Do observers like curvature or do they dislike angularity?

Humans have a preference for curved over angular shapes, an effect noted by artists as well as scientists. It may be that people like smooth curves or that people dislike angles, or both. We investigated this phenomenon in four experiments. Using abstract shapes differing in type of contour (angular vs. curved) and complexity, Experiment 1 confirmed a preference for curvature not linked to perceived complexity. Experiment 2 tested whether the effect was modulated by distance. If angular shapes are associated with a threat, the effect may be stronger when they are presented within peripersonal space. This hypothesis was not supported. Experiment 3 tested whether preference for curves occurs when curved lines are compared to straight lines without angles. Sets of coloured lines (angular vs. curved vs. straight) were seen through a circular or square aperture. Curved lines were liked more than either angular or straight lines. Therefore, angles are not necessary to generate a preference for curved shapes. Finally, Experiment 4 used an implicit measure of preference, the manikin task, to measure approach/avoidance behaviour. Results did not confirm a pattern of avoidance for angularity but only a pattern of approach for curvature. Our experiments suggest that the threat association hypothesis cannot fully explain the curvature effect and that curved shapes are, per se, visually pleasant.     

Children's and adults' recall of children's news stories in both print and audio‐visual presentation modalities

Research into adults' recall from different presentation modalities has demonstrated a recall advantage for print over television yet recent research indicates that children remember television news better than print news. An experiment was conducted by comparing children's and adults' recall of children's news stories presented in two different modalities, television and print, in order to establish whether children's recall advantage for television is dependent on their age or level of reading proficiency. A sample of 40 adults, 40 13‐year‐olds and 40 11‐year‐olds were presented with children's news stories, either in their original televised form or in a print version. All participants were aware they would be tested for recall. The results of the cued recall test indicated that children from both age groups learned more from the television news than from the print versions, regardless of age or reading proficiency and that adults remembered equal amounts from both presentation modalities. For the 11‐year‐olds the advantage of television was only found for information that had been accompanied by redundant pictures in the televised version, providing support for the dual‐coding hypothesis. For 13‐year‐olds the recall of television was not dependent on the addition of redundant visual information. Viewers and readers were found to invest the same amounts of mental effort, but reported levels of invested mental effort were found to be dependent on age and level of reading proficiency. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's Memory for News: A Comparison of Three Presentation Media

A study was conducted to compare children's learning of news information from television versus from audio-only or printed text presentations of the same narrative content. Although previous research among adults has yielded contradictory findings, research with children has found that they consistently remember news better from television than from print. The experiment extended this work by comparing children's recall of news information from different presentation media and investigating whether the effectiveness of the different media is dependent on expectation of a memory test and the children's reading proficiency. A sample of 166 male and female 10- and 11-year-olds was presented with a sequence of news stories taken from a children's news program either in their original televised form, in soundtrack only, or in a print version. Half of the children were led to expect a memory test, and half were not. The results of the cued recall test indicated that children learned more from television news than from the print and audio versions, regardless of their reading proficiency. The advantage of television was found only for information that had been accompanied by semantically redundant pictures in the televised version, providing support for the dual-coding hypothesis     

电视广告中性别角色定型研究述评

文章首先介绍了性别角色定型的相关概念和广告中性别角色定型研究的理论基础,然后从内容分析和受众反应两个角度回顾并总结了有关电视广告中性别角色定型的研究。内容分析的结果表明：虽然经过了20多年的女权运动,电视广告中的性别角色定型并没有减弱;电视广告中的性别角色定型具有国际普遍性。受众反应的结果表明：受众对电视广告中的性别角色定型的反应是一个复杂的过程,会受到多种因素,比如性别、年龄、受教育程度和女性主义意识等的影响     

Properties of curvilinear vection

Approximately linear relationships were observed between contrast, spatial frequency, temporal frequency, or velocity of stimulation and perceived velocity of curvilinear vection—that is, a visually induced self-motion in a curved path. Similarly, linear relationships were also found between the perceived degree of curvature of curvilinear vection and spatial frequency or velocity of stimulation. Since the perceived velocity of curvilinear vection varies with contrast, spatial frequency, temporal frequency, and angular velocity, and the perceived degree of curvature of curvilinear vection varies only with spatial frequency and angular velocity, peripheral vision is not sufficient for computing accurately the curvilinear component of induced self-motion in a curved path. Concurrently, it was shown that the perceived direction of curvilinear vection is not always unambiguously perceived (Sauvan & Bonnet, 1989). Consequently, it is suggested that two different types of visual processing, which involve the peripheral or the central vision, underlie the processing of curvilinear vection.     

