Cognition and Perception Commons^™

Reflections: Students' Tribute To Stan Kuczaj (1950-2016), Mark J. Xitco, Heather M. Hill, Marie Trone, Rachel T. Walker, Kymbr Wright, Radhika Macheka, Andrew J. Wright, Erica Hernandez, Deirdre Yeater, Lauren Highfill, Lance Miller, Holli Eskelinen, Courtney E. Smith, Pepper Hanna, Beri Brown, Kelly Winship, Natalia Botero, Erin E. Frick, Lisa Lauderdale, Kelsey Moreno, Kendal Smith, Audra Ames, Ali Taylor, Malin Lilley, Briana Cappiello, Riley Macgregor, Jennifer Vonk, Michael Beran

Psychology Faculty Publications

On April 14th, 2016, Animal Behavior and Cognition lost its Editor-in-Chief. But the scientific community and the friends and colleagues of Stanley ‘Stan’ Kuczaj III lost so much more. As many know, Stan began his career in Developmental Psychology, making enormous contributions in the area of language development, but became best known for his many innovative contributions in the area of marine mammal behavior. Stan founded Animal Behavior and Cognition because he was deeply passionate about research with a broad range of topics concerning animal behavior, animal cognition, and animal welfare. He was equally passionate about the idea that science …

Eyes Wide Open: Pupil Size As A Proxy For Inhibition In The Masked-Priming Paradigm, Jason Geller, Mary L. Still, Alison L. Morris

Psychology Faculty Publications

A core assumption underlying competitive-network models of word recognition is that in order for a word to be recognized, the representations of competing orthographically similar words must be inhibited. This inhibitory mechanism is revealed in the masked-priming lexical-decision task (LDT) when responses to orthographically similar word prime-target pairs are slower than orthographically different word prime-target pairs (i.e., inhibitory priming). In English, however, behavioral evidence for inhibitory priming has been mixed. In the present study, we utilized a physiological correlate of cognitive effort never before used in the masked-priming LDT, pupil size, to replicate and extend behavioral demonstrations of inhibitory …

Statistical Analyses Of The Resilience Function, Joseph W. Houpt, Daniel R. Little

Psychology Faculty Publications

The extent to which distracting information influences decisions can be informative about the nature of the underlying cognitive and perceptual processes. In a recent paper, a response time-based measure for quantifying the degree of interference (or facilitation) from distracting information termed resilience was introduced. Despite using a statistical measure, the analysis was limited to qualitative comparisons between different model predictions. In this paper, we demonstrate how statistical procedures from workload capacity analysis can be applied to the new resilience functions. In particular, we present an approach to null-hypothesis testing of resilience functions and a method based on functional principal components …

Age-Related Differences In Vehicle Control And Eye Movement Patterns At Intersections: Older And Middle-Aged Drivers, Yusuke Yamani, William J. Horrey, Yulan Liang, Donald L. Fisher

Psychology Faculty Publications

Older drivers are at increased risk of intersection crashes. Previous work found that older drivers execute less frequent glances for detecting potential threats at intersections than middle-aged drivers. Yet, earlier work has also shown that an active training program doubled the frequency of these glances among older drivers, suggesting that these effects are not necessarily due to age-related functional declines. In light of findings, the current study sought to explore the ability of older drivers to coordinate their head and eye movements while simultaneously steering the vehicle as well as their glance behavior at intersections. In a driving simulator, older …

Caffeinated And Non-Caffeinated Alcohol Use And Indirect Aggression: The Impact Of Self-Regulation, Brynn E. Sheehan, Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael, Cathy Lau-Barraco

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research shows that heavier alcohol use is associated with physical aggression. Scant research has examined the way in which alcohol relates to other forms of aggression, such as indirect aggression (e.g., malicious humor, social exclusion). Given the possible negative consequences of indirect aggression and the limited evidence suggesting alcohol use can elicit indirectly aggressive responses, research is needed to further investigate the association between drinking behavior and indirect aggression. Additionally, specific alcoholic beverages, such as caffeinated alcoholic beverages (CABs; e.g., Red Bull and vodka), may potentiate aggression above the influence of typical use, and thus warrant examination with regard to …

The Gaze-Cueing Effect In The United States And Japan: Influence Of Cultural Differences In Cognitive Strategies On Control Of Attention, Saki Takao, Yusuke Yamani, Atsunori Ariga

