Linear systems analysis of infant visual pattern preferences

Karmel's check-pattern preference data for 13-week-old infants were reanalyzed using linear systems analysis. The two-dimensional Fourier amplitude spectrum was calculated for each of his eight checkerboard and random check patterns. The mean contrast sensitivity data for 3-month-old infants of Banks and Salapatek and the spatial frequency amplitudes of the patterns were used to derive three metrics to predict the looking times observed by Karmel. One was based on the sensitivity of the visual system to the single pattern component highest above threshold (maximum amplitude), the second was based on the total amount of pattern energy above threshold (total summation), and the third was based on the maximum amplitude with summation over nearby spatial frequency components (limited summation). The predictive power of the maximum amplitude and the total summation metrics depended on whether the pattern type was checkerboard or random check. The limited summation metric predicted looking times well for both pattern types. A linear function of the logarithm of the limited summation metric accounted for 91% of the total variance in looking time.     

Contrast and spatial frequency components in visual preferences of newborns

A preferential-looking procedure was used to investigate newborns' responses to square-wave gratings varying in spatial frequency and contrast. A preliminary study confirmed that the gratings used in the experiment were suprathreshold. In the experiment newborns' preference for a grating of 0.1 cycle deg-1 within the peak contrast sensitivity range was examined. Reduction in the contrast of this grating led to a transfer of the preference to a high-contrast grating of the same space-averaged luminance with a spatial frequency outside this range (0.42 cycle deg-1). The findings are discussed with reference to the role of the contrast sensitivity function in pattern preferences of newborns: it is suggested that contrast and spatial frequency interact in determining pattern preferences.     

A duration model analysis of consumer preferences and determinants of video game consumption

Despite the enormous revenues generated by the video game industry in recent years, relatively little research has been undertaken into consumer preferences and the determinants of video game consumption. This study addresses this deficiency through the analysis of data from a popular online video game that includes historic behavioural information for 1,408 consumers participating in 728,811 unique rounds of gameplay. We analyse these data with the goal of estimating determinants of the aggregate amount of time that a consumer spends playing the game. Through the estimation of duration models, we show that less experienced consumers are less likely to continue playing the game at any given point, possibly due to having achieved mastery and becoming bored. However, we also find that consumers tend to play the game for longer periods when using a wider range of character roles and vehicles, implying that a consumer's interest can be maintained through exposure to greater variety. Our results represent the first such evidence on in‐game consumer preferences, which has important implications for video game consumption through optimisation of gameplay experiences to satisfy these preferences.     

Hebb repetition effects for non-verbal visual sequences: determinants of sequence acquisition

We report four experiments premised upon the work of Horton et al. [(2008). Hebb repetition effects in visual memory: The roles of verbal rehearsal and distinctiveness. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(12), 1769–1777] and Page et al. [(2013). Repetition-spacing and item-overlap effects in the Hebb repetition task. Journal of Memory and Language, 69(4), 506–526], and explore conditions under which the visual Hebb repetition effect is observed. Experiment 1 showed that repetition learning is evident when the items comprising the non-repeated (filler) sequences and the repeated (Hebb) sequences are different (no-overlap). However, learning is abolished when the filler and Hebb sequences comprise the same items (full-overlap). Learning of the repeated sequence persisted when repetition spacing was increased to six trials (Experiment 2), consistent with that shown for verbal stimuli (Page et al., 2013). In Experiment 3, it was shown that learning for the repeated sequence is accentuated when the output motor response at test is also repeated for the Hebb sequence, but only under conditions of no-overlap. In Experiment 4, repetition spacing was re-examined with a repeated motor output response (a closer methodological analogue to Page et al., 2013). Under these conditions, the gradient of Hebb repetition learning for six trial repetition intervals was markedly similar to that for three trial intervals. These findings further support the universality of the Hebb repetition effect across memory and are discussed in terms of evidence for amodality within-sequence memory.     

Body figure preferences of men and women: A comparison of two generations

Inspired by the earlier work of Rozin and Fallon (1988), this study investigated some potential determinants of the most recent increase of eating disorders among women in this country. Measures of current, preferred attractive, and acceptable body images for opposite- and same-gender figures, in addition to the thinnest and heaviest figures the subjects found attractive, were obtained from the same generation cohort as these students' parents. While gender differences were found, so were cohort differences. These cohort differences speak to factors relevant to understanding why there has been such an increase in the frequency of eating disorders in Western culture since the late 1960s, especially among adolescent women. Possible implications for treatment of eating disorders are discussed. However, the authors note that further studies are needed to determine if the cohort differences found might reflect a developmental or a definite cohort effect.     

Picture book exposure elicits positive visual preferences in toddlers

Although the relationship between “mere exposure” and attitude enhancement is well established in the adult domain, there has been little similar work with children. This article examines whether toddlers’ visual attention toward pictures of foods can be enhanced by repeated visual exposure to pictures of foods in a parent-administered picture book. We describe three studies that explored the number and nature of exposures required to elicit positive visual preferences for stimuli and the extent to which induced preferences generalize to other similar items. Results show that positive preferences for stimuli are easily and reliably induced in children and, importantly, that this effect of exposure is not restricted to the exposed stimulus per se but also applies to new representations of the exposed item.     

The measurement of visual attention in infants: a comparison of two methodologies

Twenty-four infants were tested at 8 and 12 weeks of age—12 at each age—to determine fixation times to three checkerboard patterns of equal area, a 2 × 2, 8 × 8, and 24 × 24. Each infant was tested twice, once with a single stimulus method of presentation and once with a paired-comparisons. Both methods were similar in depicting age and sex differences. The older infants looked longer at the more complex patterns while the female infants fixated complex patterns longer, relative to simpler patterns, than than did the males. However, the paired-comparisons method was superior in distinguishing between what McCall (1970) has called “blank looking” from meaningful perceptual-cognitive interaction with a stimulus. The data were interpreted as showing that because females are more able to process information from static stimuli, as suggested by McCall, they are ahead of their male age peers in their perceptual-cognitive development within this age range.     

Observational learning of two visual discriminations by pigeons: a within-subjects design.

Pigeon's observational learning of successive visual discrimination was studied using within-subject comparisons of data from three experimental conditions. Two pairs of discriminative stimuli were used; each bird was exposed to two of the three experimental conditions, with different pairs of stimuli used in a given bird's two conditions. In one condition, observers were exposed to visual discriminative stimuli only. In a second condition, subjects were exposed to a randomly alternating sequence of two stimuli where the one that would subsequently be used as S+ was paired with the operation of the grain magazine. In a third experimental condition, subjects were exposed to the performance of a conspecific in the operant discrimination procedure. After exposures to conspecific performances, there was facilitation of discriminative learning, relative to that which followed exposures to stimulus and reinforcement sequences or exposures to stimulus sequences alone. Exposure to stimulus and food-delivery sequences enhanced performance relative to exposure to stimulus sequences alone. The differential effects of these three types of exposure were not attributable to order effects or to task difficulty; rather, they clearly were due to the type of exposure.