Cognition and Perception Commons^™

Can Computational Models Of Shape Explain Object Perception?, Sp Arun, Rt Pramod

MODVIS Workshop

Despite advances in computation and machine learning, computers are still far behind humans in vision. This is most likely because humans use a sophisticated object representation which is very different from that used in computers today. Another challenge is that object representations in computer vision and human vision have not been systematically compared on the same objects. To address this issue, we measured perceptual dissimilarity between objects in humans in a visual search (taking search difficulty as an index of target-distracter similarity). We then compared these observed dissimilarities against the dissimilarity predicted by a large number of state-of-the-art computational models …

Object Recognition And Visual Search With A Physiologically Grounded Model Of Visual Attention, Frederik Beuth, Fred H. Hamker

MODVIS Workshop

Visual attention models can explain a rich set of physiological data (Reynolds & Heeger, 2009, Neuron), but can rarely link these findings to real-world tasks. Here, we would like to narrow this gap with a novel, physiologically grounded model of visual attention by demonstrating its objects recognition abilities in noisy scenes.

To base the model on physiological data, we used a recently developed microcircuit model of visual attention (Beuth & Hamker, in revision, Vision Res) which explains a large set of attention experiments, e.g. biased competition, modulation of contrast response functions, tuning curves, and surround suppression. Objects are represented by …

Locke, Figure, And Judgement: A Consistent Answer To The Molyneux Problem, Jamale Nagi

Student Research Symposium

Ever since the early modern period the Molyneux Problem has been a topic of debate both in the philosophy of perception and the psychology of perception. The problem centers on whether the senses share representational content between one another, or does each sense modality have its own stock of representational content that becomes associated with the others after some habituation. For example, if you knew a shape only by touch, could you identify that shape when seeing it for the first time without being allowed to touch the object? Typically, rationalists have held to the former claiming yes, while empiricists …

The Effect Of Auditory Stimuli On Visual Time-To-Contact Perception, Chelsea L. Rugel

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Previous research has demonstrated that auditory and visual stimuli have individual effects on the accuracy of a person’s estimation of time-to-contact (TTC), the time at which two objects collide. Prior findings also suggest that there is cross-modal interference between vision and audition; however, this phenomenon has never been studied in a TTC situation. (Driver & Spence, 1998; Ichikawa & Masskura, 2006; Roseboom, Kawabe, & Nishida, 2013) In this study we attempted to fill in this research gap by examining the effect of auditory speed cues over visual speed cues in a two-dimensional TTC scenario, and by determining if an object’s …

The Effect Of Global And Local Processing In The Attentional Blink, Ashley Kalavritinos

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The attentional blink (AB) is an individual’s inability to perceive the second of two targets presented in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). The constructs of global and local attention have been a principle concern in modern psychology. The perception of an object as an overall form is referred to as the global aspect, while the separate parts compose the local aspect. The purpose of this study was to explore whether the following factors affect the characteristics of an individual’s AB: (1) When target one (T1) and target two (T2) were the same or different letters (2) Whether T1 was …

The Psychology Of Cyberbullying As Seen Through The University Of Rhode Island, Meaghan Rose Costello

Senior Honors Projects

Cyberbullying is among the most common forms of bullying in today’s American society. There has been an increase in communication through social media, texting, and other forms of technology, as well as a decrease in ‘real-life’ and interpersonal communication. Technological advances have facilitated indirect and passive aggressive forms of harassment on the internet. Many people know someone who has experienced cyberbullying, or have experienced it themselves. Bullying in general receives tremendous attention—with nonprofit groups on a mission to spread awareness and schools actively outlining detailed policies against it, children grow up understanding its repercussions. However, this form of bullying has …

The Effects Of Age And Task On Visual Emotion Processing, Nicole Elaine Chambers

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Younger adults’ perception of and attention to facial stimuli are enhanced by positive and negative emotional expressions, with negativity leading to a greater benefit than positivity. Conversely, older adults demonstrate a positivity bias, devoting more attention to positive stimuli and less to negative. It is unclear if age differences in these attentional preferences emerge due to differences in how their perceptual systems respond to positive and negative stimuli. Emotional facial expressions elicit enhanced P1 and N170 components of visually-evoked event-related potentials (ERP) over posterior scalp regions associated with vision. The current study examined the extent to which angry and happy …

