Phases in the Representation of Intraobject Spatial Relations of the Face as Precursors to Literacy: A Testable Hypothesis Engendered by Neolithic Art

1990 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-333
Author(s):  
Anneliese A. Pontius
Keyword(s):  
New Guinea ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Testable Hypothesis ◽  
Acquired Dyslexia ◽  
The Face ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
Potential Use ◽  
Face Pattern ◽  
Relational Representation

An hypothesis is discussed on the emergence of intrapattern spatial relational representation, one prerequisite for ultimate attainment of literacy skills. The hypothesis is testable, e.g., by evaluating potential phases in preschoolers' drawings of the face pattern or of analogous subtle spatial relations within a pattern. The hypothesis was engendered by an analysis of various face patterns engraved on an ancient stone with a “neolithic” face configuration from the Western Highlands of New Guinea. One heuristic value of the present study lies in its potential use for specific refinement of remedial assistance in the attainment of subtle intrapattern representation of spatial relations either in preschoolers or in developmental as well as in acquired dyslexia.

Finger Misrepresentation and Dyscalculia in an Ecological Context: Toward an Ecological (Cultural) Evolutionary Neuro-Psychiatry

1983 ◽  
Vol 57 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1191-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneliese A. Pontius
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Brain Lesions ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Regular School ◽  
The Face ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

A new model posits the existence of a general link between ecological (cultural) factors and post-natally evolving cognitive functions and in particular the emergence of such functions in specific clusters. Such “ecological syndromes” are characteristic of a significant portion of a cultural group and analogous to syndromes found with certain brain lesions without implying them. Presently a specific link is noted between known low skills in arithmetic and as tested here, quantitatively inaccurate pictorial (and implied mental) representation of fingers in 78% of New Guineans and 70% of Indonesians living in remote areas, while only 16% of Western European regular school children (ages 7 to 10 yr.) misrepresented the fingers in drawing a person. Previously a link between low literacy skills and inaccurate spatial relations in representing the pattern of the face was found for diverse time periods and cultural groups.

Links between Literacy Skills and Accurate Spatial Relations in Representations of the Face: Comparison of Preschoolers, School Children, Dyslexics, and Mentally Retarded

1983 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 659-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneliese A. Pontius
Keyword(s):  
General Trend ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
The Face ◽  
Simple Measurement ◽  
Developmental Factor ◽  
Pictorial Representations

A specific link is found between low of absent literacy skills and a specific misrepresentation of spatial relations exclusively of the upper part of the human face. This misrepresentation, determined by simple measurement, is found in 32% of the pictorial representations of 407 preschoolers whose drawings were published by various authors as well as in 32% of 44 preschoolers tested here. By contrast, after having had instruction in literacy, the proportion of such misrepresentations of the face drops to 7.5% and 10%, respectively, although, as expected, not in the drawings by 236 mildly mentally retarded or by 297 dyslexic children, 33% and 39% of whom, respectively, still misrepresent the face. In addition to a developmental factor, a further one, as yet undetermined, may be at work and related to a specific deficit in representing the spatial relations of the face. Data further support the previously suggested existence of a specific and general trend for a link between literacy skills and accurate representation of the spatial relations of the pattern of the face also noted previously in diverse cultural groups and periods.

Representation of Spatial Relations on the Specific Test, Draw-A-Person-with-Face-in-Front, as Indicative of Literacy Skills in Australian Aboriginals and “Westerners”

1984 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneliese A. Pontius
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Recent Criticism ◽  
Specific Test ◽  
Remedial Intervention ◽  
The Face ◽  
Simple Measurement ◽  
Aboriginal Children

A novel test, Draw-A-Person-With-Face-In-Front, uses simple measurement with a ruler to detect subtle misrepresentation of spatial relations within the pattern of the human face (in contradistinction to facial recognition tests). Studies have repeatedly shown a close association between misrepresentation of the face and low or absent skills in widely diverse cultural populations and time periods. Recent criticism by Davidson that neglects to consider this particular test and the replications of similar results does not address the main point of my study of Australian Aboriginal children or the specification of remedial intervention made possible by fractionating factors of specific under-used capability within a cultural context.

