Holistic representation of unit fractions

The present study examined the processing of unit fractions and the extent to which it is affected by context. Using a numerical comparison task we found evidence for a holistic representation of unit fractions when the immediate context of the fractions was emphasized, that is when the stimuli set included in addition to the unit fractions also the numbers 0 and 1. The holistic representation was indicated by the semantic congruity effect for comparisons of pairs of fractions and by the distance effect in comparisons of a fraction and 0 and 1. Consistent with previous results (Bonato, Fabbri, Umilta, & Zorzi, 2007) there was no evidence for a holistic representation of unit fractions when the stimulus set included only fractions. These findings suggest that fraction processing is context-dependent. Finally, the present results are discussed in the context of processing other complex numbers beyond the first decade.     

V for Volunteer(ing)��The Journeys of Undergraduate Volunteers

This article studies undergraduate students journeys in volunteering, and details the motivations of and challenges that these volunteers face during the journey. We conducted five focus groups on a total of 38 undergraduate volunteers, and obtained seven themes as we undertook an investigation of our three research questions. Our findings revolved around these seven themes, which ranged from motivations to experiences to challenges. Our findings have helped us understand the motivations and challenges that undergraduate volunteers have and face during the journey of volunteering. Some of these challenges are particular to a university setting, but some others can certainly be generalized to other settings. Recommendations for future research are also included.     

ERPs reveal similar effects of social gaze orienting and voluntary attention, and distinguish each from reflexive attention

Spatial attention can be reflexively captured by a physically salient stimulus, effortfully directed toward a relevant location, or involuntarily oriented in the direction of another person's gaze (i.e., social gaze orienting). Here, we used event-related potentials to compare the effects of these three types of orienting on multiple stages of subsequent target processing. Although gaze orienting has been associated more strongly with reflexive capture than with voluntary attention, the present data provide new evidence that the neural effects of social gaze orienting are markedly different from the effects of reflexive attentional capture by physically salient stimuli. Specifically, despite their similar behavioral effects, social gaze orienting and reflexive capture produce different effects on both early sensory processing (~120 ms; P1/N1 components) and later, higher-order processing (~300 ms; P3 component). In contrast, the effects of social gaze orienting were highly similar to those of voluntary orienting at these stages of target processing.     

Fechner, information, and shape perception

How do retinal images lead to perceived environmental objects? Vision involves a series of spatial and material transformations—from environmental objects to retinal images, to neurophysiological patterns, and finally to perceptual experience and action. A rationale for understanding functional relations among these physically different systems occurred to Gustav Fechner: Differences in sensation correspond to differences in physical stimulation. The concept of information is similar: Relationships in one system may correspond to, and thus represent, those in another. Criteria for identifying and evaluating information include (a)?resolution, or the precision of correspondence; (b)?uncertainty about which input (output) produced a given output (input); and (c)?invariance, or the preservation of correspondence under transformations of input and output. We apply this framework to psychophysical evidence to identify visual information for perceiving surfaces. The elementary spatial structure shared by objects and images is the second-order differential structure of local surface shape. Experiments have shown that human vision is directly sensitive to this higher-order spatial information from interimage disparities (stereopsis and motion parallax), boundary contours, texture, shading, and combined variables. Psychophysical evidence contradicts other common ideas about retinal information for spatial vision and object perception.     

Happy with a difference, unhappy with an identity: Observers’ mood determines processing depth in visual search

Visual search for feature targets was employed to investigate whether the mechanisms underlying visual selective attention are modulated by observers’ mood. The effects of induced mood on overall mean reaction times and on changes and repetitions of target-defining features and dimensions across consecutive trials were measured. The results showed that reaction times were significantly slower in the negative than in the positive and neutral mood groups. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that the processing stage that is activated to select visual information in a feature search task is modulated by the observer’s mood. In participants with positive or neutral moods, dimension-specific, but no feature-specific, intertrial transition effects were found, suggesting that these observers based their responses on a salience signal coding the most conspicuous display location. Conversely, intertrial effects in observers in a negative mood were feature-specific in nature, suggesting that these participants accessed the feature identity level before responding.     

White matter hyperintensities and working memory: an explorative study

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are commonly observed in elderly people and may have the most profound effect on executive functions, including working memory. Surprisingly, the Digit Span backward, a frequently employed working memory task, reveals no association with WMH. In the present study, it was investigated whether more detailed analyses of WMH variables and study sample selection are important when establishing a possible relationship between the Digit Span backward and WMH. To accomplish this, the Digit Span backward and additional working memory tests, WMH subscores, and cardiovascular risk factors were examined. The results revealed that performance on the Digit Span backward test is unrelated to WMH, whereas a relationship between other working memory tests and WMH was confirmed. Furthermore, a division between several white matter regions seems important; hyperintensities in the frontal deep white matter regions were the strongest predictor of working memory performance.     

A Multi-Method,Multi-Informant Test of Maternal Emotion Socialization in Relation to Adolescent Fears of Social Evaluation

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Fears of negative and positive social evaluation are considered potential transdiagnostic mechanisms underpinning multiple internalizing disorders...