Identifying the mechanisms underpinning recognition of structured sequences of action

We present three experiments to identify the specific information sources that skilled participants use to make recognition judgements when presented with dynamic, structured stimuli. A group of less skilled participants acted as controls. In all experiments, participants were presented with filmed stimuli containing structured action sequences. In a subsequent recognition phase, participants were presented with new and previously seen stimuli and were required to make judgements as to whether or not each sequence had been presented earlier (or were edited versions of earlier sequences). In Experiment 1, skilled participants demonstrated superior sensitivity in recognition when viewing dynamic clips compared with static images and clips where the frames were presented in a nonsequential, randomized manner, implicating the importance of motion information when identifying familiar or unfamiliar sequences. In Experiment 2, we presented normal and mirror-reversed sequences in order to distort access to absolute motion information. Skilled participants demonstrated superior recognition sensitivity, but no significant differences were observed across viewing conditions, leading to the suggestion that skilled participants are more likely to extract relative rather than absolute motion when making such judgements. In Experiment 3, we manipulated relative motion information by occluding several display features for the duration of each film sequence. A significant decrement in performance was reported when centrally located features were occluded compared to those located in more peripheral positions. Findings indicate that skilled participants are particularly sensitive to relative motion information when attempting to identify familiarity in dynamic, visual displays involving interaction between numerous features.     

Flexibility in strategy use: Adaptation of numerosity judgement strategies to task characteristics

In previous investigations we documented that people use several strategies to determine numerosities of blocks that are presented in a square grid. One of these strategies is the clever subtraction strategy, wherein the number of empty squares in the grid is subtracted from the total number of squares in the grid. In the present study we investigated participants' flexibility in strategy use when varying the size of the grids. Results are described in terms of the theoretical framework of Lemaire and Siegler (1995) regarding strategic change, and show that this contextual variable affected the frequency, execution time, and accuracy of subjects' use of the subtraction strategy. The usefulness of this framework for analysing the nature of the adaptation to contextual variations is discussed. From a methodological point of view, this study documents the potential of Beem's (1993, 1999) segmented linear regression models for assessing subjects' strategy use in cognitive tasks.     

Cognitive engagement in emotional text reading: concurrent recordings of eye movements and head motion

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the effects of emotions on eye movements, head motion, and iPad motion during reading. Thirty-one participants read neutral, emotionally negative texts and emotionally positive texts on a digital tablet and both participants’ eye movements and body movements were recorded using respectively eye-tracking glasses and a motion capture system. The results showed that emotionally positive texts were read faster than neutral texts, and that readers’ movements decreased when reading emotional texts regardless of valence polarity. Recent studies suggested that postural movements may reflect cognitive engagement and especially the engagement in the task to be done. Our findings seem to validate this hypothesis of a bodily engagement in reading emotional contents. The present results suggest that the novel methodology of eye and postural movement recordings is informative in studying the readers’ embodied engagement during reading emotional materials.     

The Effect of Size of Pupil on the Form and Color Fields

The construct validity of the Wallach-Kogan (W-K) creativity test was investigated through an hierarchical factor analysis of intercorrelations among intelligence, creativity, control, and criterion variables for 73 Ss enrolled in grades 3 and 4 of an inner-city parochial school. The results provided considerable support for W-K's theoretical formulations. Creativity and intelligence assessors defined separate domains and remained totally resilient to merger into a superordinate factor. The creativity domain, which was defined by W-K subtests and criterion ratings, included the following factors: general, visual, and verbal creativity plus a weak methods factor for crayon drawings. The intelligence domain, which was defined by WISC subtests, included a relatively strong g factor and the following four primary factors: verbal precision, freedom from distractibility, perceptual organization, and quasi-specific.     

Motion or emotion: Infants discriminate emotional biological motion based on low-level visual information

Infants’ ability to discriminate emotional facial expressions and tones of voice is well-established, yet little is known about infant discrimination of emotional body movements. Here, we asked if 10–20-month-old infants rely on high-level emotional cues or low-level motion related cues when discriminating between emotional point-light displays (PLDs). In Study 1, infants viewed 18 pairs of angry, happy, sad, or neutral PLDs. Infants looked more at angry vs. neutral, happy vs. neutral, and neutral vs. sad. Motion analyses revealed that infants preferred the PLD with more total body movement in each pairing. Study 2, in which infants viewed inverted versions of the same pairings, yielded similar findings except for sad-neutral. Study 3 directly paired all three emotional stimuli in both orientations. The angry and happy stimuli did not significantly differ in terms of total motion, but both had more motion than the sad stimuli. Infants looked more at angry vs. sad, more at happy vs. sad, and about equally to angry vs. happy in both orientations. Again, therefore, infants preferred PLDs with more total body movement. Overall, the results indicate that a low-level motion preference may drive infants’ discrimination of emotional human walking motions.     

