Distance mitigates perceived threat

It has previously been shown that distance mitigates the extent to which visual cues convey perceived threat. It was hypothesized that the visual cues of eye contact, sex, facial expression, and posture would all convey threat. It was further hypothesized that the effects of visual cues on the perception of threat would decrease with distance, but the extent of those decreases was unknown. In the present study, participants were exposed to images of people situated in a physical venue. The images were created to exhibit combinations of the levels of the four visual cues (yes or no for eye contact, male or female for sex, hostile or benign for facial expression, and hostile or benign for posture). Participants were given an opportunity to record how threatening the images of the people seemed to be. The results supported all a priori hypotheses regarding the effects of the visual cues. The results also generated estimates of the distances at which those visual cues ceased to convey threat.     

Validation of computer simulations for effects of eye gaze, sex, facial expression, and posture on perceived threat

Two experiments were done to ascertain how well computer images of people communicated threat through the nonverbal cues of eye gaze, sex, facial expression, and posture. Results indicated the computer images produced valid and generalizable results. The strongest effects on threat were found for facial expression and posture. Smaller effects were found for sex and direction of eye gaze.     

I Said,You Said: A Communication Exercise for Couples

The “I Said, You Said” technique leads the couple through a series of communication exercises that emphasizes the power of verbal and non-verbal cues. Initially, non-verbal cues that a couple uses to interpret each other’s spoken words are decreased to reduce the outside influences of attributed meaning. This allows the couple to focus on the clarity of the spoken message. Additional steps in this technique include restructuring speaker and listener roles, education about communication patterns, and learning how to communicate with more clarity and effectiveness, even when topics are emotionally laden. A brief vignette using the intervention follows this discussion.     

Binocular cues in the perception of distance of a point source of light

The ability to make egocentric distance estimates of a single point source of light, seen in darkness and without the cues of changing size and luminance, was investigated in sixteen observers. The attenuation required to maintain constant luminance, when the target was viewed from different distances, was shown to follow the inverse square law providing the angle subtended by the light was less than 20 s arc. Distance changes were also simulated by means of a split mirror which produced vergence cues, or by test lenses to provide accommodation cues. Over the range 0.5 to 9.2 m distance estimates were surprisingly accurate, although there was some overestimation of near and underestimation of far distances. Most observers made good judgements when only convergence cues were varied, whereas no observers made consistently good judgements when only accommodation cues were varied. The difficulties are discussed in terms of the accommodation-convergence link. When distance was simulated by changing convergence and accommodation cues, estimates were not as good as when real distance was changed. Since good estimates were made with brief target exposures, these judgements were not based on subsequent convergence or accommodation changes. It is suggested that the metric or reference against which the apparently absolute judgements were made was the efferent demand signal associated with a 'resting' position of convergence in darkness.     

The communication of friendly and hostile attitudes by verbal and non-verbal signals

Two experiments are reported here in which Ss were asked to rate videotapes of a performer reading friendly, neutral and hostile messages in a friendly, neutral or hostile non-verbal style. These messages and non-verbal styles had previously been presented independently to a separate group of Ss jor rating, in order to obtain an estimate of their individual strengths in terms of six rating scales, and thus permit a matching of verbal (messages) and non-verbal (styles) cues in the experiment where both types of cues were presented in combination. The results of both experiments indicate that non-verbal cues had a greater effect on ratings made on 7-point scales, such as hostile-friendly, than verbal cues. The magnitude of this greater effect of non-verbal cues, however, was dependent on the relative strength of non-verbal as opposed to verbal cues. In the first experiment, both types of cues were approximately equal in strength when ruted alone; here non-verbal cues accounted for 12.5 times us much variance us verbal cues, and produced 5.7 times as much shift on the ratitig scales. In the second experiment the verbal cues were much stronger than the non-verbal cues when rated alone. Here the relative effect of non-verbal cues in the second experiment was diminished; the ratio of non-verbal : verbal variance was now 1.67:1. When verbal and non-verbal signals were inconsistent, the performance was rated as insincere, unstable and confusing - which was not found in earlier experiments on the superior-inferior dimension.     