Putting Vision And Learning Into Action: Reflections On My Process Of Becoming A Creativity Professional, Vivian L. Geffen

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This Master’s Project describes and reflects on elements of my journey to becoming a Creativity Professional. Originally this semester-long project, was focused on my learning about bodymind principles of transformation so that I could then apply them to an original 4-week workshop. What manifested instead was the need to develop a 3-hour introductory workshop and the attendant processes that would support me in finding an audience with which to share my work and help me establish a polished professional presence. This finished Project includes my learning to design and lead transformational workshops, the development of a workshop that includes experiences …

Stereotype Threat And Ocd: The Impact Of Messy Vs. Clean Environments On Cognitive Test Performance, Ellen Rebecca Kendall

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Stereotype threat has been researched in a variety of contexts such as African Americans' intellect, older adults' memory, and women's performance in math. Despite this extensive research, little has been done in the domain of mental illness. This study examines whether stereotype threat can be induced in people high in OCD symptoms. I hypothesized that, when given explicit information about their OCD tendencies, individuals high in OCD symptoms would perform less well on cognitive tests in a messy than a clean environment compared to those low in OCD symptoms. Group testing sessions included a mix of college students high (n=25) …

Presence-At-Hand, Eric Lyle Schultz

Graduate School of Art Theses

Abstract

The writing that follows is intended to provide a theoretical framework for the motives behind my practice. The primary concerns addressed are the reception, transmission, and physical shape of knowledge. I will discuss a human condition that exists as a byproduct of both the legacy of representation as well as the innate biology of the brain. I will argue that as a society we are governed by the residue of an extreme logic, and that this condition places severe margins on our potential for creative solutions. I will propose that our ability to create meaning is stifled by the …

The Impact Of Childhood Trauma As Moderated By Ptsd, Relationship With Caregiver, And Rumination, Aislyn M. Allen

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The current study explored the relationship between childhood trauma and deliberate rumination, as well as PTSD symptomology, psychological and physiological functioning. Participants consisted of 55 undergraduate students, ages 18-23; who completed measures about a specific traumatic event, psychological functioning, parental attachment, PTSD symptoms, deliberate rumination, childhood maltreatment, and a demographics questionnaire. Reported childhood trauma was a specifically identified traumatic life event, child maltreatment, or having a parent with a substance abuse or mental disorder. Following completion of measures, participants were asked to answer questions while heart rate, heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity were monitored. Results indicated there was relation …

Design, Programming, And User-Experience, Kaila G. Manca

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis is a culmination of my individualized major in Human-Computer Interaction. As such, it showcases my knowledge of design, computer engineering, user-experience research, and puts into practice my background in psychology, com- munications, and neuroscience.

I provided full-service design and development for a web application to be used by the Digital Media and Design Department and their students.This process involved several iterations of user-experience research, testing, concepting, branding and strategy, ideation, and design. It lead to two products.

The first product is full-scale development and optimization of the web appli- cation.The web application adheres to best practices. It was …

The Effects Of Perceived Enjoyable Activities On Cognition In Late-Life., Hannah D. Gardner

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Previous research suggests that more involvement in various activities can help delay cognitive decline in older adults. Few studies have examined both the impact of frequency and perceived enjoyment of different types of activities on cognition. This study analyzed the relationship between frequency and pleasure of activities and cognition by running correlations using the five different subscales of the California Older Person’s Pleasant Events Schedule (COPPES) and a battery of cognitive tests (Block Design, Animal Naming, Boston Naming Test, Trails A, Trails B, CVLT-LDFR, & Digit Span). It was hypothesized that higher frequency as well as higher level of enjoyment …

Bridge/Adapt: A Systematic Cognitive Rehabilitation Curriculum, Julie S. Bergen, Natalie Repin, Amy Bennet, Abigail Lafrenz

