Showing papers in "Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung in 1982"

Visual symmetry recognition by pigeons.

Abstract: Pigeons learned to discriminate a large number of bilateral symmetric and asymmetric visual patterns successively projected on the pecking-key of an operant conditioning chamber. Responses to the positive stimuli were reinforced according to a variable interval schedule. Once acquisition was complete generalization trials, involving sets of new stimuli, were instituted under extinction. The birds classified these novel test stimuli with high accuracy throughout, according to their symmetry or asymmetry. Their performance was not disturbed by sets of test stimuli whose geometrical style differed considerably from the training stimuli. Pigeons were even able to discriminate when only allowed the use of one eye. The generalization series were partly designed to test some classical symmetry recognition theories. None was found to be adequate. Subsidiary experiments suggested that most pigeons have a slight spontaneous preference for asymmetric patterns and that symmetry/asymmetry differences can aid pattern discrimination learning at an early stage. It is concluded that pigeons, much like humans, can discriminate bilaterally symmetric from non-symmetric visual forms in a concept-like, generalizing way. The ontogenetic and phylogenetic development of this competence is considered. A novel symmetry recognition hypothesis based on spatial frequency analysis and neuronal feature-detector considerations is proposed.

Feature mislocalizations and misjudgments of intercharacter distance.

Abstract: Three experiments were conducted to gather evidence for Wolford's (1975) feature perturbation model and claims derived from it. The first experiment found that perturbation or mislocalization of features toward the foveal center predominated when a distinctive standard for localization was presented and short-term memory factors were minimized. The second experiment found that foveal mislocalizations do seem to cause two figures in the visual field to be reported as closer to one another than they actually are presented. The final experiment provided no support for the notion that interference between figures in the visual field is caused by foveal mislocalizations making features from the figures appear to be at the same location. A distinction between mislocalizations of figures due to feature perturbations and errors due to figures which were correctly localized but not reported in the instructed order was possible in the last two experiments.

What is magic about the magical number four

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that the apprehension of number can be represented by three models according to the experimental procedure and the data analysis. The present experiment was designed to test the effect of figural characteristics of pattern on the response time. The subjects were asked to perform a same/different judgment, i.e., they were requested to decide whether a dot pattern, shown on a monitor, equalled a previously defined target number (n=2–6) or not. Different ‘types’ of pattern were used and learning effects were studied. As was expected, the slopes for random and linear patterns were not so steep when the target number was low. With patterns in the dice mode, however, the slope was zero. Repeated presentations led to a slight reduction in slope for random and linear patterns only. In the case of the patterns in the dice mode, the repeated presentations caused only a change in the absolute reaction times (RTs) but had no effect on the slope. When the target numbers were larger (n=5–6), the repeated presentations led to remarkable reductions in slope for random and linear patterns. The slope discontinuity at n=4 occurred with all ‘types’ of pattern but it became less pronounced in the course of training at least in the case of random and linear patterns. This result is explained by clustering effects, use of figural cues, and a more efficient scanning process.

Colour associates to semantic linear orders

Abstract: People were asked whether they had strong colour associates (rather than associations) for different linear orders. Eighteen informants responded that they associated colours with numbers, and ten that they associated colours with the days of the week. The colours associated with both linear orders were consistent between subjects and correlated with each other. The order of the associates correlated with the order noted in the anthropological linguistic typology of Berlin and Kay (1969). Together, the patterns noted indicate that the association of colours with linear orders is an orderly cognitive phenomenon. While no causal explanation of the phenomenon is given, some implications are suggested.

Do we see what makes our script characteristic-- -or do we only feel it? Modes of sensory control in handwriting.