Neuromarketing in predicting voting behavior: A case of National elections in India

Political choice has huge importance, either expressed in the balloting place or in the exit poll, in bringing a political party to power and thus impacting the economy and society's welfare. Research in leadership and decision-making suggests that the physical characteristics and traits of an individual influence the consumer's trustworthiness. Despite being a less explored research area, studying the impact of specific verbal and non-verbal cues of a political leader through a technological lens, such as eye-tracking has been sparsely talked about. Three sets of experiments were conducted to study voters' visual attention and reactions to gage their willingness to vote. First, an eye-tracking tool was used to record the visual attention and regions of interest (ROI) of voters. Subsequently, a short survey was used to analyze the “willingness to vote”, followed by a pilot study on their attention to non-verbal cues from the candidate. Also, a sentiment analysis of the voters was gathered from social media platforms. The present study analyzed the non-verbal aspects of a political leader with regard to voting intention and found that even a few of the non-verbal cues have an influence on the willingness to vote for a candidate. The findings contribute to the literature of neuro-politics and decision-making by analyzing voters' experiences of two political leaders, Narendra Modi (NaMo) and Rahul Gandhi (RaGa) based on non-verbal cues. Political parties and candidates should focus on non-verbal cues to increase their chances of winning elections. In addition, practitioners from the industry should incorporate appropriate non-verbal cues while designing ad campaigns, personal branding, PR campaigns, and CEO addresses.     

Distance estimation in vista space

Although distance estimation has been extensively studied in the laboratory, our ability to judge large distances in the field is not well researched. We challenge the notion that large distances are uniformly underestimated. We presented different targets to observers at distances ranging from 25 to 500 m to obtain egocentric distance judgments in natural environments. Three experiments showed that observers tend to underestimate distances below 75 m in a large open field, whereas they overestimate farther distances. Both the eye height of the observer and the size of the target also influenced distance estimation. We conclude that the notion of a uniform vista space has to be reconceived.     

The influence of restricted viewing conditions on egocentric distance perception: implications for real and virtual indoor environments

We carried out three experiments to examine the influence of field of view and binocular viewing restrictions on absolute distance perception in real-world indoor environments. Few of the classical visual cues provide direct information for accurate absolute distance judgments to points in the environment beyond about 2 m from the viewer. Nevertheless, in previous work it has been found that visually directed walking tasks reveal accurate distance estimations in full-cue real-world environments to distances up to 20 m. In contrast, the same tasks in virtual environments produced with head-mounted displays (HMDs) show large compression of distance. Field of view and binocular viewing are common limitations in research with HMDs, and have been rarely studied under full pictorial-cue conditions in the context of distance perception in the real-world. Experiment 1 showed that the view of one's body and feet on the floor was not necessary for accurate distance perception. In experiment 2 we manipulated the horizontal and the vertical field of view along with head rotation and found that a restricted field of view did not affect the accuracy of distance estimations when head movement was allowed. Experiment 3 showed that performance with monocular viewing was equal to that with binocular viewing. These results have implications for the information needed to scale egocentric distance in the real-world and reduce the support for the hypothesis that a limited field of view or imperfections in binocular image presentation are the cause of the underestimation seen with HMDs.     

The interaction of oculomotor cues and stimulus size in stereoscopic death constancy.

