Are Average Facial Configurations Attractive Only Because of Their Symmetry?

Abstract—Several commentators have suggested that the attractiveness of average facial configurations could be due solely to associated changes in symmetry. If this symmetry hypothesis is correct, then averageness should not account for significant variance in attractiveness ratings when the effect of symmetry is partialed out. Furthermore, changes in attractiveness produced by manipulating the averageness of individual faces should disappear when all the images are made perfectly symmetric. The experiments reported support neither prediction. Symmetry and averageness (or distinctiveness, the converse of averageness) made independent contributions to attractiveness (Experiments 1 and 2), and changes in attractiveness resulting from changes in averageness remained when the images were made perfectly symmetric (Experiment 2). These results allow us to reject the symmetry hypothesis, and strengthen the evidence that facial averageness is attractive.     

Memory for lateral asymmetries in well-known faces: Evidence for configural information in memory representations of Faces

Two Experiments Were Carried Out To Determine Whether Configural Information About The Left-Right Organization Of A Face Is Represented In Memory. In Experiment 1, Subjects Consistently Chose Normal (Correct) Photographs as Better Likenesses of Familiar Faces than Mirror-Reversed photographs. This Effect Was Stronger For More Familiar Faces, and Did Not Depend On the Presence of Asymmetric Hairstyles Or Single, Asymmetrically Located Features (E.G., Moles, Warts). In Experiment 2, Subjects Were Asked To Decide Which of the Left and Right Composite Faces Was a Better Likeness of the Person. The Left Composite Is Normally Considered a Better Likeness In Perceptual Matching Tasks Where The Normal Photograph Is Present. Left Composites Were Regarded As Better Likenesses than Right Composites, Despite the Fact That This Bias Appeared To Compete With One in Favor of the More Realistic of the two Composites. The Results of Experiments 1 And 2 Suggest That Configural Information About The Left-Right Organization Of Faces Is Represented In Memory. The Right Hemiface Of A Familiar Face Was Considered More Expressive Than The Left Hemiface. This Is Opposite To The Normal Result for Unfamiliar Faces. The Implications of the Results For Models Of Face Representations and for Future Research Directions Are Discussed.     

Benefits of all work and no play: the relationship between neuroticism and performance as a function of resource allocation

The authors evaluate a model suggesting that the performance of highly neurotic individuals, relative to their stable counterparts, is more strongly influenced by factors relating to the allocation of attentional resources. First, an air traffic control simulation was used to examine the interaction between effort intensity and scores on the Anxiety subscale of Eysenck Personality Profiler Neuroticism in the prediction of task performance. Overall effort intensity enhanced performance for highly anxious individuals more so than for individuals with low anxiety. Second, a longitudinal field study was used to examine the interaction between office busyness and Eysenck Personality Inventory Neuroticism in the prediction of telesales performance. Changes in office busyness were associated with greater performance improvements for highly neurotic individuals compared with less neurotic individuals. These studies suggest that highly neurotic individuals outperform their stable counterparts in a busy work environment or if they are expending a high level of effort.     

Executive functions and ADHD in adults: evidence for selective effects on ADHD symptom domains

Dual-process models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggest that both executive functioning and regulatory functions (e.g., processing speed) are involved and that executive function weaknesses may be associated specifically with symptoms of inattention-disorganization but not hyperactivity-impulsivity. Adults aged 18-37 (105 with ADHD, 90 controls) completed a neuropsychological battery. The ADHD group had weaker performance than did the control group (p<.01) on both executive and speed measures. Symptoms of inattention-disorganization were uniquely related to executive functioning with hyperactivity-impulsivity controlled. Inattention was associated with slower response speed, and hyperactivity-impulsivity with faster output speed. Results were not accounted for by IQ, age, gender, education level, or comorbid disorders. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental and dual-process models of ADHD leading into adulthood.     

