Intermodal perception at birth: Intersensory redundancy guides newborn infants’ learning of arbitrary auditory−visual pairings

In this study the ability of newborn infants to learn arbitrary auditory–visual associations in the absence versus presence of amodal (redundant) and contingent information was investigated. In the auditory-noncontingent condition 2-day-old infants were familiarized to two alternating visual stimuli (differing in colour and orientation), each accompanied by its ‘own’ sound: when the visual stimulus was presented the sound was continuously presented, independently of whether the infant looked at the visual stimulus. In the auditory-contingent condition the auditory stimulus was presented only when the infant looked at the visual stimulus: thus, presentation of the sound was contingent upon infant looking. On the post-familiarization test trials attention recovered strongly to a novel auditory–visual combination in the auditory-contingent condition, but remained low, and indistinguishable from attention to the familiar combination, in the auditory-noncontingent condition. These findings are a clear demonstration that newborn infants’ learning of arbitrary auditory–visual associations is constrained and guided by the presence of redundant (amodal) contingent information. The findings give strong support to Bahrick’s theory of early intermodal perception.     

An inner face advantage in children's recognition of familiar peers

Children’s recognition of familiar own-age peers was investigated. Chinese children (4-, 8-, and 14-year-olds) were asked to identify their classmates from photographs showing the entire face, the internal facial features only, the external facial features only, or the eyes, nose, or mouth only. Participants from all age groups were familiar with the faces used as stimuli for 1 academic year. The results showed that children from all age groups demonstrated an advantage for recognition of the internal facial features relative to their recognition of the external facial features. Thus, previous observations of a shift in reliance from external to internal facial features can be attributed to experience with faces rather than to age-related changes in face processing.     

Development and empirical validation of symmetric component measures of multidimensional constructs: customer and competitor orientation

Atheoretical measure purification may lead to construct deficient measures. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically driven procedure for the development and empirical validation of symmetric component measures of multidimensional constructs. Particular emphasis is placed on establishing a formalized three-step procedure for achieving a posteriori content validity. Then the procedure is applied to development and empirical validation of two symmetrical component measures of market orientation, customer orientation and competitor orientation. Analysis suggests that average variance extracted is particularly critical to reliability in the respecification of multi-indicator measures. In relation to this, the results also identify possible deficiencies in using Cronbach alpha for establishing reliable and valid measures.     

Three-month-olds' detection of alliteration in syllables

Using an auditory-preference procedure we found that 3-month-olds listened significantly longer to alliterative CVCs than to non-alliterative CVCs. This finding demonstrates that 3-month-olds are sensitive to syllable onsets and is discussed in relation to early speech perception and similar results found with 9-month-olds [Jusczyk, P. W., Goodman, M. B., & Baumann, A. (1999). Nine-month-olds' attention to sound similarities in syllables. Journal of Memory & Language, 40, 62-82].     

Covert detection of attractiveness among the neurologically intact: evidence from skin-conductance responses

Several studies have shown that participants, without a deficit in face recognition, give an increased skin conductance response (SCR) to familiar faces when presented subliminally, hence suggesting covert recognition of these faces. In the experiment presented here we manipulated familiarity and attractiveness and tested whether participants distinguished between faces for these variables when presented too fast to allow conscious recognition. Three sets of faces were presented: famous attractive; unfamiliar attractive; and unfamiliar less attractive. SCRs were the same for each category of faces whether presented subliminally or supraliminally, and were the same for attractive faces, whether famous or unfamiliar; however, SCRs differed between the attractive and less attractive faces. The findings support those of Stone et al (2001 Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience 1 183-191) and suggest that higher SCRs to famous faces are not necessarily due to covert recognition, but may be a response to the positive affective valence of the stimuli.     

Infant preference for female faces occurs for same‐ but not other‐race faces

There has been a recent surge of interest in the question of how infants respond to the social attributes of race and gender information in faces. This work has demonstrated that by 3 months of age, infants will respond preferentially to same‐race faces and faces depicting the gender of the primary caregiver. In the current study, we investigated emergence of the female face preference for same‐ versus other‐race faces to examine whether the determinants of preference for face gender and race are independent or interactive in young infants. In Expt 1, 3‐month‐old Caucasian infants displayed a preference for female over male faces when the faces were Caucasian, but not when the faces were Asian. In Expt 2, new‐born Caucasian infants did not demonstrate a preference for female over male faces for Caucasian faces. The results are discussed in terms of a face prototype that becomes progressively tuned as it is structured by the interaction of the gender and race of faces that are experienced during early development.     

Call usage learning in gray seals (Halichoerus grypus)

Call usage learning can be demonstrated on 4 different levels: signaling on command, signaling and refraining from signaling on command, responding to a trained stimulus with a signal from a specific signal class, and responding to the playback of any untrained stimulus with one from the same signal class. Two young gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) were trained successfully to demonstrate the first 2 levels. They also learned to respond to 9 moan stimuli and 9 growl stimuli with vocalizations of the same class (Level 3). However, novel moan and growl stimuli tended to elicit growls. This casts doubt on the possibility that gray seals can reach the 4th level, but it demonstrates that they are capable of the first 3 levels of usage learning.     

Young infants' perception of unity and form in occlusion displays

Young infants have been reported to perceive the unity of a center-occluded object when the visible ends of the object are aligned and undergo common motion but not when the edges of the object are misaligned (Johnson & Aslin, 1996). Using a recognition-based paradigm, the authors investigated the possibility that past research failed to provide sufficiently sensitive assessments of infants' perception of the unity of misaligned edges in partial occlusion displays. Positive evidence was obtained in 4-month-olds for veridical perception of the motion and location of a hidden region but not its orientation, whereas 7-month-olds, in contrast to the younger infants, appeared to respond to the orientation of the hidden region. Overall, the results suggest that habituation designs tapping recognition processes may be particularly efficacious in revealing infants' perceptual organization. In addition, the findings provide corroborative evidence for the importance of both motion and orientation in young infants' object segregation and for the difficulty in achieving percepts of the global form of a partly occluded object.     

The role of good form in young Infants' perception of partly occluded objects

Young infants have been reported to perceive the unity of a center-occluded object when the visible ends of the object undergo common motion, but not on the basis of stationary information (e.g., P. J. Kellman & E. S. Spelke, 1983). We investigated the possibility that 4-month-old infants will attend to and utilize the global configuration (i.e., the "good form") of a partly occluded, moving object to perceive its unity and coherence behind the occluder. In the first experiment, infants viewed a partly occluded circle or cross that translated laterally. Infants who habituated in the minimum number of trials ("fast habituators") showed a reliable posthabituation preference for a broken object over a complete object, indicating perception of unity in the habituation display. Slow habituators exhibited no posthabituation preference. In the second experiment, infants were presented with small ring and cross displays, and the infants looked longer at the broken object. There were no reliable differences in performance between fast and slow habituators. A control group demonstrated no reliable posthabituation preference. In three additional conditions, infants viewed either a partly occluded half ring or a display in which two rod parts were either relatable and nonaligned or nonrelatable. The results indicated that curvature per se provided information in support of completion, in addition to global configuration and motion. Implications for theories of infants' visual development are discussed.