Orientation-contingent color aftereffects mediated by subjective transparent structures

We examined whether the orientation-contingent color aftereffect (the McCollough effect) could be mediated by subjective horizontal and vertical structure induced by the perception of transparency. In our experiments, red vertical bars and green horizontal bars were alternated as an adapting stimulus. After adaptation, subjects (n=6) were asked to adjust the green and red saturation of a test pattern until they obtained a neutral gray. Horizontal and vertical stripes were combined in the test pattern in three different ways: (1) overlapping with a luminance combination that gave rise to a perception of transparent overlays of horizontal and vertical stripes (valid transparency condition), (2) overlapping with luminance combinations that did not induce a perception of transparency (invalid transparency condition) and that appeased more as a patchwork of checks, and (3) presented in adjacent, nonoverlapping areas. Our results showed that the McCollough effect was significantly greater in the valid transparency condition than in the invalid transparency conditions. The effect in the valid transparency condition was nevertheless less strong than was the effect seen with the standard test stimulus made up of nonoverlapping vertical and horizontal stripes, Our results suggest that the McCollough effect can be mediated by the subjective spatial organization (inner representation of vertical and horizontal stripes) that accompanies the perception of transparency in our stimulus.     

The relation between color spreading and illusory contours

In the present study, we examine the relation between neon color spreading (Redies & Spillmann, 1981) and illusory contours. In Experiment 1, the effects of misalignment between the line elements on the illusory contours in the Ehrenstein figure and in the Redies-Spillmann figure were examined. The remarkable overlap of the two curves for the likelihood of perceiving illusory contours in the Ehrenstein figure and in the Redies-Spillmann figure suggests that the illusory contours surrounding brightness enhancement (Ehrenstein, 1941) and those surrounding neon color spreading are caused by the same mechanism. We further examined both the effects of the interposed grids seen either in front of or behind the figures (Experiment 2) and the effects of misalignment (Experiment 3) on the illusory contours and range of color spreading, and found a high correlation between the appearance/disappearance of illusory contours and global/local color spreading. In Experiment 4, we added new lines to induce illusory contours to the line elements inducing local color spreading. We found that global color spreading was seen to cover the area surrounded by the illusory contours. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that there is an interaction between illusory contours and local color spreading.     

Spatial learning in Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica)

Animal Cognition - Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica) were trained on a Morris-type spatial learning task. There were four tubes in a pool, but the eels could hide in only one of these. The eels...     

The role of attention in motion extrapolation: are moving objects 'corrected' or flashed objects attentionally delayed?

Objects flashed in alignment with moving objects appear to lag behind [Nijhawan, 1994 Nature (London) 370 256-257]. Could this 'flash-lag' effect be due to attentional delays in bringing flashed items to perceptual awareness [Titchener, 1908/1973 Lectures on the Elementary Psychology of Feeling and Attention first published 1908 (New York: Macmillan); reprinted 1973 (New York: Arno Press)]? We overtly manipulated attentional allocation in three experiments to address the following questions: Is the flash-lag effect affected when attention is (a) focused on a single event in the presence of multiple events, (b) distributed over multiple events, and (c) diverted from the flashed object? To address the first two questions, five rings, moving along a circular path, were presented while observers attentively tracked one or multiple rings under four conditions: the ring in which the disk was flashed was (i) known or (ii) unknown (randomly selected from the set of five); location of the flashed disk was (i) known or (ii) unknown (randomly selected from ten locations). The third question was investigated by using two moving objects in a cost-benefit cueing paradigm. An arrow cued, with 70% or 80% validity, the position of the flashed object. Observers performed two tasks: (a) reacted as quickly as possible to flash onset; (b) reported the flash-lag effect. We obtained a significant and unaltered flash-lag effect under all the attentional conditions we employed. Furthermore, though reaction times were significantly shorter for validly cued flashes, the flash-lag effect remained uninfluenced by cue validity, indicating that quicker responses to validly cued locations may be due to the shortening of post-perceptual delays in motor responses rather than the perceptual facilitation. We conclude that the computations that give rise to the flash-lag effect are independent of attentional deployment.     

Effects of self-efficacy on adjustment to college

This study examined the effects of self-efficacy on adjustment to college among 1385 Japanese college students. The College Adjustment Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) was constructed in order to evaluate the degree of confidence in the skills necessary for college adjustment. Three subscales were identified in the CASES: judgmental ability based on objective information, self-controlled persistence of activity, and self-adjustment in human relations. There were slight gender differences in the first and the third subscales. The CASES subscale scores were compared between well and poorly adjusted students in each college major. Differences in the score patterns of well adjusted students were compared across 13 college majors. The implications for academic career counseling are discussed.     

The influence of structure from motion on motion correspondence

The visual system has a remarkable ability to reconstruct 3-D structure from moving 2-D features. The processing of structure from motion is generally thought to consist of two stages. First, the direction and speed of features is measured (2-D velocity measurement) and, second, 3-D structure is reconstructed from the measured 2-D velocities (3-D structure recovery). Most models have assumed that these stages occur in a bottom-up fashion. Here, however, we present evidence that the 3-D structure-recovery stage influences the 2-D velocity-measurement stage. We developed a stimulus in which two perceptual modes of motion correspondence (one-way translation versus oscillation), and two perceptual modes of 3-D surface structure (flat surface versus cylinder) could be achieved. We found that the likelihood of perceiving both one-way motion and cylindrical structure increased in similar ways with increasing frame duration. In subsequent experiments we found, first, that a higher likelihood of perceiving one-way motion did not affect the likelihood of perceiving cylindrical structure; and, second, that a higher likelihood of perceiving cylindrical structure increased the likelihood of perceiving one-way motion. These results suggest that the higher, 3-D structure-recovery stage may influence the lower, 2-D motion-correspondence stage. This result is not in accordance with most computational models that assume that there is only one-way, feedforward information processing from the 2-D velocity (energy)-measurement stage to the 3-D structure-recovery stage. Perhaps, one of the roles of feedback processing is to seek consensus of the information processed in different stages.     

Grammer and Social Interaction in Japanese and Anglo-American English: The Display of Context, Social Identity and Social Relation

This paper employs conversation analysis to examine the inter-connection between grammar and displays of contextual understanding, social identity, and social relationships as well as other activities clustering around turn-endings in Japanese talk-in-interaction, while undertaking a restricted comparison with the realisation of similar activities in English. A notable feature of turn-endings in Japanese is the particular salience of grammatical construction on the interactional activities they accomplish. Complete turns which are also syntactically complete are shown to be associated with the explicit display of contextual features, whereas syntactically incomplete turns are designed to circumvent or minimise such displays. The explicit or implicit display of one's social and contextual relationship to the interactional environment is therefore seen to be an integral part of the performance of social actions in Japanese. On the other hand, in English, it is more difficult to establish a clear association between grammar and the inclusion or avoidance of contextual displays.     

Development of infant crying behavior: A longitudinal case study

This study documents the development of infant crying behavior during the second half of the first year (across a key developmental transition). Two female infants were observed twice a month for 6 months when the infants were between 7 and 14 months of age. The infants exhibited crying behavior that seemed to become more sophisticated with increasing age. This marked a proactive stance in communicating with the mother on the part of the infant. Interestingly, at 11–12 months, “fake crying” was observed during a naturalistic interaction with the mother. This implied that deceptive infant behavior could be seen at quite an early stage.