A better approach to goodness: Reply to Wagemans (1999).

In P. A. van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (see record 1996-01780-002), the authors presented a representation model for the goodness, or detectability, of visual regularities such as mirror symmetry and repetition. J. Wagemans (see record 1999-03499-009) acknowledged that this holographic goodness model has considerable explanatory power, but he also argued that it is not good enough yet. He challenged van der Helm and Leeuwenberg to qualify some open ends of their representation model, in particular those concerning its process assumptions. He also questioned the authors' assessment of previous goodness accounts such as S. E. Palmer's (1982, 1983) transformational approach and his own bootstrap model. He concluded that it is expedient to aim at a synthesis of useful aspects of diverse accounts of goodness, but he did not establish such a synthesis. Van der Helm and Leeuwenberg agree with his conclusion that such a synthesis is a worthy cause, but they disagree with his evaluation of the issues involved. This article is a reply with an alternative evaluation of these issues, advancing the discussion to a process-representation synthesis called holographic bootstrapping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a better approach to goodness: Comments on Van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1996).

Some regularities are more salient to the visual system than others. P. A. Van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (see record 1996-01780-002) have proposed a new approach that quantifies the goodness of a pattern's regularity as the number of holographic identities constituting the regularity, relative to the total amount of information needed to describe the pattern. This holographic approach to goodness was compared with previous approaches and was presented in relation to metatheoretical issues. These 3 aspects are discussed further here. First, the theory is shown to contain implausible assumptions and unfortunate gaps with respect to the required processing. Second, Van der Helm and Leeuwenberg's critique on preceding theories is refuted. Third, some metatheoretical issues need to be qualified or at least clarified. Together, these concerns suggest that a better approach to goodness might result from a synthesis of the most useful aspects of diverse theories of goodness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The regularities of recognition memory.

Describes 3 regularities in recognition memory with supporting data: the mirror effect, the order of receiver operating characteristic slopes, and the symmetry of movement of underlying distributions. The derivation of these regularities from attention/likelihood theory is demonstrated. The theory's central concept, which distinguishes it from other theories, is the following: Ss make recognition decisions by combining information about new and old items, the combination made in the form of likelihood ratios. The central role of the likelihood ratios extends the implications of signal detection theory for recognition memory. Attention/likelihood theory is fitted to data of 2 series of experiments. It is argued that the regularities require a revision of most current theories of recognition memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of categorization skills: Changes in the nature or structure of infant form categories?

In this study we examined developmental change in category representation in the first year. In Experiment 1, we tested one hundred eight 3-, 5-, and 7-month old infants in a visual recognition memory procedure. Infants were familiarized with category instances derived from one of six prototypical dot patterns differing in "goodness of form." The results of between- and within-category test comparisons indicated change in the nature but not the structure of infant form categories. Although infants of all ages demonstrated the ability to detect regularity across pattern variation, there were systematic changes with age in the kinds of regularities that infants were able to detect and represent. For all categories formed, however, infants' category representations conformed to a prototypical structure regardless of age. A second experiment ruled out a priori preferences as the basis for the pattern of results observed in Experiment 1. The observed changes in infant categorization are discussed in relation to pattern symmetry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modelling of the 3-dimensional structure of the epithelia, constructed of bi-, tri and tetracellular modules

A new approach for studying 3-dimensional histoarchitectonics of cellular layers is suggested. It is based on (1) development of theoretical concepts on module structure of tissues; (2) working out topological and geometrical models of tissue structure and; (3) their experimental testing using this approach. Spatial organization of certain stratified and pseudostratified epithelia was analysed and it was shown that their topology may be principally calculated. Such previously unknown characteristics of epithelia as translation symmetry and structure stoichiometry were described. This approach was shown to add to concept system of histology, reveal regularities of tissue spatial organisation and prognostic factors for their developmental changes. Cellular layers were shown to consist of a relatively small number of standard fragments (slices)--alone and arranged in different combinations thus providing a certain quantity of types of spatial organisations that is amenable to calculation.     

Bias toward regular form in mental shape spaces.

