Effects of circular motion on judgment of rotation direction and depth order in visual motion

Abstract:  The rotation direction and depth order of a rotating sphere consisting of random dots often reverses while it is viewed under orthographic projection. However, if a short viewing distance is simulated under perspective projection, the correct rotation direction can be perceived. There are two motion cues for the rotation direction and depth order. One is the speed cue; points with higher velocities are closer to the observer. The other is the vertical motion cue; vertical motion is induced when the dots recede from or approach the observer. It was examined whether circular motion, which does not have any depth information but induces vertical velocities, masks the vertical motion cue. In Experiment 1, the effects of circular motion on the judgment of the rotation direction of a rotating sphere were examined. The magnitude of the two cues (the speed cue and the vertical velocity cue) as well as the angular speed of circular motion was varied. It was found that the performance improved as the vertical velocity increased and that the speed cue had slight effects on the judgment of the rotation direction. It was also found that the performance worsened as the angular speed of the circular motion was increased. In Experiment 2, the effects of circular motion on depth judgment of a rotating half sphere were investigated. The performance worsened as the angular speed of the circular motion increased, as in Experiment 1. These results suggest that the visual system cannot compensate perfectly for circular motion for the judgment of the rotation direction and depth order.     

学业不良的相对性涵义及测定的实证研究

本文在介绍和分析了国内外关于学业不良概念以及在心理学限定方面差异的基础上,就学业不良的相对性涵义进行了探讨,并对我国相对性学业不良者的测定进行了实证研究。其主要涉及到关于学业不良的相对性涵义、美国与我国对相对性学业不良者实际心理限定方面的差异;研究了“智力-成绩差距”的测定问题,包括客观判定标准值、自我主观认知因素的测定和教师的观察判定。     

But Affirmative Action hurts Us! Race-related beliefs shape perceptions of White disadvantage and policy unfairness

Drawing on social identity theory, we examine how Whites’ race-related beliefs drive their reactions to race-based Affirmative Action Policies (AAPs). Across laboratory and field settings, we find that Whites with relatively high modern racism (MR) or collective relative deprivation (CRD) beliefs perceive greater White disadvantage in organizations that have race-based AAPs, than in organizations that do not. Alternatively, race-based AAPs do not lead to perceptions of White disadvantage among Whites with relatively low MR and CRD beliefs. We also find that White disadvantage mediates the relationship between the combined effects of race-based AAPs, MR beliefs, and CRD beliefs and the perceived fairness of the organization’s selection and promotion policies. Our findings suggest that race-based AAPs do not necessarily lead to perceptions of White disadvantage, but are contingent upon the interpretive lens of Whites’ MR and CRD beliefs, and also offer practical insights for preventing negative reactions to race-based AAPs.     

Are visual features of a looming or receding object processed in a capacity-free manner?

Numerous experiments have examined whether moving stimuli capture spatial attention but none have sought to determine whether visual features of looming and receding objects are extracted in a capacity-free manner. The current experiment (N = 28) used the task-choice procedure originated by Besner and Care (2003) to examine this possibility. Stimuli were presented in 3D space by manipulating retinal disparity. Results indicate that features of an object are extracted in a capacity-free manner for both looming and receding objects for participants who consciously perceive motion but not for participants who do not consciously perceive motion. These results suggest that the cognitive system is biased to process potentially animate objects, perhaps because of the evolutionary advantage this cognitive ability may provide.     

语言对知觉的影响—— 来自颜色范畴知觉研究的证据

介绍了近年来语言和颜色范畴知觉关系研究的新进展, 特别是颜色范畴知觉效应的偏侧化、婴幼儿颜色范畴知觉的特点等。同时指出了今后需要进一步研究的问题, 如颜色范畴知觉效应偏侧化与语言的关系、右脑语言优势者颜色范畴知觉的特点、颜色加工脑区和语言加工脑区之间的关系以及婴幼儿颜色范畴知觉特点的追踪研究等。     

Walk this way: approaching bodies can influence the processing of faces

A highly familiar type of movement occurs whenever a person walks towards you. In the present study, we investigated whether this type of motion has an effect on face processing. We took a range of different 3D head models and placed them on a single, identical 3D body model. The resulting figures were animated to approach the observer. In a first series of experiments, we used a sequential matching task to investigate how the motion of an approaching person affects immediate responses to faces. We compared observers’ responses following approach sequences to their performance with figures walking backwards (receding motion) or remaining still. Observers were significantly faster in responding to a target face that followed an approach sequence, compared to both receding and static primes. In a second series of experiments, we investigated long-term effects of motion using a delayed visual search paradigm. After studying moving or static avatars, observers searched for target faces in static arrays of varying set sizes. Again, observers were faster at responding to faces that had been learned in the context of an approach sequence. Together these results suggest that the context of a moving body influences face processing, and support the hypothesis that our visual system has mechanisms that aid the encoding of behaviourally-relevant and familiar dynamic events.     

Aristotle’s Immovable Movers: A Sketch

In keeping with a view that is explicitly formulated by Aristotle in his Motion of Animals, general kinetic principles must be specified according to the different types of movable entities existing in the universe. At issue, essentially, are the motions of the stars and the motions of animals. Whereas the cosmological immovable mover is the object of two complementary analyses (in Bk. VIII of Physics and in Chs. 6 and 7 of Bk. XII of Metaphysics), information on the immovability of the first mover responsible for animal motion is to be found in the psychological and psycho-physiological treatises (On the Soul, in Bk. I, Chs. 3 and 4, and in Bk. III, Ch. 10 and in Ch. 6 of the Motion of Animals). But it is also found in Ch. 7, Bk. XII of the Metaphysics, in the very context of the argument concerning the absolutely first immovable mover of the world. This suggests that the two types of motion, that of the stars and that of animals, however distinct the arguments about them are, rest on a single scheme, and maybe even on a common principle. This is liable to surprise us, as much as stars and animals appear to us to belong to heterogeneous orders of reality. But the situation is different for Aristotle, who, as attentive as he is to differences, tends nonetheless to conceive the stars as living things of a particular kind. This fact is the source of a series of difficulties that Aristotle generously left for his many commentators to solve. Aim of this text, which was initially directed to a larger audience, is to set some of these complex issues in both simple and up to date terms.     

论开展亲属活体供肾移植的风险与对策

肾脏移植是救治终末期肾功能衰竭的最佳手段。亲属活体捐献肾脏是扩大供肾来源的有效手段。当前国内开展亲属肾移植存在伦理、法律和健康风险,主要来自供体和医疗两方面。为防范风险,医务人员应严格审查供受者的血缘关系,签署完整规范的法律文书,进行全面细致的术前评估,制定完善的手术方案。