Which spatial abilities and strategies predict males' and females' performance in the object perspective test?

The present study aimed to investigate whether different spatial abilities and strategies sustain perspective-taking (PT) performance in males and females. The PT task used was the Object Perspective Test (OPT, Kozhevnikov and Hegarty in Mem Cogn 29:745-756, 2001; Hegarty and Waller in Intelligence 32:175-191, 2004). A sample of 40 males and 40 females completed the OPT and several other visuo-spatial tasks and questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis showed that OPT performance was predicted positively by a spatial imagery preference and negatively by the specific use of mental rotation strategy (i.e. turning the sheet of paper). Gender interacted with the Embedded Figure Test (EFT), a spatial visualization task, since high EFT scores only positively predicted the OPT results in males. Overall, our results show that OPT performance is sustained by specific spatial abilities and strategies modulated, at least in part, by gender.     

Comparison processes on visual mental images

Three experiments were conducted to test whether visual mental images and visual perceptual representations possess equivalent structural properties and undergo functionally equivalent comparison processes. In Experiment 1, subjects were required to perform asame-different letter classification in which the two letters were shown in succession. The first letter in the pair either was actually presented (perceptual condition) or had to be actively generated (imaginal condition). Both conditions showed that (1) response latencies fordifferent decisions decreased as a function of the degree of difference (segment effect), and (2) same decisions were faster than the fastestdifferent ones (fast same effect). In Experiment 2, the imaginal condition only was employed, but no imagery instructions were given and very strict time constraints were assigned. In spite of these restrictions, subjects apparently generated and used visual images, as attested by the fact that the results were comparable to those of the previous experiment. In Experiment 3, three experimental manipulations were introduced to prevent the use of visual images. Such manipulations proved effective, as shown by the disappearance of the segment effect. It was concluded that in the visual modality images and percepts are equivalent in structure and are processed in a very similar way.     

Letter-position coding in random consonant arrays

The processing of letter-position information in randomly arranged consonant strings was investigated using a masked prime variant of the alphabetic decision (letter/nonletter classification) task. In Experiment 1, primes were uppercase consonant trigrams (e.g., FMH) and targets were two uppercase Xs accompanied by the target letter or a nonletter (e.g., XMX, X%X). Response times were systematically faster when target letters were present in the prime string than when target letters were not present in the prime string. These constituent letter-priming effects were significantly stronger when the target letter appeared in the same position in the prime and target stimuli. This contrast between position-specific and position-independent priming was accentuated when subjects responded only when all the characters in the target string were letters (multiple alphabetic decision) in Experiments 2 and 3. In Experiment 4, when prime exposure duration was varied, it was found that position-specific priming develops earlier than position-independent priming. Finally, Experiment 5 ruled out a perceptual-matching interpretation of these results. An interpretation is offered in terms of position-specific and position-independent letter-detector units in an interactiveactivation framework.     

Indirect majority and minority influence: An exploratory study

In a 2 × 2 design, 85 subjects were asked to estimate the size of angles (direct influence) that were either 90 or 85°, after being confronted with incorrect judgements of a majority (88 per cent) or a minority (12 per cent) of people estimating the angles at 50°. Additionally, pre- and post-test measures were used to establish indirect influence on subjects' judgements pertaining to acute angles (i.e. on the estimation of the length of lines constituting the angles, and on the imaginary weight of figures represented by these angles). Overall, little direct influence is observed. This may partly be due to the introduction of a denial of the credibility of the source in all conditions. In fact, some evidence of direct influence is only found in the majority–85° angles condition. An instance of indirect influence (on the estimation of length of lines) appeared as the result of a majority stance when the angles in the experimental phase were 90°. When these angles were 85°, indirect minority influence (on the estimation of weight of figures) was observed. These effects had been predicted on the basis of the hypothesis stating that indirect majority influence would be possible when subjects expected consensus on the correct response (in the 90° angles condition), without being able to reach consensus at the manifest level (because of the denial and the restriction imposed by the clear shape of 90° angles). Indirect minority influence was hypothesized to be stronger in a situation that allows for diverse responses (i.e. for 85° angles).     

