Measuring the perceptual magnet effect in the perception of /i/ by German listeners

In a study of the internal category structure of the vowel /i/, Kuhl found a “perceptual magnet effect”: Discrimination sensitivity was poorer for category instances that were acoustically similar to the category prototype than it was for category instances that were not. The typicality of category exemplars was determined by goodness judgments and was found to correlate with the acoustics of average production. Analysis and interpretation of discrimination performance relied on two important assumptions: that listeners perceived all stimuli presented as exemplars of the same vowel category and that, apart from the influence of phonetic coding, discrimination sensitivity was the same across the investigated part of the vowel space. In the present study, it is shown that production and perception estimates of the category prototype may diverge, possibly because listeners seem to prefer hyperarticulated variants of vowel categories. An approach towards measurement of intra-category discrimination minima is put forward and tested that protects against intercategory confounds and avoids the isosensitivity assumption. Received: 26 November 1997 / Accepted: 25 May 1998     

A perception experiment with time-critical graphics animation on the World-Wide Web

The World-Wide Web offers a potentially interesting tool to collect data from a large and heterogeneous audience. While questionnaires have become rather common on the Internet, its potential reaches far beyond text processing. In principle, it is possible not only to perform interactive, dynamic experiments on the Web, but also to include graphical animation and time-critical responses, such as reaction times. We implemented a visual motion extrapolation task on the Web using the programming language Java, which can be interpreted by standard Web browsers such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. The data collected with this method turned out to be reliable and differed little from data obtained in a controlled laboratory setting, with the exception of conditions with fixation instruction. Thus, the Web can, generally speaking, be used for data collection of large sample sizes. The strengths and weaknesses of dynamic visual simulation experiments on the Internet are discussed.     

Somatovisceral interactions in visceral perception: Abdominal masking of colonic stimuli

Clinical and experimental evidence on referred pain and spinal-afferent convergence demonstrates a close relationship between visceral and somatosensory perception, which is important for current models of symptom perception and central body representation. The study uses a psychophysical approach to quantify these interactions at the perceptual level, taking into account problems of comparable intermodal scaling and the role of awareness. An experiment on somatosensory masking of distension stimuli in the colon is reported in which a multiple staircase method of forced choice discrimination with concurrent sensation ratings was employed. Results showed perceptual masking of visceral by abdominal stimuli but not vice versa. The masking effect was not enhanced by intratomal placement of the abdominal stimulus in the lower left quadrant. This contradicts the spinal sensory convergence model and points to perceptual interactions at higher brain levels. Loglinear analysis of relations between discrimination and subjective sensation revealed qualitative differences of somatovisceral perception at the preconscious as compared to the conscious level. This argues for a two-process model of integrative body perception.     

Islamic scholar and religious leader: A portrait of Shaykh Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al‐Būti

In the light of his outstanding reputation and great influence on life in modern Syria, it is amazing that Shaykh Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al‐Būti's work and thought are under‐represented to the extent of being almost unknown in European academic literature. This article is a first attempt at a broader European appraisal of al‐Būti's life and work. It paints a portrait of a thinker who represents the majority of Sunni Islam or the ‘middle path Islam’ in Syria, finding its place between the current realities of a secular state and an ideal Islamic society. The article first introduces the biographical details of al‐Būti's life and the main intellectual influences of people and events around him, then his ?uvre, style and personality. Secondly, it explores his main ideas and views, taking into account the fact that he writes and speaks in two different roles: as an Islamic scholar and as a religious leader, which is perhaps a unique position in modem Syria.     

Boundaries for career success? How work–home integration and perceived supervisor expectation affect careers

The necessity to actively manage the work–home boundaries has drastically increased. We postulate that work–home integration may affect individuals' subjective career success via its positive effects on work goal attainment and exhaustion. Furthermore, we study perceived supervisor expectation for employee work–home integration as a boundary condition. Our three-wave online survey with 371 employees showed support for the two hypothesized moderated mediation effects. Work–home integration preference is indirectly related to subjective career success: (1) positively via home-to-work transitions and work goal attainment and (2) negatively via home-to-work transitions and exhaustion. Perceived supervisor expectation constrained work–home integration preference's direct effect on home-to-work transitions and indirect effects on subjective career success. Exploratory analysis revealed that exhaustion negatively affected all career success dimensions, whereas work goal attainment was only related to some. Our results indicate that supervisor expectation can override the effect of employee's work–home integration preference on home-to-work transitions which have a double-edged sword effect on subjective career success. Our study contributes to integrating the careers and work–life interface literature and incorporating contextual factors. Furthermore, with the exploration of differential effects on subjective career success, we advance our understanding of this outcome's nomological network.     

Social information facilitates learning about novel food sources in adult flower-visiting bats

Animal Cognition - Incorporating novel food sources into their diet is crucial for animals in changing environments. Although the utilization of novel food sources can be learned individually,...     

Responding to negative social identity: a taxonomy of identity management strategies

Taken from literature on social identity theory and social comparison theory, 12 strategies of identity management were identified as possible responses to negative social identity. A taxonomy with two orthogonal axes is proposed as theoretical organization of these diverse strategies. While the first axis considers responses as being either individual or collective, the second axis refers to the distinction between behaviours and cognitions. It is assumed that the German unification process implied a lower status position of East Germans relative to West Germans on relevant comparison dimensions, and that East Germans have to deal with this threat to their identity. Hence, data of an East German sample are used to empirically systematize identity management strategies, and, thus, to test the proposed taxonomy. Results support the expected four-factor solution only for those strategies taken from social identity theory, while the responses derived from social comparison research build a fifth factor. In addition, the empirical assignments of strategies to cells of the taxonomy are only partly in line with the expected pattern. The empirical findings suggest some clarification and modifications of the proposed response taxonomy. The most important refers to a re-interpretation of the taxonomy's first axis, which now differentiates between responses according to the specific changes of the comparison parameters they imply. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relation of formal education to ethnic prejudice: Its reliability,validity and explanation

This paper examines three issues concerning the frequently documented negative correlation between formal education and ethnic prejudice, namely its reliability, its validity and the manner in which it is mediated. Reliability is demonstrated across three indices of ethnic attitudes in seven representative samples drawn from four European countries (West Germany, Netherlands, France, Great Britain; total N=3788). The hypothesis that this correlation reflects only the tendency of more highly educated respondents to give more socially desirable answers and not true attitude differences was inconsistent with the finding from the survey data that educational level also correlated negatively with responses to an index of subtle prejudice. Results from an experiment employing the bogus pipeline procedure similarly refute this hypothesis, indicating that significant education-related differences in expressed prejudice remain under conditions in which the tendency to give socially desirable responses is reduced. Finally, path analysis based on the survey data show that part but not all of the association between low education and ethnic prejudice is mediated by social psychological variables, particularly group relative deprivation, perceived belief incongruency, political conservatism, and acceptance of inter-ethnic contact.