Asymmetries in categorization, cerceptual discrimination, and visual search for reference and nonreference exemplars

In two experiments, we examined the representation, treatment, and attention devoted to the members of reference (i.e., club members) and nonreference (i.e., not club members) categories. Consistent with prior work on category interrelatedness (e.g., Goldstone, 1996; Goldstone, Steyvers, and Rogosky, 2003), the findings reveal the existence of asymmetric representations for reference and nonreference categories, which, however, decreased as expertise and familiarity with the categories increased (Experiments 1 and 2). Participants also more readily judged two reference exemplars as being the same than they did two nonreference exemplars (Experiment 1) and were better at detecting reference than nonreference exemplars in a set of novel, category-unspecified exemplars (Experiment 2). These findings provide evidence for the existence of a feature asymmetry in the representation and treatment of exemplars from reference and nonreference categories. Membership in a reference category acts as a salient feature, thereby increasing the perceived similarity and detection of faces that belong in the reference, in comparison with the nonreference, category.     

Negative priming effect after inhibition of number/length interference in a Piaget‐like task

According to Dempster, Piagetian tasks have more to do with the child’s ability to resist (inhibit) interference than they do with the ability to grasp their underlying logic. Here we used a chronometric paradigm with 9‐year‐olds, who succeed in Piaget’s conservation of number task, to test the role of cognitive inhibition in a priming version of this classical task. The experimental design was such that the misleading strategy ‘length‐equals‐number’ to inhibit on the prime (a Piaget‐like item with number/length interference) became a congruent strategy to activate on the probe (a subsequent item where number and length covaried). A negative priming effect of 158 ms was observed for the prime–probe sequence. This result confirms that success on Piaget‐like tasks (the prime) requires an inhibition process.     

Typicality effects in face and object perception: further evidence for the attractor field model

In a previous study, it was shown that a 50/50 morph of a typical and an atypical parent face was perceived to be more similar to the atypical parent face than to the typical parent face (Tanaka, Giles, Kremen, & Simon, 1998). Experiments 1 and 2 examine face typicality effects in a same/different discrimination task in which typical or atypical faces and their 80%, 70%, 60%, and 50% morphs were presented sequentially (Experiment 1) or simultaneously (Experiment 2). The main finding was that in both modes of presentation, atypical morphs were more poorly discriminated than their corresponding typical morphs. In Experiment 3, typicality effects were extended to the perception of nonface objects; in this instance, it was found that 50/50 morphs of birds and cars were judged to be more similar to their atypical parents than to their typical parents. These results are consistent with an attractor field model, in which it is proposed that the perception of a face or object stimulus depends not only on its fit to an underlying representation, but also on the representation's location in the similarity space.     

“Just another pretty face”: A multidimensional scaling approach to face attractiveness and variability

Findings on both attractiveness and memory for faces suggest that people should perceive more similarity among attractive than among unattractive faces. A multidimensional scaling approach was used to test this hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1, we derived a psychological face space from similarity ratings of attractive and unattractive Caucasian female faces. In Study 2, we derived a face space for attractive and unattractive male faces of Caucasians and non-Caucasians. Both studies confirm that attractive faces are indeed more tightly clustered than unattractive faces in people’s psychological face spaces. These studies provide direct and original support for theoretical assumptions previously made in the face space and face memory literatures.     

Distortions in the memory of the pitch of speech

Corneille, Huart, Becquart, & Brédart (2004) found that people remember ambiguous race faces as closer to a race prototype than they actually are. In three studies, we examined whether this memory bias generalizes to voice memory. In Studies 1 and 2, participants listened to synthesized male and female speech samples (high, moderate, or low pitch) and were asked to identify a voice target when paired against distracters higher or lower in pitch. The results showed that pitch distortions occurred, with the pattern consistent with assimilation toward low and high ends of the pitch continuum. Study 3 replicated this result with a wider voice pitch range. The results parallel those of Corneille et al. (2004). The implications of this work are discussed.     