Television production feature effects on children's comprehension of time

Children's temporal comprehension was assessed after viewing a television program containing a flashback that shifted the events to a much earlier time. The flashback was marked or not marked with sound effects, and time relations were visually represented with either dreamy camera dissolves or abrupt camera cuts. Sixty-four children, equally distributed by grades kindergarten and first versus fourth and fifth, participated in individual viewing sessions. After viewing, children answered questions to assess comprehension on the flashback. Older children understood the flashback better than did the younger children. Children who saw dreamy visual dissolves understood temporal concepts presented in the flashback better than those who saw camera cuts, particularly at young ages. The results suggest that formal production features affect children's comprehension of complex temporal concepts presented via television.     

Modality exclusivity norms for 400 nouns: The relationship between perceptual experience and surface word form

We present modality exclusivity norms for 400 randomly selected noun concepts, for which participants provided perceptual strength ratings across five sensory modalities (i.e., hearing, taste, touch, smell, and vision). A comparison with previous norms showed that noun concepts are more multimodal than adjective concepts, as nouns tend to subsume multiple adjectival property concepts (e.g., perceptual experience of the concept baby involves auditory, haptic, olfactory, and visual properties, and hence leads to multimodal perceptual strength). To show the value of these norms, we then used them to test a prediction of the sound symbolism hypothesis: Analysis revealed a systematic relationship between strength of perceptual experience in the referent concept and surface word form, such that distinctive perceptual experience tends to attract distinctive lexical labels. In other words, modality-specific norms of perceptual strength are useful for exploring not just the nature of grounded concepts, but also the nature of form–meaning relationships. These norms will be of benefit to those interested in the representational nature of concepts, the roles of perceptual information in word processing and in grounded cognition more generally, and the relationship between form and meaning in language development and evolution.     

Relationships between personality structure, structure of word meaning, and cognitive ability: a study of cultural mechanisms of personality

Native-born Estonian men (N=912), 17-68 years old, participated in a study on relationships between personality characteristics, dominant structure of word meaning ("everyday concepts" thinking or "scientific concepts" thinking), and level of cognitive ability. Individuals who primarily used everyday concepts thinking or who possessed relatively low levels of cognitive ability did not reveal a coherent Big Five personality structure, whereas individuals who primarily used scientific concepts thinking or possessed high levels of cognitive ability did. Thus, personality may be shaped by a cultural factor--word meaning structure. Earlier studies, which seem to support the idea that Big Five personality structure is a biologically determined human universal, suffer from serious sampling problems and insufficient data analyses.     

Toward an Ecological Theory of Concepts

Psychology has had difficulty accounting for the creative, context-sensitive manner in which concepts are used. We believe this stems from the view of concepts as identifiers rather than bridges between mind and world that participate in the generation of meaning. This article summarizes the history and current status of concepts research and provides a nontechnical summary of work toward an ecological approach to concepts. We outline the rationale for applying generalizations of formalisms originally developed for use in quantum mechanics to the modeling of concepts, showing how it is because of the role of context that deep structural similarities exist between the two. A concept is defined not just in terms of exemplary states and their features or properties but also by the relational structures of these properties and their susceptibility to change under different contexts. The approach implies a view of mind in which the union of perception and environment drives conceptualization, forging a web of conceptual relations or “ecology of mind.”     