Promoting fluency of performance of self‐help tasks with a person with multiple disabilities

A combination of favorite songs and verbal prompts (automatically delivered through portable technology) was used to promote fluency of performance of self‐help tasks in a young man with multiple disabilities. Data indicated that the intervention was effective in reducing the time required by the man to complete the self‐help tasks (dressing and washing). A momentary withdrawal of the prompts after about 6 months from the beginning of the study was accompanied by performance deterioration. Implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blinded by anger or feeling the love: how emotions influence advice taking

Across 2 experiments, the authors demonstrate that emotional states influence how receptive people are to advice. The focus of these experiments is on incidental emotions, emotions triggered by a prior experience that is irrelevant to the current situation. The authors demonstrate that people who feel incidental gratitude are more trusting and more receptive to advice than are people in a neutral emotional state, and people in a neutral state are more trusting and more receptive to advice than are people who feel incidental anger. In these experiments, greater receptivity to advice increased judgment accuracy. People who felt incidental gratitude were more accurate than were people in a neutral state, and people in a neutral state were more accurate than were people who felt incidental anger. The results offer insight into how people use advice, and the authors identify conditions under which leaders, policy makers, and advisors may be particularly influential.     

Do we listen to advice just because we paid for it? The impact of advice cost on its use

When facing a decision, people often rely on advice received from others. Previous studies have shown that people tend to discount others’ opinions. Yet, such discounting varies according to several factors. This paper isolates one of these factors: the cost of advice. Specifically, three experiments investigate whether the cost of advice, independent of its quality, affects how people use advice. The studies use the Judge–Advisor System (JAS) to investigate whether people value advice from others more when it costs money than when it is free, and examine the psychological processes that could account for this effect. The results show that people use paid advice significantly more than free advice and suggest that this effect is due to the same forces that have been documented in the literature to explain the sunk costs fallacy. Implications for circumstances under which people value others’ opinions are discussed.     

Viewing a face (especially one's own face) being touched enhances tactile perception on the face

Observing touch on another person's body activates brain regions involved in tactile perception, even when the observer's body is not directly stimulated. Previous work has shown that in some synaesthetes, this effect induces a sensation of being touched. The present study shows that if perceptual thresholds are experimentally manipulated, viewing touch can modulate tactile experience in nonsynaesthetes as well. When observers saw a face being touched by hands, rather than a face being merely approached by hands, they demonstrated enhanced detection of subthreshold tactile stimuli on their own faces. This effect was specific to observing touch on a body part, and was not found for touch on a nonbodily stimulus, namely, a picture of a house. In addition, the effect was stronger when subjects viewed their own faces rather than another person's face. Thus, observing touch can activate the tactile system, and if perceptual thresholds are manipulated, such activation can result in a behavioral effect in nonsynaesthetes. The effect is maximum if the observed body matches the observer's body.     

Age-trend-related differences in tasks involving conjunctive probabilistic reasoning

Conjunctive probabilistic reasoning has been studied at different ages to ascertain whether the conjunction fallacy is due to a task demand misinterpretation. Such a misinterpretation might occur because a task that requires a comparison between a superordinate class A and a subordinate class A&B is mistakenly interpreted as requiring a comparison between the two complementary subordinate classes of A (i.e., A&B and A¬B). Children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults were required to make conjunctive probability judgments about problems for which explicit objective probabilities were provided. The total number of A items was kept constant and the frequencies of the A&B and of the A¬B items varied across problems. When the number of A&B items was smaller than the number of A¬B items, the frequency of congruent responses increased with age. When the number of A&B items was greater or equal to that of the A¬B items, the frequency of correct answers decreased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

The ‘Fractionable Autism Triad’: A Review of Evidence from Behavioural,Genetic, Cognitive and Neural Research

Autism is diagnosed on the basis of a triad of impairments in social interaction, communication, and flexible imaginative functions (with restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests; RRBIs). There has been a strong presumption that these different features of the syndrome are strongly intertwined and proceed from a common cause at the genetic, cognitive and neural levels. In this review we examine evidence for an alternative approach, considering the triad as largely ‘fractionable’. We present evidence from our own twin studies, and review relevant literature on autism and autistic-like traits in other groups. We suggest that largely independent genes may operate on social skills/impairments, communication abilities, and RRBIs, requiring a change in molecular-genetic research approaches. At the cognitive level, we suggest that satisfactory accounts exist for each of the triad domains, but no single unitary account can explain both social and nonsocial features of autism. We discuss the implications of the fractionable-triad approach for both diagnosis and future research directions.