Investigating the face inversion effect in a deaf population using the Dimensions Tasks

Early experience can change the way people process faces. Early deafness provides deaf children with the opportunity to learn sign language, which is likely to alter their face processing strategy. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether early deafness, combined with the sign language experience, was able to change the face processing strategy using the Dimensions Task. In the Face Dimensions Task, configural and featural information were parametrically and independently manipulated in the eye and mouth region of the face. The manipulations for configural information involved changing the distance between the eyes or the distance between the mouth and the nose. The manipulations for featural information involved changing the size of the eyes or the size of the mouth. Similar manipulations were applied in the House Dimensions Task, with top and bottom windows treated as eyes and mouth. In the Face Dimensions Task, both the signing deaf and hearing participants showed a larger inversion effect in the mouth condition than the eye condition. However, as compared to hearing participants, deaf participants showed smaller inversion effect in the mouth condition, because their performance in the inverted mouth condition was not compromised by inversion to the same extent as the hearing participants. In the House Dimensions Task, this effect was not present, suggesting that it was face specific. This effect could be explained by the redistributed attentional resources from the centre to peripheral visual fields of deaf participants.     

Is there a spillover effect of a right turn on red permission for bicyclists?

A number of countries allow bicyclists to perform a right turn on red (RTOR) at some specific intersections to promote cycling by reducing the required physical effort and trip time. Implementation of a rule that allows a RTOR for bicyclists at some intersections could lead not only to local effects at those intersections where the rule actually applies, but also to supralocal effects. Using an experimental survey approach, this study explores whether a so-called ‘spillover effect’ of the rule can be expected. This effect would imply that allowing bicyclists to turn right on red at some intersections causes them to also turn right on red more often at intersections where RTOR for bicyclists is not allowed.The answers from 768 respondents indicate that respondents with a high awareness of the existence of a RTOR rule for bicyclists (experimental group) turn right on red significantly more often at intersections where RTOR for bicyclists is not permitted than respondents with a low awareness of the rule (control group). This indicates that implementation of the RTOR rule for bicyclists can indeed lead to an increase in red light running at other intersections. This might lead to safety issues at intersections where RTOR for bicyclists is not permitted, since road authorities could have decided not to allow RTOR for bicyclists at these intersections for safety reasons.The study also finds that men, young people and people who generally perform more risky cycling behaviours have a higher tendency to perform non-permitted RTOR. These findings are in line with existing literature.     

The influence of emotion on face processing

According to the broaden-and-build theory, positive emotions broaden one's thought-action repertoire, which may manifest as a widened attentional scope in cognitive processing. The present study directly tests this hypothesis by examining the influences of induced emotions (positive, neutral and negative) on holistic processing of face (Experiment 1) and face discrimination (Experiment 2). In both experiments, emotions induced with images from the International Affective Picture System significantly interacted with face processing. That is, positive emotions engendered greater holistic face encoding in a composite-face task in Experiment 1 and more accurate face discrimination in Experiment 2, relative to the neutral condition. In contrast, negative emotions impaired holistic face encoding in the composite-face task and reduced face discrimination accuracy. Taken together, these results provide further support for the attentional broadening effect of positive affect by demonstrating that induced positive emotions facilitate holistic/configural processing.     

汉字的无线索回忆再认效应:重复学习和重复测验的作用

采用无线索回忆再认范式,对基于熟悉性的汉字语义特征再认进行了探索,考察了重复学习和重复测验对汉字语义特征的无线索回忆再认效应(RWCR效应)的影响。实验1采用即时测验,实验2采用延时测验,结果发现:(1)无论即时还是延时测验,汉字语义特征的再认均存在RWCR效应。(2)在即时测验时,重复学习对熟悉性有显著影响,重复测验对熟悉性没有影响;重复学习和重复测验均提高回想成绩,但二者无差异。(3)在延时测验时,重复学习组和重复测验组的熟悉性评分均下降,但前者下降快于后者;重复测验组回想的遗忘率较低,重复学习组回想的遗忘率较高。上述结果说明,汉字的语义特征存在稳定的RWCR效应,且重复学习主要影响熟悉性,重复测验主要影响回想。进一步证明了再认记忆的双加工理论。     

Visual search for emotional expressions: Effect of stimulus set on anger and happiness superiority

Prior reports of preferential detection of emotional expressions in visual search have yielded inconsistent results, even for face stimuli that avoid obvious expression-related perceptual confounds. The current study investigated inconsistent reports of anger and happiness superiority effects using face stimuli drawn from the same database. Experiment 1 excluded procedural differences as a potential factor, replicating a happiness superiority effect in a procedure that previously yielded an anger superiority effect. Experiments 2a and 2b confirmed that image colour or poser gender did not account for prior inconsistent findings. Experiments 3a and 3b identified stimulus set as the critical variable, revealing happiness or anger superiority effects for two partially overlapping sets of face stimuli. The current results highlight the critical role of stimulus selection for the observation of happiness or anger superiority effects in visual search even for face stimuli that avoid obvious expression related perceptual confounds and are drawn from a single database.     

