Deficient implicit phonological representations in children with dyslexia

This study tested the segmentation hypothesis of dyslexia by measuring implicit phonological representations in reading-disabled 11- to 13-year-olds. Implicit measures included lexical gating, priming, and syllable similarity tasks designed to reduce metalinguistic demands. Children with dyslexia performed consistently worse than CA and RA controls when more segmental representations were required across all three tasks. Implicit phonological representations were correlated with measures of speech perception, phoneme awareness, and phonological short-term memory, but not rapid automatized naming, and accounted for unique variance in predicting reading ability. Results provide strong support for less mature implicit phonological representations in children with dyslexia.     

Multidimensional shape similarity in the development of visual object classification

The current work examined age differences in the classification of novel object images that vary in continuous dimensions of structural shape. The structural dimensions employed are two that share a privileged status in the visual analysis and representation of objects: the shape of discrete prominent parts and the attachment positions of those parts. Experiment 1 involved a triad classification task in which participants at each of three different ages (5 years, 8 years, and adult) classified object images from two distinct stimulus sets. Across both sets, the youngest children demonstrated a systematic bias toward the shape of discrete parts during their judgments. With increasing age, participants increasingly came to select both the shape and the position of parts when classifying the images. The findings from Experiment 2 indicate that the local shape bias observed in young children's classifications is not merely a consequence of a discrimination advantage for that dimension. Results are discussed in relation to corresponding age-related changes in other functional contexts of visual processing.     

The nature of learned categorical perception effects: a psychophysical approach

Categorical perception is often cited as a striking example of cognitive influences on perception. However, some evidence suggests the term is a misnomer, with effects based on cognitive not perceptual processing. Here, using a psychophysical approach, we provide evidence consistent with a learned categorical perception effect that is dependent on analysis within the visual processing stream. An improvement in participants' discrimination between grating patterns that they had learned to place in different categories was 'tuned' around the orientation of the patterns experienced during category learning. Thus, here, categorical perception may result from attentionally modulated perceptual learning about diagnostic category features, based upon orientation-selective stages of analysis. This argues strongly that category learning can alter our perception of the world.     

Three-month-olds' visual preference for faces and its underlying visual processing mechanisms

This study was aimed at investigating the face preference phenomenon and its underlying mechanisms at 3 months of age. Using an eye-tracker apparatus, Experiment 1 demonstrated that 3-month-olds prefer natural face images to unnatural ones, replicating and extending previous evidence obtained with schematic facelike stimuli. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the general mechanisms that induce face preference in newborns could not explain the same phenomenon at 3 months of age, when infants are attracted by perceptual cues more specific to faces. This suggests that signs of a process of cognitive specialization are already present in 3-month-olds' visual behavior toward faces.     

Effects of dialect on merger perception: ERP and behavioral correlates

Native speakers of a language are often unable to consciously perceive, and have altered neural responses to, phonemic contrasts not present in their language. This study examined whether speakers of dialects of the same language with different phoneme inventories also show measurably different neural responses to contrasts not present in their dialect. Speakers with (n=11) and without (n=11) an American English I/E (pin/pen) vowel merger in speech production were asked to discriminate perceptually between minimal pairs of words that contrasted in the critical vowel merger and minimal pairs of control words while their event-related potential (ERPs) were recorded. Compared with unmerged dialect speakers, merged dialect speakers were less able to make behavioral discriminations and exhibited a reduced late positive ERP component (LPC) effect to incongruent merger vowel stimuli. These results indicate that between dialects of a single language, the behavioral response differences may reflect neural differences related to conscious phonological decision processes.     

The Effect of Experiential Knowledge on Construction of Risk Perception in Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer

The purpose of this study was to explore the connection between experiential knowledge of hereditary breast/ovarian cancer and understandings of personal cancer risk. Using a qualitative research design, the investigator conducted in-depth interviews with 53 individuals (45 female, 8 male) from families at high-risk for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer. Study results showed that two forms of experiential knowledge, empathetic and embodied knowledge, were integral to participants constructions of their cancer risk. They also illustrated that knowledge derived from experience often took precedence over objective clinical estimates of risk. The paper discusses the clinical implications of these findings and suggests that counseling strategies, which expand upon patients lived experience and knowledge of the disease, may enhance communication of genetic risk. Assessment of experiential knowledge promises to suggest new ways to frame genetic information that will enable people to better understand their objective risk or to modify exaggerated and/or inaccurate risk perceptions.     

