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News about innovative solutions for Human Behavior Research |
Volume 12 - Issue 1 (26 January 2012) |
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Announcing Media Recorder 2.0
New and amazingly simple to use - the Media Recorder 2.0 from Noldus is a software tool that enables synchronous video recordings from up to four different sources. Compatible with The Observer XT, FaceReader, and a broad range of cameras, it is the ideal recording tool. Media Recorder can be started and stopped from The Observer XT, automatically making recording a one-touch process.
What’s new in 2.0?
 Picture in picture has been improved. You can now choose the position of the second, third, and fourth video. And, you can determine the size of these windows so they won’t block anything important in the main video.- You can now make video recordings with the MS Lifecam studio "The Closest to Being There". Enjoy a superior HD video quality with this camera and keep your subject crisp with autofocus.
- GigE camera recordings are possible in version 2.0. With a specific type of camera you can benefit from a high bandwidth of data transfer providing accurate data and better synchronization.
Check out the Media Recorder website. Media Recorder 2.0 is also one of the core components of our portable labs. See for yourself which solution fits your needs!
Editorial: the influence of emotions on our behavior
Whether it is the London Olympics, the Euro crisis, or the presidential election in the USA: 2012 promises to be a year of high emotions. At the same time, our emotions influence events and acts. Whether we like it or not, many actions are made unconsciously, and our behavior is influenced by our subconsciousness. Often people do not say what they think and the predictive value of traditional methods such as questionnaires and focus groups can be limited. This is why we see an increasing use of techniques from neurosciences in market research. This new area, neuromarketing, uses methods like EEG, eye tracking, and facial expression analysis to get a better insight in buying behavior and consumer experience. These tools allow researchers to explain emotions triggered by stimuli such as websites, logos, products, or campaign posters.
One of the tools you can use for analyzing emotional responses is FaceReader™. To experience what FaceReader can do, please visit the on-line version where you can upload your own images. The Observer XT is also a useful tool to combine different modalities, as described in this Noldus Newsline.
Using observations to study consumer behavior is another way of creating new insights, as the article about studying visitor behavior illustrates. Moreover, getting a better understanding of behavior is an important motivation behind living labs such as the CSI lab, a new training facility for detectives. One of the highlights we are looking forward to in 2012 is ‘Measuring Behavior’, the biannual conference where the scientific community will present new methods, tools, and techniques for observational research. Hope to see you in Utrecht, in the meantime enjoy reading!
Hans Theuws
Product manager and guest editor
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| Product News |
 7 Tips to set up a coding scheme
In a behavioral study, the coding scheme or ethogram determines what data you collect and is an essential part of your study design. The question here is how can you develop a coding scheme that will provide the information you need? You can set up your coding scheme on paper, but you can also use The Observer XT, professional coding and analysis software which can assist you in the entire workflow of an observational research project. Visit our website to read the 7 tips.
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 Four ways to study visitor behavior: on-site, in a living lab, ...
Museums, zoos, and theme parks all observe the behavior of their visitors in order to find the best ways to entertain and educate. In Timing and Tracking: Unlocking Visitor Behavior, Steven Yalowitz and Kerry Bronnenkant review the history of timing and tracking in museums and provide a detailed description of methods used to record, analyze, and report timing and tracking data. They claim that in the past, researchers mostly recorded where the visitor went (and in some of the earliest studies, they even tracked wear patterns on the carpet!). Interested? Read more on our website.
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 Beyond borders: exploring psycho-physiological research methods
More and more, scientists across a wide spectrum of research backgrounds are recognizing the relevance of psychophysiological methods. Zimmerman et al. (2008) argue combining different modalities leads to a more complete picture of the phenomena under study. This leads to the inevitable question of what phenomena scientists that make use of psychophysiological methods are studying. What kind of research fields or disciplines do they come from? Read more on the behavioral research blog.
Check out our presentations on psycho-physiology on Youtube
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| Community News |
 Measuring Behavior 2012: Call for papers
The Scientific Program Committee invites you to submit extended abstracts for Measuring Behavior 2012. These can be for oral presentations for special or general sessions, posters, demonstrations or tutorials.
Take this opportunity to present new methods, techniques, and tools to an interdisciplinary scientific community or discuss how to standardize and optimize existing practices.
Full details on submission are available on the website.
