The development of visual short-term memory for multifeature items during middle childhood

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) research suggests that the adult capacity is limited to three or four multifeature object representations. Despite evidence supporting a developmental increase in capacity, it remains unclear what the unit of capacity is in children. The current study employed the change detection paradigm to investigate both the capacity and nature of the representations of VSTM in 7-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and adults. Two experimental conditions were used to compare memory performance for single-feature objects with that for multifeature objects. Results provided further and more convincing evidence for a developmental increase in VSTM. Furthermore, the “loading up” of features in the multifeature condition was found to incur no significant performance deficit in all age groups. These findings are explained in terms of a developmental increase in the number of integrated multifeature object representations in VSTM.     

Adaptive Self-Regulation: Meeting Others' Expectations of Leadership and Performance

Abstract

The authors used longitudinal multisource field data to examine core aspects of the adaptive self-regulation model (A. S. Tsui & S. J. Ashford, 1994) in terms of linkages between self-monitoring, discrepancy in manager match-to-position, 5 measures of leadership, and manager performance. At Time 1,64 superiors of focal managers rated the managers' matches to their positions within the organization; at Time 3, they rated the managers' performance. At Time 2, the 64 focal managers completed a measure of self-monitoring, and 192 subordinates rated the focal managers' leadership behaviors. Results of partial least squares analysis revealed that discrepancy in manager match-to-position was associated with reductions in laissez faire and passive management-by-exception behaviors and increases in transformational leadership behavior. Self-monitoring was positively associated with all 5 leadership behaviors. Performance was related positively to transformational leadership behavior and negatively to passive management-by-exception and contingent-reward behaviors     

Not looking yourself: The cost of self‐selecting photographs for identity verification

Photo‐identification is based on the premise that photographs are representative of facial appearance. However, previous studies show that ratings of likeness vary across different photographs of the same face, suggesting that some images capture identity better than others. Two experiments were designed to examine the relationship between likeness judgments and face matching accuracy. In Experiment 1, we compared unfamiliar face matching accuracy for self‐selected and other‐selected high‐likeness images. Surprisingly, images selected by previously unfamiliar viewers – after very limited exposure to a target face – were more accurately matched than self‐selected images chosen by the target identity themselves. Results also revealed extremely low inter‐rater agreement in ratings of likeness across participants, suggesting that perceptions of image resemblance are inherently unstable. In Experiment 2, we test whether the cost of self‐selection can be explained by this general disagreement in likeness judgments between individual raters. We find that averaging across rankings by multiple raters produces image selections that provide superior identification accuracy. However, benefit of other‐selection persisted for single raters, suggesting that inaccurate representations of self interfere with our ability to judge which images faithfully represent our current appearance.     

Sequential detection of learning in cognitive diagnosis

In order to look more closely at the many particular skills examinees utilize to answer items, cognitive diagnosis models have received much attention, and perhaps are preferable to item response models that ordinarily involve just one or a few broadly defined skills, when the objective is to hasten learning. If these fine‐grained skills can be identified, a sharpened focus on learning and remediation can be achieved. The focus here is on how to detect when learning has taken place for a particular attribute and efficiently guide a student through a sequence of items to ultimately attain mastery of all attributes while administering as few items as possible. This can be seen as a problem in sequential change‐point detection for which there is a long history and a well‐developed literature. Though some ad hoc rules for determining learning may be used, such as stopping after M consecutive items have been successfully answered, more efficient methods that are optimal under various conditions are available. The CUSUM, Shiryaev–Roberts and Shiryaev procedures can dramatically reduce the time required to detect learning while maintaining rigorous Type I error control, and they are studied in this context through simulation. Future directions for modelling and detection of learning are discussed.     

