Spatiotemporal balance in competing apparent motion is not predicted from the strength of the single-motion percept

Apparent motion is useful for investigating how spatiotemporal cues are integrated to determine the identity of a moving object. To examine its spatiotemporal properties, a competing-motion paradigm has advantages in strict psychophysical evaluation, despite difficulty in object-identity determination, over a non-competing subjective-grading paradigm. The latter has been often used, whereas the former has not been fully investigated. Here, we compared these two paradigms. In the competing-motion experiment, a sample spot was followed by a far and a near test spot with onset asynchrony. We found that the onset asynchrony between the near and far test spots was directly related to the distance ratio between them. This spatial size-invariant relation was not predicted from the strength of the single-apparent-motion percept, estimated from the non-competing subjective-grading experiment in which a sample spot was followed by only one test spot. Moreover, the spatiotemporal balance in competing apparent motion was found not to be valid under negative interstimulus-interval conditions, although a single apparent motion is perceived in those conditions. These clear discrepancies suggest that competing and single apparent motions are processed in a different way according to the difficulty in object identification.     

I thought we could be friends, but ...: systematic miscommunication and defensive distancing as obstacles to cross-group friendship formation

This study examined the precursors and consequences of systematic miscommunications regarding relationship interest during intergroup interaction. Pairs of previously unacquainted same-sex students (White-White, White-Chinese, or Chinese-Chinese) engaged in a relatively intimate controlled interaction. White participants who had had little prior contact with Chinese persons were more apt to exhibit a signal-amplification bias (i.e., to perceive that their overtures had conveyed more interest than was actually the case) in intergroup as compared with intragroup exchanges. In contrast, White participants with high levels of prior contact with Chinese persons and Chinese participants did not show enhanced signal amplification in intergroup relative to intragroup exchanges. These results support our hypothesis that lack of intergroup contact experience sets the stage for miscommunications regarding friendship interest. White participants' tendency to feel that they had initially communicated more interest in being friends than their Chinese partner mediated a downward shift in their actual friendship interest over time, suggesting that signal amplification triggers defensive distancing and ultimately lowers the likelihood of cross-group friendship formation.     

Attentional capture triggers an attentional blink

Two experiments examined the possibility that attention directed to a distractor during rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) can produce an attentional blink (AB). A to-be-ignored distractor (D1) preceded a target word (T2) by a variable lag in RSVP streams of black false-font distractors. D1 was highlighted by color and was a word, a string of consonants, a string of digits, or a string of false-font characters. Recall of T2 was significantly suppressed at short D1-T2 lags (the AB) but only when D1 contained letters; the AB was completely absent when D1 was composed of digits or false-font characters. Thus, the AB can be triggered by a highlighted distractor if the distractor shares features with a target.     

An efficient method for estimating semantic similarity based on feature overlap: Reliability and validity of semantic feature ratings

Two studies were conducted in which human participants rated pairs of words according to the perceived degree to which the words’ referents shared semantic features. The participants found the task intuitive, simple, and quick to complete. The ratings were reliable and valid. Interrater and interstudy correlations were high, and ratings were good predictors of known feature overlap values obtained from existing semantic feature norms.     

Schematic influences on category learning and recognition memory

The results from 3 category learning experiments suggest that items are better remembered when they violate a salient knowledge structure such as a rule. The more salient the knowledge structure, the stronger the memory for deviant items. The effect of learning errors on subsequent recognition appears to be mediated through the imposed knowledge structure. The recognition advantage for deviant items extends to unsupervised learning situations. Exemplar-based and hypothesis-testing models cannot account for these results. The authors propose a clustering account in which deviant items are better remembered because they are differentiated from clusters that capture regularities. The function of clusters is akin to that of schemas. Their results and analyses expose connections among research in category learning, schemas, stereotypes, and analogy.     