Recopition memory for syntactic and semantic aspects of connected discourse

This study investigates the pattern of retention of syntactic and semantic information shortly after comprehension of connected discourse. Ninety-six Ss listened to 24 taped passages and, after each passage, heard one recognition test sentence which was either identical to a sentence that had occurred in the passage, or was changed in some slight way. The Ss responded “identical” or “changed,” rated their confidence, and classified changes as “meaning” or “form.” Two independent variables were manipulated: (1) The relationship between the original sentence in the passage and the test sentence. The test sentence was (a) semantically changed, (b) changed from active to passive voice or vice versa, (c) formally changed in other ways that did not affect the meaning, or (d) unchanged. Each sentence appeared in all change types. (2) The amount of interpolated material between the original and test sentences was zero, 80, or 160 syllables of connected discourse which was a continuation of the passage. Each S heard passages representing all levels of each variable. All combinations of particular passages, relationship of original and test sentence, and amount of interpolated material were tested. When the test sentence was heard immediately after the original, retention was high for all test types. But after 80½160 syllables, recognition for syntactic changes had dropped to near chance levels while remaining high for semantic changes. Even when the meaning of a sentence was remembered, formal properties that were not necessary for that meaning were forgotten very quickly. The results suggest that the original form of the sentence is stored only for the short time necessary for comprehension to occur. When a semantic interpretation has been made, the meaning is stored. Thus the memory of the meaning is not dependent on memory of the original form of the sentence.     

The impact of television,print, and audio on children's recall of the news.

Recent research has shown that children remember more from television news than from print news, a finding that has been explained by the extra mnemonic support offered by redundant television pictures (the dual‐coding hypothesis). The present study was designed to examine three alternative explanations, which attribute children's superior recall of television news to (a) underutilization of the print medium, (b) a recall advantage of listening compared with reading, and imperfect reading ability. A sample of 192 fourth and sixth graders was presented with children's news stories, either in (a) their original television form, (b) a bare print version, a print version supplemented with photo material or in (d) an audio version. Results indicated that the television presentation was remembered better than any of the other three versions. The results of the study were consistent with the dual‐coding hypothesis, whereas no support was found for the alternative explanations tested in the study.     

Presence and Image Quality: The Case of High-Definition Television

Previous research has demonstrated that form variables can increase television viewers' sense of presence. The current broadcasting of high-definition television (HDTV) programming makes testing this relation between form and presence possible in a new context, image quality. In this experiment, television viewers watched either HDTV or standard-definition television images and then rated their viewing experience on a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. The results demonstrate that HDTV provided viewers with a greater sense of presence than the current standard, thus providing empirical evidence for the claim that improved image quality will lead to television viewers' experiencing presence. Additionally, the results suggest that with the coming of HDTV, sensations of presence will be both stronger and more common.     

Identification of everyday objects on the basis of fragmented outline versions

Although Attneave (1954 Psychological Review 61 183 193) and Biederman (1987 Psychological Review 94 115-147) have argued that curved contour segments are most important in shape perception, Kennedy and Domander (1985 Perception 14 367-370) showed that fragmented object contours are better identifiable when straight segments are shown. We used the set of line drawings published by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 6 174-215), to make outline versions that could be used to investigate this issue with a larger and more heterogeneous stimulus set. Fragments were placed either around the 'salient' points or around the midpoints (points midway between two salient points), creating curved versus relatively straight fragments when the original outline was fragmented (experiment 1), or angular and straight fragments when straight-line versions were fragmented (experiment 2). We manipulated fragment length in each experiment except the last one, in which we presented only selected points (experiment 3). While fragmented versions were on average more identifiable when straight fragments were shown, certain objects were more identifiable when the curved segments or the angles were shown. A tentative explanation of these results is presented in terms of an advantage for straight segments during grouping processes for outlines with high part salience, and an advantage for curved segments during matching processes for outlines with low part salience.     

