Does artistic training affect color perception? A study of ERPs and EROs in experiencing colors of different brightness.

Color is a visual cue that can convey emotions and attract attention, and there is no doubt that brightness is an important element of color differentiation. To examine the impact of art training on color perception, 44 participants were assigned to two groups-one for those with and one for those without art training-in an EEG experiment. While the participants had their electroencephalographic data recorded, they scored their emotional responses to color stimuli of different brightness levels based on the Munsell color system. The behavioral results revealed that in both groups, high-brightness colors were rated more positively than low-brightness colors. Furthermore, event-related potential results for the artist group showed that high-brightness colors enhanced P2 and P3 amplitudes. Moreover, non-artists had longer N2 latency than artists, and there was a significant Group × Brightness interaction separately for the N2 and P3 components. Simple effect analysis showed that N2 and P3 amplitudes were substantially higher for high-brightness stimuli than for lower-brightness stimuli in the artistic group, but this was not the case in the non-artist group. Additionally, evoked event-related oscillation results showed that in both groups, high-brightness stimuli also elicited large delta, theta, and alpha as well as low gamma responses. These results indicate that high-brightness color stimuli elicit more positive emotions and stronger neurological reactions and that artistic training may have a positive effect on top-down visual perception.

Neuroaesthetic exploration on the cognitive processing behind repeating graphics.

Repeating graphics are common research objects in modern design education. However, we do not exactly know the attentional processes underlying graphic artifacts consisting of repeating rhythms. In this experiment, the event-related potential, a neuroscientific measure, was used to study the neural correlates of repeating graphics within graded orderliness. We simulated the competitive identification process of people recognizing artifacts with graded repeating rhythms from a scattered natural environment with the oddball paradigm. In the earlier attentional processing related to the P2 component around the Fz electrode within the 150-250 ms range, a middle-grade repeating rhythm (Target 1) did not show a difference from a high-grade repeating rhythm (Target 2). However, in the later cognitive processes related to the P3b component around the Pz electrode within the 300-450 ms range, Target 1 had longer peak latency than Target 2, based on similar waveforms. Thus, we may suppose that the arrangement of the repeating graphics did not influence the earlier attentional processing but affected the later cognitive part, such as the categorization task in the oddball paradigm. Furthermore, as evidenced by the standard deviation wave across the trials, we suggest that the growing standard deviation value might represent the gradual loss of attentional focus to the task after the stimulus onset and that the zero-growth level may represent similar brain activity between trials.

Expert Drivers' Prospective Thinking-Aloud to Enhance Automated Driving Technologies - Investigating Uncertainty and Anticipation in Traffic.

Current automated driving technology cannot cope in numerous conditions that are basic daily driving situations for human drivers. Previous studies show that profound understanding of human drivers' capability to interpret and anticipate traffic situations is required in order to provide similar capacities for automated driving technologies. There is currently not enough a priori understanding of these anticipatory capacities for safe driving applicable to any given driving situation. To enable the development of safer, more economical, and more comfortable automated driving experience, expert drivers' anticipations and related uncertainties were studied on public roads. First, driving instructors' expertise in anticipating traffic situations was validated with a hazard prediction test. Then, selected driving instructors drove in real traffic while thinking aloud anticipations of unfolding events. The results indicate sources of uncertainty and related adaptive and social behaviors in specific traffic situations and environments. In addition, the applicability of these anticipatory capabilities to current automated driving technology is discussed. The presented method and results can be utilized to enhance automated driving technologies by indicating their potential limitations and may enable improved situation awareness for automated vehicles. Furthermore, the produced data can be utilized for recognizing such upcoming situations, in which the human should take over the vehicle, to enable timely take-over requests.

Semantic distance as a critical factor in icon design for in-car infotainment systems.

In-car infotainment systems require icons that enable fluent cognitive information processing and safe interaction while driving. An important issue is how to find an optimised set of icons for different functions in terms of semantic distance. In an optimised icon set, every icon needs to be semantically as close as possible to the function it visually represents and semantically as far as possible from the other functions represented concurrently. In three experiments (N = 21 each), semantic distances of 19 icons to four menu functions were studied with preference rankings, verbal protocols, and the primed product comparisons method. The results show that the primed product comparisons method can be efficiently utilised for finding an optimised set of icons for time-critical applications out of a larger set of icons. The findings indicate the benefits of the novel methodological perspective into the icon design for safety-critical contexts in general.

Prediction of biomechanical properties of articular cartilage with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most potential non-invasive means for revealing the structure, composition and pathology of articular cartilage. Here we hypothesize that cartilage mechanical properties as determined by the macromolecular framework and their interactions can be accessed by quantitative MRI. To test this, adjacent cartilage disk pairs (n=32) were prepared from bovine proximal humerus and patellofemoral surfaces. For one sample, the tissue Young's modulus, aggregate modulus, dynamic modulus and Poisson's ratio were determined in unconfined compression. The adjacent disk was studied at 9.4T to determine the tissue T(2) relaxation time, sensitive to the integrity of the collagen network, and T(1) relaxation time in the presence of Gd-DTPA, a technique developed for the estimation of cartilage proteoglycan (PG) content. Quantitative MRI parameters were able to explain up to 87% of the variations in certain biomechanical parameters. Correlations were further improved when data from the proximal humerus was assessed separately. MRI parameters revealed a topographical variation similar to that of mechanical parameters. Linear regression analysis revealed that Young's modulus of cartilage may be characterized more completely by combining both collagen- and PG-sensitive MRI parameters. The present results suggest that quantitative MRI can provide important information on the mechanical properties of articular cartilage. The results are encouraging with respect to functional imaging of cartilage, although in vivo applicability may be limited by the inferior resolution of clinical MRI instruments.

Spatial assessment of articular cartilage proteoglycans with Gd-DTPA-enhanced T1 imaging.

In Gd-DTPA-enhanced T(1) imaging of articular cartilage, the MRI contrast agent with two negative charges is understood to accumulate in tissue inversely to the negative charge of cartilage glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) of proteoglycans (PGs), and this leads to a decrease in the T(1) relaxation time of tissue relative to the charge in tissue. By assuming a constant relaxivity for Gd-DTPA in cartilage, it has further been hypothesized that the contrast agent concentration in tissue could be estimated from consecutive T(1) measurements in the absence or presence of the contrast agent. The spatial sensitivity of the technique was examined at 9.4 T in normal and PG-depleted bovine patellar cartilage samples. As a reference, spatial PG concentration was assessed with digital densitometry from safranin O-stained cartilage sections. An excellent linear correlation between spatial optical density (OD) of stained GAGs and T(1) with Gd-DTPA was observed in the control and chondroitinase ABC-treated cartilage specimens, and the MR parameter accounted for approximately 80% of the variations in GAG concentration within samples. Further, the MR-resolved Gd-DTPA concentration proved to be an even better estimate for PGs, with an improved correlation. However, the linear relation between MR parameters and PG concentration did not apply in the deep tissue, where MR measurements overestimated the PG content. While the absolute [Gd-DTPA] determination may be prone to error due to uncertainty of relaxivity in cartilage, or to other contributing factors such as variations in tissue permeability, the experimental evidence highlights the sensitivity of this technique to reflect spatial changes in cartilage PG concentration in normal and degenerated tissue.