An ERP study of sensory mismatch expressions in Japanese

Combinations of different sensory words produce mismatch expressions like smooth color and red touch in contrast to normal expressions like red color and smooth touch. Concerning these sensory mismatch expressions, results of three experiments are reported. Experiment 1 revealed that (i) mismatch expressions were less comprehensible than normal expressions, and that (ii) there were two patterns among mismatch expressions: the high-comprehensible mismatch expression (HighCME, e.g., smooth color) and the low-comprehensible mismatch expression (LowCME, e.g., red touch). Experiment 2 revealed that the mismatch expressions produced a significantly greater N400 amplitude than the normal expressions. Experiment 3 implied that the difference between High/LowCME was reflected in a later latency band or in a topographical difference of N400, although the statistical significance was marginal. It is argued that the processes to integrate linguistic elements (e.g., combining adjectives and nouns) are not homogeneous.     

Assessing the cross-cultural content validity of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension scale (PRCA-24)

Despite its popularity in the USA, the most common communication apprehension (CA) measurement scale, the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension scale (PRCA-24), has been used in just three studies in Japan. Further, validity analyses have not been reported for Japanese samples. This article attempts to analyze the content validity of the PRCA-24 on Japanese college students. Results indicate that the PRCA-24 may be of use in determining some, but not all, types of CA among Japanese students. Suggestions for future CA research in Japan are offered.     

Transient suppression of processing during rapid serial visual presentation: Acquired distinctiveness of probes modulates the attentional blink

The attentional blink is revealed in studies of rapid serial visual processing, in which observers view a stream of letters presented sequentially at the same location in a visual display. Reporting the identity of a specially marked letter (the target) amidst distractors causes a transient loss of accuracy for detection of another prespecified symbol (the probe). In two experiments, observers viewed lists of letters, identified a randomly selected letter as a target, and detected the presence of a probe from a different category (a digit or a Greek letter). After several days of training, probe detection following a target had improved markedly. Posttarget probe detection was again impaired when the distractor set included members of the probe set. These results are compatible with an explanation of the attentional blink as an act of suppression aimed at the current set of distractors, but additional mechanisms are needed to account for the effects of training.     

Processing locational and orientational information

In choice reaction time (RT) tasks, college students verified the truth of displays expressing spatial relations between two objects. The relations werelocational (A is left of B) ororientational (A and B are horizontal). The objects were names of states in the United States, symbols, or letter arrays. The objects were memorized prior to the display (states and letters) or were presented as part of the display (symbols and letters). In the location tasks with both states and symbols, locatives were spatial (right, left, above, below) or compass (north, south, east, west). Distance between states was also varied. When location was judged, horizontally aligned stimuli resulted in slower responses than vertically aligned stimuli, independently of materials and locative set. Reaction time was inversely related to distance. When orientation was judged, responses to horizontal pairs of states were slower than responses to vertical pairs of states, responses to horizontal pairs of letters were faster than responses to vertical pairs, and RT did not depend upon the orientation of symbols. This pattern of results suggests that orientational judgments are influenced by type of materials and the entext to which the material has been encoded (i.e., memorized). Locational judgments reflect a potent source of difficulty not present in orientation tasks, namely, telling left from right. Alternative explanations of the right-left effect are discussed.     

Popular psychological tests and self-fulfilling prophecy: An experiment of Japanese female undergraduate students

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not the feedback of the results of popular psychological tests influences human behavior, and to compare the strength of any influence with that of academic psychological tests. We conducted an experiment in which 64 female Japanese subjects took a popular or academic psychological test, and then interacted with a stranger. The subjects who took each test received bogus feedback implying that they were extroverted or introverted. The results showed that subjects who received the extroversion feedback were more interactive with a stranger than those who received the introversion feedback, irrespective of whether they had taken the popular or academic test. This suggests that the feedback of popular psychological tests, like that of academic tests, can influence human behavior and create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The results also showed that those subjects who took the popular psychological tests reported higher psychological well-being than those who took the academic tests.