The roles of order,distance, and interstitial items in temporal visual statistical learning

Humans are adept at learning regularities in a visual environment, even without explicit cues to structure and in the absence of instruction—this has been termed “visual statistical learning” (VSL). The nature of the representations resulting from VSL are still poorly understood. In five experiments, we examined the specificity of temporal VSL representations. In Experiments 1A, 1B, and 2, we compared recognition rates of triplets and all embedded pairs to chance. Robust learning of all structures was evident, and even pairs of non-adjacent items in a sequentially presented triplet (AC extracted from a triplet composed of ABC) were recognized at above-chance levels. In Experiment 3, we asked whether people could recognize rearranged pairs to examine the flexibility of learned representations. Recognition of all possible orders of target triplets and pairs was significantly higher than chance, and there were no differences between canonical orderings and their corresponding randomized orderings, suggesting that learners were not dependent upon originally experienced stimulus orderings to recognize co-occurrence. Experiment 4 demonstrates the essential role of an interstitial item in VSL representations. By comparing the learning of quadruplet sets (e.g., ABCD) and triplet sets (e.g., ABC), we found learning of AC and BD in ABCD (quadruplet) sets were better than the learning of AC in ABC (triplet) sets. This pattern of results might result from the critical role of interstitial items in statistical learning. In short, our work supports the idea of generalized representation in VSL and provides evidence about how this representation is structured.     

Ritual in the streets: A study of pritchett's “the scapegoat”

I've been listening to all the dissension I've been listening to all the pain And I know that no matter what I do It'll all come back to you again. But I think that I can heal it But I think that I can heal it I'm a fool, but I think that I can heal it With this song.

The Inner Path: The Way of Buddhism

A three-week study tour to Japan, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka December 17, 1978-January 7, 1979, with optional fourth week     

Integrating sequential arrays in visual short-term memory

Are sequential visual arrays represented as separate images or as a combined image in visual short-term memory (VSTM)? Proponents of the integration account suggest that an image of the first array is gradually formed and integrated with an image of the second to produce a combined representation. This view is evidenced by successful performance in an empty-cell detection task. In this task, on a 4 x 4 square matrix, 7 locations are occupied on a first array, followed by a variable interval, and then by 8 other occupied locations on a second array. Subjects' success in identifying the remaining empty cell has been taken as evidence for integration. In this study, we show that success in this task can be better accounted for by a convert-and-compare process than by an integration process. We conclude that VSTM only supports limited integration across sequential arrays.     

Multiple states in visual working memory: Evidence from oculomotor capture by memory-matching distractors

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Visual working memory (VWM) representations interact with attentional guidance, but there is controversy over whether multiple VWM items simultaneously influence...     

Training experts: individuation without naming is worth it

There is growing evidence that individuation experience is necessary for development of expert object discrimination that transfers to new exemplars. Individuation training in human studies has primarily used label association tasks where labels are learned at both the individual and more abstract (basic) level, and expertise criterion requires that individual-level judgments become as fast as basic-level judgments. However, there are training situations when the use of labels is not practical (e.g., with animals or some clinical populations). Moreover, labeling itself can facilitate object discrimination, thus it is unclear what role labels play in the acquisition of expertise in such training paradigms. Here, participants completed an online game that did not require labels in which they interacted with novel objects (Greebles) or control objects (Yufos). Games either required individuation or categorization. We then assessed the impact of this exposure on an abridged Greeble training paradigm. As expected, participants who played Yufo games or Greeble categorization games showed a significant basic-level advantage for Greebles in the abridged training paradigm, typical of novices. However, participants who played the Greeble identity game showed a reduced basic-level advantage, suggesting that individuation without labels may be sufficient to acquire perceptual expertise.     

Faceted Classification for the Web

The article describes the nature of a faceted classification, and its application in document retrieval. The kinds of facet used are illustrated. Procedures are then discussed for identifying facets in a subject field, populating the facets with individual subject terms, arranging these in helpful sequences, using the scheme to classify documents, and searching the resultant classified index, with particular reference to Internet search.     

Self-relevance effects and label choice: Strong variations in label-matching performance due to non-self-relevant factors

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Merely associating one’s self with a stimulus may be enough to enhance performance in a label-matching paradigm (Sui, He, & Humphreys,...     

Tasks determine what is learned in visual statistical learning

Visual statistical learning (VSL), the unsupervised learning of statistical contingencies across time and space, may play a key role in efficient and predictive encoding of the perceptual world. How VSL capabilities vary as a function of ongoing task demands is still poorly understood. VSL is modulated by selective attention and faces interference from some secondary tasks, but there is little evidence that the types of contingencies learned in VSL are sensitive to task demands. We found a powerful effect of task on what is learned in VSL. Participants first completed a visual familiarization task requiring judgments of face gender (female/male) or scene location (interior/exterior). Statistical regularities were embedded between stimulus pairs. During a surprise recognition phase, participants showed less recognition for pairs that had required a change in response key (e.g., female followed by male) or task (e.g., female followed by indoor) during familiarization. When familiarization required detection of “flicker” or “jiggle” events unrelated to image content, there was weaker, but uniform, VSL across pair types. These results suggest that simple task manipulations play a strong role in modulating the distribution of learning over different pair combinations. Such variations may arise from task and response conflict or because the manner in which images are processed is altered.