Auditioning the distinctiveness account: Expanding the production effect to the auditory modality reveals the superiority of writing over vocalising

The production effect (PE) documents the advantage in memory performance for words that are read aloud during study, rather than words that are read silently. Until now, the PE was examined in the visual modality, as the participants read the study words. In the present study, we extended the PE phenomenon and used the auditory modality at study. This novel methodology provides a critical test of the distinctiveness account. Accordingly, the participants heard the study words and learned them by vocal production (saying aloud) or by writing, followed by a free recall test. The use of the auditory modality yielded a memory advantage for words that were written during study over words that were vocally produced. We explain this result in light of the encoding distinctiveness account, suggesting that the PE is determined by the number of different encoding processes involved in learning, emphasising the essential role of active production.     

符号数量和非符号数量的空间表征:5岁儿童的SNARC效应和距离效应

对物理刺激的数量信息表征是符号数字表征的前提和基础,据此假设在儿童的SNARC效应发生的时序问题上,非符号数量(如面积)的空间表征早于符号数量(如阿拉伯数字)的空间表征。本研究邀请5岁幼儿完成数字比较和面积比较两类任务,结果发现在数字比较任务中没有出现SNARC效应,但却存在距离效应;在面积比较任务中出现了SNARC效应和距离效应。可以推断,在阿拉伯数字的空间表征出现之前,儿童已经能够对非符号数量信息进行空间表征。     

大学生记忆的自我与专业参照效应:专业认同的作用

群体参照效应研究证实社会群体身份及内群体认同对记忆的参照加工具有重要作用。以往研究从大学生的多重社会群体身份角度探讨了内群体记忆加工优势,却忽视了其另一重要群体身份划分标准——专业。本研究结合自我和群体参照范式,设置多个参照条件(自我、专业内群体、专业外群体、语义),从专业身份这一新视角考察大学生记忆的自我与专业参照效应以及专业认同的作用,并对比个体自我与群体自我之间的差异。结果发现:(1)参照自我和专业内群体时的记忆成绩优于参照其他编码条件;(2)相比专业参照,自我参照的记忆效果更佳;(3)专业认同度越高,对专业内群体信息记忆越好。结果提示,大学生的记忆存在自我和专业参照效应,但自我参照效应更强;专业认同是专业参照效应强弱的影响因素之一。     

面孔吸引力观察者参照:“角度效应”的眼动研究

以标准的黑白面孔图片作为实验材料,让41名大学生观看不同倾斜角度(左倾、竖直和右倾)的面孔图片,并对之进行面孔吸引力的评价,同时用眼动仪记录被试的眼动数据。结果显示:(1)被试观看左倾和右倾面孔的平均瞳孔大小显著小于观看竖直面孔的平均瞳孔大小,观看左倾面孔的平均瞳孔大小显著大于右倾面孔;(2)被试对左倾和右倾面孔的平均注视时间显著短于对竖直面孔的平均注视时间,同时对左倾面孔的注视时间显著长于右倾面孔;(3)被试对左倾和右倾面孔的平均注视次数显著少于对竖直面孔的平均注视次数。实验结果表明,面孔的倾斜角度很可能是影响面孔吸引力的一个重要因素,在面孔吸引力的审美偏好中存在"角度效应",即竖直面孔的吸引力高于倾斜面孔的吸引力,左倾面孔的吸引力高于右倾面孔的吸引力。     

Stimulus–response correspondence effect as a function of temporal overlap between relevant and irrelevant information processing

The stimulus–response correspondence (SRC) effect refers to advantages in performance when stimulus and response correspond in dimensions or features, even if the common features are irrelevant to the task. Previous research indicated that the SRC effect depends on the temporal course of stimulus information processing. The current study investigated how the temporal overlap between relevant and irrelevant stimulus processing influences the SRC effect. In this experiment, the irrelevant stimulus (a previously associated tone) preceded the relevant stimulus (a coloured rectangle). The irrelevant and relevant stimuli onset asynchrony was varied to manipulate the temporal overlap between the irrelevant and relevant stimuli processing. Results indicated that the SRC effect size varied as a quadratic function of the temporal overlap between the relevant stimulus and irrelevant stimulus. This finding extends previous experimental observations that the SRC effect size varies in an increasing or decreasing function with reaction time. The current study demonstrated a quadratic function between effect size and the temporal overlap.