Disentangling similarity judgments from pragmatic judgments: Response to Sloutsky and Fisher (2012)

Sloutsky and Fisher (2012) attempt to reframe the results presented in Noles and Gelman (2012) as a pure replication of their original work validating the similarity, induction, naming, and categorization (SINC) model. However, their critique fails to engage with the central findings reported in Noles and Gelman, and their reanalysis fails to examine the key comparison of theoretical interest. In addition to responding to the points raised in Sloutsky and Fisher's (2012) critique, we elaborate on the pragmatic factors and methodological flaws present in Sloutsky and Fisher (2004) that biased children's similarity judgments. Our careful replication of that study suggests that, rather than measuring the influence of labels on judgments of perceptual similarity, the original design measured sensitivity to the pragmatics of task demands. Together, the results reported in Noles and Gelman and the methodological problems highlighted here represent a serious challenge to the validity of the SINC model specifically and the words-as-features view more generally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Learning about faces: effects of trustworthiness on affective evaluation

The results of two studies on the relationship between evaluations of trustworthiness, valence and arousal of faces are reported. In Experiment 1, valence and trustworthiness judgments of faces were positively correlated, while arousal was negatively correlated with both trustworthiness and valence. In Experiment 2, learning about faces based on their emotional expression and the extent to which this learning is influenced by perceived trustworthiness was investigated. Neutral faces of different models differing in trustworthiness were repeatedly associated with happy or with angry expressions and the participants were asked to categorize each neutral face as belonging to a "friend" or to an "enemy" based on these associations. Four pairing conditions were defined in terms of the congruency between trustworthiness level and expression: Trustworthy-congruent, trustworthy-incongruent, untrustworthy-congruent and untrustworthy-incongruent. Categorization accuracy during the learning phase and face evaluation after learning were measured. During learning, participants learned to categorize with similar efficiency trustworthy and untrustworthy faces as friends or enemies and thus no effects of congruency were found. In the evaluation phase, faces of enemies were rated as more negative and arousing than those of friends, thus showing that learning was effective to change the affective value of the faces. However, faces of untrustworthy models were still judged on average more negative and arousing than those of trustworthy ones. In conclusion, although face trustworthiness did not influence learning of associations between faces and positive or negative social information it did have a significant influence on face evaluation that was manifest even after that learning.     

The effect of color (red versus blue) on assimilation versus contrast in prime-to-behavior effects

This paper examines whether color can modify the way that primed constructs affect behavior. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that, compared to the color white, blue is more likely to lead to assimilative shifts in behavior, whereas red is more likely to lead to contrastive changes in behavior. In our experiment, previous findings were replicated in the white color condition: participants’ behavior assimilated to primed stereotypes of (un)intelligence and contrasted away from primed exemplars of (un)intelligence. However, in the blue color condition, participants’ behavior assimilated to the primed constructs, whereas in the red color condition, participants’ behavior contrasted away from the primed constructs, irrespective of whether the primed constructs were stereotypes or exemplars.     

Perceptual,affective, and cognitive judgments of odors: pleasantness and handedness effects

The present study sought to examine the differential processing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors. The effects of the nostril stimulated (left or right) and the type of judgment (perceptual, affective, or cognitive) performed on the olfactory stimuli were also studied. To this end, 64 subjects were asked to smell pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors under four conditions (detection, intensity, pleasantness, and familiarity tasks). The participants were to perform these tasks as quickly as possible, while response times were recorded. The results showed that (i) unpleasant odors were assessed more rapidly than neutral or pleasant odors, and that this was specifically true (ii) during right nostril stimulation, and (iii) during pleasantness assessment, suggesting possible differential cerebral hemisphere involvement, with a right-side advantage for processing of unpleasant affect in olfaction. A handedness effect on familiarity judgment is also discussed.     

The effects of word frequency and similarity on recognition judgments: the role of recollection

K. J. Malmberg, J. Holden, and R. M. Shiffrin (2004) reported more false alarms for low- than high-frequency words when the foils were similar to the targets. According to the source of activation confusion (SAC) model of memory, that pattern is based on recollection of an underspecified episodic trace rather than the error-prone familiarity process. The authors tested the SAC account by varying whether participants were warned about the nature of similar foils and whether the recognition test required the discrimination. More false alarms for low-frequency similar items occurred only when participants were not warned at study about the subtle features to be discriminated later. The differential false-alarm rate by word frequency corresponded to the pattern of remember responses obtained when the test instructions did not ask for a subtle discrimination, supporting the SAC account that reversed false-alarm rates to similar foils are based on the recollection process.     

