Perceptual processing in dichotic listening.

Subjects heard two lists of 4 items each presented simultaneously to the two ears at a rate of four pairs of items per sec. A recall cue presented immediately after the test list signalled report of 4 of the 8 items. In recall by spatial location, the cue indicated whether the items on the right ear on left ear should be recalled. In recall by category name, the cue indicated the superset category (e.g., letters or words) of the items to be recalled. Recall by spatial location was not significantly different than recall by category name. This results argues against the idea of a preperceptual auditory storage that holds information along spatial channels for 1 or 2 sec. The final experiment showed that recall by spatial location is significantly better than recall by category name when the report cue is given before, not after, the list presentation. These results show that spatial location can be used to enhance semantic processing and/or memory of 1 of 2 simultaneous items, but only if the relevant location is known at the time of the item presentation.     

The perception of rotated shapes: A process analysis of shape constancy

Ss made objective shape judgments of circular objects rotated in depth to provide a process analysis of shape constancy. The significant finding was that task difficulty, as reflected by proportion errors and correct reaction times; increased with increases in rotation from the frontal-parallel plane. This effect was located at the perceptual encoding stage of the shape judgment process. It was demonstrated that, in contrast to true shape information, the time to interpret slant and two-dimensional projected shape information was not critically dependent on degree of rotation. These results and a number of other additional observations demonstrate that the invariance hypothesis does not provide a sufficient account of shape constancy. Although projected shape and’ slant judgments can be made easily, perception of true shape involves encoding a figure-ground relationship by a process that does not rely exclusively on the discrete values of projected shape and slant.     

Before you see it, you see its parts: evidence for feature encoding and integration in preschool children and adults

Preschool children and adults were compared in two experiments examining the basic issue of whether perceptual representations of objects are built-up from independent features along the dimensions of size and brightness. Experiment 1 was a visual search experiment. Subjects searched for targets which differed from distractors either by a single feature or by a conjunction of features. Results from preschoolers were comparable to those from adults, and were consistent with Treisman and Gelade's (1980, Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97-136) feature-integration theory of attention. Their theory states that independent features are encoded in parallel and are later combined with a spatial attention mechanism. However, children's significantly steeper conjunctive search slope indicated a slower speed of feature integration. In Experiment 2, four mathematical models of pattern recognition were tested against classification task data. The findings from both age groups were again consistent with a model assuming that size and brightness features are initially registered, and then integrated. Moreover, the data from Experiment 2 imply that perceptual growth entails small changes in the discriminability of featural representations; however, both experiments show that the operations performed on these representations are the same developmentally.     

The role of the decision system in sensory and memory experiments using confidence judgments

This paper uses an artificial “sensory task” (a dice game) to investigate whether it is possible to distinguish between two-state and multistate sensory processes by examining confidence ratings of a group of unpracticed Os. The results indicate that Os use a decision rule that is deterministic so that both operating characteristics and a posteriori probability functions reflect the number of states used by the decision system. Thus, it would seem to be possible to use confidence ratings of Os to evaluate theoretical issues.     

Intuitive control of mobile robots: an architecture for autonomous adaptive dynamic behaviour integration

In this paper, we present a novel approach to human–robot control. Taking inspiration from behaviour-based robotics and self-organisation principles, we present an interfacing mechanism, with the ability to adapt both towards the user and the robotic morphology. The aim is for a transparent mechanism connecting user and robot, allowing for a seamless integration of control signals and robot behaviours. Instead of the user adapting to the interface and control paradigm, the proposed architecture allows the user to shape the control motifs in their way of preference, moving away from the case where the user has to read and understand an operation manual, or it has to learn to operate a specific device. Starting from a tabula rasa basis, the architecture is able to identify control patterns (behaviours) for the given robotic morphology and successfully merge them with control signals from the user, regardless of the input device used. The structural components of the interface are presented and assessed both individually and as a whole. Inherent properties of the architecture are presented and explained. At the same time, emergent properties are presented and investigated. As a whole, this paradigm of control is found to highlight the potential for a change in the paradigm of robotic control, and a new level in the taxonomy of human in the loop systems.     

Temporal contiguity and ageing: The role of memory organization in cognitive decline

The temporal contiguity effect is the tendency to form associations between items presented in nearby study positions. In the present study, we explored whether temporal contiguity predicted conversion to cognitively unimpaired-declining (CUD) status from a baseline of unimpaired older adults. Data from 419 participants were drawn from the Wisconsin Registry of Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) data set and analysed with binary logistic regressions. Temporal contiguity was calculated using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Other predictors included age, years of education, sex, APOE-ε4 status, and other measures of memory recall. Lower temporal contiguity predicted conversion to CUD after accounting for covariates. These findings support the hypothesis that temporal organization in memory is related to cognitive decline and suggest that temporal contiguity may be used for studies of early detection.     

Group Leader-Recorder Relationship in a State Hospital: A Learning Tool

The process group for staff and trainees in institutional settings has become increasingly unpopular as a resource, although ironically, the need for such a group has grown. The author presents the idea that the process group is not used more often because of a general lack of understanding of the nature of such groups as well as a failure to clearly distinguish process groups from traditional psychotherapy groups. The author goes on to give a clear definition of the task and the boundaries of a process group and, using knowledge of systems thinking, discusses special techniques for running such groups with illustrative examples.