Pervasive influence of social schemata.

Ss placed human figures cut from felt on a field under free response instructions and then reconstructed displays of the figures in a judgment task where the figures were presented with a fixed separation and replaced by the Ss. Next the Ss attempted to replace human statuettes while blindfolded. Finally, a word association test was administered. Those Ss who kept man and woman figures together in free placements made the largest errors of replacing man-woman pairs of figures closer together than they replaced other pairs in both the visual and nonvisual reconstructions. These Ss were significantly more likely to give "man" and "woman" as reciprocal verbal associations. The same social schema was aroused by the specific social content whether the stimuli were visual, nonvisual, or verbal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Naming and locating the tops of rotated pictures.

Investigated whether and how pictures are mentally rotated to upright before they can be named. Four experiments were conducted with 12 college students in each, who were given the tasks of naming pictures of common objects with various orientations and locating their tops. In the naming task, Ss required more time the farther the picture was from upright, but the rotation effect was reduced after Ss had named each picture once, indicating that rotation may be required only for unfamiliar stimuli. The top locating task was faster with upright figures, but otherwise-oriented pictures required the same time regardless of orientation. Top-locating was faster than naming, indicating that "topness" may be guessed even in unfamiliar figures, while naming also involves searching one's semantic memory for a name. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and distraction by highly familiar stimuli during visual search.

P. Rabbitt's (1965, 1968) theory regarding age-related changes in cognition proposes that aging is accompanied by a decreased ability to ignore irrelevant information (perceptual noise). The present experiment examined age differences in the extent to which highly familiar stimuli used as perceptual noise could disrupt visual search performance. On Days 1–4, 10 Ss aged 19–27 yrs and 10 Ss aged 63–77 yrs performed a search task with specific, unchanging sets of target and nontarget stimuli (letters). Performance on a subsequent search task (Day 5) was disrupted when these familiar stimuli appeared as noise items in the displays, as compared with trials on which only new, unpracticed stimuli were used. The magnitude of the distraction associated with the familiar stimuli on Day 5 was equivalent for the 2 age groups. However, age differences in Day 5 search performance increased as more items in the simulus display required inspection. Age differences were thus influenced more by the requirement to attend to relevant information than by distraction from irrelevant information. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying the attractor field model to social cognition: Perceptual discrimination is facilitated, but memory is impaired for faces displaying evaluatively congruent expressions.

A new model of mental representation is applied to social cognition: the attractor field model. Using the model, the authors predicted and found a perceptual advantage but a memory disadvantage for faces displaying evaluatively congruent expressions. In Experiment 1, participants completed a same/different perceptual discrimination task involving morphed pairs of angry-to-happy Black and White faces. Pairs of faces displaying evaluatively incongruent expressions (i.e., happy Black, angry White) were more likely to be labeled as similar and were less likely to be accurately discriminated from one another than faces displaying evaluatively congruent expressions (i.e., angry Black, happy White). Experiment 2 replicated this finding and showed that objective discriminability of stimuli moderated the impact of attractor field effects on perceptual discrimination accuracy. In Experiment 3, participants completed a recognition task for angry and happy Black and White faces. Consistent with the attractor field model, memory accuracy was better for faces displaying evaluatively incongruent expressions. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flanker effects with faces may depend on perceptual as well as emotional differences.

Do threatening or negative faces capture attention? The authors argue that evidence from visual search, spatial cuing, and flanker tasks is equivocal and that perceptual differences may account for effects attributed to emotional categories. Empirically, the authors examine the flanker task. Although they replicate previous results in which a positive face flanked by negative faces suffers more interference than a negative face flanked by positive faces, further results indicate that face perception is not necessary for the flanker-effect asymmetry and that the asymmetry also occurs with nonemotional stimuli. The authors conclude that the flanker-effect asymmetry with affective faces cannot be unambiguously attributed to emotional differences and may well be due to purely perceptual differences between the stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

After the learning is over: Factors controlling the selective application of general and particular knowledge.

