Emotion space as a predictor of binocular rivalry

In our 1999 report, we examined robustness of a two-dimensional structure of facial expressions of emotion under the condition of some perceptual ambiguity, using a stereo-scope. The current study aimed to replicate and extend the previous work by adding facial photographs of different persons and by measuring participants' perception of stereoscopically presented faces. Multidimensional scaling provided a two-dimensional configuration of facial expressions comparable with the previous studies. Although binocular rivalry was a less frequent phenomenon, it was suggested that the distances between facial expressions in the derived space were a contributing factor in eliciting binocular rivalry.     

Categorical perception occurs in newly learned faces, other-race faces, and inverted faces

On the basis of findings that categorical perception (CP) is possible in complex visual stimuli such as faces, the present study tested for CP on continua between unfamiliar face pairs. Results indicate that CP can be observed for unfamiliar faces, in both familiar (same-race) and unfamiliar (other-race) groups. In addition, significant CP effects were observed in inverted faces. Finally, half-continua were tested where midpoint stimuli became endpoints. This was done to ensure that stimulus artifacts did not account for the observed CP effects. Consistent with the perceptual rescaling associated with CP, half-continua showed a rescaled CP effect. We argue that these CP effects are based on the rapid acquisition of perceptual equivalence classes.     

Extraretinal and retinal amplitude and phase errors during Filehne illusion and path perception

Pursuit eye movements give rise to retinal motion. To judge stimulus motion relative to the head, the visual system must correct for the eye movement by using an extraretinal, eye-velocity signal. Such correction is important in a variety of motion estimation tasks including judgments of object motion relative to the head and judgments of self-motion direction from optic flow. The Filehne illusion (where a stationary object appears to move opposite to the pursuit) results from a mismatch between retinal and extraretinal speed estimates. A mismatch in timing could also exist. Speed and timing errors were investigated using sinusoidal pursuit eye movements. We describe a new illusion--the slalom illusion--in which the perceived direction of self-motion oscillates left and right when the eyes move sinusoidally. A linear model is presented that determines the gain ratio and phase difference of extraretinal and retinal signals accompanying the Filehne and slalom illusions. The speed mismatch and timing differences were measured in the Filehne and self-motion situations using a motion-nulling procedure. Timing errors were very small for the Filehne and slalom illusions. However, the ratios of extraretinal to retinal gain were consistently less than 1, so both illusions are the consequence of a mismatch between estimates of retinal and extraretinal speed. The relevance of the results for recovering the direction of self-motion during pursuit eye movements is discussed.     

Odorant quality perception: a metric individual differences approach

Perceptual spaces, in which similar stimuli are located close to each other and dissimilar stimuli are located far apart, have aided in the understanding of the physiological and psychological bases for sensory quality coding. Differences in perception between individuals should be reflected by differences in the spatial relationships between stimuli. If the dimensionality of the perceptual space is small (e.g., color space), individual differences that reflect specific pathologies are readily apparent from visual inspection. On the other hand, if the dimensionality of the perceptual space is large (as is proposed for odor space), visual inspection alone may not reveal individual differences in quality perception. The present work presents an information-theory-based method for quantifying individual differences in quality perception from perceptual confusion matrices. The ability of this method to quantify individual differences in quality perception is shown in a hypothetical example of specific anosmia. Finally, the method is applied to the examination of intrasubject consistency of odorant quality perception.     

Visual and audiovisual speech perception with color and gray-scale facial images

Research has shown that auditory speech recognition is influenced by the appearance of a talker's face, but the actual nature of this visual information has yet to be established. Here, we report three experiments that investigated visual and audiovisual speech recognition using color, gray-scale, and point-light talking faces (which allowed comparison with the influence of isolated kinematic information). Auditory and visual forms of the syllables /ba/, /bi/, /ga/, /gi/, /va/, and /vi/ were used to produce auditory, visual, congruent, and incongruent audiovisual speech stimuli. Visual speech identification and visual influences on identifying the auditory components of congruent and incongruent audiovisual speech were identical for color and gray-scale faces and were much greater than for point-light faces. These results indicate that luminance, rather than color, underlies visual and audiovisual speech perception and that this information is more than the kinematic information provided by point-light faces. Implications for processing visual and audiovisual speech are discussed.     

Peer functioning, family dysfunction, and psychological symptoms in a risk factor model for adolescent inpatients' suicidal ideation severity

Examined models of suicidal ideation severity that include two psychosocial risk factors (i.e., peer and family functioning) and four domains of psychological symptoms (i.e., generalized anxiety, depression, conduct problems, and substance abuse/dependence). Participants were 96 psychiatric inpatients (32 boys, 64 girls), ages 12 to 17, who were hospitalized because of concerns of suicidality. Adolescents completed a structured diagnostic interview, measures of suicidal ideation, and several dimensions of family and peer functioning. Results supported a model in which greater levels of perceived peer rejection and lower levels of close friendship support were associated directly with more severe suicidal ideation. In addition, indirect pathways included deviant peer affiliation and global family dysfunction related to suicidal ideation via substance use and depression symptoms. The results are among the first to demonstrate relations between suicidal ideation and several areas of adolescent peer functioning, as well as divergent processes for peer and family predictors of suicidal ideation.     

Role of the working alliance in the treatment of delinquent boys in community-based programs

Examined the role of the working alliance in the treatment of delinquent boys in community-based residential programs, clarifying the relation between therapeutic process and behavioral change. Horvath and Greenberg's (1989) Working Alliance Inventory was used to assess the therapeutic alliance between youth and staff after 3 weeks in treatment and again after 3 months. Achenbach's (1991) Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Youth Self-Report [YSR] and Teacher Report Form [TRF]) and recidivism scores were used to assess treatment progress and outcome. Results indicated that a positive working alliance assessed after 3 months in treatment related to positive psychological changes and predicted lower rates of recidivism. Unexpectedly, a positive working alliance assessed early in treatment was associated with negative outcomes (increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms and higher rates of recidivism). This finding suggests that for some delinquent youth initially optimistic assessments may be prognostic of slow progress or treatment failure.     

On the relationship between locus of control, level of ability and gender

In a sample of Norwegian 14- and 15-year-old students no significant relationship was found between total externality-internality score and level of ability. However, a significant relationship was found between ability and a subscale of locus of control related to degree of belief in the impact of school effort. The analyses of gender differences showed that girls had significantly higher total internal locus of control scores than boys. Boys were, however, significantly more internally oriented than girls on a subscale related to the respondents' general belief in luck, while girls were significantly more internally oriented than boys on a school effort scale. The present study does not support the notion that girls develop an attributional pattern which is more closely related to their abilities while boys may develop a broader attributional pattern.     

A test of the hopelessness theory of depression in youth psychiatric inpatients

Evaluated the hopelessness theory of depression among youth psychiatric inpatients. According to the hopelessness theory of depression, negative attributional style may cross-sectionally relate to an array of psychopathological symptoms. However, in the presence but not the absence of negative life events, negative attributional style relates to the onset and exacerbation of depressive (not other) symptoms. Moreover, negative attributional style relates to depression onset or exacerbation specifically via changes in hopelessness (not other mediators). This study of 60 youth psychiatric inpatients (22 boys and 38 girls; ages 9 to 17, M = 14.33, SD = 1.86), 34 of whom were assessed 2 months after leaving the hospital, tested hopelessness theory. At baseline, participants completed self-report questionnaires on attributional style, hopelessness, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety; at follow-up, questionnaires on negative life events and symptoms were completed. Chart diagnoses were available. Results were consistent with all hypotheses derived from hopelessness theory.