Curious Objects: How Visual Complexity Guides Attention and Engagement

Some things look more complex than others. For example, a crenulate and richly organized leaf may seem more complex than a plain stone. What is the nature of this experience—and why do we have it in the first place? Here, we explore how object complexity serves as an efficiently extracted visual signal that the object merits further exploration. We algorithmically generated a library of geometric shapes and determined their complexity by computing the cumulative surprisal of their internal skeletons—essentially quantifying the “amount of information” within each shape—and then used this approach to ask new questions about the perception of complexity. Experiments 1–3 asked what kind of mental process extracts visual complexity: a slow, deliberate, reflective process (as when we decide that an object is expensive or popular) or a fast, effortless, and automatic process (as when we see that an object is big or blue)? We placed simple and complex objects in visual search arrays and discovered that complex objects were easier to find among simple distractors than simple objects are among complex distractors—a classic search asymmetry indicating that complexity is prioritized in visual processing. Next, we explored the function of complexity: Why do we represent object complexity in the first place? Experiments 4–5 asked subjects to study serially presented objects in a self-paced manner (for a later memory test); subjects dwelled longer on complex objects than simple objects—even when object shape was completely task-irrelevant—suggesting a connection between visual complexity and exploratory engagement. Finally, Experiment 6 connected these implicit measures of complexity to explicit judgments. Collectively, these findings suggest that visual complexity is extracted efficiently and automatically, and even arouses a kind of “perceptual curiosity” about objects that encourages subsequent attentional engagement.     

A Slippery Myth: How Learning Style Beliefs Shape Reasoning about Multimodal Instruction and Related Scientific Evidence

The learning style myth is a commonly held myth that matching instruction to a student's “learning style” will result in improved learning, while providing mismatched instruction will result in suboptimal learning. The present study used a short online reasoning exercise about the efficacy of multimodal instruction to investigate the nature of learning styles beliefs. We aimed to: understand how learning style beliefs interact with beliefs about multimodal learning; characterize the potential complexity of learning style beliefs and understand how this short exercise might influence endorsements of learning styles. Many participants who believed in the learning style myth supported the efficacy of multimodal learning, and many were willing to revise their belief in the myth after the exercise. Personal experiences and worldviews were commonly cited as reasons for maintaining beliefs in learning styles. Findings reveal the complexity of learning style beliefs, and how they interact with evidence in previously undocumented ways.     

童年环境、生命史策略对消费行为的影响——传统价值观“团结和谐”维度的调节作用

从进化心理学生命史理论视角探究童年环境和典型消费行为的关系。通过专项问卷调查收集1028个有效样本进行实证研究,证实童年环境的核心变量——童年社会经济地位显著影响成年后的绿色消费和炫耀性消费行为,生命史策略和"团结和谐"的传统价值观维度在其中分别起显著的中介和调节作用。研究有助于理解炫耀攀比、奢侈浪费等非理性消费的深层原因,并从生命史和价值观角度提供可能的解决思路,为大众培养健康理性消费提供借鉴。     

Social attention across borders: A cross-cultural investigation of gaze cueing elicited by same- and other-ethnicity faces

The gaze-cueing effect is a robust phenomenon which illustrates how attention can be shaped by social factors. In four experiments, the present study explored the interaction between the ethnic membership of the participant and that of the face providing the gaze cue. Firstly, we aimed to further investigate the differential impact of White, Black, and Asian faces on the gaze-cueing effect in White individuals. Secondly, we aimed to explore, for the first time, the impact of faces belonging to different ethnicities on gaze cueing in Chinese participants. The results allowed to rule out alternative accounts and showed that White participants exhibit a gaze-cueing effect for White and Asian faces, but not for Black faces, consistent with previous studies. As regards Chinese participants, the overall findings suggested a stronger gaze-cueing effect for White faces than for Asian faces. The results are discussed with reference to differences in the perceived social status of the various groups, pointing to the need of taking into account different cultural contexts.     

Attitudes toward risk are complicated: experimental evidence for the re-individuation approach to risk-attitudes

Philosophical Studies - We present experimental evidence that supports the thesis (advanced recently by Stefánsson and Bradley in Philos Sci 82(4):602–625, 2015, Br J Philos Sci...     

Parental Attachment and Externalizing Behaviors among Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Self-Control

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Self-control theory proposes that weak emotional bonds with caregivers are key in the lack of self-control development, that in turn increases the likelihood...     

The Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS): reliability and validity evidence for a new measure of relationship closeness

A fundamental dimension along which all social and personal relationships vary is closeness. The Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS) is a 12-item self-report scale measuring the closeness of social and personal relationships. The reliability and validity of the URCS were assessed with college dating couples (N = 192), female friends and strangers (N = 330), friends (N = 170), and family members (N = 155). The results show that the scale is unidimensional, with high reliability across relationship types (M α = .96). Evidence consistent with validity included substantial within-couple agreement for the romantic couples (intraclass correlation = .41), substantial friend-stranger discrimination for the female friends (η2 = .82), and measurement invariance across relationship types. Evidence of convergent and divergent validity was obtained for inclusion of other in the self and relational satisfaction, respectively.     

Cognitive pathways of team climate for creativity: Implications for member creativity and job performance

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the contextual effects of team climate for creativity on creative behavior and job performance of employees. Drawing on the team-knowledge management perspective, we identify team-learning orientation and collective problem solving as main intermediate cognitive processes. The results, based on 856 employees across 102 work units of a high-tech company, demonstrate that these 2 team-level cognitive processes mediate the cross-level effects of team climate for creativity on creative behavior and job performance. This study reveals the cognitive ramifications of team climate for creativity as a favorable social context for employee creativity. By highlighting the cognitive process activated by team climate for creativity, this work complements existing studies focusing mostly on the affective and motivational mechanisms that underlie the team context–creativity relationship.     

Approximant phases,phason planes and domain-boundary networks in Al−Ni−Rh alloys

Structurally complicated ξ′- and ξ-phases have been found, for the first time, in as-cast Al₇₃Ni₅Rh₂₂ and Al₇₅Ni₁₅Rh₁₀ alloys. The lattice parameters of these two phases were determined by means of electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM). These two phases have similar orthorhombic structures but with different lattice parameters of a?=?23.2?Å, b?=?16.4?Å, c?=?12.0?Å for the ξ′-phase and a?=?20.3?Å, b?=?16.4?Å, c?=?14.8?Å for the ξ-phase. A new two-dimensional domain-boundary network has also been observed in these two phases. Domain boundaries with normals closely parallel to the [001] direction are actually phason planes represented by a translation vector of r?=(1/2)a?+(1/2τ)c in the ξ′-phase and r=±(1/2τ²) a?+(τ/2)c in the ξ-phase, whereas the newly-found wide and zigzag boundaries perpendicular to the above set were attributed from the step-like boundary structures of domains related by a translation vector of r?=(1/τ)((1/2)a?+(1/2τ)c). The structural difference between the two types of planar faults is discussed.     

Scale-dependent fracture mode in Cu–Ni laminate composites

Fracture behavior of Cu–Ni laminate composites has been investigated by tensile testing. It was found that as the individual layer thickness decreases from 100 to 20 nm, the resultant fracture angle of the Cu–Ni laminate changes from 72° to 50°. Cross-sectional observations reveal that the fracture of the Ni layers transforms from opening to shear mode as the layer thickness decreases while that of the Cu layers keeps shear mode. Competition mechanisms were proposed to understand the variation in fracture mode of the metallic laminate composites associated with length scale.