Male more than female infants imitate propulsive motion

Few experimental studies investigate the mechanisms by which young children develop sex-typed activity preferences. Gender self-labeling followed by selective imitation of same-sex models currently is considered a primary socialization mechanism. Research with prenatally androgenized girls and non-human primates also suggests an innate male preference for activities that involve propulsive movement. Here we show that before children can label themselves by gender, 6- to 9-month-old male infants are more likely than female infants to imitate propulsive movements. Further, male infants’ increase in propulsive movement was linearly related to proportion of time viewing a male model’s propulsive movements. We propose that male sex-typed behavior develops from socialization mechanisms that build on a male predisposition to imitate propulsive motion.     

The motivation to diet in young women: Fear is stronger than hope

This research examined the relative impact of a hoped‐for, thin body and a feared, overweight body on weight‐loss dieting (WLD) motivation. We hypothesised that the women most motivated to engage in WLD would report a higher similarity to, and a higher cognitive availability of, a feared, overweight body. In study 1, WLD motivation was operationalized as WLD intention and in study 2 as a food choice (chocolate bar versus low‐fat snack bar). As expected, those most similar to the feared body and who had a highly available overweight body had the greatest intention to engage in WLD, and were more likely to choose a low‐fat snack over a chocolate bar. The implications of our findings for future research as well as the development of eating pathology in college women are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visual similarity is stronger than semantic similarity in guiding visual search for numbers

Using a visual search task, we explored how behavior is influenced by both visual and semantic information. We recorded participants’ eye movements as they searched for a single target number in a search array of single-digit numbers (0–9). We examined the probability of fixating the various distractors as a function of two key dimensions: the visual similarity between the target and each distractor, and the semantic similarity (i.e., the numerical distance) between the target and each distractor. Visual similarity estimates were obtained using multidimensional scaling based on the independent observer similarity ratings. A linear mixed-effects model demonstrated that both visual and semantic similarity influenced the probability that distractors would be fixated. However, the visual similarity effect was substantially larger than the semantic similarity effect. We close by discussing the potential value of using this novel methodological approach and the implications for both simple and complex visual search displays.     

The effect of contrast on vertical motion processing asymmetries in 11-week-old infants

Recent forced-choice preferential looking (FPL) experiments with random-dot patterns [Wattam-Bell, 1998 Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 39(4) S885] found evidence for a perceptual asymmetry of vertical-motion processing in young infants: a preference for patterns that move downwards. This asymmetry was in the opposite direction to the asymmetry of vertical optokinetic nystagmus, which was biased towards upwards motion. However, the FPL bias was weak, and the object of present experiments was to explore the possibility that it could be enhanced by reducing stimulus contrast. In experiment 1, contrast thresholds for gratings moving upwards and downwards were compared, and no directional asymmetry at threshold was found. In experiment 2, the effect of contrast on infants' preference between simultaneously displayed upwards-drifting and downwards-drifting gratings was examined. Infants showed no preference at 5% contrast, a marked preference for downwards motion at intermediate contrasts (10% and 20%), and a similar but smaller preference at 40% contrast. These results suggest that the vertical-motion asymmetry is a result of differences in the gains of directionally selective mechanisms for upwards and downwards motion.     

Predictable and self-initiated visual motion is judged to be slower than computer generated motion

Self-initiated action effects are often perceived as less intense than identical but externally generated stimuli. It is thought that forward models within the sensorimotor system pre-activate cortical representations of predicted action effects, reducing perceptual sensitivity and attenuating neural responses. As self-agency and predictability are seldom manipulated simultaneously in behavioral experiments, it is unclear if self-other differences depend on predictable action effect contingencies, or if both self- and externally generated stimuli are modulated similarly by predictability. We factorially combined variation in (1) predictability of action effects, (2) spatial congruence, and (3) performance by the self or computer to dissociate these influences on a visual discrimination task. Participants performed 2AFC speed judgments. Self-initiated motion was judged to be slower than computer-initiated motion when action effect contingencies were predictable, while spatial congruence influenced speed judgments only when action effect contingencies were unpredictable. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of sensory attenuation.     

Nonretinotopic processing is related to postdictive size modulation in apparent motion

The present study briefly examined how the perceived size of a leading flash would be modulated by trailing motion signals. Observers were presented with two vertical green bars that were followed by white bars with different lengths, which were presented at different locations from the green bars. The task of observers was to discriminate which of the green bars was shorter than the other (Experiment 1) or whether the lengths of the green bars were equal or not (Experiments 2 and 3). One green bar producing apparent motion with the following shorter white bar was reported to be shorter than the other green bar producing apparent motion with the following longer white bar, not only when motion correspondence was determined on the basis of retinal proximity (Experiments 1 and 2),but also when motion correspondence was determined on the basis of nonretinotopic information-that is, a relative location within each perceptual group of bars (Experiment 3). These results indicate that motion processing involving object updating or motion deblurring in the nonretinotopic frame of reference is related to postdictive size modulation.     

