Albion College

About: Albion College is a education organization based out in Albion, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Higher education. The organization has 485 authors who have published 754 publications receiving 20907 citations.

Identifying Sex from Handwriting

Abstract: The ability to infer the sex of the writer from cursive handwriting was examined under a range of conditions. In 5 experiments male and female college students were able to perform this task at the 75% accuracy level even with small amounts of material, sometimes only a single letter or a single geometric pattern. On the other hand, age of the writer was just barely discernible from handwriting. It was suggested that sex or gender is present in handwriting in much the same way as it is present in movement of the whole body.

Not all musicians are creative: Creativity requires more than simply playing music

Abstract: Musical training has been found to be associated with increased creativity. However, it is not clear whether increased creativity, particularly divergent thinking, is associated with music expertise due to knowledge and skill, or if increased creativity arises from participation in the creation of music through practices such as improvisation and composition. This study investigated how level of music expertise and engagement in the creation of music relate to divergent thinking in musically trained adults (musicians). Sixty participants of varying music expertise were tested for divergent thinking using a modified version of Guilford’s (1967) alternative uses task, in which participants listed creative uses for two music items and two non-music items. Results indicate that musicians who create music listed more creative uses for music items than non-musicians and musicians who do not create music. For non-music items, participants did not display differences in divergent thinking.

Glaciovolcanic evidence for a polythermal Neogene East Antarctic Ice Sheet

Abstract: A paradigm has existed for more than 30 years that the basal thermal regime of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in Victoria Land made a fundamental transition from wet-based to cold-based either at ca. 14 Ma or after ca. 2.5 Ma. The basal thermal regime is important because it determines the potential for unstable behavior in an ice sheet. We have studied the environmental characteristics of subglacially erupted volcanic centers scattered along 800 km of the Ross Sea fl ank of the Transantarctic Mountains. The volcanoes preserve evidence for the coeval paleo-ice thicknesses and contain features diagnostic of both wet-based and cold-based ice conditions. By dating the sequences we are able to demonstrate that the basal thermal regime varied spatially and with time between ca. 12 Ma and present. It was polythermal overall and probably comprised a coarse temperature patchwork of frozen-bed and thawed-bed ice, similar to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet today. Thus, an important shift is required in the prevailing paradigm describing its temporal evolution.

Backward masking: Facilitation through increased target-field luminance and duration.

Abstract: Studies of visual backward masking demonstrate that increases in target-field luminance or duration will decrease the target’s susceptibility to masking. A proposed theory predicts that, within certain limits, increases in target-field luminance or duration will increase the target’s susceptability to masking. Two experiments support these predictions.