Norms for two types of manipulability (graspability and functional usage), familiarity,and age of acquisition for 320 photographs of objects

There is increasing interest in the role that manipulability plays in processing objects. To date, Magnié, Besson, Poncet, and Dolisi’s (2003) manipulability ratings, based on the degree to which objects can be uniquely pantomimed, have been the reference point for many studies. However, these ratings do not fully capture some relevant dimensions of manipulability, including whether an object is graspable and the extent to which functional motor associations above and beyond graspability are present. To address this, we collected ratings of these dimensions, in addition to ratings of familiarity and age of acquisition (AoA), for a set of 320 black-and-white photographs of objects. Familiarity and AoA ratings were highly correlated with previously reported ratings of the same dimensions (r =.853, p<.001, and r=.771, p<.001, respectively), validating the present norms. Grasping and functional use ratings, in contrast, were more moderately correlated with Magnié et al.’s pantomime manipulability ratings (r=.507, p<.001). These results were taken as evidence that the new manipulability ratings collected in this research capture distinct aspects of object manipulability. The complete stimuli and norms from this study may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

Slow categorization but fast naming for photographs of manipulable objects

Previous research investigating the influence of object manipulability (the properties of objects that make them appropriate for manual action) on object identification has not tightly controlled for effects of both object familiarity and age of acquisition of objects. The current research carefully controlled these two variables on a balanced set of 120 photographs and showed significant effects of object manipulability during object categorization (Experiment 1) and object naming (Experiment 2). Critically, the effects showed a manipulability-effect reversal, with faster categorization of non-manipulable objects, but faster naming of manipulable objects, suggesting that task moderates the direction of the manipulability effect. Exposure duration (the amount of time the object was visible to participants) was also investigated, but no interactions between exposure duration and manipulability were found. These results indicate that not only can manipulability influence object identification, but the way in which it does depends on the task.     

A set of 254 Snodgrass-Vanderwart pictures standardized for Spanish: Norms for name agreement,image agreement,familiarity, and visual complexity

The Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) picture set was standardized for a Spanish sample (N = 261). The present article shows the main results, but more explicitly, it shows the differences between English and Spanish data. This evidence justifies the statement that normative data of cognitive stimuli cannot be taken into another language directly, because object names that are very common in one language may not be so in another, or objects that have a specific name in one language may have a generic name in another, and so on. Finally, because of the potential usefulness of the data for bilingualism studies, the Spanish data are presented jointly with the English data.     

Discrimination and categorization of photographs of natural objects by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Two experiments assessed the ability of four adult female chimpanzees to categorize natural objects. Chimpanzees were initially trained to match different color photographs of familiar objects from four possible categories. In training, all the comparison stimuli were from the same category in one condition, and from different categories in another condition. For all subjects, training performance was consistently better for the "different category" than for the "same category" trials. Probe trials were shown after training. In probe trials, the sample and positive comparison stimuli were different items from the same category, and the foils were selected from among the three other test categories. Individual performance was above chance in probe trials, suggesting that categorization by chimpanzees may transcend perceptual resemblance. These results were later replicated with novel stimulus items from the same four categories (experiment 2). Altogether, this research demonstrates that chimpanzees grouped perceptually different exemplars within the same category, and further suggests that these animals formed conceptual representations of the categories. Accepted after revision: 10 August 2001 Electronic Publication     

Effects of surface texture on weight perception when lifting objects with a precision grip

In this paper, we show that, when lifting an object using a precision grip with the distal pads of the thumb and index finger at its sides, the perceived weight depends on the object’s surface texture. The smoother the surface texture, the greater the perceived weight. We suggest that a smoother object is judged to be heavier because the grip force, normal to the surface, required to prevent it from slipping is greater. The possibility of there being an influence of surface texture per se is excluded by a second experiment that employed a variant of the precision grip in which the thumb supports the weight of the object from underneath. With the grip oriented in this way, there is no need to match grip force to surface texture and, under these conditions, there is no effect of surface texture on weight perception. In the first two experiments, the test and comparison weights were lifted successively by the same hand. In a third experiment, the effect of surface texture was replicated for sequential lifts made with separate hands. Thus, the effect is not restricted to comparisons made with the same hand.     

A set of 150 pictures with morphologically complex English compound names: Norms for name agreement,familiarity, image agreement,and visual complexity

We present a set of 150 pictures with morphologically complex English compound names. The pictures were collected from various sources and were standardized to appear as grayscale line drawings of a fixed size. All the compounds had two constituents and were primarily of the noun–noun type. Following previous studies, we collected name agreement (percentage and H), familiarity, image agreement, and visual complexity norms, as well as frequency estimates for the whole compound word and its first and second constituents. These pictures and their corresponding norms (available from the Psychonomic Society's supplemental archive) are a valuable tool in the study of the morphological representation of complex words in language processing.     

Recognition by humans and pigeons of novel views of 3-D objects and their photographs

Humans and pigeons were trained to discriminate between 2 views of actual 3-D objects or their photographs. They were tested on novel views that were either within the closest rotational distance between the training views (interpolated) or outside of that range (extrapolated). When training views were 60 degrees apart, pigeons, but not humans, recognized novel views of actual objects better than their pictures. Further, both species recognized interpolated views of both stimulus types better than extrapolated views, but a single distinctive geon enhanced recognition of novel views only for humans. When training views were 90 degrees apart, pigeons recognized interpolated views better than extrapolated views with actual objects but not with photographs. Thus, pigeons may represent actual objects differently than their pictures.     

