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The third-person perception is the tendency for people to believe that others are more influenced by media content than themselves (W. P. Davison, 1983). The current study provides a critical test of self-enhancement, exposure, and self-categorization explanations for first- (i.e., self more influenced than others) and third-person perceptions. Male and female participants (N = 323) judged the extent to which pornography elicited 'aroused and excited' (i.e., male normative) versus 'repulsed and offended' (i.e., female normative) reactions in themselves relative to average men and women. Men perceived an average woman to be more repulsed and offended by pornography than themselves, and women perceived an average man to be more aroused and excited than themselves (i.e., large third-person perceptions). Further, men perceived themselves to be more aroused and excited by pornography than an average woman (independent of the degree to which pornography was judged as antisocial), and women perceived themselves to be more repulsed and offended than an average man (i.e., large first-person perceptions). There were relatively small effects for same sex comparisons independent of norm. The pattern and magnitude of first- and third-person perceptions are consistent with self-categorization theory, irreconcilable with the exposure hypothesis, and difficult to reconcile with the self-enhancement explanation. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00294.x

Computer-generated anthropomorphic characters are a growing type of communicator that is deployed in digital communication environments. An essential theoretical question is how people identify humanlike but clearly artificial, hence humanoid, entities in comparison to natural human ones. This identity categorization inquiry was approached under the framework of consistency and tested through examining inconsistency effects from mismatching categories. Study 1 (N = 80), incorporating a self-disclosure task, tested participants' responses to a talking-face agent, which varied in four combinations of human versus humanoid faces and voices. In line with the literature on inconsistency, the pairing of a human face with a humanoid voice or a humanoid face with a human voice led to longer processing rime in making judgment of the agent and less trust than the pairing of a face and a voice from either the human or the humanoid category. Female users particularly showed negative attitudes toward inconsistently paired talking faces. Study 2 (N = 80), using a task that stressed comprehension demand, replicated the inconsistency effects on judging rime and females' negative attitudes but not for comprehension-related outcomes. Voice clarity overshadowed the consistency concern for comprehension-related responses. The overall inconsistency effects suggest that people treat humanoid entities in a different category from natural human ones. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00295.x

Recent social influence research utilizing psychological reactance theory (J. W. Brehm, 1966) has focused on how reactance motivates message rejection due to threats to perceived freedoms posed by controlling language. Although reactance has been shown to increase message rejection and source derogation, persuasive appeals employing alternative forms of restoration of freedom, as suggested by the theory, have received little if any empirical scrutiny. The present study manipulated the levels of controlling language and lexical concreteness within health messages targeting a young adult population. Results show a number of negative outcomes associated with the use of controlling language but suggest more positive outcomes associated with the use of restoration postscripts. Findings also indicate that relative to abstract language, messages using concrete language receive more attention, are viewed as more important, and generate more positive assessments of the source. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00297.x

People perceive and conceive of activity in terms of discrete events. Here the authors propose a theory according to which the perception of boundaries between events arises from ongoing perceptual processing and regulates attention and memory. Perceptual systems continuously make predictions about what will happen next. When transient errors in predictions arise, an event boundary is perceived. According to the theory, the perception of events depends on both sensory cues and knowledge structures that represent previously learned information about event parts and inferences about actors' goals and plans. Neurological and neurophysiological data suggest that representations of events may be implemented by structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex and that perceptual prediction error is calculated and evaluated by a processing pathway, including the anterior cingulate cortex and subcortical neuromodulatory systems. Keywords: events, attention, memory, prefrontal cortex, orienting response

Recent work suggests that temporal aspects of facial displays influence the perception of the perceived authenticity of a smile. In the present research, the impact of temporal aspects of smiles on person and expression perception was explored in combination with head-tilt and gender. One hundred participants were shown different types of smiles (slow versus fast onset) in combination with three forms of head-tilt (none, left, or right) exhibited by six computer-generated male and female encoders. The encoders were rated for perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, and the smiles were rated for flirtatiousness and authenticity. Slow onset smiles led to more positive evaluations of the encoder and the smiles. Judgments were also significantly influenced by head-tilt and participant and encoder gender, demonstrating the combined effect of all three variables on expression and person perception. Keywords Dynamics * Emotions * Facial expressions * Perception of emotions * Person perception

