A depictive neural model for the representation of motion verbs

In this paper, we present a depictive neural model for the representation of motion verb semantics in neural models of visual awareness. The problem of modelling motion verb representation is shown to be one of function application, mapping a set of given input variables defining the moving object and the path of motion to a defined output outcome in the motion recognition context. The particular function-applicative implementation and consequent recognition model design presented are seen as arising from a noun-adjective recognition model enabling the recognition of colour adjectives as applied to a set of shapes representing objects to be recognised. The presence of such a function application scheme and a separately implemented position identification and path labelling scheme are accordingly shown to be the primitives required to enable the design and construction of a composite depictive motion verb recognition scheme. Extensions to the presented design to enable the representation of transitive verbs are also discussed.     

Lonelier, lazier, and teased: the stigmatizing effect of body size

The authors conducted 2 studies to examine the stigmatization of the female and male body using photographic stimuli of real people. In the first study, 75 female and 55 male undergraduates rated a series of 50 photographs of women ranging in body mass index (BMI) on 3 items: gets teased, lonely, and lazy. Both male and female observers rated bodies on either side of BMI 19-20 kg/m2 higher for the gets teased and lonely items. For the lazy item, there was a clear pattern of greater stigmatization with increasing BMI. In the second study, 40 male and 40 female observers rated a series of photographs of the male body that varied in BMI and waist-to-chest ratio on the same items. Results showed that men and women judged overweight and more tubular men to be lazier, lonelier, and teased. These findings suggest that body size is an important characteristic to consider when examining body stigmatization among men and women. These results also show support for the beautiful-is-good bias.     

Optic variables used to judge future ball arrival position in expert and novice soccer players

Although many studies have looked at the perceptual—cognitive strategies used to make anticipatory judgments in sport, few have examined the informational invariants that our visual system may be attuned to. Using immersive interactive virtual reality to simulate the aerodynamics of the trajectory of a ball with and without sidespin, the present study examined the ability of expert and novice soccer players to make judgments about the ball’s future arrival position. An analysis of their judgment responses showed how participants were strongly influenced by the ball’s trajectory. The changes in trajectory caused by sidespin led to erroneous predictions about the ball’s future arrival position. An analysis of potential informational variables that could explain these results points to the use of a first-order compound variable combining optical expansion and optical displacement.     

性别-学科刻板印象的加工模式实验研究

性别刻板印象是在继种族刻板印象之后,逐渐受到研究者们关注的热点问题。本文运用内隐联想测量法来探讨大学生性别一学科刻板印象的加工模式,采用3×2×2的三因素完全随机设计进行实验研究。结果表明：内隐和外显的性别-学科刻板印象出现了实验分离现象。三个不同的内隐测量组的被试均不同程度认为男女性在学习文科时能力相当,学习理科方面则男性明显优于女性。但在外显测试中被试们却认为两者在学习文理科时无差异。结论：内隐性别一学科刻板印象更倾向于一种自动化加工,采用的是“自上而下”的省时省力加工模式。而外显性别一学科刻板印象趋向于自动加工与控制加工相结合,是一种“自下而上”、“三思而答”的加工模式。     

A neural network approach to identifying adolescent adjustment.

This study examined the relationship between the quality of adjustment in adolescents and a set of psychiatric diagnoses, personality traits, parental bonding, and social support variables. One hundred fifty adolescents were administered the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory, the Parental Bonding Questionnaire, the Social Support Questionnaire, and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents. A neural network approach was then utilized, and it was found that several of the variables (e.g., Major Depressive Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Societal Conformity) had a significant role in classifying adolescents into three groups: maladjusted, nominally adjusted, and well-adjusted.     

Deictic codes for the embodiment of cognition

To describe phenomena that occur at different time scales, computational models of the brain must incorporate different levels of abstraction. At time scales of approximately 1/3 of a second, orienting movements of the body play a crucial role in cognition and form a useful computational level--more abstract than that used to capture natural phenomena but less abstract than what is traditionally used to study high-level cognitive processes such as reasoning. At this "embodiment level," the constraints of the physical system determine the nature of cognitive operations. The key synergy is that at time scales of about 1/3 of a second, the natural sequentiality of body movements can be matched to the natural computational economies of sequential decision systems through a system of implicit reference called deictic in which pointing movements are used to bind objects in the world to cognitive programs. This target article focuses on how deictic binding make it possible to perform natural tasks. Deictic computation provides a mechanism for representing the essential features that link external sensory data with internal cognitive programs and motor actions. One of the central features of cognition, working memory, can be related to moment-by-moment dispositions of body features such as eye movements and hand movements.     

Null effects of exposure duration and heterogeneity of difference on thesame-different disparity in letter matching

The rechecking and external-noise postulates of Krueger’s (1978) noisy-operator theory were examined in three letter-matching experiments. Rechecking was tested by varying exposure duration, both without (Experiment 1) and with (Experiment 2) a subsequent noise mask. Predictions of a decreasedsame-different reaction time disparity and an increase in falsedifferent errors at brief exposures were not borne out. The external-noise postulate was tested by varying the degree of heterogeneity of difference between letter sets. The prediction of a smallersamedifferent reaction time disparity for the more heterogeneous letter set was not obtained. Thus, the results did not support internal noise as the basis of thesame-different disparity, but were more consistent with response-inhibition accounts.     

Estimation and tests of significance in factor analysis

A distinction is drawn between the method of principal components developed by Hotelling and the common factor analysis discussed in psychological literature both from the point of view of stochastic models involved and problems of statistical inference. The appropriate statistical techniques are briefly reviewed in the first case and detailed in the second. A new method of analysis called the canonical factor analysis, explaining the correlations between rather than the variances of the measurements, is developed. This analysis furnishes one out of a number of possible solutions to the maximum likelihood equations of Lawley. It admits an iterative procedure for estimating the factor loadings and also for constructing the likelihood criterion useful in testing a specified hypothesis on the number of factors and in determining a lower confidence limit to the number of factors.