Showing papers on "Perceptual psychology published in 2006"

Gibson, James J.

Abstract: James J. Gibson (1904–1979) was a leading American scholar and researcher in the field of perception. His dynamic and functional approach radically changed perceptual theories of the time and led to his own theory, the ecological approach to perception. Keywords: perception; adaptation; flow pattern; perceptual systems; ecological approach

The Rationality Debate: Application of Cognitive Psychology to Mathematics Education

Abstract: Research in mathematics education usually attempts to look into students’ learning and other mental processes. It could therefore be expected to build on knowledge acquired within the academic discipline of cognitive psychology. Our aim in this paper is to show how some recent developments in cognitive psychology can help interpret empirical results from mathematics education. In particular, we will be looking into the heuristics-and-biases research by Kahneman and Tversky, the alternative views by Gigerenzer et al., and the more recent dual-process theory that has come to play a central role in interpreting this research. We first introduce the relevant background from cognitive psychology and survey its connections to previous work in mathematics education; then we apply this theoretical framework for re-interpreting previously-published empirical data from mathematics education research. We conclude with a discussion of potential theoretical and practical benefits of such synthesis.

The neglect of the environment by cognitive psychology.

Abstract: In 1955, Egon Brunswik presented a paper in which heargued that neglect of the environment and over empha-sis of the organism was the major downfall of cognitivepsychology. His critiques have largely been ignored andresearch is discussed that demonstrates the same organis-mic-asymmetry Brunswik detailed in 1955. This researchis discussed in attribution terms since experimental psy-chologists make behavioral attributions. This organismic-asymmetry has resulted in a body of research that is guiltyof the fundamental attribution error. Brunswik’s theoryof representative design, proposed to address organismic-asymmetry, is discussed and contrasted with calls for eco-logical validity. Although calls for ecological validity arewell intentioned, they lack any systematic theory of theenvironment and fall significantly short of Brunswik’sideal.In 1955, Kenneth Hammond presented Brunswik’s paper, “Scopeand aspects of the cognitive problem,” at one of the first ever confer-ences on cognition. Hammond (2001) writes that “in this paper he[Brunswik] made a strong effort to make the whole of his life’s workintelligible to his peers” (p. 298). The theme of this paper, if not thelanguage, is simple; psychology has neglected the environment. Brun-swik (1957/2001) writes “if there is anything that still ails psychology ingeneral, and the psychology of cognition specifically, it is the neglect ofthe investigation of environmental or ecological texture in favor of thatof the texture of organismic structures and processes.” Brunswik’sargument still carries weight today and psychology in general, and cog-nitive psychology specifically, has still not dealt with the criticisms lev-ied against it by Brunswik 50 years ago.Brunswik began that 1955 paper with the following sentences, “Oneof the broadest and most universally accepted definitions of psychol-ogy conceives of psychology as being concerned with the interrelation-ships between organism and environment. In this definition bothorganism and environment appear as equal partners” (p. 300, 1957/

The logic of the stimulus

Abstract: This paper examines the contribution of stimulus processing to animal logics. In the classic functionalist S-O-R view of learning (and cognition), stimuli provide the raw material to which the organism applies its cognitive processes–its logic, which may be taxon-specific. Stimuli may contribute to the logic of the organism's response, and may do so in taxon-specific ways. Firstly, any non-trivial stimulus has an internal organization that may constrain or bias the way that the organism addresses it; since stimuli can only be defined relative to the organism's perceptual apparatus, and this apparatus is taxon-specific, such constraints or biases will often be taxon-specific. Secondly, the representation of a stimulus that the perceptual system builds, and the analysis it makes of this representation, may provide a model for the synthesis and analysis done at a more cognitive level. Such a model is plausible for evolutionary reasons: perceptual analysis was probably perfected before cognitive analysis in the evolutionary history of the vertebrates. Like stimulus-driven analysis, such perceptually modelled cognition may be taxon-specific because of the taxon-specificity of the perceptual apparatus. However, it may also be the case that different taxa are able to free themselves from the stimulus logic, and therefore apply a more abstract logic, to different extents. This thesis is defended with reference to two examples of cases where animals' cognitive logic seems to be isomorphic with perceptual logic, specifically in the case of pigeons' attention to global and local information in visual stimuli, and dogs' failure to comprehend means-end relationships in string-pulling tasks.