In the natural world, observers perceive an object to have a relatively fixed size and depth over a wide range of distances. Retinal image size and binocular disparity are to some extent scaled with distance to give observers a measure of size constancy. The angle of convergence of the two eyes and their accommodative states are one source of scaling information, but even at close range this must be supplemented by other cues. We have investigated how angular size and oculomotor state interact in the perception of size and depth at different distances. Computer-generated images of planar and stereoscopically simulated 3-D surfaces covered with an irregular blobby texture were viewed on a computer monitor. The monitor rested on a movable sled running on rails within a darkened tunnel. An observer looking into the tunnel could see nothing but the simulated surface so that oculomotor signals provided the major potential cues to the distance of the image. Observers estimated the height of the surface, their distance from it, or the stereoscopically simulated depth within it over viewing distances which ranged from 45 cm to 130 cm. The angular width of the images lay between 2 deg and 10 deg. Estimates of the magnitude of a constant simulated depth dropped with increasing viewing distance when surfaces were of constant angular size. But with surfaces of constant physical size, estimates were more nearly independent of viewing distance. At any one distance, depths appeared to be greater, the smaller the angular size of the image. With most observers, the influence of angular size on perceived depth grew with increasing viewing distance. These findings suggest that there are two components to scaling. One is independent of angular size and related to viewing distance. The second component is related to angular size, and the weighting accorded to it grows with viewing distance. Control experiments indicate that in the tunnel, oculomotor state provides the principal cue to viewing distance. Thus, the contribution of oculomotor signals to depth scaling is gradually supplanted by other cues as viewing distance grows. Binocular estimates of the heights and distances of planar surfaces of different sizes revealed that angular size and viewing distance interact in a similar way to determine perceived size and perceived distance.     

不同反应线索条件下调节匹配对建议采纳的影响

研究的目的是为了探究不同反应线索条件下调节匹配对建议采纳的影响。实验中有两个反应线索：言语性反应线索(实验一)与非言语性反应线索(实验二), 两个实验均采用2(调节取向：促进/防御)×2(建议策略：渴望/警惕)的混合设计。实验一、二的被试分别是81和79名在校大学生, 年龄均在19~25岁之间。实验结果表明, 在言语反应线索条件下, 调节匹配时人们对建议的采纳程度更高; 在非言语性反应线索条件下, 防御取向时, 调节匹配时人们显著提高了建议的采纳程度, 但促进取向条件人们对建议的采纳程度无明显差异。结果表明在促进取向下非言语性反应线索对调节匹配具有干扰作用, 这个结果值得进一步研究。     

When saying and doing diverge: The effects of stereotype threat on self-reported versus non-verbal anxiety

Although research has established that stigmatized individuals suffer impaired performance under stereotype threat conditions, the anxiety presumed to mediate this effect has proven difficult to establish. In the current investigation, we explored whether non-verbal measures would fare better than self-reports in capturing stereotype threat anxiety. Gay and heterosexual men interacted with preschool children under stereotype threat or control conditions. As predicted, stereotype-threatened gay men demonstrated more non-verbal anxiety, but not more self-reported anxiety, than non-threatened gays during these interactions. Furthermore, non-verbal anxiety appeared to mediate the effects of stereotype threat on the quality of participants’ childcare skills. We discuss how these findings advance stereotype threat research, and highlight their potential implications for gay childcare workers.     

The interaction of binocular disparity and motion parallax in determining perceived depth and perceived size.

Although binocular disparity and motion parallax are powerful cues for depth, neither, in isolation, can specify information about both object size and depth. It has been shown that information from both cues can be combined to specify the size, depth, and distance of an object in a scene (Richards, 1985 Journal of the Optical Society of America A 2 343-349). Experiments are reported in which natural viewing and physical stimuli have been used to investigate the nature of size and depth perception on the basis of disparity and parallax presented separately and together at a range of viewing distances. Observers adjusted the relative position of three bright LEDs, which were constrained to form a triangle in plan view with the apex pointing toward the observer, so its dimensions matched that of a standard held by the subject. With static monocular viewing, depth settings were inaccurate and erratic. When both cues were present together accuracy increased and the perceptual outcome was consistent with an averaging of the information provided by both cues. When an apparent bias evident in the observers' responses (the tendency to under-estimate the size of the standard) was taken into account, accuracy was high and size and depth constancy were close to 100%. In addition, given this assumption, the same estimate of viewing distance was used to scale size and depth estimates.     

