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PubMed2005

Optimal eye movement strategies in visual search.

To perform visual search, humans, like many mammals, encode a large field of view with retinas having variable spatial resolution, and then use high-speed eye movements to direct the highest-resolution region, the fovea, towards potential target locations. Good search performance is essential for survival, and hence mammals may have evolved efficient strategies for selecting fixation locations. Here we address two questions: what are the optimal eye movement strategies for a foveated visual system faced with the problem of finding a target in a cluttered environment, and do humans employ optimal eye movement strategies during a search? We derive the ideal bayesian observer for search tasks in which a target is embedded at an unknown location within a random background that has the spectral characteristics of natural scenes. Our ideal searcher uses precise knowledge about the statistics of the scenes in which the target is embedded, and about its own visual system, to make eye movements that gain the most information about target location. We find that humans achieve nearly optimal search performance, even though humans integrate information poorly across fixations. Analysis of the ideal searcher reveals that there is little benefit from perfect integration across fixations--much more important is efficient processing of information on each fixation. Apparently, evolution has exploited this fact to achieve efficient eye movement strategies with minimal neural resources devoted to memory.

Brain↗

PubMed2000

Teaching information literacy skills: an evaluation.

This paper describes an evaluation of a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme in an undergraduate nursing course. The aim of the programme was to provide students with an awareness of the discipline's literature and the skills to locate and retrieve the literature. A multidimensional process for determining nursing students' development was utilised in the evaluation of the programme. Pre- and post-programme questionnaires were distributed to a cohort of students who undertook the programme. A cohort of more senior students who had not undertaken the information literacy programme was utilised as a comparison group. Questionnaire results were analysed using a range of inferential statistics. This paper will focus on two main findings related to objective measures of information literacy skills. These include pre-programme/post-programme change in student performance and differences in student performance between those who undertook the programme and those who did not. The programme demonstrated its effectiveness in developing information literacy skills, however the challenge remains for both academics and students to ensure that these skills are consolidated and extended for effective life-long learning.

Catalogs, Library↗

PubMed1995

Integration of information-seeking skills and activities into a problem-based curriculum.

Recent trends in medical education include a shift from the traditional, didactic, lecture-oriented approach to a more student-driven, problem-based approach to learning. This trend provides librarians with an opportunity to develop programs to teach information-gathering skills that support and are integrated into problem-based learning (PBL). In 1992, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine implemented the initial phase of a curriculum revision that emphasizes PBL. Since that time, Falk Library of the Health Sciences has provided a large-scale, intensive program integrating information-seeking skills and activities into the first-year Patient-Doctor Relationship course, a sequence that initiates medical school. A multimodal approach to information seeking and sources is emphasized, utilizing print and audiovisual materials, computerized resources, and subject experts. The Falk Library program emphasizes the gathering and use of information as central to both PBL and student skills development. An informal, post-course evaluation was conducted to gauge which information resources were used and valued most by students. This article presents evaluation results, including data on the use of information sources and services, and student perceptions of the librarian's role in the PBL sessions.

Curriculum↗

PubMed1993

Independently evolved jamming avoidance responses employ identical computational algorithms: a behavioral study of the African electric fish, Gymnarchus niloticus.

An African electric fish, Gymnarchus, and a South American electric fish, Eigenmannia, are believed to have evolved their electrosensory systems independently. Both fishes, nevertheless, gradually shift the frequency of electric organ discharge away when they encounter a neighbor of a similar discharge frequency. Computational algorithms employed by Gymnarchus for this jamming avoidance response have been identified in this study for comparison with those of extensively studied Eigenmannia. 1. Gymnarchus determines whether it should raise or lower its discharge frequency based solely upon the signal mixture of its own reafferent and the exafferent signal from a neighbor, and does not internally refer to the pacemaker command signal which drives its own discharge. 2. The signal mixture is analyzed in terms of the time courses of amplitude modulation and phase modulation at each area of the body surface. 3. Phase of the signal mixture at each area is compared with that of another area for the detection of phase modulation. 4. Unambiguous information necessary for the jamming avoidance response is extracted by integrating information from all body areas each of which yields ambiguous information. 5. These computational features are identical to those of Eigenmannia, suggesting that the neural circuit for jamming avoidance responses may have evolved from preexisting mechanisms for electrolocation in both fishes.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1995

Visual integration in the split brain.

A review of evidence suggests that subjects with forebrain commissurotomy can integrate information about location, orientation, and movement between visual hemifields, albeit with some loss of spatial and temporal resolution, even when it is flashed briefly in parafoveal vision. The classic disconnection syndrome for visual stimuli is largely explained by the lack of subcortical transfer of information about form. Voluntary location-based ('spotlight') attention is integrated interhemispherically in these subjects but object-based attention and controlled visual search can function concurrently and independently in the two hemispheres. The data support the distinction between two visual systems, each with its own perceptual and attentional subsystems: (1) a relatively precise cortical system dedicated primarily to the analysis of form and the fine-grained exploration of visual scenes; and (2) a 'second' subcortical system dedicated to a relatively low-resolution processing of movement and location, including 'spotlight' attention.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

A spatial and quantitative study of the striatopallidal connection in the monkey.