Lateralised processing of the internal and the external facial features of personally familiar and unfamiliar faces: a visual half-field study

In this visual half field (VHF) experiment, we investigated possible differences between the left and the right hemisphere in the processing of the internal and external features of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Previous studies using famous and unknown faces had indicated that both hemispheres use the same qualitative mode of processing with the internal features being more important for the perception of familiar faces. In this experiment, personally familiar faces rather than famous faces are used. There are several, mainly methodological, reasons why personally familiar faces are more appropriate stimuli to investigate face processing. The results of the present study showed that no overall visual field effect occurred, but more importantly, that face processing in the left hemisphere differed qualitatively from that in the right hemisphere. The theoretical repercussions of these findings are discussed.     

The adjustment of social trust and Internet use on cognitive bias in social status: Perspective of performance perception

People in different social statuses have different perceptions due to differences in cognition. Combined with the characteristics of public behaviour and cognition, this study examined the impact of the widespread cognitive biases in social status on performance perception. This study used the ordinary least squares model to verify that the cognitive bias in social status has a significant positive impact on the perception of social governance performance. At the same time, a moderated mediation model was constructed to verify that social trust plays a partial mediating role in the influence mechanism of cognitive bias in social status on the perception of social governance performance. The use of the Internet significantly inhibited the influence of cognitive bias in social status on the perception of social governance performance. Although it also weakened the influence of cognitive bias in social status on social trust, the moderating effect on the mediating effect is not obvious. This study verifies and analyses the internal relationship and mechanism of social status cognition deviation and perception of social governance performance from multidisciplinary dimensions, which enriches the social cognition theory of social status, and expands the research on the perception of social governance performance.     

Unvaxxed and unafraid: Unvaccinated Americans perceive less disease risk than do vaccinated Americans

Is disease risk perception accurately calibrated among the unvaccinated? People shift their attitudes to rationalize their choices, so those who choose to be unvaccinated may be motivated to feel less at risk. In three studies (total N = 1446), we asked Americans how worried they were about catching/spreading influenza and COVID-19 and whether they were vaccinated against those diseases. Unvaccinated participants felt less at risk of catching/spreading the diseases they were unvaccinated against than vaccinated participants. For instance, unvaccinated participants felt ∼24% less at risk of catching/spreading COVID-19 and had ∼28% stronger intention to engage in activities that carried a high risk of COVID-19 transmission (Study 3). Overall, those who choose to be the most vulnerable to disease feel and act the least vulnerable.     

Risk perception and conspiracy theory endorsement predict compliance with COVID-19 public health measures

Public health measures such as spatial distancing and physical hygiene have been found effective in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. However, there is considerable variability in individual compliance with such public health measures and factors contributing to these interindividual differences are currently still understudied. The present study set out to determine the role of risk perception and conspiracy theory endorsement on compliance with COVID-19 public health measures and explored variations in these associations across participant age and the developmental status of a country, leveraging a large multi-national data set (N = 45,772) across 66 countries/territories, collected via online survey during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and May 2020). Human Development Index (HDI), developed by the United Nations Development Program, was used as a proxy of a country's achievement in key dimensions of human development. Overall, higher risk perception was associated with greater compliance, particularly in individuals with greater conspiracy theory endorsement. Specifically, people from more developed countries who perceived themselves less at risk but showed stronger conspiracy theory endorsement reported the lowest compliance with COVID-19 public health measures. Findings from this study advance understanding of the interplay between risk perception and conspiracy theory endorsement in their effect on compliance with COVID-19 public health measures, under consideration of both individual-level and country-level demographic variables and have potential to inform the design of tailored interventions to fight the current and future global pandemics.