Illusory line motion and transformational apparent motion during continuous flash suppression1

A static bar is perceived to dynamically extend from a peripheral cue (illusory line motion (ILM)) or from a part of another figure presented in the previous frame (transformational apparent motion (TAM)). We examined whether visibility for the cue stimuli affected these transformational motions. Continuous flash suppression, one kind of dynamic interocular masking, was used to reduce the visibility for the cue stimuli. Both ILM and TAM significantly occurred when the d' for cue stimuli was zero (Experiment 1) and when the cue stimuli were presented at subthreshold levels (Experiment 2). We discuss that higher‐order motion processing underlying TAM and ILM can be weakly but significantly activated by invisible visual information.     

Temporal binding during apparent movement of the human body

Alternating between static images of human bodies with an appropriate interstimulus interval (ISI) produces apparent biological motion. Here we investigate links between apparent biological motion and time perception. We presented two pictures of the initial and final positions of a human movement separated by six different ISIs. The shortest movement path between two positions was always biomechanically impossible. Participants performed two tasks: In an explicit task, participants judged whether they saw the longer, feasible movement path between the two postures, or the shorter, biomechanically impossible path. In an implicit task, participants judged the duration of a white square surrounding the picture sequence. At longer ISIs participants were more likely to see a longer, feasible movement path (explicit task) and underestimated the duration of body picture pairs, compared to trials displaying degraded body pictures (implicit task). We argue that perceiving apparent biological motion involves temporal binding of two static pictures into a continuous movement. Such temporal binding may be mediated by a top-down mechanism that produces a percept of biological motion in the absence of any retinal motion.     

The role of rigid motion in newborns' face recognition

The study investigated whether dynamic information promotes newborns' ability to recognize a face. After being habituated to a face undergoing an ordered sequential head rigid motion (Exp. 1), 1- to 3-day-old newborns fully recognized the familiar face shown in the profile pose, as documented by a preference for the profile pose of a novel face. When familiarized to an ordered sequence of different viewpoint static images of a face (Exp. 2), newborns failed to recognize the profile pose of the familiar face, their visual exploration of the familiar and novel faces being at chance. Habituation to a random head rigid motion (Exp. 3) allowed only a partial recognition of face identity, as newborns preferred the profile pose of the familiar, rather than the novel, face. Rigid head motion is an important source of information for newborns' face recognition, probably aiding the derivation of a three-dimensional face structure.     

Expertise in biological conceptions: The case of the vineyard

To study how expertise impacts the understanding of a complex system like the vineyard, three measures were used with 259 participants (190 non-experts, 34 winemakers and/or winegrowers, and 35 biologists): a questionnaire to check for expertise (the Plant Biology Questionnaire), a task about the Structure, Behaviour and Function model, and a measure of the content of the participants’ discourse with the ALCESTE software. Results showed that biologists mentioned functions significantly more often than behaviours, whereas it was the opposite for winegrowers. Non-experts mentioned functions and behaviours significantly less frequently than experts did. The content analysis confirmed the differential expression of each kind of expertise: scientific wording for biologists, technical wording for winegrowers, and words focused on perceptible structures for the non-experts. Results from all tasks were highly correlated and allowed for an interpretation of expertise in terms of mental models of the vineyard.     

运动空间定向判断中的方向偏差及飞行惯性

模拟客体起飞和降落运动,探讨飞行场景中不同运动位置、不同意义客体和运动方向下个体运动空间定向判断能力。结果表明：(1)对降落运动轨迹的判断正确率显著低于起飞运动;(2)无意义客体偏高轨迹的判断正确率显著小于偏低轨迹,表现出方向偏差;(3)飞行场景影响方向偏差的表现形式,当飞机降落运动时,易将偏低路径判断为与预设轨迹相同,而飞机起飞运动时,易将偏高路径判断为相同,表明降落时飞机被知觉为会向斜下方越飞越低,而起飞时飞机会向斜上方越飞越高,表现出飞行惯性。结论：运动空间定向判断受到重力表征及个体知识经验等共同影响,具有认知可渗透性。