Linear perspective and perceived size

A recent investigation (McDermott, 1965) revealed individual cues to distance had little effect on the perception of size. The present investigation paired each distance cue with linear perspective to determine the effect on size of combined distance cues. Separate groups of Ss were run in each of six combined cue conditions at three distances. For the most part, size matches were made in terms of retinal image size. It was hypothesized that relative or familiar size may be more relevant to size perception than distance cues.     

Stereotype Threat Impairs Older Adult Driving

Stereotypes can harm human performance, especially when activated in individuals with diminished working memory capacity (WMC). Performance implications for the stereotype of poor driving in older adults were investigated. Using a sample of older adults, WMC (the ability to maintain task goals and ignore distractions) and driving performance [brake reaction time (RT), following distance, and crashes] were assessed, the latter using a high‐fidelity simulator. Elderly participants under stereotype threat with reduced WMC exhibited slower brake RTs and longer following distances compared with a control condition that was not threatened. This driving profile was characteristic of cognitive distraction. Stereotype threat has clear consequences for human performance in a common real‐world task—driving—that is critical to public safety. Furthermore, these findings suggest caution in how the media and public policy communicate information about older adult driving.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Absolute and relative cues for the auditory perception of egocentric distance

Three experiments were performed to examine the reverberation cue to egocentric auditory distance and to determine the extent to which such a cue could provide 'absolute', as contrasted with 'relative', information about distance. In experiment 1 independent groups of blindfolded observers (200 altogether) were presented with broadband noise from a speaker at one of five different distances (0.55 to 8 m) in a normal hard-walled room. Half of each group of observers were presented with the sound at 0 deg azimuth, followed (after a delay) by the identical sound at 90 deg azimuth. The order of presentation was reversed for the remaining observers. Perceived distance varied significantly as a function of the physical distance to the speaker, even for the first presentations. The change in the binaural information between the 0 deg and 90 deg presentations did not significantly modify the results. For both orientations, near distances were overestimated and far distances were underestimated. Experiment 2 and 3 were designed to evaluate how much prior auditory exposure to the laboratory environment was necessary. A 200 Hz square-wave signal was presented from one of three distances (1, 2, or 6 m) to observers who had either minimal room information or an exposure which included talking within the room. Perceived distance varied significantly with physical distance regardless to exposure condition.     

One-dimensional and multi-dimensional studies of the exocentric distance estimates in frontoparallel plane, virtual space, and outdoor open field

The aim of this study is twofold: on the one hand, to determine how visual space, as assessed by exocentric distance estimates, is related to physical space. On the other hand, to determine the structure of visual space as assessed by exocentric distance estimates. Visual space was measured in three environments: (a) points located in a 2-D frontoparallel plane, covering a range of distances of 20 cm; (b) stakes placed in a 3-D virtual space (range = 330 mm); and (c) stakes in a 3-D outdoors open field (range = 45 m). Observers made matching judgments of distances between all possible pairs of stimuli, obtained from 16 stimuli (in a regular squared 4 x 4 matrix). Two parameters from Stevens' power law informed us about the distortion of visual space: its exponent and its coefficient of determination (R2). The results showed a ranking of the magnitude of the distortions found in each experimental environment, and also provided information about the efficacy of available visual cues of spatial layout. Furthermore, our data are in agreement with previous findings showing systematic perceptual errors, such as the further the stimuli, the larger the distortion of the area subtended by perceived distances between stimuli. Additionally, we measured the magnitude of distortion of visual space relative to physical space by a parameter of multidimensional scaling analyses, the RMSE. From these results, the magnitude of such distortions can be ranked, and the utility or efficacy of the available visual cues informing about the space layout can also be inferred.     

