The time to name disoriented natural objects

A series of experiments revealed systematic effects of orientation on the time required to identify line drawings of natural objects. Naming time increases as patterns are rotated further from the upright. With practice, however, the effect of orientation is reduced considerably. Furthermore, the reduced orientation effect with practice on a set of objects does not transfer to a new set of objects, suggesting that the acquired ability to reduce the orientation effect is specific to particular patterns. Finally, for departures in orientation from the upright between 0° and 120°, the magnitude of the orientation effect on identification for patterns seen for the first time is equivalent to that found in a mental rotation task using the same patterns (making left/right decisions about rotated patterns). This final result suggests that novel depictions of a known class of objects may be identified by a process of mental rotation.     

Curve tracing: A possible basic operation in the perception of spatial relations

The two experiments in this study suggest that fast internal tracing of curves is employed by the visual system in the perception of certain shape properties and spatial relations. The experimental task in the first experiment was to determine, as rapidly as possible, whether two Xs lay on the same curve or on different curves in a visual display. Mean response time for “same” responses increased monotonically with increasing distance along the curve between the Xs. The task in the second experiment was to decide either that a curve joining two Xs was unbroken or that the curve had a gap. Decision times again increased as the length of the curve joining the Xs was increased. The results of both experiments suggest that people can trace curves in a visual display internally at high speed (the average rate of tracing was about 40° of visual angle per second). Curve tracing may be an important visual process used to integrate information from different parts of a visual display.     

A critical reappraisal of the evidence for unconscious abstraction of deterministic rules in complex experimental situations

In a recent experiment (Lewicki et al., 1988) subjects were submitted to a four-choice RT paradigm for 3600 trials. On each of the successive logical blocks of five trials, the first two locations of the target were randomly distributed, and the last three locations were determined by complex rules. Although subjects were unable to verbalize the actual nature of the manipulation, performance on the last trials of each block improved at a faster rate and was better overall than performance on the first trials. In addition, subsequent rules changes on 480 additional trials only affected performance on the last three trials of each block. The present paper demonstrates that contrary to Lewicki et al's assertions this performance pattern requires neither acquisition of tacit knowledge of the composition rules, nor partitioning by the subjects of the sequence into logical blocks of five trials. Rather, the results can be accounted for by the relative frequency of a few simple sequences of target locations. Moreover, this alternative explanation alone correctly anticipates some striking features of fine-grained performance (Lewicki et al., 1988). The discussion focuses on methodological implications of these findings for investigation of unconscious learning, and speculates on what and how people learn when they encounter a complex and structured situation.     

Logical examination of physical theory

Part II of Duhem 1917, pp. 151–57, translated by Peter Barker and Roger Ariew; published also by Duhem in Duhem 1913a, pp. 737–40.     

Is there a position bias in the learning of influence structures?

An experiment was conducted to determine the nature of position biases in the cognitive representation of hierarchical social structures. A position in such a structure reflects the relative influence of its occupants. Using DeSoto's technique, 24 Dutch and 24 French Ss learned either a completely ordered or incompletely ordered structure. No significant differences were found between countries. The completely ordered structure was found easier to learn than the incomplete ones. According to the results of previous studies (Van Kreveld and Zajonc, 1966; Poitou, 1970) the learning curves for completely and incompletely ordered structures were expected to be respectively curvilinear and monotonic. The results did not support this expectation.     

Conservation of weight in infants

Conversation of weight can be defined as the ability to affirm that the weight of an object remains invariant during the transformations of the form of the object. It is known to be achieved at a conceptual level at about 9 years of age. The behavior of infants seems to indicate that between 6 and 18 months of age they develop a sensorimotor form of conversation.     

Computer simulations of the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce-Hall models in conditioning and contingency judgment

A Visual BASIC program, running under Windows 3.1, simulated the predictions of the Rescorla—Wagner (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) and the Pearce-Hall (Pearce & Hall, 1980) models and compared them to the normative contingency coefficient ΔP (Jenkins & Ward, 1965). The simulations can be applied to a variety of phenomena in human contingency judgment as well as learning and conditioning. Possible simulations include acquisition and extinction of excitatory and inhibitory conditioning, latent inhibition, blocking and overshadowing, or any other associative learning involving two single predictors, their compound, a contextual stimulus, and an outcome. The Pearce-Hall model has never been computerized before. In addition, unique features of this software include extensive use of the graphic user interface, context-sensitive help, verification of trial combinations, toggling of the contextual stimulus from ever-present to mutually exclusive with the discrete predictors, data entry via contingency tables or specifications trial by trial, single or batch randomizations of trial order, and specification of initial values. The associative simulator is both a powerful scientific instrument and a user-friendly teaching aid.     

The production and recognition of typological argumentative text markers

A series of experiments on children and adults were conducted to define the features and workings of argumentative discourse. Oral and written arguments were analyzed for the complexity of the argument support structure and the presence of typological argumentation markers (certainty modals, value judgments, etc.). Subjects were asked to assess the argumentativity of texts that did or did not contain typical argumentation markers. At about age ten, children can produce and recognize a ‘minimal argumentative structure,’ in which the speaker takes a stance and supports it with text that derives its argumentativity from the presence of this stance). However, full mastery of the negotiation process, that involves acknowledgment of the opponent's stance (generally through the use of counterarguments) is not present before the ages of 15 to 16. The minimal argumentative structure continues to develop with age and gain complexity. Certain situations are more conductive to the production of elaborate argumentative discourse, such as a genuinely controversial topic with an unfamiliar adult addressee whose stance is not known and whose reaction is thus unpredictable. Here speakers produce complex arguments while still leaving room for negotiation. Overall, certain argumentation markers can be identified in all argumentative text. these markers can be used to characterize stages of development of argumentative discourse. A number of issues remain unexplored, including: What other (implicit...) devices do speakers use to convince their audience? Why is the capacity to put argumentation in writing acquired at such a late stage of development?