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Cognitive impairment, including deficits in memory, attention, visual perception, executive functioning, and self-awareness, is a common consequence of acquired brain injury (ABI). Subsequently, these cognitive impairments result in functional impairments in daily life activities for clients with ABI. Rehabilitation efforts are categorized under two broad approaches: remediation and adaptation. Computer-assisted cognitive retraining (CACR) is a remediation approach using a computer platform to deliver cognitive exercises. CACR therapy can lead to improvements in memory and attention for adults with chronic ABI. However, memory and attention improvements from CACR may not carry over to functional improvements in occupational performance. Research suggested that …

Exploring The Relationship Between Early Childhood Attentional Control And Language Ability, Jaima S. Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Relatively few studies have investigated the relationship between early childhood attentional control and later cognitive outcomes, especially language development. The current study is an investigation of the relationship between the executive functioning (EF) component of attentional control and language ability in the second year of life. More specifically, the predictive nature of two aspects of attentional control, attentional focus and resistance to distraction, was be the primary focus of the proposed study. Although it was expected that children both high in attentional focus and resistance to distraction would have significantly superior language development than infants with lower attentional capacities, analyses …

How To Go Beyond The Body: An Introduction, Guy Dove

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Embodied cognition represents one of most important theoretical developments in contemporary cognitive science. Many cognitive processes appear to be influenced by body morphology, emotions, and sensorimotor systems. This perspective is supported by an ever increasing collection of empirical studies that fall into two broad classes: one consisting of experiments that implicate action, emotion, and perception systems in seemingly abstract cognitive tasks and the other consisting of experiments that demonstrate the contribution of bodily interaction with the external environment to the performance of such tasks.

Now that embodied cognition is fairly well established, the time seems right for assessing its further …

Electrophysiological Changes In P200 Latency And Amplitude Of Jittered Orientation Visual Integration Task In Healthy Participants: A Multi-Block Design Eeg Study, Monika M. Rozynski, Chi-Ming Chen

Honors Scholar Theses

Visual integration, the ability to fuse environmental information such as light, color, shades, and motion to form a representation of a whole cohesive higher-order visual image, is impaired in persons with schizophrenia. Little is known how the P200 component, an event-related potential (ERP) in the parieto-occipital region, is affected in persons with schizophrenia while they perform visual integration tasks, when compared to healthy persons. This study administered Gabor contours that varied in high and low degrees of orientational jitter through the Jitter Orientation Visual Integration (JOVI) task to investigate visual integration by analyzing latency and amplitude of the P200 component. …

The Relationship Between Emotional Contagion And Mood State, Kayleigh-Farrell Crow

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

Emotions can often be transferred from one person to another. It has been assumed that the strength and impact of contagious emotions can depend largely on the susceptibility of the individual. This concept has led to the idea of emotional contagion, or “the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures and movements with those of another person, and consequently, to converge emotionally”, as defined by Hatfield, Cacioppo & Rapson (1992). The present study will examine the influence of certain emotions and the increased probability for contagion to occur. Specifically, this study will explore the emotional strengths of …

Understanding Tendencies Of Aggressive Behavior And Cognition As Related To Alcohol Use And Intimate Partner Violence, Taylor D. Thomas Ms.

Honors College Theses

The term intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to any act of aggression (physical or emotional) committed within an intimate relationship by one partner against the other, regardless of gender, sexual intimacy, or sexual orientation. One of the leading risk factors for IPV is the regular abuse of alcohol (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2014). High levels of alcohol consumption predict an increase in aggression in individuals with aggressive dispositions (Barnwell et al., 2006). Extensive research exists on the relationship between alcohol use and IPV, yet there is a dearth in the literature investigating the complexities of the alcohol use-IPV relationship …

Coloring Expression Perception: An Attempt At Altering The Automatic Perception Of Strangers, Amber Blazer

Honors College Theses

Western society is filled with metaphors that carry through generations. Perhaps the most commonly known metaphor is that involving the colors black and white. Black is the color of choice for villains and demons while white is the color chosen for angels and heroes. The current research sought to explore exactly how far this metaphor might be carried over in real life in a series of two experiments. In the first experiment, neutral faces were surrounded in black and white to see if participants would perceive the faces in black as more aggressive than those surrounded by white. Results indicated …