The accuracy of time-to-contact (TTC) judgments for single approaching objects is well researched, however, close to nothing is known about our ability to make simultaneous TTC judgments for two or more objects. Such complex judgments are required in many everyday situations, for instance when crossing a multi-lane street or when engaged in multi-player ball games. We used a prediction-motion p...

The authors describe ACT-R/perceptual-motor (ACT-R/PM), an integrated theory of cognition, perception, and action that consists of the ACT-R production system and a set of perceptual-motor modules. Each module (including cognition) is essentially serial, but modules run in parallel with one another. ACT-R/PM can model simple dual tasks such as the psychological refractory period (PRP), includin...

We give new examples of discrete Schrδdinger operators with potentials taking finitely many values that have purely singular continuous spectrum. If the hull X of the potential is strictly ergodic, then the existence of just one potential x in X for which the operator has no eigenvalues implies that there is a generic set in X for which the operator has purely singular continuous spectrum. A su...

Most studies using the psychological refractory period (PRP) design suggest that dual-task performance is limited by a central bottleneck. Because subjects are usually told to emphasize Task 1, however, the bottleneck might reflect a strategic choice rather than a structural limitation. To evaluate the possibility that central operations can proceed in parallel, albeit with capacity limitations...

abstract background: stress, anxiety, and postpartum depression are the most common problems among women in their childbearing age. research has shown that aromatherapy administered during labor reduces anxiety in mothers. with regard to the specific biological conditions in postpartum period and the subsequent drop in hormone levels, this study investigated the effect of lavender on prevention...

New nonlattice sphere packings in dimensions 20, 22, and 44–47 that are denser than the best previously known sphere packings were recently discovered. We extend these results, showing that the density of many sphere packings in dimensions just below a power of 2 can be doubled using orthogonal binary codes. This produces new dense sphere packings in Rn for n = 25, 26, . . . , 31 and 55, 56, . ...

BACKGROUND Double-wave reentry (DWR) can be a mechanism for acceleration of ventricular tachycardia (VT) with a large excitable gap (EG). The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of heptanol, class Ic, and class III drugs on the inducibility of DWR. METHODS AND RESULTS In 11 Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts, a thin ring of anisotropic left ventricular epicardium was created by...

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a highly complex activity and requires the performance and coordination of multiple, simultaneous tasks: analysis and understanding of the discourse in a first language, reformulating linguistic material, storing of intermediate processing steps, and language production in a second language among others. It is, however, an open issue whether persons with experi...

The quenching of alternans is considered using a nonlinear cardiac conduction model. The model consists of a nonlinear discrete-time piecewise smooth system. Several authors have hypothesized that alternans arise in the model through a period doubling bifurcation. In this work, it is first shown that the alternans exhibited by the model actually arise through a period doubling border collision ...

The mammalian circadian clock lying in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) controls daily rhythms and synchronizes the organism to its environment. In all organisms studied, circadian timekeeping is cell-autonomous, and rhythmicity is thought to be generated by a feedback loop involving clock proteins that inhibit transcription of their own genes. In the present study, we examined how these cellu...