Our perceptions and decisions are not always objectively correct as they are featured by a bias related to our self. What are the behavioral, neural, and computational mechanisms of such cognitive bias? Addressing this yet unresolved question, we here investigate whether the cognitive bias is related to temporal integration and segregation as mediated by the brain\'s Intrinsic neural timescales (INT). Using Signal Detection Theory (SDT), we operationalize the cognitive bias by the Criterion C as distinguished from the sensitivity index d\'. This was probed in a self-task based on morphed self- and other faces. Behavioral data demonstrate clear cognitive bias, i.e., Criterion C. That was related to the EEG-based INT as measured by the autocorrelation window (ACW) in especially the transmodal regions dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and default-mode network (DMN) as distinct from unimodal visual cortex. Finally, simulation of the same paradigm in a large-scale network model shows high degrees of temporal integration of temporally distinct inputs in CMS/DMN and dlPFC while temporal segregation predominates in visual cortex. Together, we demonstrate a key role of INT-based temporal integration in CMS/DMN and dlPFC including its relation to the brain\'s uni-transmodal topographical organization in mediating the cognitive bias of our self.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to reinvestigate psychological mechanisms of the influence of construction workers\' experience on hazard recognition performance, with signal detection theory (SDT) and electroencephalogram (EEG) readings.
BACKGROUND: Existing evidence regarding the effect of experience on hazard recognition performance in the construction industry remains inconsistent. Behavior-wise, identification of dominant hazard recognition factors (sensitivity or response bias, or both) would help determine appropriate training strategies to improve hazard recognition. In terms of neuro-responses, induced gamma-band activity was expected to reflect the cognitive functions mediating the psychological effects of experience.
METHODS: Seventy-seven construction workers participated in a predesigned hazard recognition task, in which participants judged whether a hazard was present from a series of construction scenario pictures. We computed and compared the sensitivity and response bias of SDT and time-frequency representations of recorded EEG signals of the two experience-level groups.
RESULTS: Novice workers had higher hazard recognition rates. Behavior-wise, novices were more sensitive than more experienced workers. Compared with experienced workers, novices showed stronger gamma-band difference power (hazardous minus safe) in the left frontal and right posterior parietal areas during the hazard recognition process.
CONCLUSIONS: Novices performed better at hazard recognition, indicating their sensitivity to the hazards without a clear difference in response bias. Based on the EEG data, novices\' sensitivity may be attributed to more efficient working memory and attentional control.
CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for continuous refreshment of hazard recognition skills for experienced workers for safety interventions.

In the phishing email literature, recent researchers have given much attention to individual differences in phishing susceptibility from the perspective of the Big Five personality traits. Although the effectiveness and advantages of the phishing susceptibility measures in the signal detection theory (SDT) framework have been verified, the cognitive mechanisms that lead to individual differences in these measures remain unknown. The current study proposed and examined a theoretical path model to explore how the Big Five personality traits, related knowledge and experience and the cognitive processing of emails (i.e., mail elaboration) influence users\' susceptibility to phishing emails. A sample of 414 Chinese participants completed the 44-item Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-44), Mail Elaboration Scale (MES), Web Experience Questionnaire, Experience with Electronic Mail Scale, Knowledge and Technical Background Test and a demographic questionnaire. The phishing susceptibility measures were calculated after the participants finished an email legitimacy task in a role-playing scenario. The results showed that the general profile of the \"victim personality\" included low conscientiousness, low openness and high neuroticism, and Internet experience and computer and web knowledge played an important role. All of these factors have significant indirect effects on phishing susceptibility by influencing mail elaboration. Moreover, the probabilities of checking for further information or deleting the email reflect the sensitivity of email judgment. These findings reveal the mediating role of cognitive processing between individual factors and phishing susceptibility. The theoretical implications of this study for the phishing susceptibility literature and its applications to phishing risk interventions or training programs are discussed.

We investigated the eight decision rules for a same-different task, as summarized in Petrov (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16(6), 1011-1025, 2009). These rules, including the differencing (DF) rule and the optimal independence rule, are all based on the standard model in signal detection theory. Each rule receives two stimulus values as inputs and uses one or two decision criteria. We proved that the false alarm rate p(F) ≤ 1/2 for four of the rules. We also conducted a same-different rating experiment on motion discrimination (n = 54), with 4∘ or 8∘ directional difference. We found that the human receiver operating characteristic (ROC) spanned its full range [0,1] in p(F), thus rejecting these four rules. The slope of the human Z-ROC was also < 1, further confirming that the independence rule was not used. We subsequently fitted in the four-dimensional (pAA, pAB, pBA, pBB) space the human data to the remaining four rules-DF and likelihood ratio rules, each with one or two criteria, where pXY = p(responding \"different\" given stimulus sequence XY). We found that, using residual distribution analysis, only the two criteria DF rule (DF2) could account for the human data.

Numerous traffic crashes occur every year on zebra crossings in China. Pedestrians are vulnerable road users who are usually injured severely or fatally during human-vehicle collisions. The development of an effective pedestrian street-crossing decision-making model is essential to improving pedestrian street-crossing safety. For this purpose, this paper carried out a naturalistic field experiment to collect a large number of vehicle and pedestrian motion data. Through interviewed with many pedestrians, it is found that they pay more attention to whether the driver can safely brake the vehicle before reaching the zebra crossing. Therefore, this work established a novel decision-making model based on the vehicle deceleration-safety gap (VD-SGM). The deceleration threshold of VD-SGM was determined based on signal detection theory (SDT). To verify the performance of VD-SGM proposed in this work, the model was compared with the Raff model. The results show that the VD-SGM performs better and the false alarm rate is lower. The VD-SGM proposed in this work is of great significance to improve pedestrians\' safety. Meanwhile, the model can also increase the efficiency of autonomous vehicles.

