We tested the hypothesis that quiet eye, the final fixation before the initiation of a movement in aiming tasks, is used to scale the movement's parameters. Two groups of 12 participants (N = 24) threw darts to targets in the horizontal and vertical axes under conditions of higher (random) or lower (blocked) target variability. Supporting our…

Stimulus overselectivity occurs when one aspect of the environment controls behavior at the expense of other equally salient aspects. Stimulus overselectivity can be reduced for some individuals with learning disabilities, if they engage in an observing response in which they point to, touch, or name each of the stimuli prior to selecting the one…

This paper revisits a well-known hydrostatic paradox, observed when turning upside down a glass partially filled with water and covered with a sheet of light material. The phenomenon is studied in its most general form by including the mass of the cover. A historical survey of this experiment shows that a common misunderstanding of the phenomenon…

The experiments presented show the response of a liquid crystal shutter to applied electric voltages and the delay of the operations. Both properties are important for liquid crystal displays of computers and television sets. Two characteristics of the shutter are determined: (i) the optical transmittance versus applied voltage of various…

In his introduction to the science shows feature in "Primary Science" 115, Ian B. Dunne asks the question "Why have science shows?" He lists a host of very sound reasons, starting with because "science is fun" so why not engage and entertain, inspire, grab attention and encourage them to learn? He goes onto to state that: "Even in today's…

With a pedagogical goal, this paper deals with a study of the duration of an elastic collision of an inflatable spherical ball on a planar surface suitable for undergraduate studies. First, the force generated by the deformed spherical ball is obtained under assumptions that are discussed. The study of the motion of the spherical ball colliding…

A seminal study by Chi "et al." firmly established the paradigm that novices categorize physics problems by "surface features" (e.g., "incline," "pendulum," "projectile motion," etc.), while experts use "deep structure" (e.g., "energy conservation," "Newton 2," etc.). Yet, efforts to replicate the study frequently fail, since the ability to…

This research investigated children's ability to recognize gaps in their knowledge and seek missing information from appropriate informants. In Experiment 1, forty-five 4- and 5-year-olds were adept in assigning questions from 3 domains (medicine, firefighting, and farming) to corresponding experts (doctor, firefighter, or farmer). However, when…

Aesthetic preference for the vertical composition of single-object pictures was studied through a series of two-alternative forced-choice experiments. The results reveal the influence of several factors, including spatial asymmetries in the functional properties of the object and the typical position of the object relative to the observer. With…

Suppose one observes a correlation between two events, B and C, and infers that B causes C. Later one discovers that event A explains away the correlation between B and C. Normatively, one should now dismiss or weaken the belief that B causes C. Nonetheless, participants in the current study who observed a positive contingency between B and C…

A simple experiment, suitable for performing in an undergraduate physics laboratory, illustrates electromagnetic induction through the water entering into a cylindrical rubber tube by detecting the voltage developed across the tube in the direction transverse both to the flow velocity and to the magnetic field. The apparatus is a very simple…

An evaporator-type cryogenic heat exchanger is designed and built for introducing fluid-solid heat exchange phenomena to undergraduates in a practical and efficient way. The heat exchanger functions at liquid nitrogen temperature and enables cooling of N[subscript 2] and He gases from room temperatures. We present first the experimental results of…

Prior research has shown that people are likely to skim information presented digitally with the resultant deleterious effect on accurate mental models of the text. Teaching monitoring strategies and presenting text with adjunct questions are effective strategies for improving the mental models of readers of scientific text, but the two strategies…

LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots are being increasingly used in undergraduate courses, mostly in robotics-related subjects. But other engineering topics, like the ones found in data acquisition, control and real-time subjects, also have difficult concepts that can be well understood only with good lab exercises. Such exercises require physical…

How do perceivers apply knowledge to instances they have never experienced before? On one hand, listeners might use idealized representations that do not contain specific details. On the other, they might recognize and process information based on more detailed memory representations. The current study examined the latter possibility with respect…