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David J. Marcus

Bio: David J. Marcus is an academic researcher from University of Minnesota. The author has contributed to research in topics: Serial reaction time & Sequence learning. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 12 publications receiving 3281 citations. Previous affiliations of David J. Marcus include Children's National Medical Center & Boston Children's Hospital.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results lend empirical support for the validity and reliability of this set of facial expressions as determined by accurate identification of expressions and high intra-participant agreement across two testing sessions, respectively.
Abstract: A set of face stimuli called the NimStim Set of Facial Expressions is described. The goal in creating this set was to provide facial expressions that untrained individuals, characteristic of research participants, would recognize. This set is large in number, multiracial, and available to the scientific community online. The results of psychometric evaluations of these stimuli are presented. The results lend empirical support for the validity and reliability of this set of facial expressions as determined by accurate identification of expressions and high intra-participant agreement across two testing sessions, respectively.

3,040 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results suggest that TEPRs can elucidate mechanisms of attention allocation by distinguishing between effectiveness (level of behavioral performance) and efficiency (the costs of that performance in mental effort).
Abstract: We investigated attention allocation in a dual-task paradigm using behavioral and pupillary measures. We used an auditory digit span (DS) and a simple visual response time (RT) task. Participants were administered four conditions in which they performed neither task (no-task), a single task (DS or RT only), or both tasks (dual). Dependent variables were DS accuracy, RT, and task-evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) to digits as estimates of mental effort. Participants maintained almost the same level of DS accuracy on dual as on DS only and sacrificed speed on the RT task. As expected, TEPRs increased linearly with memory load in both DS only and dual. Although TEPRs were initially higher in dual than in DS only, the slope of the increase was shallower in dual. Results suggest that TEPRs can elucidate mechanisms of attention allocation by distinguishing between effectiveness (level of behavioral performance) and efficiency (the costs of that performance in mental effort).

110 citations

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TL;DR: Neural processes underlying perception of speech and other auditory stimuli may be less effective in poor readers; however, contrary to Tallal's hypothesis, rate may not be specifically affected.
Abstract: Tallal hypothesized that reading disabled children have a domain-general deficit in processing rapidly occurring auditory stimuli that degrades speech perception, thereby limiting phonologic awareness and thus reading acquisition. She predicted they would be disproportionately affected by rapidly presented auditory stimuli. In this study, one hundred 7- to 11-year-old children with learning impairment (LI) and 243 non-learning impaired (NLI) children were evaluated on a two-tone auditory discrimination paradigm. LI committed more errors, but effects of timing were comparable. The same result was obtained for a subsample of good and poor readers. Task performance predicted reading, spelling, and calculation. Neural processes underlying perception of speech and other auditory stimuli may be less effective in poor readers; however, contrary to Tallal's hypothesis, rate may not be specifically affected.

78 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: No evidence that poor reading is preferentially associated with a domain general deficit in sequential learning is found, and it is found that cognitive ability, reading, and attention problems each predicted overall accuracy.

74 citations


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TL;DR: Evidence is presented in support of the idea that many poor readers are impaired because of inadequate instruction or other experiential factors, and Hypothesized deficits in general learning abilities and low-level sensory deficits have weak validity as causal factors in specific reading disability.
Abstract: We summarize some of the most important findings from research evaluating the hypothesized causes of specific reading disability (dyslexia) over the past four decades. After outlining components of reading ability, we discuss manifest causes of reading difficulties, in terms of deficiencies in component reading skills that might lead to such difficulties. The evidence suggests that inadequate facility in word identification due, in most cases, to more basic deficits in alphabetic coding is the basic cause of difficulties in learning to read. We next discuss hypothesized deficiencies in readingrelated cognitive abilities as underlying causes of deficiencies in component reading skills. The evidence in these areas suggests that, in most cases, phonological skills deficiencies associated with phonological coding deficits are the probable causes of the disorder rather than visual, semantic, or syntactic deficits, although reading difficulties in some children may be associated with general language deficits. Hypothesized deficits in general learning abilities (e.g., attention, association learning, cross-modal transfer etc.) and low-level sensory deficits have weak validity as causal factors in specific reading disability. These inferences are, by and large, supported by research evaluating the biological foundations of dyslexia. Finally, evidence is presented in support of the idea that many poor readers are impaired because of inadequate instruction or other experiential factors. This does not mean that biological factors are not relevant, because the brain and environment interact to produce the neural networks that support reading acquisition. We conclude with a discussion of the clinical implications of the research findings, focusing on the need for enhanced instruction.

