Showing papers on "Surprise published in 2001"

Responses of human frontal cortex to surprising events are predicted by formal associative learning theory

Abstract: Learning depends on surprise and is not engendered by predictable occurrences. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of causal associative learning, we show that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is associated specifically with the adjustment of inferential learning on the basis of unpredictability. At the outset, when all associations were unpredictable, DLPFC activation was maximal. This response attenuated with learning but, subsequently, activation here was evoked by surprise violations of the learned association. Furthermore, the magnitude of DLPFC response to a surprise event was sensitive to the relationship that had been learned and was predictive of subsequent behavioral change. In short, the physiological response properties of right DLPFC satisfied specific predictions made by associative learning theory.

Processing of facial emotional expression: spatio‐temporal data as assessed by scalp event‐related potentials

Abstract: Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 10 adult volunteers, who were asked to view pictures of faces with different emotional expressions, i.e. fear, happiness, disgust, surprise and neutral expression [Ekman, P. & Friesen, W.V. (1975). Pictures of Facial Affect. Consulting Psychologist Press, Palo Alto, CA]. ERPs were recorded during two different tasks with the same stimuli. Firstly, subjects were instructed to pay attention to the gender of the faces by counting males or females. Secondly, they had to focus on facial expressions by counting faces who looked surprised. The classical scalp 'face-related potentials', i.e. a vertex-positive potential and a bilateral temporal negativity, were recorded 150 ms after the stimulus onset. Significant differences were found, firstly between late-latency ERPs to emotional faces and to neutral faces, between 250 and 550 ms of latency and, secondly, among the ERPs to the different facial expressions between 550 and 750 ms of latency. These differences appeared only during the expression discrimination task, not during the gender discrimination task. Topographic maps of these differences showed a specific right temporal activity related to each emotional expression, some particularities being observed for each expression. This study provides new data concerning the spatio-temporal features of facial expression processing, particularly a late-latency activity related to specific attention to facial expressions.

The discrepancy-attribution hypothesis: II. Expectation, uncertainty, surprise, and feelings of familiarity.

Abstract: In the accompanying article (B. W. A. Whittlesea & L. D. Williams, 2001), surprising violation of an expectation was observed to cause an illusion of familiarity. The authors interpreted that evidence as support for the discrepancy-attribution hypothesis. This article extended the scope of that hypothesis, investigating the consequences of surprising validation of expectations. Subjects were shown recognition probes as completions of sentence stems. Their expectations were manipulated by presenting predictive, nonpredictive, and inconsistent stems. Predictive stems caused an illusion of familiarity, but only when the subjects also experienced uncertainty about the outcome. That is, as predicted by the discrepancy-attribution hypothesis, feelings of familiarity occurred only when processing of a recognition target caused surprise. The article provides a discussion of the ways in which a perception of discrepancy can come about, as well as the origin and nature of unconscious expectations.

Exploring Alternative Antecedents of Customer Delight

Abstract: Satisfaction researchers in marketing are in general agreement that the emotion of delight is comprised of joy and surprise. This study reviews the relevant emotions literature in psychology, the neurosciences and philosophy to show that there may be two different kinds of delight - one with surprise and one without surprise. The work of Plutchik (1980) is often cited as the basis for conceptualizing delight as being comprised of joy and surprise. When Plutchik's two studies were replicated using more positive complex emotion terms than the original study, it was found that subjects could feel delight without being surprised and that there were different emotion terms that were considered by subjects to be comprised of joy and surprise. It is shown how these findings clarify and explain some unexpected results obtained in past research on customer delight. The implications of these finding for both theory and practice are also discussed.