Research indicates that perceivers regulate information gain from their observation of ongoing behavior by varying the number and kind of actions they identify as meaningful. Although numerous factors have been shown to induce variation in this behavior-perception process, it is not currently known whether observers must consciously and intentionally initiate these changes. To address this question, different observational goals (impression formation or memorization) were nonconsciously primed in participants who then viewed and segmented a behavior sequence into meaningful actions. Although participants were unaware of its effects, the priming manipulation led to quantitative and qualitative shifts in their perception of the behavior that were similar to those found in a previous study in which observational goals were manipulated via explicit instructions. Importantly, these shifts in perception, in turn, influenced evaluations of the observed actor and memory for her behavior. We conclude that an act of will is not required for adjustments in behavior perception to be initiated, and, furthermore, that a full understanding of social judgment cannot be achieved without examination of the behavior-perception process. Keywords Behavior perception * Unitization * Nonconscious goals * Person memory

The authors examined the effect of ambivalent sexism on others' perceptions of alleged-rape incidents, in which there are socioeconomic status differences between the victims and their perpetrators. The dependent variables included measures of minimizing rape, blaming the victim, excusing the perpetrator, and determining the length of the recommended sentence. The results indicated 4 noteworthy findings: First, individuals who scored high on the hostile power relation (HPR) measure tended to minimize the seriousness of rape incidents. Second, the HPR measure moderated victim blame only in the powerful-man scenario. Third, participants who scored high on the HPR measure tended to believe that the alleged rapist held less responsibility. Fourth, female participants tended to give longer sentences. Key words: ambivalent sexism, rape, socioeconomic status, RAPE HAS BEEN AN UNWAVERING PROBLEM in the United States. With rates of rape and attempted rape of college-aged women between 21% and 27%, this situation is a predicament that [...]

Peer nomination procedures were used to explore the development of academic achievement values and their relation to perceptions of barriers to opportunity. A total of 615 boys and girls across 3 grade levels (2nd, 4th, 7th) and 2 ethnic groups (African American, Latino) nominated peers who they admired, respected, and wanted to be like. Nominations were summed to create a value index. Girls in both ethnic groups and across grade levels were more likely to nominate high- or average-achieving same-gender classmates as those who they admired, respected, and wanted to be like. Second- and 4th-grade boys in both ethnic groups reported a nomination pattern similar to that of girls. However, 7th-grade boys in both ethnic groups showed a relative preference for low-achieving same-gender classmates as valued. Perceptions of barriers were related to increasing valuing of low achievers among African American 7th-grade boys. Implications of the findings for understanding the motivational challenges of ethnic minority male adolescents are discussed. Keywords: achievement values, perceptions of barriers, African American, Latino, gender

The article presents the feature sampling signal detection (FS-SDT) model, an extension of the multivariate signal detection (SDT) model. The FS-SDT model assumes that, because of attentional shifts, different subsets of features are sampled for different presentations of the same multidimensional stimulus. Contrary to the SDT model, the FS-SDT model enables the estimation of pure perceptual effects that are uncontaminated by strategic attention shifts. The consideration of feature sampling in detection and identification opens a new perspective on the problem of measuring, respectively, the separability and integrality of stimulus dimensions. Disregarding feature sampling as a component process in detection and identification usually results in biased estimations of perceptual independence concepts relevant for judgments of whether stimulus dimensions are processed independently. Keywords: signal detection theory, attentional shifts, pure perceptual effects, contaminated perceptual effects, perceptual independence concepts

