The independence of size perception and distance perception.

Research on distance perception has focused on environmental sources of information, which have been well documented; in contrast, size perception research has focused on familiarity or has relied on distance information. An analysis of these two parallel bodies of work reveals their lack of equivalence. Furthermore, definitions of familiarity need environmental grounding, specifically concerning the amount of size variation among different tokens of an object. To demonstrate the independence of size and distance perception, subjects in two experiments were asked to estimate the sizes of common objects from memory and then to estimate both the sizes and the distances of a subset of such objects displayed in front of them. The experiments found that token variation was a critical variable in the accuracy of size estimations, whether from memory or with vision, and that distance had no impact at all on size perception. Furthermore, when distance information was good, size had no effect on distance estimation; in contrast, at far distances, the distances to token variable or unknown objects were estimated with less accuracy. The results suggest that size perception has been misconceptualized, so that the relevant research to understand its properties has not been undertaken. The size-distance invariance hypothesis was shown to be inadequate for both areas of research.     

Relating individual differences in Attitude toward Ambiguity to risky choices

Subjects (76 adult Italians of varying ages) completed a two‐part procedure. One part used an Ellsberg‐type task which allowed for both aggregate and individual level analysis of Attitude toward Ambiguity. The other part used an expanded risky choice task to assess the same subjects' Attitude toward Risk. While there was an overall tendency for subjects to be slightly ambiguity‐averse, there was a positive correlation between Attitude toward Ambiguity and Attitude toward Risk. This relation was particularly strong when the risky choice was to avoid a loss rather than to achieve a gain. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do young children deal with hybrids of living and non‐living things: The case of humanoid robots

In this experiment, we tested children's intuitions about entities that bridge the contrast between living and non‐living things. Three‐ and four‐year‐olds were asked to attribute a range of properties associated with living things and machines to novel category‐defying complex artifacts (humanoid robots), a familiar living thing (a girl), and a familiar complex artifact (a camera). Results demonstrated that 4‐year‐olds tended to treat the category‐defying entities like members of the inanimate group, while 3‐year‐olds showed more variability in their responding. This finding suggests that preschoolers' ability to classify complex artifacts that cross the living–non‐living divide becomes more stable between the ages of 3 and 4 and that children at both ages draw on a range of properties when classifying such entities.     

An examination of the relation of individual difference variables to loneliness

This study investigated the relation of five individual difference variables (extroversion, depression, self-esteem, neuroticism, and attitude toward others) to loneliness. The relative contributions of two different models that might explain these relations were examined. One model suggests that individual difference variables are related to loneliness through the mediation of social network variables; that is, individual difference variables may reduce people's motivation and/or ability to build and maintain social relationships, which in turn leads to loneliness. The second model, the cognitive bias model, states that both the individual difference variables and loneliness are influenced by the same intrapersonal, cognitive processes. Some people are prone to negative affect and tend to evaluate themselves and their relationships negatively. The relations of self-esteem, neuroticism, and depression to loneliness were hypothesized to reflect the cognitive bias model, while extroversion and attitudes toward others were hypothesized to be related to loneliness through the mediation of social network variables. Eighty-two female and 42 male adults completed measures of loneliness and the five individual difference variables, as well as an instrument assessing their social networks. The results indicated partial support for both models for each of the individual difference variables. Together, the two models did a good job of explaining the correlations of the individual difference variables and loneliness. The implications of these findings, as well as their relation to previous research, are discussed.     

Relations between visceral and behavioral function in men at bedrest

Multiple physiological measurements as well as a self-assessment of arousal was made in eight men on the first, third, and fifth days of bedrest. On the third day, additional measurements of performance on memory and dexterity tasks were made. Univariate analysis did not reveal any physiological variable to either predict subsequent performance well or to co-vary acutely with it; however, self-rating scores did prove to be useful predictors of subsequent performance. Principal components analysis suggested an“alertness” factor comprised of physiological measures as well as selfratings which helped in predicting better performance. Although the individual patterns of correlations between variables on each of the three test days was variable, even more variability between subjects was found on the performance testing day. We believe this effect of behavioral activation may be due to the injection of common, slow temporal trends into many of the different data sets.     

The effect of children's spontaneous cognitive sets on discrimination learning

Two experiments investigated the role of children's spontaneous cognitive “sets” in pictorial discrimination learning. Lists were constructed to highlight either perceptual or conceptual similarities among the stimuli. In each experiment age by treatment interactions revealed that in comparison to the behavior of older children (sixth graders), that of younger children (kindergartners) is governed more by the perceptible than by the conceptual attributes of stimuli—data in complete accord with Bruner's view of cognitive development.     

A clarification of frequency effects in children’s discrimination learning

Memory & Cognition - Three experiments were conducted to assess the effects of certain stimulus variables on children’s discrimination learning. In general, it was found that word...     

Semantic and imaginal factors in learning as related to age

Sixty subjects apiece from third and sixth grade populations were given a twelve-item paired-associate list to learn under either regular or imagery instructions. The paired associates were presented in sentences or phrases which represented varying degrees of semantic correspondence between study and test trials. It was found that the semantic manipulations influenced learning similarly in the two grades, while imagery instructions produced different effects at each grade level.