Book reviews

Sutherland, S. (1989). Macmillan dictionary of psychology. London: Macmillan Reference Books. ISBN -333-38829-1. £ 29.95

Van Toller, S. & Dodd, G. H. (Eds.). (1988). Perfumery: the psychology and biology of fragrance. London: Chapman and Hall. Pp. 268. ISBN 0-412-30010-9. £ 35.00

Watt, R. J. (1987). Visual processing: Computational, psychophysical and cognitive resedrch. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. Pp.160. ISBN 0-86377-081-9. £ 14.95/$ 26.95

Caplan, D. & Hildebrandt, N. (1988). disorders of syntactic comprehension. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books. Pp. 340. ISBN 0-262-03132-9. £31.50     

Spreading suppression and the guidance of search by movement: Evidence from negative color carry-over effects

A growing number of studies have shown that significant impairments to search and selection can occur if the target item carries a feature of the irrelevant distractors currently being ignored Braithwaite, Humphreys, and Hodsoll (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 758–778, 2003). However, these effects have been documented only when search has been extended over time (i.e., in preview search), and not in standard search displays with simultaneously presented items. Here, we present the first evidence that similar costs to selection can occur in simultaneous displays under appropriate circumstances. In the present experiment, participants searched a display for a moving target letter among static and moving distractors. Search efficiency was significantly enhanced for a moving target when half of the letters moved (and half remained static), allowing the static items to be excluded from search. However, if the moving target then shared its color with the irrelevant static items, significant costs emerged, relative to baselines. These results are consistent with the involvement of a general feature-based suppression mechanism in selection, operating over space as well as time.     

Two components in IOR: evidence for response bias and perceptual processing delays using the SAT methodology

Inhibition of return (IOR) occurs when reaction times (RTs) are slowed to respond to a target that appears at a previously attended location. We used the speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) procedure to obtain conjoint measures of IOR on sensitivity and processing speed by presenting targets at cued and uncued locations. The results showed that IOR is associated with both delays in processing speed and shifts in response criterion. When the target was briefly presented, the results supported a criterion shift account of IOR. However, when the target was presented until response, the evidence indicated that, in addition to a response bias effect, there was an increase in the minimal time required for information about the target to accumulate above chance level. A hybrid account of IOR is suggested that describes effects on both response bias and perceptual processing.     

Contiguity, reinforcement rate and the law of effect

There is an ambiguity in formulations of the Law of Effect which stress the importance of the correlation of rate of responding with frequency of reinforcement. The main problem is that such theories have not specified precisely how the correlation of response and reinforcement rates should be determined, with the result that the theories can become irrefutable. Two experiments were carried out which expose some of the problems created by this ambiguity. “Free” food reinforcers were delivered to rats in the absence of responding. Lever responses intermittently provided immediate (contiguous) reinforcement, but cancelled some of the following “free” reinforcements. Responding was established and maintained even when the overall rate of responding was negatively correlated with the overall frequency of reinforcement. Several ways in which correlational theories could attempt to accommodate these results are discussed but rejected as unsatisfactory, either because they severely limit the scope of the theories or because they lose their most important feature: that of treating behaviour at a molar rather than a molecular level.     

Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review

Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty.     

Action relations, semantic relations, and familiarity of spatial position in Balint’s syndrome: Crossover effects on perceptual report and on localization

We contrasted effects of the action relationship between objects, relative to effects of semantic relation and familiarity of spatial location, in a patient with Balint’s syndrome. We found enhanced perceptual report of objects placed in the correct colocations for action in comparison with when the objects (1) were placed in incorrect locations for action (Experiment 1), (2) were associatively related (Experiment 2), or (3) fell in familiar locations but were not action related (Experiment 4). In contrast, the ability to localize the objects was affected by whether the objects were in familiar as opposed to unfamiliar locations with respect to one another. Action relations between objects facilitate joint attention to both objects but do not facilitate binding to location. Familiar spatial relations facilitate spatial binding, but do not cue joint attention to the stimuli. Effects of action relation on attention and localization can be dissociated from effects of semantic relationship and familiarity of spatial location on attention and localization.     

Revisiting preview search at isoluminance: new onsets are not necessary for the preview advantage

It has been argued that search performance under preview conditions relies on automatic capture by luminance onsets (Donk & Theeuwes, 2001). We present three experiments in which preview search was examined with both isoluminant and nonisoluminant items (e.g., as defined by luminance onsets). Experiment 1 provided evidence against the automatic capture of attention by onsets. Search benefited when onset previews were followed by new onset stimuli, as compared with a full-set baseline matched for the number of new onsets but in which half the distractors appeared simultaneously at isoluminance. Furthermore, both Experiments 1 and 2 established a preview advantage when isoluminant targets followed onset previews, when compared with appropriate full-set baselines. Experiment 3 replicated this result, while showing that the preview benefit was disrupted by dual-task interference. The data indicate that new onsets are not necessary to generate a preview advantage in search. We discuss the data in terms of search's benefiting from active inhibition of old onset-defined stimuli.     

How to make the word-length effect disappear in letter-by-letter dyslexia: implications for an account of the disorder

The diagnosis of letter-by-letter (LBL) dyslexia is based on the observation of a substantial and monotonic increase of word naming latencies as the number of letters in the stimulus increases. This pattern of performance is typically interpreted as indicating that word recognition in LBL dyslexia depends on the sequential identification of individual letters. We show, in 7 LBL patients, that the word-length effect can be eliminated if words of different lengths are matched on the sum of the confusability (visual similarity between a letter and the remainder of the alphabet) of their constituent letters. Additional experiments demonstrate that this result is mediated by parallel letter processing and not by any compensatory serial processing strategy. These findings indicate that parallel processing contributes significantly to explicit word recognition in LBL dyslexia and that a letter-processing impairment is fundamental in causing the disorder.