This study addressed the question if socially anxious adolescents have a negatively biased perception of the way they are treated by their peers. A total of 998 high school students from Grades 8-10 were categorized as socially low, middle, or high anxious on the basis of their SAS-A score. The perceived behavior of classmates was measured using three lists that described class behaviors during oral presentations of students, one list was concerned with the behaviors directed towards the student him/herself and the other two with behaviors directed towards a hypothetical high and low socially anxious peer, respectively. The results indicated that high socially anxious students felt negatively treated by their peers and that the other students too perceived that socially anxious classmates were treated more negatively. This suggests that the perception of the high socially anxious students is not distorted but based on the actual treatment they receive from their classmates. Keywords: Adolescence; Peer relations; Perceptions; Social anxiety

In their comment on the tolerance-noise covariation (TNC) method for decomposing variability by H. Muller and D. Sternad (2003, 2004b), J. B. J. Smeets and S. Louw (2007) show that covariation (C), as defined within the TNC method, is not invariant with respect to coordinate transformations and contend that it is, therefore, meaningless. Although the observation is correct, their interpretation is misleading in the following ways: (a) They equate covariation C with the known statistical quantity covariance and noise (N) with standard deviations. The two quantities C and N are conceptually different statistical measures. (b) Dependency on the reference frame is not only a feature of C but of all 3 components. However, such dependency is ubiquitous in motor control. (c) As the frame of reference in biological systems is poorly understood, the TNC method may afford evaluation of different coordinates for control. Keywords: variability, covariation, coordinate system, motor control

It has been proposed that it is possible to decompose changes in variability of human motor behavior into 3 independent components: covariation, task tolerance, and stochastic noise (H. Muller & D. Sternad, 2004). The authors simulate learning to throw accurately and show that for this task the proposed analysis does not give an unambiguous answer to the question of what the 3 components contribute to the simulated skill improvement. It is argued that this is caused by the fact that the component covariation depends on the choice of control variables. The authors conclude that it is not possible to distinguish between the 3 components of noise reduction without knowing the controlled variables. Keywords: motor control, learning, variability, compensation

Participants' usage of informational variables in learning visual relative-mass discrimination in collisions was tracked by means of PROBIT correlations. Four groups received feedback that was true or accorded with either of three nonspecificational cue variables. A majority in each group adopted the feedback, but several participants defied the false feedback. Unlike in previous research, the fit to data of the relative-mass invariant could not be bettered by post hoc linear combinations of the cues. Discriminability was lower in the use of the invariant. Analytic complexity was rejected as an explanation for discriminability differences. A 'smart mechanism' for pickup of the relative-mass invariant was developed as an extension of G. Johansson's (1950/1994) vector model. Keywords: perceptual skill acquisition, invariant usage, false feedback, smart mechanisms, Johansson's vector model

The purpose of this study was to explore young adults' perceptions of stepfamilies headed by gay and lesbian couples. Undergraduate students read a brief vignette describing one of four family units (gay stepfamily, lesbian stepfamily, heterosexual stepfamily, or biological family). After reading the vignette, students rated their perceptions of the family unit using the First Impressions Questionnaire (FIQ; Bryan, Coleman, Ganong, & Bryan, 1986), which consists of six subscales: Social Evaluation, Potency, Satisfaction/ Security, Personal Character, Activity, and Stability. The results revealed that students perceived the biological family to be less active than the gay, lesbian, and heterosexual stepfamilies. In addition, the biological family was rated as more stable than the heterosexual stepfamily, and the lesbian stepfamily was rated as being more satisfying/secure than the heterosexual stepfamily. doi:10.1300/J087v46n03_01 KEYWORDS. Divorce, gay and lesbian stepfamilies

