Mapas «usted está aquí»: importancia de la alineación con el ambiente y puntos de correspondencia mapa-medio

Resumen

Este estudio se centra en la influencia de la alineación mapa/medio y del número de puntos de correspondencia mapa/medio sobre la interpretación de los mapas «Usted está aquí». Se llevó a cabo en el Campus Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, utilizándose un diseño factorial 2 x 2. Cada sujeto tenía que localizar un objeto en un mapa y desplazarse hacia él. Se utilizaron cuatro versiones diferentes de mapas y, como variables dependientes, una amplia gama de índices (tiempo de observación del mapa, tiempo invertido en llegar al punto-meta, éxito o fracaso en la tarea, diversas medidas del trayecto, legibilidad percibida del mapa, seguridad y grado de dificultad subjetiva de la tarea).

Los resultados indcaron que los sujetos tardan menos tiempo en interpretar y localizar un objetivo en un mapa cuando está alineado con el ambiente, lo perciben como más legible que uno no alienado, y seleccionan un trayecto más adecuado hacia el punto-meta.     

La teoría de la traducción y la psicología experimental de los procesos de percepción del lenguaje

RESUMEN

El objeto de este artículo es presentar una serie de cuestiones a la teoría de la traducción y al mismo tiempo exponer un modelo, eminentemente práctico, centrado en la fase de la percepción. El modelo pretende explicar: 1) la diferencia entre el significado semántico y el “sentido” intendido por los hablantes 2) Cómo pueden los sujetos hablantes a partir de sus conocimientos previos de la semántica de su lengua llegar al sentido intendido por la intencionalidad subjetiva 3) Cuál es el objetivo de esta comprensión. La respuesta a estas preguntas es un modelo sobre la percepción del lenguaje.     

Extrafoveal capture of attention by emotional scenes: affective valence versus visual saliency

ABSTRACT

Pairs of emotional (pleasant or unpleasant) and neutral scenes were presented peripherally (≥5° away from fixation) during a central letter-discrimination task. Selective attentional capture was assessed by means of eye movement orienting, i.e., probability of first fixating a scene and the time until first fixation. Static and dynamic visual saliency values of the scenes were computationally modelled. Results revealed selective orienting to both pleasant and unpleasant relative to neutral scenes. Importantly, such effects remained in the absence of visual saliency differences, even though saliency influenced eye movements. This suggests that selective attention to emotional scenes is genuinely driven by the processing of affective significance in extrafoveal vision.     

The Necessary Limits to Temptation: The Turnkey Project

In case of special engineering projects of important relevance it is interesting to pay attention to several possible risks; some of them are in the field of morality or ethics. Due to the social importance of these risks, additional considerations or even additional warranties are justified.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Wilson, D.G. & Rosenfeld, R. (1990). Managing organizations: text, readings and cases. London: McGraw Hill Book Company. Pp. 494. ISBN 0-07-707232-4. £16.95 (paperback).

Argyle, M. (1991). Cooperation: The basis of sociability. London: Routledge. Pp. 234. ISBN 0-41503-546-5. £10.99 (paperback).

Rasmussen, J., Brehmer, B., & LePlat, J. (Eds.). (1991). Distributed decision making: Cognitive models for cooperative work. Chichester: Wiley & Sons. Pp. 416. ISBN 0-471-92828-3. £49.95.     

The state version of the recovery experience questionnaire: A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis

Although many studies in the field of recovery from work utilize a quantitative diary design, little is known about the validity of the daily measures used in such studies. The present study analyses the factor structure of the state version of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ) on the between-person (trait) and within-person (state) levels. A total of 127 employees participated in the study. Most of them filled out the questionnaire on three consecutive workdays (N = 375 observations). Results of multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA) showed that a four-factor model fit the data better than alternative models at both levels of analysis (between and within). In addition, some factor loadings of the four recovery experience dimensions (particularly for relaxation and control) were lower on the day level as compared to the general level. Nevertheless, we conclude that both state and trait versions of the REQ show good psychometric properties. Implications for future research on recovery are discussed.     

A set of high quality colour images with Spanish norms for seven relevant psycholinguistic variables: The Nombela naming test

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a new corpus of 140 high quality colour images belonging to 14 subcategories and covering a range of naming difficulty. One hundred and six Spanish speakers named the items and provided data for several psycholinguistic variables: age of acquisition, familiarity, manipulability, name agreement, typicality and visual complexity. Furthermore, we also present lexical frequency data derived internet search hits. Apart from the large number of variables evaluated, these stimuli present an important advantage with respect to other comparable image corpora in so far as naming performance in healthy individuals is less prone to ceiling effect problems. Reliability and validity indexes showed that our items display similar psycholinguistic characteristics to those of other corpora. In sum, this set of ecologically valid stimuli provides a useful tool for scientists engaged in cognitive and neuroscience-based research.     

Influence of Training in Artistic Skills on Mental Imaging Capacity

ABSTRACT

Artistic creation often involves the use of mental images. This investigation examined the influence of training in artistic skills on mental imaging capacity in a sample of 126 subjects aged between 18 and 23 years. First- and 5th-year fine arts students were compared with regard to their performance in 2 imaging capacity tests (the Visual Elaboration Scale and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Test) and 3 tests of drawing involving spatial representation, transformation of spatial relations, and memory. The students who had undergone a longer period of artistic training performed significantly better on all 5 tests, and all drawing tasks scores correlated with each other. These results indicate that artistic training may enhance imaging capacity.     

Vividness and Control of Mental Imagery and the Components of In-Depth Drawing

The aim of this study was to examine the associations of control and vividness of mental imagery on performance in several components of in-depth drawing in a sample of fine arts undergraduates. The sample consisted of 56 second-year undergraduates (44 women and 12 men, mean age = 21.18 years) from the Fine Arts Faculty of Vigo University, Pontevedra, Spain. Participants were required to undertake a plastic art assignment focusing on the pictorial representation of space. Participants scoring high on the image control test obtained higher scores on the spatial analysis and in the formal construction of a work than participants with poor image control. Further research involving spatial image performance tests and mental image rotation tests is proposed.     

Young Tennis Players’ Competitive Task Involvement and Performance: The Role of Goal Orientations,Contextual Motivational Climate,And Coach-Initiated Motivational Climate

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of situational and dispositional factors in contributing to competitive task involvement and performance in young tennis players. One hundred fifty-one adolescent tennis players and their coaches participated in the study. Participants responded to instruments measuring pre-game dispositional goal orientations and perceptions of the motivational climate and post-game task involvement in the competition by assessing concentration, loss of self-consciousness, and autotelic experience, perceptions of coach-initiated motivational climate in competition, and self-evaluation of game performance. In addition, coaches evaluated the players’ performance. Results showed that task involvement was predicted by players’ perceptions of a coach-initiated learning motivational climate in competition. Loss of self-consciousness was predicted by the players’ perceptions of a coach-initiated performance climate in competition. Finally, coaches’ and players’ assessment of performance were predicted by autotelic experience, concentration, and by perception of coach-initiated learning and performance orientation in competition.