Abstract: How does a person produce handwritten letters which are both legible and also show an individuality of script? Three production control models are proposed: 1) Visual control, 2) Kinesthetic control, and 3) Parallel Kinesthetic and Visual control. In Experiment 1 24 subjects wrote text samples by hand under normal lighting, reduced lighting, or in complete darkness. The subjects addressed the samples to themselves, to close friends, or to other students. The handwriting did not degenerate under the reduction of visibility if the subjects addressed the samples to themselves, but it did undergo marked changes if directed at someone unknown. This result rules out the visual control model. In Experiment 2 the same subjects were asked to answer questions about the characteristics of their own handwritten letters while holding an image of the letter in mind. There were four types of imagery instructions: subjects were told to form either 1) a static visual image, 2) a dynamic image, 3) a kinesthetic image, 4) a combined kinesthetic and dynamic visual image. Subjects were able to answer questions about their handwritten letters more correctly with the fourth type of imagery instructions, suggesting Parallel Kinesthetic and Visual control of handwriting, the third of the proposed control models. A closer examination of the results of Experiment 2 reveals that the control processes are interactive; the idiosyncratic letter forms which make up the individuality in handwriting are controlled exclusively by kinesthetic information.

On the time necessary for a visual impression to come into consciousness.

Abstract: A translation is given of Baxt's pioneering paper on tachistoscopic perception (1871). Baxt showed how a stimulus can fail to be masked by a second stimulus coming after it, if a certain interval elapses between the two stimuli, an interval long enough, Baxt assumed, for the perception of the first stimulus to become conscious. Baxt showed how this interval varied with the intensity of the second stimulus, the complexity of the first stimulus, and the size of the first stimulus. It was also shown that the fainter the overall illumination, the shorter the interval could be, as would be expected from Fechner's Law.

A control theory of sequential response production

Abstract: Response bias as it occurs in sequential response production, especially in response randomization tasks, is an intriguing problem. The strength theory, which predicts that responses are produced because of their strength or availability in memory, can explain only a fraction of the phenomena of response bias. Two other theoretical approaches need special attention. The first is the concept hypothesis which suggests that response bias is the result of subjective randomness in producing a random sequence. The second is the control hypothesis which suggests that response bias is the result of attempts on the part of the subjects to control perseverations and stereotypes.

Grammatical priming effects between pronouns and inflected verb forms

Abstract: Deciding on the lexical status of a word can be facilitated by a preceding, semantically related word. Three experiments are reported demonstrating a different kind of facilitation due to the grammatical relation between function words and content words in Serbo-Croatian. A pronoun facilitated or inhibited the lexical decision on a following verb depending on whether the person of the verb, as represented by its inflected ending, agreed with the person of the pronoun. Also, verbs primed subsequent pronouns but the pattern of results for the verbal priming of pronouns was markedly different from that for the pronominal priming of verbs. The results suggest that the organization of the internal lexicon is sensitive to grammatical relations as well as semantical relations between words.

Automatic syntactic computation and use of semantic information during sentence comprehension

Abstract: The paper represents a contribution to the issue of the differential effects of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic information in the process of sentence comprehension. The results of four experiments are reported, in which sentences containing syntactic, semantic and pragmatic violations were presented with different tasks to see how these violations affected language comprehension, how easily they were detected and whether they affected sentence comprehension even when they were not explicitly recognized. The main results can be summarized as follows. First, the most relevant cues used to comprehend a sentence are not so much syntactic, but semantic or pragmatic. Second, with difficult or anomalous linguistic input, syntactic cues become more important. Third, even when the reader is not aware of syntactic violations, these seem to affect his processing of the linguistic input. This suggests the hypothesis of an automatic computation of syntactic information, the output of which is, however, used only when evidence coming from other sources, semantic or pragmatic, is insufficient or not clear enough.

Can repetition avoidance in randomization be explained by randomness concepts

Abstract: A randomness concept hypothesis of repetition avoidance in socalled ‘randomization’ tasks was studied. The alternative hypothesis proposed is the control hypothesis, which claims that repetition avoidance is caused by the attempts of the subjects to avoid perseveration. Three sequential response production tasks (number randomization, tone randomization, and production of a pleasing tone sequence), one randomness-judgement task, and four perseveration measures were presented to the subjects. Repetition avoidance was found in all three production tasks, including the tone productions in the ‘pleasing’ condition. Correlations of the randomness judgements with repetition avoidance were generally not found. There was only slight evidence of correlations between the perseveration measures and repetition avoidance. The results suggest that randomness concepts do not contribute to repetition avoidance to any great extent. The control hypothesis is proposed to explain the results.