We describe briefly three of our lab's ongoing projects studying the role of neural synchrony in human perception and cognition. These projects arise from two main interests: the role of noise both in human perception and in neural synchrony, and neural synchrony as a basis for integration of functional modules in the brain. Our experimental work on these topics began with a study of the possibility that noise-influenced neural synchrony might be responsible for the fact that small amounts of noise added to weak signals can enhance their detectability (stochastic resonance). We are also studying the role of neural synchrony in attention and consciousness in several paradigms. On the basis of our own and related work by others, we conclude that (1) neural synchrony plays an important role in the integration of functional modules in the brain and (2) neural synchrony is profoundly affected and possibly regulated, in part, by the 'noisiness' of the brain. Resume Nous decrivons brievement trois de nos projets en cours dans nos laboratoires qui etudient le role de la synchronie neurale dans la perception et la cognition humaines. Ces projets ont ete suscites par deux interets principaux : le role du bruit dans la perception humaine et la synchronie neurale, et la synchronie neurale en tant que base de l'integration des modules fonctionnels du cerveau. Notre travail experimental sur ces sujets a debute par une etude de la possibilite que la synchronie neurale influencee par le bruit pourrait etre responsable du fait que de petits volumes de sons ajoutes a des signaux faibles peuvent ameliorer leur detectabilite (resonance stochastique). Nous etudions egalement le role de la synchronie neurale dans l'attention et la conscience dans plusieurs paradigmes. Sur la base de nos propres travaux et de travaux connexes par d'autres chercheurs nous concluons que 1) la synchronie neurale joue un role important dans l'integration des modules fonctionnels du cerveau et 2) la synchronie neurale est profondement touchee et possiblement regulee, en partie, par la << bruyance >> du cerveau.

Detecting salient structures is a basic task in perceptual organization. Saliency algorithms typically mark edge-points with some saliency measure, which grows with the length and smoothness of the curve on which these edge-points lie. Here, we propose a modified saliency estimation mechanism that is based on probabilistically specified grouping cues and on curve length distributions. In this framework, the Shashua and Ullman saliency mechanism may be interpreted as a process for detecting the curve with maximal expected length. Generalized types of saliency naturally follow. We propose several specific generalizations (e.g., gray-level-based saliency) and rigorously derive the limitations on generalized saliency types. We then carry out a probabilistic analysis of expected length saliencies. Using ergodicity and asymptotic analysis, we derive the saliency distributions associated with the main curves and with the rest of the image. We then extend this analysis to finite-length curves. Using the derived distributions, we derive the optimal threshold on the saliency for discriminating between figure and background and bound the saliency-based figure-from-ground performance. Index Terms--Saliency networks, grouping, perceptual organization, figure-from-ground.

People encode goal-directed behaviors, such as assembling an object, by segmenting them into discrete actions, organized as goal-subgoal hierarchies. Does hierarchical encoding contribute to observational learning? Participants in 3 experiments segmented an object assembly task into coarse and fine units of action and later performed it themselves. Hierarchical encoding, measured by segmentation patterns, correlated with more accurate and more hierarchically structured performance of the later assembly task. Furthermore, hierarchical encoding increased when participants (a) segmented coarse units first, (b) explicitly looked for hierarchical structure, and (c) described actions while segmenting them. Improving hierarchical encoding always led to improvements in learning, as well as a surprising shift toward encoding and executing actions from the actor's spatial perspective instead of the participants' own. Hierarchical encoding facilitates observational learning by organizing perceived actions into a representation that can serve as an action plan. Keywords: hierarchical encoding, observational learning, goal hierarchies, intentional inference, perspective taking Supplemental data: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.135.4.588.supp

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated the ability of high- and low-span comprehenders to construe subtle shades of meaning through perceptual representation. High- and low-span comprehenders responded to pictures that either matched or mismatched a target object's shape as implied by the preceding sentence context. At 750 ms after hearing the sentence describing the target object, both high- and low-span comprehenders had activated a contextually appropriate perceptual representation of the target object. However, only high-span comprehenders had perceptually represented the contextually appropriate meaning immediately upon hearing the sentence, whereas low-span comprehenders required more processing time before the perceptual representation was activated. The results are interpreted in a framework of co-occurring lexical representations and perceptual--motor representations. Keywords: perceptual representations, lexical ambiguity, individual differences