The contribution of cognitive psychology to the study of human intelligence

Abstract: Cognitive Psychology (CP) in the last 50 years has shown impressive development, producing a large body of data mainly concerned with specific elements of the complex cognitive architecture of the mind. The focus on single processes, in large part necessarily narrow and detailed, has not prevented the development of general concepts, paradigms, and models that can be useful to all areas of psychology. In fact, since the mind’s operations typically studied by CP, such as memory, attention, language, reasoning, and so on, are the basis for every psychological activity and behaviour, their scientific analysis can be used by other associated areas of study, for example Social Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Applied Psychology, Educational Psychology, Developmental Psychology, etc. Indeed, we are observing in these areas an increasing interest in concepts emerging from CP. The potential contribution of CP to the study of human intelligence is particularly representative and interesting. In fact, the consideration of individual differences in cognitive abilities and, in particular, in intelligence is one of the main topics that should be covered by CP. But this has not been the case for many years. Despite its obvious importance, the concept of intelligence has been suspiciously considered by many researchers and in particular by researchers working in the cognitive area. An implicit consideration has been that the concept ‘‘intelligence’’ is ill-defined and lacks an association with a well-supported research tradition. The misleading and circular definition of ‘‘intelligence’’, as the dimension measured by intelligence tests, was considered representative of the theoretical poverty of the field. For this reason the study of intelligence was mainly left to psychologists working in the psychometric tradition and to a certain extent the field of developmental psychology. However there are now signs that the time has come for CP to make a more substantial contribution to the study of individual differences in intelligence and other related cognitive abilities.

Colour as a Gestalt: Pop out with basic features and with conjunctions

Abstract: Gestalt phenomena are a cornerstone of perceptual psychology. Although sometimes poorly understood, they are powerful and robust effects with significant implications for how we recognize objects and parse scenes. Traditionally, the study of Gestalts has focused on visual form perception, where parts combine in nonadditive ways to create wholes possessing novel emergent properties different from the “sum of their parts”. Here I argue that colour perception meets the customary criteria applied to Gestalts at least well as shape perception does, in that colour emerges from nonadditive combination of wavelengths in the perceptual system and results in novel, emergent features. Regarding colour as a (and perhaps as the quintessential) Gestalt may help demystify Gestalts and help us better understand the role of colour in tasks such as visual search that are used to identify basic features in early vision. Colour should be thought of not as a basic feature or primitive property of the stimulus but rather as a ...

Soldier-in-the-Loop Target Acquisition Performance Prediction Through 2001: Integration of Perceptual and Cognitive Models

Abstract: : Modeling Soldier-in-the-loop target acquisition performance is necessary for the development of improved sensors, more effective training methods, and better war game simulations. Accurately modeling requires a detailed understanding of how the observer employs sensor information to acquire a target. This report takes a two-pronged approach to how future models can be improved by the sensible integration of human visual processing. One prong concerns basic research from the perceptual psychology community. Over the last few decades, this research has generated a detailed theoretical understanding of visual processing and decision making, based on visual information. The other prong concerns important models, modeling frameworks, and scene metrics from the military target acquisition community. Particular attention is paid to issues of clutter, the extendibility of the Johnson criteria, classical and neoclassical search frameworks, the selection of methods and performance metrics, and existing Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate models. Phenomena from perceptual psychology known to affect target acquisition are reviewed in terms of how target acquisition models do and do not account for them. Basic models of visual search are included as guides for how target acquisition models may incorporate some of these factors. Visual selective attention is recommended as a means for the theoretically meaningful inclusion of psychologically important factors into target acquisition modeling.

Improving Clinical Decision Making Through Ecological Interfaces

Abstract: Robert E. Shaw's Intentional Dynamics Laboratory was the impetus for considerable applied research that both stimulated and tested Shaw's developing theory. In this article, the author describes the work she and Shaw did together on clinical display design, using this project as a vehicle through which readers may gain a sense of what those who worked in Shaw's laboratory experienced. The article begins with an introduction to the patient safety problem as it relates to clinical display design, reveals the source of the problem as analogous to the central problem in perceptual psychology, then explores how an ecological psychology developed by Gibson and extended by Shaw's intentional dynamics can contribute to a solution. The author then describes how she and her colleagues have applied the ecological approach to clinical display design and the results of that effort.

Towards a Darwinian Approach to Mathematics

Abstract: In the past decades, recent paradigm shifts in ethology, psychology, and the social sciences have given rise to various new disciplines like cognitive ethology and evolutionary psychology. These disciplines use concepts and theories of evolutionary biology to understand and explain the design, function and origin of the brain. I shall argue that there are several good reasons why this approach could also apply to human mathematical abilities. I will review evidence from various disciplines (cognitive ethology, cognitive psychology, cognitive archaeology and neuropsychology) that suggests that the human capacity for mathematics is a category-specific domain of knowledge, hard-wired in the brain, which can be explained as the result of natural selection.

A perceptual heuristic for shadow computation in photo-realistic images

Abstract: Perceptual research in photo-realistic rendering has mainly focused on the limitations of the human visual system to predict visible differences between the pixels of a radiometrically correct image and an approximation of the same image [Daly 1993]. However, research in perceptual psychology and vision suggests that image in- terpretation is inherently a higher-level, feature-based process. Furthermore, applications rarely demand a direct comparison to a radiometrically correct image, so approximations can be less strict. We propose a novel approach to perception that is geared towards these conditions for observing images.