Psychology Faculty Publications

The direction of seen gaze automatically and exogenously guides visual spatial attention, a phenomenon termed as the gaze-cueing effect. Although this effect arises when the duration of stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between a non-predictive gaze cue and the target is relatively long, no empirical research examined the factors underlying this extended cueing effect. Two experiments compared the gaze-cueing effect at longer SOAs (700 ms) in Japanese and American participants. Cross-cultural studies on cognition suggest that Westerners tend to use a context-independent analytical strategy to process visual environments, whereas Asians use a context-dependent holistic approach. We hypothesized that Japanese participants would …

Holding A Stick At Both Ends: On Faces And Expertise, Assaf Harel, Dwight J. Kravitz, Chris I. Baker

Psychology Faculty Publications

Ever since Diamond and Carey's (1986) seminal work, object expertise has often been viewed through the prism of face perception (for a thorough discussion, see Tanaka and Gauthier, 1997; Sheinberg and Tarr, 2010). According to Wong and Wong (2014, W&W), however, this emphasis has simply been a response to the question of modularity of face perception, and has not been about expertise in and of itself. It is precisely this conflation of questions of expertise and modularity, the consequent focus on FFA, and the detrimental effect this had on the field of object expertise research that we discussed as part …

Mouse-Tracking Reveals When The Stroop Effect Happens., Sara Incera, Theresa A. Markis, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

We examined the continuous dynamics of the Stroop task using mouse-tracking. Participants moved the computer mouse to indicate the color of words presented on the computer screen in both congruent (blue in blue font) and incongruent (blue in yellow font) conditions. Mouse-tracking data revealed significant differences in reaction times, spatial attraction, and velocity. In the Stroop effect, word reading and color processing influenced performance, but they did so differently: Word reading influenced the early part of the mouse trajectory, but color processing influenced later parts. The data provide important new information about the real time processing dynamics underlying the effect.

Using Mouse Tracking To Examine The Time Course Of An Auditory Lexical Decision Task, Maura Krestar, Sara Incera, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Mouse-tracking studies demonstrate that hand movements reveal the progression of responses over time during
psychological tasks. In the present study, we examined the time course of cognitive processing during an auditory lexical
decision task. The following predicted results emerged to indicate facilitation for words relative to nonwords: 1) shorter
reaction times; 2) fewer direction changes, and, compared to the ideal trajectory; 3) smaller deviation; and, 4) area under
the curve for words relative to nonwords. We also found predicted differences between words and nonwords in velocity
throughout the trials, providing a greater understanding of the real-time processing dynamics throughout the …

Are All Types Of Expertise Created Equal? Car Experts Use Different Spatial Frequency Scales For Subordinate Categorization Of Cars And Faces, Assaf Harel, Shlomo Bentin

Psychology Faculty Publications

A much-debated question in object recognition is whether expertise for faces and expertise for non-face objects utilize common perceptual information. We investigated this issue by assessing the diagnostic information required for different types of expertise. Specifically, we asked whether face categorization and expert car categorization at the subordinate level relies on the same spatial frequency (SF) scales. Fifteen car experts and fifteen novices performed a category verification task with spatially filtered images of faces, cars, and airplanes. Images were categorized based on their basic (e.g. ‘‘car’’) and subordinate level (e.g. ‘‘Japanese car’’) identity. The effect of expertise was not evident …

Aspects Of Facial Contrast Decrease With Age And Are Cues For Age Perception, Aurelie Porcheron, Emmanuelle Mauger, Richard Russell

Psychology Faculty Publications

Age is a primary social dimension. We behave differently toward people as a function of how old we perceive them to be. Age perception relies on cues that are correlated with age, such as wrinkles. Here we report that aspects of facial contrast–the contrast between facial features and the surrounding skin–decreased with age in a large sample of adult Caucasian females. These same aspects of facial contrast were also significantly correlated with the perceived age of the faces. Individual faces were perceived as younger when these aspects of facial contrast were artificially increased, but older when these aspects of facial …

Examining The Effects Of Variation In Emotional Tone Of Voice On Spoken Word Recognition, Maura L. Krestar, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Emotional tone of voice (ETV) is essential for optimal verbal communication. Research has found that the impact of variation in nonlinguistic features of speech on spoken word recognition differs according to a time course. In the current study, we investigated whether intratalker variation in ETV follows the same time course in two long-term repetition priming experiments. We found that intratalker variability in ETVs affected reaction times to spoken words only when processing was relatively slow and difficult, not when processing was relatively fast and easy. These results provide evidence for the use of both abstract and episodic lexical representations for …

