STUDIES IN VISUAL PERCEPTION OF ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND ROOMS: I. Judgment scales of open and closed space

G arling , T. Studies in visual perception of architectural spaces and rooms. I. Judgment scales of open and closed space. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, io , 250–256.—Eight observers judged open and closed space, viewing spaces from different spots along a street in a small town. The spaces were viewed and judged either as wholes or parts by using a ratio scaling procedure. The observers were found to make reliable judgments of closed and open space. The function relating these judgment to each other approximated, however, a complementary relation as expected for category ratings. Judgments of whole spaces might be predicted from averaged judgments of their parts.     

STUDIES IN VISUAL PERCEPTION OF ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND ROOMS

To test the hypothesis that perceived size of space depends on perceived depth, a relation between judged depth and size of space was derived. External spaces were judged from colour photographs by the magnitude estimation method. It was found that judged depth is a power function of physical depth and judged size of space a power function of physical size (rectangular area) or of judged depth times perceived width. The results indicate deviations from the derived relation and some explanations for these are discussed. Further research is needed to verify the proposed hypothesis.     

STUDIES IN VISUAL PERCEPTION OF ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND ROOMS

G arling T. Studies in visual perception of architectural spaces and rooms. V. Aesthetic preferences. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1972. 13 , 222–227.—Depicted urban spaces were rated by 24 subjects with respect to pleasantness. The results for colour photographs, 'detailed' and 'undetailed' perspective drawings were compared. As a common basis for aesthetic preferences, the factors 'variation', 'umbrageousness' and 'openness' were suggested. These factors accounted for 69 % of the variance in multiple linear regression.     

Stimulus discriminability in the magnitude estimation and category rating of loudness

Thirty-three Ss made category ratings and magnitude estimations of 10 auditory stimuli differing in loudness. The results from each task were examined in terms of the response uncertainty conditional upon each stimulus. The results did not support the suggestion that category judgments are influenced by the relative discriminability of stimuli in a way which is not characteristic of magnitude estimates, but were found to be consistent with the subjective Standard hypothesis. It is argued that the observed quasi-logarithmic relationship between category scale and ratio scale values reflects the constraints placed upon responses in category rating tasks.     

Scaling occupational prestige by magnitude estimation and category rating methods: A comparison with the sensory domain

In a field study, models for magnitude estimation and for category ratings are applied to the scaling of occupational prestige. The two respective models provide sufficient conditions for magnitude estimates to yield logarithmic interval scales and for category ratings to lead to interval scales. Both models are found to hold reasonably well for the majority of respondents. As implied by a third model, the relation between magnitude estimation and category rating scales can well be described by a generalized power function. Although overall results do not favour one method over the other individual data analyses reveal substantial interindividual differences with respect to the capability of performing magnitude estimates and category ratings, respectively. The findings are compared to results recently found in psychophysical laboratory experiments, and it is concluded that the individual scale properties the two methods provide do not differ across the attitudinal and the sensory domains.     

遗忘症患者外显与内隐记忆实验研究:语义性启动效应任务

采用ＷＭＳ—ＣＲ和ＭＭＳＥ对临床脑损伤患者进行了认知功能与记忆功能两方面的筛选,获得９名遗忘症患者。然后采用偏好和自由联想两项语义性启动效应任务进行测验,发现遗忘症患者在外显记忆受损情况下,的确存在语义性启动效应,且与正常对照相近。推论语义性启动效应任务与遗忘患者损伤的颞叶或间脑结构无关。同时还讨论了启动效应任务,认为偏好任务采用言语性材料不是理想的方法。     

Musicians outperform nonmusicians in magnitude estimation: Evidence of a common processing mechanism for time,space and numbers

It has been proposed that time, space, and numbers may be computed by a common magnitude system. Even though several behavioural and neuroanatomical studies have focused on this topic, the debate is still open. To date, nobody has used the individual differences for one of these domains to investigate the existence of a shared cognitive system. Musicians are known to outperform nonmusicians in temporal discrimination tasks. We therefore observed professional musicians and nonmusicians undertaking three different tasks: temporal (participants were required to estimate which of two tones lasted longer), spatial (which line was longer), and numerical discrimination (which group of dots was more numerous). If time, space, and numbers are processed by the same mechanism, it is expected that musicians will have a greater ability, even in nontemporal dimensions. As expected, musicians were more accurate with regard to temporal discrimination. They also gave better performances in both the spatial and the numerical tasks, but only outside the subitizing range. Our data are in accordance with the existence of a common magnitude system. We suggest, however, that this mechanism may not involve the whole numerical range.     

STUDIES IN PREDICTIVE BEHAVIOR: Explorations into predictive judgments based on functional learning and defined by estimation, categorization, and choice

A model for functional learning with a subjective regression which intervenes between stimuli and predictive responses was used. The subject had to predict motion time of a ball rolling down a chute. The estimation experiments showed that (1) the relation between predicted and objective time, is biased in the direction of t _pred= t ², (2) training does not increase the veridicality. In the categorization experiments (1) learning occurred more rapidly with homogeneous categories, (2) transfer was facilitated after training on heterogeneous categories, (3) learning occurred without reinforcement by observation. In a choice experiment two simultaneous processes were studied, functional and probability learning.     

THE ACQUISITION OF CONSERVATION OF SUBSTANCE AND WEIGHT IN CHILDREN: II.External reinforcement of conservation of weight and of the operations of addition and subtraction

S medslund , J. The acquisition of conservation of substance and weight in children. II. External reinforcement of conservation of weight and of the operations of addition and subtraction. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1961, 2 , 71–84. —The subjects were 5–7 years old. Group I was allowed to observe empirical conservation of weight on a balance. Group II practised on additions and subtractions of material with controls on the scales. Group III took only the pre- and posttests. The data show no appreciable differences in frequency of acquisition of conservation between the three groups. It is concluded that none of the experimental conditions were necessary or sufficient for the acquisition of principles of conservation. The hypothesis is advanced that cognitive conflict may be the crucial factor involved.