The circumplex: A slightly stronger than ordinal approach

For some proximity matrices, multidimensional scaling yields a roughly circular configuration of the stimuli. Being not symmetric, a row-conditional matrix is not fit for such an analysis. However, suppose its proximities are all different within rows. Calling {{x,y},{x,z}} a conjoint pair of unordered pairs of stimuli, let {x,y}→{x,z} mean that row x shows a stronger proximity for {x,y} than for {x,z}. We have a cyclic permutation π of the set of stimuli characterize a subset of the conjoint pairs. If the arcs {x,y}→{x,z} between the pairs thus characterized are in a specific sense monotone with π, the matrix determines π uniquely, and is, in that sense, a circumplex with π as underlying cycle. In the strongest of the 3 circumplexes thus obtained, → has circular paths. We give examples of analyses of, in particular, conditional proximities by these concepts, and implications for the analysis of presumably circumplical proximities. Circumplexes whose underlying permutation is multi-cyclic are touched.     

Competing top-down processes in visual selection: evidence that selection by location is stronger than selection by color

The purpose of this study was to examine whether color and position information are functionally equivalent when observers are asked to select simultaneously on both dimensions. Observers were asked to report a letter of a given color from a given region of a briefly flashed letter array, then to report any additional letters they could recall from the stimulus set. Of the additional letters, more location letters were reported than were same-color or neutral letters. The results suggested that position information has priority over color information in top-down-guided visual selection.     

Cell-mediated immune hypersensitivity is stronger in the left side of the body than the right in healthy young subjects.

More frequent appearance of herpes zoster infection on the left side of the body has been noted. In women, breast cancer occurs more frequently on the left side. It has been suggested that the left neocortex is involved in neuroimmunomodulation via the dopaminergic system. In this study, our purpose was to investigate the possible difference in cell-mediated hypersensitivity between right and left body sides using the tuberculin test with 22 male and 36 female healthy high school students. In the present study, the cell-mediated hypersensitivity was higher in the left side of the body than the right. This difference was slightly more apparent in the girls and may be related to brain asymmetry in neuroimmunomodulation.     

Belief bias is stronger when reasoning is more difficult

Three studies examine the influence of varying the difficulty of reasoning on the extent of belief bias, while minimising the possibility that the manipulation would influence the way participants approach the task. Specifically, reasoning difficulty was manipulated by making variations in problem content, while maintaining all other aspects of the problems constant. In Study 1, 191 participants were presented with consistent and conflict problems varying in two levels of difficulty. The results showed a significant influence of problem difficulty on the extent of the belief bias, such that the effect of belief was more pronounced for difficult problems. This effect was stronger in Study 2 (73 participants) where the difference in the difficulty of the problems was purposely accentuated. The results of both studies stress the importance of controlling for problem difficulty when studying belief bias. Study 3 examined one consequence of this, i.e., the classic belief vs. logic interaction could be eliminated by manipulating problem difficulty. Theoretical implications for dual-process accounts of belief bias are also discussed.     

Featural and configural face processing in adults and infants: a behavioral and electrophysiological investigation

We sought to elucidate the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of face processing, in adults and infants, by manipulating either the featural or configural information within the face. Two different experiments are reported. In these experiments, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from the scalp while adult, 8-month-old, and 4-month-old participants completed configural-change and featural-change face tasks. The infants also completed a behavioral visual paired-comparison task with featural and configural face changes. ERP results reveal hemispheric differences in processing featural but not configural changes for the N170 in adults. Furthermore, featural and configural changes are processed differently within the right and left hemispheres. The right hemisphere N170 is significantly greater for configural compared to featural changes. The left hemisphere N170, however, exhibits the opposite effect. Infant data suggest that similar to adults, 8-month-old, but not 4-month-old participants, exhibit similar hemispheric differences between featural and configural changes for the P400 component. Behavioral results suggest increased sensitivity to both featural and configural face changes in 8-month-olds compared to 4-month-olds.     

Even in adults,written production is still more costly than oral production

The aim of this research is to show that the mechanical demands of writing continue to affect the characteristics of produced texts in adults under certain situations of cognitive overload. The study reported here is intended to demonstrate that the quality of the text produced by educated adults falls when production is performed in the written rather than in the spoken mode, but only when the elements on the basis of which the texts are to be produced are difficult to relate to one another. In this view, we compared performance in a text production span task in either the oral or the written mode. This task consisted of presenting sets of words, semantically linked or not, from which adults had to produce texts including the words in the set. The results showed that neither the production mode nor the extent of the relationship between the items influenced the number of words recalled. By contrast, the number of ideas elaborated and the coherence of the produced texts are lower when the supplied items are difficult to link and when production is in the written mode. These results are interpreted in the framework of capacity theories in production. They suggest that the cost of managing written production is not always negligible in well‐educated adults. When they have to produce texts on the basis of provided elements that are only weakly associated with one another in the written mode, the residual capacity necessary either to maintain and organise the information in working memory, or to adopt a strategic approach to the composition of the texts, is insufficient because the cost of this elaboration must be added to that of the management of the written production.     