Infants' distance perception from linear perspective and texture gradients

This study investigated 5- and 7-month-old infants' abilities to perceive objects' distances from pictorial depth cues, the depth cues available to a stationary, monocular viewer. Infants viewed a display in which texture gradients and linear perspective, two pictorial depth cues, created an illusion of two objects resting at different distances on a textured surface. Under monocular viewing conditions, 7-month-olds reached preferentially for the apparently nearer object, indicating that they perceived the objects' relative distances specified by pictorial depth cues. Under binocular viewing conditions, these infants showed no reaching preference. This finding rules out interpretations of the results not based on the objects' perceived distances. The 5-month-olds' reaching preferences were not significantly different in the experimental (monocular) and control (binocular) conditions. These infants, therefore, did not show clear evidence of distance perception from pictorial depth cues.     

The visual perception of distance ratios outdoors

We conducted an experiment to evaluate the ability of 32 younger and older adults to visually perceive distances in an outdoor setting. On any given trial, the observers viewed 2 environmental distances and were required to estimate the distance ratio—the length of the (usually) larger distance relative to that of the shorter. The stimulus distance ratios ranged from 1.0 (the stimulus distances were identical) to 8.0 (1 distance interval was 8.0 times longer than the other). The stimulus distances were presented within a 26 m × 60 m portion of a grassy field. The observers were able to reliably estimate the stimulus distance ratios: The overall Pearson r correlation coefficient relating the judged and actual distance ratios was 0.762. Fifty-eight percent of the variance in the observers’ perceived distance ratios could thus be accounted for by variations in the actual stimulus ratios. About half of the observers significantly underestimated the distance ratios, while the judgments of the remainder were essentially accurate. Significant modulatory effects of sex and age occurred, such that the male observers’ judgments were the most precise, while those of the older males were the most accurate.     

Effects of Threat on Police Officers' Shooting Behavior: Anxiety,Action Specificity,and Affective Influences on Perception

In the current study, we investigated the impact of threat and response mode on police officers' distance perception and shooting behavior in relation to a suspect that approached with a knife. To manipulate threat and increase anxiety, the suspect carried either a plastic knife (low threat) or an electrical knife (high threat). Regarding the manipulation of response mode, officers provided either an actual shooting response or indicated their shot verbally. In both cases, perceptual judgments of shooting distances were assessed through visual matching. Results show that high threat led to earlier shooting, but only for actual shooting responses. Although high threat generally induced more anxiety, perceptual judgments remained unaffected by threat and indicated systematic underestimations of the distance to the suspect. It is suggested that in the online control of action, increased anxiety does not affect distance perception but alters the functional relationship between distance and perceived threat, thereby causing officers to shoot the approaching suspect at an earlier stage. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mirror vision: perceived size and perceived distance of virtual images

We investigated spatial perception of virtual images that were produced by convex and plane mirrors. In Experiment 1, 36 subjects reproduced both the perceived size and the perceived distance of virtual images for five targets that had been placed at a real distance of 10 or 20 m. In Experiment 2, 30 subjects verbally judged both the perceived size and the perceived distance of virtual images for five targets that were placed at each of five real distances of 2.5-45 m. In both experiments, the subjects received objective-size and objective-distance instructions. The results were that (1) size constancy was attained for a distance of up to 45 m, (2) distance was readily discriminated within this distance range, although virtual images produced by the mirror of strong curvature were judged to be farther away than those produced by the mirrors of less curvature, and (3) the ratio of perceived size to perceived distance was described as a power function of visual angle, and the ratio for the convex mirror was larger than that for the plane mirror. We compared the taking-into-account model and the direct perception model on the basis of a correlation analysis for proximal, virtual, and real levels of the stimuli. The taking-into-account model, which assumes that visual angle is transformed into perceived size by taking perceived distance into account, was supported by an analysis for the proximal level of stimuli. The direct perception model, which assumes that there is no inferential process between perceived size and perceived distance, was partially supported by an analysis for the distal level of the stimuli.