Separating global and specific factors in developmental dyslexia

The general goal of the study was to identify global and specific components in developmental dyslexia using various manipulations based on the rapid automatization paradigm (RAN). In two experiments, we used both factor analysis and the Rate-and-Amount Model to verify if one (or more) global factor(s) and a variety of specific effects contribute to the naming (and visual search) deficits in children with dyslexia.

Results of Experiment 1 indicated the presence of three global components: pictorial naming, detailed orthographic analysis, and visual search. Pictorial naming is predicated by typical RAN tasks (such as naming colors or objects), independent of set size, but also from a variety of other tasks including Stroop interference conditions. The detailed orthographic analysis factor accounts for naming of orthographic stimuli at high set size. Visual search marked tasks requiring the scanning of visual targets.

Results of Experiment 2 confirmed the separation between the pictorial naming and detailed orthographic analysis factors both in the original sample and in a new group of children. Furthermore, specific effects of frequency, lexicality, and length were shown to contribute to the reading deficit.

Overall, it is proposed that focusing on the profile of both global and specific effects provides a more effective and, at the same time, simpler account of the dyslexics' impairment.     

Differences in multiple‐target visual search performance between non‐professional and professional searchers due to decision‐making criteria

Professional visual searches, such as those conducted by airport security personnel, often demand highly accurate performance. As many factors can hinder accuracy, it is critical to understand the potential influences. Here, we examined how explicit decision‐making criteria might affect multiple‐target search performance. Non‐professional searchers (college undergraduates) and professional searchers (airport security officers) classified trials as ‘safe’ or ‘dangerous’, in one of two conditions. Those in the ‘one = dangerous’ condition classified trials as dangerous if they found one or two targets, and those in the ‘one = safe’ condition only classified trials as dangerous if they found two targets. The data suggest an important role of context that may be mediated by experience; non‐professional searchers were more likely to miss a second target in the one = dangerous condition (i.e., when finding a second found target did not change the classification), whereas professional searchers were more likely to miss a second in the one = safe condition.     

Utilizing probabilities as decision weights in closed and open information boards: A comparison of children and adults

Decisions in preschoolers (6 years), elementary schoolers (9.7 years), and adults (21 years) were studied with an information board crossing three probabilistic cues (validities: .83, .67, .50) with two options. Experiment 1 (n = 215) applied a standard version of the information board (closed presentation format), in which information must be searched sequentially and kept in mind for the decision. Experiment 2 (n = 217) applied an open format (Glöckner & Betsch, 2008), in which all information was visible during decision making. Elementary schoolers but not preschoolers benefited from an open format — indicated by an increase in using probabilities as decision weights. In the open but not closed format, choices were biased by normatively irrelevant information (the lure). Variations in the prediction patterns of the cues influenced decisions in all age groups. Effects for presentation format, pattern, and lure jointly indicate that even children are capable of considering multiple information in their decisions.     

Self-control trumps work motivation in predicting job search behavior

Current labor market entrants face an increasingly challenging job search process. Effective guidance of job seekers requires identification of relevant job search skills. Self-control (i.e., the ability to control one's thoughts, actions, and response tendencies in view of a long-term goal, such as finding employment) is assumed to be one such relevant job search skill. The current study is the first to empirically assess the importance of self-control in the job search process. This is compared to the role of motivation, which is generally considered a crucial predictor of job searching. Based on a sample of 403 Dutch prospective vocational training graduates, we found that higher levels of self-control were related to higher levels of preparatory job search behavior and job search intentions half a year later, shortly before labor market entrance. Self-control was a significantly stronger predictor of job searching than work motivation. Moreover, relations between self-control and job searching were largely independent of motivation, which may suggest that job-seekers benefit from self-control through adaptive habits and routines that are unaffected by motivation. We propose that job search interventions, which traditionally focus on strengthening motivation, may benefit from a stronger focus on improving self-control skills.     

