Relative salience affects the process of detecting changes in orientation and luminance

This study tests the effect of relative saliency on perceptual comparison and decision processes in the context of change detection in which distinct visual mechanisms process two features (e.g., luminance and orientation). Townsend and Nozawa's (1995) systems factorial technology was used to investigate the process architecture and stopping rule when deciding whether luminance or orientation of a Gabor patch had changed. Experiment 1 found individual differences in decision strategies when we did not control relative saliency. One group of participants adopted co-active processing, and the other group adopted serial self-terminating processing to detect the change signals. When Experiment 2 eliminated the relative saliency, all but one observer adopted parallel processing and followed a self-terminating rule. These results support the relative saliency hypothesis and highlight the fact that observers adopt different change-detection strategies for two features, especially when relative saliency exists between the two feature dimensions.     

The attentional blink is diminished for targets that form coherent semantic categories

Studies have shown that the attentional blink (AB) effect is diminished for intrinsically salient T2 stimuli, such as arousing, familiar, personally relevant words, or stimuli with salient low-level visual features. We examined whether the AB is diminished also for stimuli that do not have special inherent properties but are made salient by the context. One such contextual factor is the coherence of the T2 stimulus set. In three experiments, we found that the AB is diminished for stimuli that form a coherent semantic category within the T2 stimulus set. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Data-based decision making: the impact of data variability, training, and context

The current study examines agreement among individuals with varying expertise in behavior analysis about the length of baseline when data were presented point by point. Participants were asked to respond to baseline data and to indicate when to terminate the baseline phase. When only minimal information was provided about the data set, experts and Board Certified Behavior Analyst participants generated baselines of similar lengths, whereas novices did not. Agreement was similar across participants when variability was low but deteriorated as variability in the data set increased. Participants generated shorter baselines when provided with information regarding the independent or dependent variable. Implications for training and the use of visual inspection are discussed.     

Training preschool children to use visual imagining as a problem-solving strategy for complex categorization tasks

It has been suggested that verbally sophisticated individuals engage in a series of precurrent behaviors (e.g., covert intraverbal behavior, grouping stimuli, visual imagining) to solve problems such as answering questions (Palmer, 1991; Skinner, 1953). We examined the effects of one problem solving strategy--visual imagining--on increasing responses to intraverbal categorization questions. Participants were 4 typically developing preschoolers between the ages of 4 and 5 years. Visual imagining training was insufficient to produce a substantial increase in target responses. It was not until the children were prompted to use the visual imagining strategy that a large and immediate increase in the number of target responses was observed. The number of prompts did not decrease until the children were given a rule describing the use of the visual imagining strategy. Within-session response patterns indicated that none of the children used visual imagining prior to being prompted to do so and that use of the strategy continued after introduction of the rule. These results were consistent for 3 of 4 children. Within-session response patterns suggested that the 4th child occasionally imagined when prompted to do so, but the gains were not maintained. The results are discussed in terms of Skinner's analysis of problem solving and the development of visual imagining.     

Improving psychological critical thinking in Australian university students

This study tested the psychological critical thinking attributes of students undertaking an Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) approved course. It also assessed an instructional based teaching practice designed to improve psychological critical thinking skills. The participants were 84 second year and 60 fourth year psychology students enrolled at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. Participants were tested at the beginning and end of the semester with the Psychological Critical Thinking Exam (PCTE) ( Lawson, 1999 ) and only the second year group received specific critical thinking instructions. The results revealed a significant (p < .001) increase in mean PCTE score for the second year group, but no significant increase for the fourth year group. These results confirm the value of the instructional based teaching practice and support the graduate attributes expected by the APAC.     

Common Core Thesis and Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Mysticism in Chinese Buddhist Monks and Nuns

This study explores the phenomenological structure of mystical experience among 139 Chinese Pure Land and Chan Buddhist monks and nuns. Semi‐structured interviews, thematic coding, and statistical analyses demonstrated that Stace's common facets of mysticism as measured by Hood's Mysticism Scale (M Scale) successfully described Buddhist experience as modified by Buddhist doctrines. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that these facets could be formed into Stace's three‐factor structure. A mystical introvertive unity hypothesized to be separate from an extrovertive unity instead converged in the Chinese Buddhist context. These results lend strong support to the thesis that the phenomenology of mystical experience reveals a common experiential core that can be discerned across religious and spiritual traditions. These data also demonstrated that this common core can and should be explored using mixed methods.     

Fidélité inter juge d’une mesure du stress par échelle visuelle analogique

The use of a visual analogue scale (VAS) for the assessment of stress during occupational health examination could be an useful tool. However, psychometrics features of the VAS have to be assessed. The aim of this study is to test the inter judge reliability of the VAS in a psychological dimension assessment. Two occupational physician have used the VAS in a worker group. There is no significant difference in the distribution of VAS values. This result supports the hypothesis of a satisfactory inter judge reliability of the VAS in stress measurement.     

非注意状态下拓扑性质优先加工的电生理学证据

采用ERP技术并运用跨通路延迟反应范式来探讨拓扑性质知觉理论在非注意状态下是否成立,发现存在视觉MMN且视觉系统在非注意状态下对拓扑性质的加工比颜色加工更早,表明与局部属性(颜色)相比,拓扑性质在无意识中优先得到加工,拓扑性质知觉理论在非注意状态下是成立的。     

囊虫病诊断技术的发展与临床应用

囊虫病是一种由猪囊尾蚴寄生于人体组织内主要引起脑、眼等重要器官或组织损害的常见寄生虫病。目前对其诊断的实验技术研究已发展到高层水平,但被临床应用的并不多。本文从多个方面较全面地分析和回答了出现此现象的原因,并提出了拟解决临床问题的见解与探索思路。     

基于视觉传播理论探索视觉素养与读片技能的整合

视觉素养是"读图"时代人们的基本文化素养,鉴于医学影像学的特点和要求,影像诊断学专业学生必须拥有良好的视觉素养。本文从视觉素养概念、视觉基本理论以及视觉素养培养的策略等方面探索了视觉素养与读片技能的整合。作者建议在影像诊断学中,应讲授有关视觉素养的基本知识。