The interacting effect of load and space on visual selective attention

In the study of visual attention, two major determinants of our ability to ignore distracting information have been isolated, namely, (1) the spatial separation from the focus of attention and (2) perceptual load. This study manipulated both factors using a dual-task adaptation of the flanker paradigm (Eriksen & Hoffman, 1973). It showed that (1) although attention followed a gradient profile under low perceptual load it followed a Mexican-hat profile under high perceptual load, consistent with the idea that increasing load focuses spatial attention; and (2) increasing perceptual load did not improve overall selectivity: Though selectivity improved at near separations, it was impaired at far ones. Load and spatial separation exert interacting effects.     

Contraries as an effective strategy in geometrical problem solving

A focused review of the literature on reasoning suggests that mechanisms based upon contraries are of fundamental importance in various abilities. At the same time, the importance of contraries in the human perceptual experience of space has been recently demonstrated in experimental studies. Solving geometry problems represents an interesting case as both reasoning abilities and the manipulation of perceptual–figural aspects are involved.

In this study we focus on perceptual changes in geometrical problem solving processes in order to understand whether a mental manipulation in terms of opposites might help. Four conditions were studied, two of which concerned the search for contraries as an implicit or explicit strategy.

Results demonstrated that contraries, when used explicitly in solution processes, constitute an effective heuristic: The number of correct solutions increased, less time was needed to find a solution and participants were oriented towards the use of perception-based solutions—not only were perceptual solutions more frequent, but also, more specifically, the number of correct perceptual solutions increased. These last results concerning perception-based solutions were found both when participants were advised about the usefulness of the strategy and when they were not advised. Differences concerning which aspects of a problem were focused on during the solution process also emerged.     

Distinguishing the Senses

Seeing, hearing and touching are phenomenally different, even if we are detecting the same spatial properties with each sense. This presents a prima facie problem for intentionalism, the theory that phenomenal character supervenes on representational content. The paper reviews some attempts to resolve this problem, and then looks in detail at Peter Carruthers' recent proposal that the senses can be individuated by the way in which they represent spatial properties and incorporate time. This proposal is shown to be ineffective in distinguishing auditory from either visual or tactual perception, and substantial classes of visual and tactual perceptions are found that the posited spatial and temporal features fail to individuate.     

Exploring Enactive Realism

Abstract

The paper considers the success of enactive realism about perception; the theory that perceivers gain direct access to the mind-independent physical world through their exercise of sensorimotor skills and understanding. I argue that while it is plausible that the possession of some forms of knowledge, conceptual or practical, may enable perceptual contact with the environment, the role of sensorimotor mastery is not as pervasive as the enactive realist proposes. Non-veridical perception, furthermore, cannot be captured adequately by enactivist resources under a disjunctivist framework.     

Common sense and Berkeley's perception by suggestion

Abstract

Significant attention has been paid to Berkeley's account of perception; however, the interpretations of Berkeley's account of perception by suggestion are either incomplete or mistaken. In this paper I begin by examining a common interpretation of suggestion, the ‘Propositional Account’. I argue that the Propositional Account is inadequate and defend an alternative, non‐propositional, account. I then address George Pitcher's objection that Berkeley's view of sense perception forces him to adopt a ‘non‐conciliatory’ attitude towards common sense. I argue that Pitcher's charge is no longer plausible once we recognize that Berkeley endorses the non‐propositional sense of mediate perception. I close by urging that the non‐propositional interpretation of Berkeley's account of mediate perception affords a greater appreciation of Berkeley's attempt to bring a philosophical account of sense perception in line with some key principles of common sense. While Berkeley's account of perception and physical objects permits physical objects to be immediately perceived by some of the senses, they are, most often, mediately perceived. But for Berkeley this is not a challenge to common sense since common sense requires only that we perceive objects by our senses and that they are, more or less, as we perceive them. Mediate perception by suggestion is, for Berkeley, as genuine a form of perception as immediate perception, and both are compatible with Berkeley's understanding of the demands of common sense.     