Effects of reinforcement schedule on facilitation of operant extinction by chlordiazepoxide

Learning and memory are central topics in behavioral neuroscience, and inbred mice strains are widely investigated. However, operant conditioning techniques are not as extensively used in this field as they should be, given the effectiveness of the methodology of the experimental analysis of behavior. In the present study, male C57B1/6 mice, widely used as background for transgenic studies, were trained to lever press on discrete-trial fixed-ratio 5 or fixed-interval (11 s or 31 s) schedules of food reinforcement and then exposed to 15 extinction sessions following vehicle or chlordiazepoxide injections (15 mg/kg i.p., administered either prior to all extinction sessions, or prior to the final 10 extinction sessions). Extinction of operant behavior was facilitated by drug administration following training on either schedule, but this facilitation only occurred once a number of extinction sessions had taken place. The extinction process proceeded more rapidly following fixed-interval training. Resistance to extinction was equally high following training with either schedule type, and was reduced by drug administration in both cases. These phenomena were evident in individual cumulative records and in analyses of group data. Results are interpreted in terms of phenomena of operant extinction identified in Skinner's (1938) Behavior of Organisms, and by behavioral momentum theory. These procedures could be used to extend the contribution of operant conditioning to contemporary behavioral neuroscience.     

Some evidence for parallel comparisons in a letter recognition task

Subjects were asked to judge successively presented letter trigrams “same” or “different.” The different stimuli were divided into four groups; not confusable (NC), acoustically confusable (AC), visually confusable (VC), and both visually and acoustically confusable (VC & AC). Reaction times (RT) were lengthened only by the double confusability. It is argued that comparisons are normally made in both channels, so that confusability in a single channel has no effect since the alternative channel is unimpaired. RTs are only increased when both channels are slowed down. A further experiment confirms this interpretation. When the situation is manipulated so that only the visual channel is employed, the VC group shows the same increase as the VC & AC group.     

Search times for combinations of visual,phonemic, and semantic targets in reading prose

Subjects read passages of prose, canceling targets that were visual (letters), acoustic (phonemes), or semantic (words of a specified category). Each of the targets occurred singly and in all possible double and triple combinations. Comparison of the search times reveals that semantic processing adds little or no extra time when combined with acoustic or with visual and acoustic searches, i.e., it occurs in parallel. Other combinations of processing yield search times that are slightly faster than a serial model would predict and are best interpreted as reflecting an overlapping sequence of operations.     

Predicting response to anxiety management in patients with generalised anxiety disorders

This paper describes the analysis of predictive factors in a group of generally anxious patients treated with anxiety management. Evidence for three reliable predictors is presented. It is argued these reflect anxiety, demoralisation and depression. The same three variables contributed to prediction of outcome after treatment and 6 months later, and their pre-treatment values classified 80% of the patients correctly into good or poor responders. Lower initial levels of anxiety and demoralisation together with higher depression rated by the assessor predicted a better outcome. Predictions were more accurate for patients with a mild degree of depression than for those who were not depressed.     

Shorter articles and notes conservation of quantity in children: The effect of vocabulary and participation

In this pilot experiment some new tests for conservation of quantity were devised. The experimental group given these tests was able to make correct judgements, while a control group, matched for age and intelligence, failed to show conservation of quantity in the standard tests used by Piaget. The difference between the tests was analysed, and some factors emerged which, it is suggested, can serve to facilitate the child's performance.     

Developing careers education and guidance in a tertiary college

The growing number of tertiary colleges presents careers education and guidance with challenges different from and additional to those of secondary schools, sixth-form colleges and further education. This article describes and analyses how one tertiary college, founded four years ago, has responded to these challenges. The background to the setting up of the college, and of careers education and guidance within it, is described and some areas of difficulty and ambiguity are identified. The emergence of principles (comprehensiveness, time-tabling, timing, identification of need, and curriculum negotiation) underlying the organisation of careers education is documented. Four types of careers course (Introductory, Exploratory, Focusing and Practical Guidance) are described and examples of how they are used are given. Particular attention is drawn to the innovatory use of 'Careers Workshops'.