Holistic processing of faces is intact in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Are face recognition difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) related to impaired holistic processing? Gauthier et al. [Gauthier, I., Klaiman, C., &; Schultz, R. T. (2009). Face composite effects reveal abnormal face processing in Autism spectrum disorders. Vision Research, 49, 470–478. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2008.12.007] used the face composite task in adolescents with autism and found a congruency effect that was not modulated by alignment, a result which was interpreted as reflecting qualitatively different face processing mechanisms. In the present study we tested adults with ASD in a composite face task where presentation times were manipulated and further explored whether these participants were sensitive to holistic information in faces using a new version of the composite task: VHFPT 2.0 (The Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test 2.0). Results suggest that adults with ASD process faces holistically and that their facial identity processing abilities are qualitatively similar and as efficient as that of typical adults. The difference between the results of Gauthier et al. (2009) with adolescents and the results with adults here reported are interpreted in terms of a developmental delay.     

Gaze detection and the cortical processing of faces: Evidence from infants and adults

Abstract

Faces, as a class of objects, have been studied extensively in order to understand how the human visual system recognizes and represents objects. In this paper we studied the ontogeny of the ability to perceive gaze direction. We bring together both developmental research and neurophysiological and neuropsychological research in order to address this issue. In two experiments we explored the developmental time course of the ability to discriminate between direct and averted gaze, a task thought to involve cortical information processing of faces. We found that (a) infants as young as four months could discriminate between direct and averted gaze, (b) this ability was not due to the development of low-level visual processes, and (c) younger infants did not show reliable evidence of gaze discrimination. In an additional experiment we tested adults to study the effect of face context on the ability to discriminate gaze direction. Adult subjects were more sensitive in this discrimination when the eyes were in the context of an upright face than when the eyes were in either an inverted face or in a scrambled face. Taken together, these results suggest that the mechanisms underlying gaze detection may be mediated by cortical circuits also involved in other aspects of face recognition.     

Dietary restraint in college women: Fear of an imperfect fat self is stronger than hope of a perfect thin self

We predicted that the perceived likelihood of acquiring a hoped-for thin self would mediate perfectionistic strivings on dietary restraint, and that the perceived likelihood of acquiring a feared fat self would mediate perfectionistic concerns on dietary restraint. We also predicted that the mediation pathway from perfectionistic concerns to dietary restraint would have a greater impact than that from perfectionistic strivings. Participants were 222 female college students who reported their height and weight and completed measures of perfectionism, the likelihood of acquiring the feared fat and hoped-for thin selves, and dietary restraint. Statistical analyses revealed that the perceived likelihood of acquiring the feared fat self mediated both perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings on dietary restraint, and that the mediating pathway from perfectionistic concerns to dietary restraint was greater than that from perfectionistic strivings. Implications for future research and eating pathology interventions are discussed.     

Biased processing of stereotype-incongruency is greater for low than high status groups

Two studies assessed whether a stereotypic explanatory bias emerges primarily when members of low (compared to high) social status groups engage in behaviors inconsistent with group stereotypes. A preliminary study showed that male and female participants spontaneously showed more stereotypically biased explanatory processing of female stereotype-inconsistency (i.e., explanation of male-stereotypic behaviors performed by female compared to male actors) than male stereotype-inconsistency (i.e., explanation of female-stereotypic behaviors performed by male compared to female actors). The main experiment provided a manipulation of social status of target groups, and both external (i.e., situational) and internal (i.e., dispositional) explanations for stereotype-inconsistent behaviors were assessed. Results showed that external explanations for female stereotype-inconsistency were greater for targets described as low, not high in socioeconomic status. This research suggests that information processing is biased when members of a low status group engage in stereotype-inconsistent behaviors, whereas members of high status groups can engage in either stereotypic or counter-stereotypic behaviors without instigating biases in information processing.     

Older adults prefer less choice than young adults

Previous research has demonstrated that older adults prefer less autonomy and seek less information when making decisions on their own relative to young adults (for a review, see M. Mather, 2006). Would older adults also prefer fewer options from which to choose? The authors tested this hypothesis in the context of different decision domains. Participants completed a choice preferences survey in which they indicated their desired number of choices across 6 domains of health care and everyday decisions. The hypothesis was confirmed across all decision domains. The authors discuss implications from these results as they relate to theories of aging and health care policy.     

When linking is stronger than thinking: Associative transfer of valence disrupts the emergence of cognitive balance after attitude change

The present research investigated the role of cognitive balance vs. associative transfer of valence in attitude change. Participants first formed positive or negative attitudes toward several source individuals. Subsequently, participants were shown source–target pairs along with information about the source–target relationship (‘likes’/‘dislikes’). Afterwards, participants’ attitudes toward the sources were changed by means of information that was opposite to the initially induced attitude. In a control condition, initial source attitudes remained unqualified. Results in the control condition showed that initially formed attitudes and available relationship information produced target evaluations that were consistent with the notion of cognitive balance. However, when attitudes toward the sources changed, target evaluations directly matched attitudes toward individually associated sources, irrespective of the relation between source and target. These results suggest that associative transfer of valence can disrupt the emergence of cognitive balance after attitude change.