Even though it is undisputed that prior information regarding the location of a target affects visual selection, the issue of whether information regarding nonspatial features, such as color and shape, has similar effects has been a matter of debate since the early 1980s. In the study described in this article, measures derived from signal…

Although the averageness hypothesis of facial attractiveness proposes that the attractiveness of faces is mostly a consequence of their averageness, 1 study has shown that caricaturing highly attractive faces makes them mathematically less average but more attractive. Here the authors systematically test the averageness hypothesis in 5 experiments…

Predictive visual context facilitates visual search, a benefit termed contextual cuing (M. M. Chun & Y. Jiang, 1998). In the original task, search arrays were repeated across blocks such that the spatial configuration (context) of all of the distractors in a display predicted an embedded target location. The authors modeled existing results using…

In two recent papers, Johnson & Bouchard [Johnson, W., & Bouchard, T. J., Jr. (2005a). The structure of human intelligence: It is verbal, perceptual, and image rotation (VPR) , not fluid and crystallized. "Intelligence," 33, 393-416, Johnson W., & Bouchard, T. J., Jr. (2005b). Constructive replication of the visual…

The present investigation concerns the integrity of a primary mental function, the egocentric frame of reference and the sense of polarity of one's own head. The visually perceived eye level (VPEL) and the subjective antero-posterior axis of the head were measured by means of a visual indicator in darkness during two stimulus conditions: static…

Temporal integration is the process by which temporally separated visual components are combined into a unified representation. Although this process has been studied in object recognition, little is known about temporal integration in face perception and recognition. In the present study, the authors investigated the characteristics and time…

After prolonged viewing of a slowly drifting or rotating pattern under strict fixation, the pattern appears to slow down and then momentarily stop. The authors show that grouping can slow down the process of "motion fading," suggesting that cortical configural form analysis interacts with the computation of motion signals during motion fading. The…

A bibliography and selected annotations of research on cognitive style are presented. The citations were retrieved from computer and manual searches of the literature. Selected items, based on their significance to research efforts, are organized around subject, method, and results of each study. Ten constructs are included: (1) field…

Under the impact of electronic immediacy the world is being reorganized in sensory terms toward the primacy of the audile-tactile. In the educational system, emphasis remains on traditional methods of logical (visual) and sequential learning. The effect on literature is an increased interest in the spoken, as opposed to the written word. Through…

This document reports on a study of how the eye and the hand become functionally coordinated during growth. A specific question researched is "How do children use their hands as perceptual tools for exploring objects in order to acquire information about them?" It was assumed that a pre-school child would have evolved a form of eye-hand…

In this first of a two-part integrated unit for teaching young children about trees and forests, the authors present activities which sharpen awareness of trees by using the senses. (LZ)

Neuroimaging studies investigating the neural network of visuospatial processing have revealed a right hemisphere network of activation including inferior parietal lobe, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and extrastriate regions. Impaired visuospatial processing, indicated by the Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO), is commonly seen in individuals…

Language comprehension occurs when the left-hemisphere (LH) and the right-hemisphere (RH) share information derived from discourse [Beeman, M. J., Bowden, E. M., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (2000). Right and left hemisphere cooperation for drawing predictive and coherence inferences during normal story comprehension. "Brain and Language, 71", 310-336].…

This study investigated whether children with high-functioning autism/Asperger's syndrome have a different spontaneous processing style than typically developing children, that is, a style where they prefer details over meaning. Participants were 25 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 25 typically developing children matched by age,…

Many models of learning rely on accessing internal knowledge states. Yet, although infants and young children are recognized to be proficient learners, the ability to act on metacognitive information is not thought to develop until early school years. In the experiments reported here, 3.5-year-olds demonstrated memory-monitoring skills by…