Clustered Common Factor Exploration in Factor Analysis

Psychometrika - The factor analysis (FA) model does not permit unique estimation of the common and unique factor scores. This weakness is notorious as the factor indeterminacy in FA. Luckily, some...     

Self-motion perception compresses time experienced in return travel

It is often anecdotally reported that time experienced in return travel (back to the start point) seems shorter than time spent in outward travel (travel to a new destination). Here, we report the first experimental results showing that return travel time is experienced as shorter than the actual time. This discrepancy is induced by the existence of self-motion perception.     

The mental number line in depth revealed by vection

To explore how numbers are represented in depth in our mental space, we asked participants to sequentially speak random numbers while they observed forward/backward vection. We found that participants tended to generate larger numbers when they perceived backward self-motion. The results suggest that numerical magnitudes were topographically mapped onto our mental space from front to rear in an ascending order.     

Attentional load inhibits vection

In this study, we examined the effects of cognitive task performance on the induction of vection. We hypothesized that, if vection requires attentional resources, performing cognitive tasks requiring attention should inhibit or weaken it. Experiment 1 tested the effects on vection of simultaneously performing a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. The results revealed that the RSVP task affected the subjective strength of vection. Experiment 2 tested the effects of a multiple-object-tracking (MOT) task on vection. Simultaneous performance of the MOT task decreased the duration and subjective strength of vection. Taken together, these findings suggest that vection induction requires attentional resources.     

"Holding on" or "coming to terms" with educational underachievement: a longitudinal study of ambition and attainment

Given mounting aspirations to graduate from college and pervasive difficulties in obtaining a four-year degree, growing numbers of young people in the United States have become "underachievers." Using data from the ongoing Youth Development Study, the authors examine the prevalence of "holding on" and "letting go" of high aspirations and the precursors of these states as youth move from high school through their mid-twenties. They find that advantage stemming from the family of origin and changing occupational circumstances engender persistence or reappraisal of earlier educational goals.     

Inhibition of vection by red

We investigated the effects of colors on vection induction. Expanding optical flows during one’s forward self-motion were simulated by moving dots. The dots and the background were painted in equiluminant red and green. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that vection was weaker when the background was red than when the background was green. In addition, Experiment 3 showed that vection was weaker when the moving dots were red than when the dots were green. Experiment 4 demonstrated that red dots on a red background induced very weak vection, as compared with green dots on a green background. In Experiments 5 and 6, we showed that the present results could not be explained by a luminance artifact. Furthermore, Experiment 7 showed that a moving red grating induced weaker vection than did a green one. We concluded that a red visual stimulus inhibits vection.     

The effect of the position of atypical character-to-sound correspondences on reading kanji words aloud: Evidence for a sublexical serially operating kanji reading process

In English, the size of the regularity effect on word reading-aloud latency decreases across position of irregularity. This has been explained by a sublexical serially operating reading mechanism. It is unclear whether sublexical serial processing occurs in reading two-character kanji words aloud. To investigate this issue, we studied how the position of atypical character-to-sound correspondences influenced reading performance. When participants read inconsistent-atypical words aloud mixed randomly with nonwords, reading latencies of words with an inconsistent-atypical correspondence in the initial position were significantly longer than words with an inconsistent-atypical correspondence in the second position. The significant difference of reading latencies for inconsistent-atypical words disappeared when inconsistent-atypical words were presented without nonwords. Moreover, reading latencies for words with an inconsistent-atypical correspondence in the first position were shorter than for words with a typical correspondence in the first position. This typicality effect was absent when the atypicality was in the second position. These position-of-atypicality effects suggest that sublexical processing of kanji occurs serially and that the phonology of two-character kanji words is generated from both a lexical parallel process and a sublexical serial process.     

Left-side dominance for song discrimination in Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica)

Male Bengalese finches are left-side dominant for the motor control of song in the sensorimotor nucleus (the high vocal center, or HVc) of the telencephalon. We examined whether perceptual discrimination of songs might also be lateralized in this species. Twelve male Bengalese finches were trained by operant conditioning to discriminate between a Bengalese finch song and a zebra finch song. Before training, the left HVc was lesioned in four birds and the right HVc was lesioned in four other birds. The remaining four birds were used as controls without surgery. Birds with a left HVc lesion required significantly more time to learn to discriminate between the two songs than did birds with a right HVc lesion or intact control birds. These results suggest that the left HVc is not only dominant for the motor control of song, but also for the perceptual discrimination of song. Accepted after revision: 11 September 2001 Electronic Publication     

Narcissistic people cannot be moved easily by visual stimulation

We examined the relationship between personality and visually induced self-motion perception (latency, duration, and magnitude). A psychological experiment with radially expanding patterns that induced self-motion perception along the fore and aft axis was conducted, followed by personality assessments. We found that all the measures of self-motion perception we examined correlated negatively with the degree of narcissistic traits.