Learning categories by touch: On the development of holistic and analytic processing

The development of holistic and analytic processing often studied in the visual domain was investigated in haptics. Children 3 to 9 years of age and adults had to categorize haptic exemplars that varied systematically in four attributes (size, shape, surface texture, and weight). The subjects could learn the categories either analytically--that is, by focusing on a single attribute--or holistically--that is, in terms of overall similarity. The data show that even the youngest children learned the haptic categories far more often in an analytic mode than in a holistic mode. Nevertheless, an age trend was observed, referring to the attributes that the analytic learners used for their categorization. The children preferred substance-related attributes, especially surface texture, whereas the adults preferred structure-related attributes, especially shape. Thus, it appears that analytic and/or holistic processing in category learning develops in a similar manner in the visual and haptic domains.     

THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF UNCERTAINTY

E ckblad G udrun . The attractiveness of uncertainty. III. Attractiveness of patterns in a guessing game. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1972, 13 , 292–305.—Visual displays, each consisting of three successive patterns of varying complexity and predictability, were presented as a guessing game to five groups of subjects. Six predictions about the development of task attractiveness over time were derived from the general hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between task attractiveness and the level of subjective uncertainty induced by the task. All predictions were confirmed.     

Perceiving arousal and valence in facial expressions: Differences between children and adults

Arousal and valence have long been studied as the two primary dimensions for the perception of emotional stimuli such as facial expressions. Prior correlational studies that tested emotion perception along these dimensions found broad similarities between adults and children. However, few studies looked for direct differences between children and adults in these dimensions beyond correlation. We tested 9-year-old children and adults on rating positive and negative facial stimuli based on emotional arousal and valence. Despite high significant correlations between children’s and adults’ ratings, our findings also showed significant differences between children and adults in terms of rating values: Children rated all expressions as significantly more positive than adults in valence. Children also rated positive emotions as more arousing than adults. Our results show that although perception of facial emotions along arousal and valence follows similar patterns in children and adults, some differences in ratings persist, and vary by emotion type.     

THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF UNCERTAINTY

Problem solving tasks of different informational content were presented for free choice, and the attractiveness of the situation was measured by repeated ratings. The hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between uncertainty and attractiveness of the situation was supported. The value of rating as a method for this purpose, and some results indicating the importance of stimulus patterning are discussed.     

Object processing in visual perception and action in children and adults

We investigated whether 6- and 7-year-olds and 9- and 10-year-olds, as well as adults, process object dimensions independent of or in interaction with one another in a perception and action task by adapting Ganel and Goodale's method for testing adults (Nature, 2003, Vol. 426, pp. 664-667). In addition, we aimed to confirm Ganel and Goodale's results in adults to reliably compare their processing strategies with those of children. Specifically, we tested the abilities of children and adults to perceptually classify (perception task) or grasp (action task) the width of a rectangular object while ignoring its length. We found that adults process object dimensions in interaction with one another in visual perception but independent of each other in action, thereby replicating Ganel and Goodale's results. Children processed object dimensions interactively in visual perception, and there was also some evidence for interactive processing in action. Possible reasons for these differences in object processing between children and adults are discussed.     

Kontroversen um die „Kriegskindheit“

The topic of “childhood during the war” became so popular because there is a growing public interest in the suffering of Germans during and after the Second World War. This “German victim discourse” was received controversially: positively on the one hand, as finally a possible recognition of German suffering and as a liberation from the bonds of political correctness and negatively on the other hand, as the disposal of the moral heritage of the history of Nazi crimes by self-victimization. The causes of the high emotions in this controversy become apparent in examining the notion of childhood during the war and its current usage. Guilt and innocence prove to be the dominant categories in using the notions of war, trauma and childhood. The background of the popularity of this topic is still the need for relief of guilt. Reconciling guilt with suffering is still very difficult for Germany.     

Infant development of configural object processing in visual and visual-haptic contexts

Infants’ visual processing of objects is characterised by a developmental trend from a predominantly analytical to a configural processing mode. In two studies with 6- and 8-month-old infants, we sought to replicate this finding in a purely visual condition (inspecting objects), and to examine how far redundant visual-haptic information present in a visual-haptic condition influences the processing mode. Infants were familiarized with two objects differing in three dimensions (texture, size and shape). At test, infants were presented with a familiar object, a switch object consisting of a recombination of familiar dimensions, and a novel object, and looking times were measured. Results indicate a transition from analytical processing at 6 months to configural processing at 8 months in the visual condition. In the visual-haptic condition, both age-groups displayed configural processing. Thus, redundant visual-haptic information seems to enhance object processing.     

Ten- and twelve-month-olds' visual anticipation of orientation and size during grasping

The anticipation of two object dimensions during grasping was investigated in 10- and 12-month-olds. We presented objects varying in both orientation and size and analyzed infants’ anticipatory hand configurations. We found in Experiment 1 that nearly all of the 12-month-olds (94%), but less than half of the 10-month-olds (40%), anticipated both dimensions before touching the object. Experiment 2 ruled out the possibility that this behavior resulted from the infants’ inability to anticipate the size of the stimuli. Thus, integrating two object dimensions during reaching seems to be difficult for 10-month-olds. In addition, we found a sequential adjustment when two dimensions were considered: Infants first adjusted the orientation and then the size. The implications of our findings concerning the planning and execution of grasping movements are discussed.     

Children's face recognition in different contexts: the role of encoding strategies

In this study, the relationship between face recognition and different facial encoding strategies was investigated. Children (6-8 years, N= 134) participated in both a face recognition task and an encoding task. During the recognition task, they saw 7 target faces in an eyewitness context (video) or in a neutral context (static black and white slides) which they later had to recognize from a set of 21 faces. On the encoding task, the same children had to categorize new faces (schematic and photorealistic) into two categories. The construction of the categories allowed participants to encode the faces either analytically (by focusing on a single attribute) or holistically (in terms of overall similarity). The results showed that face recognition was better in the social than in the neutral context. In the neutral context, only holistic encoding was connected to better face recognition. In the social context, children seemed to use not only information about the faces but also information about the persons.