Determinants of visual attention in real-wound scenes.

The present study examined the saliency of size, movement, and human content variables in visual selective attention. Ss named stimuli present in motion pictures of real world scenes or in animated cartoon controls during a 15-sec. exposure period. Regardless of the type of presentation that they saw, Ss tended to name large and/or moving stimuli more often than small and/or nonmoving stimuli. Also, small human stimuli were named more frequently than small nonhuman stimuli, while there were no differences between the frequencies with which large human and nonhuman stimuli were named. The order in which Ss named stimuli was not related to either the size, movement, or human content variables. Results are discussed in terms of the generalizability of the results of previous studies to conditions simulating the real world.     

Contextual relations: The influence of familiarity,physical plausibility,and belongingness

Individual differences were obtained in a task requiring the same-different comparison of multiobject scenes. For some Ss, performance depended only on whether the objects were in a physically plausible arrangement. It was inferred that these Ss used internalized rule systems to interrelate arrays of objects into organized scenes. For the other Ss, performance depended on whether the objects belonged together, and whether their arrangement was familiar. It was inferred that these Ss dealt with each object on an individual basis, using information concerning belongingness and familiarity of arrangement to anticipate which objects would be present and where they would be located.     

Asymmetric Reinstatement Effects in Recognition

Our experiment examined two questions: (1) Does reinstating a studied context affect recognition of an associated word, and (2) Does reinstating a studied word affect recognition of an associated context? After encoding 75 words, each of which was shown superimposed over a different 5-sec video of an environment (e.g., a playground, a traffic scene, or a grocery store), participants were asked to recognize 50 of the words and 50 of the video scenes. On the test, half of the studied words were shown superimposed over the same video contexts that had been present at encoding, and half were shown over new scenes. Similarly, videos were presented with either old or new words. Context reinstatement increased hits and reduced false alarms for words, but word reinstatement did not affect recognition of video contexts. The results suggest that the associations that bind word events with their contexts may not be bidirectional.     

Disgust sensitivity and fear of animals: Effect of exposure to violent or revulsive material

Subjects were asked to rate their fear of four categories of animals both before and after viewing one of three brief video films. Subjects watched either (a) a video depicting extreme violence, (b) a video depicting revulsive scenes from a hospital operation, or (c) a video showing neutral landscape scenes. The results suggested that exposure to violent material produced an increase in fear ratings for animals in the Hi Fear/Hi Predatory category (e.g., lion, tiger, shark) which was significantly different from a decrease in fear ratings recorded for all other categories of animals. However, exposure to revulsive material produced an increase in fear ratings to animals in both the Hi Fear/Lo Predatory category (e.g., rat, spider, snake) and the Hi Revulsion category (e.g., slug, maggot, snail) which was significantly different to the decrease in fear ratings recorded for animals in the remaining categories. The neutral landscape scenes produced a decrease in mean fear ratings for all categories of animals. These results are considered further support for a disease-avoidance model of common animal fears, and suggest a causal link between disgust sensitivity and fear of certain fear-relevant animals.     

Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis

Three experiments tested whether empathy evokes egoistic motivation to share vicariously in the victim's joy at improvement (the empathic-joy hypothesis) instead of altruistic motivation to increase the victim's welfare (the empathy-altruism hypothesis). In Experiment 1, Ss induced to feel either low or high empathy for a young woman in need were given a chance to help her. Some believed that if they helped they would receive feedback about her improvement; others did not. In Experiments 2 and 3, Ss induced to feel either low or high empathy were given a choice of getting update information about a needy person's condition. Before choosing, they were told the likelihood of the person's condition having improved--and of their experiencing empathic joy--was 20%, was 50%, or was 80%. Results of none of the experiments patterned as predicted by the empathic-joy hypothesis; instead, results of each were consistent with the empathy-altruism hypothesis.     

The Effects of Viewing R-rated Movie Scenes That Objectify Women on Perceptions of Date Rape

The contribution of sexualized images of women in the media to rape and beliefs that support rape has been the subject of considerable research. The present study tested the effects of viewing scenes from R-rated popular films on perceptions of female responsibility for and enjoyment of either a date rape or a stranger rape, using a sample of participants that was both ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. Participants viewed either nonviolent scenes that objectified and degraded women sexually or scenes from an animation festival. In a supposedly unrelated second experiment, participants then read a fictitious magazine account of a date rape or a stranger rape. Results indicated a significant three-way interaction among gender, video condition, and rape scenario on perceptions of the rape, such that males who viewed the sexually objectifying video felt that the victim in the date-rape condition experienced pleasure and “got what she wanted.”     

Asymmetry of doubt in medical self-diagnosis: the ambiguity of "uncertain wellness".