The emotional side of price

Abstract: This exploratory study considers the role emotion plays in relationships among several constructs surrounding price. The findings suggest that some aspects of emotion—here surprise and enjoyment—play a role in consumers' responses to and use of price information. Surprise and enjoyment were found to act in concert with involvement, price consciousness, and price–quality associations in respondents' complex reactions to price. Everyone's personal experience suggests that emotions can influence people's reactions to the price of products; this research lends preliminary empirical support to such everyday experiences. The results of this exploratory study clearly point to the need for more definitive studies in the future. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Individual versus group interest violation: surprise as a determinant of argument scrutiny and persuasion

Abstract: Previous studies based on an attributional analysis of persuasion have suggested that a source who takes an unexpected position is perceived as more trustworthy and accurate than one who argues for an expected position. As a result, message processing is decreased when expectancies are violated compared to when they are confirmed. The current research suggests that these findings are limited to cases in which the unexpected position violates individual self-interest. When a source's unexpected position violates individual self-interest, attributions of trustworthiness are enhanced, but when the unexpected position violates group interest, this does not occur (Experiment 1). Instead, a violation of group interest induces surprise (Experiment 1) and produces enhanced rather than reduced message processing (Experiment 2).

Judgmental Errors, Interactive Norms, and the Difficulty of Detecting Strategic Surprises

Abstract: The concept of strategic surprise has been used by writers on military strategy to explore the successful amplification of resources during battle. This paper applies the same concept to subcontracting relationships and develops a cognitive framework to explain the phenomenon of strategic surprises, using buyer-supplier relations as an example. We first examine the factors that produce vulnerability to strategic surprise in cooperative situations. Then, we explore the reasons why firms are caught by surprise in spite of their vigilance. We present a model representing false alarms and strategic surprises as judgmental errors. We argue that judgmental errors cause misinterpretation of evidence and a consequent sense of false security. Interactive norms, which exist in some industries and may be taken as proxies for enduring relationships, may increase the likelihood of misjudgment and strategic surprises.

The role of surprise in satisfaction judgements

Abstract: Empirical findings suggest that surprise plays an important role in consumer satisfaction, but there is a lack of theory to explain why this is so. The present paper provides explanations for the process through which positive (negative) surprise might enhance (reduce) consumer satisfaction. First, the arousal that is part of the surprise reaction can contaminate subsequent positive affective reactions or emotions about the product or service. Second, the surprise reaction allows for a strong focus on a single product or service aspect. This will create more accessible knowledge that may have a disproportionate effect on memory-based satisfaction judgements. In addition, several possible moderators of the surprise-satisfaction relationship are described. Finally, the managerial implications of the proposed processes and moderators are discussed.

Surprise and Motivation of Causal Search: How Are They Affected by Outcome Valence and Importance?

Abstract: Two studies investigated whether the importance and valence of a target person's achievement outcome affect (a) the intensity of surprise an observer feels about the actual outcome and (b) the role surprise plays in the motivation of the search for a causal explanation for the target's outcome. The present experiments involved conditions controlling for the confounds among outcome valence, importance, and surprise. Both studies revealed that surprise intensity was affected by outcome valence and importance so that an important negative outcome elicits the highest surprise and unimportant success elicited the second highest surprise. Causal search was strong only after (unexpected) important failures. Results are explained in terms of an extended expectancy-disconfirmation approach.

"Surely you knew!": surely as a marker of evidentiality and stance

Abstract: A broad view of evidentiality is adopted, based on Chafe (1986) and Haviland (1987) which goes beyond the grammatical marking of the speaker?s or writer?s perceived sources of knowledge and reliability of these sources to encode, not only what the speaker knows and how s/he knows it, but also what can be taken to be an addressee?s state of knowledge According to this view, evidentials are contemplated as interactive devices or resources for redefining common ground between interlocutors They go beyond referential content to signal such meanings as confrontation and contradictory assumptions They are necessarily situated in social contexts and have an indexical function They may also overlap with epistemic stances and with affect, ranging in the case of surely from surprise, disbelief, doubt and disapproval to persuasion and an invitation to share beliefs or to agree on future courses of action Using data from the British National Corpus, I analyse a sample of concordances of surely with subject personal pronouns, with the aim of providing a preliminary characterisation of the range of interpersonal attitudes expressed by surely and the determining factors which trigger these apparently contradictory stances

