Visual inertia of rotating 3-D objects

Five experiments were designed to determine whether a rotating, transparent 3-D cloud of dots (simulated sphere) could influence the perceived direction of rotation of a subsequent sphere. Experiment 1 established conditions under which the direction of rotation of a virtual sphere was perceived unambiguously. When a near-far luminance difference and perspective depth cues were present, observers consistently saw the sphere rotate in the intended direction. In Experiment 2, a near-far luminance difference was used to create an unambiguous rotation sequence that was followed by a directionally ambiguous rotation sequence that lacked both the near-far luminance cue and the perspective cue. Observers consistently saw the second sequence as rotating in the same direction as the first, indicating the presence of 3-D visual inertia. Experiment 3 showed that 3-D visual inertia was sufficiently powerful to bias the perceived direction of a rotation sequence made unambiguous by a near-far luminance cue. Experiment 5 showed that 3-D visual inertia could be obtained using an occlusion depth cue to create an unambiguous inertia-inducing sequence. Finally, Experiments 2, 4, and 5 all revealed a fast-decay phase of inertia that lasted for approximately 800 msec, followed by an asymptotic phase that lasted for periods as long as 1,600 msec. The implications of these findings are examined with respect to motion mechanisms of 3-D visual inertia.     

Guidance in Hong Kong schools: Students' and teachers' beliefs

The perceptions which students and teachers in Hong Kong have of school guidance were investigated, with specific reference to the match and mismatch in their respective views. A survey of 2,045 secondary students and 267 teachers revealed that students and teachers held similar beliefs about school guidance, demonstrating convergence rather than divergence in perceptions. The results showed assent by both groups to proactive and developmental guidance, with some reservations about remedial guidance. Both groups affirmed the role of teachers in individual guidance and its helpfulness, and teacher participation in guidance as a means of school improvement of guidance. Divergence in views was mainly in the magnitude of agreement. Moscovici's theory of social representations is employed to explain the findings. Implications of the findings for the concept and development of guidance are discussed.     

Understanding attraction in formal mentoring relationships from an affective perspective

Despite the critical role affect can play in mentoring, a type of close relationships in the workplace, affect has not received much attention in existing mentoring research. Drawing upon Byrne's affect-centered model of attraction, we examined the relationships among mentors' moods during their interaction with protégés, mentors' liking of protégés, and mentoring support received by protégés. Moreover, we also examined the moderating effect of protégés' emotional intelligence (EI) on the relationship between mentors' moods and liking. Based on data collected from 237 ongoing formal mentoring dyads, we found that mentors' positive moods were positively related, and negative moods were negatively related, to mentoring support received through mentors' liking. Furthermore, protégés' EI only moderated the positive relationship between mentors' positive moods and liking such that the positive relationship was stronger for protégés low on EI. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Similarity effects in visual working memory

Perceptual similarity is an important property of multiple stimuli. Its computation supports a wide range of cognitive functions, including reasoning, categorization, and memory recognition. It is important, therefore, to determine why previous research has found conflicting effects of inter-item similarity on visual working memory. Studies reporting a similarity advantage have used simple stimuli whose similarity varied along a featural continuum. Studies reporting a similarity disadvantage have used complex stimuli from either a single or multiple categories. To elucidate stimulus conditions for similarity effects in visual working memory, we tested memory for complex stimuli (faces) whose similarity varied along a morph continuum. Participants encoded 3 morphs generated from a single face identity in the similar condition, or 3 morphs generated from different face identities in the dissimilar condition. After a brief delay, a test face appeared at one of the encoding locations for participants to make a same/different judgment. Two experiments showed that similarity enhanced memory accuracy without changing the response criterion. These findings support previous computational models that incorporate featural variance as a component of working memory load. They delineate limitations of models that emphasize cortical resources or response decisions.     

Parenting Dimensions and Internalizing Difficulties in Italian and U.S. Emerging Adults: The Intervening Role of Autonomy and Relatedness

The present study examined the associations between emerging adults’ perceived parental psychological control and autonomy support, and their autonomy, relatedness and internalizing difficulties in Italy and the U.S. The participants included 494 Italian and 414 U.S. college students, between 18 and 28 years of age (Mean = 21.58, SD = 2.18). Our findings showed that dependency-oriented psychological control had no significant direct associations with autonomy, relatedness or internalizing difficulties. Moreover, the association between parental autonomy support and internalizing problems was fully intervened by autonomy and relatedness, whereas the association between achievement-oriented psychological control and anxiety and depressive symptoms was partially intervened by autonomy and relatedness. Finally, although parental psychological control and autonomy support had similar effects on maladjustment across the two countries, relatedness appeared to play a more central role as an intervening variable for anxiety in the Italian group than in the U.S. group. Overall, our findings highlighted the importance of examining parents’ contributions to emerging adults’ internalizing problems via autonomy support and psychological control across cultures.     

Eye‐tracking Social Preferences

We hypothesize that if people are motivated by a particular social preference, then choosing in accordance with this preference will lead to an identifiable pattern of eye movements. We track eye movements while subjects make choices in simple three‐person distribution experiments. We characterize each choice in terms of three different types of social preferences: efficiency, maxi‐min, and envy. For the characterization, we use either the choice data or the eye movement data. The evidence indicates that distributional choices are broadly consistent with the choice rule implied by eye movements. In other words, what subjects appear to be interested in when you look at their choices corresponds to what they appear to be interested in when you look at their eye movements. This correspondence lends credibility to the behavioral relevance of social preferences models. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internet Addiction and Well-Being: Daoist and Stoic Reflections

This article explores the phenomenon of Internet addiction and its possible amelioration, from both Eastern and Western philosophical perspectives. Internet addiction is caused by the excessive use of the Internet and its resulting dependence, having negative effects on human well-being. The ideas of a key ancient Chinese Daoist thinker Zhuangzi 莊子 and his Western contemporaries, the Stoics, as viewed through the world, the things and beings in it, and their relationships, offer insights which may be used to alleviate these effects. The application of and comparison between the two ancient philosophies in addressing the issue of Internet addiction can give us inspiration to confront the challenges of technological enslavement in general and Internet addiction in particular. This is no doubt a help in our pursuit of well-being.     

说普通话儿童的语音习得

以说普通话的１２９名一岁半至四岁半儿童的口语资料为基础,首次确定了正常发展的普通话儿童在语音习得过程中各年龄段的音位集合、音位习得的先后顺序、及习得过程中典型的语音简化类型。研究结果可以应用到普通话儿童语音发展水平标准化测试,及对患有语音障碍的儿童的诊断。此外,研究结果还表明在普通话儿童的语音习得中同时体现了各语言共有的“普遍趋势”和普通话独有的语音特征,从而为跨语言语音习得的研究提供了新的证据,进一步发展了儿童语音习得的理论。