In 2 studies Ss received a clear or an unclear diagnosis, indicating either disease or no disease. In Experiment 1, Ss responded to a hypothetical bacteria test. In Experiment 2, Ss performed 2 saliva tests purportedly measuring risk for pancreatic disorders. Responses to the unclear well diagnosis were unique in several ways. Ss thought the test more invalid, inferred a greater likelihood of illness from a 2nd identical result, saw the disorder as more pernicious, and held no self-protective beliefs about the test or the disease. Moreover, desire for treatment among these Ss was as great as among those receiving a clear diagnosis of illness. Possible mechanisms are discussed, as are potential applications to clinical issues and to the development and maintenance of hypochondriacal health concerns.     

Seeking Information about Different Ethnic Groups: The Role of Motivation and Confirmation1

Two factors were investigated in terms of their effects on information seeking about ethnic groups: degree to which the information confirmed one's stereotype, and motivation for seeking information. Forty-two English Canadians (Ss) were given the opportunity to seek up to 45 items of information about 18 individuals, 3 from each of six ethnic groups. The three members of each group either confirmed, partially disconfirmed, or totally disconfirmed the group stereotype. Results indicated that more information was sought about the confirming member of each group by the Ss instructed to seek information that interested them. Ss instructed to describe or evaluate ethnic group members sought information equally from all members. These results are discussed in terms of expectancy theory, and in relation to other findings on ethnic perception and ethnic interpersonal attraction.     

Seeking the boundary of boundary extension

Boundary extension (BE) is a remarkably consistent visual memory error in which participants remember seeing a more wide-angle image of a scene than was actually viewed (Intraub & Richardson, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 15:179–187, 1989). Multiple stimulus factors are thought to contribute to the occurrence of BE, including object recognition, conceptual knowledge of scenes, and amodal perception at the view boundaries (Intraub, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 3:117–127, 2012). In the present study, we used abstract scenes instead of images of the real world, in order to remove expectations based on semantic associations with objects and the schematic context of the view. Close-angle and wide-angle scenes were created using irregular geometric shapes rated by independent observers as lacking any easily recognizable structure. The abstract objects were tested on either a random-dot or a blank background in order to assess the influence of implied continuation of the image beyond its boundaries. The random-dot background conditions had background occlusion cues either present or absent at the image border, in order to test their influence on BE in the absence of high-level information about the scenes. The results indicate that high-level information about objects and schematic context is unnecessary for BE to occur, and that occlusion information at the image boundary also has little influence on BE. Contrary to previous studies, we also found clear BE for all conditions, despite using scenes depicting undetailed objects on a blank white background. The results highlighted the ubiquitous nature of BE and the adaptability of scene perception processes.     

The effect of noun animacy on the processing of unambiguous sentences: Evidence from French relative clauses

It has previously been shown that moving images are remembered better than static ones. In two experiments, we investigated the basis for this dynamic superiority effect. Participants studied scenes presented as a single static image, a sequence of still images, or a moving video clip, and 3 days later completed a recognition test in which familiar and novel scenes were presented in all three formats. We found a marked congruency effect: For a given study format, accuracy was highest when test items were shown in the same format. Neither the dynamic superiority effect nor the study–test congruency effect was affected by encoding (Experiment 1) or retrieval (Experiment 2) manipulations, suggesting that these effects are relatively impervious to strategic control. The results demonstrate that the spatio-temporal properties of complex, realistic scenes are preserved in long-term memory.     

More historical dimensions of commonsense knowledge: Spiritual consolation for the depressed

Ss were given 15 propositions derived from the neoclassical canon of advice on spiritual consolation for the depressed and were asked either to rate the extent of their personal agreement with each and to predict the average ratings for the group, or to say whether they regarded each proposition as ‘true’ or ‘not true’ and to predict the percentage of the group that would choose ‘true’ for each proposition. The observed and mean predicted rank orders were compared within and between methods; all correlations were high, positive, and significant. The results suggest that people's higher-order ideas about other people's ideas include notions about the intensity of beliefs as well as about the proportion of believers. Contemporary developments of those propositions which a clear majority of the present Ss endorsed are discussed.     

An analysis of the visual component in recognition memory for verbal stimuli

Forty Ss were given a continuous recognition memory test in which each word was presented twice, either in the same print or in different print on the two occasions. The results showed that (a) recognition performance was facilitated to a small but statistically significant extent in the same-print condition and that (b) Ss could reliably report first presentation print for recognized items for at least 1^1/2 rain. In a second experiment, the stimuli used were nonsense strings of. from five to seven letters instead of words. This manipulation increased the same-print advantage in recognition but reduced Ss’ ability to report first print form. The results indicate that information about the physical features of verbal stimuli is retained in a visual code that is partially’ or wholly independent of the verbal code for the same stimuli. The results are inconsistent with the conclusion that the visual code is stored only as a dependent attribute of the verbal code in memory.     

