Search results for "Experimental and Cognitive Psychology"
showing 10 items of 1162 documents
Monocular Versus Binocular Calibrations in Evaluating Fixation Disparity With a Video-Based Eye-Tracker
2015
When measuring fixation disparity (an oculomotor vergence error), the question arises as to whether a monocular or binocular calibration is more precise and physiologically more appropriate. In monocular calibrations, a single eye fixates on a calibration target that is taken as having been projected onto the center of the fovea; the corresponding vergence state represents the heterophoria (the resting vergence position), which has no effect on the calibration procedure. In binocular calibrations, a vergence error may be present and may affect the subsequent measurement of the fixation disparity during binocular recordings. This study includes a test of the precision of both monocular and …
Measuring Perceived Ceiling Height in a Visual Comparison Task
2017
When judging interior space, a dark ceiling is judged to be lower than a light ceiling. The method of metric judgments (e.g., on a centimetre scale) that has typically been used in such tasks may reflect a genuine perceptual effect or it may reflect a cognitively mediated impression. We employed a height-matching method in which perceived ceiling height had to be matched with an adjustable pillar, thus obtaining psychometric functions that allowed for an estimation of the point of subjective equality (PSE) and the difference limen (DL). The height-matching method developed in this paper allows for a direct visual match and does not require metric judgment. It has the added advantage of pro…
The effects of social pressure and emotional expression on the cone of gaze in patients with social anxiety disorder
2016
Abstract Background and objectives Patients with social anxiety disorder suffer from pronounced fears in social situations. As gaze perception is crucial in these situations, we examined which factors influence the range of gaze directions where mutual gaze is experienced (the cone of gaze). Methods The social stimulus was modified by changing the number of people (heads) present and the emotional expression of their faces. Participants completed a psychophysical task, in which they had to adjust the eyes of a virtual head to gaze at the edge of the range where mutual eye-contact was experienced. Results The number of heads affected the width of the gaze cone: the more heads, the wider the …
Quantifying the Wollaston Illusion
2020
In the early 19th century, William H. Wollaston impressed the Royal Society of London with engravings of portraits. He manipulated facial features, such as the nose, and thereby dramatically changed the perceived gaze direction, although the eye region with iris and eye socket had remained unaltered. This Wollaston illusion has been replicated numerous times but never with the original stimuli. We took the eyes (pupil and iris) from Wollaston’s most prominent engraving and measured their perceived gaze direction in an analog fashion. We then systematically added facial features (eye socket, eyebrows, nose, skull, and hair). These features had the power to divert perceived gaze direction by…
Effect of musical expertise on visuospatial abilities: evidence from reaction times and mental imagery.
2003
Abstract Recently, the relationship between music and nonmusical cognitive abilities has been highly debated. It has been documented that formal music training would improve verbal, mathematical or visuospatial performance in children. In the experiments described here, we tested if visual perception and imagery abilities were enhanced in adult musicians compared with nonmusicians. In our main experiment, we measured reaction times of subjects who had to detect on which side of a horizontal or a vertical line a target dot was flashed. In the “imagery” condition the reference line disappeared before the target dot was presented. In order to accomplish the task, subjects had to keep a mental …
Unconscious processing of Arabic numerals in unilateral neglect
2005
This study explores the processing of Arabic numerals in three patients with dense left unilateral neglect. Three tasks have been used: a test of visual awareness (is the stimulus on the left, on the right or on both sides?), a number comparison task (is the number larger or smaller than 5?), a number parity judgment task (is the number odd or even?). The test of visual awareness indicated that all three patients were completely unaware of the stimuli presented in the left hemifield. Despite this, the number comparison and number parity judgment tasks clearly indicated that Arabic numerals were unconsciously processed at semantic level (i.e. quantity). These results show that patients with …
Recognition memory for single items and for associations in amnesic patients
2004
Recognition memory performance reflects two distinct processes or types of memory referred to as recollection and familiarity. According to theoretical claims about the two types of memory, single item and associative recognition tasks can be used as an experimental method to distinguish recollection and familiarity processes. Associative recognition decisions can be used as an index of recollection while memory for single items is mostly based on familiarity judgement. We employed this procedure to examine a possible dissociation in the memory performance of amnesic patients between spared single item and impaired associative recognition. Twelve amnesic patients, six with damage confined t…
The Auditory Kuleshov Effect: Multisensory Integration in Movie Editing
2016
Almost a hundred years ago, the Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov conducted his now famous editing experiment in which different objects were added to a given film scene featuring a neutral face. It is said that the audience interpreted the unchanged facial expression as a function of the added object (e.g., an added soup made the face express hunger). This interaction effect has been dubbed “Kuleshov effect.” In the current study, we explored the role of sound in the evaluation of facial expressions in films. Thirty participants watched different clips of faces that were intercut with neutral scenes, featuring either happy music, sad music, or no music at all. This was crossed with the facia…
Did you see that? Dissociating advanced visual information and ball flight constrains perception and action processes during one-handed catching
2013
The integration of separate, yet complimentary, cortical pathways appears to play a role in visual perception and action when intercepting objects. The ventral system is responsible for object recognition and identification, while the dorsal system facilitates continuous regulation of action. This dual-system model implies that empirically manipulating different visual information sources during performance of an interceptive action might lead to the emergence of distinct gaze and movement pattern profiles. To test this idea, we recorded hand kinematics and eye movements of participants as they attempted to catch balls projected from a novel apparatus that synchronised or de-synchronised ac…
Who is looking at me? The cone of gaze widens in social phobia
2011
Gaze direction is an important cue that regulates social interactions and facilitates joint attention. Although humans are very accurate in determining gaze directions in general, they have a surprisingly liberal criterion for the presence of mutual gaze. Using an established psychophysical task that required observers to adjust the eyes of a virtual head to the margins of the area of mutual gaze, we examined whether the resulting cone of gaze is altered in people with social phobia. It turned out that during presence of a second virtual person, the gaze cone's width was specifically enlarged in patients with social phobia as compared to healthy controls. The size of this effect was correla…