Using "Bubbles" with babies: a new technique for investigating the informational basis of infant perception

The 'Bubbles' technique (Gosselin, F. & Schyns, P.G. (2001). Bubbles: A technique to reveal the use of information in recognition tasks. Vision Research, 41, 2261-2271) has been widely used to reveal the information adults use to make perceptual categorizations. We present, for the first time, an adapted form of Bubbles, suitable for use with young infants.     

Show me the features! Understanding recognition from the use of visual information

We propose an approach that allows a rigorous understanding of the visual categorization and recognition process without asking direct questions about unobservable memory representations. Our approach builds on the selective use of visual information in recognition and a new method (Bubbles) to depict and measure what this information is. We examine three face–recognition tasks (identity, gender, expressive or not) and establish the componential and holistic information responsible for recognition performance. On the basis of this information, we derive task–specific gradients of probability for the allocation of attention to the different regions of the face.     

The development of features in object concepts

According to one productive and influential approach to cognition, categorization, object recognition, and higher level cognitive processes operate on a set of fixed features, which are the output of lower level perceptual processes. In many situations, however, it is the higher level cognitive process being executed that influences the lower level features that are created. Rather than viewing the repertoire of features as being fixed by low-level processes, we present a theory in which people create features to subserve the representation and categorization of objects. Two types of category learning should be distinguished. Fixed space category learning occurs when new categorizations are representable with the available feature set. Flexible space category learning occurs when new categorizations cannot be represented with the features available. Whether fixed or flexible, learning depends on the featural contrasts and similarities between the new category to be represented and the individuals existing concepts. Fixed feature approaches face one of two problems with tasks that call for new features: If the fixed features are fairly high level and directly useful for categorization, then they will not be flexible enough to represent all objects that might be relevant for a new task. If the fixed features are small, subsymbolic fragments (such as pixels), then regularities at the level of the functional features required to accomplish categorizations will not be captured by these primitives. We present evidence of flexible perceptual changes arising from category learning and theoretical arguments for the importance of this flexibility. We describe conditions that promote feature creation and argue against interpreting them in terms of fixed features. Finally, we discuss the implications of functional features for object categorization, conceptual development, chunking, constructive induction, and formal models of dimensionality reduction.     

Categories and percepts: a bi-directionnal framework for categorization

Categorization is a fundamental process whereby variable perceptual inputs are reduced progressively to a small number of equivalence classes, called 'categories'. How do theorists frame the categorization problem so that variable face, object and scene information is stabilized for higher-level processing? One approach suggests that perception delivers a fixed set of features that are treated as inputs to categorization processes. This paper questions this unidirectionality and argues instead that perceptual organization is linked intimately with the categorization being accomplished. An example is presented where it can be shown that the history of categorization changes the featural analysis and the perception of identical, but unfamiliar, inputs. Flexible percepts are then generalized to real-world scene categorization in the space of multiple spatial scales. This evidence suggests that a bidirectional framework, with direct interactions between concepts and percepts, is a more appropriate framework for categorization.     

Usage of spatial scales for the categorization of faces, objects, and scenes

The role of spatial scales (or spatial frequencies) in the processing of faces, objects, and scenes has recently seen a surge of research activity. In this review, we will critically examine two main theories of scale usage. The fixed theory proposes that spatial scales are used in a fixed, perceptually determined order (coarse to fine). The flexible theory suggests instead that usage of spatial scales is flexible, depending on the requirements of visual information for the categorization task at hand. The implications of the theories are examined for face, object, and scene categorization, attention, perception, and representation.     

What goes up may come down: perceptual process and knowledge access in the organization of complex visual patterns by young infants

The relationship between perceptual categorization and organization processes in 3‐ to 4‐month‐old infants was explored. The question was whether an invariant part abstracted during category learning could interfere with Gestalt organizational processes. Experiment 1 showed that the infants could parse a circle in accord with good continuation from visual patterns consisting of a circle and a complex polygon. In Experiments 2 and 3, however, this parsing was interfered with by a prior category familiarization experience in which infants were presented with visual patterns consisting of a pacman shape and a complex polygon. Part 1 of Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the infants recognized the pacman as familiar, and Part 2 demonstrated that the representation of the pacman blocked the subsequent parsing of the circle. The results suggest that a cognitive system of flexible feature creation can override organizational principles with which a perceptual system may come pre‐equipped.     