What really is turquoise? A note on the evolution of color terms

Abstract: In order to distinguish between the relativistic and the universalistic sematics in color terms, formal models in the framework of fuzzy-set theory are developed. These models can be used to generate empirically testable hypotheses about response latencies and the distribution of color terms in the visual spectrum. In Experiment I subjects had to name 20 colors in the blue-green area of the spectrum and 20 in the yellow-red area. Although the relative frequency data did not favor either model, the decision time data favored a specific universalistic model. Experiment II was intended to clarify the behavioral effects of “basicality” by investigating the differences in color naming of users and non-users of derived color terms as “turquoise” and “orange”. For users frequency data as well as response latencies from the unrestricted color-naming task conformed well with the predictions derived from the specific universalistic model, whereas the data for the non-users fell in between this model and the MIN-rule model. These results can be accounted for by a continuous model for basicality with a basicality parameter ‘r’.

Choice between finger movements of different and identical form: The effect of relative signal frequency

Abstract: Binary choice reaction time depends on the relationship between the alternative responses. In particular, it is longer when choice is between finger movements of either hand, which have different forms, than when choice is between movements of identical form. This effect can be interpreted in terms of conjunctive preparation. If everything common to both responses is prepared in advance of the response signal, the form of the movement can only be prepared if it is the same for both responses. An alternative interpretation is in terms of single preparation. Under this hypothesis either one or the other response is prepared completely, but in case the not prepared response is demanded by the signal the time needed to shift should be longer if the movements are of different form. Thus, an effect of the form-relation will be seen only in unprepared responses, while under the hypothesis of conjunctive preparation it should be present in prepared responses as well. To decide between both hypotheses relative signal frequency and thus the proportion of expected (and prepared) responses was varied in three experiments. It turned out that the effect of the form-relation is larger with low relative signal frequency than with high frequency. This indicates the existence of single preparation. However, single preparation appears to be incomplete. When the obtained data are extrapolated to a relative signal frequency of 1.0 an effect of the form-relation still remains.

Automaticity and interference in bilinguals

Abstract: In an experimental study with 40 English-German and 40 German-Swedish bilingual high school students, automaticity and interference were analyzed on the basis of Shiffrin and Schneider's theory of controlled and automatic processing. Confirming the assumptions inferred from the theory, dominant bilinguals reacted significantly faster to pictured objects in their dominant language than did balanced bilinguals in either of their two languages. Interaction effects with frequency indicated less experience with rare words in the balanced groups. Matched on the basis of reaction time scores, the balanced groups continued to show a higher error rate in recall, but not in recognition when compared with the dominant groups. It was concluded that training alone could not account for the differences in recall. A congenitally determined mental speed factor was suggested for which the theory makes no direct commitment. The strong interrelation between automaticity and interference was shown; their significance for bilinguals in highly speeded and unstructured tasks was also shown. The results reveal high cross-cultural consistency.

The effects of realism on Wason's THOG problem

Abstract: In this series of experiments the effects of phrasing Wason's THOG problem in realistic terms were investigated. Experiments 1 and 2 used realistic materials of very different kinds, but neither version of the problem produced any facilitation compared with the original abstract version. Experiment 3 used a version of the problem in which the correct answer was cued in by the realistic material, and a significant improvement was found. Experiment 4 used a version of the problem similar to that used in Experiment 3 and again improved performance was found; since the subjects in this experiment were eight- and nine-year-old children, the facilitation almost certainly was not the result of improved logical ability. The results of Experiment 5, however, suggested that it was difficult to cue in adults to give the logically incorrect answer. It is concluded that realism improves performance on this problem only when the realistic material cues in the correct answer from memory. A review of the research that makes use of other reasoning paradigms suggests that this conclusion may hold true for these as well.