The perception of mechanical stimuli in the environment is crucial to the survival of all living organisms. Recent advances have led to the proposal of a plant-specific mechanosensory network within plant cells that is similar to the previously described network in animal systems. This sensory network is the basis for a unifying hypothesis, which may account for the perception of numerous mechanical signals including gravitropic, thigmomorphic, thigmotropic, self-loading, growth strains, turgor pressure, xylem pressure potential, and sound. The current state of our knowledge of a mechanosensory network in plants is reviewed, and two mechanoreceptor models are considered: a plasmodesmata-based cytoskeleton-plasma membrane-cell wall (CPMCW) network vs. stretch-activated ion channels. Post-mechanosensory physiological responses to mechanical stresses are also reviewed, and future research directions in the area of mechanoperception and response are recommended. Key words: gravitropism; gravity; mechanopereeption; sound; thigmomorphogenesis; thigmotropism; turgor pressure; wind.

Byline: Dominika Yaneva (1) Keywords: nature of science; meta-cognitive proceeding; non-observability of knowledge Abstract: The validity of three premises, set as foundational pillars of modern sociological approach to science, is contested, namely: (i) the postulate, stating that science is devoid of whatever generis specifical (ii) it is liable to the usual empirical study (iii) the practicing scientist's self-reflexive judgements must be disbelieved and rejected. Contrariwise, the ignored so far quaint nature of knowledge, escaping even from the elementary empirical treating - discernment and observation -- is revealed and demonstrated. This peculiar nature requires, accordingly, a specific meta-cognitive dealing for positing it as 'empirical object', unfortunately missed still by the Strong Programme. The inadequate approach adopted led to a substitution of 'scientific' for common knowledge. The tacit thus far alternative, setting the foundations of meta-science, is suggested. Author Affiliation: (1) Centre for Science Studies & History of science, 4, Serdika Str, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria Article History: Registration Date: 10/07/2006 Online Date: 13/01/2007

The literature reports that focused attention alters perceived length of lines. Some tests of this attentional effect require that subjects compare line lengths. This note shows that conceptual confusions inherent in this comparison make the tests invalid.

Four experiments investigated how readily infants achieve perceptual organization by lightness and form similarity. Infants were (a) familiarized with elements that could be organized into rows or columns on the basis of lightness or form similarity and tested with vertical versus horizontal bars depicting the familiar versus novel organization or (b) familiarized with bars and tested with elements. For lightness similarity, generalization occurred in both tasks; however, for form similarity, generalization occurred only in the elements [right arrow] bars task. The findings indicate that lightness similarity is more readily deployed than form similarity and are discussed in the context of (a) whether the difference reflects speed of application or experience-based learning, (b) evidence from visual agnosic patients and the time course of application of the principles in healthy adults, and (c) development of dorsal and ventral visual processing streams. Keywords: perceptual organization, Gestalt grouping, development

A surprising validation of expectation experienced during a recognition test induces the perception of discrepancy and a feeling of familiarity. The authors investigated whether that perception also affects memory performance when it is experienced in the original encounter with a stimulus. Target words were presented in a study phase, half in a context thought to induce the perception of discrepancy. In a subsequent recognition test, that earlier experience increased the accuracy of subjects' discrimination. However, when the subsequent task required a once-versus-twice judgment, that experience caused an illusion of reoccurrence for words presented once. The authors concluded that a perception of discrepancy in an initial encounter may be a valuable aid to later recognition but can also cause systematic memory errors under some circumstances. Keywords: fluency, discrepancy, familiarity, encoding, learning

The impact of declining health in grandparents on grandchildren is largely overlooked in the literature. Similar to their parents, grandchildren may feel pressured between their responsibilities to grandparents while also negotiating their own social and psychological needs (Baranowski (1982). Adolescents 25(67), 575-584). Limited attention is paid to the impact on children's development when grandparents' health declines (Baranowski (1982). Adolescents 25(67), 575-584; Mead (1970). Grandparents as educators. In Leichter H. J. (Ed.), The family as educators. Teacher College Press: New York). Narrative themes of adolescents reveal multi-determined reactions to grandparents' illness through identifications with family members, cultural roles, and individual development. The authors will identify these relevant themes and discuss new interventions with multigenerational families who provide care for older adults in declining health. KEY WORDS: Grandchildren; Aging; Relationships; Narratives; Families.

