Mapping physical characteristics in face images to social judgements

Sutherland and Young (Br. J. Psychol., 113, 2022, 1056) provide a comprehensive and timely overview of recent developments in research on social judgements of faces, emphasizing the utility of data-driven approaches. Here, we expand on this theme, focusing on how data-driven approaches can provide new insights into the physical characteristics in face images that best predict social judgements.     

Outflow and inflow in movement duplication

Following prolonged exposure to two vertical grating patterns differing in spatial frequency—one pattern illuminated in green light alternated with the other pattern illuminated in red light—human observers will sometimes report seeing desaturated complementary colors when presented with a neutrally illuminated test field consisting of adjacent halves of the two adapting gratings. The number of such color reports increases as the difference between the spatial frequencies of the adapting gratings increases. This frequency-specific chromatic aftereffect is similar to that obtained with orientation-specific color adaptation and may be mediated by neural “channels,” sensitive to both color and frequency input, which are similar to units known to exist in the visual systems of lower organisms.     

Response latency,confidence, and ROCs in auditory signal detection

Response latencies were obtained from 10 Ss in auditory signal-detection experiments. The response latencies were inversely related to certainty that a signal was (or was not) presented. The S’s decision criterion was found to have an influence on response latency, which was consistent with the hypothesis that stimuli close to the current criterion elicit longer response latencies than stimuli more distant from the criterion. Comparisons among receiver operating characteristics derived from binary decisions, from the latencies of binary decisions, and from confidence ratings show that response latencies and binary decisions together yield more information about the stimulus than does the binary decision alone. However, the increment in information gained from the measurement of response latencies is in general (though not for every S) smaller than that gained by shifting from yes-no responses to a confidence-rating procedure.     

Visual discrimination between rectangular and nonrectangular parallelopipeds

Twenty-seven university students judged whether each of 128 drawings of parallelopipeds appeared to represent three-dimensional rectangular boxes. Half the pictures could not geometrically have been projections of rectangular boxes. The null hypothesis that Ss’ judgments were unrelated to geometry was rejected at the .001 level of significance, and the correlation between Ss’ judgments and perfect discrimination averaged .86 over three variations of the experiment. The results support a general hypothesis about the perception of simple space forms according to which viewers impose geometric constraints, such as rectangularity and symmetry, but only when the constraints are projectively possible.     

Averaging: An empirical validity criterion for magnitude estimation

Ss judged grayness of neutral value Munsell chips under two response conditions: magnitude estimation and graphic rating. In addition, they judged average grayness of pairs of chips under the same two response modes. The averaging data were evaluated in terms of a simple model for subjective averaging. The graphic rating data fitted the model, but the magnitude estimates showed consistent discrepancy. It was concluded that the Ss were averaging, but that magnitude estimation distorted their judgments.     

Sleep and overextinction of the GSR component of the orienting response

Overextinction of the GSR component of the orienting response was examined in a sample of 68 socially disturbed adolescents. Continued stimulus repetition beyond the point of habituation resulted in GSR return after 50–60 stimulus presentations. However, division of Ss into sleep and non-sleep groups using behavioral and self-report criteria, failed to support Sokolov’s (1963) notion that overextinction is accompanied by drowsiness. A possible explanation of these results is discussed.     

The asymptotic distribution of response probabilities in the Audley-Jonckheere learning model

The asymptotic distributions of response probabilities in the Audley-Jonckheere learning model, as applied to the two-choice learning situation, are described for (1) the experimenter-controlled events model, (2) the subject-controlled events model, and (3) the experimenter-subject-controlled events model.     

An electronic audio switch

This article describes an electronic switch that allows presentation of sine wave stimuli without the often undesirable transient thump, thud, or click usually caused by ordinary electromechanical switches.     

An electronic aid for presenting equivalent information in concept identification

An electronic aid to assist in administering concept-identification problems with floating solutions is described. Digital circuitry generates all combination pairs from four selection switches, presents a particular comparison of these pairs, and, on command of the E, eliminates selected pairs from future comparisons. Each comparison is designed to minimize the information fed back to the S. The apparatus is used to administer and evaluate performance on conjunctive and disjunctive problems that are matched for information gain.