Classic Stroop Negative Priming effects for children and adults diverge with less-conflicting and nonconflicting conditions

Negative priming indexes an inhibition process that aids target selection by reducing distractor interference. To date, children have produced negative priming only in tasks where distractor response tendencies are consistently greater than or equal to targets and not in tasks containing a substantial proportion of low-conflict distractors. To establish the exact parameters under which children's negative priming attenuates relative to adults, we varied processing demands across 2 experiments involving children and adults. Negative priming was comparable when 100% high-conflict conditions were encountered (Experiment 1) and was intact in adults but not children when a ratio of 50:50 high- to low-conflict conditions was encountered (Experiment 2). Compared with adults, children seem induced to divide attention more generally when low-conflict attentional conditions are included, attenuating negative priming.     

My role is my castle — The appeal of family roles after experiencing social exclusion

The present research investigated whether perceived social exclusion would lead women to embrace the social group of the family (and its traditional gender roles). In two studies, it was found that in comparison to a social inclusion manipulation, a social exclusion manipulation caused women to report significantly more positive inclinations towards traditional, gendered work allocations (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, seeking meaning in life mediated the relationship between social exclusion and the perceived attractiveness of the roles of mother and housewife (Study 2). In a third study, adherence to family-related concepts was examined in both socially excluded and included men, but no difference was found between the two groups. It thus appears that social exclusion does not enhance the attractiveness of familial relationships for men. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Euclidean model of measurement in Fechner's psychophysics

Historians acknowledge Euclid and Fechner, respectively, as the founders of classical geometry and classical psychophysics. At all times, their ideas have been reference points and have shared the same destiny of being criticized, corrected, and even radically rejected, in their theoretical and methodological aspects and in their epistemological value. According to a model of measurement of magnitudes which goes back to Euclid, Fechner (1860) developed a theory for psychical magnitudes that opened a lively debate among numerous scholars. Fechner's attempt to apply the model proposed by Euclid to subjective sensation magnitudes--and the debate that followed--generated ideas and concepts that were destined to have rich developments in the psychological and (more generally) scientific field of the twentieth century and that still animate current psychophysics.     

Relative influences of lightness and facial morphology on perceived race

In a recent study (Brooks and Gwinn, 2010 Perception 39 1142-1145), the lightness contrast illusion was employed to study the influences of skin tone and facial morphology on race perception. The findings were rather counterintuitive: they suggested that skin tone does not play a major role in racial categorisation. To investigate this further, we used a parametric paradigm including five lightness levels, five morphing levels, and two face orientations. In accordance with Brooks and Gwinn, we found that race categorisation of African-American and Caucasian faces by Caucasian participants relied mainly on morphological cues. However, the relative influence of lightness increased when morphological information was ambiguous and when the faces were upside down. Overall, the results point to a flexible multicue-based mechanism underlying race perception.     

Comparing upward and speeding up. Motivational consequences of nonsocial comparison for speed-accuracy trade-offs

Comparison is one of the most ubiquitous and versatile components in human information processing. Social comparisons in particular have multifaceted judgmental, affective, behavioral, and motivational consequences. Initially, the consequences of nonsocial comparisons may appear to be less complex than the consequences of social comparisons. Comparing a smaller circle with a larger circle, for example, has little motivational relevance. Across two studies, however, we demonstrated that different types of nonsocial comparisons influence the motivational underpinnings of participants' subsequent performance. Participants who were perceptually or numerically induced to compare upward (e.g., to compare a smaller stimulus with a larger stimulus) in a first task traded accuracy for speed in a subsequent unrelated performance task. Conversely, participants who had compared downward traded speed for accuracy. These trade-offs are indicative of promotion- and prevention-focused motivational orientations, respectively. Comparing a geometric circle with a "superior" (e.g., larger) circle seems to yield promotion-focused strategic orientations similar to those produced by comparing oneself to a person one perceives as superior. These findings demonstrate the surprising motivational power of nonsocial comparisons.     

