A psychophysical method for determining the effect of studded tires on safety

A method was presented for determining the safety effect of studded tires independently of other driver and vehicle centered variables which covariate with the use of studs. It is based on psychophysical functions between the friction coefficient and accident risk, or driver behavior, separately produced for studded and unstudded cars. From the two functions, the effect of studded tires can be calculated at different levels of friction as far as the respective effect of studs on friction is known. A pilot study was conducted concerning the risk of skidding in a curve. The friction coefficient was periodically measured on an off-ramp of a motorway and, for each passing car, the spot speed and the use of studs was recorded. The probability of skidding, calculated from the distribution of safety margins, was plotted as a function of friction and the effects of studded tires and other driver and vehicle centered variables were demonstrated.     

Paintings as Solid Affective Scaffolds

We humans continuously reshape the environment to alter, enhance, and sustain our affective lives. This two‐way modification has been discussed in recent philosophy of mind as affective scaffolding, wherein scaffolding quite literally means that our affective states are enabled and supported by environmental resources such as material objects, other people, and physical spaces. In this article, I argue that under certain conditions, paintings function as noteworthy affective scaffolds to their creators. I begin with a theoretical overview of affective niche construction and affective scaffolding. Then, based on the criteria of robustness, concreteness, and dependability, I specify a more restricted, solid type of affective scaffolding and propound paintings as a cogent case of such. In support of my argument, I highlight two feelings typical to painterly creativity: the feeling of aesthetic resonance and the feeling of fusion. To conclude, I discuss the overall contributions and limitations of my account.     

Perception of spatial order in extrafoveal vision

Perception of spatial order in central and extrafoveal vision was investigated by means of a task in which observers judged the relative position of a target line segment in a briefly flashed array of six line segments. The line arrays were size-scaled in extrafoveal vision according to the cortical magnification factor derived from the cone and ganglion cell distributions across the human retina, i.e. the stimulus representations in the striate cortex were of equal size in central and eccentric vision. In central vision, observers could judge the relative position of the target with high accuracy but in extrafoveal vision the task was more difficult, especially with short interline distances. However, performance was well above chance level also in extrafoveal vision.     

The association between grandparental investment and grandparents' happiness in Finland

There is a lack of studies analyzing the association between grandparental investment and grandparents' happiness. Using nationally representative data from the Generational Transmissions in Finland project (sample n = 2,152 older adults), this study explores (a) whether grandparenthood is associated with self‐evaluated happiness, (b) whether there is an association between grandparental investment (measured by contact frequencies with grandchildren) and a grandparent's self‐perceived happiness, and (c) whether differences in the associations between grandparental investment and happiness vary according to the gender and lineage of a grandparent. Our results show that just being a grandparent is not associated with self‐evaluated happiness among older Finns. However, a positive association was found in the case of maternal grandmothers' investment and happiness.     

Visual search at different spatial scales

Treisman and Gelade's (1980) feature-integration model claims that the search for separate ("primitive") stimulus features is parallel, but that the conjunctions of those features require serial scan. Recently, evidence has accumulated that parallel processing is not limited to these "primitive" stimulus features, but that combinations of features can also produce parallel search. In the experiments reported here, the processing of feature conjunctions was studied when the stimulus features of a combination were at different spatial scales. The patterns in the search array were composed of three cross-shaped or T-shaped (local) elements, which formed an oblique bar (the global pattern) 45 deg or 135 deg in orientation. When the target and distractors differed from each other at one spatial scale only (either in the bar orientation or in the shape of the local elements), target detection was independent of the number of distractors, i.e., the search was parallel. In the conjunction task, in which the target and distractors were defined as the combinations of the bar orientation and the element shape, i.e., both spatial scales were relevant, the detection of the target required slow serial scrutiny of the search array. It is possible that the conjunction search could not be performed in parallel because switches between the two scales (or spatial frequency channels) are linked to attention and the task required the use of both scales in order to find the target.     

Focal attention and the perception of pattern structure in extrafoveal vision

Several studies have shown that visual attention enhances the encoding of the positional relationships between pattern elements, i.e., the perception of pattern structure. This theoretical note discusses the possibility that the inferiority of extrafoveal vision in the perception of pattern structure results, at least partially, from less effective focal attention in the periphery. Hence, there may exist higher level differences between foveal and extrafoveal vision in information processing which cannot be explained by the spatial inhomogeneity of the retino-striate system.     

Love from Afar: Distance,Intimacy and the Theology of Love

Proceeding from Jean‐Luc Marion's The Erotic Phenomenon, this article discusses how the Christian concept of love can manifest intimacy. While most theological concepts of love spell out the requirement of distance, they do not pay sufficient attention to the intimate variants of love. The article argues that a full‐fledged theological account should make room for love's different economic and donative variants, as well as for love's advance from ‘distance’ to ‘visibility’ and, finally, ‘intimacy’. Concrete examples of intimate love include mystical union, transforming hospitality, fidelity and love that is as strong as death.     

Vibrotactile thresholds during background vibration of long duration

Thresholds for vibrotactile stimuli of low and high frequency (20 and 150 Hz) were determined during a long-lasting (15 min) background stimulus of low or high frequency (40 or 240 Hz). Thresholds for high frequency were markedly elevated during both low and high frequency background stimulation, whereas thresholds for low frequency were elevated only at the beginning of high-frequency background stimulation. The present results indicate that during activation of the high-frequency vibrotactile channel it is possible to find both a cross-channel and a channel specific inhibition depending on the temporal parameters of the background stimulus. The effects of the present low-frequency background stimulus can be explained on the basis of a minor co-activation of the high-frequency channel.     

Visual search for positional relationships between pattern elements

The purpose of these experiments was to illustrate how a search for positional relationships between the elements in a stimulus pattern is effortful and serial, whereas a search for pattern elements (without requiring any positional information) takes place rapidly and in parallel. In all three experiments of this study, the target and distractor patterns consisted of two vertical line segments. In the experiment concerning the search for positional relationships between pattern elements, one of the line segments in a line pair had a gap, and the observer's task was to indicate whether the positional order of the two lines was identical in all the line pairs of the display, or whether the line segments were in a mirror-image order in one line pair (the target). In the two experiments concerning the search for pattern elements (no positional information was required), the observer's task was to look for a line pair with one gap line (the target) among line pairs containing two broken lines or among line pairs with unbroken lines. In all three tasks, the reaction time for a correct target detection was measured. The results showed that the search in the first task was highly serial, and in the second and third tasks of "feature" searches, the search time was nearly independent of the number of distractor pairs. It is suggested that this dissociation may be interpreted in the context of the quality of information processing in extrafoveal vision, i. e. the elements of a stimulus pattern can be clearly visible outside the fovea, but it is not possible to perceive accurately the positional relationships between them.