Pattern identification of pure tones and frequency glides by untrained listeners

Six subjects identified the order of four-event sequences. Contiguous pure tones (713, 1,031, 1,209, and 1,514 Hz in permuted orders) were presented by earphones at 40 dB SL, with individual events Itones) from 20, to 40, 60, and 300 msec in duration. Again, silent intervals of 20 or 60 msec were inserted among tones of 20 or 40 msec duration. Finally, the pure tones of 713 and 1,209 Hz were combined, in any four-event sequence, with two glissandi chosen from 466 to 714 Hz, from 714 to 1,208 Hz, and their mirror reversals. The temporal and frequency continuity both of tonal and of glissando-plus-tonal sequences affected the identification of sequential order. Degraded performance in the glissando-plus-tonal condition was attributed partially to a subjective experience of pitch blurring. The inclusion of silent intervals in the sequences of the shorter pure-tone durations improved identification performance to that of contiguous sequences of equal overall duration, i.e., adding silent processing time was as efficacious as increasing by the same amount the duration of the individual frequency event.     

Defensive Partisanship? Evidence that In-Party Scandals Increase Out-Party Hostility

Contemporary U.S. politics is characterized by polarization and interpartisan antipathy. This is accompanied by a media landscape saturated with coverage of political scandals. Applying a social identity perspective, we examined whether exposure to scandals that threaten partisan's moral group image (i.e., in-party scandals), may motivate defensive hostility against opposing partisans. Across three experiments we exposed U.S. partisans to scandals attributed to either in-party or out-party politicians. We then assessed partisan hostility using a variety of operationalizations, including anger at a real outgroup politician (Study 1), judgments about the alleged misdeeds of a fabricated outgroup politician (Study 2), and negative perceptions of opposing party members (Study 3). Strength of partisan identity was assessed as a predicted moderator (Study 3). As expected in- (vs. out-) party scandals, were perceived as group-image threats and elicited greater hostility towards opposing partisans, independent of partisans' ideological extremity or prior affective polarization.     

Joint attention and perceptual experience

Synthese - Joint attention customarily refers to the coordinated focus of attention between two or more individuals on a common object or event, where it is mutually “open” to all...