The role of information presentation formats in belief updating

The effects of the format by which information is presented on the cognitive processes of belief updating were investigated in the present research. Because of the differences in the affordance of verbal vs. numerical information, it is predicted that the belief updating processes involved in processing verbal and numerical information would be different. Specifically, the additive rule is used to combine information using verbal formats, while the averaging rule is used to combine information using numerical formats. Two experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. Experiment 1 tested the belief updating process in the positive direction, and Experiment 2 tested the process in the negative direction. Two independent variables were manipulated: information presentation format (verbal vs numerical) and presentation order (strong–weak vs weak–strong). The participants were asked to adjust their purchase likelihood of a consumer product based on the sequential presentations of two experts' opinions. These two opinions varied in their formats (verbal vs. numerical) and strengths (strong vs weak). The two opinions were presented in either the strong–weak order or the weak–strong order. Participants were instructed to first anchor their purchase likelihood at 50%, and then adjust the purchase likelihood, first based on the first expert's opinion, and second based on both experts' opinions. In both experiments the hypotheses that participants employed an additive rule to integrate verbal information and an averaging rule to integrate numerical information were supported.     

Psychometric properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire: factor structure, reliability, construct, and incremental validity in a French-speaking population

In this research, we investigated the psychometrical properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue, Petrides & Furnham, 2003) in a French-speaking population. In summary, we found that (a) TEIQue scores were globally normally distributed and reliable; (b) the United Kingdom four-factor structure (well-being, self-control, emotionality, sociability) replicated in our data; (c) TEIQue scores were dependent on gender but relatively independent of age; (d) there was preliminary evidence of convergent/discriminant validity, with TEIQue scores being independent of nonverbal reasoning (Raven's [1976] matrices) but positively related to some personality dimensions (optimism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness) as well as inversely related to others (alexithymia, neuroticism); (e) there was also preliminary evidence of criterion validity, with TEIQue scores predicting depression, anxiety, and social support as well as future state affectivity and emotional reactivity in neutral and stressful situations; (f) TEIQue scores were susceptible to socially desirable responding; however, (g) TEIQue scores had incremental validity to predict emotional reactivity over and above social desirability, alexithymia, and the Five-factor model of personality. Such results constitute encouraging preliminary findings in favor of the use of the TEIQue.     

Switching between sensory and affective systems incurs processing costs

Recent models of the conceptual system hold that concepts are grounded in simulations of actual experiences with instances of those concepts in sensory-motor systems (e.g., Barsalou, 1999, 2003; Solomon & Barsalou, 2001). Studies supportive of such a viewhave shown that verifying a property of a concept in one modality, and then switching to verify a property of a different concept in a different modality generates temporal processing costs similar to the cost of switching modalities in perception. In addition to non-emotional concepts, the present experiment investigated switching costs in verifying properties of positive and negative (emotional) concepts. Properties of emotional concepts were taken from vision, audition, and the affective system. Parallel to switching costs in neutral concepts, the study showed that for positive and negative concepts, verifying properties from different modalities produced processing costs such that reaction times were longer and error rates were higher. Importantly, this effect was observed when switching from the affective system to sensory modalities, and vice-versa. These results support the embodied cognition view of emotion in humans.     

Visual experience influences the interactions between fingers and numbers

Though a clear interaction between finger and number representations has been demonstrated, what drives the development of this intertwining remains unclear. Here we tested early blind, late blind and sighted control participants in two counting tasks, each performed under three different conditions: a resting condition, a condition requiring hands movements and a condition requiring feet movements. In the resting condition, every sighted and late blind spontaneously used their fingers, while the majority of early blind did not. Sighted controls and late blind were moreover selectively disrupted by the interfering hand condition, while the early blind who did not use the finger-counting strategy remained unaffected by the interference conditions. These results therefore demonstrate that visual experience plays an important role in implementing the sensori-motor habits that drive the development of finger–number interactions.