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Results for “Information Processing”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

The effects of cannabis on information-processing speed.

Despite extensive research on the effects of cannabis on cognitive and motor performance, studies administering computerised cognitive batteries and pencil-and-paper tests have not provided consistent results. Contributing factors are the broad range of tests used, together with a lack of sensitivity for assessing specific cognitive processes. This study for the first time assesses a very early cognitive process, information processing, that is sufficiently fundamental as to be immune from higher cognitive, motivational, and social processes. Information processes are thought to represent the basic building blocks of higher order cognitive processes. The inspection time (IT) task was used to investigate the effects of acute and subacute cannabis use on information processing in 22 heavy users, compared to 22 noncannabis-using controls. Findings indicate that users in the subacute state display significantly slowed information-processing speeds (longer ITs) compared to controls. Paradoxically, this deficit appears to be normalised whilst users are in the acute state. These results may be explained as a withdrawal effect, but may also be due to tolerance development as a result of long-term cannabis use. Furthermore, these results may assist in providing an explanation for the development of dependence with chronic cannabis users.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1991

[Psychophysiologic chronometry: detection of facilitating and inhibiting processes in information processing using electroencephalographic and electromyographic data].

The objective of the present research was to tally the potential usefulness of psychophysiological measures in the systematic analysis of human information processing. Different context conditions were established in two cued choice-reaction time experiments. The context could either facilitate or inhibit the processing of an imperative stimulus. Event-related brain potentials (EEG-ERP) and event-related electromyograms (EMG-ERP) were recorded and from these biosignals latencies and duration times for different aspects of stimulus evaluation and movement execution were derived. The EEG-ERP provided measures for the time of primary stimulus categorization (N2), the time necessary to test actual stimulus information against stimulus expectancies (P3b), and the time necessary to check the decision about the stimulus-response mapping (pSW). From the EMG-ERP, processing times were derived which are related to the initiation of a motor program and to distinct sections of the movement trajectory. Results show that these latency measures react differently to different context manipulations. EEG-ERP measures, for example, reflected differences during stimulus evaluation which were not detectable in response- or EMG-derived movement times. The parallel analysis of EEG-ERPs and EMG-ERPs allowed delineation of processing modules which are responsible for particular context-dependent facilitation and inhibition effects. Moreover, the data revealed substantial overlap of evaluation times and movement times. This finding seems to be more compatible with a parallel processing model than with a strictly sequential model.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Relation between the process of information processing during learning and the level of motivation].

Adaptive behaviour of 58 male mice of BALB/c line was studied (10 experimental sessions) in a multialternative maze (180 positive decisions) at various levels of alimentary excitation, after 0--12--24--36 hours of starvation. It has been found that such characteristics of the brain integrative activity as power, speed and rate of the development of motor information processing (estimated by dynamics of formation of correct decisions) are in direct dependency on the level of alimentary excitation. The suggestion is discussed that the level of concrete physiological neens represents both an "energiator" of the brain activity and its directing and organizing determinant.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

A study suggesting two kinds of information processing of the sexual response.

Genital and subjective sexual arousal in response to sexual imagery was studied. In a previous study subjects who were encouraged to process information on sexual stimuli and sexual responses were more sexually aroused than subjects encouraged to process information on sexual stimuli only. In the present study, the reverse effect was found in subjects who had received further verbal training to differentially process information on sexual stimuli or responses. This suggests two different kinds of processing information on sexual responses. They may result from simple encouragement or verbal training to process sexual information.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Practical methods for the clinical assessment of information processing speed.

The rate at which individuals are capable of processing information is considered a sensitive indicator of brain dysfunction, particularly among clinical populations whose neurocognitive impairments generally are considered relatively mild in nature. Assessment of information processing speed often is confounded, however, by comorbid impairments in other constructs of neurocognition, including attentional capacity, visuospatial perception, language, immediate memory, and motor speed/coordination. This investigation examined the effect of controlling for various potential confounders on the strength of associations among several potential measures of information processing speed. Participants were 64 patients diagnosed with clinically definite multiple sclerosis. Analysis indicated consistent significant and positive associations among measures of processing speed, which generally persisted despite simultaneous statistical control of potential confounding factors. Results imply that examined confounding variables are similarly related to the measures of processing speed. Therefore, any of the measures of information processing speed considered in this study may be used as a proxy for the more direct measure of this construct derived from the Sternberg Memory Scanning Test.

Cognition↗
PubMed2002

Carbon - the first frontier of information processing.

Information is often encoded as an aperiodic chain of building blocks. Modern digital computers use bits as the building blocks, but in general the choice of building blocks depends on the nature of the information to be encoded. What are the optimal building blocks to encode structural information? This can be analysed by substituting the operations of addition and multiplication of conventional arithmetic with translation and rotation. It is argued that at the molecular level, the best component for encoding discretized structural information is carbon. Living organisms discovered this billions of years ago, and used carbon as the back-bone for constructing proteins that function according to their structure. Structural analysis of polypeptide chains shows that an efficient and versatile structural language of 20 building blocks is needed to implement all the tasks carried out by proteins. Properties of amino acids indicate that the present triplet genetic code was preceded by a more primitive one, coding for 10 amino acids using two nucleotide bases.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

The function of credibility in information processing for risk perception.