People often have general knowledge about a category as well as knowing some of its members. These forms of knowledge and how they are coordinated in dealing with new stimuli were investigated. Ss were trained twice on the same items, coding them as whole units on some trials and analyzing their typical features on others. In generalization tests, Ss used these forms of knowledge selectively, depending on the type of judgment required but also depending on the perceptual organization of the display, the sequence of activities performed in test, and the demands of concomitant tasks. These test factors caused the Ss to organize a new stimulus as a unit or as a collection of features; in turn, this organization of the stimulus cued whichever representations of prior experience were similar. It was concluded that selective utilization of general and specific knowledge is controlled by multiple task factors that determine the initial processing of a stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Color-object paired associates in deaf and hearing children with and without response competition.

Deaf and hearing Ss, aged 6 and 10, were compared in 2 nonverbally presented paired-associates tasks. One condition used neutral color stimuli unrelated to toy response objects and another condition had colors systematically related to the same objects to provide interfering response competition. Age differences were observed, while task interacted with deafness such that hearing but not deaf Ss were impeded by the interference condition relative to the neutral condition. It was concluded that deaf Ss showed no perceptual rigidity and that covert verbalizations of hearing Ss or experiential poverty in deaf Ss produced the differential task effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential hemispheric processing of faces: Methodological considerations and reinterpretation.

Examines the procedures and stimuli (physiognomies) used in lateralized face recognition experiments with normal Ss, as well as in related perceptual and identification experiments. Results reveal that in general a left visual field (right hemisphere) advantage is obtained when: (a) stimulus information is degraded; (b) faces to be compared are highly discriminable; (c) set of unfamiliar faces is used; and (d) task requirements allow a lax criterion of recognition. These conditions seem to make holistic processing adequate for the task; if the conditions require analytic judgments, then a right visual field (left hemisphere) advantage may be obtained. Thus, no hemifield has an inherent or absolute advantage and these procedural conditions may critically determine what hemifield advantage is observed in any given experiment with faces (or other types of stimuli). Apparently, both hemispheres may contribute to the processing of faces but their contributions vary as a function of task demands. A right hemisphere advantage may reflect an enhanced role of the processes of configuration, completion, categorization, or set. A left hemisphere advantage need not involve the language function but it may reflect a genuine visuospatial contribution. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiation of the concepts of luck and skill.

20 Ss from each grade level (kindergarten, Grades 2, 4, 6, and 8) were presented a luck (figures to be matched with a standard were not visible but were on the underside of cards) and a skill (figures were visible) version of a task using items from the Matching Familiar Figures Test. Questioning Ss about the performance of hypothetical others on these tasks revealed 4 levels of differentiation of luck and skill. The least mature Ss focused on the visual complexity of tasks rather than on the fact that the luck task permitted only guessing. On this basis, they expected luck outcomes to reflect effort and considered the luck task to require less effort than the skill task. Only the most mature Ss clearly understood that effort could not affect outcomes on the luck task and selectively attributed skill outcomes to effort and luck outcomes to luck. The most mature Ss also spent less time than did less mature Ss in the face of failure on luck tasks, but spent more time on skill tasks. Findings of age-related differences in the differentiation of skill (effort and ability) and luck and of associated differences in behavior make the analysis of the development of achievement-related cognition and behavior more complete. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'influence d'indices subliminaux perceptifs et symboliques sur la formation d'un concept.

Examined the learning of a simple concept represented by geometric figures as a function of subliminal stimuli of either a perceptual or a symbolic nature. Ss were 75 male students. Preceding each instance of a concept, a subliminal stimulus, indicating either the correct or incorrect solution, was presented by the technique of backward masking. Results show that only symbolic subliminal stimuli were effective in influencing the learning of a concept, and this particularly in the case where the correct solution was indicated. It is concluded that the effect of a subliminal stimulus depends on the degree of correspondence between the level of complexity of the stimulus and that of the task. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency judgments: The problem of defining a perceptual event.