视听时、空一致性对Pip-and-Pop效应的影响

多感觉整合遵循空间原则和时间原则, 有研究表明Pip-and-Pop效应产生的原因是多感觉整合, 那么Pip-and-Pop效应是否同样遵循空间原则和时间原则呢?本研究采用动态视觉搜索范式, 通过两个眼动实验考察空间一致性(实验1)和时间一致性(实验2)对Pip-and-Pop效应的影响。结果发现：(1)当视觉目标颜色变化伴随一个同侧的听觉刺激时所产生的Pip-and-Pop效应最大, 对侧条件没有发现Pip-and-Pop效应。(2)视听刺激同时呈现所产生的Pip-and-Pop效应最大, 随视听刺激呈现时间间隔的增加Pip-and-Pop效应逐渐减弱直至消失。结果表明, 视听时、空一致性对Pip-and-Pop效应具有调节作用, 这为多感觉整合在产生Pip-and-Pop效应中的作用提供了证据。     

Perceptual learning and perceptual search are altered in male university students with higher Autism Quotient scores

Two experiments investigated the validity of the Autism Quotient (AQ) scale for measuring traits associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in a population of male university students. Both studies found evidence that individuals who scored higher on the AQ questionnaire performed in a similar way to individuals with ASD on tasks with a perceptual component. Experiment 1 demonstrated a difference in the degree to which higher scoring AQ individuals performed on a perceptual learning task; with higher AQ scorers showing no advantage for familiar over novel items less. In Experiment 2, higher scorers showed fewer errors when judging the elements, as opposed to the global configuration, of a Navon task letter. Both of these patterns of results had previously been noted in individuals with ASD. These results suggest that the AQ may have some validity in identifying individuals in the nonclinical population with similar performance profiles to those with ASD.     

Impairments in tactile search following superior parietal damage

The superior parietal cortex is critical for the control of visually guided actions. Research suggests that visual stimuli relevant to actions are preferentially processed when they are in peripersonal space. One recent study demonstrated that visually guided movements towards the body were more impaired in a patient with damage to superior parietal cortex. Whereas past studies have explored disordered movement in optic ataxic patients, there has been less exploration of space perception in terms of search capacity in this population. In addition, there is some debate concerning the relationship between deficits of visuomotor control and impaired attention/perception in optic ataxia. Given that the dorsal stream has been implicated in the spatial processing of stimuli in peripersonal space, and damage to this region is known to cause optic ataxia, we felt that further investigation was warranted. We examined tactile search behavior in the fronto-parallel and radial planes in a patient with right superior parietal damage and optic ataxia. We used a pegboard with removable cylindrical pegs that allowed for the reorganization of targets between trials. To better characterize three-dimensional search behavior, we included both horizontal and vertical search conditions. Results showed that the patient spent more time searching, was more accurate and revisited more targets in right versus left space. Interestingly, the patient spent the majority of her time specifically searching the lower right quadrant of the stimulus array. Further analysis revealed lower target detection rates along the outer borders of the pegboard on all sides. The search pattern observed here is unusual considering that all targets were within arm's reach. The present experiment demonstrates that damage to superior parietal cortex impairs tactile search and biases exploration towards lower right peripersonal space.     

Object-based auditory facilitation of visual search for pictures and words with frequent and rare targets

Auditory and visual processes demonstrably enhance each other based on spatial and temporal coincidence. Our recent results on visual search have shown that auditory signals also enhance visual salience of specific objects based on multimodal experience. For example, we tend to see an object (e.g., a cat) and simultaneously hear its characteristic sound (e.g., “meow”), to name an object when we see it, and to vocalize a word when we read it, but we do not tend to see a word (e.g., cat) and simultaneously hear the characteristic sound (e.g., “meow”) of the named object. If auditory–visual enhancements occur based on this pattern of experiential associations, playing a characteristic sound (e.g., “meow”) should facilitate visual search for the corresponding object (e.g., an image of a cat), hearing a name should facilitate visual search for both the corresponding object and corresponding word, but playing a characteristic sound should not facilitate visual search for the name of the corresponding object. Our present and prior results together confirmed these experiential association predictions. We also recently showed that the underlying object-based auditory–visual interactions occur rapidly (within 220 ms) and guide initial saccades towards target objects. If object-based auditory–visual enhancements are automatic and persistent, an interesting application would be to use characteristic sounds to facilitate visual search when targets are rare, such as during baggage screening. Our participants searched for a gun among other objects when a gun was presented on only 10% of the trials. The search time was speeded when a gun sound was played on every trial (primarily on gun-absent trials); importantly, playing gun sounds facilitated both gun-present and gun-absent responses, suggesting that object-based auditory–visual enhancements persistently increase the detectability of guns rather than simply biasing gun-present responses. Thus, object-based auditory–visual interactions that derive from experiential associations rapidly and persistently increase visual salience of corresponding objects.