Organization by modality, language, and category compared

Abstract: An experiment was presented to test a functionalistic interpretation of the modality effect. This shows a superior recall performance for auditorily as opposed to visually presented verbal information. A total of 60 subjects were presented with mixed-mode (auditory-visual words), mixed-language (Swedish-English words), or mixed-category (category-unrelated words) lists, and were asked to recall the words of each list in any preferred order. The degree of organization according to modality, language, or category and the recall performance were measured. Organization by modality was significantly higher than organization by language or category as predicted by the functionalistic view proposed. The recall performance obtained for auditory and visual words differed in a way predicted by the functionalistic view.

The Array Size Function in Simple Visual Search Tasks: A Comparison Between "'go-no go" and "'yes-no" Tasks Under Conditions of High and Low Target-noise Similarity

Abstract: In research on visual search within a single eye-fixation a number of different tasks are used and referred to interchangeably. Research with other types of tasks suggests that there are possibly important differences between these tasks. In the present study, two types of search tasks were compared under conditions as equal as possible: the ‘go-no go’ task and the ‘yes-no’ task. Conditions of low and high target-noise similarity were used. The results obtained showed: a) a steeper slope of the array size function in ‘yes-no’ tasks than in ‘go-no go’ tasks on the first day of practice but not on the second: b) a higher intercept value of the same function for ‘yes-no’ tasks than for ‘go-no go’ tasks; and c) a greater proportion of errors with ‘yes-no’ tasks than with comparable ‘go-no go’ tasks. A tentative model, describing the main features of the results obtained, is briefly sketched.

Zipf's Law in transcribed speech

Abstract: Based on large samples of written text. ‘Zipf:s Law’ holds that the logarithms of frequencies of words, and the number of different words at those frequencies, have an inverse linear relationship. This study tested this law on an oral sample by analysis of a transcribed interview which had been conducted for an unrelated study. A second purpose was to test whether the law holds differently for open- vs closed-class words. The words in the interview were tabulated by frequencies and numbers of words at each frequency, and separated by syntactic class. As Zipf found for written samples, the law provides a reasonable summary of the data for the less frequently used words but predicts fewer different words among the most frequently used words than were actually found. Linear regressions performed for each syntactic class revealed that the regression equation for open-class words provided the best fit to Zipf's law. The sample of closed-class words, containing a much smaller proportion of low frequency words, revealed a poor fit to Zipf's law.

Eye movements and spatial coding in reading

Abstract: Two experiments are reported which test the hypothesis that during reading subjects maintain in working memory a record of the spatial location of items and that this code is used to guide reinspections. In the first experiment the premisses of short syllogisms were read, one word at a time, under three presentation conditions: (a) in correct temporal order and in appropriate sequential spatial locations; (b) in correct temporal order but in random spatial locations; (c) in correct temporal order and in a single central location. A measure was taken of the time to respond to possible conclusions of the syllogisms. Solution times were longer in conditions (b) and (c) relative to (a). In the second experiment eye movements were recorded as subjects judged the soundness of auditorily presented conclusions following visual presentation of the premisses of syllogisms. Non-random eye movements took place during the solution phase directed to locations previously occupied by text in the display.

Performance characteristics of poetry: Some cross-linguistic comparisons

Abstract: A within-subject, cross-linguistic (L1 and L2) design was used to study poetry readings in two experiments. The primacy of the poetic line as determiner of temporal unitization is challenged. The relatively greater importance of punctuation in this regard is demonstrated. Personal style, language fluency, artistic skill, and characteristics of the respective poems, not characteristics of the specific languages (German, English, and French), are responsible for on- and off-time organization and patterns of emphasis.