Dynamic properties influence the perception of facial

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the role played by dynamic information in identifying facial expressions of emotion. Dynamic expression sequences were created by generating and displaying morph sequences which changed the face from neutral to a peak expression in different numbers of intervening intermediate stages, to create fast (6 frames), medium (26 frames), and slow (101 frames) sequences. In experiment 1, participants were asked to describe what the person shown in each sequence was feeling. Sadness was more accurately identified when slow sequences were shown. Happiness, and to some extent surprise, was better from faster sequences, while anger was most accurately detected from the sequences of medium pace. In experiment 2 we used an intensity-rating task and static images as well as dynamic ones to examine whether effects were due to total time of the displays or to the speed of sequence. Accuracies of expression judgments were derived from the rated intensities and the results were similar to those of experiment 1 for angry and sad expressions (surprised and happy were close to ceiling). Moreover, the effect of display time was found only for dynamic expres- sions and not for static ones, suggesting that it was speed, not time, which was responsible for these effects. These results suggest that representations of basic expressions of emotion encode information about dynamic as well as static properties.

Modeling Forms of Surprise in an Artificial Agent

Abstract: Modeling Forms of Surprise in an Artificial Agent Luis Macedo (lmacedo@isecpt) Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Coimbra / CISUC – Centro de Informatica e Sistemas da Universidade de Coimbra, Quinta da Nora 3031-601 Coimbra, Portugal Amilcar Cardoso (amilcar@deiucpt) Departamento de Engenharia Informatica da Universidade de Coimbra / CISUC – Centro de Informatica e Sistemas da Universidade de Coimbra, Pinhal de Marrocos 3030 Coimbra, Portugal Abstract Mainly rooted in the cognitive-psychoevolutionary model of surprise proposed by the research group of the University of Bielefeld (Meyer, Reisenzein, Schutzwohl, etc), the computational model of surprise described in this paper relies on the assumption that surprise-eliciting events initiate a series of mental processes that begin with the appraisal of unexpectedness, continue with the interruption of ongoing activity and the focusing of attention on the unexpected event, and end with the analysis and evaluation of that event plus revision of beliefs With respect to the computation of unexpectedness, the model also incorporates suggestions by Ortony and Partridge This model of surprise is implemented in an artificial agent called S-EUNE, whose task is to explore uncertain and unknown environments The accuracy of our surprise model was evaluated in a series of experimental tests that focused on the comparison of surprise intensity values generated by the artificial agent with ratings by humans under similar circumstances Introduction Roughly speaking, artificial and biological agents accept percepts from the environment and generate actions Since different actions may lead to different states of the world, in order to perform well (to execute the “right” action), some kinds of artificial agents make use of a mathematical function that maps a state of the world onto a real number - the utility value Thus, in those agents, decision-making is performed by selecting the action that leads to the state of the world with the highest utility (Russell & Norvig, 1995; Shafer & Pearl, Although research in Artificial Intelligence has all but ignored the significant role of emotions in reasoning/decision-making (eg, Damasio, 1994), several computational models for emotions have been proposed in the past years, based in part on research in psychology and neuroscience (for a detailed review of those models see eg, Pfeifer, 1988; Picard, 1997) Considered by many authors as a biologically fundamental emotion (eg, Ekman, 1992; Izard, 1977), surprise may play an important role in cognitive activities, especially in attention focusing and learning (eg, Izard, 1977; Meyer, Reisenzein, & Schutzwohl, 1997; Ortony & Partridge, 1987; Reisenzein, 2000b) (note however, that some authors, like Ortony, Clore, and Collins, 1988, do not consider surprise an emotion) According to the research group of the University of Bielefeld, Germany (eg, Meyer et al, 1997), surprise has two main functions, informational and motivational, that together promote both immediate adaptive actions to the surprising event and the prediction, control and effective dealings with future occurrences of the event Ortony and Partridge’s view of surprise shares aspects with this model, especially in that both assume that surprise is elicited by unexpected events The same is also true for Peters’ (1998) computational model of surprise, implemented in a computer vision system, that focuses on the detection of unexpected movements In this paper, we propose a computational model for surprise that is an adaptation (although with several simplifications) of the models proposed by the German research group of the University of Bielefeld and by Ortony and Partridge The following section presents an overview of the overall agent's architecture into which the surprise model is integrated Subsequently, we explain this model in detail Finally, we describe experimental tests carried out to evaluate the accuracy of the surprise model Overview of the Agent’s Architecture EUNE (Emotional-based Exploration of UNcertain and UNknown Environments) is an artificial agent whose goal is the exploration of uncertain and unknown environments comprising a variety of objects, and whose behavior is controlled by emotions, drives and other motivations Besides desiring to know or be aware of the objects belonging to the environment, EUNE is also able to “feel” the emotions (including surprise)

