Sex difference in subjective duration of looming and receding sounds

Looming sounds (sounds increasing in intensity over time) are more salient than receding sounds (a looming sound reversed in time). For example, they are estimated as being longer, louder, and more changing in loudness than receding sounds. Some authors interpret the looming salience as evolutionarily adaptive, because it increases the margins of safety of the perceiver in the case of preparatory behaviours (e.g., a motor reaction to an approaching sound source). Recently, Neuhoff et al (2009, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 35 225-234) found that females more than males show overestimation of the spatiotemporal properties of virtually simulated looming sound sources. Here, I investigated whether the sex difference could be observed for the subjective duration of looming and receding sounds, and found that females more than males overestimate the duration of looming sounds in comparison to receding sounds.     

Audiovisual bounce-inducing effect: When sound congruence affects grouping in vision

Two disks moving from opposite points in space, overlapping, and stopping at one another’s starting point can be seen as either bouncing off one another or streaming through one another. With silent displays, observers report streaming, whereas, if a sound is played when the disks are in the overlap region, observers report bouncing. The change in perception is thought to be modulated by a lack of attention that inhibits the integration of the motion signal when disks overlap and by the sound that increases the congruence of the display, in comparison with a real elastic bounce. Here, we accompanied the disks’ motion with either a bounce-congruent sound (a billiard ball) or with bounce-incongruent sounds (a water drop, a firework). When the sound was switched on 200 msec before the disks’ overlap, (1) all the audiovisual displays induced more bounce responses than did the silent display, but (2) the bounce-congruent sound induced more bounce responses than did the bounceincongruent sounds. However, when the sound was switched on at the disks’ overlap, only the first result was observed. These results highlight both the role of attention and that of sound congruence.     

Change detection evokes a Simon-like effect

The present experiment studied choice response context effects on the programming of response sequences using behavioural and electrophysiological methods. Participants were asked to produce responses differing in sequence length (1-key vs. 3-key responses) with either their left or right hand in a choice reaction time (RT) task. The choice response context was manipulated by a blocked or mixed execution of 1-key and 3-key responses. A sequence length effect on RT was observed in the blocked but not in the mixed condition. The time course of the lateralized readiness potential indicates a motoric locus of the sequence length effect, suggesting that the response hand is activated before the entire motor program is established.     

Definability and decidability of binary predicates for time granularity

In this paper we study the definability and decidability of binary predicates for time granularity in monadic languages interpreted over finitely and infinitely layered structures. We focus our attention on the equi-level (respectively equi-column) predicate constraining two time points to belong to the same layer (respectively column) and on the horizontal (respectively vertical) successor predicate relating a time point to its successor within a given layer (respectively column). We give a number of positive and negative results by reduction to/from a wide spectrum of decidable/undecidable problems.     

Robert Musil tra letteratura e filosofia

Desidero ringraziare innanzittutto Alessandro Fontanari con cui ho discusso a lungo i temi e i punti di vista contenuti in questo saggio; sono inoltre debitore di osservazioni e suggerimenti a Roberto Poli. Alcune parti del saggio sono state discusse nei seminari settimanali delCentro studi per la filosofia mitteleuropea di Trento; nel ciclo di conferenzeIl caso Wittgenstein: linguaggio e psicologia della forma mella cultura mitteleuropea, Trento, 10 novembre - 14 dicembre 1989, e nel convegnoMusil e la mistica del film, Trento, 9 novembre 1990.     

Tachistoscopic treatment of dyslexia changes the distribution of visual-spatial attention

Twelve children with developmental dyslexia underwent a four-month treatment with tachistoscopic presentation of words, according to Bakker's methodology. One group received standard lateral presentation of words on a PC screen, while the other group received the same stimuli in random lateral position. The spatial distribution of visual attention was measured by means of the Form-Resolving Field (FRF; ), which was administered along with reading tests, before and after treatment. The FRF of children who received random presentation widened at -12.5 degrees on the left side, while the FRF in the group that received standard lateral presentation narrowed at that position. Both groups significantly improved in reading accuracy for both words and nonwords. Some hypotheses are proposed concerning the mechanisms responsible for the changes in the FRF and their correlation with improvements in word and nonword reading. The results of the present study are also compared with data suggesting a left "minineglect" in dyslexia.     

The subjective experience of subjects diagnosed with celiac disease in adulthood

Introduction

Celiac disease is estimated to affect between 1 in 100 and 1 in 300 Caucasian subjects. Many quantitative studies have explored the issues encountered by these subjects; however, few studies have addressed the subjective and experiential dimensions of celiac disease.