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Energetics and Human Information Processing

  • Book
  • © 1986

Overview

Editors:
  1. G. Robert J. Hockey

    1. Medical Research Council (MRC)/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Dept of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

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  2. Anthony W. K. Gaillard

    1. Institute for Perception TNO, Soesterberg, The Netherlands

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  3. Michael G. H. Coles

    1. Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, USA

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Part of the book series: NATO Science Series D: (ASID, volume 31)

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Table of contents (30 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XV
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  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Energetical Issues in Research on Human Information Processing

      • G. Robert J. Hockey, Michael G. H. Coles, Anthony W. K. Gaillard
      Pages 3-21

    3. The Concept of Energy in Psychological Theory

      • Michael I. Posner, Mary Klevjord Rothbart
      Pages 23-40

  3. Biological Foundations of Energetics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-41
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    2. Computation, Control, and Energetics: A Biological Perspective

      • Jackson Beatty
      Pages 43-52

    3. Energetics and the Self Regulation of Activation

      • Holger Ursin
      Pages 53-70

    4. Psychopharmacological and Neurobiological Aspects of the Energetics of Information Processing

      • T. W. Robbins
      Pages 71-90

    5. The Orienting Response; A Combination of Informational and Energetical Aspects of Brain Function

      • Risto Näätänen
      Pages 91-111

    6. Behavioural Efficiency: A Biological Link Between Informational and Energetic Processes

      • Jasper Brener
      Pages 113-122

    7. Responses to Stress: An Interdisciplinary Approach

      • Martine Timsit-Berthier, Marc Ansseau, Jean-Jacques Legros
      Pages 123-129

    8. On the Relation Between Energy Transformations in the Brain and Mental Activities

      • Cees J. Van den Berg
      Pages 131-135

  4. Stress, Effort and Task Performance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 137-137
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    2. Energetical States Underlying Task Performance

      • A. F. Sanders
      Pages 139-154

    3. Models and Paradigms in the Study of Stress Effects

      • Patrick Rabbitt
      Pages 155-174

    4. The Concept and Measurement of Mental Effort

      • G. Mulder
      Pages 175-198

    5. Do Cardiovascular Changes Indicate Energetic Support of Information Processing?

      • J. Richard Jennings
      Pages 199-216

    6. A State Model for Mental Effort

      • David M. Warburton
      Pages 217-232

    7. An Efficiency Model of Information Processing

      • M. L. Heemstra
      Pages 233-242

    8. Stress and Adaptability

      • P. A. Hancock
      Pages 243-251
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Keywords

About this book

The central theme of this book is the role of energetical factors in the regulation of human information processing activity. This is a restatement of one of the classic problems of psychology - that of acc­ ounting for motivational or intensive aspects of behaviour, as opposed to structural or directional aspects. The term "energetics" was first used in the 1930's by Freeman, Duffy and others, following Cannon's energy mobilization view of emotion and motivation. The original concept had a limited life, probably because of its unnecessary focus on relativ­ ely peripheral processes, but it provided the foundations for the con­ cepts of "arousal" and "activation" which became the popular motivational constructs of the 1950's and 1960's. Now, these too are found wanting. The original assumptions of a unitary, non-specific process based on activation of the brain stem reticular formation have been shown to be misleading. Current work in neurobiology has demonstrated evidence of discrete neurotransmitter systems having quite specific information processing functions, and central roles in the regulation of behaviour. Even the venerable curvilinear relationship between motivation and per­ formance (the Yerkes-Dodson law) has been shown to be, at best, an unhelpful oversimplification. On a different front psychophysiologists have found complex patterns in the response of different bodily systems to external stressors and to task demands.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Medical Research Council (MRC)/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Dept of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    G. Robert J. Hockey

  • Institute for Perception TNO, Soesterberg, The Netherlands

    Anthony W. K. Gaillard

  • Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, USA

    Michael G. H. Coles

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Energetics and Human Information Processing

  • Editors: G. Robert J. Hockey, Anthony W. K. Gaillard, Michael G. H. Coles

  • Series Title: NATO Science Series D:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4448-0

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht 1986

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-247-3381-1Published: 30 September 1986

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8479-6Published: 06 October 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-4448-0Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0258-123X

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 450

  • Topics: Developmental Psychology, Psychology, general

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