen jumalauskon kehittymistä, omaksumista ja säilymistä selittäviä kognitiivisia ja evolutiivisia mekanismeja 2010-luvun psykologisen tutkimuksen ja kognitiivisen uskontotieteen filosofien näkökulmista. Jumalauskon kehittymisen ovat mahdollistaneet seuraavat kognitiiviset tekijät: intuitiivinen ajattelutyyli, kognitiiviset vinoumat eli ontologiset kategoriasekaannukset, teleologinen ajattelu ja dualismi sekä skitsotypia. Nykyisen muotonsa jumalausko on kuitenkin saanut tuhansia vuosia kestäneen kulttuurillisen tiedon omaksumisen, säilyttämisen, muokkaamisen ja edelleen siirtämisen prosessien kautta. Yksilö omaksuu uskon jumalaan kulttuuriympäristöstään. Lisäksi yksilöllistä vaihtelua selittävät yllä eritellyt kognitiiviset tekijät. Yksilötasolla jumalauskon säilymistä motivoi eksistentiaalisen toimintakyvyn ylläpitäminen: usko toimii turvan lähteenä, maailmaa jäsentävänä mallina sekä mahdollisesti torjuu kuolemanpelkoa. Uskomiseen motivoitunut henkilö hakeutuu tilanteisiin, joissa hän kokee jumalan läsnäolon. Nämä kokemukset jumalan läsnäolosta vahvistavat uskoa entisestään. Yhteisötasolla jumalauskoa ylläpitää kyseenalaistamista vaikeuttava sosiaalinen paine, joka ilmenee epävakaissa elinolosuhteissa

To make fast and efficient decisions in changing environments, humans must plan their actions throughout their lives by maintaining and updating relevant information. Such goal-directed situations demand flexible adjustment of behavior and the suppression of task-irrelevant details. Executive dysfunctions in cognitive flexibility, working memory and inhibition have been related to aberrant prefrontal cortex functioning. The prefrontal cortex has previously been found to have an important role in these executive functions as a supervisory modulator and processor of information from posterior sensory brain areas. Structural and functional abnormalities in these brain areas have been found in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These impairments may be the underlying reason for problems in decision making and planning for people with ADHD. However how the brain’s oscillatory activity modulates different cognitive functions in areas relating to planning and decision making is still unclear. To investigate thisthe brain’s activity was measured with MEG while participants (21 ADHD patients, 28 controls) performed in Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST). WCST is a fast-paced task, where cards are sorted according to changing rule categories with the direction of feedback. The aim of this study was to investigate planning in adults with ADHD and a control group during WCST planning period and compare trials with previous feedback being correct or incorrect. Difference in the local neuronal activity in prefrontal and posterior areas were expected between the ADHD and control groups. Data-analysis and source modelling and reconstruction were conducted on the neuronal (MEG) data and structural (MRI) data. Statistical analyses were run for local neuronal amplitude dynamics and visualized within and between groups. The behavioral results of reaction times and hit rates did not show significant differences between groups. Clinical questionnaire scores did not correlate with reaction times. However, contrast of planning in correct-incorrect feedback trials within groups showed increased and decreased brain activity in delta, theta, alpha and beta oscillations. The control group showed activity in frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital regions related to default mode, somatomotor with increased activity in the beta and alpha bands. For the ADHD group greatest positive activity was seen in beta band in frontal and parietal areas, but also in occipital regions. These activation sites were mostly related to dorsal and ventral attention and somatomotor networks but also to default mode and visual networks. Mostly temporal activity of suppressed delta, theta and alpha oscillations in the lateral areas was seen in the between groups comparison. These areas related to ventral attention and somatomotor networks. Impaired neuronal activity in the ADHD group was seen in weaker increased beta than the control group and the missing increased alpha oscillations. It remains for the future studies to interpret the roles of this oscillatory activity but direction towards impairments in cognitive functions like flexibility, working memory and inhibition in planning in ADHD. These data also suggest that planning in the WCST needs the flexible modulation of many cognitive functions and processes that are modulated by increased alpha and beta oscillations and the suppressed delta and theta oscillations.

There is a persistent belief among design scholars that design and science are fundamentally different activities. While there are historical reasons for this, the academic literature surrounding both design and scientific cognition does not fully support this notion. Against this background, the aim of this thesis is to examine how designers think while designing and the ways in which design thinking may resemble scientific thinking. For this study, verbal protocol analysis was chosen as the method. Five experienced architects were asked to perform a design task for approximately an hour, and think aloud concurrently while designing. Their verbal output was then transcribed and coded inductively, and analyzed using both the video and verbal data in parallel without directly utilizing any existing coding scheme or framework. Subjects used basic sketching tools during the sessions, which were conducted remotely over video conferencing software due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. After multiple iterations of inductively coding the data, behavioral patterns consisting of three main activities were identified: framing (mentally defining the boundaries of a specific topic of focus), creation (generating and implementing ideas), and evaluation (evaluating previous designs). These patterns, or design activity sequences, formed the basis for the design activity model (DAM) that was developed and used in this study. Five different sequences were identified: full loops, extensions, partial loops, reverse loops, and parallel sequences. Subjects tended to start and end any design action with framing, which is why these sequences are called loops. They varied in duration but were generally short, ranging from a few seconds to a minute or two. On average, subjects would perform roughly two sequences per minute. These, however, tended not to be evenly distributed over the entire duration of the design task. The cognitive activities of the subjects were also contrasted with cognitive activities found in science, including deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning, analogies, categorization, causal reasoning, distributed reasoning, and hypothetico-deductive reasoning. Many similarities were identified, but not all of them could be observed directly from the data and had to be inferred from the context, as subjects did not always verbally express what their exact reasoning patterns were. The empirical analysis suggests that designers utilize specific sequences of actions while designing. The study suggests, albeit not conclusively, that there are similarities between design and scientific thinking, which is in contrast to the popular belief among design scholars that they are fundamentally different. To complement this study, future avenues of research are suggested. An additional contribution of this study is the DAM itself and its coding scheme.