Verbal and visual recall span curves between 1 ms and 1 min

Abstract: The recall spans for verbal and visual information were represented, respectively, in terms of the number of digits and the number of dots in a 5×5 matrix They were measured independently by the method of limits as functions of presentation times which ranged from 1 ms to 64 s The curves were very similar: each had two plateaus, one at 10 to 100 ms and one at 2 to 8 s presentation levels These plateaus suggest two kinds of capacity limitation on information processing The first limitation is concerned with the transfer of information from iconic memory to short-term memory (STM); the second indicates the saturation of the limited capacity short-term store Short-term and long-term mechanisms are involved not only in verbal memory but also in visual memory, since the second plateau followed by an increasing portion appears in the visual span curve as well as in the verbal one Finally, the distinction between verbal and visual STM is discussed, based on a) the selective interference effects of distracting tasks upon the retention of verbal and visual materials, and b) the weak correlation between verbal and visual spans

Masking and the identification of characters presented simultaneously and sequentially to the parafovea.

Abstract: The effects of masking and simultaneous vs sequential exposure on identification accuracy of parafoveally presented pairs of stimuli were examined in four experiments. When masking figures were continuously present in positions not occupied by stimulus characters, accuracy of identification was significantly poorer on the relatively central member of a pair when members were simultaneously exposed and when the central member was exposed second. When masking figures were not used, performance was significantly poorer on the central member only when pair members were exposed simultaneously. Requiring the identification of both members of the pair produced a different ordering of overall accuracy among the simultaneous and sequential conditions from when only one member was identified. It was concluded that asymmetric lateral inhibition of feature extraction operated only when target and nontarget were simultaneously present. An additional source of asymmetric disruption occurs when masking figures flanking the target change before or with the appearance of the target.

What makes a task difficult

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between different task requirements and children's task performance and ratings of task difficulty. Four hundred and sixty five children (9 to 13 years old) read texts and answered questions, involving well-defined or ill-defined goals and requiring different thought operations. It was found that rated difficulty and performance were highly related for questions involving a well-defined goal. A simple modus ponens inference was easiest, checking most difficult, and recall of the text ranked in the middle. A question, involving an ill-defined goal was rated to be most difficult, whereas performance was quite high. The results confirm the assumptions that judgment of difficulty relies on two sources of information: 1) perception of goal, and 2) perception of processing effort.

The influence of a secondary task and type of feedback on adaptation to lateral displacement of the visual array.

Abstract: This experiment was designed to investigate the influence of a secondary attention-demanding force-production task on adaptation to prismatic displacement. Recent suggestions by Finke (1979) lead to the prediction that a secondary task executed during adaptation would interfere with the central component of adaptation (as measured by intermanual transfer), but not the peripheral component (adaptation specific to adapted limb). There were three secondary task conditions (no task, easy task, difficult task). Other factors investigated were: type of feedback (continuous, terminal), hand adapted (right, left) and prism orientation (base right, base left). While negative aftereffect was not influenced by the secondary task manipulation, intermanual transfer results provide partial support for Finke's model. Correlational analyses indicate the importance of task-specific parameters in determining the nature of perceptual-motor adaptation.

Disparity-processing in Wilde's dot-row phenomenon

Abstract: In this investigation on Wilde's phenomenon vertical lines were used instead of dots. In three experiments it was found that for the occurrence of Wilde's phenomenon, it is a necessary condition that the distances between all lines including the monocular end-lines are equal. When this is not the case the Panum effect is observed. When the distance between the end-line and its adjacent line deviates slightly from the distance between the central lines, one observes apparent rotation and a Panum effect. The observed depth of the end-line is in accordance with its disparity. The observed rotation is less than can be expected from the position in depth of the end-line. The disparity of the end-line is fully processed. Part of its disparity is used for apparent rotation of the pattern, and part of it is used for a displacement of the whole pattern.

Visual access and phonological recoding in reading Italian.

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the accessing of codes used in the comprehension of Italian words. A semantic decision task was used in both experiments. Two models are proposed to explain the experimental results. Both assume that an entry in the lexicon may be located by two parallel routes, one visual and one phonological. When the visual familiarity of the sentences is disrupted by means of case alternation the subjects seem to rely more on the phonological code in accessing the lexicon. The results are compared with those reported for English readers.