The distribution of figural "goodness" in 2 mental shape spaces, the space of triangles and the space of quadrilaterals, was examined. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to rate the typicality of visually presented triangles and quadrilaterals (perceptual task). In Experiment 2, participants were asked to draw triangles and quadrilaterals by hand (production task). The rated typicality of a particular shape and the probability that that shape was generated by participants were each plotted as a function of shape parameters, yielding estimates of the subjective distribution of shape goodness in shape space. Compared with neutral distributions of random shapes in the same shape spaces, these distributions showed a marked bias toward regular forms (equilateral triangles and squares). Such psychologically modal shapes apparently represent ideal forms that maximize the perceptual preference for regularity and symmetry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuous symmetry: a model for human figural perception

Symmetry is usually viewed as a discrete feature: an object is either symmetric or non-symmetric. In this presentation, symmetry is treated as a continuous feature and a continuous measure of symmetry (the Symmetry Distance) is defined. This measure can be easily evaluated for any shape or pattern in any dimension. A preliminary study presented here shows that the Symmetry Distance is commensurate with human perceptual experience. Good correlation is found between the continuous symmetry values and the perceived goodness of figures.     

Exploring practitioner differences in consulting style and knowledge of change management by professional association membership.

Analyzes survey data collected from 357 organization development and change consultants to investigate areas in which practitioners differ by professional association. The focus of these differences was on practitioners' degree of emphasis on a transformational style or approach to consulting and their knowledge of managing change. The independent variable used in the analysis was membership in 1 of 3 professional associations (i.e., Organization Development Network [ODN], the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology [SIOP], and the American Society for Training and Development's Organization Development Professional Practice Area [ASTD]). Overall, ODN and ASTD individuals approach their consulting efforts with a more pronounced transformational orientation than do SIOP members. This style is comprised of a greater sense of mission in one's work and a long-range approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Second Law of Thermodynamics Is the First Law of Psychology: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology and the Theory Of Tandem, Coordinated Inheritances: Comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003).

Organisms inherit a set of environmental regularities as well as genes, and these two inheritances repeatedly encounter each other across generations. This repetition drives natural selection to coordinate the interplay of stably replicated genes with stably persisting environmental regularities, so that this web of interactions produces the reliable development of a functionally organized design. Selection is the only known counterweight to the tendency of physical systems to lose rather than grow functional organization. This means that the individually unique and unpredictable factors in the web of developmental interactions are a disordering threat to normal development. Selection built anti-entropic mechanisms into organisms to orchestrate transactions with environments so that they have some chance of being organization-building and reproduction-enhancing rather than disordering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Forensic medical criteria of relationship according to the dermatoglyphic traits of the foot

Inheriting of 55 dermatoglyphic signs of the soles are analyzed using Cummins and Midlo's method (1962) in 100 families (father, mother, one or two children). For the first time in Russian forensic medicine quantitative criteria of familial similarity by the complex of dermatoglyphic signs of the soles have been defined. The inheritance of skin patterns on the toes is governed by the same regularities as on the hands and does not depend on the localization of patterns (right or left side), number of the toe, and sex. The authors detected and investigated the possibility of inheritance of skin patterns from a homologous toe or area of the sole of a parent by a child in whom this pattern occurs on the homologous toe or area of the sole (mirror symmetry) or on one of the adjacent toes or the same sole. The possibility of referring a child to a specific couple of parents on the basis of a single complex pattern formalized according to the devised method has been validated for the first time.     

The mirror effect and attention–likelihood theory: A reflective analysis.

The mirror effect refers to findings from studies of recognition memory consistent with the idea that the underlying "strength" distributions are symmetric around their midpoint separating studied and nonstudied items. Attention-likelihood theory assumes underlying binomial distributions of marked features and claims that old-item differences result from differential attention across conditions during study. The symmetry arises because subjects use the likelihood ratio as the basis for decision. The author analyzes the model and argues that one of the main criticisms (the complexity of the likelihood-ratio decision rule) is unwarranted. A further analysis shows that other distributions (the Poisson and the hypergeometric) can also produce a mirror effect. Even with the binomial distribution, a variety of parameter values can produce a mirror effect, and with the right combination of parameter values, differential attention across conditions is not necessary for a mirror effect to occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maximum Velocity and Regularities in Open-Channel Flow

Maximum velocity in a channel section often occurs below the water surface. Its location is linked to the ratio of the mean and maximum velocities, velocity distribution parameter, location of mean velocity, energy and momentum coefficients, and probability density function underpinning a velocity distribution equation derived by applying the probability and entropy concepts. The mean value of the ratio of the mean and maximum velocities at a given channel section is stable and constant, and invariant with time and discharge. Its relationship with the others in turn leads to formation of a network of related constants that represent regularities in open-channel flows and can be used to ease discharge measurements and other tasks in hydraulic engineering. Under the probability concept, the ratio of mean and maximum velocities being constant means that the probability distribution underpinning the velocity distribution and other related variables is resilient, and that the same probability distribution is governing various phenomena observable at a channel section and explains the regularities in open-channel flows.     

