Labels can override perceptual categories in early infancy

An extensive body of research claims that labels facilitate categorisation, highlight the commonalities between objects and act as invitations to form categories for young infants before their first birthday. While this may indeed be a reasonable claim, we argue that it is not justified by the experiments described in the research. We report on a series of experiments that demonstrate that labels can play a causal role in category formation during infancy. Ten-month-old infants were taught to group computer-displayed, novel cartoon drawings into two categories under tightly controlled experimental conditions. Infants were given the opportunity to learn the two categories under four conditions: Without any labels, with two labels that correlated with category membership, with two labels assigned randomly to objects, and with one label assigned to all objects. Category formation was assessed identically in all conditions using a novelty preference procedure conducted in the absence of any labels. The labelling condition had a decisive impact on the way infants formed categories: When two labels correlated with the visual category information, infants learned two categories, just as if there had been no labels presented. However, uncorrelated labels completely disrupted the formation of any categories. Finally, consistent use of a single label across objects led infants to learn one broad category that included all the objects. These findings demonstrate that even before infants start to produce their first words, the labels they hear can override the manner in which they categorise objects.     

Observation can be as effective as action in problem solving

This study discusses findings that replicate and extend the original work of Burns and Vollmeyer (2002) , which showed that performance in problem-solving tasks was more accurate when people were engaged in a non-specific goal than in a specific goal. The main innovation here was to examine the goal specificity effect under both observation-based and conventional action-based learning conditions. The findings show that goal specificity affects the accuracy of problem solving in the same way when the learning stage of the task is observation-based as when it is action-based. In addition, the findings show that, when instructions do not promote goal specificity, observation-based problem solving is as effective as action-based problem solving.     

Electrophysiological and phenomenological effects of short-term immersion in an altered sensory environment

We examined the spontaneous cerebral electrophysiology and phenomenology during short-term perceptual deprivation consisting of an edgeless visual field combined with monotonous auditory input that eliminated potential grounding cues (multimodal Ganzfeld). Subjects (N = 22) were instructed to self-report perceptual fading using a button press. Relaxed wakefulness with closed eyes and viewing of a time-varying stimulus array served as control conditions. The power of parieto-occipital alpha rhythms during perceptual deprivation was midway between the eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions, with a state-specific frequency acceleration. Oscillatory alpha power remained enhanced in the multimodal Ganzfeld relative to viewing time-varying signals, despite no indication of diminished brain arousal. Subjects experienced a range of perceptual phenomena while in the altered sensory environment and individuals with faster alpha oscillations self-reported a greater number of fading episodes. We suggest that alpha-band electroencephalogram (EEG) dynamics signal internally oriented mentation in response to brief perceptual deprivation.     

A qualitative analysis of young people's experiences of receiving a novel,client‐led,psychological therapy in school

Mental health problems often arise in adolescence. Schools have been recognised as a potential hub for support; however, delivering targeted interventions in schools can be difficult due to impracticalities. Subsequently, students have little or no say in the support process. Given the importance of control in well‐being, the current study explored how adolescents experienced Method of Levels, a therapy that allowed them to choose if and when to attend therapy. Interviews with 14 adolescents were conducted and then analysed using thematic analysis. Three main themes were identified; therapy style, therapy experience and exploring problems. An additional overarching theme was generated, regarding choice and control. Findings indicate that adolescents value having choice and control. This made the therapy style accessible, enhanced the therapeutic experience and ultimately facilitated the process of exploring problems.     

Pathways to intercultural accuracy: Social projection processes and core cultural values

The present research examines intercultural accuracy—people's ability to make accurate judgments about outgroup values—and the role of social projection processes. Across four studies, U.S. and British participants showed low overall levels of intercultural accuracy for Chinese students’ individualistic and collectivistic values. In line with recent changes toward individualism in China, we observed different levels of intercultural accuracy, hinging on whether the criterion values of Chinese were assessed before (2001) or after (2015) this shift. Important for the study of social projection, we observed that U.S./British participants projected their values onto the outgroup. Social projection tendency (measured in Study 2 and manipulated in Study 3) was associated with greater intercultural accuracy. The relationship between projection and accuracy also depended on the shifts in individualistic values of Chinese. Important for the study of intergroup relations, accuracy was positively associated with interest in future relationships with the Chinese.     

