Abstract

Abstract

Research trends on risk perception and decision-mking are selectively reviewed in this article. First, Slovic and his associates‘ initial studies on this topic conducted during 1970‘s are summarized with its major findings. Next, recent major conceptual shifts appear in this field :Affective heuristics, a risk as feelings hypothesis, two modes of thought systems, and a cross-cultural approach to risk preference. Finally, along with issues regarding affective heuristics, implications of risk perception for cognitive psychologists are discussed.

Abstract

In the present paper, two major sources of traffic accident(loss of vehicle control and speeding) were described in terms of driver's information-processing. Also, several guidelines for designing driver-aid systems such as front-to-rear-end collision warning system and in-vehicle navigation system as well as road configuration were considered based on the psychological research findings. For example, careful implementation of pictorial cues(in particular, texture gradient) can be used in designing road to prevent driver from speeding. Similarly, visual or auditory warnings can prepare the drivers for avoiding collision. Other research findings related to information-processing characteristics of drivers(i.e., visual scanning pattern, workload, ability of anticipation, mental rotation, and resource allocation) can also be applied to designing in-vehicle navigation system.

Abstract

Safety is dependent on human behavior and thought. Human factors problem have been recognized as a major cause of accidents in many industrial fields such as aerospace, nuclear power plant, chemical plant, automobile traffic and so on. To prevent various accidents and disasters, it is necessary to research psychological issues related to safety. Psychologists can contribute to establishing social safety system but most domestic psychologists don't seem to have sufficient understanding of safety. In this article we introduced safety concept, safety management system, and application of psychology to enlarge understanding of safety.

Abstract

Daegu Subway fire accident occurred on February 18, 2003 clearly demonstrates how human errors can result in catastrophe in modern automatic systems, and suggests that the human error should be carefully considered in the interface design of a subway system. This study tried to show that human errors are caused by various environmental conditions (e.g., system design flaw, workload) and deficits in cognitive information processing. In addition, we performed time-line analyses on human errors and system flaws involved in Daegu fire accident, and proposed several error prevention systems.

Abstract

Behavior and cognition of humans concerned in Daegu subway fire accident were analyzed. Firstly, coping behaviors of passengers, engine drivers, station staffs and officers in the command's room were interpreted and explained by the perspective of cognitive psychology. Cognitive processes in coping behaviors were modeled by the stages and their connections of perception, evaluation, knowledge-norm-attitude, intention and sub-goals, and execution. It is important to have full knowledge of and practice usual behaviors for safety, because disasters and accidents might happen to occur as a result of a series of ordinary inadvertent behaviors. Based on the above analysis, some considerations were mentioned on the practice of coping behaviors, and also were discussed a number of overall issues and the potentiality of cognitive psychology for disaster prevention and safety.

Abstract

One of the basic controversial issues on face recognition differing from object recognition is whether the holistic and configural processing are natural ability or the result of postnatal learning. We examined that the holistic, configural, and automatic processing regarded as the face-specific characteristics could be observed in the object recognition through the expert learning process(experiment 1). We also measured the intensity of selective activation in FFA to the synthetic face and object using fMRI(experiment 2). In experiment 1, we found that the holistic, configural, and automatic processing were observed by the expert group both in face and object recognition. In experiment 2, we found the activation of FFA to synthetic face and object increased after expert learning. FFA might be therefore not face-specific but have domain-general characteristics. These results lend direct evidence that the characteristics of face information processing is not given by natural ability but by the result of expert learning.

Abstract

In this article, I discuss phonological coding in early stages of reading. The temporal loci of early phonological coding and lexical influence are discussed with focus on experimental evidence from priming paradigm and backward masking paradigm studies. Evidence in word processing in isolation and in sentence context shows that phonologcial effects with word homophones appear earlier than those with nonword homophones. Further, word frequency modulates phonological effects: most homophone effects observed as early as 30-35ms from the stimulus onset were confined to high-frequency words. Theoretical accounts for the early phonological effects are pursued, and lexical-phonological interaction is discussed with focus on cooperative function.

Abstract

This article is a commentary on the proposal of Lee (2005). Lee (2005) proposed the phonological processing mechanism based on the cooperative support between the phonological route and the lexical route in order to provide a comprehensive explanation for a series of experimental evidences in Korean and English word recognition research. This article tries to explain the experimental evidences, which are the basis for the new proposal, by the phonological recoding hypothesis. Lee (2005)'s argument is the opposite to that of the phonological recoding hypothesis, and the investigation on relative efficiency of the new proposal is needed in the future study.