The representation and perception of 3D space: Interactions between 2D location and depth

ABSTRACT

We live in a 3D world, and yet the majority of vision research is restricted to 2D phenomena, with depth research typically treated as a separate field. Here we ask whether 2D spatial information and depth information interact to form neural representations of 3D space, and if so, what are the perceptual implications? Using fMRI and behavioural methods, we reveal that human visual cortex gradually transitions from 2D to 3D spatial representations, with depth information emerging later along the visual hierarchy, and demonstrate that 2D location holds a fundamentally special place in early visual processing.     

Eye movements and hazard perception in active and passive driving

ABSTRACT

Differences in eye movement patterns are often found when comparing passive viewing paradigms to actively engaging in everyday tasks. Arguably, investigations into visuomotor control should therefore be most useful when conducted in settings that incorporate the intrinsic link between vision and action. We present a study that compares oculomotor behaviour and hazard reaction times across a simulated driving task and a comparable, but passive, video-based hazard perception task. We found that participants scanned the road less during the active driving task and fixated closer to the front of the vehicle. Participants were also slower to detect the hazards in the driving task. Our results suggest that the interactivity of simulated driving places increased demand upon the visual and attention systems than simply viewing driving movies. We offer insights into why these differences occur and explore the possible implications of such findings within the wider context of driver training and assessment.     

Making space: Spirituality and mental health

This paper was the Mary Hemingway Rees Memorial Lecture, delivered at the XXIst World Assembly for Mental Health, Vancouver, Canada, 2001. The author had recently completed a period of appointment as the New Zealand Commissioner for Mental Health. In this lecture, the author puts in a moving plea - as a survivior of mental illness - for considering both spirituality and mental health in terms of the experience of the self. She talks about the value of communication particularly by sharing experiences via personal stories. The author goes on to contrast communication and control, and to emphasize the importance of making space in order to accept our own and others' imperfections and vulnerabilities. Attention is drawn to the work of Baruk (1978, 1998, 1999, 2000). She also discusses the way in which mental illness can lead to spiritual progress, and ultimately to mental health. The original version of the talk contained further pictorial illustrations; for technical reasons it would be difficult to reproduce all of them here in the journal. Most of the illustrative material consisted of photographs by the author, including the two photographs that are reproduced in this paper.     

Repetition Errors in Habitual Prospective Memory: Elimination of Age Differences via Complex Actions or Appropriate Resource Allocation

ABSTRACT

A challenge in habitual prospective memory tasks (e.g., taking medication) is remembering whether or not one has already performed the action. Einstein, McDaniel, Smith, and Shaw (1998 Einstein, G. O., McDaniel, M. A., Smith, R. E. and Shaw, P. 1998. Habitual prospective memory and aging: Remembering intentions and forgetting actions. Psychological Science, 9: 284–288. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Psychological Science, 9, 284) showed that older adults were more likely to incorrectly repeat an action on habitual prospective memory tasks. Extending this research, we (a) biased participants either toward repetition or omission errors, (b) investigated whether performing a more complicated motor action can reduce repetition errors for older adults, and (c) examined participants' resource allocation to the prospective memory task. Older adults committed more repetition errors than younger adults regardless of biasing instructions when ongoing task demands were challenging (Experiment 1). Performing the more complex motor action, however, reduced repetition errors for older adults. Further, when the ongoing task was less demanding, older adults' repetition errors declined to levels of younger adults (Experiment 2). Consistent with this finding, the resource allocation profiles suggested that older participants were monitoring their output (prospective memory execution) in each trial block.     

Adult Age Differences in Memory for Verbs and Nouns

Younger and older adults were asked to remember noun pairs (e.g., head – cap), verb pairs (e.g., bounce – throw), and verb-noun pairs (e.g., break – stick). For half of the pairs, participants used imagined objects and performed an action or series of related actions for each pair. For the other half of the pairs, participants read but did not perform the pairs. Free recall and cued recall tests revealed that age differences in memory for both performed and nonperformed items were larger for verbs than for nouns. The recall advantage of nouns over verbs was larger for older than for younger adults. Verbs are hypothesized to be more difficult for older adults to remember because they are more and less specific than nouns and because it is more difficult to integrate verbs with other words than to integrate nouns with other words.     

Loss Frequency and Awareness Predict Performance on a Preschool Variant of the Iowa Gambling Task

The current study investigated the effect of frequency of loss and awareness on the ability to make advantageous decisions in preschoolers using a child variant of the Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994 Bechara, A., Damasio, A., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7–15. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Preschoolers (N = 50) were randomly assigned to either a low loss frequency (0.1) or a high loss frequency (0.5) condition. The results suggested that increase in frequency of loss and higher awareness improved performance in the 4-year-olds. Finally, further analysis indicated that the effect of increased frequency on decision making was partially mediated by increased awareness of the game. The findings have implications for the integration of explicit and implicit processes in making adaptive choices.     

Temporal Precision in Tapping and Circle Drawing Movements at Preferred Rates is Not Correlated: Further Evidence Against Timing as a General-Purpose Ability

Recently, researchers have discovered that individuals who are consistent timers in a tapping task are not necessarily consistent timers when they perform a continuous drawing task. In other words, nonsignificant correlations were found among tapping and drawing movements for timing precision (S. D. Robertson et al., 1999). In the present experiment, the authors investigated whether or not consistency in timing for tapping and drawing was correlated when participants (N = 24) were allowed to move at their preferred rate of movement. There were no significant correlations between tapping and drawing in terms of timing precision. That result lends further support to the notion that timing behavior is specific to the nature of the task, and thus further weakens the idea that timing is a generalized ability that can be imposed on a variety of different types of tasks.     

Sidestepping awkward encounters: avoidance as a response to outperformance‐related discomfort

When people believe that their higher performance poses a threat to another person, they may experience discomfort or concern that has been termed Sensitivity to being the Target of a Threatening Upward Comparison (STTUC). One way to reduce STTUC discomfort might be to avoid contact with the outperformed person, a possibility examined in three studies of undergraduates. In laboratory contexts, STTUC discomfort predicted reluctance to meet an outperformed peer (Study 1) and preference for a different partner in future competitions (Study 2). In Study 3, which focused on naturalistic outperformance situations, STTUC distress again predicted avoidance. Additionally, avoidance of contact predicted less satisfaction with outcomes, especially in relationships where people knew each other well.     

Using Message Framing to Promote Social Support in Depression: When Misery Makes Better Company

A depressed person may have particular difficulty obtaining social support unless, as previous research indicates, members of the person’s support network believe that their interactions with the depressed person will be rewarding. Continuing this line of research, two studies investigated how message framing influences perceptions of providing social support to someone diagnosed with depression. In Study 1, participants first evaluated a website created by the research team, which emphasized either the rewards of volunteering to help individuals suffering from depression (gain-framed) or the drawbacks of not volunteering (loss-framed). One week later, participants read a vignette about a friend suffering from depression. Participants initially exposed to the gain-framed website indicated that the friend was in greater need of help, and they expressed stronger intentions to help and maintain supportive contact with the friend. The first phase of Study 2 was identical to the first phase of Study 1. However, a week after evaluating the framed website, participants interacted via instant messaging with a confederate posing as a prospective undergraduate student, who disclosed during the conversation that she had been diagnosed with depression. Participants initially exposed to the gain-framed website indicated greater comfort interacting with the prospective student and greater willingness to engage in follow-up interactions with the student (e.g., exchange emails, talk on the phone) compared to participants initially exposed to the loss-framed website. The implications of these findings for increasing the provision of social support to individuals with depression are discussed.