In four experiments the conditions under which frequency judgments reflect the relative frequency of complex perceptual events were explored. Ss viewed a series of 4?×?4 grids each containing seven items, which were letters and numbers in one of four typefaces. Later judgments of the relative frequency with which particular letters appeared in particular typefaces were unaffected by a warning about an upcoming frequency judgment task, but were affected by both the time available for processing the stimuli and the nature of the cover task subjects engaged in while viewing the grids. Frequency judgments were poor when exposure durations were less than 2 and when the cover task directed subjects' attention merely to the locations of the items within the grids. Frequency judgments improved when the cover task directed subjects' attention to the identity of the stimuli, especially to the conjunction of letter and typeface. The results suggest that frequency estimation of complex stimuli may be possible only for stimuli that have been processed as phenomenal objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensitivity of paranoid patients to nonverbal cues.

To test the hypothesis of a special sensitivity on the part of paranoid patients to nonverbal cues, 2 videotapes were prepared for viewing by 24 hospitalized paranoid patients and 24 normal Ss. Half of each group saw a videotape of genuine stimuli, and half saw a videotape of simulated stimuli. The stimuli consisted of 40 6-sec shots of the same 4 persons on each tape. The faces of the persons were shown as they watched 2 lights serving as signals. For the genuine tape, electric shock was administered to the stimulus person at the cessation of a red light, but none after a white light; for the simulated tape, stimulus Ss posed their expectation. Viewing Ss judged whether, at each presentation, the stimulus person on the videotape expected or did not expect to receive an electric shock. Paranoid Ss demonstrated significantly higher accuracy than normals for genuine stimuli, while normal Ss were significantly more accurate than patients for simulated stimuli. Normal Ss were more accurate for simulated stimuli than they were for genuine stimuli, while patients were not. Data support the hypothesis. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual organization in Alzhiemer's disease.

The ability of 16 AD patients and 16 age-matched control Ss to discriminate degraded forms was compared. Also examined were the effects of aging on perceptual organization by comparison of performance of normal Ss ranging in age from 20 to 86 years. Ss discriminated 2 forms, a circle and a square, each composed of randomly distributed dots concurrently embedded in visual noise. By means of a forced-choice procedure, the threshold signal-to-noise ratios at 4 levels of figure degradation were obtained, each presented at 3 durations. Performance by the normal Ss did not vary with age for long-duration stimuli, but did decline with age for briefly presented stimuli. Relative to age-matched control Ss, AD patients had significantly elevated thresholds at all form densities. Disruption of visual processing at the level of perceptual organization is likely a contributing factor to impairment of high-order visual function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delusional thinking and the induction process in schizophrenia.

A perceptual information-processing task was presented to minimally delusional schizophrenics, maximally delusional schizophrenics, and normal Ss. The point of emergence of their 1st response was utilized as an index of the degree to which they tended to structure ambiguous stimuli on the basis of inadequate premises. The hypothesis that the 2 schizophrenic groups would differ on the experimental task was not verified. The majority of schizophrenic Ss, however, responded either too early or too late, if the mean score of the normal group is regarded as the optimal response level. Additional data were gathered in an attempt to uncover historical or behavioral correlates of these test differences. The only difference found was in educational level. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A spatial frequency account of the detriment that local processing of Navon letters has on face recognition.

Five minutes of processing the local features of a Navon letter causes a detriment in subsequent face-recognition performance (Macrae & Lewis, 2002). We hypothesize a perceptual after effect explanation of this effect in which face recognition is less accurate after adapting to high-spatial frequencies at high contrasts. Five experiments were conducted in which face-recognition performance was compared after processing high-contrast Navon stimuli. The standard recognition deficit was observed for processing the local features of Navon stimuli, but not if the stimuli were blurred (Experiment 1) or if they were of lower contrast (Experiment 2). A face-recognition deficit was observed after processing small, high-contrast letters equivalent to local processing of Navon letters (Experiment 3). Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that recognition of bandpass-filtered faces interacted with the type of Navon processing, in which the recognition of low-pass filtered faces was better following local rather than global processing. These results suggest that the Navon effect on subsequent face recognition is a perceptual phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resistance of high-anxious subjects under ego threat to perception of figural distortion.