The striatopallidal connection was quantitatively analysed after three-dimensional reconstruction of biocytin-labelled striatal axons. A small striatal region gave rise to one or two elongated bands in each of the pallidal nuclei. Each band consisted of dense axonal plexuses and short axonal arborizations with few branches. Individual axons generally terminated in one band, giving a low density of varicosities on dendrites (10 per 100 microns length). This suggests that the striatopallidal connection can distribute the same striatal information to different remote pallidal regions which can in turn integrate information from different remote striatal regions. Corticostriatal information could thus be preserved or completely transformed according to the size and location of the striatal region activated.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Outcome-based quality improvement in home health care: the OASIS indicators.

The outcomes movement in home health care is expanding rapidly, with strong support from both the industry and Medicare. The Federal government has proposed requiring all Medicare-certified agencies to collect data items from the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) to form the basis for standardized risk-adjusted outcome reporting as part of a systematic outcome-based quality improvement (OBQI) approach. In addition to contributing to improving patient outcomes, OASIS data items, when combined with other assessment information, utilization data, and cost information, can provide home health care agencies with a powerful integrated information set for internal management and strategic planning.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Types and tokens in transsaccadic object identification: effects of spatial position and left-right orientation.

What types of representations support our ability to integrate information acquired during one eye fixation with information acquired during the next fixation? In Experiment 1, transsaccadic integration was explored by manipulating whether or not the relative position of a picture of an object was maintained across a saccade. In Experiment 2, the degree to which visual details of a picture are coded in a position-specific representational system was explored by manipulating whether or not both the relative position and the left-right orientation of the picture were maintained across a saccade. Position-specific and nonspecific preview benefits were observed in both experiments. Only the position-specific benefits were influenced by the number of task-relevant pictures presented in the preview display (Experiment 1) and the left-right orientation of the picture presented in the preview display (Experiment 2). The results support a model of transsaccadic integration based on two independent representational systems. One system codes abstract, prestored object types, and the other codes episodic tokens consisting of stimulus properties linked to scene- or configuration-based position markers.

Fixation, Ocular↗

PubMed1990

Medical staff planning with a database.

Staff planning requires a comprehensive program. A robust impact analysis of physicians requires information not normally contained within hospital physician records. Planners should integrate information from state sources with their medical staff data files, and be alert for new sources of online information.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

A strategy for improving and integrating biomedical ontologies.

The integration of biomedical terminologies is indispensable to the process of information integration. When terminologies are linked merely through the alignment of their leaf terms, however, differences in context and ontological structure are ignored. Making use of the SNAP and SPAN ontologies, we show how three reference domain ontologies can be integrated at a higher level, through what we shall call the OBR framework (for: Ontology of Biomedical Reality). OBR is designed to facilitate inference across the boundaries of domain ontologies in anatomy, physiology and pathology.

Anatomy↗

PubMed1988

Integrating clinical, financial information: improving patient management.

The need for integrated financial and clinical information is becoming increasingly important to financial managers and clinicians alike. Typical billing systems collect only a small amount of clinical information. But by using billing systems more creatively--superimposing a clinical classification system on a billing system--hospital managers could retrieve clinical information from the billing system without undergoing chart review. The hospital's largest database, its billing information, could be used to more efficiently manager patient care.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed1990

Why do we need cancer information?

Sophisticated integration of medical information about cancer and other chronic diseases has become increasingly important in diagnosis, treatment, care of patients and clinical research. Cancer control strategy could not be planned without such precise information. Information on cancer prevention is divided into primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The current situation in Japan at each level is reviewed, and effective systems proposed. We need an integrated system for collecting and analyzing information, and for distributing it efficiently to the public, health professionals and health planners, and this can be achieved by building a cancer information center within the National Cancer Center. Some examples of information networks in the U.S.A. set up to achieve the purposes set out above are given, and recent attempts to build a similar network in Japan are introduced. International collaborative work should advance more effectively through such information systems.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗

PubMed2005

Advanced patient monitoring displays: tools for continuous informing.

We reviewed the use of advanced display technologies for monitoring in anesthesia. Researchers are investigating displays that integrate information and that, in some cases, also deliver the results continuously to the anesthesiologist. Integrated visual displays reveal higher-order properties of patient state and speed in responding to events, but their benefits under an intensely timeshared load is unknown. Head-mounted displays seem to shorten the time to respond to changes, but their impact on peripheral awareness and attention is unknown. Continuous auditory displays extending pulse oximetry seem to shorten response times and improve the ability to timeshare other tasks, but their integration into the already noisy operative environment still needs to be tested. We reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of the three approaches, drawing on findings from other fields, such as aviation, to suggest outcomes where there are still no results for the anesthesia context. Proving that advanced patient monitoring displays improve patient outcomes is difficult, and a more realistic goal is probably to prove that such displays lead to better situational awareness, earlier responding, and less workload, all of which keep anesthesia practice away from the outer boundaries of safe operation.