A set of 400 pictures standardized for French: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, image variability, and age of acquisition

The present article provides French normative measures for 400 line drawings taken from Cycowicz, Friedman, Rothstein, and Snodgrass (1997), including the 260 line drawings that were normed by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980). The pictures have been standardized on the following variables: name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, image variability, and age of acquisition. These normative data also include word frequency values and the first verbal associate (taken from Ferrand & Alario, 1998). The six variables obtained are important because of their potential effect in many fields of psychology, especially the study of cognitive processes such as visual perception, language, and memory.     

A standardized set of 260 pictures for Modern Greek: Norms for name agreement, age of acquisition, and visual complexity

The appropriate selection of both pictorial and linguistic experimental stimuli requires a previous languagespecific standardization process of the materials across different variables. Considering that such normative data have not yet been collected for Modern Greek, in this study normative data for the color version of the Snodgrass and Vanderwart picture set (Rossion & Pourtois, 2004) were collected from 330 native Greek adults. Participants named the pictures (providing name agreement ratings) and rated them for visual complexity and age of acquisition. The obtained measures represent a useful tool for further research on Greek language processing and constitute the first picture normative study for this language. The picture norms from this study and previous ones may be downloaded from brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

Norms for Experiencing Emotions

Norms for experiencing emotions were analyzed for 1,056 participants from five African nations (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) in a cross-cultural study. Results showed much within-nation as well as between-nation variability in norms. Multigroup latent class analysis showed that the more collectivistic African nations found guilt more desirable and pride less desirable than the less collectivistic African nations. Many of the classes found in the African nations resembled classes found in other cultures, providing evidence for the universality of some norms; culture-specific norms for emotions were also found. Contrary to expectations regarding norms for emotions in collectivistic cultures, Africa-specific norms for emotions included a large class of people who found all negative emotions undesirable.     

Observing how others lift light or heavy objects: time-dependent encoding of grip force in the primary motor cortex

During movement observation, corticomotor excitability of the observer's primary motor cortex (M1) is modulated according to the force requirements of the observed action. Here, we explored the time course of observation-induced force encoding. Force-related changes in M1-excitability were assessed by delivering transcranial magnetic stimulations at distinct temporal phases of an observed reach-grasp-lift action. Temporal changes in force-related electromyographic activity were also assessed during active movement execution. In observation conditions in which a heavy object was lifted, M1-excitability was higher compared to conditions in which a light object was lifted. Both during observation and execution, differential force encoding tended to gradually increase from the grasping phase until the late lift phase. Surprisingly, however, during observation, force encoding was already present at the early reach phase: a time point at which no visual cues on the object's weight were available to the observer. As the observer was aware that the same weight condition was presented repeatedly, this finding may indicate that prior predictions concerning the upcoming weight condition are reflected by M1 excitability. Overall, findings may provide indications that the observer's motor system represents motor predictions as well as muscular requirements to infer the observed movement goal.     

Assessing Workgroup Norms for Civility: The Development of the Civility Norms Questionnaire-Brief

Purpose

This research describes the development and validation of the Civility Norms Questionnaire-Brief (CNQ-B), a 4-item measure designed to assess workgroup climate for civility. Climate for civility is defined as employee perceptions of norms supporting respectful treatment among workgroup members.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Five samples (N?=?2,711) of adult employees, including two from distinct organizations and three from multiple organizations, responded to the CNQ-B and additional measures.

Findings

Evidence for the internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity of the CNQ-B was observed. Additionally, evidence for the criterion-related and incremental validity of the CNQ-B was demonstrated as it was a significant predictor of later-assessed incivility experiences and accounted for significant variability in work attitudes beyond incivility experiences and related measures.

Implications

The CNQ-B is a psychometrically sound instrument despite being composed of only four items. The CNQ-B can be used by researchers and practitioners alike to assess climate for civility, to study climate for civility as a precursor to incivility experiences, and to target workgroups that could benefit from interventions (e.g., training) to enhance civility and reduce incivility.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to conduct a rigorous psychometric assessment of a measure of workgroup climate for civility that is grounded in theory and research on workplace civility and incivility. At four items, the CNQ-B is the shortest assessment tool currently available that is designed for this purpose.     

Virtuous Norms for Visual Arguers

This paper proposes that virtue theories of argumentation and theories of visual argumentation can be of mutual assistance. An argument that adoption of a virtue approach provides a basis for rejecting the normative independence of visual argumentation is presented and its premisses analysed. This entails an independently valuable clarification of the contrasting normative presuppositions of the various virtue theories of argumentation. A range of different kinds of visual argument are examined, and it is argued that they may all be successfully evaluated within a virtue framework, without invoking any novel virtues.     

Norms for words that rhyme

The use of rhyme in learning/memory and cognitive studies is extensive. However, there are very few normative studies for words that rhyme. The current study rectified this problem by collecting rhyme norms for 477 words from 545 subjects. Groups of subjects were given 40 words in serial order and requested, for each word, to generate as many rhymes as possible within a 30-sec interval. The data include several rhyme measures as well as measures of other word attributes that were taken from other sources. In addition, the rhyme responses to the target words were given along with their Thomdike and Lorge (1944) and Ku?era and Francis (1967) normative frequencies. Finally, the data were used to investigate various relationships including the spew hypothesis and the accessibility of rhyme sets.     

A standardized set of 260 pictures for Turkish: Norms of name and image agreement,age of acquisition,visual complexity,and conceptual familiarity

In the present study, normative data in Turkish are presented for the 260 color versions of the original Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) picture set for the first time. Norms are reported for name and image agreement, age of acquisition (AoA), visual complexity, and conceptual familiarity, together with written word frequency, and numbers of letters and syllables. We collected data from 277 native Turkish adults in a variety of tasks. The results indicated that, whilst several measures displayed language-specific variation, we also reported what seem to be language-independent—that is, universal—measures that show a systematic relationship across several languages. The implications of the reported measures in the domain of psycholinguistic research in Turkish and for wider cross-linguistic comparisons are discussed.