Does driving experience in video games count? Hazard anticipation and visual exploration of male gamers as function of driving experience

Risk perception and distribution of visual attention while driving are crucial elements for accident prevention and new-driver improvement. This study investigates how racing videogames could shape the visual exploration of virtual and real road in male pre-drivers. The visual performance of players of racing video games with and without driver’s license was tested in virtual vs. real scenarios. Attention to specific elements of different types of road interactions was monitored using an eye-tracking system. Results showed that habitual use of racing video games was not found to foster a positive effect on users’ distribution of visual attention, supporting visual patterns typical of novice drivers. Gamers without driving experience replicated the same patterns in a real road scenario, ignoring road signs and potential areas of interactions with other drivers, while experienced drivers gamers explored video games roads like real roads. The fact that the gamers’ driving performance was not comparable to drivers in the virtual scenario suggests that there are other variables in the gameplay that create a less complex traffic scene, still the visual complexity of different real road interactions is kept in video game interactions, opening new perspectives towards gamers’ visual exploration of the road.     

From Demonization to Identification: How Parents Who Lost Children in Terrorist Attacks Perceive the Attacker

The aim of this article is to examine how bereaved parents who lost children in terrorist attacks in Israel perceive the terrorist attack perpetrators. Forty bereaved parents were interviewed using a semistructured in-depth interview. The content analysis revealed a typology of reactions to the Arab attackers that included perceiving them as objects of anger, hate, and revenge; as demons; as negligible; and as people with whom they could identify. The way bereaved parents perceive the Arab attackers serves as a coping resource. Follow-up research to examine the efficacy of the different types of reactions towards attackers would contribute to gaining a deeper understanding of the coping process that bereaved parents experience.     

The moving rubber hand illusion revisited: Comparing movements and visuotactile stimulation to induce illusory ownership

The rubber hand illusion is a perceptual illusion in which a model hand is experienced as part of one’s own body. In the present study we directly compared the classical illusion, based on visuotactile stimulation, with a rubber hand illusion based on active and passive movements. We examined the question of which combinations of sensory and motor cues are the most potent in inducing the illusion by subjective ratings and an objective measure (proprioceptive drift). In particular, we were interested in whether the combination of afferent and efferent signals in active movements results in the same illusion as in the purely passive modes. Our results show that the illusion is equally strong in all three cases. This demonstrates that different combinations of sensory input can lead to a very similar phenomenological experience and indicates that the illusion can be induced by any combination of multisensory information.     

Distorted subjective reports of stimulus onsets under dual-task conditions: Delayed conscious perception or estimation bias?

We investigated whether selecting a response for one task delays the conscious perception of another stimulus (delayed conscious perception hypothesis). In two experiments, participants watched a revolving clock hand while performing two tasks in close succession (i.e. a dual-task). Two stimuli were presented with varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). After each trial, participants separately estimated the onsets of the two stimuli on the clock face. Across two experiments and four conditions, we manipulated response requirements and assessed their impact on perceived stimulus onsets. Results showed that (a) providing speeded responses to the stimuli did lead to greater SOA-dependent misperceptions of both stimulus onsets as compared to a solely perceptual condition, and (b) that response grouping reduced these misperceptions. Overall, the results provide equivocal evidence for the delayed conscious perception hypothesis. They rather suggest that participants’ estimates of the two stimulus onsets are biased by the interval between their responses.     

Affective and cognitive reactions to subliminal flicker from fluorescent lighting

This study renews the classical concept of subliminal perception (Peirce & Jastrow, 1884) by investigating the impact of subliminal flicker from fluorescent lighting on affect and cognitive performance. It was predicted that low compared to high frequency lighting (latter compared to former emits non-flickering light) would evoke larger changes in affective states and also impair cognitive performance. Subjects reported high rather than low frequency lighting to be more pleasant, which, in turn, enhanced their problem solving performance. This suggests that sensory processing can take place outside of conscious awareness resulting in conscious emotional consequences; indicating a role of affect in subliminal/implicit perception, and that positive affect may facilitate cognitive task performance.     