Color sensation of normal and anomalous trichromats measured by magnitude estimation.

Abstract: Colors perceived by normal, protanomalous, and deuteranomalous trichromats were scaled by magnitude estimation. As a result, opponent-colors functions were obtained which show the hue sensations produced by spectral lights. For color-normal observers, the loci of maximal hue sensations were different in some aspects from those expected from current opponent-colors theories. The results obtained from the anomalous observers confirm the view that the causes of prot- and of deuteranomalous vision consist in reverse shifts of the long- and middle-wavelength cone sensitivities respectively. It was found that anomalous trichromats perceive less red in the violet spectrum than do normal subjects. This finding may be explained by the hypothesis that short-wave-length red is produced by a secondary maximum of the long-wavelength cone excitation. In the experiment, the main defect of anomalous trichromats, compared with normal subjects, consisted in the high instability of hue perception and hue recognition. This instability may be explained by an unfavorable signal/noise relation created by the similarity of the two long-wavelength receptor sensibilities in the anomalous red/green systems.

Wilde's dot-row phenomenon as a special case of aniseikonia

Abstract: In this investigation on Wilde's dot-row phenomenon vertical lines were used instead of dots. If was found that within the conditions of these experiments the apparent rotation of the patterns increased with increasing difference between the width of the monocular patterns (magnification between 5% and 10%), and decreased with increasing distance between the lines of the patterns. This distance varied from 4 arcmin to 10 arcmin. The apparent rotation of the patterns could be expressed by the regression equation R=a−b1δ+b2M, in which δ is the distance between the lines of the patterns and M is the percentage of magnification of one of the patterns in relation to the other one. From this regression equation the apparent rotation in aniseikonic random-dot patterns could be predicted. It was concluded that Wilde's phenomenon can be considered as an aniseikonic depth effect inhibited by the equal distance between the lines of the pattern.

Binaural Processing of Temporal and Intensity Cues: Suggestions for a One-System Model

Abstract: Models of auditory localization-lateralization assume either a single or different neural systems for the processing of binaural time delay and intensity differences. An experiment was conducted, making use of the effect of sensory adaptation. The results are in favour of assuming a single system which processes both temporal and intensity cues in binaural stimulation.

Retention performance as a function of the distinctiveness of memory traces and retention task

Abstract: In the acquisition phase of an incidental learning paradigm, words that are exemplars of categories were judged as to whether or not they belonged to a specified category. This was followed by a forced choice recognition task. The effects of three variables were studied: a) whether the acquisition task called for a positive or a negative response; b) the number of exemplar words per category; and c) whether distractor items in the recognition test came from the same category as the target words or from other categories. The results showed that recognition errors were influenced by all three variables. Unlike the variables a) and c) which showed significant main effects, the effect of number of exemplars per category was significant only for the same category distractor condition. In this condition more exemplars per category led to more recognition errors. The results are explained by assuming that retention performance is determined by two factors. The first factor is the distinctiveness of the memory traces. This is supposed to be a joint product of task-specific encoding and stimulus characteristics. The second factor is the distinctive similarity between the retrieval information and the stored memory traces. Although the results show some sublte effects that are not easy to explain, it is argued that this model offers a good account of the general findings.

The capacity for sequential evocation and the influence of frequency of word use

Abstract: In a free recall task it was demonstrated systematically that the evocation of a short list of unrelated words, individually presented, was in the majority of cases in conformity with the presentation order. This spontaneous recall in presentation order is called the capacity for sequential evocation (CSE). The CSE has a mode of four word units, though individual variation in its range does exist. In the present study it was shown that the introduction of frequently used words into a list (two in either initial, middle, or final positions) leads to most increase in recall in presentation order when they are placed in the initial positions. To create a situation of uncertainty with respect to strategies for information intake, lists of four words were mixed with lists of six and eight words with or without frequent words. Results confirm a theoretical perspective stipulating that the decay in the activation of response schemas (phonological and articulatory) will have the least adverse effect on recall performance when the level of activation is greatest (in proportion to the frequency of word use).