Attention to safety and the psychology of surprise

Abstract: Aviation accidents are rare and often triggered by surprising atypical events, often where important data do not get noticed or attended. Yet most psychological research on attention and human response deals with and statistically analyzes “typical” or “average” behavior, not the psychology of surprise. We emphasize the relevance of attention to safety, to automation, and to the psychology of surprise and briefly summarize some research on automation and free flight that highlights this linkage. Implications for design, training and modeling and research are then described.

Emotional meaning and expression in animated faces

Abstract: This paper shows that emotional information conveyed by facial expression is often contained not only in the expression of emotions per se, but also in other communicative signals, namely the performatives of communicative acts. An analysis is provided of the performatives of suggesting, warning, ordering, imploring, approving and praising, both on the side of their cognitive structure and on the side of their facial expression, and it is shown that the meaning and the expression of emotions like sadness, anger, worrying, uncertainty, happiness and surprise are contained in them. We also show that a common core of meaning is present in an emotion (surprise) as well as in other kinds of communicative signals (emphasis, back channel of doubt, adversative signals). We then argue on how the cognitive and expressive analyses of these communicative acts may be applied in the construction of expressive animated faces.

Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers; 50 Strategic Rules

Abstract: Learn the strategic rules of Sun Tzu and how to incorporate them into your management style.In this translation of "The Art of War" readers will benefit from the interpretations from other translators and strategist, as well as the 50 strategic rules, including: How to look for strategic turns to meet the competitionHow to attain strategic superiority and crush the competitionHow to plan surprise and stay ahead of the gameAnd more timeless wisdom that will allow you to compete and win in the dynamic business environment!Business managers around the world have tapped into this ancient wisdom; it is time to master "The Art of War for Managers" for the existence and growth of your business!

European Labour Markets and the Euro: How Much Flexibility Do We Really Need?

Abstract: In addition to evidence on the nature and source of regional fluctuations, European Monetary Union (EMU) will also provide economists with valuable new evidence on the monetary transmission mechanism. Given the scepticism with which macroeconomics currently regards monetary policy, current concern over real effects of EMU comes as a surprise; in a world of flexible prices, space-spanning contingent claims markets and complete information, it is difficult to see why monetary union matters at all for real integration processes already underway.1 For example, if the real business cycle paradigm (RBC) — which emphasises disturbances and propagation mechanisms in the non-monetary economy and ignores nominal rigidities — is approximately correct, the EMU exercise is nothing but a sophisticated veil. To the extent that EMU leaves fiscal policies and real behavioural incentives unchanged, the effects of a common currency are of second order at best. In short, this chapter has no real reason to be written.