Tapahtumasegmentaatio jäsentää sekä arkista kokemustamme että muistiamme. Parhaillaan meneillään olevan tapahtuman hahmotus ja prosessointi tapahtuu todennäköisesti aivokuorella, mutta ilman toimivaa hippokampusta tilanteesta ei voi syntyä pysyvää muistoa. On olennainen kysymys, missä kohtaa ja miten hippokampus osallistuu tapahtumien prosessointiin ja mieleen painamiseen. Aiemmin on magneettikuvaustutkimuksin osoitettu, että hippokampus reagoi tapahtumien välisiin rajoihin aktivaatiopiikein. On ehdotettu, että ne ilmentäisivät aistimodaliteetista riippumattoman tason prosessia, jossa hippokampus kokoaa yhteen ja vahvistaa koetun tilanteen kokonaisrepresentaation, jotta se voidaan painaa muistiin. Aiemmat tutkimukset on kuitenkin toteutettu yksinomaan audiovisuaalisilla ärsykkeillä, ja koska hippokampuksen tiedetään osallistuvan myös visuaaliseen prosessointiin, ei ole täysin selvää, etteivätkö havaitut aktivaatiot voisi selittyä alemman, aistitietoa käsittelevän tason prosesseilla. Tämän kysymyksen ratkaisemiseksi tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin reagoiko hippokampus tapahtumarajoihin puhtaasti auditiivisessa ärsykkeessä. Ärsykkeenä oli 71-minuuttinen tarinallinen äänikirja, jonka osallistujat kuuntelivat passiivisesti fMRI-rekisteröinnin aikana, ja jonka tapahtumarajat määriteltiin kokeellisesti erillisen koehenkilöryhmän avulla. Aivokuvausaineisto analysoitiin aivoalueittain sekä hippokampuksesta että eksploratiivisesti myös kaikilta aivokuoren alueilta. Hippokampuksen havaittiin reagoivan tapahtumarajoihin aktivaatiopiikein. Aivokuorella voimakkaasti reagoivia alueita olivat mm. posteriorinen mediaalinen aivokuori, ventromediaalinen prefrontaalialue, parahippokampaalinen poimu sekä etummainen pihtipoimu. Monien näistä alueista uskotaan osallistuvan meneillään olevan tapahtuman mallintamiseen ja hahmottamiseen, ja osa mahdollisesti osallistuu huomion siirtämiseen sisäisen ja ulkoisen välillä. Etummaisen pihtipoimun tiedetään osallistuvan odotusten ja havaintojen välisten konfliktien monitorointiin, mikä saattaisi tukea teoriaa, jonka mukaan segmentaatio olisi riippuvaista havaituista ennustevirheistä. Tätä ei kuitenkaan tämän tutkimuksen perusteella voida varmasti päätellä, vaan asiaa tulisi tutkia tarkemmin. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset tukevat näkemystä, jonka mukaan hippokampuksen lisääntynyt toiminta tapahtumarajoilla liittyy korkean tason abstraktiin segmentaatioon ja mahdollisesti episodisen muiston luomiseen. Tämä prosessi mahdollisesti tapahtuu yhteistyössä aivokuoren aktiivisten alueiden kanssa, mutta kausaaliset suhteet ja informaation kulku näiden alueiden välillä on selvitettävä myöhemmissä tutkimuksissa.

Friendship can be defined as long-term social bonds between non-kin, characterized by mutual affection and support. Friendship is often studied in dyadic interactions or in ego-networks, but less is known about the group level processes of friendship. This thesis investigates factors related to maintenance of adult friendships over longer periods of time, using real-life, retrospective data of friendship groups formed during the study years and maintained well into adulthood. Based on group research in cognitive and social psychology and evolutionary theories on friendship and cooperation, I am especially interested in the effect of group size and group bonding on group success, as well as the role of possible gender differences. Using data from the Fraternity Friendship Study (N = 284), collected from fraternity alumni members, I investigate factors that help adult friendship groups succeed over time. The friendship groups were between 5 and 18 members in size and were formed 12-24 years ago. The survey data regard aspects of fraternity activities and friendship groups both at the time of studies and at present. Group success is measured as group bonding (the Inclusion-of-Other-in-Self or IOS scale), reflecting the members’ emotional closeness towards the group, and meeting frequency. Qualitative aspects of group functioning are also examined. Results show that group success was related to group size at the time of group formation, as well as with qualitative aspects of the group, such as information flow, perceived homophily, and perceived attractiveness of the friends in the group. Group bonding moderated the effect of group size on meeting frequency, so that smaller groups benefitted more of bonding. Group bonding was also itself an important factor for how active the groups remained over the years. Group success did not differ between male and female friendship groups: bonding, meeting frequency, and group size did not vary by gender. However, group size had a slightly larger effect for the maintenance of female friendships, compared to male groups: especially small female groups were more likely to lose contact. Overall, a group size of approximately 10 members or more, roughly corresponding to sympathy group in the layered social network model, was found to be beneficial for group success.