This study examines how credibility affects the way people process information and how they subsequently perceive risk. Three conceptual areas are brought together in this analysis: the psychometric model of risk perception, Eagly and Chaiken's heuristic-systematic information processing model, and Meyer's credibility index. Data come from a study of risk communication in the circumstance of state health department investigations of suspected cancer clusters (five cases, N = 696). Credibility is assessed for three information sources: state health departments, citizen groups, and industries involved in each case. Higher credibility for industry and the state directly predicts lower risk perception, whereas high credibility for citizen groups predicts greater risk perception. A path model shows that perceiving high credibility for industry and state-and perceiving low credibility for citizen groups-promotes heuristic processing, which in turn is a strong predictor of lower risk perception. Alternately, perceiving industry and the state to have low credibility also promotes greater systematic processing, which consistently leads to perception of greater risk. Between a one-fifth and one-third of the effect of credibility on risk perception is shown to be indirectly transmitted through information processing.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

The Adult Memory and Information Processing Battery (AMIPB) test of information-processing speed: a study of its reliability and feasibility in patients with multiple sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how useful the Adult Memory and Information Processing Battery Task A (AMIPB) is as a test of the speed of information processing in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) by comparing various methods of presenting the test and assessing the reliability (test-retest and inter-rater) and utility of each version. DESIGN: Each patient was assessed twice verbally by the same assessor 1-2 weeks apart. Then 1-2 weeks later half were assessed by another observer, and half were assessed by the first observer using a written method. SETTING: A specialist young disabled unit. SUBJECTS: Thirty-three patients with MS. MEASURES: The AMIPB, the Short Memory-Orientation-Concentration Test (SOMC) and the Barthel ADL Index. RESULTS: The average (SD) number of correct responses after 4 min was 23.3 (18.6), median 21. The test-retest reliability (n = 24) of the 4-min AMIPB was high (r = 0.98) and the difference of the score ranged from -7 to 9: median 3, mean (SD) 1.88 (4.01) and interquartile range 0 to 3.25. The inter-observer reliability (n = 12) of the 4-min AMIPB was also high (r = 0.97) and the mean (SD) differences between scores were 4.3 (5.8), median 4, range +19 to -2. The score at 60 seconds and the score at 240 seconds were highly correlated (r = 0.98). The scores obtained verbally and by writing were closely correlated (r = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: The AMIPB used over 120 seconds with verbal responses is a reliable and reasonable test for major information-processing deficits.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Understanding how elderly patients process drug information: a test of a theory of information processing.

PURPOSE: The goal of this research was to apply a well-known model of consumer behavior, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), to "direct-to-consumer" advertising of prescription drugs aimed at elderly consumers. In particular, the specific aim was to determine whether the effect of promotional aspects of consumer drug advertising predicted by the ELM could by demonstrated on elderly consumers' product attitudes and perceptions of risk. METHODS: Subject reaction to a fictitious drug advertisement was assessed using a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design based on the theoretical concepts of the ELM. the advertisement message varied in the expertise of the product endorser, the expected involvement or interest level of the study subject, and the content of the advertisement message. RESULTS: Analysis of variance revealed a three-way interaction effect between involvement, argument quality, and source credibility on subjects' attitudes toward the product [F(1, 123) = 4.77, p = 0.03] and perceptions of risk [F(1, 118) = 3.22, p = 0.08]. The information content of the ads had an impact on subject's attitudes under the low involvement/low credibility condition but not the low involvement/high credibility condition. Under high involvement conditions, the information content of the ad impacted attitudes under both the high and low credibility conditions. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that the ELM may be a useful model for determining when elderly individuals are more likely to be influenced by the information content or the promotional aspects of consumer advertisements for prescription drugs.

Advertising↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Information processing styles. One size doesn't fit all.

By knowing how students process information, educators can get them to notice what is being taught so that they learn as much as possible. Teachers can use this information to change their lessons from lecture and note-taking instruction to active involvement that enhances students' comprehension. The purpose of this article is to examine two major styles of information processing, to identify global and analytic preferences and teaching strategies, and to illustrate how these strategies were applied in a baccalaureate nursing course.

Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate↗
PubMed1990

Effects of closed-head injury on attentional processes: an information-processing stage analysis.