Something wicked this way comes: Clues from foreshocks and earthquake nucleation

Abstract: The processes that occur prior to and in the initial stages of earthquake rupture are of great interest in earthquake science. They result from the stresses, friction laws, and fault systems in the Earth and as such they determine how well large earthquake ruptures can be predicted, either ahead of time or as rupture is just beginning. There is hope that with better understanding of these processes, the timing of earthquakes might not always remain a deadly surprise. A workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation's U.S.-Japan program and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science recently addressed these topics.

How the dismal science got its name: Debating racial quackery

Abstract: Here is a fact that seems to surprise many deeply learned scholars. The term “dismal science†was applied to British political economy as the 1840s ended because of its role bringing about the emancipation of West Indian slaves in the 1830s. This paper addresses the consequences that follow from our ignorance of the role of classical economic theory in the anti-racial slavery coalition of Biblical literalists and utilitarians.

A course, a course, my kingdom for a course: Reflections of an unrepentant teacher.

Abstract: CPA Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in Education and Training (2000) -- Prix de la scP pour contribution remarquable a l'education et la formation en psychologie (2000) Abstract I disagree emphatically with George Bernard Shaw's polemic, "he who can does. He who cannot, teaches." Indeed, I embrace the opposite view, articulated by Benjamin (1998): "he who can, teaches." However, I am also persuaded by the awkward (for teachers) wisdom of B.F. Skinner (1964) that "education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten." Thus, our challenge as teachers is clear - at a minimum we must guarantee that the fundamentals of psychology survive in our students' memories long after the curricular specifics have faded. We accomplish this end, I believe, through a passion for (rather than mere knowledge of) our discipline, and a respect and fondness for our students. In this paper I will consider a number of questions to show how these attributes might be nurtured: what does and does not work in the classroom, is less (content) more, how best to evaluate students, what is the role of humour in teaching, should we trust professorial folk wisdom, and how much should research inform our teaching? PREAMBLE It is stunningly gratifying to be the recipient of the Education and Training Award 2000, but the entire experience has a strange, other-world-ly feel to it. I think much of this strangeness is explained by the range of emotions this honour has engendered. My immediate reaction was one of unalloyed pleasure, unfettered delight, an endorphin-producing burst of exhilaration. That short-lived euphoria was very quickly replaced by three other feelings, which have remained with me. First, complete surprise - I am not given to talking to myself aloud (there are too many psychologists about who might misinterpret such behaviour), but I remember uttering an entirely spontaneous and rather loud "WHAT??" as I read the award letter. As some of my students might say, "I was, like shocked, like totally" - for two reasons. One, for the past 28 years I have been quietly teaching at a small, entirely undergraduate college. Two, in terms of involvement in CPA, though it is true that for the past dozen years I have chaired the Section on the Teaching of Psychology, that is only because virtually no one else has ever attended subsequent Section business meetings! So all in all, I really did not think anyone was paying much attention to what I have been doing, hence the unexpectedness of the award. Second, surprise was followed rapidly by humility at finding myself in the rarified company of such formidable past recipients as Kurt Danziger, Barbara Byrne, Ken Craig, Donald Taylor, Margaret Kiely, and Bob Gardner. This reaction should not be interpreted as false modesty, however. Though I was completely surprised and humbled by this award, most of all, I am thoroughly delighted to be recognized by my peers in this fashion. As I often say to my students, perhaps the greatest frustration in teaching is that one spends dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of hours with students over the course of their university careers, and only rarely is there any feedback as to whether all that time together mattered. I would like to think that this honour is air indication that I have made a difference in my students' lives, which in the final analysis is all any teacher can want. Surprise and humility were speedily joined by yet a third sentiment, which is also still with me, and it has been by far the most powerful. For a long time I was not sure what to call it, but recently I was speaking about this dilemma to Auburn's Bill Buskist (this year's recipient of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Robert S. Daniels Award for Teaching Excellence), who said, "I know exactly what you mean, Nick. I call it `fraud"'". What Bill meant is that he and I (and, I imagine, all who receive decent teaching evaluations) now walk around in constant fear of being found out - that we are not the teachers other people say we are! …