Formal classification of research information: An empirical test of the McGrath-Altman approach and an illustrative case.

The classification of data generated by empirical research is presented as an important but generally neglected problem facing contemporary psychology. This problem is approached in 2 ways in this article. First, the J. E. McGrath and I. Altman (1966) approach to formal classification is empirically tested with a sample of 66 studies from the least preferred co-worker (LPC) literature. This classification of LPC research provides strong empirical support for the principle of operational concordance, the theoretical concept on which the McGrath and Altman system is based. Second, the classification of LPC research is presented as a case study in formal classification. The methods, results, limitations, and utility of a formally classified set of research findings are considered in light of this particular case. It is concluded that formal classification can facilitate conceptual developments. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical asymmetry of the crystallographic

The texture of a mill-produced, Nb-bearing, interstitial-free, hot-rolled sheet steel was evaluated at a number of sheet thickness positions. The texture was also studied following laboratory cold rolling and following recrystallization. A “nonsymmetric case” crystallite orientation distribution function analysis applicable to the analysis on nonsymmetric pole figures was used. While sheet steels are generally assumed to have orthotropic physical symmetry, it was found that an appreciable degree of physical asymmetry existed. The asymmetry was with respect to the rolling direction (RD) and normal direction (ND) mirror planes, while transverse direction (TD) mirror-plane symmetry existed.     

Mismatch negativity: deviance detection or the maintenance of the 'standard'

Electric brain responses were measured to infrequent tones that broke the frequency alternation of two tones, deviated in duration or violated both regularities (alternation and constant duration). Mismatch negativity (MMN) was elicited by both simple deviants with the duration-related MMN peaking approximately 130 ms later than the alternation-related MMN. The double deviant elicited two successive MMNs. Thus violation of each regularity elicited a separate MMN, whereas previous studies showed that multiple temporally separate deviations from a single repetitive standard elicit one MMN only. These results suggest that the primary function of the MMN-generating process is more closely related to maintaining the representation of auditory regularities than to deviance detection per se.     

Holography Does Not Account for Goodness: A Critique of van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1996).

P. A. van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (1996; see record 1996-01780-002) outlined a holographic account of figural goodness of a perceptual stimulus. The theory is mathematically precise and can be applied to a broad spectrum of empirical data. The authors argue, however, that the account is inadequate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. The theoretical difficulties concern the internal consistency of the account and its reliance on unspecified auxiliary assumptions. The account also makes counterintuitive empirical predictions, which do not fit past data or the results of a series of new experimental studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primate cognition and the bared-teeth display: A reevaluation of the concept of formal dominance.

The cognitive implications of the phenomenon of dominance in nonhuman primates and other animals have been poorly addressed. This article shows that the concept of formal dominance currently used in the primatological literature is inherently dependent on the assumption that primates are capable of attribution of knowledge to other individuals. Although this assumption has never been made explicitly, without it the concept of formal dominance is virtually indistinguishable from other, more traditional views of dominance. Recent studies have failed to demonstrate attribution of knowledge in nonhuman primates, thus questioning the validity of formal dominance. The concept of formal dominance was originally proposed to account for a discrepancy between dominance hierarchies based on aggressive behavior and dominance hierarchies based on submissive signals. This article shows that such a discrepancy can be accounted for without invoking complex cognitive processes such as attribution of knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership, Collective Personality, and Performance.

By viewing behavior regularities at the individual and collective level as functionally isomorphic, a referent-shift compositional model for the Big 5 personality dimensions is developed. On the basis of this compositional model, a common measure of Big 5 personality at the individual level is applied to the collective as a whole. Within this framework, it is also hypothesized that leadership (i.e., transformational, transactional, and passive) would predict collective personality and that collective personality would be significantly related to collective performance. The results supported these hypotheses using a sample of franchised units. On the basis of recent research at the individual level, several interactions among the various personality dimensions were hypothesized and supported. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)