A feature-integration theory of attention

A new hypothesis about the role of focused attention is proposed. The feature-integration theory of attention suggests that attention must be directed serially to each stimulus in a display whenever conjunctions of more than one separable feature are needed to characterize or distinguish the possible objects presented. A number of predictions were tested in a variety of paradigms including visual search, texture segregation, identification and localization, and using both separable dimensions (shape and color) and local elements or parts of figures (lines, curves, etc. in letters) as the features to be integrated into complex wholes. The results were in general consistent with the hypothesis. They offer a new set of criteria for distinguishing separable from integral features and a new rationale for predicting which tasks will show attention limits and which will not.     

A twin study of personality and temperament during middle childhood

In a study of 105 same-sex twin pairs, ages 7 to 10 years, maternal ratings on 23 bipolar scales yielded six factors designated as compliant morality, applied cognitive, sociability, emotionality, tough-mindedness, and activity-distractibility. Analyses by twin pairs (68 identical, 37 fraternal) indicated that correlations for identical pairs were significantly higher than fraternal pairs on all but one factor: tough-mindedness. Profile analyses for the six factors indicated that the profiles of scores across the factors were more concordant for the identical twin pairs. Correlations obtained from the individual scales produced differences between the identical and fraternal twin pairs as well. Overall, the data suggested that several components and the total organization of those components of personality and temperament are genetically influenced.     

Classes,collections, and distinctive features: Alternative strategies for solving inclusion problems

This study analyzed the strategies that children ages 5 through 8 years used on two modified versions of Inhelder and Piaget's (The early growth of logic in the child. New York: Norton, 1964) class inclusion task. In two experiments, children were tested on Wilkinson's (Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 8, 64–85) “percept” inclusion task in which distinctive features marked both supraordinate and subclasses. It was hypothesized that children who fail standard Piagetian inclusion tasks succeed on the “percept” task by counting and comparing mutually exclusive features rather than using features as markers for classes and subclasses. The hypothesis was supported by children's performances on “percept” tasks in which solutions based on feature counting conflicted with solutions based on consideration of class inclusion relations. In two other experiments, children answered part-whole and part-part comparison questions in which both terms were described as classes and/or subclasses, or in which one of the two terms was described as a collection (e.g., a bunch of grapes). These experiments contrasted Markman and Seibert's (Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 8, 561–577) “organization” hypothesis that the greater psychological integrity of collections facilitates reasoning on part-whole comparison problems with the hypothesis that the faciltative effect results from the “large number” connotation of collective nouns. Results on collection problems in which parts were described as collections supported the “large number” hypothesis. Results were discussed in terms of their implications for Piaget's theory.     

A method of restraining goldfish during conditioning of electric-shock-induced suppression of breathing movements

An efficient method of holding individual fish in position for delivery of visual conditioned stimuli and electrical unconditioned stimuli, and for registration of breathing movements with a thermistor, is described. The holder restrains the fish gently and is readily opened and closed. In addition, a “mechanical fish” signal generator, for assessing thermistor performance in detecting breathing movements, and a safe constant-current electrical shock stimulus generator are described.     

A perceptual comparison: All-voiced versus typical reading passage read by children

The present investigation tested the modified vocalization hypothesis (Hutchinson and Brown, Journal of Fluency Disorders, 1978, 3, 149) in young stuttering subjects. In this study, stuttering children ages 7–13 yr were instructed to read two experimentally constructed passages. One passage contained both voiced and voiceless phonemes; the second passage was constructed using only voiced phonemes. Results indicated there was neither a quantitative nor a qualitative difference in the stuttering blocks during the reading of either experimental passage. These results would appear not to be supportive of the modified vocalization hypothesis in children; however, as has been indicative of similar studies, 8 of 22 subjects did demonstrate more dysfluencies during the reading of the passage that contained both voiced and voiceless phonemes.     

Task-specific strategies of mental “rotation” of facial representations

The effects of task demands on the visual comparison of facial patterns and of comparable nonfacial patterns were explored in two studies. The studies yielded two primary findings. First, faces, despite their holistic properties, are not rotated faster than comparable non-face-like patterns, although subjects’ judgments of them were uniformly more rapid than judgments for nonfaces. Second, the nature of the same-different judgment task required of subjects had a large effect on the pattern of results obtained: When stimuli were compared to their mirror images, results indicative of mental “rotation” were obtained. When stimuli were compared on the basis of similarity of individual features, the pattern of results was very different. This one manipulation produced effects that exceeded those of all of the other manipulations, including that of rotation.