Dichotic listening and left-right confusion

The present study examined the relationship between individual differences in dichotic listening (DL) and the susceptibility to left-right confusion (LRC). Thirty-six men and 59 women completed a consonant-vowel DL test, a behavioral LRC task, and an LRC self-rating questionnaire. Significant negative correlations between overall DL accuracy and LRC rates in men (behavioral task) and self-ratings in women, indicated that the more participants struggled with left-right discrimination, the fewer DL syllables they reported correctly. However, there was no relationship between LRC and the typical right ear advantage. Thus, there is a sex- and task-dependent relationship between LRC and overall DL accuracy, but not between LRC and ear asymmetry. It is concluded that (a) atypical ear asymmetries, as in certain clinical populations, cannot be explained by associated deficits in left-right discrimination, and (b) LRC can negatively affect task performance, even when participants do not have to make explicit "left" versus "right" decisions.     

Multiple Local Solutions and Geomin Rotation

In exploratory factor analysis, factor rotation is conducted to improve model interpretability. A promising and increasingly popular factor rotation method is geomin rotation. Geomin rotation, however, frequently encounters multiple local solutions. We report a simulation study that explores the frequency of local solutions in geomin rotation and the implications of such phenomena. The findings include: (1) multiple local solutions exist for geomin rotation in a variety of situations; (2) ? = .01 provides satisfactory rotated factor loadings in most situations; (3) 100 random starts appear sufficient to examine the multiple solution phenomenon; and (4) a population global solution may correspond to a sample local solution rather than the sample global solution.     

Development of motor imagery and anticipatory action planning in children with developmental coordination disorder – A longitudinal approach

Children with impaired motor coordination (or Development Coordination Disorder – DCD) have difficulty with the predictive control of movements, evidenced by cross-sectional studies that show impaired motor imagery and action planning abilities. What remains unclear is whether this deficit in predictive control reflects immaturity of the motor system (a developmental delay) or some deviation from normal development (a disorder). To advance this discussion the present study used a longitudinal design to examine the development of motor imagery and action planning in children with DCD. Thirty children were included in the DCD group (aged 6–11 years) and age- and gender-matched to 30 controls. The DCD group had a mABC-2 score ≤ 16th percentile, the control group > 20th percentile. Motor imagery was assessed with the hand rotation task, action planning with a test for end-state comfort. Children participated in three measurements, with one year in between measurements. Results showed that children with DCD were slower and less accurate than their typically developing peers in all subsequent years but were able to improve their motor imagery ability over time. Furthermore, children with DCD showed less planning for ESC at the start of the present study, but were able to catch up with their peers during two-year follow up. These results exemplify that improvement of motor imagery and action planning ability is possible in DCD, and they lend theoretical support to the use of new training techniques that focus on training motor imagery to improve motor skills in children with DCD.     

空间参照体系对心理旋转的影响

人类视觉系统不仅运用多重参照体系来建构客体的空间位置表征,也运用这些参照体系进行空间表征的动力转换.本研究采用实验方法,在心理旋转任务中对想象空间自我中心参照体系和客体中心参照体系的转换策略进行对比研究.实验结果表明:空间参照体系对心理旋转产生显著影响,自我中心参照体系转换易于客体中心参照体系转换,即存在心理旋转的视者优势.     

Derivative free gradient projection algorithms for rotation

A simple modification substantially simplifies the use of the gradient projection (GP) rotation algorithms of Jennrich (2001, 2002). These algorithms require subroutines to compute the value and gradient of any specific rotation criterion of interest. The gradient can be difficult to derive and program. It is shown that using numerical gradients gives almost precisely the same results as using exact gradients. The resulting algorithm is very easy to use because the only problem specific code required is that needed to define the rotation criterion. The computing time is increased when using numerical gradients, but it is still very modest for most purposes. While used extensively elsewhere, numerical derivatives seem to be underutilized in statistics.     

Rotation to simple loadings using component loss functions: The orthogonal case

Component loss functions (CLFs) are used to generalize the quartimax criterion for orthogonal rotation in factor analysis. These replace the fourth powers of the factor loadings by an arbitrary function of the second powers. Criteria of this form were introduced by a number of authors, primarily Katz and Rohlf (1974) and Rozeboom (1991), but there has been essentially no follow-up to this work. A method so simple, natural, and general deserves to be investigated more completely. A number of theoretical results are derived including the fact that any method using a concave CLF will recover perfect simple structure whenever it exists, and there are methods that will recover Thurstone simple structure whenever it exists. Specific CLFs are identified and it is shown how to compare these using standardized plots. Numerical examples are used to illustrate and compare CLF and other methods. Sorted absolute loading plots are introduced to aid in comparing results and setting parameters for methods that require them.The author is very indebted to a reviewer for pointing him to the generalized hyperplane count literature and to all the reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions.     

Exploratory second-order analyses for components and factors

Abstract: Exploratory methods using second‐order components and second‐order common factors were proposed. The second‐order components were obtained from the resolution of the correlation matrix of obliquely rotated first‐order principal components. The standard errors of the estimates of the second‐order component loadings were derived from an augmented information matrix with restrictions for the loadings and associated parameters. The second‐order factor analysis proposed was similar to the classical method in that the factor correlations among the first‐order factors were further resolved by the exploratory method of factor analysis. However, in this paper the second‐order factor loadings were estimated by the generalized least squares using the asymptotic variance‐covariance matrix for the first‐order factor correlations. The asymptotic standard errors for the estimates of the second‐order factor loadings were also derived. A numerical example was presented with simulated results.     

复杂性对倾斜汉字识别的影响

以字的复杂性探查汉字心理旋转方式与识别的加工方式,字的复杂性是以笔画数和部件可分性标志的。同时,它们构成两个独立的实验。每个实验中,字的倾斜角度变量,以４５°的间隔渐增,共有８个变式角度,即０°、４５°、９０°、１３５°、１８０°、－４５°、－９０°和－１３５°。实验的因变量为命名反应时。结果发现,字的复杂性标志,无论是笔画数或部件可分性都与倾斜角度变量有交互作用。这意味着,心旋与识别加工方式中的整字－成分的混合模型得到支持。     

A direct solution for pairwise rotations in Kaiser's varimax method

The present note contains a completing-the-squares type approach to the varimax rotation problem. This approach yields a direct proof of global optimality of a solution for optimal rotation in a plane. Because varimax rotation can be interpreted as diagonalization of a set of symmetric matrices, the present solution also applies to the diagonalization problem.The author is obliged to Jos M. F. ten Berge for helpful comments.     

Applications of mental rotation figures of the Shepard and Metzler type and description of a mental rotation stimulus library

The 3D cube figures used by Shepard and Metzler [Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171, 701-703] have been applied in a broad range of studies on mental rotation. This note provides a brief background on these figures, their general use in cognitive psychology and their role in studying spatial behavior. In particular, it is pointed out that large sex differences with the 3D mental rotation figures tend to be observed only in particular tasks, such as the Vandenberg and Kuse test [Vandenberg, S. G., & Kuse, A. R. (1978). Mental rotations, a group test of three-dimensional spatial visualization. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47, 599-604] that involve multiple figures within a single problem. In contrast, pairwise presentation of the same 3D figures yields either small or no significant sex differences. In the context of the very broad range of ongoing research done with 3D figures, and the desirability of uniformity in the stimulus material used, we introduce a library of 16 cube mental rotation figures, each presented in orientations ranging from 0 to 360 degr in 5 degr steps, and with its mirror image, for a total of 2336 figures. This library, freely available to researchers, will help in the creation of mental rotation tasks both for presentation on the computer screen and for pencil and paper applications.