Can We Hear Silence?

Philosophia - We can hear silence because silence, an absence of sound, causes our hearing of it. Advocating this position, Roy Sorensen puts to use his own theory of the direct perception of...     

Two forms of persistence in visual information processing

Iconic memory, which was initially regarded as a unitary phenomenon, has since been subdivided into several components. In the present work we examined the joint effects of two such components (visible persistence and the visual analog representation) on performance in a partial report task. The display consisted of 15 alphabetic characters arranged around the perimeter of an imaginary circle on the face of an oscilloscope. The observer named the character singled out by a bar-probe. Two factors were varied: exposure duration of the array (10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400 or 500 ms) and duration of blank period (interstimulus interval, ISI) between the termination of the array and the onset of the probe (0, 50, 100, 150, or 200 ms). Performance was progressively impaired as both exposure duration and ISI were increased. The results were explained in terms of a probabilistic combinatorial model in which the timecourses of visible persistence and of the visual analog representation are regarded as time-locked to the onset and to the end of stimulation, respectively. The impairing effect of exposure duration was attributed to the relatively high spatial demands of the task that could be met optimally by information in visible persistence (which declines as a function of exposure duration), but less adequately by information in the visual analog representation. A second experiment, employing a task with lesser spatial demands, confirmed this interpretation.     

Effects of observing competitive and violent versions of a sport

Males were randomly assigned to view either (1) a film clip featuring hockey fights or (2) a film of nonaggressive hockey action or (3) a no-film control condition after having first been angered or treated politely by an experimental confederate. The dependent variable was represented by a measure of aggressive mood and a behavioral measure of retaliatory aggression. Analyses revealed that both angered and nonangered subjects exhibited an increase in aggressive mood following exposure to the fight film. However, the analysis involving retaliatory aggression against the confederate yielded an anger x film interaction. While angered subjects were more aggressive than nonangered, only angered subjects retaliated against the confederate after viewing the fight film. The results were discussed in terms of Berkowitz’s (1974) aggressive cue theory. A version of this paper was presented at the meeting of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Edmonton, Canada, November 1987.     

Equating the brightness of brief visual stimuli of unequal durations

The brightness of brief displays whose durations do not exceed a critical period of integration is known to covary with stimulus duration (Bloch’s law). There are cases in which the interdependence of duration and brightness introduces an unwanted confounding that must be avoided. Three methods for equating the brightness of brief stimuli displayed under computer control are described and evaluated, and an example of the outcome obtained with the most efficient procedure is reported.     

On the relationship between stimulus intensity and duration of visible persistence

Stimulus intensity and duration of visible persistence have been found to vary directly in some studies but inversely in others. Hawkins and Shulman (1979) have proposed that this inconsistency can be resolved by separating the studies that employed a decrement-threshold measure of persistence (Type I measure) from those that measured the total duration of persistence (Type II measure). They suggested that Type I measures yield an inverse relationship, whereas Type II measures yield a direct relationship between intensity and persistence. Hawkins and Shulman's model is incomplete in ways that are easily remedied. However, the model is totally contradicted by the experimental evidence. A new resolution of the inconsistent results is proposed in terms of retinal afterimages.     

学前和初小儿童智能筛查——图片词汇测试法

美国L.M.Dunn 1965年修改发表的皮勃迪图片词汇测试(PeabodyPicture Vocabulary Test简称PPVT)目前仍是美国智力不足协会(AAMD)所介绍的常用智能测试方法之一。本文参考PPVT制订出适合我国城市学前期与小学初期儿童的图片词汇测试;在上海市区进行标准化;制订了智龄量表、智商和百分位数量表。本测试再测信度r=0.945,二测试者间信度r=0.913。奇偶信度r=0.945,测试标准误σ=4.5。本方法与“学前儿童能力筛查五十项”,“画人试验”,“WPPSI”总智商、语言智商、操作智商,语文成绩,算术成绩的效度相关分别为:r=0.478,r=0.466,r=0.590,r=0.531,r=0.427,r=0.652,r=0.609。本测试制订以来已经数千人次应用,证明是一种简便易行,省时经济,准确性较好,且能进行集体测试的学前及小学初期儿童一般智能(generalintelligence)的筛查方法(Screening test)。     

“Put a Little Love in Your Heart”: Acceptance of Paternalistic and Ally Political Discourses Both Predict Pro-Roma Solidarity Intentions Through Moral Inclusion

The way politicians talk about minorities institutes the normative context of intergroup relations. We investigated how endorsement of different political discourses predicts donation and collective action intentions by majority members toward the Roma in five European countries. The survey was conducted online using samples demographically similar to the populations of Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, France, and Ireland (N = 5,054). First, results showed that accepting paternalistic discourse versus discourse promoting allyship were not distinguishable; both promoted higher moral inclusion which in turn predicted higher prosocial intentions. Second, donations (i.e., immediate relief) and collective action (i.e., social change action) were driven by identical factors. Third, acceptance of openly hostile political discourse neither predicted moral exclusion, nor lower prosocial intentions. In summary, our research provides important evidence that when it comes to Roma—non-Roma relations, the previously established distinction between solidarity intentions that aim to solidify status relations versus bring about social change is completely blurred, presumably because of the social context in which any positive message communicates moral inclusion challenging the hostile status quo.