2,275 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A novel method of quantifying atypical strategies of social monitoring in a setting that simulates the demands of daily experience is reported, finding that fixation times on mouths and objects but not on eyes are strong predictors of degree of social competence.
Abstract: Background: Manifestations of core social deficits in autism are more pronounced in everyday settings than in explicit experimental tasks. To bring experimental measures in line with clinical observation, we report a novel method of quantifying atypical strategies of social monitoring in a setting that simulates the demands of daily experience. Enhanced ecological validity was intended to maximize between-group effect sizes and assess the predictive utility of experimental variables relative to outcome measures of social competence. Methods: While viewing social scenes, eye-tracking technology measured visual fixations in 15 cognitively able males with autism and 15 age-, sex-, and verbal IQ– matched control subjects. We reliably coded fixations on 4 regions: mouth, eyes, body, and objects. Statistical analyses compared fixation time on regions of interest between groups and correlation of fixation time with outcome measures of social competence (ie, standardized measures of daily social adjustment and degree of autistic social symptoms). Results: Significant between-group differences were obtained for all 4 regions. The best predictor of autism was reduced eye region fixation time. Fixation on mouths and objects was significantly correlated with social functioning: increased focus on mouths predicted improved social adjustment and less autistic social impairment, whereas more time on objects predicted the opposite relationship. Conclusions: When viewing naturalistic social situations, individuals with autism demonstrate abnormal patterns of social visual pursuit consistent with reduced salience of eyes and increased salience of mouths, bodies, and objects. Fixation times on mouths and objects but not on eyes are strong predictors of degree of social competence. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:809-816

1,893 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An overview of the imaging procedures of the ABCD study is provided, the basis for their selection and preliminary quality assurance and results that provide evidence for the feasibility and age-appropriateness of procedures and generalizability of findings to the existent literature are provided.

1,114 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
16 May 2018-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: The RAVDESS is a validated multimodal database of emotional speech and song consisting of 24 professional actors, vocalizing lexically-matched statements in a neutral North American accent, which shows high levels of emotional validity and test-retest intrarater reliability.
Abstract: The RAVDESS is a validated multimodal database of emotional speech and song. The database is gender balanced consisting of 24 professional actors, vocalizing lexically-matched statements in a neutral North American accent. Speech includes calm, happy, sad, angry, fearful, surprise, and disgust expressions, and song contains calm, happy, sad, angry, and fearful emotions. Each expression is produced at two levels of emotional intensity, with an additional neutral expression. All conditions are available in face-and-voice, face-only, and voice-only formats. The set of 7356 recordings were each rated 10 times on emotional validity, intensity, and genuineness. Ratings were provided by 247 individuals who were characteristic of untrained research participants from North America. A further set of 72 participants provided test-retest data. High levels of emotional validity and test-retest intrarater reliability were reported. Corrected accuracy and composite "goodness" measures are presented to assist researchers in the selection of stimuli. All recordings are made freely available under a Creative Commons license and can be downloaded at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1188976.

1,036 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Chicago Face Database is introduced, a free resource consisting of 158 high-resolution, standardized photographs of Black and White males and females between the ages of 18 and 40 years and extensive data about these targets and factors associated with researchers’ judgments of suitability.
Abstract: Researchers studying a range of psychological phenomena (e.g., theory of mind, emotion, stereotyping and prejudice, interpersonal attraction, etc.) sometimes employ photographs of people as stimuli. In this paper, we introduce the Chicago Face Database, a free resource consisting of 158 high-resolution, standardized photographs of Black and White males and females between the ages of 18 and 40 years and extensive data about these targets. In Study 1, we report pre-testing of these faces, which includes both subjective norming data and objective physical measurements of the images included in the database. In Study 2 we surveyed psychology researchers to assess the suitability of these targets for research purposes and explored factors that were associated with researchers' judgments of suitability. Instructions are outlined for those interested in obtaining access to the stimulus set and accompanying ratings and measures.

991 citations