Event-related potentials in adolescents with different cognitive styles: field dependence and field independence

Camouflage Detection and Its Association with Cognitive Style: A Functional Connectivity Study

Background: Individual differences exist in performance in tasks that require visual search, such as camouflage detection (CD). Field dependence/independence (FD/I), as assessed using the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), is an extensively studied dimension of cognitive style that classifies participants based on their visual perceptual styles. Materials and Methods: In the present study, we utilized fMRI on 46 healthy participants to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms specific to the cognitive styles of FD/FI while performing a CD task using both activation magnitude and an exploratory functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Group differences between high and low performers on the two extremes of the accuracy continuum of GEFT were studied. Results: No statistically significant group differences were observed using whole-brain voxel-wise comparison. However, the exploratory FC analysis revealed an enhanced communication between various regions subserving the cognitive traits required for visual search by FI participants over and above their FD counterparts. Conclusion: These enhanced connectivities suggest additional recruitment of cognitive functions to provide computational support that might facilitate superior performance in CD task by the participants who display a field-independent cognitive style.

The match and mismatch between providers and customers in accommodation sharing: a cognitive style perspective

Purpose

The peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation-sharing market has developed rapidly on the strength of information technology in recent years. Matching providers and customers in an information technology (IT)-enabled platform is a key determinant of both parties' experiences and the healthy development of the platform. However, previous research has not sufficiently explained the mechanism of provider–customer matching in accommodation sharing, especially at the psychological level. Based on field cognitive style theory, this study examines how the match and mismatch affect customers' online and offline satisfaction and whether a significant difference exists between online and offline satisfaction under different matching patterns.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors test the proposed theoretical model using 122 provider–customer dyad data collected through a field study.

Findings

The results suggest that customers' online and offline satisfaction under match is significantly higher than that under mismatch. In addition, customers' online satisfaction is significantly higher than their offline satisfaction under mismatch, but there is no significant difference between the two under match. The perceived price fairness also plays a moderating role in the case of mismatch.

Originality/value

In summary, these findings provide a novel understanding about the matching patterns and their outcomes in the accommodation-sharing context and expand the contents and applications of field cognitive style theory and matching theory. This study will help these IT-enabled platforms to provide personalized matching services at the psychological level, thereby enhancing user experience and corporate competitiveness. 10; 10;

Does mobile payment change consumers' perception during payment process? -An ERP study

Innovative payment methods have been getting worldwide attention. Exploring the mechanisms behind consumers' purchase behaviors modulated by different payment methods was critical but challenging. In this paper, we proposed a 2 (payment methods: cash payment vs mobile payment) × 2 (price levels of products: high vs low) Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) experiment to study the difference of cash payment and mobile payment on consumers' purchase intention of products in different price level from a neuroscience perspective. Greater P200 amplitude was found in mobile payment condition, which meant that mobile payment captured more early attention resources than cash. Larger N270 amplitude was found in cash payment condition as the participants had to spend more cognitive resources and struggled more when using cash. Moreover, lower N270 amplitude was found in high-price product condition, which indicated that when there were limited cognitive resources, the affective process played a dominating role. Specifically, buying the high-price products with mobile payment, the consumers would experience the pleasure of consumption more rather than the pain of paying. The study offers insights on the cognitive process of consumers when they pay with different methods.

Dream Lucidity and the Attentional Network Task

This study investigated the relationship between dream lucidity, i.e., a dreamer's insight to the ongoing dream, and attention by considering lucidity as a trait. We examined the ways in which lucidity correlates with the orienting, alerting, and conflict components of the attentional network. A total of 77 participants rated the lucidity of their dreams over 7 consecutive days with the LuCiD scale and then completed the attentional network task (ANT). A negative correlation between trait lucidity and the conflict score of the ANT was found for 49 participants whose responses were faster when an alerting signal was presented. This result suggested that, with a prerequisite that the presence of cues facilitates subsequent information processing, the greater a person's trait lucidity, the more efficiently he or she is capable of resolving conflicts.

The relationship between cognitive style and sensory gating during auditory and somatosensory tasks

Cognitive styles such as field dependence/independence and empathizing influence individual personalities. Sensory gating is conceptualized as an automatic inhibitory function related to human higher cognitive processing. The present study investigated the relationship between cognitive styles and the automatic inhibitory function using electroencephalographic evoked potentials (EPs) during auditory and somatosensory tasks with a paired stimulus. The Embedded-Figures Test (EFT) and Empathy Questionnaire (EQ) were performed to assess the cognitive styles (field dependence: FD; field independence: FI; empathizing: EM; non-empathizing: Non-EM). Sensory gating was evaluated as an amplitude ratio of EP responses to the second stimulus (S2) over responses to the first stimulus (S1). Subjects were divided into two groups based on EFT scores (FD vs. FI) or EQ scores (EM vs. Non-EM). The S2/S1 amplitude ratio of the auditory long-latency component was significantly smaller in the FD than FI group, while the S2/S1 amplitude ratio of a somatosensory long-latency component was significantly smaller in the FI than FD group. In contrast, these differences in the S2/S1 amplitude ratios of any auditory and somatosensory components were not observed between EM and Non-EM groups. Our results suggest that sensory gating conceptualized as an automatic inhibitory function is related to FD and FI cognitive styles.

