The perception of face gender: The role of stimulus structure in recognition and classification

The perception of face gender was examined in the context of extending “face space” models of human face representations to include the perceptual categories defined by male and female faces. We collected data on the recognizability, gender classifiability (reaction time to classify a face as male/female), attractiveness, and masculinity/femininity of individual male and female faces. Factor analyses applied separately to the data for male and female faces yielded the following results. First, for both male and female faces, the recognizability and gender classifiability of faces were independent—a result inconsistent with the hypothesis that both recognizability and gender classifiability depend on a face’s “distance” from the subcategory gender prototype. Instead, caricatured aspects of gender (femininity/masculinity ratings) related to the gender classifiability of the faces. Second, facial attractiveness related inversely to face recognizability for male, but not for female, faces—a result that resolves inconsistencies in previous studies. Third, attractiveness and femininity for female faces were nearly equivalent, but attractiveness and masculinity for male faces were not equivalent. Finally, we applied principal component analysis to the pixel-coded face images with the aim of extracting measures related to the gender classifiability and recognizability of individual faces. We incorporated these model-derived measures into the factor analysis with the human rating and performance measures.     

A “word length effect”for sign language: Further evidence for the role of language in structuring working memory

We report a sign length effect in deaf users of American Sign Language that is analogous to the word length effect for speech. Lists containing long signs (signs that traverse relatively long distances) produced poorer memory performance than did lists of short signs (signs that do not change in location). Further, this length effect was eliminated by articulatory suppression (repetitive motion of the hands), and articulatory suppression produced an overall drop in performance. The pattern of results, together with previous findings (Wilson & Emmorey, 1997), provides evidence for a working memory system for sign language that consists of a phonological storage buffer and an articulatory rehearsal mechanism. This indicates a close equivalence of structure between working memory for sign language and working memory for speech. The implications of this equivalence are discussed.     

Neuroticism and Reactions to Social Comparison Information Among Cancer Patients

In an experimental study neuroticism was examined as a moderator of breast cancer patients' affective reactions to social comparison information about a fellow patient. Fifty-seven women with breast cancer completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire and received social comparison information about a fellow patient who was either doing better (upward condition) or worse (downward condition) than themselves. As expected, patients showed more positive reactions to upward comparison information than to downward comparison information. Moreover, neuroticism was related to responding more negatively and less positively to social comparison information. Although respondents high and low in neuroticism did not differ in their reactions to downward comparison information, low neuroticism was associated with more positive responding to upward comparison information.     

The effect of adults' eating on young children's acceptance of unfamiliar foods

Adults presented unfamiliar foods to 14- to 20- and 42- to 48-month-old children individually in their homes. More children put the food in their mouths when the adults also were eating than when the adults simply were offering the food. More children put food in their mouths when their mothers were the source than when the source was a friendly adult “visitor”. However, even when alone with a child, the visitor's eating elicited reliably more tasting. Analysis of requesting behavior indicated that the adults' eating aroused a desire to eat in the children. There were no consistent sex differences or interactions between sex of visitor and sex of child in children's food acceptance. There was a suggestion that younger children were more affected by repeated offerings than were older children. It is concluded that a relatively “low level” form of observational learning—“social facilitation”—can account for the data.     

Developmental differences in intake and storage of visual information

A partial report technique was used to determine how much visual information subjects of four ages (ranging from 5-year-olds to adults) were capable of taking in and what the course of information loss was over a 1-sec time period. Subjects were tachistoscopically presented eight items followed by an indicator at variable intervals after array offset and were required to report that item in the indicated position. No reliable age differences were found at the earliest “memory point,” 50 msec. There were, however, age differences both before and after this point. Results suggested an absence of age differences in visual intake capacity, but important differences in other stages of processing.     

Social Comparison and Bystander Intervention in Emergencies

In a 2 × 2 experimental design, male subjects were exposed to a "lady in distress" in the presence of a confederate who was either similar or dissimilar to the subject and who reacted to the situation with either passive unconcern or with apparent alarm. Consistent with a social comparison interpretation, the confederate's reactions markedly influenced whether subjects intervened. While degree of similarity was unrelated to probability of occurrence of an intervention response, it exerted a strong effect on intervention response latency. It is proposed that social comparison processes not only may influence an observer's interpretation of a situation, but may also contribute to situational ambiguity and affect the observer's degree of confidence in the validity of his interpretation of the situation. Any of these factors may, in turn, determine whether and how quickly an intervention response occurs.