Dissociation between the behavioural and electrophysiological effects of the face and body composite illusions

Several studies have reported similarities between perceptual processes underlying face and body perception, particularly emphasizing the importance of configural processes. Differences between the perception of faces and the perception of bodies were observed by means of a manipulation targeting a specific subtype of configural processing: the composite illusion. The composite face illusion describes the fact that two identical top halves of a face are perceived as being different if they are presented with different bottom parts. This effect disappears, if both halves are laterally shifted. Crucially, the effect of misalignment is not observed for bodies. This study aimed to further explore differences in the time course of face and body perception by using the composite effect. The present results replicated behavioural effects illustrating that misalignment affects the perception of faces but not bodies. Thus, face but not body perception relies on holistic processing. However, differences in the time course of the processing of both stimulus categories emerged at the N170 and P200. The pattern of the behavioural data seemed to be related to the P200. Thus, the present data indicate that holistic processes associated with the effect of misalignment might occur 200 ms after stimulus onset.     

Perceptual grouping does not affect multi-attribute decision making if no processing costs are involved

Adaptive strategy selection implies that a decision strategy is chosen based on its fit to the task and situation. However, other aspects, such as the way information is presented, can determine information search behavior; especially when the application of certain strategies over others is facilitated. But are such display effects on multi-attribute decisions also at work when the manipulation does not entail differential costs for different decision strategies? Three Mouselab experiments with hidden information and one eye tracking experiment with an open information board revealed that decision behavior is unaffected by purely perceptual manipulations of the display based on Gestalt principles; that is, based on manipulations that induce no noteworthy processing costs for different information search patterns. We discuss our results in the context of previous findings on display effects; specifically, how the combination of these findings and our results reveal the crucial role of differential processing costs for different strategies for the emergence of display effects. This finding describes a boundary condition of the commonly acknowledged influence of information displays and is in line with the ideas of adaptive strategy selection and cost–benefit tradeoffs.     

A matter of font type: The effect of serifs on the evaluation of scientific abstracts

Text‐based communication is one of the substantial ways of spreading scientific information. While the content and contextual aspects of written words have been widely researched, the impact of font characteristics on text perception is an almost blank page. The following study deals with the influence of serifs on the evaluation of online‐presented scientific abstracts. Yet there is only evidence for faster reading times when texts are presented in sans‐serif fonts, although the opposite is stated in parts of the literature. The present work examines if the presence or absence of serifs also have an impact on the appraisal of scientific texts when all other important font characteristics do not change. For this purpose, 188 university students participated in an online experiment and rated different aspects of scientific abstracts as well as of the research outlined in the abstracts. The results show that missing serifs led to increased reading speed. However, and in contrast to the perceptual fluency hypothesis, the presence of serifs had a positive effect on all evaluation dimensions. The results of a second study with 187 participants also indicated that reading fluency counteracted the liking of texts. Implications for future studies and media production are discussed.     

The logistics of choice

The generalized matching law (GML) is reconstructed as a logistic regression equation that privileges no particular value of the sensitivity parameter, a. That value will often approach 1 due to the feedback that drives switching that is intrinsic to most concurrent schedules. A model of that feedback reproduced some features of concurrent data. The GML is a law only in the strained sense that any equation that maps data is a law. The machine under the hood of matching is in all likelihood the very law that was displaced by the Matching Law. It is now time to return the Law of Effect to centrality in our science.     

The implicit sociometer effect and the moderating role of relational self‐construal

The present study examined how negative feedback influenced implicit self‐evaluations and how individuals' level of relational self‐construal (RelSC) moderated these relationships. One hundred Chinese university students completed the relational‐interdependent self‐construal scale and were randomly assigned into one of three conditions (social exclusion, personal failure, or control). After receiving the manipulation, participants completed two Brief Implicit Association Tests (BIATs) that measured their implicit self‐liking and self‐competence. The results indicated that people with a highly RelSC typically had higher implicit self‐liking, but they decreased their implicit self‐liking more than those with a low RelSC after experiencing social exclusion. However, RelSC did not influence the effect of personal failure on implicit self‐liking. In addition, RelSC was not associated with implicit self‐competence in any situation.     

Dynamic facial expressions are processed holistically,but not more holistically than static facial expressions

There is evidence that facial expressions are perceived holistically and featurally. The composite task is a direct measure of holistic processing (although the absence of a composite effect implies the use of other types of processing). Most composite task studies have used static images, despite the fact that movement is an important aspect of facial expressions and there is some evidence that movement may facilitate recognition. We created static and dynamic composites, in which emotions were reliably identified from each half of the face. The magnitude of the composite effect was similar for static and dynamic expressions identified from the top half (anger, sadness and surprise) but was reduced in dynamic as compared to static expressions identified from the bottom half (fear, disgust and joy). Thus, any advantage in recognising dynamic over static expressions is not likely to stem from enhanced holistic processing, rather motion may emphasise or disambiguate diagnostic featural information.     

Perceiving emotions: Cueing social categorization processes and attentional control through facial expressions

Individuals spontaneously categorise other people on the basis of their gender, ethnicity and age. But what about the emotions they express? In two studies we tested the hypothesis that facial expressions are similar to other social categories in that they can function as contextual cues to control attention. In Experiment 1 we associated expressions of anger and happiness with specific proportions of congruent/incongruent flanker trials. We also created consistent and inconsistent category members within each of these two general contexts. The results demonstrated that participants exhibited a larger congruency effect when presented with faces in the emotional group associated with a high proportion of congruent trials. Notably, this effect transferred to inconsistent members of the group. In Experiment 2 we replicated the effects with faces depicting true and false smiles. Together these findings provide consistent evidence that individuals spontaneously utilise emotions to categorise others and that such categories determine the allocation of attentional control.     

第二语言水平对双语者语言抑制能力的影响——来自英语–汉语单通道双语者和英语–美国手语双通道双语者的证据

采用同形异义词干扰任务考察第二语言水平对英语–汉语单通道双语者和英语–美国手语双通道双语者语言抑制能力的影响。结果发现:(1)高水平英语–汉语单通道双语者的语言抑制能力较强,但低水平英语–汉语单通道双语者与英语单语者的语言抑制能力没有显著差异,说明少量的双语经验不足以导致双语认知优势;(2)不同水平的英语–美国手语双通道双语者的语言抑制能力差异不显著。所以如此,与英语–美国手语双通道双语者不存在口语和手语的双语表征加工竞争有关。整个研究表明,双语认知优势效应与双语者的二语水平以及通道经验有关。     

家庭环境对中学生阅读能力的影响:阅读投入、阅读兴趣的中介作用

采用学生阅读能力测试卷和学生阅读状况调查问卷,对随机选取的559名中学生进行调查,并运用结构方程模型探讨了家庭环境影响阅读能力的内在机制。结果发现,家庭环境影响阅读投入的路径系数为0.18,阅读投入影响阅读兴趣的路径系数为0.51,阅读兴趣影响阅读投入的路径系数为0.80,阅读投入影响阅读能力的路径系数为0.46,各路径系数均达到显著水平(p0.05)。结果表明,(1)家庭环境通过阅读投入的完全中介作用影响阅读兴趣;阅读兴趣通过阅读投入的完全中介作用影响阅读成绩;(2)家庭环境对阅读能力的影响是通过阅读投入和阅读兴趣的循环互动作用实现的。