父母冲突对青少年社交焦虑的影响：序列中介效应分析

采用父母冲突儿童知觉量表(CPIC)、父母关系安全感量表(SIS Scale)和社交焦虑分量表调查480名高中生,运用偏差矫正的百分位Bootstrap方法探索青少年对父母冲突的威胁知觉和情绪不安全感在父母冲突水平与青少年社交焦虑之间的序列中介作用。本研究同时检验认知情境理论和情绪安全感理论,发现青少年对父母冲突的威胁知觉对其情绪不安全感的不同维度存在不同影响,从而更为完善地揭示父母冲突影响青少年社交焦虑的内部机制。具体来说,父母冲突主要通过三条途径影响青少年社交焦虑:通过威胁知觉的中介作用;通过情绪不安全感,特别是消极表征的中介作用;通过依次影响威胁知觉和情绪不安全感(特别是消极表征和情绪失调)而正向预测青少年社交焦虑。     

投资者风险感知与风险倾向对风险决策的影响——基于民间投资者的样本

采用模拟投资任务和问卷测查的方式,考察了投资者的风险感知、风险倾向对其风险决策的影响,并对风险感知与风险倾向的交互作用进行分析。结果发现：①投资者的风险感知对其风险决策有显著的负向作用;②投资者的风险倾向对其风险决策有显著的正向作用;③风险感知对风险决策的影响作用部分通过风险倾向这一中介完成。     

Interpersonal perception in cross-group interactions: Challenges and potential solutions

This review provides a framework for theorising about the processes that give rise to interpersonal perception during encounters between two individuals who belong to different groups. Consistent with a dyadic approach, interpersonal perception is considered a function of the unique and combined effects of the perceptions and behaviours of both partners involved in the interaction. A model is presented in which negative expectancies give rise to feelings of anxiety and behavioural displays of anxiety, both of which in turn influence interpersonal judgements. Factors that vary at the level of the perceiver, target, and the interaction are examined as moderators of interpersonal perception. Lastly, given that the study of interpersonal perception within cross-group dyadic encounters is relatively new, several strategies that show promise for improving interpersonal perception are discussed. Turning towards the future this article concludes by discussing how research and theory outside the domain of intergroup relations can be used to develop innovative methods for improving perception processes.     

“Money Helps”: People who inject drugs and their perceptions of financial compensation and its ethical implications

This study documents how people who inject drugs (PWID) in rural Puerto Rico perceive payments for participating in HIV epidemiological studies. In-depth interviews were conducted among a subset (n = 40) of active PWID older than 18 years of age who had been previously enrolled in a much larger study (N = 360). Findings suggest that financial compensation was the main motivation for initially enrolling in the parent study. Then, as trust in the researchers developed, participants came to perceive compensation as part of a reciprocal exchange in which they assisted researchers by providing a trustful account of their experiences and researchers reciprocated with financial support.     

More of myself: Manipulating interoceptive awareness by heightened attention to bodily and narrative aspects of the self

Psychology distinguishes between a bodily and a narrative self. Within neuroscience, models of the bodily self are based on exteroceptive sensorimotor processes or on the integration of interoceptive sensations. Recent research has revealed interactions between interoceptive and exteroceptive processing of self-related information, for example that mirror self-observation can improve interoceptive awareness. Using heartbeat perception, we measured the effect on interoceptive awareness of two experimental manipulations, designed to heighten attention to bodily and narrative aspects of the self. Participants gazed at a photograph of their own face or at self-relevant words. In both experimental conditions interoceptive awareness was significantly increased, compared to baseline. Results show that attention to narrative aspects of self, previously regarded as relying on higher-order processes, has an effect similar to self-face stimuli in improving interoceptive awareness. Our findings extend the previously observed interaction between the bodily self and interoception to more abstract amodal representations of the self.