中国面孔中的人格知觉维度

要求中国被试基于对中国面孔图片的第一印象对图片中人物进行人格判断,运用主成分分析和平行分析的方法,探究面孔中的人格知觉维度。结果发现,中国被试知觉本族男性、女性面孔时存在"亲和性"和"能力"两个人格知觉维度。初步揭示了亲和性维度具有跨文化的共性,并提出更广义的能力维度,其内容包含支配性特质和坚韧性特质。     

When white collar criminals turn to fatal violence: The impact of narcissism and psychopathy

The present article takes as its point of departure Perri's view, according to whom the impact of personality traits such as psychopathy and narcissism has unduly been omitted in research on white collar criminality. However, this article argues that although such factors have an important role to play in some cases when white collar criminals turn violent in order to prevent the detection of their felonies, they constitute neither the necessary nor the sufficient conditions for white collar criminals to commit murders. This means on the one hand that, although potentially increasing the risk for violence, these traits are not by themselves sufficient as the triggers of violent acts and can function so only under certain social‐contextual circumstances. However, such personality traits are not by themselves necessary, as there can be empirical cases of fraud detection murder committed by white collar criminals lacking them. This position is supported by both a logical analysis of Perri's main arguments and by empirical evidence, consisting of a few real‐life cases of Scandinavian white collar criminals who have “turned red.”     

Smiles in face matching: Idiosyncratic information revealed through a smile improves unfamiliar face matching performance

Unfamiliar face matching is a surprisingly difficult task, yet we often rely on people's matching decisions in applied settings (e.g., border control). Most attempts to improve accuracy (including training and image manipulation) have had very limited success. In a series of studies, we demonstrate that using smiling rather than neutral pairs of images brings about significant improvements in face matching accuracy. This is true for both match and mismatch trials, implying that the information provided through a smile helps us detect images of the same identity as well as distinguishing between images of different identities. Study 1 compares matching performance when images in the face pair display either an open-mouth smile or a neutral expression. In Study 2, we add an intermediate level, closed-mouth smile, to identify the effect of teeth being exposed, and Study 3 explores face matching accuracy when only information about the lower part of the face is available. Results demonstrate that an open-mouth smile changes the face in an idiosyncratic way which aids face matching decisions. Such findings have practical implications for matching in the applied context where we typically use neutral images to represent ourselves in official documents.     

人脸加工中身份语义信息提取的加工方式

人脸加工过程中,从人脸知觉到身份信息提取是一个系列的过程还是平行加工的过程,是人脸研究的热点问题之一。通过比较脸—脸(FF)、名字—名字(NN)、脸—名字(FN)和名字—脸(NF)等四种刺激类型条件下被试对其作夫妇判断和性别配对判断时的反应时分析,发现判断任务与刺激类型之间存在显著交互作用。在性别判断任务中,FF反应最快,NF其次,FN和NN最慢;而在夫妇判断任务中,四种刺激类型间无显著差异。反应错误率分析也显示相似的结果。实验结果支持人脸识别到身份信息提取过程为系列加工的观点。     

Cross-cultural effects on detecting multiple sources of driving hazard: Evidence from the deceleration detection flicker test

Collision rates in Malaysia are much higher than the UK; do these reflect poorer hazard perception skill or does exposure to hazardous events improve hazard detection ability? The deceleration detection flicker test (DDFT) was used to investigate the effect of experience and cross-cultural differences between Malaysian and UK drivers in their ability to detect the deceleration of a lead vehicle while simultaneously identifying any secondary hazards in side roads. Matched groups of participants with lower or higher levels of experience were recruited from the University of Nottingham in the UK and Malaysia. Malaysian drivers were significantly less accurate than UK drivers in detecting the deceleration of lead vehicles on urban roads, and significantly less accurate in detecting the presence of secondary hazards across all road types. Experienced drivers were significantly faster than novices in detecting decelerations of the lead vehicle, and were significantly more accurate in detecting the presence of secondary hazards. The study concludes that high exposure to hazardous events on the road in Malaysia does not yield expertise in this hazard perception task, although the DDFT does differentiate experience cross-culturally.     

The Perception of Four Basic Emotions in Human and Nonhuman Faces by Children With Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

Children who experienced autism, mental retardation, and language disorders; and, children in a clinical control group were shown photographs of human female, orangutan, and canine (boxer) faces expressing happiness, sadness, anger, surprise and a neutral expression. For each species of faces, children were asked to identify the happy, sad, angry, or surprised expressions. In Experiment 1, error patterns suggested that children who experienced autism were attending to features of the lower face when making judgements about emotional expressions. Experiment 2 supported this impression. When recognizing facial emotion, children without autism performed better when viewing the full face, compared to the upper and lower face alone. Children with autism performed no better when viewing the full face than they did when viewing partial faces; and, performed no better than chance when viewing the upper face alone. The results are discussed with respect to differences in the manner that children with and without autism process social information communicated by the face.