The study was done to check replication of changes in sensitivity with a simple simulator as had been obtained in an experiment using the real road situation. Another purpose was to control simulator sickness which could have confounded data from testing with a simulator or in actual driving. Sensitivity of the drivers (72 healthy young adults, M age-24 yr., SD=5) while performing the driving task was measured in terms of subjective ratings of simulator sickness and affect, and physiological measures (i.e., galvanic skin responses and skin temperature) at different driving speeds and in driving mode conditions, using a simple vehicle simulator. Analysis showed measures of drivers' state, including simulator sickness, physiological indices, and subjective reports, increased with driving speed (30 [right arrow] 90 [right arrow] 120 km/hr.) and driving mode change from the regular speed to sudden increasing to sudden decreasing speeds. Particularly, the results suggest that the increased autonomic nervous activation induces increase of rated simulator sickness. Based upon the same tendency in change of the simulator sickness and physiological state with driving speed and driving mode conditions, it was concluded that, if the results obtained from the simu lator experiment can be generalized to the real situation, the simulator sickness must be considered a confounding factor. The results also suggest that the changes in human sensitivity are dependent upon aspects related to speed of a vehicle and driving mode.

This study assessed a writing program with word prediction, which completed the writing of a word and spoke it out only when there was certainty that such a word was the correct one. The assessment was carried out with a young man with multiple disabilities, who typically used a word processing program without word prediction. The two programs were compared on the time required by the participant for writing general sentences, through a social validation assessment, and eventually a check on the participant's preference. Analysis showed the program with word prediction was significantly more effective in terms of the writing time, which was halved, and was deemed preferable by 40 raters (psychology students) involved in the social validation assessment and by the participant himself. Implications of the findings are discussed.

This recta-analysis was conducted to generate normative values for the 5 repetition sit to-stand (STS) test suitable for application to individuals at least 60 years of age. A thorough review of the literature yielded 13 papers (14 studies) relevant to this purpose. After the exclusion of potentially unrepresentative data, meta-analysis of these 13 papers indicated that judgments about normal performance should be based on age. Analysis demonstrated that individuals with times for 5 repetitions of this test exceeding the following can be considered to have worse than average performance: 11.4 sec (60 to 69 years), 12.6 sec. (70 to 79 years), and 14.8 sec. (80 to 89 years).

Pain sensitivity and tolerance were studied using the cold-pressor technique. A 3 independent groups design was employed using rumination as the independent variable. Group 1 was given a situation in which anger related self-rumination was introduced. Group 2 was given a self-related rumination task in which anger was not induced. Group 3 received a rumination task not related to the self. In addition, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory was given prior to the experiment to test the hypothesis that ratings on the Anger-In subtest would correlate with pain sensitivity. In each group were 6 men and 6 women. Each participant took the anger and another inventory not relevant to the present study before the experiment. An anger measure was taken before and after the experiment for each group to see if the anger induction in Group 1 actually increased anger. There were no differences among the 3 groups on the second anger measure, so differences between Groups 1 and 2 could not be attributed to anger. A 1-way analysis of variance for 3 groups showed a strong main effect on pain tolerance but not pain sensitivity. Groups 1 and 2 were significantly more tolerant of pain than Group 3. The correlation of ratings on the Anger-In (internalized anger) subtest fell short of statistical significance with pain sensitivity and also was not significant for pain tolerance. Results were discussed in terms of the possibility that self-rumination may increase pain tolerance by requiring a greater cognitive load than nonself rumination.

