The Gollin incomplete figures test: a flexible, computerised version

The Gollin incomplete figures test has been used as a measure of visual development, as a clinical test for parietal cortex dysfunction, and to examine long-term memory in amnesic patients. It has traditionally been administered by using a series of three or five stimulus cards, successive cards containing progressively more information. A study is reported in which digitised outline drawings of familiar objects were presented via a computer, the percentage of the figure on the screen slowly increasing from 0 to 100. The original findings of Gollin were successfully replicated; children's performance on the task improved markedly over the age range 2-5 years, and performance improved dramatically over three tests in all subjects. Computerisation of the Gollin task provides a precise and versatile alternative to the original card version.     

Bringing color to emotion: The influence of color on attentional bias to briefly presented emotional images

Is color a critical feature in emotional content extraction and involuntary attentional orienting toward affective stimuli? Here we used briefly presented emotional distractors to investigate the extent to which color information can influence the time course of attentional bias in early visual cortex. While participants performed a demanding visual foreground task, complex unpleasant and neutral background images were displayed in color or grayscale format for a short period of 133 ms and were immediately masked. Such a short presentation poses a challenge for visual processing. In the visual detection task, participants attended to flickering squares that elicited the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), allowing us to analyze the temporal dynamics of the competition for processing resources in early visual cortex. Concurrently we measured the visual event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by the unpleasant and neutral background scenes. The results showed (a) that the distraction effect was greater with color than with grayscale images and (b) that it lasted longer with colored unpleasant distractor images. Furthermore, classical and mass-univariate ERP analyses indicated that, when presented in color, emotional scenes elicited more pronounced early negativities (N1–EPN) relative to neutral scenes, than when the scenes were presented in grayscale. Consistent with neural data, unpleasant scenes were rated as being more emotionally negative and received slightly higher arousal values when they were shown in color than when they were presented in grayscale. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for the modulatory role of picture color on a cascade of coordinated perceptual processes: by facilitating the higher-level extraction of emotional content, color influences the duration of the attentional bias to briefly presented affective scenes in lower-tier visual areas.     

The influence of selection test type on applicant reactions to employment testing

The impact of employment selection devices on the reactions of simulated applicants was investigated. In Study 1, 141 subjects were “failed” on either a biographical inventory, a cognitive ability test, a trainability test or a work sample test. Subjects rejected on the basis of biographical inventory scores perceived the test as less difficult, coped more adaptively, and had better moods than subjects tested with the other instruments. The biographical inventory was also seen as more fakable, but less amenable to improvement through feedback or training than the other devices. We hypothesized that differences among tests in cognitive demand is a primary cause of differences in applicant reaction. In Study 2 (N=151) the comparison of the effects of two biographical inventories to two cognitive ability tests supported our hypothesis, and replicated the findings of Study 1 across failure and success conditions.     

The influence of color on the perception of scene gist

In 3 experiments the authors used a new contextual bias paradigm to explore how quickly information is extracted from a scene to activate gist, whether color contributes to this activation, and how color contributes, if it does. Participants were shown a brief presentation of a scene followed by the name of a target object. The target object could be consistent or inconsistent with scene gist but was never actually present in the scene. Scene gist activation was operationalized as the degree to which participants respond "yes" to consistent versus inconsistent objects, reflecting a response bias produced by scene gist. Experiment 1 demonstrated that scene gist is activated after a 42-ms exposure and that the strength of the activation increases with longer presentation durations. Experiments 2 and 3 explored the contribution of color to the activation of scene gist. The results revealed that color has an influence across a wide variety of scenes and is directly associated with scene gist.     

The perception of subjective contours and neon color spreading figures in young infants

The goal of the present habituation—dishabituation study was to explore sensitivity to subjective contours and neon color spreading patterns in infants. The first experiment was a replication of earlier investigations that showed evidence that even young infants are capable of perceiving subjective contours. Participants 4 months of age were habituated to a subjective Kanizsa square and were tested afterward for their ability to differentiate between the subjective square and a nonsubjective pattern that was constructed by rotating some of the inducing elements. Data analysis indicated a significant preference for the nonsubjective pattern. A control condition ensured that this result was not generated by the difference in figural symmetry or by the local differences between the test displays. In the second experiment, infant perception of a neon color spreading display was analyzed. Again, 4-month-old infants could discriminate between the illusory figure and a nonillusory pattern. Furthermore, infants in a control group did not respond to the difference in symmetry and the local differences between two nonillusory targets. Overall, the results show that young infants respond to illusory figures that are generated by either implicit T-junctions (Experiment 1) or implicit X-junctions (Experiment 2). The findings are interpreted against the background of the neurophysiological model proposed by Grossberg and Mingolla (1985).     

