Representations of interobject spatial relations in long-term memory

A growing body of evidence has indicated that human spatial memory is organized in terms of a small number of reference directions and that interobject spatial relations are represented in terms of these directions (e.g., McNamara, 2003). The goal of the present experiments was to investigate whether the selection of reference directions also affects the fidelity with which interobject spatial relations are represented in memory. In two experiments, participants memorized a layout of nine objects and then performed judgments of relative direction (e.g., “Imagine you are standing at the clock, facing the book. Point to the phone.”) at a remote location. Imagined heading (e.g., at the clock, facing the book) and allocentric target direction (e.g., the direction from clock to phone in the allocentric frame of reference used to define imagined heading) were manipulated independently. The results of both experiments showed that the same directions that were benefited in imagined headings were also benefited in allocentric target directions. These findings indicate that interobject spatial relations are preferentially represented when they coincide with a reference direction.     

Frobenius Quantales,Serre Quantales and the Riemann–Roch Theorem

Studia Logica - The Riemann–Roch theorem for algebraic curves is derived from a theorem for Girard quantales. Serre duality is shown to be a quantalic phenomenon. An example provides a Girard...     

Is there a general factor of preference for complexity?

It has been assumed that preferences for different aspects of complexity in visual patterns are intercorrelated. Evidence purporting to demonstrate this was examined and found to be inconclusive. The preferences of 111 Ss using three sets of patterns showed no correlation between preference for asymmetry, for multiplicity, and for heterogeneity of elements.     

The Structure Group of a Generalized Orthomodular Lattice

Orthomodular lattices with a two-valued Jauch–Piron state split into a generalized orthomodular lattice (GOML) and its dual. GOMLs are characterized as a class of L-algebras, a quantum structure which arises in the theory of Garside groups, algebraic logic, and in connections with solutions of the quantum Yang–Baxter equation. It is proved that every GOML X embeds into a group G(X) with a lattice structure such that the right multiplications in G(X) are lattice automorphisms. Up to isomorphism, X is uniquely determined by G(X), and the embedding \(X\hookrightarrow G(X)\) is a universal group-valued measure on X.     

Contents of Volume 67

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 67     

The stability of child behavior disorders: A one year test-retest study of Adelaide versions of the Conners teacher and parent rating scales

The stability of children's disorders was studied, using Adelaide versions of the Conners teachers and parent rating scales, with 5- to 12-year-olds. Of the 20 scales, 14 had high or moderate test-retest stability over the 1-year interval. Most scales also showed discriminant validity over this time. All but 2 of the 14 stable scales gave moderate stability coefficients at each of three age levels. Three teacher scales (Conduct Problem, Socially Rejected, and Antisocial) gave very low stability for the youngest group. Stability was not generally affected by teacher practice. Little effect of subject selection or repeated-rating bias on scale means was evident. There was a general reduction of some scale means on the second assessment, and the contributions of practice, age, and study-entry effects were examined.This work was supported in part by a grant to Professor P. H. Glow from the Nuffield Foundation, England. The authors are grateful to the staff, parents, and children of Walkerville Primary School, South Australia, for their participation in this study.     

A cross-cultural replication of attitudes to the physical environment

A replication of Winkel et al.'s (1969) factor analytic study of attitudes to the U.S.A. physical environment was undertaken in Australia. A questionnaire on reactions to the environment was given to 303 South Australian adults. Three factors similar to those identified by Winkel et al. in the U.S.A. were found. However, the method of factor identification used in the present study allowed clearer interpretation and specification of the dimensions. Three additional factors reflecting individual attitudes towards the environment were also distinguished.     

Roles of egocentric and allocentric spatial representations in locomotion and reorientation

Four experiments investigated the nature of spatial representations used in locomotion. Participants learned the layout of several objects and then pointed to the objects while blindfolded in 3 conditions: before turning (baseline), after turning to a new heading (updating), and after disorientation (disorientation). The internal consistency of pointing in the disorientation condition was relatively high and equivalent to that in the baseline and updating conditions, when the layout had salient intrinsic axes and the participants learned the locations of the objects on the periphery of the layout. The internal consistency of pointing was disrupted by disorientation when participants learned the locations of objects while standing amid them and the layout did not have salient intrinsic axes. It was also observed that many participants retrieved spatial relations after disorientation from the original learning heading. These results indicate that people form an allocentric representation of object-to-object spatial relations when they learn the layout of a novel environment and use that representation to locate objects around them. Egocentric representations may be used to locate objects when allocentric representations are not of high fidelity.