Time and the accuracy of a lexical decision performed on a letter string (either a word or nonword), presented foveally after a parafoveal preview displayed at 5[degrees] of eccentricity and 100 msec. duration were measured. Students of Padova University, 10 women and 7 men, ages 19 to 23 years were subjects. The hypothesis investigated was whether the facilitatory effect, a reduction in lexical decision time due to the parafoveal preview, was tied to global visual information acquired in the visual periphery during the preview presentation. In Exp. 1, eight subjects performed the task either with no preview (No Preview) or with a preview presented at 5[degrees] eccentricity in two conditions, preview of the same foveal string (Preview-Letters) and preview of symbols ('xxx ... ') of the same length as the foveal string (Preview Symbols). In Exp. 2, 9 subjects performed the task with two preview conditions, No Preview and preview of the foveal string in uppercase letters at 5[degrees] of eccentricity (Preview Uppercase). Analyses suggested the reduction in lexical decision time due to the Preview with respect to the No Preview condition is tied to global information extracted during parafoveal presentation. The reduction in lexical decision time depends on word texture, i.e., letters' identities and also word boundary, in addition to word length.

Faces are perceived holistically, a phenomenon best illustrated when the processing of a face feature is affected by the other features. Here, the authors tested the hypothesis that the holistic perception of a face mainly relies on its low spatial frequencies. Holistic face perception was tested in two classical paradigms: the whole-part advantage (Experiment 1) and the composite face effect (Experiments 2-4). Holistic effects were equally large or larger for low-pass filtered faces as compared to full-spectrum faces and significantly larger than for high-pass filtered faces. The disproportionate composite effect found for low-pass filtered faces was not observed when holistic perception was disrupted by inversion (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that the composite face effect was enhanced only for low spatial frequencies, but not for intermediate spatial frequencies known be critical for face recognition. These findings indicate that holistic face perception is largely supported by low spatial frequencies. They also suggest that holistic processing precedes the analysis of local features during face perception. Keywords: face perception, holistic processing, spatial frequencies, composite effect, whole-part advantage, inversion

A four-part experiment was carded out to study the relationship between the time course of object-feature perception and the time course of retrieval of object information from memory. The experiment consisted of 2 perceptual matching tasks, and 2 perceptual recognition tasks. In all 4 tasks, participants provided speeded judgments of the identity of 2 objects. A stochastic feature-sampling model was used to estimate the time needed for feature perception and the time needed for retrieval of feature information. No evidence was found for a systematic relationship between perception times and retrieval times for individual features. Indeed, the model applications indicated that retrieval times were constant for different features, whereas perception rates varied across the features. Keywords: perception, memory, object recognition, response times, matching

Current models of analogical reasoning assume that representations of source examples and target problems occur in an amodal format--that is, a representation whose construction and processing are independent of activity in the perceptual and motor cortices of the brain. We examined the possible use of kinesthetic information--perceptual structures associated with the sensation of space and force--in the representation of source examples and target problems. Participants who recreated a source story while acting out the key elements were more likely to access the story when later working on the target problem than were participants who only verbally recreated the story or who verbally recreated it as well as sketched it. We argue that enactment made kinesthetic and spatial features more salient in participants' source story representations and that this aided performance. These results suggest that current models of analogical reasoning might be improved by including perceptual information as part of their representational schemes.

Available studies with preschoolers suggest that even at an early age, children without disabilities have formulated certain beliefs about those with disabilities. The current pilot study explores the perceptions of primarily 8-12 year old Mexican-American children in relation to viewing a photograph of a child in a wheelchair versus a child sitting in a kitchen chair. Quantitative results indicated that respondents generally expressed optimistic attitudes regarding the child in the wheelchair&apos;s future in relation to work, attending college, marrying and having a family. The child in the wheelchair was also perceived as happy but having fewer friends. Qualitative responses centered around the child in a wheelchair&apos;s perceived preoccupation with being in a wheelchair and wanting to walk., Despite the existence of a plethora of empirical and anecdotal studies assessing attitudes towards persons with disabilities, the vast majority of these deal primarily with adult perceptions and societal views [...]

