(3) A two-step optimization algorithm is designed to first reduce the search space, thereby decreasing the search difficulty, and then obtain the solution using a branch-and-bound searching (BBS) algorithm.
Across the present experiments, as well as those of Drew and Williams, a wide variety of feedback approaches have been tried; stimuli and search difficulty have varied widely; and the consensus of the results as a whole is that this type of EMF is an ineffective way of reducing the high miss rates in low-prevalence searches.
Due to both fundamental attribution error (if a situation goes well, it's because of my own virtues; if not, it's because of the faults of others) and the just-world fallacy (people get what they deserve), it's human nature to blame Gen Y's job search difficulty on their character flaws rather than our business decisions.
Another way to quantify search difficulty is through the search slope, or search efficiency.
There was a main effect of the factor search difficulty on RTs (F1,30 = 16.97, P < 0.001; Fig. 2B).
This non-independence between search difficulty and WM load strongly indicates that the two cognitive domains indeed tap into common neural resources.
There was no significant interaction between search difficulty and WM load (F2,60 = 1.06, P = 0.35 for accuracy; F2,60 = 1.30, P = 0.28 for RTs).
Because information load of object location and shape differ (Mayer et al., 2007b) we increased WM load in the present study and found a corresponding interaction effect between WM load and search difficulty.
If participants successfully performed our WM task despite the concurrent demands on attentional resources, we expected to find an interaction between search difficulty and WM load during the encoding phase but not during the subsequent delay phase.
Statistical maps of the contrasts DS vs. ES (yellow), WM load 5 vs. 1 (blue), and the significant 2-way interaction of search difficulty x WM load (red) are shown.
The analyses of fMRI data for the encoding predictor (0 5 s after stimulus onset) revealed a high degree of overlap in the brain areas that showed a significant main effect of visual search difficulty and those that showed a significant main effect of WM load.