Context effects in political judgement: assimilation and contrast as a function of categorization processes

Two experiments demonstrate that thinking about a given politician may result in assimilation as well as contrast effects in evolutions of the politician's party. In two experiments, assimilation effects were observed when an experimental categorization task elicited the inclusion of a highly respected politician in the representation formed of his party, whereas contrast effects were observed when the categorization task elicited his exclusion from the representation, with the control group falling in between. Hence, the same information may elicit assimilation as well as contrast effects, depending on its use in mental construal. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Take a look at the bright side: effects of contrast polarity on gaze direction judgments

Observers are inaccurate when judging the gaze direction of eyes shown in negative rather than positive polarity. On the basis of this polarity effect, it has been proposed that gaze is perceived as directed from the dark part of the eye. Our experiment investigated whether direction judgments simply follow this heuristic, as has been suggested. Participants judged the gaze direction of eyes shown at different eccentricities in positive or negative polarity. The error pattern revealed that most errors were incorrect "straight" judgments, suggesting that judgments do not merely follow the heuristic "the dark part does the looking." We suggest that gaze judgments are based on the outcome of a competition between gaze direction signals: Whereas luminance cues may indicate that gaze is directed from the dark part of the eye, geometric cues may indicate the opposite. This interpretation is supported by reduced overall error rates, and fewer incorrect "straight" responses, for more extreme gaze directions.     

Perception of conspecific faces by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): I. Natural faces.

Perception of faces by 4 budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), a species of small parrot, was studied with a same-different discrimination task. Reaction times were taken as a measure of the similarity between pairs of faces and analyzed with multidimensional scaling to reveal patterns of similarity among the faces. The perception of natural faces was tested to determine which characteristics were perceptually salient. Color, patterns of markings, darkness of the iris, and size of the pupil corresponded to the observed patterns of similarity among the faces. Differences among budgerigar faces were more salient than differences among zebra finch faces, and budgerigar faces were perceptually distinct from the faces of other avian species. The results from these experiments provide a basis for understanding the ways in which these signals function in the coordination of social behaviors.     

The influence of group discussion on performance judgments: rating accuracy, contrast effects, and halo

The authors investigated the effect of group discussion, such as may occur formally in panel interview scenarios, assessment centers, or 360-degree feedback situations, on judgments of performance. Research on group polarization suggests that the effect of group discussion combined with raters' preexisting impressions of ratees or interviewees should result in an extremitization of impressions. Thus, the authors hypothesized that group discussion would (a) make ratings less accurate, (b) polarize impressions that were already good or poor as reflected by greater contrast effects, and (c) increase positive halo. Results indicated that group discussion resulted in less accurate ratings and greater contrast effects. Additional analyses suggested that group discussion increased positive halo. The authors discuss implications for research on group or panel judgments.     

Strength of visual percept generated by famous faces perceived without awareness: effects of affective valence, response latency, and visual field

Participants who were unable to detect familiarity from masked 17 ms faces (Stone and Valentine, 2004 and Stone and Valentine, in press-b) did report a vague, partial visual percept. Two experiments investigated the relative strength of the visual percept generated by famous and unfamiliar faces, using masked 17 ms exposure. Each trial presented simultaneously a famous and an unfamiliar face, one face in LVF and the other in RVF. In one task, participants responded according to which of the faces generated the stronger visual percept, and in the other task, they attempted an explicit familiarity decision. The relative strength of the visual percept of the famous face compared to the unfamiliar face was moderated by response latency and participants' attitude towards the famous person. There was also an interaction of visual field with response latency, suggesting that the right hemisphere can generate a visual percept differentiating famous from unfamiliar faces more rapidly than the left hemisphere. Participants were at chance in the explicit familiarity decision, confirming the absence of awareness of facial familiarity.     

Stages in the psychological response to unemployment: A (dis)integrative review

There are widespread assertions in the literature on the psychological effects of unemployment that the response to job loss takes the form of qualitatively distinct stages or phases. This review gives an exposition of the main stage accounts, suggests reasons why such accounts appear compelling, and reveals what is entailed by the decision to hold such an account. When this is made clear the empirical evidence for a stage-by-stage account of unemployment experience is seen to be ambivalent at best. Most evidence is seriously flawed. Stage accounts are further criticized for inconsistency, internal contradictions, nonspecificity of domain, overindividualism, and restrictive ethnocentricity. It is suggested that evidence apparently supportive of stage accounts may be partly artifactual. Stage accounts are not recommended.     

