Showing papers on "Perceptual psychology published in 1997"

Creating False Memories

Abstract: Researchers are showing how suggestion and imagination can be used to create "memories" of events that did not actually occur.

An Introduction to Cognitive Education: Theory and Applications

Abstract: Cognitive education brings together the disciplines of cognitive psychology and education. This book provides an introduction to the field. It explains the concepts commonly found in the cognitive psychology and cognitive education literatures, theories and models of human thinking and intelligent behaviour, and how these have been applied to psychoeducational assessment, instruction, and the adaption of student behaviour. The book includes numerous examples to explain the concepts, theories, and applications, and includes supplementary reading lists and study questions.

Learning to Bridge Between Perception and Cognition

Abstract: This chapter discusses that in building models of cognition, it is customary to commence construction on the foundations laid by perception. Perception is presumed to provide with an initial source of information that is operated on by subsequent cognitive processes. As with the foundation of a house, a premium is placed on stability and solidity. Stable edifices require stable support structures. By this view, the cognitive processes are well behaved to the degree that they depend on the stable structures established by the perceptual system. The chapter discusses the theories of perceptual learning that are specific enough to be implemented on computers, and precise enough to make quantitative predictions regarding behavior. Perceptual learning may still not be one of the mainstream topics within cognitive psychology, but several laboratories seem aware of the need for adaptive perception. Researchers in cognition are interested in providing flexible support structures for higher-level processes, while researchers in perception are interested in explaining the major sources of variability in perception due to training and history. Together, these research programs hold the promise of uniting perceptual and cognitive adaptability.

Scopes of perception: The experimental manipulation of space and time

Abstract: Discussions of space and time have been grist to the philosophers' mill for centuries. We argue that the evolution of psychology as an independent discipline was in part a consequence of addressing philosophical questions concerning the perception of space and time by recourse to experiment rather than exposition. Two initially separate factors assisted in establishing this independence. On the one hand, it was driven by the invention of instruments for stimulus control so that the methods of physics could be applied to the study of perceptual phenomena. On the other hand and somewhat later, it was followed by the development of psychophysical methods, which opened the possibility of quantifying the responses to such controlled stimulation. The principal instruments were invented in the first half of the nineteenth century, and they consisted of simple contrivances that manipulated time and space in ways that had not previously been appreciated. This article examines the devices that were invented, like stroboscopes, anorthoscopes, stereoscopes, tachistoscopes, chronoscopes, and more recently oscilloscopes, and the ways in which they influenced the scope of perceptual psychology in the past as well as in the present. In contemporary experimental psychology all these instruments have been replaced by the computer. While it has extended the scope of experiments even further it has introduced a new set of limitations.

Colour categorization and the space between perception and language.

Abstract: We need to reconsider and reconceive the path that will take us from innate perceptual saliencies to basic (and perhaps other) colour language. There is a space between the perceptual and the linguistic levels that needs to be filled by an account of the rules that people use to generate relatively stable reference classes in a social context.

Toward a new behaviorism

Abstract: This essay is a call for a modification of the basic paradigm of perceptual psychology. Based upon an earlier work (Uttal, 1990) in which I argued that neither a cognitive nor neurophysiological reductionist approach to perceptual science was likely to prove viable, the present essay carries the argument a step further. A new behaviorism is suggested that is mathematically descriptive, non-reductionist, holistic, empiricist, rationalist, and multidimensional. The meanings I attach to these terms are clarified by a short lexicon and the desired properties of the new behaviorism are spelled out.

Invitational Counselling: An Expanded Framework for Comprehensive School Counselling Programs.

Abstract: This article presents an overview of invitational counselling, an approach to counselling based on self-concept theory, perceptual psychology, and invitational theory. The approach is encouraged as an expanded framework for designing comprehensive school counselling programs of services for students, parents, and teachers.

Elaborating Cognitive Psychology through Linkages to Psychology as a Helping Profession

Abstract: Many psychology students are interested in psychology as a helping profession. Teachers of cognitive psychology can establish links from the cognitive course to psychology as a helping profession that will motivate students both to take the course and to learn more effectively in the course because of personal meaningfulness. Teachers of cognitive psychology can establish at least 6 major links throughout the course.

Cognitive and Perceptual Limitations and Learning: An Excursion into Connectionist Theory

Abstract: Most developmental theories consider development as a process in which an organism grows from an immature (biological, behavioral, sensory, and cognitive) state to a mature one, the latter being more

Deaf College Students' Representation of Image and Verbal Information.

Abstract: This paper discusses the results of a study of 27 college students with deafness that investigated whether cognitive processes are modality dependent in individuals with deafness. The experiment included two separate parts, one composed of shape trials and the other composed of word trials. An initial stimulus was shown on a computer screen for two seconds. A two second retention period was followed by presentation of the test stimulus. Participants responded by pressing either the "Shift" key, to designate that they felt that the test stimulus included all the same shapes or shape words as the initial stimulus, or the "Option" key to designate that there was at least one different shape or shape word in the test stimulus. For initial and test stimuli in which the positions of shapes or words were the same, participants responded to the shapes more quickly when they appeared in an array than when they appeared in a linear format; however, results suggest subjects retained the word information in a sequential, sentence-like format. Strong readers performed better than weak readers on word stimuli. The study indicates that dual coding theory predictions hold for individuals with deafness. (CR) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** 0 0 Deaf College Students' Representation of Image and Verbal Information PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) (P----' iU . DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Off ,a of Educational Research and Improvement E CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION (r) This document has been reproduced as CENTER (ERIC) (.1) originating it. received from the person or organization a Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. (.X) Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Deaf College Students' Representation of Image and Verbal Information Kenneth Epstein, Gallaudet University Bryan D. Fantie, American University Thomas Mayer, American University Introduction One of the more controversial questions asked by cognitive psychologists is whether the representation of information in memory varies depending on the modality of the stimulus. For example, one possibility is that visual/spatial information or images may be processed and stored in a form different from verbal information. An alternative hypothesis is that there is a common mental representation of information independent of modality (Anderson, 1985). This question is of particular interest to researchers interested in deafness, since American Sign Language (ASL) appears to require simultaneous processing of both visual information and verbal information. Paivio's (1990) "Dual Coding Approach" is one of the most fully developed theories, taking the point of view that the mental representation of information is modality dependent. His theory states that there are two classes of phenomena, verbal and non-verbal, handled cognitively by two separate, but interconnected, subsystems. The non-verbal subsystem is usually referred to as the imagery system because among its functions are the analysis of scenes and the generation and manipulation of mental images. The verbal subsystem refers primarily to functions related to language and language processing. The subsystems are separate in the sense that one or the other, or both can be active at any given time. They are also separate in that internal representations are modality specific, and performance of memory related tasks are expected to have different characteristics depending on modality. The subsystems are interconnected in 3\ the sense that they can activate each other and in that verbal and non-verbal memories may be associated with one another. The theory posits that a multitude of subsystems is required to affect successful