Are Average Facial Configurations Attractive Only Because of Their Symmetry?

Abstract—Several commentators have suggested that the attractiveness of average facial configurations could be due solely to associated changes in symmetry. If this symmetry hypothesis is correct, then averageness should not account for significant variance in attractiveness ratings when the effect of symmetry is partialed out. Furthermore, changes in attractiveness produced by manipulating the averageness of individual faces should disappear when all the images are made perfectly symmetric. The experiments reported support neither prediction. Symmetry and averageness (or distinctiveness, the converse of averageness) made independent contributions to attractiveness (Experiments 1 and 2), and changes in attractiveness resulting from changes in averageness remained when the images were made perfectly symmetric (Experiment 2). These results allow us to reject the symmetry hypothesis, and strengthen the evidence that facial averageness is attractive.     

Multiple reinforcement contingencies to reduce aggression,self-injury and dysfunctional verbal behaviors in an adult who is sensory impaired

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) and differential reinforcement of low rates of responding (DRL) have been effective techniques in reducing maladaptive behaviors in therapeutic settings. Reported studies of these reinforcement-based procedures indicate that they are usually implemented in isolation, targeting only a single behavior or class of behaviors. In this study, multiple DRO and DRL contingencies were utilized concurrently in reducing two distinct classes of behaviors with a 26 year-old blind man with moderate retardation. One class of behaviors included socially inappropriate verbalizations, while the other included aggressive, self-injurious and environmentally destructive behaviors. Distinct contingencies were established according to the functions of the targeted behaviors and their severity and separate schedules of reinforcement were derived from baseline frequencies. Over a period of 20 months, the differential reinforcement interventions resulted in rapid reduction of behaviors in both classes to near-zero rates and frequencies were maintained at this low level while contingency schedules were systematically lengthened. Collateral effects are discussed including performance in functional academics and participation in community integration activities.     

Memory for lateral asymmetries in well-known faces: Evidence for configural information in memory representations of Faces

Two Experiments Were Carried Out To Determine Whether Configural Information About The Left-Right Organization Of A Face Is Represented In Memory. In Experiment 1, Subjects Consistently Chose Normal (Correct) Photographs as Better Likenesses of Familiar Faces than Mirror-Reversed photographs. This Effect Was Stronger For More Familiar Faces, and Did Not Depend On the Presence of Asymmetric Hairstyles Or Single, Asymmetrically Located Features (E.G., Moles, Warts). In Experiment 2, Subjects Were Asked To Decide Which of the Left and Right Composite Faces Was a Better Likeness of the Person. The Left Composite Is Normally Considered a Better Likeness In Perceptual Matching Tasks Where The Normal Photograph Is Present. Left Composites Were Regarded As Better Likenesses than Right Composites, Despite the Fact That This Bias Appeared To Compete With One in Favor of the More Realistic of the two Composites. The Results of Experiments 1 And 2 Suggest That Configural Information About The Left-Right Organization Of Faces Is Represented In Memory. The Right Hemiface Of A Familiar Face Was Considered More Expressive Than The Left Hemiface. This Is Opposite To The Normal Result for Unfamiliar Faces. The Implications of the Results For Models Of Face Representations and for Future Research Directions Are Discussed.     

Parent Involvement Project

This article describes a project designed to provide assistance to parents of exceptional children in western Pennsylvania. The format for eight parent sessions is presented.     

Normative data for semantically associated Spanish word lists that create false memories

The present study provides norms for Spanish word lists that have been used to create false memories in native speakers of Spanish. The word lists reported are based on the Roediger and McDermott (1995) lists that have been used extensively to examine illusory memories. We employed Roediger and McDermott’s critical lures, translated them into Spanish, and created semantically associated Spanish word lists by testing native Spanish speakers. The resulting lists were then normed with additional native Spanish speakers. Overall, the participants recalled 53% of the list items and 32% of the critical lures with the word lists developed. In addition, 74% of the list items and 69% of the critical lures were recognized by the participants. The present study adds to the literature by providing a set of Spanish lists that can be used by researchers interested in evaluating false memories in individuals who speak Spanish. These norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

Oral contraceptive use among African American adolescents: Individual and community influences

Side effects of oral contraceptives are a noteworthy problem, particularly among low-income young women who reside in inner-city communities. The problem may be compounded by inadequate family planning services, particularly when such services are provided by general medical practices with high volumes of clients. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of pill-related side effects, with particular attention to the role of clinic characteristics. Participants were 177 pregnant and parenting African American adolescents and young women (average age=18.34). The experience of a pill-related side effect was the most frequently cited barrier to birth control use, and it was significantly related to contraceptive behavior. Finally, although participants attending comprehensive clinics experienced more barriers to medical service use than those attending neighborhood clinics, they reported fewer problems with pill-related side effects and better psychological functioning. Implications for future research and policy are discussed. This study was completed with the assistance of grants from the Illinois Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Office of Research on Women's Health to Jean Rhodes. Portions of this paper were presented at the 1993 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Community Research and Action, Williamsburg, Virginia. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Julian Rappaport, Joel Meyers, Hope Landrine, Lori Ebert, the Reverend Annette Collins, Margaret Daniels, Khya Lawrence, and the professionals and participants at the service settings.     

Distinctiveness and expertise effects with homogeneous stimuli: towards a model of configural coding

Recent studies using Brennan's computerized caricature generator have demonstrated distinctiveness effects consistent with the idea that faces are coded in terms of their individual distinctive properties. Based on these findings it is suggested that, for homogeneous classes whose members share a common configuration, distinctive configural information may be coded as metric deviations from a spatial norm. Experiments are described which demonstrate similar distinctiveness effects in bird identification. Transformations that increase distinctiveness (caricatures) produced faster identification and a higher recognition proportion, for both experts and nonexperts, than transformations that reduce distinctiveness (anticaricatures). This distinctiveness advantage is consistent with the norm-based coding idea. Furthermore, within certain limits, increasing distinctiveness did not impair performance relative to that for veridical drawings. For experts there was also a caricature advantage, such that 50% caricatures of birds in a highly homogeneous and familiar class (passerines) were identified more quickly, provided that they were recognized at all, than uncaricatured veridical drawings. The significance of a caricature advantage for the visual coding of configural information is discussed.     

THE SENSE OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND APOPHATIC THOUGHT: EMPIRICAL BEING AS IKON

This essay is an interdisciplinary study of beauty that attempts to bridge the gap between religion/theology and science in some measure by drawing from Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500) a notion of being that I argue is consonant with the notion of the sense of the beautiful, which I develop using Steven Weinberg's and Werner Heisenberg's discussions of empirical beauty. I use the term ikon to refer concisely to Dionysius' theophanic notion of being, namely, that the beyond‐being is nonsubstantially present in being.