Comparison of observational recordings in vivo, via mirror, and via television

Simultaneous observational recordings were made in vivo, via an observation mirror, and via closed circuit television. Three of nine observers had extensive experience recording behavior in vivo; three had extensive experience recording behavior via mirror; and three had extensive experience recording via television. Observers recorded nine categories of disruptive behavior for children in a special class setting. Frequencies of behavior recorded in vivo, via mirror, and via television differed significantly for only one category, vocalization. There were no significant main effects or interactions involving the observers' previous experience. Occurrence reliability coefficients computed within and between media demonstrated the similarity of observer agreement in all three media. Data collection procedures using an observational mirror or closed circuit television appear to be reasonable alternatives to in vivo observation in circumstances similar to those in the present study.     

The interpretation of classically quantified sentences: a set-theoretic approach

We present a set-theoretic model of the mental representation of classically quantified sentences (All P are Q, Some P are Q, Some P are not Q, and No P are Q). We take inclusion, exclusion, and their negations to be primitive concepts. We show that although these sentences are known to have a diagrammatic expression (in the form of the Gergonne circles) that constitutes a semantic representation, these concepts can also be expressed syntactically in the form of algebraic formulas. We hypothesized that the quantified sentences have an abstract underlying representation common to the formulas and their associated sets of diagrams (models). We derived 9 predictions (3 semantic, 2 pragmatic, and 4 mixed) regarding people's assessment of how well each of the 5 diagrams expresses the meaning of each of the quantified sentences. We report the results from 3 experiments using Gergonne's (1817) circles or an adaptation of Leibniz (1903/1988) lines as external representations and show them to support the predictions.     

Sex in the Media,Sex on the Mind: Linking Television Use,Sexual Permissiveness,and Sexual Concept Accessibility in Memory

The present study explores the interrelationships between emerging adults’ exposure to sexual depictions on mainstream television, their attitudes toward sexually permissive behaviors, and the salience (accessibility) of concepts related to sexual activity in their implicit memory. Findings indicate a small but significant relationship between increased exposure to sex on television and increased favoring of sexually permissive behaviors, when taking sexual concept accessibility into account. When taking television exposure into account, young adults who held stronger sexually permissive attitudes found it easier to access concepts of sexual activity in memory, suggesting these ideas were top-of-mind for these participants, compared to participants scoring lower on permissiveness. However, there was no direct connection between exposure to sex on television and accessibility of sexual activity in memory when accounting for permissive attitudes, suggesting that sexual permissiveness is at the center of any link between exposure and accessibility. Implications for examining sexual permissiveness as a lens for structuring sexual information in memory, as well as implications for designing sexual health messages are discussed in light of the findings.     

Halos vs. stigmas: long-term effects of parent's death or divorce on college students' concepts of the family

College students from families of divorce, of death of a parent, and of intact families rated the meaning of six concepts of the family: mother, father, I myself, marriage, family, and divorce. The Semantic Differential was used to assess four dimensions of meaning of family concepts: evaluation, potency, activity, and general cultural favorability. Children of divorce rated father less favorably than did children of death of a parent or of intact families; however, children of divorce rated divorce more favorably than the remaining two groups. Also, children of divorce evaluated the family concepts that were rated here more negatively than, but equally as potent and active as, children of death of a parent and of intact families. Thus, several long-term stigmas attach to family among children of divorce, but no evidence was found of a halo effect for children of death of a parent.     

Mental rotation of random two-dimensional shapes

Two experiments are reported in which Ss were required to determine whether a random, angular form, presented at any of a number of picture-plane orientations, was a “standard” or “reflected” version. Average time required to make this determination increased linearly with the angular departure of the form from a previously learned orientation. The slope and intercept of the reaction-time (RT) function were virtually constant, regardless of the perceptual complexity of the test form and the orientation selected for initial learning.When Ss were informed in advance as to the identity and the orientation of the upcoming test form and, further, were permitted to indicate when they were prepared for its external presentation, RT for determining the version of the form was constant for all test-form orientations. However, the time needed to prepare for the test-form presentation increased linearly with the angular departure of the form from the learned orientation.It is argued that the processes both of preparing for and of responding to a disoriented test form consist of the mental rotation of an image, and that both sorts of mental rotation (pre-stimulus and post-stimulus) are carried out at essentially the same constant rate.