Anesthesia↗

PubMed1996

The role of anterior ectosylvian cortex in cross-modality orientation and approach behavior.

Physiological and behavioral studies in cat have shown that corticotectal influences play important roles in the information-processing capabilities of superior colliculus (SC) neurons. While corticotectal inputs from the anterior ectosylvian sulcus (AES) play a comparatively small role in the unimodal responses of SC neurons, they are particularly important in rendering these neurons capable of integrating information from different sensory modalities (e.g., visual and auditory). The present experiments examined the behavioral consequences of depriving SC neurons of AES inputs, and thereby compromising their ability to integrate visual and auditory information. Selective deactivation of a variety of other cortical areas (posterolateral lateral suprasylvian cortex, PLLS; primary auditory cortex, AI; or primary visual cortex, 17/18) served as controls. Cats were trained in a perimetry device to ignore a brief, low-intensity auditory stimulus but to orient toward and approach a nearthreshold visual stimulus (a light-emitting diode, LED) to obtain food. The LED was presented at different eccentricities either alone (unimodal) or combined with the auditory stimulus (multisensory). Subsequent deactivation of the AES, with focal injections of a local anesthetic, had no effect on responses to unimodal cues regardless of their location. However, it profoundly, though reversibly, altered orientation and approach to multisensory stimuli in contralateral space. The characteristic enhancement of these responses observed when an auditory cue was presented in spatial correspondence with the visual stimulus was significantly degraded. Similarly, the inhibitory effect of a spatially disparate auditory cue was significantly ameliorated. The observed effects were specific to AES deactivation, as similar effects were not obtained with deactivation of PLLS, AI or 17/18, or saline injections into the AES. These observations are consistent with postulates that specific cortical-midbrain interactions are essential for the synthesis of multisensory information in the SC, and for the orientation and localization behaviors that depend on this synthesis.

Anesthetics, Local↗

PubMed2005

Changes in coordination of postural control during dynamic stance in chronic low back pain patients.

The human postural system operates on the basis of integrated information from three independent sources: vestibular, visual and somatosensory. It is conceivable that a derangement of any of these systems will influence the overall output of the postural system. The peripheral proprioceptive system or the central processing of proprioceptive information may be altered in chronic low back pain (CLBP). We therefore investigated whether patients with CLBP exhibited an altered postural control during quiet standing. Dynamic posturography was performed by 12 CLBP patients and 12 age-matched controls. Subject's task was to stand quietly on a computer-controlled movable platform under six sensory conditions that altered the available visual and proprioceptive information. While the control of balance was comparable between the two groups across stabilized support surface conditions (1-3), CLBP patients oscillated much more than controls in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction in platform sway-referenced conditions (4-6). Control experiments ruled out that increased sway was due to pain interference. In CLBP patients, postural stability under challenging conditions is maintained by an increased sway in AP direction. This change in postural strategy may underlie a dysfunction of the peripheral proprioceptive system or the central integration of proprioceptive information.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1994

Temporal integration of auditory information in sensory memory as reflected by the mismatch negativity.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) to different types of infrequent change in a tone pair composed of two closely spaced tones of different frequencies were recorded. The mismatch negativity (MMN), a change-specific component of the ERP, was elicited by reversing the order of the two tones, by repeating the first tone, by replacing the first tone with the second tone, or by omitting the second tone. The omission of the second tone, however, elicited the MMN only when the interval between the two tones was very short (offset to onset 40 or 140 ms) but did not when this interval was somewhat longer (240 or 340 ms). The pattern of the present results suggests that sensory-memory traces, as reflected by the MMN, integrate information about two closely spaced stimuli into a unitary sensory event.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Healthcare information systems: analysis of healthcare software.

The need to manage medical information in healthcare delivery requires that information technology be optimized in diagnosing disease; in planning and administering treatment; and in monitoring patient outcomes, services, and costs. The goals of this article are twofold: (1) to identify healthcare-specific software that addresses specific parameters set forth by the World Health Organization (WHO) for healthcare information systems and (2) to identify issues that managers should keep in mind when choosing an integrated information systems software package. For our analysis, we gathered, through Internet research, information about more than 400 software products from more than 200 companies.

Decision Making, Organizational↗

PubMed1997

Establishing need for and designing information systems supporting decentralized services for the elderly: the case of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Leaders of senior social services in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, have reevaluated home-delivered meals (HDM) for the elderly in light of demographic and economic changes. A recommendation was the establishment of an integrated information system aiding policy and provider-level users in coordinating and planning numerous services, including HDM. The first step is the establishment of computerized geographic information and decision support systems. Further integration of a unified client database would enhance the capabilities of this information system in coordinating services for seniors. These possibilities, along with value-based and administrative challenges to constructing a countywide information system, are discussed.

Aged↗