ERP evidence for task modulations on face perceptual processing at different spatial scales

Does the perceptual processing of faces flexibly adapt to the requirements of the categorization task at hand, or does it operate independently of this cognitive context? Behavioral studies have shown that the fine and coarse spatial scales of a face are differentially processed depending on the categorization task performed, thus suggesting that the latter can influence stimulus perception. Here, we investigated the time course of these task influences on perceptual processing by examining the visual N170 face‐sensitive Event‐Related Potential (ERP), while observers categorized faces for their gender and familiarity. Stimuli were full spectrum, or filtered versions that preserved either coarse or fine scale information of the faces. Behavioral results replicated previous findings of a differential processing of coarse and fine spatial scales across tasks. In addition, the N170 amplitude was larger in the Gender task as compared to the Familiarity task for LSF faces exclusively, thus showing that task demands differentially modulated the spatial scale processing on faces. These results suggest that the diagnosticity of scale‐specific cues in categorization tasks can modulate face processing.     

A Multi-Level Approach to Direct and Indirect Relationships between Organizational Voice Climate,Team Manager Openness,Implicit Voice Theories,and Silence

Employee silence impedes sustainable organizational development, and it can conceal harm for internal and external stakeholders. Established approaches to overcoming silence in organizations draw on the assumption that employees withhold their views based on deliberate elaborations on the effectiveness and risks they associate with voice. Our research aims at complementing these approaches. Applying an information processing approach to culture and using implicit voice theories (IVTs; i.e., taken-for-granted beliefs about when and why speaking up at work is risky or inappropriate) as an example, we introduce a model proposing ways through which shared implicit knowledge structures emerge in teams and organizations, and how they affect motives to remain silent. We examine parts of the model with a sample of 696 employees nested in 129 teams and 67 organizations. Our findings show that IVTs can be shared at the team and organizational level, that shared IVTs explain variance in silence motives above and beyond perceptions of organizational climate and manager openness at the team and organization level, and that IVTs function as a mediator between team manager openness and silence motives. In sum, our findings point at shared IVTs as a way to conceptualize underlying basic assumptions of cultures of silence.     

Income and Satisfaction in Russia

The Russian Federation has undergone some drastic economic, social-cultural, and political changes since 1989. The income of nearly half of the population has sunk below the poverty line, which has had an enormous impact on their emotional life. In this study, the relationship between income and satisfaction in Russia was examined. Three theories – need, comparison, and personality theory – were considered. Data were drawn from the first three waves of the Russet panel study (1993–1995). Russians were a little more satisfied with their income and life when they had a higher income. A positive change in income caused an increase in income-satisfaction over a one-year period. Results also showed that there was a reciprocal relationship between income-satisfaction and life satisfaction, indicating that in addition to bottom-up effects, top-down mechanisms were also at work: life satisfaction is partly a sum of domain satisfactions, but it also reflects a more trait-like character. Furthermore, within comparison theory, social comparison had the largest effect on income-satisfaction, closely followed by income needed (person-environment fit theory), and income deserved (equity theory) with the smallest effect. The need effect of income on income-satisfaction became non-significant when controlled for these three comparison mechanisms. Correction for measurement error of relationships between the endogenous variables resulted in overall stronger effects.     

In the Eyes of the Beholder: Personality and the Perception of Leadership1

This series of studies focuses on the extent to which the personality of followers is related to their perception of transformational leadership. Followers from 3 different companies and students from a Dutch university were questioned on their personality characteristics and their perception of a described leader (students) or the perception of their actual leader (employees). Although the results differ for the different samples, we found a relationship between followers' personality and the perception of transformational leadership for all of the different samples. The different relationship that we found may hint to the impact of context on the relationship between personality and the perception of leadership. In the discussion, we explain our results in light of these different contexts.