Moral Judgment and Crime Drama: An Integrated Theory of Enjoyment

The article proposes a theoretical framework in which moral reasoning about mediated crime and punishment is defined and combined with existing, affect-driven entertainment theory to yield an integrated theory of enjoyment. The authors analyze how crime dramas serve as statements about justice and then address how moral deliberation about the propriety of those statements impacts enjoyment. The authors report research findings to support the analysis of cognitive processing during crime dramas distinct from affective processing. The article also suggests future means by which the integrated theory of enjoyment can be examined.     

Exploring How We Enjoy Antihero Narratives

Affective disposition theory (ADT), which nicely explains enjoyment of traditional hero narratives, appears somewhat limited in its ability to explain antihero narratives, primarily because of the moral complexity of the protagonists. Recent work proposes that viewers over time develop story schema that permit antihero enjoyment, despite character immorality. This article reports results from three studies that support this claim. Specifically, the findings indicate that moral judgment may be less important to antihero enjoyment than ADT would predict, that previous exposure to an antihero narrative alters responses to similar narratives, and that moral disengagement cues impact the enjoyment process. Ultimately, the studies offer empirical evidence of how antihero narratives are enjoyed differently than their traditional hero counterparts.     

Discrimination of sea ice in the Labrador marginal ice zone from synthetic aperture radar image texture

This study addresses the modelling of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image texture for sea ice scenes in the Labrador marginal ice zone (MIZ). The image texture of distributed scatterers contains a substantial component relating to the imaging system as well as information about the scene itself. Theory shows that the image autocorrelation function (ACF) may be analysed to separate system contributions from scene contributions under certain conditions. The main theses of the study are: (i) SAR intensity images of sea ice are spatially nonGaussian; and (ii) the predominant types and forms of MIZ sea ice may be discriminated based upon ACF model parameters. Experimental results indicate that the model provides an excellent fit to the measured ACFs. The image texture was found to be a strong function of the form of the sea ice as well as its type. For a given type, the various forms could be discriminated through a single SAR channel. For full discrimination of all types and forms observed, a two-channel combination was necessary: XHV CHH or XHV CHV.     

Entertainment as Pleasurable and Meaningful: Identifying Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motivations for Entertainment Consumption

The purpose of this research is to broaden the conceptualization of entertainment selection to identify not only pleasure‐seeking (hedonic concerns) as a motivator, but to also recognize that individuals may choose media as a means of “truth‐seeking” (eudaimonic concerns). This article conceptualized and developed measures to illustrate that entertainment can be used as a means of experiencing not only enjoyment, but also as a means of grappling with questions such as life's purpose and human meaningfulness. Four studies were conducted in the development of these measures, providing evidence for their validity in terms of entertainment preference and individual differences, and illustrating how these motivations predict preferences for entertainment that elicits unique affective experiences.     

Word frequency effects and eye movements during two readings of a text.

Examined the influence of word frequency on rereading performance. 28 students read short passages, each twice in succession, while their eye movements were monitored. Two classes of data were presented: global measures, which were based on an entire passage, and target word measures, based on the target words. Results show that fixation durations were shorter for high frequency words during both readings and the decrease in fixation duration was similar in magnitude for low and high frequency words. It was concluded that word frequency and repetition independently influenced reading time. Replacing a target with a synonym did not increase processing time for the replacement word. This suggests that rereading can be used to gain insight into cognitive processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of automatic associative activation on explicit and implicit memory tests.

Ss made either a graphemic or a semantic decision concerning word pairs during a study phase. Pair relatedness effects were observed in behavioral measures for the semantic task only, but a physiological measure (event-related potential) showed relatedness effects for both study tasks. Relatedness at study helped subsequent memory for tests involving word generation (fragment completion and cued recall). These effects were independent of those of the level of processing on memory. The results support P. Graf and G. Mandler's (1984) 2-process model of implicit and explicit remembering and demonstrate that automatically activated associations can have significant effects on both types of remembering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye movement control in reading: A comparison of two types of models.

Two classes of models have been proposed to account for eye movement control during reading. Proponents of the 1st class of model claim that the decision of when to move the eyes (reflected in fixation duration) is primarily influenced by the status of on-line language processing such as lexical access. Supporters of the 2nd class of model, however, maintain that (a) lower level oculomotor factors such as fixation location govern the decision of when to move the eyes and (b) lexical variables exert only a weak influence. In this study, fixation duration on low- and high-frequency target words was examined as a function of fixation location and the number of fixations on a target word. The data are inconsistent with an oculomotor model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Industrial Home Laundry Closed Loop Cleaning Process

This study presents a method to develop an efficient and economical system for cleaning home laundry on a commercial scale with both water and chemical (detergent) reuse. The experiments were done using an industrial-type horizontal-axis machine, two leading consumer heavy-duty liquid laundry detergents, one I&I detergent formulation, and chlorine bleach. The technical feasibility of reusing laundry water at high levels without significant deterioration in detergency was established in this study. Warm water (40 °C) was used in the wash cycle, and cold water (29 °C) was used for three rinse cycles. In the integrated process, waters from wash and rinse steps were treated using tubular microfiltration units with 0.1 μm pore size to remove particles and emulsion droplets. These recovered waters were recycled to be reused. In addition, water recycled from the wash step contains surfactants that can be reused. In order to simulate a large-scale industrial laundry operation at steady-state, the batch process used here was operated six times in sequence; wash and rinse waters were filtered after each cycle and reused in the next wash cycle. The surfactant recovery is over 40%. Soiled test strips were used to measure the percentage of soil removal after the wash/filtration sequence for stains and various liquid or particulate soils. The soil removal remained practically constant under simulated steady-state conditions even with water recoveries of nearly 90%. Softness of towels remained unchanged when recycled water was used in this process. Chlorine carry-over from white laundry to the wash process was shown to be minimal. This is important to avoid color fading in mixed loads upon reuse since water is not segregated for colored laundry versus white laundry. Hardness ions can precipitate fatty acids which reduce flux during filtration and decrease surfactant recovery. Preliminary analysis of the different formulations used indicates that an all-nonionic formulation may be best suited to this recycling process.