Affective responses to seeing oneself for the first time on unedited videotape

Despite the growing popularity of watching oneself on videotape, little systematic research has been conducted determine viewers' affective responses to video replay. This study addresses the question: what affective responses do women have when they view themselves for the first time on unedited videotape, in comparison to their responses when they view a peer or nature scenes on videotape? Affective responses were measured in three ways: self-report, physiological, and behavioral. Subjects who viewed themselves reported more negative feelings and anxiety, and smiled more frequently than subjects who watched another person or nature scenes on video. Subjects with high private self-consciousness had higher mean arterial blood pressures when viewing themselves than did subjects with low private self-consciousness. Overall, the implications for seeing oneself on video point to potential embarrassment but generally moderate effects.     

Effects of task difficulty on subsequent preference for visual complexity.

Ss rated on a 1 to 13 Likert scale their preference for four environmental scenes which differed in complexity. Ss were then given 30 sec. to solve each of 10 3-, 5-, or 7-letter single-solution anagrams. Finally the Ss rated four new slides which were of the same complexity level as the slides seen during the first session. Change scores were calculated by subtracting the preference ratings at each complexity level during the first session from the rating at the corresponding complexity level during the second session. The Anagram Complexity X Slide Complexity interaction was significant: the complexity of the slides showing the most positive change scores was inversely related to the complexity of the anagrams attempted. The results were discussed in terms of optimal level of stimulation theories.     

Some properties of the olfactory system of man

Preliminary investigations into the effects of a 12-h diurnal variation suggested there was a 10-fold decrease in odor sensitivity from morning to evening. For a selected group of odorants (methyl, t-butyl, and phenyl isonitrile), the difference between detection and recognition thresholds in general was found to be 10-fold; however, for some Ss the difference was less. When Ss were blindfolded, no changes in odor sensitivity were noted. Similarly, imposing an auditory stress on the test situation did not significantly alter odor sensitivity in either experienced or naive Ss,     

Contributions of Head-Mounted Cameras to Studying the Visual Environments of Infants and Young Children

Head-mounted video cameras (with and without an eye camera to track gaze direction) are being increasingly used to study infants’ and young children's visual environments and provide new and often unexpected insights about the visual world from a child's point of view. The challenge in using head cameras is principally conceptual and concerns the match between what these cameras measure and the research question. Head cameras record the scene in front of faces and thus answer questions about those head-centered scenes. In this “Tools of the Trade” article, we consider the unique contributions provided by head-centered video, the limitations and open questions that remain for head-camera methods, and the practical issues of placing head cameras on infants and analyzing the generated video.     

Mood effects on attitude judgments: independent effects of mood before and after message elaboration.

This study investigated the independent effects of induced mood on the encoding of persuasive messages and on the assessment of attitude judgments. In Experiment 1, positive or negative mood was induced either before the encoding of a counterattitudinal message or before the assessment of attitude judgments. When mood was induced before message presentation, Ss in a bad mood were more persuaded by strong than by weak arguments, whereas Ss in a good mood were equally persuaded by strong and by weak arguments. When Ss encoded the message in a neutral mood, however, the advantage of strong over weak arguments was more pronounced when Ss were in a good rather than in a bad mood at the time of attitude assessment. In Experiment 2, Ss exposed to a counterattitudinal message composed of either strong or weak arguments formed either a global evaluation or a detailed representation of the message. Positive, negative, or neutral mood was then induced. Ss in a good mood were most likely and Ss in a negative mood least likely to base their reported attitudes on global evaluations.     

Viewpoint dependency in the recognition of dynamic scenes

In 3 experiments, the question of viewpoint dependency in mental representations of dynamic scenes was addressed. Participants viewed film clips of soccer episodes from 1 or 2 viewpoints; they were then required to discriminate between video stills of the original episode and distractors. Recognition performance was measured in terms of accuracy and speed. The degree of viewpoint deviation between the initial presentation and the test stimuli was varied, as was both the point of time presented by the video stills and participants' soccer expertise. Findings suggest that viewers develop a viewpoint-dependent mental representation similar to the spatial characteristics of the original episode presentation, even if the presentation was spatially inhomogeneous.     

Pupillary Reactions to Sexual,Aggressive, and Other Stimuli as a Function of Personality

This study investigated how well three personality measures, The Dream Incident Technique, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and the Repression-Sensitization Scale, could predict pupillary dilation to a set of experimental stimuli. The stimuli were brief video sequences portraying themes of sex, aggression, achievement, affiliation, nurturance, dominance, and order. The Dream Incident Technique was most predictive of pupillary dilation to these scenes. The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule correlated only with self reports of stimulation. The R-S Scale was unrelated to either pupillary dilation or self report of stimulation.