Detection of change in shape: an advantage for concavities

Shape representation was studied using a change detection task. Observers viewed two individual shapes in succession, either identical or one a slightly altered version of the other, and reported whether they detected a change. We found a dramatic advantage for concave compared to convex changes of equal magnitude. Observers were more accurate when a concavity along the contour was introduced, or removed, compared to a convexity. This result sheds light on the underlying representation of visual shape, and in particular the central role played by part-boundaries. Moreover, this finding shows how change detection methodology can serve as a useful tool in studying the specific form of visual representations.     

Recombinative generalization of within-syllable units in nonreading adults with mental retardation

Two adults with mental retardation demonstrated the recombination of within-syllable units (onsets and rimes) using a spoken-to-printed-word matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure. Further testing with 1 participant showed comprehension of the printed words. Printed-word naming was minimal before, but greater after, comprehension tests. The findings suggest that these procedures hold promise for further basic and applied analyses of word-attack skills.     

Convergent behavioral and neuropsychological evidence for a distinction between identification and production forms of repetition priming

Four experiments examined a distinction between kinds of repetition priming which involve either the identification of the form or meaning of a stimulus or the production of a response on the basis of a cue. Patients with Alzheimer's disease had intact priming on picture-naming and category-exemplar identification tasks and impaired priming on word-stem completion and category-exemplar production tasks. Division of study-phase attention in healthy participants reduced priming on word-stem completion and category-exemplar production tasks but not on picture-naming and category-exemplar identification tasks. The parallel dissociations in normal and abnormal memory cannot be explained by implicit-explicit or perceptual-conceptual distinctions but are explained by an identification-production distinction. There may be separable cognitive and neural bases for implicit modulation of identification and production forms of knowledge.     

Gamification and neuromarketing: A unified approach for improving user experience

Neuroscience and its offshoot as neuromarketing have helped marketers understand neuroscientific aspects of customers while gamification has helped them understand the psyche of consumers. Despite neuromarketing's many potential benefits to businesses, little academic work has been done on the field so far. Most studies have examined consumer shifts during and after pandemics without analyzing them from two critical perspectives: neuroscientific theories and psychology theories. As the two streams of knowledge lean on each other, their interdependence in the field of e-engagement needs exploration. The purpose of this study is to answer an important question – “How do marketers use gamification and neuromarketing to understand online engagement of consumers?”. We used a quantitative empirical research approach to assess the inter-relationship between neuromarketing and gamification. The study collected data from digital marketing strategists of retail firms to propose a theoretical framework for self-determination theory in successfully implementing new age technologies by plugging the cues of gamification and neuromarketing. The framework would be useful for retail firms to design digital marketing strategies for capturing the attention of consumers across different geographies. Findings indicated that, marketers are interested in neuromarketing for two main reasons: first, they think it can help them save money and improve their marketing plans, and second, they think that cutting-edge research techniques such as brain imaging can help them get more accurate findings.     

Trends in presentations at the annual conference of the association for behavior analysis

The present report analyzes trends in attendance and presentations at the annual conference of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA). Numbers of registered attendees were plotted over time. The trends show that the number of registered attendees has grown considerably over the last three decades, with the largest proportion of the growth occurring during the last 10 years. This growth is shown to be correlated with the introduction of board certification in behavior analysis (BCBA and BCABA). In addition, conference programs from 1980 through 2007 were coded, and all presentations were categorized into one of four areas (application, basic research, conceptual, and verbal behavior) based on the primary designator codes chosen by the authors at the time of submission. An analysis of the total number of presentations in each category indicates that applied research presentations have always outnumbered the other three categories. The absolute number of presentations related to application has grown faster than presentations in other categories. However, correcting for population growth shows that the relative proportion of presentations in the four areas has remained fairly constant over the last 28 years.     

