Visual search in scenes involves selective and nonselective pathways

How does one find objects in scenes? For decades, visual search models have been built on experiments in which observers search for targets, presented among distractor items, isolated and randomly arranged on blank backgrounds. Are these models relevant to search in continuous scenes? This article argues that the mechanisms that govern artificial, laboratory search tasks do play a role in visual search in scenes. However, scene-based information is used to guide search in ways that had no place in earlier models. Search in scenes might be best explained by a dual-path model: a 'selective' path in which candidate objects must be individually selected for recognition and a 'nonselective' path in which information can be extracted from global and/or statistical information.     

A matching-to-sample feedback technique for training self-control of tinnitus

Thirty individuals with subjective tinnitus aurium of a variety of types and severity were treated with a matching-to-sample feedback procedure. Following initial evaluation measures, the participants' experienced tinnitus sounds were reproduced audiometrically on all characteristics and were presented to them in the noninvolved ear or in both ears when the tinnitus was binaural. This experimental sound was then reduced in 5 decibel (dB) steps within sessions, and participants had the task of concentrating on reducing the loudness of their tinnitus until a match was achieved between it and the experimental sound at each new dB level. Results showed an overall highly significant difference in dB levels from baseline to final training session. Nearly all participants demonstrated a marked reduction in tinnitus loudness, with 84% reducing it by 10 dB to 62 dB and several eliminating it completely. Individual and pathological variables played no role in training or outcome. Our approach appears to have major advantages over other tinnitus treatment strategies in that it provides direct, significant relief and gives the patient the psychological benefit of gaining control over the problem.     

A parent advice package for family shopping trips: development and evaluation

THIS ARTICLE REPORTS ON THE PRIMARY STEPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PARENT ADVICE FOR POPULAR DISSEMINATION: (a) developing advice for one specific problem situation, family shopping trips; (b) testing the advice program for benefit to children and convenience to adults; and (c) packaging the advice so it can be used successfully by interested parents. Systematic observation of 12 families using the written advice package on shopping trips revealed its effectiveness in reducing child disruptions and increasing positive interactions between parents and children. These findings, along with interview information from families, showed that the package is usable, effective, and popular with both parents and children, and thus is ready for dissemination to a wide audience of parents-a step that in itself should involve research and evaluation.     

The effects of recent exposure on general-knowledge estimation

Recent exposure to general-information facts creates a tendency to claim that the facts had been known prior to their exposure. In Experiment 1, this "illusory knowledge effect" occurred even when participants did not have to demonstrate their knowledge by recalling part of the fact. In Experiment 2, the effect was found for both true and false facts. These findings suggest that the tendency to claim that recently presented facts had been previously known is caused by their enhanced familiarity. Accounts that would attribute this effect entirely to an underestimation of participants' knowledge of the new facts or to participants' intentional inflation of their prior knowledge states are not supported by these results.     

TELLING SOMETHING WE CAN'T KNOW:

An interpersonal verb such as annoy or admire can be categorized according to whether its grammatical subject or grammatical object initiates the interaction described by the verb Such a verb can also be categorized according to whether a derived adjective describes its grammatical subject (eg., annoying ) or its grammatical object (eg., admirable ) Although there has been much speculation (eg., Brown & Fish, 1983) that these and other characteristics of these verbs shed light on basic principles of human social interaction, we argue that research to date has failed to demonstrate directly any real-time consequences of these verbs during language comprehension. We present evidence that the initiating-reacting distinction predicts on-line changes in the accessibility of these verbs' arguments, but that the existence of a derived adjective does not. We conclude that tasks that question subjects explicitly about language may fail to reflect the ordinary processes of language comprehension