How do biases in spatial memory change as children and adults are learning locations?

This investigation tracked changes in categorical bias (i.e., placing objects belonging to the same spatial group closer together than they really are) while 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds and adults were learning a set of locations. Participants learned the locations of 20 objects marked by dots on the floor of an open square box divided into quadrants. At test, participants attempted to place the objects in the correct locations without the dots and boundaries. In Experiment 1, we probed categorical bias during learning by alternating learning and test trials. Categorical bias was high during the first test trial and decreased over the second and third test trials. In Experiment 2, we manipulated opportunities for learning by providing participants with either one, two, three, or four learning trials prior to test. Participants who experienced one or two learning trials exhibited more bias at test than did those who experienced four learning trials. The discussion focuses on how categorical bias emerges through interactions between the cognitive system and task structure.     

Paying attention to attention: evidence for an attentional contribution to the size congruity effect

Understanding the mechanisms supporting our comprehension of magnitude information represents a key goal in cognitive psychology. A major phenomenon employed in the pursuit of this goal has been the physical size congruity effect—namely, the observation that comparing the relative numerical sizes of two numbers is influenced by their relative physical sizes. The standard account of the physical size congruity effect attributes it to the automatic influence of the comparison of irrelevant physical magnitudes on numerical judgments. Here we develop an alternative account of this effect on the basis of the operation of attention in the typical size congruity display and the temporal dynamics of number comparison. We also provide a test of a number of predictions derived from this alternative account by combining a physical size congruity manipulation with a manipulation designed to alter the operation of attention within the typical size congruity display (i.e., a manipulation of the relative onsets of the digits). This test provides evidence consistent with an attentional contribution to the size congruity effect. Implications for our understanding of magnitude and the interactions between attention and magnitude are discussed.     

College Student High-Risk Drinking as a Maladaptive Serious Leisure Hobby

The role of occupational therapy in community child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) multidisciplinary teams is not well documented. This qualitative study investigated the perception of occupational therapy practice held by community CAMHS workers in the Perth, Australia, metropolitan region. Eight mental health community CAMHS professionals took part in semi-structured interviews. Three themes emerged which included team membership, the nature of the work, and the team and occupational therapy. This article focuses on the third theme. Findings suggest a limited understanding of the scope of occupational therapy practice. Implications for occupational therapy in CAMHS are discussed.     

Developmental Changes in Young Children's Spatial Memory and Language in Relation to Landmarks

Two experiments investigated how young children and adults understand whether objects are by a landmark and remember their locations. Three- and 4-year-old children and adults were asked to judge whether several blocks were by a landmark. The blocks were arranged so that their absolute and relative distances from the landmark varied. Later, the blocks were removed, and participants were asked to place them in their original locations. All ages relied on relative distance between objects and a landmark when making by judgments; however, older children and adults showed systematic judgments. Relative distance also affected block placement, and systematicity increased across development. Children's understanding of the relative nature of by and their ability to remember locations precisely increased during the preschool years, indicating developmental changes in the adaptive combination of location cues for spatial language and memory.     

Children and Adults Understand That Verbal Irony Interpretation Depends on Listener Knowledge

Two experiments investigated how absolute and relative distance shape adults’ and young children's ratings concerning the extent to which the term by describes the relation between locations. Three- and 4-year-old children and adults were asked to rate how well the word by described the relation between several blocks and a landmark. The blocks were arranged so that their absolute and relative distances from the landmark varied. All ages relied on absolute and relative distance between the blocks and the landmark when making by ratings; however, older children and adults showed more differentiated responses. These findings add to our growing understanding of how adults and young children use relative distance to understand the proximity term by.     

Visual perception of thick transparent materials

Under typical viewing conditions, human observers readily distinguish between materials such as silk, marmalade, or granite, an achievement of the visual system that is poorly understood. Recognizing transparent materials is especially challenging. Previous work on the perception of transparency has focused on objects composed of flat, infinitely thin filters. In the experiments reported here, we considered thick transparent objects, such as ice cubes, which are irregular in shape and can vary in refractive index. An important part of the visual evidence signaling the presence of such objects is distortions in the perceived shape of other objects in the scene. We propose a new class of visual cues derived from the distortion field induced by thick transparent objects, and we provide experimental evidence that cues arising from the distortion field predict both the successes and the failures of human perception in judging refractive indices.     

The effect of the repeated presentation of a standard interval on the reproduction of the standard

The Langley Porter Neuropsychiatrie Institute, San Francisco, California 94122 Eleven human Ss (five male and six female) reproduced intervals of 1, 2, and 3 sec delimited by clicks after the standard intervals had been repeated one, three, or five times. The absolute error of reproduction decreased with increasing repetition of the standard for intervals of 2 and 3 sec. The effect was more pronounced with increasing duration among female Ss.     

Saving psychological Solipsism

I am indebted to both Lynne Rudder Baker and George Graham for helpful, critical correspondence on an earlier draft of this paper. John Pollock and Keith Lehrer generously commented on that same draft. Conversations with Alvin Goldman, Joseph Tolliver and Juanita Simpson have been helpful on the matter of narrow content. None of these philosophers is liable for those of my mistakes that have resisted instruction.