Features and their configuration in face recognition

Tanaka and Farah (1993) have proposed a holistic approach to face recognition in which information about the features of a face and their configuration are combined together in the face representation. An implication of the holistic hypothesis is that alterations in facial configuration should interfere with retrieval of features. In four experiments, the effect of configuration on feature recognition was investigated by creating two configurations of a face, one with eyes close together and one with eyes far apart. After subjects studied faces presented in one of the two configurations (eyes-close or eyes-far), they were tested for their recognition of features shown in isolation, in a new face configuration, and in the old face configuration. It was found that subjects recognized features best when presented in the old configuration, next best in the new configuration, and poorest in isolation. Moreover, subjects were not sensitive to configural information in inverted faces (Experiment 2) or nonface stimuli (i.e., houses; Experiments 3 and 4). Importantly, for normal faces, altering the spatial location of the eyes not only impaired subjects’ recognition of the eye features but also impaired their recognition of the nose and mouth features—features whose spatial locations were not directly altered. These findings emphasize the interdependency of featural and configural information in a holistic face representation.     

Effects of social networks on cross-cultural adjustment

A total of 221 responses were obtained from a survey of international students in Japan, regarding the facilitative effects of social network formation on their adjustment. Regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships among four types of adjustment revealed in a preceding study (“general adjustment,”“self-control,”“affiliative” and “dependent”), network size, demographic variables, expected social support, etc. For each adjustment type, predictive variables were identified. Two of the variables that showed network effects on adjustment were Japanese language proficiency and race (Asians vs. Westerners). From these results, it would appear that social network formation does facilitate adjustment, and insight into the effect of adjustment type and demographic variables on network functions was obtained. Furthermore, the actual conditions regarding network formation of international students in Japan were revealed.     

Effects of Interpersonal Affect Upon Fairness Judgment

We examined the effect of interpersonal affect on fairness judgment. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to write down fair and unfair behaviors that positive and negative persons performed, giving as many examples as possible within 5 minutes. Participants wrote more fair behaviors for the positive person than for the negative, and wrote more unfair behaviors for the negative person than for the positive. In Experiments 2 and 3, subjects rated the perceived frequency of 60 behaviors (30 fair and 30 unfair). In both experiments, they evaluated fair behaviors by the positive person to be more frequent than those of the negative, and unfair behaviors by the negative person to be more frequent than those of the positive. The results indicate that fairness judgment is influenced by the participant's positive and negative affect toward the judged object. The effects of positive and negative interpersonal affect on fairness judgment are discussed.     

Factor analytic approaches to personality item-level data

Factor analysis models have played a central role in formulating conceptual models in personality and personality assessment, as well as in empirical examinations of personality measurement instruments. Yet, the use of item-level data presents special problems for factor analysis, applications. In this article, we review recent developments in factor analysis that are appropriate for the type of item-level data often collected in personality. Included in this review are discussions of how these developments have been addressed in the context of two different (but formally related) statistical models item response theory (IRT: Hambleton, Swaminathan, & Rogers, 1991) and structural, equation modeling (Bollen 1989) for item-level data. We also discuss the relevance of item scaling in the context of these models. Using the restandardization data for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Scale (cf. Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989), we show brief examples of the utility of these approaches to address basic questions about responses to personality scale items regarding: (a) scale, dimensionality and general item properties, (b) the "appropriateness" of the observed responses, and (c) differential item functioning across subsamples. implications for analyses of personality item-level data in the IRT and factor analytic traditions are discussed.     

Prognostic validity of the Rorschach

Fifty adult stutterers entering therapy at the UCLA Psychology Clinic were administered the Rorschach, with a Klopfer method inquiry, scoring, form level rating, and calculation of scores on the Rorschach Prognostic Rating Scale (RPRS). On the basis of independent clinician ratings of attitudinal or psychotherapeutic improvement, subjects were divided into groups of Improved Most (n = 21) and Improved Least (n = 29). Subjects were also divided into Continued (n = 43) and Dropped (n = 7). Logistic regression was employed to compare groups on the following Rorschach dimensions: Prognostic Score (RPRS); Human Movement; Animal Movement; Inanimate Movement; Shading; Color; Form Level. The Improved Most group was significantly higher in M, FM, Shading, and Productivity. The finding that M and FM discriminates between improvement groups corroborates results obtained in a previous study (Sheehan et al., 1954). The Rorschach movement variables, particularly M and FM, seem to be stable indicators of capacity for improvement in psychotherapy.     