Emotion perception, inferring the emotional state of another person, can be formalized as decision under uncertainty: another person\'s scowling face may indicate anger or concentration and the optimal inference is contingent on the decision consequences (payoff) and how likely real anger is encountered (base rate). Although emerging evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin influences human perception of emotional facial expressions, whether such effect relates to the alternated process of payoff or base rate still remains unclear. In addition, little is known about oxytocin\'s effect on metacognitive process involved in emotion perception. One hundred and twenty-two healthy male adults (sixty-two in Experiment 1 and sixty in Experiment 2, respectively) received 24 international units (IU) of intranasal oxytocin or placebo (between-subjects) in a randomized and double-blind study. We independently and systematically manipulated the payoff and base rate levels in an emotion categorization task and measured participants\' response bias via categorization choice and metacognitive sensitivity via confidence report. Compared to the placebo group, oxytocin specifically induced a categorization bias under the payoff, but not base rate manipulation. In contrast, oxytocin had no effect on subjects\' confidence rating, indicating that the metacognitive sensitivity can be dissociated from emotion perception. Our results pinpoint the specific role of oxytocin in payoff evaluation, but not target likelihood estimation and provide a potential theoretical framework to bridge oxytocin research in emotion perception, social cognition and value-based decisions.

While people often think they veridically perceive much of the visual surround, recent findings indicate that when asked to detect targets such as gratings embedded in visual noise, observers make more false alarms in the unattended periphery. Do these results from psychophysics studies generalize to more ecologically valid settings? We used a modern game engine to create a simulated driving environment where participants (as drivers) had to make judgments about the colors of pedestrians\' clothing in the periphery. Confirming our hypothesis based on previous psychophysics studies, we found that subjects showed liberal biases for unattended locations when detecting specific colors of pedestrians\' clothing. A second experiment showed that this finding was not simply due to a confirmation bias in decision-making when subjects were uncertain. Together, these results support the idea that in everyday visual experience, there is subjective inflation of experienced detail in the periphery, which may happen at the decisional level.

Lane Change Warning system (LCW) is exploited to alleviate driver workload and improve the safety performance of lane changes. Depending on the secure threshold, the lane change warning system could transmit caution to drivers. Although the system possesses substantial benefits, it may perturb the conventional operating of the driver and affect driver judgment if the warning threshold does not conform to the driver perception of safety. Therefore, it is essential to establish an appropriate warning threshold to enhance the accuracy rate and acceptability of the lane change warning system. This research aims to identify the threshold that conforms to the driver perception of the ability to safely change lanes with a rear vehicle fast approaching. We propose a theoretical warning model of lane change based on a safe minimum distance and deceleration of the rear vehicle. For the purpose of acquiring the different safety levels of lane changes, 30 licensed drivers are recruited and we obtain the extreme moments represented by driver perception characteristics from a Front Extremity Test and a Rear Extremity Test implemented on the freeway. The required deceleration of the rear vehicle corresponding to the extreme time is calculated according to the proposed model. In light of discrepancies in the deceleration in these extremity experiments, we determine two levels of a hierarchical warning system. The purpose of the primary warning is to remind drivers of the existence of potentially dangerous vehicles and the second warning is used to warn the driver to stop changing lanes immediately. We use the signal detection theory to analyze the data. Ultimately, we confirm that the first deceleration threshold is 1.5 m/s2 and the second deceleration threshold is 2.7 m/s2. The findings provide the basis for the algorithm design of LCW and enhance the acceptability of the intelligent system.

The current study explored the impact of stimuli exposure duration on holistic word processing measured by the complete composite paradigm (CPc paradigm). The participants were asked to match the cued target parts of two characters which were presented for either a long (600 ms) or a short duration (170 ms). They were also tested by two popular versions of the CPc paradigm: the \"early-fixed\" task where the attention cue was visible from the beginning of each trial at a fixed position, and the \"delayed-random\" task where the cue showed up after the study character at random locations. The holistic word effect, as indexed by the alignment × congruency interaction, was identified in both tasks and was unaffected by the stimuli duration in both tasks. Meanwhile, the \"delayed-random\" task did not bring about larger holistic word effect than the \"early-fixed\" task. These results suggest the exposure duration (from around 150 to 600 ms) has a limited impact on the holistic word effect, and have methodological implications for experiment designs in this field.

Decision-making behavior is often characterized by substantial variability, but its source remains unclear. We developed a visual accumulation of evidence task designed to quantify sources of noise and to be performed during voluntary head restraint, enabling cellular resolution imaging in future studies. Rats accumulated discrete numbers of flashes presented to the left and right visual hemifields and indicated the side that had the greater number of flashes. Using a signal-detection theory-based model, we found that the standard deviation in their internal estimate of flash number scaled linearly with the number of flashes. This indicates a major source of noise that, surprisingly, is not consistent with the widely used \'drift-diffusion modeling\' (DDM) approach but is instead closely related to proposed models of numerical cognition and counting. We speculate that this form of noise could be important in accumulation of evidence tasks generally.