We used a systems perspective to examine relationships between adolescents' perceptions of overall family system functioning and selected parental behaviors. Self-report questionnaire data from 160 ninth and tenth grade students were analyzed using MANCOVA and discriminant analysis. The results showed two parental behaviors, support and monitoring distinguished between types of overall family system functioning. Adolescents in balanced and moderately balanced overall family functioning reported greater parental support, while adolescents in balanced and extreme overall family functioning reported greater parental monitoring. We present the implications of our findings for parent education and assessment. Keywords Family system * Monitoring * Support * Parent * Adolescent

Perceptual invariance has been studied and found in several domains of cognition, including those of speech, motor behavior, and object motion. It has also been the topic of several studies in music perception. However, the existing perceptual studies present rather inconclusive evidence with regard to the perceptual invariance of expressive timing under tempo transformation in music performance. The current study used a novel experimental methodology that took advantage of new technologies, such as an online Internet setup, high-quality audio, and state-of-the-art tempo-transformation techniques. The results show that listeners could detect which was the original performance when asked to compare 2 recordings, 1 of which was tempo-transformed to make both similar in overall tempo. This result is taken as support for the tempo-specific timing hypothesis--which predicts that a tempo-transformed performance will sound less natural than an original performance--and as counterevidence for the relationally invariant timing hypothesis, which predicts that a tempo-transformed performance will sound equally natural. Keywords: music cognition, Internet-based experiment, expressive timing, tempo, rate

The authors conducted 4 experiments to test the decision-bound, prototype, and distribution theories for the categorization of sounds. They used as stimuli sounds varying in either resonance frequency or duration. They created different experimental conditions by varying the variance and overlap of 2 stimulus distributions used in a training phase and varying the size of the stimulus continuum used in the subsequent test phase. When resonance frequency was the stimulus dimension, the pattern of categorization-function slopes was in accordance with the decision-bound theory. When duration was the stimulus dimension, however, the slope pattern gave partial support for the decision-bound and distribution theories. The authors introduce a new categorization model combining aspects of decision-bound and distribution theories that gives a superior account of the slope patterns across the 2 stimulus dimensions. Keywords: response, auditory, categorization, models, noisy encoding noisy activation (NENA)

Research was conducted to develop a methodology to model the emotional content of music as a function of time and musical features. Emotion is quantified using the dimensions valence and arousal, and system-identification techniques are used to create the models. Results demonstrate that system identification provides a means to generalize the emotional content for a genre of music. The average [R.sup.2] statistic of a valid linear model structure is 21.9% for valence and 78.4% for arousal. The proposed method of constructing models of emotional content generalizes previous time-series models and removes ambiguity from classifiers of emotion. Index Terms--Appraisals, emotion, information retrieval, model, mood, music, perception, system identification.

In the present study we investigated the relationship between suicidal behavior and aspects of bodily perception and parental care. Measures of bodily perception included measures of tacrtile sensitivity, body attitudes, and body experiences. Measures of parental care included parental bonding, negative and positive touch, and early maltreatment. One hundred and two adolescents (suicidal and nonsuicidal inpatients, and a control group) participated in the study. It was hypothesized that suicidal adolescents would (1) have higher tactile sensation thresholds, and more negative body attitudes and experiences; and (2) report less parental care, lower positive and higher negative parental touch, and higher parental maltreatment. It was also hypothesized that bodily sensitivity would mediate the relationship between suicidal tendencies and perceived negative early care. These hypotheses were confirmed. The role of a negative bodily self in suicidal behavior is proposed and discussed.

How might one account for the organization in behavior without attributing it to an internal control structure? The present article develops a theoretical framework called behavioral dynamics that integrates an information-based approach to perception with a dynamical systems approach to action. For a given task, the agent and its environment are treated as a pair of dynamical systems that are coupled mechanically and informationally. Their interactions give rise to the behavioral dynamics, a vector field with attractors that correspond to stable task solutions, repellers that correspond to avoided states, and bifurcations that correspond to behavioral transitions. The framework is used to develop theories of several tasks in which a human agent interacts with the physical environment, including bouncing a ball on a racquet, balancing an object, braking a vehicle, and guiding locomotion. Stable, adaptive behavior emerges from the dynamics of the interaction between a structured environment and an agent with simple control laws, under physical and informational constraints. Keywords: perception and action, perceptual--motor control, dynamical systems, self-organization, locomotion