Temporal integration of face view sequences and recognition of novel views

When faces are learned from rotating view sequences, novel views may be recognized by matching them with an integrated representation of the sequence or with individual views. An integrated-representation process should benefit from short view durations, and thus from the inclusion of views in a short temporal window, allowing the distribution of attention over the entire sequence. A view-matching process should benefit from long view durations, allowing the attention to focus on each view. In a sequential comparison task, we tested the recognition of learned and novel interpolated and extrapolated views after learning faces from rapid and slow sequences (240 ms or 960 ms for each view). We found a superiority of rapid over slow sequences, in favour of the integrated-representation hypothesis. In addition, the recognition pattern for the different viewpoints in the sequence depended on the absence or presence of extrapolated views, showing a bias of the distribution of attention.     

Book reviews

Dewsbury, D.A. (Ed.). (1990). Contemporary issues in comparative psychology. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer. Pp. xiii + 509. ISBN 0-87893-137-6. £21.95 (paperback).

Goudie, A.J., & Emmett-Oglesby, M. W. (Eds.). (1989). Psychoactive drugs: tolerance and sensitization. Clifton, NJ: The Humana Press. Pp. 600. ISBN 0-89603-148-9. £46.00.

Edwards, G. & Lader, M. (1990). The nature of drug dependence. Society for the Study of Addiction Monograph No 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 240. ISBN 0-19-261772-9. £30 (hardback).

Lieberman, D.A. (1990). Learning, behavior and cognition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Inc. Pp. xx + 500. ISBN 0-534-12318-X. £16.95 (hardback).

Krasnegor, N.A. & Bridges, R. S. (Eds.). (1990). Mammalian parenting. Biochemical, neurobiological, and behavioral determinants. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 502. ISBN 0-19-505600-0. £60.00 (hardback)     

Belief in a just world and organisational loyalty: Trust as an underlying mechanism

This research examined whether employees' personal belief in a just world (BJW) is associated with their organisational loyalty and whether this relationship is statistically mediated by organisational trust. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two studies with employees from China (study 1, N = 314) and Germany (study 2, N = 189). The results from both studies supported the proposed model. In addition, study 2 revealed that the relationship between BJW and organisational loyalty persisted when controlling for global personality traits. These suggest that managers and organisations may increase employees' loyalty by providing an environment that fosters their sense of justice and trust.     

Maturation of EEG power spectra in early adolescence: a longitudinal study

This study investigated the fine-grained development of the EEG power spectra in early adolescence, and the extent to which it is reflected in changes in peak frequency. It also sought to determine whether sex differences in the EEG power spectra reflect differential patterns of maturation. A group of 56 adolescents were tested at age 10 years and then at two further time-points approximately 18 months apart. The EEG was recorded during both eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions and Fourier transformed to provide estimates of absolute and relative spectral power at 0.5 Hz intervals from 0.5 to 40 Hz. The peak alpha frequency for each individual at each time-point was also determined for relative spectral power. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was used to determine the combination of electrodes and frequencies that showed developmental change, or differed between the sexes. As a function of age, absolute delta and theta frequencies power decreased, and relative alpha2 and beta frequencies increased, replicating the standard findings of a decrease in lower, and increase in higher, frequencies with age. A small but significant increase in peak alpha frequency with age was detected. Moreover PLS analysis performed with individual alpha frequencies aligned to 10 Hz suggested that the age-related increase seen in alpha2 relative power was driven by changes in the peak frequency. Although males demonstrated higher alpha power than females, there were no sex differences in peak frequency, suggesting that there may be more to sex differences in EEG power than simply different rates of maturation between the two sexes.     