What the eyes already ‘know’: using eye movement measurement to tap into children's implicit numerical magnitude representations

To date, a number of studies have demonstrated the existence of mismatches between children's implicit and explicit knowledge at certain points in development that become manifest by their gestures and gaze orientation in different problem solving contexts. Stimulated by this research, we used eye movement measurement to investigate the development of basic knowledge about numerical magnitude in primary school children. Sixty‐six children from grades one to three (i.e. 6–9 years) were presented with two parallel versions of a number line estimation task of which one was restricted to behavioural measures, whereas the other included the recording of eye movement data. The results of the eye movement experiment indicate a quantitative increase as well as a qualitative change in children's implicit knowledge about numerical magnitudes in this age group that precedes the overt, that is, behavioural, demonstration of explicit numerical knowledge. The finding that children's eye movements reveal substantially more about the presence of implicit precursors of later explicit knowledge in the numerical domain than classical approaches suggests further exploration of eye movement measurement as a potential early assessment tool of individual achievement levels in numerical processing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Controlling low-level image properties: The SHINE toolbox

Visual perception can be influenced by top-down processes related to the observer’s goals and expectations, as well as by bottom-up processes related to low-level stimulus attributes, such as luminance, contrast, and spatial frequency. When using different physical stimuli across psychological conditions, one faces the problem of disentangling the contributions of low- and high-level factors. Here, we make available the SHINE (spectrum, histogram, and intensity normalization and equalization) toolbox for MATLAB, which we have found useful for controlling a number of image properties separately or simultaneously. The toolbox features functions for specifying the (rotational average of the) Fourier amplitude spectra, for normalizing and scaling mean luminance and contrast, and for exact histogram specification optimized for perceptual visual quality. SHINE can thus be employed for parametrically modifying a number of image properties or for equating them across stimuli to minimize potential low-level confounds in studies on higher level processes.     

The Changing Values of Children and Preferences Regarding Family Size in South Africa

Cette recherche élargit à un contexte africain avec la problématique suivante les études en cours sur les relations entre les générations et les valeurs attribuées aux enfants: dans quelle mesure la structure des valeurs projetées sur les enfants (VOC) repérée dans des études antérieures peut‐elle être retrouvée en Afrique du Sud et quelles sont les préférences des femmes concernant la taille des familles petite, nombreuse et idéale. L’échantillon était constitué de trois cohortes de femmes noires sud‐africaines originaires de la province de Limpopo. Des analyses factorielles ont montré que les dimensions de la VOC apparue en Afrique du Sud étaient un agrégat de différentes valeurs. Ont été isolées comme dimensions relatives au désir d’enfants Social/Emotionnel et Traditionnel/Utilitaire. Pour ce qui est des motifs expliquant le choix de ne pas avoir d’enfants sont apparus l’enfant comme source de contraintes et les contraintes que constitue le fait d’avoir un enfant. Les comparaisons entre les générations montrent des variations dans l’importance des dimensions des valeurs accordées aux enfants et dans les préférences concernant la taille de la famille. Les valeurs dont les enfants sont porteurs pour les jeunes mères étaient liées au nombre d’enfants que ces femmes avaient et à leurs préférences relatives à la taille de la famille. La discussion sur les résultats tient compte de l’évolution du contexte sociopolitique de l’Afrique du Sud. This study extends the ongoing studies on values of children and intergenerational relations into an African context with the following key questions: To what extent can the structure of values of children (VOC) identified in previous studies be found in South Africa and what are women's preferences regarding the size of small, large, and ideal families? The sample consisted of three cohorts of Black South African women from the Limpopo Province. Factor analyses showed that the dimensions of VOC found in South Africa are a conglomeration of different values. Identified dimensions were Social/Emotional and Traditional/Utilitarian with respect to reasons for wanting children. Regarding reasons for not wanting children, Child as Source of Constraints and Constraints to Have a Child were identified. Intergenerational comparisons showed variations in the importance of value of children dimensions and in preferences regarding family size. Values of children of younger mothers were related to the number of children these women had and to their preferences regarding family size. The findings are discussed within the changing socio‐political context of South Africa.     

Taking a new look at seductive details

What is the effect of seductive details on learning outcomes? What are the boundary conditions of seductive detail effects? How do seductive details affect learning? These are the kinds of questions addressed in this special issue on seductive details. This special issue contains 11 articles presenting original results that take a new look at seductive details.