Do common elements predict class merger: A test of Sidman's theory of equivalence

The study presented here investigated the effect of common and uncommon elements on class merger as predicted by Sidman in his reconceptualization of stimulus equivalence suggesting that common elements among contingencies can facilitate emergent performances (1994, 1997, 2000). Eight adult participants were exposed to a procedure that arranged for stimulus–reinforcer correlations in Phase 1 and response–reinforcer correlations in Phase 2 of a 3-phase study. In the common element group, the visual images serving as reinforcers were the same in Phase 1 and Phase 2. In the uncommon elements group, the images serving as reinforcers were different in Phases 1 and 2. In Phase 3, participants were given an opportunity to respond but no feedback was programmed. The results showed that participants' responding was well differentiated in the common element group and undifferentiated in the uncommon elements group. These results are predicted by Sidman's revised formulation of the provenance and scope of equivalence relations. Specifically, these data support Sidman's (1994, 1997, 2000) suggestion that elements of a contingency enter into an equivalence class and common elements among contingencies are sufficient to produce class mergers. The findings highlight an emergent simple discrimination and raise some interesting considerations about the definition of equivalence under the new formulation.     

Components of disinhibition (vs. constraint) differentially predict aggression and alcohol use

Disinhibition (vs. Constraint; DvC), which has been shown to represent a central aspect of the externalizing domain, consists of several correlated but distinguishable underlying traits, which may have different patterns of association with various externalizing indicators. In a sample of 18‐ to 19‐year old undergraduate students (N = 430; 71.1% female), we examined the specificity and generality of the association between lower order components of DvC and both aggression and alcohol use, externalizing‐related behavioural constructs that have well‐established links to DvC. All three components of DvC—including Disagreeableness, low Self‐Control and low Accomplishment—were associated independently with Reactive Aggression, but only Disagreeableness was correlated significantly with Proactive Aggression. Also, only low Self‐Control was associated with alcohol use. Thus, aggression was broadly associated with components of DvC—although much more strongly with the Disagreeableness domain—whereas alcohol use was specifically correlated with low Self‐Control. These results suggest that lower order components of DvC have distinct patterns of associations with externalizing‐related outcomes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding and Essence

Modal epistemology has been dominated by a focus on establishing an account either of how we have modal knowledge or how we have justified beliefs about modality. One component of this focus has been that necessity and possibility are basic access points for modal reasoning. For example, knowing that P is necessary plays a role in deducing that P is essential, and knowing that both P and ¬P are possible plays a role in knowing that P is accidental. Chalmers (2002) and Williamson (2007) provide two good examples of contrasting views in modal epistemology that focus on providing an account of modal knowledge where necessity and possibility are basic access points for modal knowledge, and Yablo (1993) provides a good account of how we have justified beliefs about modality. In contrast to this tradition I argue for and outline a modal epistemology based on objectual understanding and essence, rather than knowledge or justification and necessity and possibility. The account employs a non-modal conception of essence and takes objectual understanding of essence, rather than knowledge of essence to be basic in modal reasoning. I begin by articulating Kvanvig’s (2003) account of objectual understanding, on which objectual understanding of Φ is not equivalent to propositional knowledge of Φ. I then argue that an epistemology of essence that uses property variation-in-imagination is better construed as a model that delivers objectual understanding of essence rather than knowledge of essence. I argue that this is so, since the latter and not the former runs into a version of the Meno paradox. I show how this account can be applied to two issues in modal epistemology: the Benacerraf problem for modality, and the architecture of modal knowledge.     

Contour Completion And Relative Depth: Petter's Rule and Support Ratio

The ability to see complete objects despite occlusion is critical to humans' visual success. Human vision can amodally complete visual objects that are partially occluded, and modally complete visual objects that occlude other objects. Previous experiments showed that the perceived strength of a completed contour depends on its support ratio: the ratio of the length of the physically specified contour to the total length of the contour. Other experiments showed that human vision prefers to make modal completions as short as possible, an effect known as Petter's rule. The experiment reported here examined the relationship between Petter's rule and support ratio, showing that both affect modal completion in figures of homogeneous color, but that when they compete Petter's rule dominates. Finally, our results confirm that Petter's rule is an effect of relative gap lengths and not of relative size.