An approach to novice driver training

IntroductionBased upon neuroscience findings relevant to emerging adults, this paper considers 12 cognitive and behavioural features of young drivers’ performance and possible ameliorative strategies to address them.Literature findingsEvidence is explored on the extent to which each has been identified and evaluated in respect of young driver training and education in driving performance. The paper considers the extent to which each of these contributions to young driver safety is feasible and has been adopted, identifying those for which further development and implementation is required.DiscussionBased upon neuroscience findings as well as the evidence summarised in this paper, it concludes with an outline of an –“ideal”– training program for young novice drivers.     

Eye movement control during scene viewing: Immediate degradation and enhancement effects of spatial frequency filtering

What controls how long the eyes remain fixated during scene perception? We investigated whether fixation durations are under the immediate control of the quality of the current scene image. Subjects freely viewed photographs of scenes in preparation for a later memory test while their eye movements were recorded. Using the saccade-contingent display change method, scenes were degraded (Experiment 1) or enhanced (Experiment 2) via blurring (low-pass filtering) during predefined saccades. Results showed that fixation durations immediately after a display change were influenced by the degree of blur, with a monotonic relationship between degree of blur and fixation duration. The results also demonstrated that fixation durations can be both increased and decreased by changes in the degree of blur. The results suggest that fixation durations in scene viewing are influenced by the ease of processing of the image currently in view. The results are consistent with models of saccade generation in scenes in which moment-to-moment difficulty in visual and cognitive processing modulates fixation durations.     

聋人与听力正常人拓扑性质差异知觉的比较实验研究

分别选取15名聋人与15名听力正常人被试,在两种刺激图对呈现时间条件下,通过考察其对拓扑性质等价和拓扑性质差异图对的反应,本研究对聋人与听力正常人的拓扑性质差异知觉进行了比较研究。研究结果表明:(1)两种呈现时间条件下,被试对拓扑性质等价图对的反应均优于拓扑性质差异图对。(2)对于拓扑性质等价图对,被试在两种呈现时间条件下的反应不存在显著差异;而对于拓扑性质差异图对,被试则对长时间呈现的反应优于短时间呈现。(3)聋人与听力正常人在两种呈现时间条件下对两类刺激图对的反应均不存在显著差异。(4)对于聋人来说,刺激图对长时间呈现和短时间呈现的反应不存在显著差异;而对于听力正常人来说,刺激图对长时间呈现的反应则优于短时间呈现。     

Client self-image,therapist acting,and the establishment of the therapeutic alliance in a training context

This study examined how clients’ self-image and perception of therapist’s behavior are related to the therapeutic alliance, as well as how these variables change in the psychotherapy process in trainee-led psychotherapy. A total of 164 participants (M = 28.9 years) who attended two semesters of treatment at the Psychology Clinic of Umeå University completed the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) to evaluate their perception of their alliance with the therapist. They also completed two questionnaires based on the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) model to give insight into their self-image patterns and to analyze their perceptions of the therapist’s behavior. The results show that a positive self-image and positive perceptions of the therapist’s actions increased significantly over the course of the therapy, with a corresponding decrease in negative patterns. The alliance scores show that the therapeutic alliance gains significance over time and that it is influenced more by the perception of the therapist’s behavior than by the self-image. The self-image becomes relevant after the mid part of therapy, underlining the role of the therapist in co-creating the treatment relationship. The implications of these results are discussed, and so are directions for future research in other trainee-led settings and samples.     

Perception of Temporal Order: The Effects of Age,Sex, and Cognitive Factors

ABSTRACT

The present paper investigates the effects of age, sex, and cognitive factors on temporal-order perception. Nine temporal-order tasks were employed using two and four stimuli presented in the auditory and visual modalities. Significantly increased temporal-order thresholds (TOT) in the elderly were found for almost all tasks, while sex differences were only observed for two tasks. Multiple regression analyses show that the performance on most temporal-order tasks can be predicted by cognitive factors, such as speed of fluid reasoning, short-term memory, and attention. However, age was a significant predictor of TOT in three tasks using visual stimuli. We conclude (1) that age-related differences can often be attributed to cognitive factors involved in temporal-order perception, and (2) that the concept of temporal-order perception is more complex than implied by the current models.