The effect of spatial and nonspatial contextual information on visual object memory

Recent research has found visual object memory can be stored as part of a larger scene representation rather than independently of scene context. The present study examined how spatial and nonspatial contextual information modulate visual object memory. Two experiments tested participants’ visual memory by using a change detection task in which a target object's orientation was either the same as it appeared during initial viewing or changed. In addition, we examined the effect of spatial and nonspatial contextual manipulations on change detection performance. The results revealed that visual object representations can be maintained reliably after viewing arrays of objects. Moreover, change detection performance was significantly higher when either spatial or nonspatial contextual information remained the same in the test image. We concluded that while processing complex visual stimuli such as object arrays, visual object memory can be stored as part of a comprehensive scene representation, and both spatial and nonspatial contextual changes modulate visual memory retrieval and comparison.     

Justice and politics: mechanisms for the underlying relationships of role demands to employees' satisfaction and turnover intentions

The present study examines the influence of ambiguity and conflict surrounding employees' job specifications on their dissatisfaction and withdrawal intentions in the workplace. A model is proposed, which introduces perceptions of organizational politics and procedural justice as key mediators in the relationship between role ambiguity and conflict, and the resulting supervisor satisfaction, pay satisfaction, and intention to quit. The model is tested using a sample of 782 full‐time employees of a national retail organization. Results supported the mediating role of procedural justice and perception of politics in the relationship between role ambiguity and conflict and the three outcome measures. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.     

Is memory for plans unique? a study using common nouns as stimuli

The present study explored the question of whether the U-shape effect, which was observed in previous experiments on memory for fictitious plans is unique to the memory for plans or not, i.e., are plans for the morning and for the evening recalled better than those for the afternoon. To investigate we used a "common noun" as the material to be memorized instead of the "action phrase" as used in Watanabe and Kawaguchi's earlier experiments. Free recall tasks were performed in two experiments: in Exp. 1, a sample of 15 undergraduates memorized "hour" and "common noun" pairs, while in Exp. 2 another 15 undergraduates memorized "number" and "common noun" pairs. The results of these experiments indicated no significant effect for time of day. This suggests that the U-shape effect observed in Watanabe and Kawaguchi's experiments, in which participants were asked to memorize a combination of an "hour" and an "action phrase" is unique to memory for plans.     

Two cognitions observed in Taijin-Kyofusho and social anxiety symptoms

The offensive type is most characteristic in four types of social fear or anxiety in Japan, Taijin-kyofusho. This type is characterized by cognitions of other-offending and avoidance-by-others. The present purpose was to investigate which cognition is more important in the pathogenesis of the Offensive type. 220 undergraduates completed the Other-offending Cognition and the Avoidance-by-others Cognition Scale, the Interaction Anxiety Scale, and Audience Anxiety Scale. Partial correlations, controlling for each cognition in turn, showed a significant association only between scores on Social Anxiety Disorder and the other-offending cognition. Change in the other-offending cognition may have therapeutic importance.     

Economic pressure in African American families: a replication and extension of the family stress model

This study of 422 two-caregiver African American families, each with a 10-11-year-old focal child (54% girls), evaluated the applicability of the family stress model of economic hardship for understanding economic influences on child development in this population. The findings generally replicated earlier research with European American families. The results showed that economic hardship positively relates to economic pressure in families. Economic pressure was related to the emotional distress of caregivers, which in turn was associated with problems in the caregiver relationship. These problems were related to disrupted parenting practices, which predicted lower positive child adjustment and higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The results provide significant support for the family stress model of economic hardship and its generalizability to diverse populations.     

Neurological origins of poor reading comprehension despite fast word decoding?

Barnes, Faulkner, and Dennis (2001) found that hydrocephalic children (mean age = 11.5 years) of average or above-average verbal intelligence exhibit poor reading comprehension despite their fast and accurate decoding skills on individual words. This finding attracts the attention of reading researchers because it appears to be against the following standard principle of reading comprehension failure (Gough & Hillinger, 1980), thereby provoking basic issues centering around it (e.g., Stanovich, 1991): Reading Comprehension = Word Decoding x Listening Comprehension. This formula indicates that when listening comprehension is kept well within the normal range, reading comprehension is highly correlated with word decoding (e.g., Perfetti, 1985). In contrast, with poor listening comprehension children would be poor readers however good they may be at reading words (e.g., Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2000). Although Barnes et al. clearly demonstrated that children with hydrocephalus decoded individual words better than they comprehended text, it is not readily apparent whether their findings are inconsistent with the standard principle. The purpose of the present article is twofold. The first is to examine whether Barnes et al.'s findings constitute a counterexample of the above principle. (Note that Barnes et al. did not address this question.) The second and more important purpose is to discuss the possible origins of the decoding-better-than-sentence/text-comprehension pattern. We also present some pedagogical implications for poor readers such as hydrocephalic children.     

Overhearing a language during childhood

Despite its significance for understanding of language acquisition, the role of childhood language experience has been examined only in linguistic deprivation studies focusing on what cannot be learned readily beyond childhood. This study focused instead on long-term effects of what can be learned best during childhood. Our findings revealed that adults learning a language speak with a more nativelike accent if they overheard the language regularly during childhood than if they did not. These findings have important implications for understanding of language-learning mechanisms and heritage-language acquisition.     

Comparison of ganglion cell signals and psychophysical localization of moving targets can help define central motion mechanisms

Vernier acuity thresholds can be related to visibility of targets. This is considered in relation to retinal signals. Spatial precision of macaque ganglion cell responses to moving targets was assessed by neurometric analysis and compared with psychophysical performance. Under some conditions the amplitude of ganglion cell signals per se may relate target visibility to spatial precision of psychophysical performance. Other conditions are more complex; we suggest central mechanisms may adapt their properties, eg their dimensions, depending on the stochastic properties of ganglion cell signals. Thus, the relation of Vernier acuity to the visibility of targets is a rule of thumb which has a complex relation to physiological substrates.     

Visually perceived eye level and horizontal midline of the body trunk influenced by optic flow

The eye level and the horizontal midline of the body trunk can serve, respectively, as references for judging the vertical and horizontal egocentric directions. We investigated whether the optic-flow pattern, which is the dynamic motion information generated when one moves in the visual world, can be used by the visual system to determine and calibrate these two references. Using a virtual-reality setup to generate the optic-flow pattern, we showed that judged elevation of the eye level and the azimuth of the horizontal midline of the body trunk are biased toward the positional placement of the focus of expansion (FOE) of the optic-flow pattern. Furthermore, for the vertical reference, prolonged viewing of an optic-flow pattern with lowered FOE not only causes a lowered judged eye level after removal of the optic-flow pattern, but also an overestimation of distance in the dark. This is equivalent to a reduction in the judged angular declination of the object after adaptation, indicating that the optic-flow information also plays a role in calibrating the extraretinal signals used to establish the vertical reference.     

Visual search asymmetry with uncertain targets

The underlying mechanism of search asymmetry is still unknown. Many computational models postulate top-down selection of target-defining features as a crucial factor. This feature selection account implies, and other theories implicitly assume, that predefined target identity is necessary for search asymmetry. The authors tested the validity of the feature selection account using a singleton search task without a predefined target. Participants conducted a target-defined and a singleton search task with a circle (O) and a circle with a vertical bar (Q). Search asymmetry was observed in both tasks with almost identical magnitude. The results were not due to trial-by-trial feature selection, because search asymmetry persisted even when the target was completely unpredictable. Asymmetry in the singleton search was also observed with more complex stimuli, Kanji characters. These results suggest that feature selection is not necessary for search asymmetry, and they impose important constraints on current visual search theories.