40 college students were selected as high and 40 as low in anxiety (IPAT Anxiety Scale). Ss judged the horizontal plane while viewing a specially designed room (Leaf Room) through aniseikonic lenses. Groups of Ss were subdivided and provided either task or threat orientation to the perceptual procedure. High-anxious in comparison with low-anxious Ss required more time to recognize the perceptual distortion produced by aniseikonic lenses, and they estimated a smaller degree of distortion. Thus high anxiety appeared to retard ability to shift from familiar to unfamiliar but veridical percepts. The effects of ego threat were less clear but seemed to relate to certain inverse reaction tendencies present among high anxious Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of cognitive style in a cognitive task: A case favoring the impulsive approach to problem solving.

A task that favored the impulsive approach to problem solving was given to impulsive, reflective, fast/accurate, and slow/inaccurate male 3rd and 4th graders. Ss learned to choose 1 of a pair of multidimensional stimuli based upon a single cue. In 1 condition, the stimuli were composed of many dimensions; in the 2nd condition, the stimuli were composed of few dimensions. Reflective Ss solved the task with few dimensions more quickly than impulsive Ss, whereas impulsive Ss solved the task with many dimensions in fewer trials. Fast/accurate and slow/inaccurate Ss solved problems in an intermediate number of trials but also reversed positions as a function of the number of dimensions. Both speed and accuracy components of cognitive style contributed to performance in the cognitive task. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal work ethic and effort training affect cheating.

Assessed in 357 undergraduates the personal work ethic, an individual's general interest and satisfaction in performing tasks industriously, using a survey of work values (SWV). On the basis of the median SWV score, the high work-ethic Ss were separated from the low work-ethic Ss. Some Ss first were tested for cheating; others, before being tested for cheating, underwent low-effort training or high-effort training in mathematics and perceptual identifications. Ss could cheat by falsely stating that they had solved what was really an unsolvable anagram task. The Ss with a high work ethic persisted on the anagram task almost twice as long before cheating as did the Ss with a low work ethic. High-effort training did not affect the resistance of high work-ethic Ss to cheating, but it more than doubled the duration of the low work-ethic Ss. Strong resistance to cheating among high work-ethic Ss is consistent with their ideology that reward should be commensurate with achievement. The similar effects of effort training and work ethic on resistance to cheating support the view that long-term effort training contributes to the development of the work ethic. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual specificity effects on word stem completion: Beyond transfer appropriate processing?

Explored the determinants of perceptual specificity effects (PSEs) in visual word-stem completion. 256 undergraduates participated in 4 experiments. In Exp 1, Ss completed a stem completion task after a number-search task in study-condition and -case phases. Ss were assessed for their awareness of the study-task relationship and compliance with instructions. In Exp 2, retrieval instructions and study task were manipulated within Ss and between 4 study-test blocks. Ss in Exp 3 completed study-test blocks with unintentional test instructions as in Exp 2. In Exp 4, retention interval, and study-task and -case were manipulated within the Ss. In Exp 1, PSEs on the stem completion task depended on perceptual encoding when Ss' awareness of the study-test relationship was limited. In Exps 2–4, these effects depended on semantic encoding. PSEs after short retention intervals were independent of encoding task. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Face recognition accuracy as a function of mode of representation.

The relative effectiveness of line drawings and photographs as ways of representing information in face reconstruction systems was compared in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 3 independent groups of college students (27 in each group) were required to identify well-known faces shown either as photographs, detailed line drawings, or outline drawings. Photographs were significantly more effective as stimuli than line drawings, which in turn were superior to outlines. In Exp II, 80 Ss aged 16–60 yrs recruited from the public participated in a recognition task. Photographs and detailed line drawings of previously unknown faces served as stimuli. Ss recognized photographs significantly more accurately than line drawings, even when the pose of the target was changed between the exposure and test series. Results are discussed in terms of the development of computer-based face reconstruction systems and theories of face recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)