Self-Defining Memories, Scripts, And The Life Story: Narrative Identity In Personality And Psychotherapy, Jefferson A. Singer, Pavel Blagov, Meredith Berry, Kathryn M. Oost

Psychology Faculty Publications

An integrative model of narrative identity builds on a dual memory system that draws on episodic memory and a long-term self to generate autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memories related to critical goals in a lifetime period lead to life-story memories, which in turn become self-defining memories when linked to an individual's enduring concerns. Self-defining memories that share repetitive emotion-outcome sequences yield narrative scripts, abstracted templates that filter cognitive-affective processing. The life story is the individual's overarching narrative that provides unity and purpose over the life course. Healthy narrative identity combines memory specificity with adaptive meaning-making to achieve insight and well-being, as …

Bayesian Approaches To Assessing Architecture And Stopping Rule, Joseph W. Houpt, Andrew Heathcote, Ami Eidels, J. T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

Much of scientific psychology and cognitive science can be viewed as a search to understand the mechanisms and dynamics of perception, thought and action. Two processing attributes of particular interest to psychologists are the architecture, or temporal relationships between sub-processes of the system, and the stopping rule, which dictates how many of the sub-processes must be completed for the system to finish. The Survivor Interaction Contrast (SIC) is a powerful tool for assessing the architecture and stopping rule of a mental process model. Thus far, statistical analysis of the SIC has been limited to null-hypothesis- significance tests. In this talk …

Color In Context: Psychological Context Moderates The Influence Of Red On Approach- And Avoidance-Motivated Behavior, Brian P. Meier, Paul R. D'Agostino, Andrew J. Elliott, Markus A. Meier, Benjamin M. Wilkowski

Psychology Faculty Publications

A basic premise of the recently proffered color-in-context model is that the influence of color on psychological functioning varies as a function of the psychological context in which color is perceived. Some research has examined the appetitive and aversive implications of viewing the color red in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts, respectively, but in all existing empirical work approach and avoidance behavior has been studied in separate tasks and separate experiments. Research is needed to directly test whether red influences the same behavior differently depending entirely on psychological context.

The present experiment was designed to put this premise to direct test …

Examinng Talker Effects In The Perception Of Native And Foreign-Accented Speech, Conor T. Mclennan, Julio Alvarez Gonzalez

Psychology Faculty Publications

Understanding the circumstances under which talker (and other types of) variability affects language perception represents an important area of research in the field of spoken word recognition. Previous work has demonstrated that talker effects are more likely when processing is relatively slow (M(c)Lennan & Luce, 2005). Given that listeners may take longer to process foreign-accented speech than native-accented speech (Munro & Derwing, Language and Speech, 38, 289-306 1995), talker effects should be more likely when listeners are presented with words spoken in a foreign accent than when they are presented with those same words spoken …

General Recognition Theory Extended To Include Response Times: Predictions For A Class Of Parallel Systems, James T. Townsend, Joseph W. Houpt, Noah H. Silbert

Psychology Faculty Publications

General Recognition Theory (GRT; Ashby & Townsend, 1986) is a multidimensional theory of classification. Originally developed to study various types of perceptual independence, it has also been widely employed in diverse cognitive venues, such as categorization. The initial theory and applications have been static, that is, lacking a time variable and focusing on patterns of responses, such as confusion matrices. Ashby proposed a parallel, dynamic stochastic version of GRT with application to perceptual independence based on discrete linear systems theory with imposed noise (Ashby, 1989). The current study again focuses on cognitive/perceptual independence within an identification classification paradigm. We extend …

Configuration As A Source Of Information, Joseph W. Houpt, Robert D. Hawkins, Ami Eidels, James T. Townsend, Michael J. Wenger

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fundamental Properties Of Simple Emergent Feature Processing, Robert D. Hawkins, Joseph W. Houpt, Ami Eidels, James T. Townsend, Michael J. Wenger

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

General Recognition Theory Extended To Include Response Times: Predictions For A Class Of Parallel Systems, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend, Noah H. Silbert

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Statistical Test For The Capacity Coefficient, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Deep Space 9 To The Gamma Quadrant!, James T. Townsend, Joseph W. Houpt