The influence of ultraviolet radiation on the pigeon's color discrimination

Two experiments demonstrated the pigeon's sensitivity to ultraviolet light. In Experiment I, pigeons' responses were reinforced on a multiple schedule with a variable-interval reinforcement schedule in one component and extinction in the other component. Response rates were quite different in the two components where the 520-nm stimuli signalling each component differed only in that one of them contained a 366-nm ultraviolet component. In Experiment II, pigeons were trained to peck one side key when two halves of a split field were of different wavelength and to peck another side key when they were of the same wavelength. Initially, field halves contained both "visible" and ultraviolet components of energy. Discrimination performance improved when the ultraviolet component was removed from one field half. It was argued that the critical change in the stimulus was a color change, rather than a brightness one, or a fluorescence of structures in the pigeon's eye.     

The influence of an audience upon the reactions to filmed violence

In order to examine audience effects when viewing firmed violence, 5 to 6 year old pre-school boys who had been rated as submissive by their teachers watched an aggressive or a neutral movie either alone, accompanied by another submissive classmate, or a dominant one. Subsequent aggression against a frustrating, unknown and unseen boy was delivered via a modified Buss machine, especially adapted for children. Subjects accompanied by a dominant peer were more aggressive than the others but did not react differentially to the movies. Subjects tested alone were more aggressive after the violent film than after the neutral one and the opposite pattern occurred for the boys accompanied by a submissive classmate. These findings stress the importance of the social context when viewing filmed violence. It is suggested that the quality of the audience can have different directional (e.g. fear and aggression) as well as energizing properties. Links with the literature on social facilitation and audience effects are underlined.     

The influence of seriousness and contagiousness of disease on emotional reactions to ill persons

Abstract

Extends research on illness cognition by arguing that two major dimensions of illness cognition - seriousness and contagiousness of disease - are responsible for different emotional responses to ill persons, and that the activation of these dimensions is dependent on type of contact with these persons. Using a vignet methodology, nursing students (N = 333) were asked to imagine having different types of contact with patients with diseases differing in seriousness and contagiousness. When participants imagined personal contact with the patient, their anxiety responses and self-efficacy expectations were primarily determined by seriousness of disease. In contrast, when they anticipated close physical contact with the patient, subjects' anxiety reactions and self-efficacy expectations were primarily influenced by contagiousness of disease. Seriousness of disease appeared to be a major determinant of feelings of pity, poweriessness, sadness, and motivation to psychologically support the patient. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The influence of surface color information and color knowledge information in object recognition

In order to clarify whether the influence of color knowledge information in object recognition depends on the presence of the appropriate surface color, we designed a name-object verification task. The relationship between color and shape information provided by the name and by the object photo was manipulated in order to assess color interference independently of shape interference. We tested three different versions for each object: typically colored, black and white, and nontypically colored. The response times on the nonmatching trials were used to measure the interference between the name and the photo. We predicted that the more similar the name and the photo are, the longer it would take to respond. Overall, the color similarity effect disappeared in the black-and-white and nontypical color conditions, suggesting that the influence of color knowledge on object recognition depends on the presence of the appropriate surface color information.     

The influence of individual characteristics and severity of harassing behavior on reactions to sexual harassment

Differences in reactions to 18 scenarios depicting potentially sexually harassing situations were studied as a function of harassment severity and individual level factors. The scenarios illustrate a continuum of behavior, with some situations depicting overt sexual harassment and others portraying more innocuous behaviors. The individuals' reactions were strongly influenced by the perceived severity of the incidents. Reactions were influenced to a lesser extent by the individual level factors of gender, attitudes toward women, religiosity, and locus of control. Among these factors, gender had the strongest effect on reaction types. Findings indicate that harassment severity and individual level factors may combine to influence reactions to sexual harassment.The authors would like to thank Barbara Gutek and Gary Powell for their comments on an early draft of this paper.     

The influence of misattributions on reactions to inequity: Towards a further understanding of Inequity

An experiment was conducted to investigate the importance of inequity distress. In a 2 x 2 factorial design subjects were paid either in a high or low disadvantageous inequitable manner compared to a male confederate. One half of the subjects were led to believe that fictitious infrasonic sound would have arousing side effects, one half expected no side effects whatsoever. According to the hypotheses, (1) subjects in the misattribution condition restored equity less than subjects in the no side effects control group, (2) strongly inequitable treated subjects restored equity more than mildly inequitable treated ones, (3) the misattribution manipulation only had a significant effect on strongly inequitable treated subjects. Thus, the results show that distress is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the restoration of equity. Consequences of the results for future research are discussed.     

The influence of various types of control on psychophysiological stress reactions

The influence of personal control on reactions to shock was found to differ not only as a function of the type of control, but also as a function of the combination of control conditions. For example, behavioral control in the presence of information (cognitive control) reduced stress, whereas behavioral control in the absence of information augmented stress. These results are discussed with regard to the appropriateness of two different models, a “substitutive” versus an “interactive” model, for understanding the effects of personal control.