Alternative Australian climate change plans: The public’s views

Climate change has come to the forefront of Australian politics and there is now an active on-going policy debate about how to best reach a commonly agreed long term goal. This paper looks at five major dimensions of this debate and constructs policy options based on them. A discrete choice experiment approach was used with a representative sample from a major internet panel provider. Survey respondents made choices between pairs of policy options with different characteristics. They favored policies starting in 2010 rather than 2012, and spending 20% of revenue raised on energy-related R&D. They were almost evenly split on whether the plan should initially exempt the transport sector and two competing approaches that redistribute revenue from the plan, and, they opposed plans giving special treatment to energy-intensive sectors of the economy. A number of other policy relevant questions related to understanding Australian views and knowledge related to climate change also were asked.     

Consumer neuroscience: Assessing the brain response to marketing stimuli using electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye tracking

Application of neuroscience methods to analyze and understand human behavior related to markets and marketing exchange has recently gained research attention. The basic aim is to guide design and presentation of products to optimize them to be as compatible as possible with consumer preferences. This paper investigates physiological decision processes while participants undertook a choice task designed to elicit preferences for a product. The task required participants to choose their preferred crackers described by shape (square, triangle, round), flavor (wheat, dark rye, plain) and topping (salt, poppy, no topping). The two main research objectives were (1) to observe and evaluate the cortical activity of the different brain regions and the interdependencies among the Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals from these regions; and (2) unlike most research in this area that has focused mainly on liking/disliking certain products, we provide a way to quantify the importance of different cracker features that contribute to the product design based on mutual information. We used the commercial Emotiv EPOC wireless EEG headset with 14 channels to collect EEG signals from participants. We also used a Tobii-Studio eye tracker system to relate the EEG data to the specific choice options (crackers). Subjects were shown 57 choice sets; each choice set described three choice options (crackers). The patterns of cortical activity were obtained in the five principal frequency bands, Delta (0–4 Hz), Theta (3–7 Hz), Alpha (8–12 Hz), Beta (13–30 Hz), and Gamma (30–40 Hz). There was a clear phase synchronization between the left and right frontal and occipital regions indicating interhemispheric communications during the chosen task for the 18 participants. Results also indicated that there was a clear and significant change (p < 0.01) in the EEG power spectral activities taking a place mainly in the frontal (delta, alpha and beta across F3, F4, FC5 and FC6), temporal (alpha, beta, gamma across T7), and occipital (theta, alpha, and beta across O1) regions when participants indicated their preferences for their preferred crackers. Additionally, our mutual information analysis indicated that the various cracker flavors and toppings of the crackers were more important factors affecting the buying decision than the shapes of the crackers.     

Predicting the evaluation of real stimulus objects from abstract evaluation of their attributes: The case of trout streams.

Studied human judgment behavior in 10 employees of Iowa trout hatcheries. In Phase 1 Ss judged hypothetical trout streams varying in quantity of trout and driving time to stream. In Phase 2 Ss judged real Iowa trout streams and estimated the quantity of trout and the driving time for each stream. These estimates were used in multiple regression equations, derived from the data in Phase 1, to predict the ratings of the real streams in Phase 2. Correlations between predicted and observed judgments ranged from .37 (individual S level) to .85 (group level). Results are consistent with empirical work in the number processing and nonexperimental work in geography and other spatially oriented sciences. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choice modeling and the brain: A study on the Electroencephalogram (EEG) of preferences

Choice conjures the idea of a directed selection of a desirable action or object, motivated by internal likes and dislikes, or other such preferences. However, such internal processes are simply the domain of our human physiology. Understanding the physiological processes of decision making across a variety of contexts is a central aim in decision science as it has a great potential to further progress decision research. As a pilot study in this field, this paper explores the nature of decision making by examining the associated brain activity, Electroencephalogram (EEG), of people to understand how the brain responds while undertaking choices designed to elicit the subjects’ preferences. To facilitate such a study, the Tobii-Studio eye tracker system was utilized to capture the participants’ choice based preferences when they were observing seventy-two sets of objects. These choice sets were composed of three images offering potential personal computer backgrounds. Choice based preferences were identified by having the respondent click on their preferred one. In addition, a brain computer interface (BCI) represented by the commercial Emotiv EPOC wireless EEG headset with 14 channels was utilized to capture the associated brain activity during the period of the experiments. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was utilized to preprocess the EEG data before analyzing it with the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to observe the changes in the main principal frequency bands, delta (0.5–4 Hz), theta (4–7 Hz), alpha (8–12 Hz), beta (13–30 Hz), and gamma (30–40 Hz). A mutual information (MI) measure was then used to study left-to-right hemisphere differences as well as front-to-back difference. Eighteen participants were recruited to perform the experiments with the average results showing clear and significant change in the spectral activity in the frontal (F3 and F4), parietal (P7 and P8) and occipital (O1 and O2) areas while the participants were indicating their preferences. The results show that, when considering the amount of information exchange between the left and right hemispheres, theta bands exhibited minimal redundancy and maximum relevance to the task at hand when extracted from symmetric frontal, parietal, and occipital regions while alpha dominated in the frontal and parietal regions and beta dominating mainly in the occipital and temporal regions.     

Integration of attributes in bus transportation: Two modeling approaches.

Studied judged probability of riding hypothetical bus systems as a function of fare, frequency of service, and walking distance to the bus stop. The judgment process of 20 undergraduates was modeled by 2 different approaches. A policy-capturing approach using regression analysis indicated that a linear model accounted for the data adequately. However, a polynomial model incorporating both linear and multiplicative components in the judgment policy provided a better fit. A method of scaling known as functional measurement served to reject the linear model and confirmed that a multiplying model was correct. Functional measurement provided subjective scales for fare, frequency of service, and proximity to the bus stop. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)