ROCs in recognition with and without identification

Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) for the recognition of unidentified word fragments were analysed and compared with ROCs for the recognition of identified word fragments. In all conditions reported here, the z-transformed ROCs (z-ROCs) for recognition without identification were linear, with slopes near 1.0. In contrast, the z-ROCs for recognition with identification each had both a linear and a quadratic component, and a slope of substantially less than 1.0. Because the recognition of unidentified word fragments likely results from a familiarity process, the present study examined how well the effect can be explained by global matching variants of signal detection theory. Global matching models predict that memory should be better for strong items from a mixed list than for strong items from a pure list, and should be worse for weak items from a mixed list than for weak items from a pure list; however, only the latter pattern was shown for the recognition of unidentified items.     

Focused attention is not enough to activate discontinuities in lines, but scrutiny is

We distinguish between the roles played by spatial attention and conscious intention in terms of their impact on the processing of segmentation signals, like discontinuities in lines, associated with the act of scrutinizing. We showed previously that the processing of discontinuities in lines can be activated. This is evidenced by an impairment in the detection of a gap between parallel elements when it follows a gap between collinear elements in the same location and orientation. This effect is no longer observed if attention is divided between two gaps in the first stimulus. The results from this study show that focusing attention on a gap between collinear elements is not enough to observe a modulation, consistently with the need to integrate, rather than to separate, collinear elements in usual conditions. The modulation is sensitive to the conscious expectations of subjects, suggesting that an intention can trigger modulations that spatial attention cannot.     

Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification

Bilinguals named pictures in their dominant language more slowly (and with more errors) than did monolinguals. In contrast, bilinguals named the same pictures as quickly as did monolinguals on the fifth presentation (in Experiment 2) and classified them (as human made or natural) as quickly and accurately as did monolinguals (in Experiment 1). In addition, bilinguals retrieved English picture names more quickly if they knew the name in both Spanish and English (on the basis of a translation test that bilinguals completed after the timed tasks), and monolingual response times for the same materials suggested that this finding was not obtained simply because names that were easier to translate were easier in general. These findings suggest that bilinguals differ from monolinguals at a postconceptual processing level, that implicit activation of lexical representations in the nontarget language can facilitate retrieval in the target language, and that being bilingual is analogous to having a lexicon full of lower frequency words, relative to monolinguals.     

What perceptual rules do capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) follow in completing partly occluded figures?

Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) matched a variety of rodlike figures, distinguishable only by their central portions. The monkeys were then tested for perceptual completion rules by examining which comparison figures they would choose as matching the sample with the critical central portion occluded by a horizontal belt. In Experiment 1, the monkeys overwhelmingly chose a straight rod over disconnected rods and rods having irregular shapes at their center, irrespective of the presence-absence of common motion of visible parts of the samples. The monkeys chose a connected rod for relatable rods and disconnected rods for non-relatable ones in Experiment 2. In Experiments 3 and 4, some of the monkeys chose rods specified by the global regularity of the contour, whereas others did not. Experiment 5 showed that humans and capuchin monkeys basically follow similar perceptual rules in completing occluded contours, but the global regularity rule may be stronger in humans.     

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.     

Adults with dyslexia demonstrate space-based and object-based covert attention deficits: shifting attention to the periphery and shifting attention between objects in the left visual field

Performance on a covert visual attention task is compared between a group of adults with developmental dyslexia (specifically phonological difficulties) and a group of age and IQ matched controls. The group with dyslexia were generally slower to detect validly-cued targets. Costs of shifting attention toward the periphery when the target was invalidly cued were significantly higher for the group with dyslexia, while costs associated with shifts toward the fovea tended to be lower. Higher costs were also shown by the group with dyslexia for up-down shifts of attention in the periphery. A visual field processing difference was found, in that the group with dyslexia showed higher costs associated with shifting attention between objects in they LVF. These findings indicate that these adults with dyslexia have difficulty in both the space-based and the object-based components of covert visual attention, and more specifically to stimuli located in the periphery.     

Racial Differences in Responses to the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire

The aim of this study was to examine differences in responses to the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire (CGSQ) between African American and White caregivers of children with emotional and behavioral challenges. Significant item- and scale-level differences were detected across groups with African Americans consistently reporting less strain. We examined whether these differences were more likely due to nonequivalent measurement than to real differences in the experience of caregiver strain. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model fit the data well for both racial groups, but there were some differences in structural components. Internal consistency was equivalent across the groups. In an examination of criterion validity, regression analyses showed that African American caregivers experienced a slower rate of increase in objective caregiver strain at a given increase in child internalizing problems. No other race differences were found in the regression analyses. In general, we conclude that the CGSQ can be useful for detecting caregiver strain and identifying family support needs for both White and African American caregivers. Differences across groups in reports of caregiver strain, however, call for more research on racial differences in the impact on the family of caring for a child with emotional and behavioral disorders.     

Sensitivity to social contingencies between 1 and 3 months of age

Infants' sensitivity to social contingencies was assessed. In Study 1, 1-month-old infants and their mothers interacted face-to-face in three types of imperfect contingent interactions: Normal, Non-Contingent and Imitation. One-month-old infants did not discriminate these conditions. In Study 2, 3-month-old infants were tested as in Study 1. At 3 months of age, infants gazed reliably longer in the Imitation condition and smiled reliably more in the Normal than in the Non-Contingent and Imitation interactions. These findings suggest a developmental transition in the sensitivity to social contingencies between 1 and 3 months of age. The relationship between the developing sensitivity to social contingencies and social cognition is discussed.     

A longitudinal study of gender-related cognition and behaviour

Gender schema theory proposes that children's acquisition of gender labels and gender stereotypes informs gender-congruent behaviour. Most previous studies have been cross-sectional and do not address the temporal relationship between knowledge and behaviour. We report the results of a longitudinal study of gender knowledge and sex-typed behaviour across three domains in children tested at 24 and 36 months (N = 56). Although both knowledge and sex-typed behaviour increased significantly between 2 and 3 years, there was no systematic pattern of cross-lagged correlations between the two, although some concurrent relationships were present at 24 months. Future longitudinal work might profitably focus on younger children using reliable preverbal measures of gender knowledge and employing a shorter lag between measurement times.     

Collecting responses through Web page drag and drop

This article describes how to collect responses from experimental participants using drag and drop on a Web page. In particular, we describe how drag and drop can be used in a text search task in which participants read a text and then locate and categorize certain elements of the text (e.g., to identify the main claim of a persuasive paragraph). Using this technique, participants respond by clicking on a text segment and dragging it to a screen field or icon. We have successfully used this technique in both the argument element identification experiment that we describe here and a tutoring system that we created to teach students to identify source characteristics while reading historical texts (Britt, Perfetti, Van Dyke, &; Gabrys, 2000). The implementation described here exploits the capability of recent versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser to handle embedded XML documents and drag and drop events.