Halt and recovery of illusory motion perception from peripherally viewed static images

We quantitatively investigated the halt and recovery of illusory motion perception in static images. With steady fixation, participants viewed images causing four different motion illusions. The results showed that the time courses of the Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the modified Fraser-Wilcox illusion (i.e., "Rotating Snakes") were very similar, while the Ouchi and Enigma illusions showed quite a different trend. When participants viewed images causing the Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the modified Fraser-Wilcox illusion, they typically experienced disappearance of the illusory motion within several seconds. After a variable interstimulus interval (ISI), the images were presented again in the same retinal position. The magnitude of the illusory motion from the second image presentation increased as the ISI became longer. This suggests that the same adaptation process either directly causes or attenuates both the Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the modified Fraser-Wilcox illusion.     

Do young and old preschoolers exhibit response bias due to different mechanisms? Investigating children's response time

Previous studies have suggested that younger preschoolers exhibit a yes bias due to underdeveloped cognitive abilities, whereas older preschoolers exhibit a response bias due to other factors. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the response latency to yes-no questions pertaining to familiar and unfamiliar objects in 3- to 6-year-olds. The 3-year-olds exhibited a strong yes bias for both objects, and their response latency was significantly shorter than that of the 6-year-olds. The 4- and 5-year-olds did not exhibit any response bias, whereas the 6-year-olds exhibited a nay-saying bias (a response bias to say “no”) for unfamiliar objects. Overall, children’s response bias scores were stronger for familiar objects than for unfamiliar objects. The results suggest that 3-year-olds exhibit a yes bias automatically, but 5- and 6-year-olds are sensitive to question context.     

The effect of labour on ownership decisions in two cultures: Developmental evidence from Japan and the United Kingdom

Creative labour has an effect on children's and adults' ownership decisions in Western cultures. We investigated whether preschoolers and adults from an Eastern culture (Japan) would show a similar bias. In a first‐party task (Experiment 1), in which participants created their own objects, Japanese preschoolers but not adults assigned ownership to creators. When participants watched videos of third‐party conflicts between owners of materials and creators (Experiment 2), Japanese adults, but not preschoolers, transferred ownership to creators. In a British comparison group, both preschoolers and adults showed an effect of creative labour in the third‐party task. A bias to attribute ownership on the basis of creative labour is thus not specific to Western culture.