Stability of choices in a risky decision‐making task: a 3‐year longitudinal study with children and adults

In a 3‐year follow‐up to Levin and Hart's ( 2003 ) study, we observed the same children, now 9–11 years old, and their parents in the same risky decision‐making task. At the aggregate level the same pattern of means was observed across time periods. At the individual level the key variables were significantly correlated across time periods for both children and adults. Taken together with the results from the original study and earlier studies, these results solidify the following conclusions: children utilize both probability and outcome information in risky decision‐making; the tendency to make more risky choices to avoid a loss than to achieve a gain of equal magnitude, which is a major tenet of the leading theories of risky decision‐making, occurs for children as well as adults; children make more risky choices than adults; temperamental predictors of risky choice are valid for children as well as for adults. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced perceptual priming for neutral stimuli occurring in a traumatic context: two experimental investigations

Intrusive memories in posttraumatic stress disorder are often triggered by stimuli that are perceptually similar to those present shortly before or during the trauma. The present study aims to examine the possible role of perceptual priming in this phenomenon. It further investigates whether the degree of perceptual priming is associated with dissociation and whether both perceptual priming and intrusive memories can be reduced through elaboration. Two experiments measured perceptual priming for neutral stimuli that immediately preceded a "traumatic" event. Volunteers (N=46, 92) watched a series of "traumatic" and neutral picture stories, and completed a blurred object identification (perceptual priming) memory task, and a recognition memory task. Participants in Experiment 1 were selected to score either high or low on the Trait Dissociation Questionnaire [Murray, Ehlers, & Mayou (2002). Dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder: Two prospective studies of motor vehicle accident survivors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 363-368]. They also completed a state dissociation measure in the session. Experiment 2 randomly allocated participants to an experimental condition designed to increase elaboration or to a control condition. This experiment also included a measure of intrusive memories. Both experiments found enhanced perceptual priming for the stimuli that immediately preceded the "traumatic" stories compared to those preceding neutral stories. Participants with high trait dissociation showed relatively stronger perceptual perceptual priming. The degree of perceptual priming for stimuli from the "traumatic" stories also correlated with state dissociation (Experiment 1). Experimental manipulation of the elaboration of the stories showed that elaboration reduced the enhanced perceptual priming effect and the relative probability of reexperiencing symptoms (Experiment 2). The results support the role of perceptual priming in intrusions after traumatic events.     

Vocal Features of Conversational Sarcasm: A Comparison of Methods

This study investigated vocal cues that differentiate sarcastic utterances from non-sarcastic utterances. Utterances were drawn from videotapes of participant interviews and arranged on a master tape for analysis. Utterances that were identified as sarcastic by speakers and recognized as sarcastic by listeners were randomly arranged with utterances identified and recognized as non-sarcastic by the same participants. Both sarcastic and non-sarcastic utterances were analyzed by two methods–acoustic analysis and perceptual coding. The acoustic analysis proved slightly more successful than the perceptual coding in discriminating between sarcastic and non-sarcastic utterances. The acoustic analysis indicated that fundamental frequency, frequency range, length of utterance, and total amount of sound significantly discriminated sarcastic from non-sarcastic utterances. The perceptual coding method revealed that pitch range, length of utterance, and total amount of sound significantly discriminated sarcastic from non-sarcastic utterances. Moderate correlations were found between the acoustic and perceptual variables.     

Concept empiricism: a methodological critique

Thanks to Barsalou's, Damasio's, Glenberg's, Prinz' and others' work, neo-empiricism is gaining a deserved recognition in the psychology and philosophy of concepts. I argue, however, that neo-empiricists have underestimated the difficulty of providing evidence against the amodal approach to concepts and higher cognition. I highlight three key problems: the difficulty of sorting out amodal predictions from neo-empiricist predictions, the difficulty of finding experimental tasks that are not best solved by imagery and the difficulty of generalizing findings concerning a given cognitive process in a given context to other cognitive processes or other contexts. Finally, solutions to these three problems are considered.     

Motion-induced blindness does not affect the formation of negative afterimages

Aftereffects induced by invisible stimuli constitute a powerful tool to investigate what type of neural information processing can occur in the absence of visual awareness. This approach has been successfully used to demonstrate that awareness of oriented gratings or translating stimuli is not necessary to obtain a robust orientation-specific or motion-specific aftereffect. We exploit motion-induced blindness (MIB, Bonneh, Cooperman, & Sagi, 2001) to investigate the related question of the influence of visual awareness on the formation of negative afterimages. Our results show that MIB does not affect the persistence and intensity of afterimages. Thus, there is no significant contribution to the formation of afterimages beyond the sites mediating MIB.