Conversations of Spirituality: Spirituality in Family Systems Nursing—Making the Case with Four Clinical Vignettes

Abstract: Nursing has a history of acknowledging the spiritual as a taken-for-granted dimension in health and illness. However, nurses and other health professionals have struggled to find meaningful ways to attend to the spiritual in practice. This article explores the notion that to inquire about spirituality is not neutral and not inquiring is also not neutral. In addition, four clinical vignettes are presented that illustrate ways of opening space to the spiritual in family systems nursing, within the framework of the Illness Beliefs Model. These include opening space for the following: the gift of listening, curiosity and surprise, inviting reflections, and the invocation of metaphor. This article also addresses how some constraining beliefs of the clinician can actually inhibit or close the door to possible exploration of spiritual experience.

Recognizing the Relevance of IS Research and Broadening the Appeal and Applicability of Future Publications

Abstract: Highly applicable research is done not only by some IS faculty members, but also by software firms, consulting firms, and other organizations whose products and services depend on IS research they perform. The applicability of IS research done by academics is evident in the concepts and explanations in many textbooks. There should be little surprise, however, that practitioners who expect readability and direct applicability have little patience for IS publications shaped by the concerns and expectations of academia. It might be possible to broaden the acceptance and relevance of IS research publications by distributing them in both a short version designed to demonstrate relevance and a long version designed to demonstrate rigor and provide supporting details.

Gaze direction and maternal pitch in surprise-eliciting situations.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that not only do babies use emotional signals from adults in order to relate emotions to specific situations (e.g., Campos & Stenberg, 1981) but also that mothers seek out emotional information from their infants (Emde, 1992). Three groups of mothers and their infants, 3, 5 and 9 months old were video- and audio-taped, while playing in their homes with a soft toy and a remote-control Jack-in-the-box. During surprise-eliciting play with the Jack-in-the-box, maternal and infant gaze direction and their emotional expressions of surprise, pleasure, fear and neutral expressions were coded in three regions of the face. In addition, the mean fundamental frequency of maternal surprise-vocalisations was analysed. Maternal exclamations of surprise were compared with similar utterances of these mothers while playing with a soft toy as a baseline. During the surprise event, maternal and infant gaze directions as well as infant age were analysed in relation to maternal pitch. Results are discussed in terms of maternal use of the pitch of her voice to mark surprising situations, depending on the gaze-direction of the infant.

Out on a Limb: Race and the Evaluation of Frontline Teaching

Abstract: "You're really a lousy teacher; you're just using your color as an excuse." On the final day of a national convention for English teachers, a stranger sitting across the table—a white-haired, portly man with a sardonic grin—made this declaration as I was describing a classroom experience to a colleague. I stopped in mid-sentence. How should one respond to such a comment? How I did respond might surprise some people and I will return to this later. What the comment brought home to me is more to the point.

What Are Fairness and Consistency in a National Pharmacy Benefit

Abstract: In the aftermath of their cliff-hanger election, Americans are waiting to see whether they will actually get a Medicare pharmacy benefit, given that both Gore and Bush had promised different versions of one. Because Americans know that Canada has a single-payer, universal coverage health care system-one often pointed to as a possible model for emulation-it would surprise them to discover that Canadians lack a national

Succession in the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Abstract: Those who optimistically believe that a successor generation of rulers in the GCC may be more democratic and pro‐Western may have a surprise in store for them. Many questions remain unanswered, including whether hereditary monarchies are legitimate at all.

Hearing the measures : Shakespearean and other inflections

Abstract: When we listen to the words of a poet in the theatre, or read them silently on the page, what is it that we hear? How do such crafty writers as Shakespeare or Donne, Wyatt or Yeats, Wordsworth or Plath arrange their rhythms to make their poetry more expressive? This work is a gathering of perceptive essays written over 25 years, and aims to help us hear the measures poets use to conjure up strangeness, urgency, distance and surprise.