The present study, based on Sternberg's (1969) additive-factor method, examined attentional processes in terms of four information-processing stages (feature extraction, identification, response selection, and motor adjustment). Four task variables were used to operationally define the stages (signal quality, signal similarity, signal-response compatibility, and foreperiod uncertainty). In two studies, a visuo-spatial reaction-time task was undertaken by a group of university subjects (Experiment 1) and by three groups of closed-head-injured patients (severe short-term, severe long-term, and mild short-term) and their corresponding matched controls (Experiment 2). The results indicated that both patients and normals exhibited a similar mode of linear information processing. In addition, it was found that the severe short-term group was impaired on the response-selection stage and response selection stage; the severe long-term group was impaired only on the response-selection; and no evidence of impairment was found for the mild short-term patients. The implications of these findings with reference to the study of attentional processes in closed-head injured patients and to neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The effects of mild and severe traumatic brain injury on speed of information processing as measured by the computerized tests of information processing (CTIP).

In spite of the fact that reaction time (RT) measures are sensitive to the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), few RT procedures have been developed for use in standard clinical evaluations. The computerized test of information processing (CTIP) [Tombaugh, T. N., & Rees, L. (2000). Manual for the computerized tests of information processing (CTIP). Ottawa, Ont.: Carleton University] was designed to measure the degree to which TBI decreases the speed at which information is processed. The CTIP consists of three computerized programs that progressively increase the amount of information that is processed. Results of the current study demonstrated that RT increased as the difficulty of the CTIP tests increased (known as the complexity effect), and as severity of injury increased (from mild to severe TBI). The current study also demonstrated the importance of selecting a non-biased measure of variability. Overall, findings suggest that the CTIP is an easy to administer and sensitive measure of information processing speed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

An algorithmic benchmark for quantum information processing

Quantum information processing offers potentially great advantages over classical information processing, both for efficient algorithms and for secure communication. Therefore, it is important to establish that scalable control of a large number of quantum bits (qubits) can be achieved in practice. There are a rapidly growing number of proposed device technologies for quantum information processing. Of these technologies, those exploiting nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) have been the first to demonstrate non-trivial quantum algorithms with small numbers of qubits. To compare different physical realizations of quantum information processors, it is necessary to establish benchmark experiments that are independent of the underlying physical system, and that demonstrate reliable and coherent control of a reasonable number of qubits. Here we report an experimental realization of an algorithmic benchmark using an NMR technique that involves coherent manipulation of seven qubits. Moreover, our experimental procedure can be used as a reliable and efficient method for creating a standard pseudopure state, the first step for implementing traditional quantum algorithms in liquid state NMR systems. The benchmark and the techniques can be adapted for use with other proposed quantum devices.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1987

Metabolic control and auditory information processing at altered glucose levels in insulin-dependent diabetes.

Previous work with a visual reaction time (RT) paradigm showed rate of mental processing to be slowed during a state of brain energy depletion (i.e., hypoglycemia). The present study employed an analog auditory RT paradigm to determine if modality differences in processing information might occur in response to glucose alteration. A balanced crossover design was used in which men with insulin-dependent diabetes completed RT tasks of increasing complexity at each of the following glucose levels: hypoglycemia (60 mg/dL), normoglycemia/control (110 mg/dL), and hyperglycemia (300 mg/dL). Results revealed two performance groups. A convergent group displayed slower RT responding during hypoglycemia, consistent with the visual RT pattern of results. A divergent group displayed better responding on one RT measure during hypoglycemia, and generally poorer responding on all RT measures during the other glucose conditions. Subjects in the divergent group maintained more stringent metabolic control and tended to have experienced more episodes of hypoglycemic unconsciousness. The present results provide the first evidence that more stringent metabolic control may be related to generally slower rates of processing auditory information. Possible explanations for these findings include hypotheses of immutable structual derangement, state-dependent performance effects, and a U-shaped response curve.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Information processing in rapid eye movement sleep. Possible neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and clinical correlates.

Studies on cerebral hemispheric specialization suggest that the right and left hemispheres process information in different and sometimes conflicting ways. Rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep may reflect relatively greater activation or efficiency of the right and left hemispheres, respectively. Much of the mentation in wakefulness is dominated by the left hemisphere and its heavy language orientation. Modern theories of dreaming suggest that new solutions or adaptations to existing problems (i.e., new attitudes) may be enhanced by REM sleep and reflected in dreams. This report reviews experimental and clinical evidence to find neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and clinical support for the view that information is processed during REM sleep through increased activation, efficiency, and/or relative functional isolation of the right hemisphere.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Brief report: speed of information processing in children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) process information more slowly than children who do not have diabetes. METHODS: We tested 31 children with early onset and longer duration of IDDM, 35 with later onset and briefer duration of IDDM, and 36 comparison children without diabetes. They were administered five tasks requiring rapid responding that assessed a range of cognitive processes. RESULTS: On most tasks, children in the three groups were quite similar in the accuracy and speed of performance. Furthermore, for children in the diabetic groups, disease-related variables were unrelated to accuracy and speed of performance. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that children with IDDM do not have a pervasive deficit in speed of information processing, although more circumscribed deficits in processing speed are possible.

Adolescent↗