Effects of displayed emotion on attitude and impression formation in visual speech-reading

In two experiments on visual speech-reading, with a total of 132 normal-hearing participants, the effects of displayed emotion and task specificity on speech-reading performance, on attitude toward the task and on person impression were explored, as well as associations between speech-reading performance, attitude, and person impression. The results show that displayed emotion increased speech-reading performance and attitude ratings, and that the actor was perceived as more extraverted both when displaying emotions, and when his speech was high in specificity The main conclusion was that displayed emotion enhances speech-reading performance by providing information that is useful to the speech-reader.     

Discriminating violent individuals by means of various psychological tests

Attempted to clarify the 43/4-8(8-4) controversy and further research the relationship between assaultiveness and other non-MMPI measures. Sixty-one male adolescent prisoners divided into four groups according to Race and Level of Assaultiveness served as subjects for this study. Each prisoner was administered the MMPI, the Buss-Durkee Hostility Scale and the Rotter I-E scale. The results suggest that the 4-3 code type is not an accurate predictor of violence; that elevations of F4897&6 describe the offender population (with) 8-4 describing the violent profile type); and that the Buss-Durkee Hostility scale may be valuable in assessing the violent personality.     

Discriminating time intervals presented in sequences marked by visual signals

This article presents the results of three experiments on the discrimination of time intervals presented in sequences marked by brief visual signals. In Experiment 1A (continuous condition), the participants had to indicate whether, in a series of 2–4 intervals marked by 3–5 visual signals, the last interval was shorter or longer than the previous one(s). In Experiment 1B (discontinuous condition), the participants indicated whether, in a presentation of two series of 1–3 intervals, with each series being marked by 2–4 signals, the intervals of the second sequence were shorter or longer than those of the first. Whenever one, two, or three standard intervals were presented, the difference threshold was as high at 150 msec as it was at 300 msec with the continuous method but increased monotonically from 150 to 900 msec with the discontinuous method. With both methods, the increase was well described by Weber’s law&#x2014the Weber fraction was roughly constant&#x2014between 600 and 900 msec (Experiment 2), whereas between 900 and 1,200 msec (Experiment 3), the Weber fraction increased.     

Discriminating time intervals presented in sequences marked by visual signals.

This article presents the results of three experiments on the discrimination of time intervals presented in sequences marked by brief visual signals. In Experiment 1A (continuous condition), the participants had to indicate whether, in a series of 2-4 intervals marked by 3-5 visual signals, the last interval was shorter or longer than the previous one(s). In Experiment 1B (discontinuous condition), the participants indicated whether, in a presentation of two series of 1-3 intervals, with each series being marked by 2-4 signals, the intervals of the second sequence were shorter or longer than those of the first. Whenever one, two, or three standard intervals were presented, the difference threshold was as high at 150 msec as it was at 300 msec with the continuous method but increased monotonically from 150 to 900 msec with the discontinuous method. With both methods, the increase was well described by Weber's law--the Weber fraction was roughly constant--between 600 and 900 msec (Experiment 2), whereas between 900 and 1,200 msec (Experiment 3), the Weber fraction increased.     

The languages we use

Members of the Society for Computers in Psychology responded to a survey concerning their programming practices and language use. The results reveal current hardware and software use; relationships among computer science training, task, and language choice and usage; and areas in which attention to some structured programming principles might improve the code that psychologists write.     

Inconsistency in natural languages

An argument for Trivialism, the view that natural languages are logically inconsistent, is provided that does not rely on contentious empirical assumptions about natural language terms such as “and” or “or.” Further, the view is defended against an important objection recently mounted against it by Thomas Hofweber.     

Regularization of languages by adults and children: A mathematical framework

The fascinating ability of humans to modify the linguistic input and “create” a language has been widely discussed. In the work of Newport and colleagues, it has been demonstrated that both children and adults have some ability to process inconsistent linguistic input and “improve” it by making it more consistent. In Hudson Kam and Newport (2009), artificial miniature language acquisition from an inconsistent source was studied. It was shown that (i) children are better at language regularization than adults and that (ii) adults can also regularize, depending on the structure of the input. In this paper we create a learning algorithm of the reinforcement-learning type, which exhibits patterns reported in Hudson Kam and Newport (2009) and suggests a way to explain them. It turns out that in order to capture the differences between children’s and adults’ learning patterns, we need to introduce a certain asymmetry in the learning algorithm. Namely, we have to assume that the reaction of the learners differs depending on whether or not the source’s input coincides with the learner’s internal hypothesis. We interpret this result in the context of a different reaction of children and adults to implicit, expectation-based evidence, positive or negative. We propose that a possible mechanism that contributes to the children’s ability to regularize an inconsistent input is related to their heightened sensitivity to positive evidence rather than the (implicit) negative evidence. In our model, regularization comes naturally as a consequence of a stronger reaction of the children to evidence supporting their preferred hypothesis. In adults, their ability to adequately process implicit negative evidence prevents them from regularizing the inconsistent input, resulting in a weaker degree of regularization.     

Discriminating the volume of motion-defined solids

We investigated the ability of human observers to discriminate an important global 3-D structural property, namely volume, of motion-defined objects. We used convex transparent wire-frame objects consisting of about 12 planar triangular facets. Two objects, vertically separated by 7°, were shown simultaneously on a computer display. Both revolved at 67°/sec around a common vertical axis through their centers of mass. Observers watched the objects monocularly for an average of three full rotations before they responded. We measured volume discrimination as a function of absolute volume (3–48 cm³; 1 m viewing distance) and shape (cubes, rods, and slabs of different regularity). We found that (1) volume discrimination performance can be described by Weber’s law, (2) Weber fractions depend strongly on the particular combination of shapes used (regular shapes, especially cubes, are easiest to compare, and similar shapes are easier to compare than different shapes), and (3) humans use a representation of volume that is more veridical and stable in the sense of repeatability than a strategy based on the average visible (2-D) area would yield.