Effect of Cognitive Style on Language Control During Joint Language Switching: An ERP Study

The current study aims to investigate how Field independent (FI) and Field-dependent (FD) cognitive styles modulate bilingual language control during a joint language switching task. The cognitive styles were measured by the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). The FI group with a preference for autonomous information processing was sensitive to role switching earlier at the cue stage, eliciting a more negative-going N2 in the cross-person condition than in the within-person condition. While the FD group, with a holistic processing style, discerned such role switching later, inducing a more positive-going late positive component (LPC) in the cross-person condition. In addition, the FD group exercised more cognitive control to suppress the interference from the L1 lemma, indexed by larger LPC amplitudes for L2 switch trials than L1 switch trials in the within-person condition. These findings suggest that FDI cognitive styles modulate bilingual language control mechanism through different manners of information processing.

Assessing Field Dependence-Independence Cognitive Abilities Through EEG-Based Bistable Perception Processing

Field Dependence–Independence (FDI) is a widely studied dimension of cognitive styles designed to measure an individual’s ability to identify embedded parts of an organized visual field as entities separate from that given field. The research aims to determine whether the brain activity features that are considered to be perceptual switching indicators could serve as robust features, differentiating Field-Dependent (FD) from Field-Independent (FI) participants. Previous research suggests that various features derived from event related potentials (ERP) and frequency features are associated with the perceptual reversal occurring during the observation of a bistable image. In this study, we combined these features in the context of a different experimental scheme using ambiguous and unambiguous stimuli during participants’ perceptual observations. We assessed the participants’ FD-I classification with the use of the Hidden Figures Test (HFT). Results show that the peak amplitude of the frontoparietal positivity, the late positive deflection in frontal and parietal areas, is higher for the FD group at specific locations of the left lobe, whereas it occurs later for the FD group at the central and occipital electrodes. Additionally, the FD group exhibits higher levels of gamma power before stimulus onset at channel TP10 and higher gamma power during reversal at the right centroparietal electrodes (T8, CP6, and TP10). The peak amplitude of the reversal positivity, the positive deflection during the reversal, is higher for the FD group at the rear right lobe (P4).

Age-Related Changes in Field Dependence-Independence and Implications for Geriatric Rehabilitation: A Review

Human aging is a dynamic life-long process and an inevitable experience. As the average age of the world's population rises, demands for effective geriatric rehabilitation dramatically increase. An important consideration for enhancing geriatric behavioral interventions is to better understand aging characteristics in perceptual, cognitive, and motor performances. A general shift in cognitive style from field independence to field dependence has been consistently observed during human aging, as older adults show a greater tendency to rely on environmental information, presumably reflecting a neuro-compensatory mechanism of reducing top-down control and relying instead on bottom-up processing. These changes in cognitive style can impact motor skill learning and relearning and, consequently, affect geriatric rehabilitation and behavioral treatments. In this article, we review research related to the cognitive style of field dependence and independence, and its dynamic associations with aging. We also identify implications of cognitive style for geriatric rehabilitation and explore future research.

Measuring Sustained Attention and Perceived Workload

OBJECTIVE

We examined the effects of spatial uncertainty, field dependence/independence (FD/I), and sex on vigilance performance and perceived workload in elementary school children.

BACKGROUND

Building on previous work in which children demonstrated their ability to evaluate workload, we tested whether spatial-uncertainty manipulations in a vigilance task would elicit in children the same deleterious effects on performance and workload as it does with adults. We also examined individual difference effects associated with FD/I and sex to determine their influence on both performance and workload.

METHOD

In the low-uncertainty task, stimuli appeared in the center of the computer screen; in the high-uncertainty task, they appeared in one of the four quadrants of the screen. Neutral events consisted of uppercase letter strings. Critical signals consisted of a single lowercase letter among uppercase letters. Following each vigil, children completed a workload assessment via a modified version of the NASA Task Load Index.

RESULTS

Children showed lower perceptual sensitivity, greater response latency variability (RT^SD), and a higher response criterion in the uncertain display condition. Workload scores reflected these performance differences. Field-dependent children showed lower perceptual sensitivity and greater RT^SD than did field-independent children. The two groups exhibited differing workload profiles. Despite no objective performance differences, boys reported greater workload than girls.

CONCLUSION

The scale demonstrated sensitivity and diagnosticity with regard to both the task variable and individual differences.

APPLICATION

These findings contribute to the emerging field of "educational ergonomics" and indicate that appropriate assessment tools might identify children who are experiencing increased workload.

Cognitive style modulates conscious but not unconscious thought: Comparing the deliberation-without-attention effect in analytics and wholists

Unconscious thought theory (UTT) suggests that conscious thinking is less effective in complex decision-making than unconscious thinking. However, little research has taken individual differences (e.g., cognitive style) into account. Using an adapted UTT paradigm, the present study compared the performances of individuals with a wholist or an analytic cognitive style in both conscious and unconscious thought conditions. After viewing information regarding four hypothetical phones, participants in the conscious thought condition deliberated for three minutes before rating the phones, while participants in the unconscious thought condition were distracted with a 2-back task for three minutes before rating. The results showed that wholists were equally good at differentiating good and bad phones after conscious or unconscious thought, whereas analytics performed well only when thinking unconsciously. The modulation effect of cognitive style appeared only in conscious thought. Implications for UTT and the understanding of cognitive style are discussed.