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Autism Speaks awards 10 new research grants
Recently, Autism Speaks awarded nearly $1.8 Million in autism treatment study grants to outstanding autism-treatment research projects. The scientific panel reviewed 86 applications and awarded grants (8 out of 10) to pilot studies aimed at bringing new investigators into the autism field and jump-starting research on novel treatments. Interested? Read more on our website.
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 Opening of unique training facility for detectives
On 27th October 2011, the CSI Lab opened its doors. This training facility for crime scene investigators is unique in the international forensic world. Inside the Lab, crime scenes can be reconstructed. Cameras and sensors are attached in many positions, and can be operated from an observation room which was fully equipped by Noldus as one of the partners in this research project. There are also techniques where you can walk through a virtual crime scene, interactively, in 3D. These offer tremendous possibilities for training forensic detectives in the police force. In addition, they can use the CSI Lab to test out new techniques to secure traces of evidence.
For more information, please visit our website.
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| Publications |
New publications
A diverse collection of scientific articles citing Noldus products are published in renowned journals each week. The following is a small selection of the most recent published scientific articles.
- Silva, K.; Correia, R.; Lima, M.; Magalhaes, A.; Sousa, L. de (2011). Can dogs prime autistic children for therapy? Evidence from a single case study. The journal of alternative and complementary medicine, 17 (7), 655-659.
- Lann-Walcott, H.; Medvene, L.J.; Williams, K. (2011). Measuring the person-centeredness of caregivers working with nursing home residents with dementia. Behavior therapy, 42, 89-99.
Below a very interesting publication in which a coding scheme for the evaluation of the relationship in music therapy sessions is presented.
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| Services News |
 Remote training courses
Not able to attend one of our in-house training courses, or don’t have the time to participate in a one-day training course? We also deliver a majority of our courses remotely, using the latest internet technology.
- Attractively priced
- Available in a wide range of languages
- With room for your specific research questions, for example about the analysis of physiological data
Highly convenient – they can be done anywhere at any time. Typically, the remote session starts with a 2-hour theory session. After this session, you will complete some exercises offline. When you have finished the exercises, you can send them by email to your trainer. It is that easy! The trainer then studies your backup files and sends you his or her comments, before the final session. In the final session you go over the exercises and additional points can be discussed. Please visit our website to read more about remote training courses.
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 Upcoming training courses
Whether you are an experienced user or just purchased a solution, our training courses will allow greater return on investment and more efficient use of your Noldus solution. Please visit our website if you would like to register for one of the following training courses:
- The Observer XT training (16 February 2012, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
- The Observer XT training (2 May 2012, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
Of course you can contact us directly if you are interested in an on-site or remote training course.
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Even Better support!
For years, Noldus has had a technical support database on Noldus.com with questions and answers about its products. That has always been much used and appreciated because it is based on the real questions that come into our helpdesk. We have recently updated and modernized it in a number of ways. Implementation has been changed so that we can now include pictures and attachments (such as technical notes). Moreover, all items have been sorted per product. It is now possible to search within a version of a particular product, rather than just within the entire product’s entries. Furthermore, we have made technical changes so that we can more quickly and easily add new entries, which means there will be more items and they will be more up-to-date.
The web-based knowledgebase is available 24/7, and we are now also able to offer 24 hour telephone support on business days. In recent months we have opened helpdesks in Frankfurt (Germany) and Beijing (China), which together with our helpdesks on the east and west coasts of the USA, and the helpdesk at our headquarters in The Netherlands, means that at virtually any hour of the day and night there will be a helpdesk open. For details of the hours of operation, see http://www.noldus.com/help-desk. There you will find a document which gives an overview of when each helpdesk is open for each time zone, so you can easily see who to contact from where you are working.
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| Careers and Events |
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Careers |
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Events |
- Software Engineer (Wageningen, The Netherlands)
- Marketing Communication Professional (Wageningen, The Netherlands)
- Regional Sales Account Representative (Leesburg, VA, USA)
- Technical Engineer (Leesburg, VA, USA)
- Regional Sales Account Representative (Ontario, Québec, Canada)
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- 13th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology SPSP (San Diego, CA, USA, 26-28 January 2012)
- 12th Annual International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (San Diego, CA, USA, 27 January 2012 - 1 February 2012)
- 10th Autism Winter Days (Helsinki, Finland, 10-11 Februari 2012)
- 45th Annual Gatlinburg Conference (Annapolis, MD, USA, 7-9 March 2012)
- 14th SRA Biennial Meeting (Vancouver, BC, Canada, 8-10 March 2012)
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© Noldus Information Technology 2012 |
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