Two effects of repetition: Support for a dual-process model of know judgments and exclusion errors

In three experiments, aremember/know recognition test (Experiments 1–2) and an exclusion test (Experiments 2–3) were used to examine effects of repeated study presentations. An effect of study repetition was obtained for remember but not know judgments, similar to results reported by Gardiner, Kaminska, Dixon, and Java (1996). Experiment 2 demonstrated the similarity between know responses and exclusion errors; neither was affected by repeated study presentations. In Experiment 3, a response deadline procedure was used to show that exclusion errors are the product of two opposing processes—recollection and familiarity—both of which are influenced by repetition. The interpretation of exclusion errors and know responses is shown to require a dual-process model that includes an assumption about the relationship between processes.     

Effects of categorical labels on similarity judgments: a critical evaluation of a critical analysis: comment on Noles and Gelman (2012)

Noles and Gelman (2012) attempt to critically reevaluate the claim that linguistic labels affect children's judgments of visual similarity. They report results of an experiment that used a modified version of Sloutsky and Fisher's (2004) task and conclude that "labels do not generally affect children's perceptual similarity judgments; rather, children's reliance on labels to make similarity judgments appears to be attributable to flaws in the methodological approaches used in prior studies" (p. 890). In this comment we demonstrate that these conclusions are based on inadequate analyses and reporting of statistics and are inconsistent with Noles and Gelman's own data. Instead, their data show a perfect replication of Sloutsky and Fisher (2004) and present further evidence that linguistic labels affect similarity judgment of young children.     

Numerical judgments by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in a token economy

We presented four chimpanzees with a series of tasks that involved comparing two token sets or comparing a token set to a quantity of food. Selected tokens could be exchanged for food items on a one-to-one basis. Chimpanzees successfully selected the larger numerical set for comparisons of 1 to 5 items when both sets were visible and when sets were presented through one-by-one addition of tokens into two opaque containers. Two of four chimpanzees used the number of tokens and food items to guide responding in all conditions, rather than relying on token color, size, total amount, or duration of set presentation. These results demonstrate that judgments of simultaneous and sequential sets of stimuli are made by some chimpanzees on the basis of the numerousness of sets rather than other non-numerical dimensions. The tokens were treated as equivalent to food items on the basis of their numerousness, and the chimpanzees maximized reward by choosing the larger number of items in all situations.     

Ordinal judgments of numerical symbols by macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Two rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) learned that the arabic numerals 0 through 9 represented corresponding quantities of food pellets. By manipulating a joystick, the monkeys were able to make a selection of paired numerals presented on a computer screen. Although the monkeys received a corresponding number of pellets even if the lesser of the two numerals was selected, they learned generally to choose the numeral of greatest value even when pellet delivery was made arrhythmic. In subsequent tests, they chose the numerals of greater value when presented in novel combinations or in random arrays of up to five numerals. Thus, the monkeys made ordinal judgments of numerical symbols in accordance with their absolute or relative values.     

A common representational system governed by Weber's law: nonverbal numerical similarity judgments in 6-year-olds and rhesus macaques

This study compared nonverbal numerical processing in 6-year-olds with that in nonhuman animals using a numerical bisection task. In the study, 16 children were trained on a delayed match-to-sample paradigm to match exemplars of two anchor numerosities. Children were then required to indicate whether a sample intermediate to the anchor values was closer to the small anchor value or the large anchor value. For two sets of anchor values with the same ratio, the probability of choosing the larger anchor value increased systematically with sample number, and the psychometric functions superimposed when plotted on a logarithmic scale. The psychometric functions produced by the children also superimposed with the psychometric functions produced by rhesus monkeys in an analogous previous experiment. These examples of superimposition demonstrate that nonverbal number representations, even in children who have acquired the verbal counting system, are modulated by Weber's law.     

Ordinal judgments of symbolic stimuli by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): the effects of differential and nondifferential reward

Ordinal learning was investigated in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). In Experiment 1, both species were presented with pairings of the Arabic numerals 0 to 9. Some monkeys were given food rewards equal to the value of the numeral selected and some were rewarded with a single pellet only for choosing the higher numeral within the pair. Both species learned to select the larger numeral, but only rhesus monkeys that were differentially rewarded performed above chance levels when presented with novel probe pairings. In Experiment 2, the monkeys were first presented with arrays of 5 familiar numerals (from the range 0 to 9) and then arrays of 5 novel letters (from the range A to J) with the same reward outcomes in place as in Experiment 1. Both species performed better with the numerals, suggesting that an ordinal sequence of all stimuli had been learned during Experiment 1, rather than a matrix of two-choice discriminations.