Reinforced stimulus preexposure effects as a function of US intensity: Implications for understanding the Hall-Pearce effect

Three conditioned suppression experiments examined the Hall-Pearce (1979) negative transfer effect in rats. Experiment 1 replicated the effect: CS-US_weak pairings retarded subsequent fear conditioning to the CS as a result of CS-US_strong pairings. The size of this retardation was less than that produced by non-reinforced CS presentations (latent inhibition). When the magnitude of the US_weak was reduced in Experiment 2, the Hall-Pearce effect was greater than latent inhibition. Experiment 3 confirmed the findings of the two previous experiments, and demonstrated that magnitude of the Hall-Pearce negative transfer effect is inversely related to the magnitude of the US_weak. From these findings it is suggested that the Hall-Pearce effect consists of a balance between a positive transfer of associative strength, and negative transfer based on CS- and US-preexposure effects.     

Toward a scalable holographic word-form representation

Phenomena in a variety of verbal tasks—for example, masked priming, lexical decision, and word naming—are typically explained in terms of similarity between word-forms. Despite the apparent commonalities between these sets of phenomena, the representations and similarity measures used to account for them are not often related. To show how this gap might be bridged, we build on the work of Hannagan, Dupoux, and Christophe, Cognitive Science 35:79-118, (2011) to explore several methods of representing visual word-forms using holographic reduced representations and to evaluate them on their ability to account for a wide range of effects in masked form priming, as well as data from lexical decision and word naming. A representation that assumes that word-internal letter groups are encoded relative to word-terminal letter groups is found to predict qualitative patterns in masked priming, as well as lexical decision and naming latencies. We then show how this representation can be integrated with the BEAGLE model of lexical semantics (Jones & Mewhort, Psychological Review 114:1–37, 2007) to enable the model to encompass a wider range of verbal tasks.     

Reconsidering the role of movement in perceiving action-scaled affordances

Many locomotor tasks require actors to choose among different categories of action, such as when deciding whether to cross the street in front of an approaching vehicle or wait until it passes. In such cases, the actor’s locomotor capabilities partly determine which actions are possible, and therefore must be taken into account. The present study was designed to re-evaluate the claim that people do not know their locomotor capabilities until they begin moving because they rely entirely on information that is picked up “on the fly” (Oudejans, Michaels, Bakker, & Dolné, 1996). Three experiments were conducted in which participants judged while stationary or moving whether it was within their capabilities to catch a fly ball or pass through a shrinking gap. The main finding was that judgments were equally accurate regardless of whether participants were stationary or allowed to move for a brief period. We conclude that stationary and moving actors know their locomotor capabilities equally well, and that actors do not rely entirely on information that is picked up on the fly.     

Coping strategies and quality of life among liver transplantation candidates

The maintenance of self-reported quality of life (QL) among people on the liver transplantation waiting list is one of the priority objectives of transplantation teams. Although there are different determinant factors of QL, results are not conclusive. In our study, the goal was to evaluate both the influence of cirrhosis etiology (ethylic and non-ethylic) and the coping strategies used concerning QL. A sample of 93 patients was selected, divided into two groups: ethylic cirrhosis (EC) and non-ethylic cirrhosis (NEC). QL was evaluated through the SF-36 Health Survey, and coping strategies through the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ). Our results indicated that subjects with EC obtained similar QL levels to subjects with NEC, on all the SF-36 and MCMQ subscales. Furthermore, negative correlations were found between avoidance and acceptance-resignation coping strategies with the SF-36 components. Consequently, the acceptance-resignation strategy was associated with a worse perception of physical functioning, general and mental health, and vitality and role-emotional. Overall, these results suggest that cirrhosis etiology is not a determinant factor of QL, whereas the acceptance-resignation coping strategy might lead to lower self-perception of QL.     

Chicken soup really is good for the soul: "comfort food" fulfills the need to belong

Theories of social surrogacy and embodied cognition assume that cognitive associations with nonhuman stimuli can be affectively charged. In the current research, we examined whether the "comfort" of comfort foods comes from affective associations with relationships. Two experiments support the hypotheses that comfort foods are associated with relationships and alleviate loneliness. Experiment 1 found that the consumption of comfort foods automatically activates relationship-related concepts. Experiment 2 found that comfort foods buffer against belongingness threats in people who already have positive associations with relationships (i.e., are secure in attachment style). Implications for social surrogacy, need to belong, embodied cognition, and eating behavior are discussed.