Color diagnosticity in object recognition

Does color influence object recognition? In the present study, the degree to which an object was associated with a specific color was referred to ascolor diagnosticity. Using a feature listing and typicality measure, objects were identified as either high in color diagnosticity or low in color diagnosticity. According to the color diagnosticity hypothesis, color should more strongly influence the recognition of high color diagnostic (HCD) objects (e.g., a banana) than the recognition of low color diagnostic (LCD) objects (e.g., a lamp). This prediction was supported by results from classification, naming, and verification experiments, in which subjects were faster to identify color versions of HCD objects than they were to identify achromatic versions and incongruent color versions. In contrast, subjects were no faster to identify color versions of LCD objects than they were to identify achromatic and incongruent color versions. Moreover, when shape information was degraded but color information preserved, subjects were less impaired in their recognition of degraded HCD objects than of degraded LCD objects, relative to their nondegraded versions. Collectively, these results suggest that color plays a role in the recognition of HCD objects.     

Second-order relational properties and the inversion effect: Testing a theory of face perception

Recognition of faces is more severely impaired by inversion than is recognition of other types of objects. This was originally interpreted as evidence for the existence of special face-recognition mechanisms. Recently, Diamond and Carey (1986) attributed the inversion effect to the use of second-order relational properties that are important for, but not unique to, face recognition. According to their hypothesis, face recognition differs from the recognition of most other objects in its dependence on second-order relational properties. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments by comparing the effects of inversion on the identification of dot patterns that differed in the extent to which they required the encoding of second-order relational properties. Identification of the second-order relational patterns was not more disrupted by inversion than was identification of first-order patterns. These results fail to support the hypothesis that second-order relational properties are responsible for the inversion effect.     

Second-order relational properties and the inversion effect: testing a theory of face perception.

Recognition of faces is more severely impaired by inversion than is recognition of other types of objects. This was originally interpreted as evidence for the existence of special face-recognition mechanisms. Recently, Diamond and Carey (1986) attributed the inversion effect to the use of second-order relational properties that are important for, but not unique to, face recognition. According to their hypothesis, face recognition differs from the recognition of most other objects in its dependence on second-order relational properties. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments by comparing the effects of inversion on the identification of dot patterns that differed in the extent to which they required the encoding of second-order relational properties. Identification of the second-order relational patterns was not more disrupted by inversion than was identification of first-order patterns. These results fail to support the hypothesis that second-order relational properties are responsible for the inversion effect.     

TOWARD A MULTI-LEVEL,MULTI-STAGE MODEL OF MODERNIZATION A CROSS-CULTURAL SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH1

Le développement économique est présenté comme un processus écologique impliquant des antécédents et conséquents à la fois institutionnels et psychologiques dont les interactions composent un modèle complexe. Sont étudiées plus particulièrement ici les variables psychologiques qui, dans une culture donnée, se révèlent susceptibles d'influencer le phénomène de modernisation. Les attitudes de divers groupes culturels envers certaines valeurs spécifiques ayant trait au développement économique sont mesurées par des différenciateurs sémantiques multilingues. Ces appréciations sont analysées et comparées en fonction du degré d'industrialisation des pays étudiés.     

Effects of acute simulated microgravity on nocturnal sleep, daytime vigilance, and psychomotor performance: comparison of horizontal and 6 degrees head-down bed rest

This study examined the effect of acute simulated microgravity on nocturnal sleep, daytime vigilance, and psychomotor performance. Each of 7 volunteers were maintained for 3 days of head-down and horizontal bed rest in a counter-balanced design. Assessment measures were polysomnographic recordings on the first night and performance on psychophysiological tasks on the second day involving subjective and objective vigilance, P300, simple reaction time tasks, and dual performance tasks. No clear difference in sleep structure was observed between the head-down and horizontal conditions, except for a slight decrease in Stage 4 for head-down. Both subjective and objective daytime vigilance, P300, and the simple RT task showed no statistical difference, although tracking performance on the dual task showed deterioration at 10:00 for the head-down condition. These results suggest that nocturnal sleep, daytime vigilance, and psychophysiological functions were not disturbed in head-down sleep conditions, although there was a mild deterioration of higher attentional function in the morning.