The effect of forced choice on color discrimination

Color discrimination ability was measured at four spectral regions usually named blue, green, yellow, and red. Two methods, temporal forced-choice and phenomenal report, were compared. Data suggest that for color discrimination, phenomenal report is a preferable technique.     

Theoretical models of choice and strategy behavior: Stable state behavior in the two-choice uncertain outcome situation

A theoretical approach to the understanding of human behavior in uncertain outcome situations is suggested, an approach which draws upon utility theory, decision-making theory, and statistical association theory. Experimental evidence supporting this approach as opposed to alternative approaches is summarized. Three different formalizations are presented, and a variety of experimental tests is suggested.This paper was written while the author was at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and it has benefited greatly from discussions with many colleagues there. In particular, some of the features of Models I and II emerged from work with Robert P. Abelson, and Model III was developed to its present state partly as a result of consultations with Claude Shannon, and John C. Harsanyi (of the Department of Economics at Stanford University). The treatment of all three models was sharpened during many discussions with Robert M. Solow.     

ON SPLITTING THE UNIVERSE

Although many aspects of James' theorizing about the self have been enormously influential, his notion of the self as the central object in mental life has been largely ignored. He believed that the fundamental psychological processes–attention, perception, emotion, conception, reasoning, will, consciousness–could not be understood without an appreciation of the nature and functioning of the self The value of reclaiming this idea is discussed.     

Infant use of relative motion as information for form: Evidence for spatiotemporal integration of complex motion displays

Previous studies of infants’ ability to integrate and to utilize relative motion as information for form in the absence of structural cues have primarily involved motions that are uniform in rate, direction, and path within the form to be constructed. In the present study, we examined infants’ ability to integrate relative motion information from motions that are nonuniform along these dimensions, and from this integrative process to construct a coherently rotating two-dimensional form. Infants’ ability to integrate nonuniform motion was measured with regard to their ability to discriminate the rotating form from a noncoherent control display containing the same absolute motions. The results showed that discrimination of the coherent and incoherent displays was not demonstrated until 7 months of age. Two additional experiments were conducted to rule out the possibility that this discrimination was based on the detection of local regions of coherence, rather than the perception of the global rotating form. In both experiments, the results did not support discrimination based exclusively on local cues alone. From the combined results of all three experiments, we conclude that infants demonstrate the capacity to integrate the information contained within nonuniform trajectories into a coherent structure by 7 months of age.     

Spatial contingency and the McCollough effect

On the basis of a conditioning analysis of the orientation-contingent color aftereffect (McCollough effect, ME), orientation stimuli become associated with simultaneously presented chromatic stimuli. This account suggests that decreasing the contingency between the grid orientation and color should decrease the strength of the aftereffect. Results of previous research indicate that decreasing the temporal contingency (by presenting homogeneous chromatic stimuli between presentations of chromatic grids) does not decrease the ME. However, it has been suggested that the appropriate contingency-degradation procedure would involve decreasing spatial (rather than temporal) contingency. That is, the illusion should be attenuated by extending the color beyond the confines of the grid. Contrary to this hypothesis, the results of the present experiments provide no evidence that decreasing the spatial contingency between grid and color decreases the ME; rather, the aftereffect is increased by such a manipulation.     

Isoluminance and contingent color aftereffects

In the typical induction of the orientation-contingent color aftereffect (CCAE), the stimuli are composed of elements that differ in both color and luminance. Three experiments are reported that show that chromatic contrast between stimulus elements is insufficient for the induction of the orientation-CCAE and that luminance contrast is necessary. These experiments expand on previous research concerned with the role of luminance contrast in the induction of orientation-CCAEs by eliminating alternative explanations.     

Editor's Introduction

Studies in Philosophy and Education -