Pictures, Colour and Resemblance

Abstract: Resemblances between colour pictures and their subject-matter can be identified I use insights from perceptual psychology to develop a description of these shared colour properties While resemblances do exist, they do not support resemblance theories of depiction Instead, the character of these resemblances is determined by the construction of our visual system, and is not necessary for depiction These results support a theory of depiction which holds that our abilities of visual recognition are crucial to our ability to understand pictures

Changing the interface with minimal disruption: The roles of layout and labels

Abstract: Changing the Interface with Minimal Disruption: The Roles of Layout and Labels

Applied cognitive psychology : a textbook

Abstract: Contents: Preface. Part I: Fundamentals. Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology. Similarities and Differences Between Basic and Applied Cognitive Psychology. Methodology of Cognitive Research. Approaches and Methods of Applied Research. Phases of Application and the Basic-Applied Cycle: The Yin and Yang of Science. Basic Cognitive Psychology: Framework for Application. Part II: Application. Attention, Perception, and Imagery. Comprehension and Learning. Retention and Remembering. Reasoning, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. Part III: Noncognitive Factors Affecting Cognition and Application. Social Interaction and Communication. The Physical Environment. Physiological and Emotional States. Responding. Cognitive Assessment. Occupational Experience. Careers of Applied Cognitive Psychologists. The Future of Applied Cognitive Psychology. Epilogue: The Aim of Practical Psychology.

Converging on a richer understanding of human behavior and experience through a blending of cognitive and clinical psychology.

Abstract: McClelland, Kemps, and Tiggemann's (this issue) use of experimental methods typically used in cognitive psychology to reduce the intensity of food cravings formed the basis for maintaining that an understanding of human experiences and behaviors requires a blending of cognitive and clinical psychological approaches. Clinical psychology can adapt cognitive models of information processing to understand the mechanisms underlying clinical phenomena and to create and evaluate effective interventions. Cognitive psychology should broaden its scope to include information relevant to clinical phenomena, such as desire, attitudes, self-regulation, and temperament. Only through a blending of these two fields will we converge on a richer understanding of human behavior and experience. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 62: 367–371, 2006.

Designing Usable Charts for ComplexWork Settings

Abstract: Advances in graphing applications, plug-ins and toolkits means that integrating charts and graphs into software is easier than ever before. However, selecting the optimal graphing technique for a workers task remains a difficult challenge. Information visualisation experts draw on research from cognitive engineering, perceptual psychology and human computer interaction when designing displays. For the increasing number of developers who are integrating visual displays into applications, there is for a lack of a general methodology that pulls together key activities from these diverse fields. In the absence of such a methodology, it is very difficult for software developers to identify if their choice of representation satisfies both the user’s tasks and perceptual limitations. We describe the approach taken in the redesign of an interactive chart used in a High Volume Manufacturing environment. We show how analyses of the work domain, the data and the users’ tasks are all crucial steps in the design process.

Current issues in pictorial semiotics. Lecture three: From the Critique of the Iconicity Critique to Pictorality

Abstract: In order to show why Eco, Goodman, and others were wrong in their classical critique of iconicity, we will pursue a close reading of Peirce, but we will interpret his text in accordance with more recent findings in cognitive and perceptual psychology. We will arrive at the conclusion that there are two very different kinds of iconicity, which we will call primary and secondary iconicity. Even so, pictorial iconicity has its peculiarities, which we will also try to elucidate. We will also consider to what extent the linguistic model may still be helpful, and in which respects it is misleading.

Modern Cognitive Psychology in an Ecological Perspective

Abstract: Mechanical world outlook advocates “human centrality” while ecological world outlook propagates “ecological centrality”. The latter thinks that the humanity is the result of natural evolution and that his physical tissues and spiritual structure are formed in the course of his interaction with the natural world. Therefore, the value and meaning of the humanity manifest themselves not only in society but also in their relation to the evolution of nature as a whole. Innovative though modern cognitive psychology is in some way, it failed to effectively realize the evolution of world outlook and methodology because it didn’t thoroughly rid itself of the impact of mechanic materialism. The newly-emerged applied cognitive psychology and cognitive neurotic science contribute a syntheticism of ecology. Therefore, it is believed that cognitive psychology will follow a path for pluralistic study of synthetic ecology in the future.

Review Essay Developmental Comparative Psychology and Development of Comparisons

Abstract: Heinz Werner’s (1890–1964) book Comparative Psychology of Mental Development is reviewed in the context of the dynamics of values and types of scientific rationality, sciences of complexity, cognitive psychology and cultural studies. The reviewer describes developmental tasks of the orthogenetic law applied to dynamical systems that are far from equilibrium between integration and differentiation, to the role of uncertainty, and to paradoxes of systems thinking, and compares epistemic, social and ethical problems raised by Werner and modern researchers.