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Extension Of Sic Predictions To The Wiener Coactive Model, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

The survivor interaction contrasts (SIC) is a powerful measure for distinguishing among candidate models of human information processing. One class of models to which SIC analysis can apply are the coactive, or channel summation, models of human information processing. In general, parametric forms of coactive models assume that responses are made based on the first passage time across a fixed threshold of a sum of stochastic processes. Previous work has shown that the SIC for a coactive model based on the sum of Poisson processes has a distinctive down--up--down form, with an early negative region that is smaller than the …

A New Perspective On Visual Word Processing Efficiency, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nice Guys Finish Fast And Bad Guys Finish Last: Facilitatory Vs. Inhibitory Interaction In Parallel Systems, Ami Eidels, Joseph W. Houpt, Nicholas Altieri, Lei Pei, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

Systems Factorial Technology is a powerful framework for investigating the fundamental properties of human information processing such as architecture (i.e., serial or parallel processing) and capacity (how processing efficiency is affected by increased workload). The Survivor Interaction Contrast (SIC) and the Capacity Coefficient are effective measures in determining these underlying properties, based on response-time data. Each of the different architectures, under the assumption of independent processing, predicts a specific form of the SIC along with some range of capacity. In this study, we explored SIC predictions of discrete-state (Markov process) and continuous-state (Linear Dynamic) models that allow for certain types …

The Effect Of Priming A Thin Ideal On The Subsequent Perception Of Conceptually Related Body Image Words, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Our research examined the effects of thin ideal priming on the perception of body image words in participants without an eating disorder. Half of the participants were primed by viewing thin models, and half were primed with gender-neutral shoes. Subsequently, all participants (N=56) completed a Stroop task for three categories of words: neutral (BOOKS), shoe (CLOGS), and body (THIGHS). Lastly, all participants completed a body dissatisfaction questionnaire. We predicted that body dissatisfaction scores would be correlated with the Stroop effect. We found a significant correlation between body dissatisfaction and the body effect of slower color naming times for the body …

A Perceptually Based Comparison Of Image Similarity Metrics, Richard Russell, Pawan Sinha

Psychology Faculty Publications

The assessment of how well one image matches another forms a critical component both of models of human visual processing and of many image analysis systems. Two of the most commonly used norms for quantifying image similarity are L1 and L2, which are specific instances of the Minkowski metric. However, there is often not a principled reason for selecting one norm over the other. One way to address this problem is by examining whether one metric, better than the other, captures the perceptual notion of image similarity. This can be used to derive inferences regarding similarity criteria the human visual …

Investigating Intrinsic And Extrinsic Variables During Simulated Internet Search, Molly M. Liechty, Poornima Madhaven

Psychology Faculty Publications

Using an eye tracker we examined decision-making processes during an internet search task. Twenty experienced homebuyers and twenty-five undergraduates from Old Dominion University viewed homes on a simulated real estate website. Several of the homes included physical properties that had the potential to negatively impact individual perceptions. These negative externalities were either easy to change (Level 1) or impossible to change (Level 2). Eye movements were analyzed to examine the relationship between participants' "stated preferences"[verbalized preferences], "revealed preferences" [actual decisions[, and experience. Dwell times, fixation durations/counts, and saccade counts/amplitudes were analyzed. Results revealed that experienced homebuyers demonstrated a more refined …

The Statistical Properties Of The Survivor Interaction Contrast, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

The Survivor Interaction Contrast (SIC) is a powerful tool for assessing the architecture and stopping rule of a model of mental processes. Despite its demonstrated utility, the methodology has lacked a method for statistical testing until now. In this paper we briefly describe the SIC then develop some basic statistical properties of the measure. These developments lead to a statistical test for rejecting certain classes of models based on the SIC. We verify these tests using simulated data, then demonstrate their use on data from a simple cognitive task.

Listen Carefully: The Risk Of Error In Spoken Medication Orders, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Clinicians and patients often confuse drug names that sound alike. We conducted auditory perception experiments in the United States to assess the impact of similarity, familiarity, background noise and other factors on clinicians' (physicians, family pharmacists, nurses) and laypersons' ability to identify spoken drug names. We found that accuracy increased significantly as the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio increased, as subjective familiarity with the name increased and as the national prescribing frequency of the name increased. For clinicians only, similarity to other drug names reduced identification accuracy, especially when the neighboring names were frequently prescribed. When one name was substituted for another, …