In Similarity Judgments Hunter-Gatherers Prefer Shapes over Spatial Relations in Contrast to Literate Groups

1995 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 1027-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneliese A. Pontius
Keyword(s):  
Block Design ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Similarity Judgments

Reverse strategies are used in judgments of similarity by hunter-gatherers who prefer using shapes (attributes) in patterns, and literates who prefer judging relations among shapes The Kohs Block Design Test was given to healthy hunter-gatherers, 19 stone-age, preliterate, Amazonian Auca Indians and 130 semi-literate Dani and Asmat of inland Indonesian Western New Guinea. Further, 196 literate Indonesian city dwellers served as controls. The Auca and the Dani and Asmat groups preferentially constructed 20 specific, “nonrandom” modifications similar to the Kohs Block Design Test and preserved the salient component shapes but neglected relations among them. Hunter-gatherers' survival depends on prompt assessment of the salient shapes of prey and attackers. By contrast, literacy skills require painstaking assessment of subtle intrapattern spatial relations among shapes.

scholarly journals Importance of Facial Pattern to Sexual Selection in Golden-Winged Warbler (Vermivora Chrysoptera)

The Auk ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 962-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen R. Leichty ◽  
James W. Grier
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Vermivora Chrysoptera ◽  
The Face ◽  
Facial Pattern ◽  
F1 Generation ◽  
Face Pattern

Abstract The importance of the black facial pattern in sexual selection in Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) was evaluated through experimental plumage modification. We lightened the throat patch and eye mask with hair bleach, which essentially created artificial Brewster's Warbler (F1 generation of Golden-winged Warbler × Blue-winged Warbler [V. pinus]) plumage phenotypes. Experimental males lost their original territories and failed to obtain mates. We concluded that there is sexual selection against the Brewster's facial pattern. Sexual selection attributable to the face pattern may explain the apparent greater effect of hybridization on Golden-winged Warblers than on Blue-winged Warblers. Importancia del Patrón Facial en la Selección Sexual de Vermivora chrysoptera

scholarly journals Pacific journalism solidarity in the face of overwhelming forces

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
Fred Wesley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The United States ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Free Press ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
West Papua ◽  
The Face

Commentary: The Melanesian Media Freedom Forum (MMFF) notes democracy is in retreat and journalists like Victor Mambor (West Papua), Scott Waide (Papua New Guinea) and Dan McGarry (Vanuatu) are carrying the baton for media freedom. There has been a global reversal for a free press that has spanned countries in every region, including long-standing democracies like the United States and consolidated authoritarian regimes like China and Russia. The pattern has been consistent and ominous.

scholarly journals CONSERVATION AFTER EARTHQUAKE OF MINIMAL URBAN FRAMEWORK HISTORICAL HERITAGE

2020 ◽  
Vol XLIV-M-1-2020 ◽  
pp. 907-911
Author(s):  
S. D’Avino
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Seismic Events ◽  
The Past ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Widespread Agreement ◽  
The Face ◽  
Critical Understanding ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
High Level

Abstract. Three years after the earthquake that struck central Italy, a number of pressing points need to be addressed as part of a far-ranging discussion that seeks to identify the steps to be taken in response, including: the widespread agreement on the need for reconstruction efforts which ensure a high level of security; the importance of preserving the urban fabric of ‘minimal’ population centres that are unquestionably intertwined with their surrounding landscapes; the need to acknowledge the most valuable features of historic downtown areas, including their undeniable fact of their intrinsic fragility in the face of seismic events, even though construction techniques developed and refined over time have provided them with a certain resilience. While use is made of a frankly contemporary idiom, when needed to remedy shortcomings, a reconstruction grounded in a critical understanding of the ‘sense of place’ must guarantee that the identifying features of historic downtown areas remain in place (at least in terms of the lay of the land and spatial relations) while, at the same time, ensuring that the constantly evolving memories which render such areas unique are also preserved, so as to allow the past to play its rightful role in the planning of the future.

21ST CENTURY SKILLS AND THE NEW LITERACY: THE GENDER GAP

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Modern World ◽  
New Literacy ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
The Face ◽  
Labor Resources

The rapid development of computer and information technology is changing the face of the modern world, making it more and more sensitive to innovation. Changing technologies are having an increasingly rapid impact on the development of digital skills and literacy skills. The transition to a new technological order changes the gender balance of personnel in all spheres of life. Analyzing the gender dimensions of digital literacy and skills is important both from the point of view of social justice (unequal distribution of men and women in the exact and natural sciences) and from the point of view of improving the efficiency of the use of labor resources to ensure sustainable development.

scholarly journals Assessing the potential information content of multicomponent visual signals: a machine learning approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1802) ◽  
pp. 20142284 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Allen ◽  
James P. Higham
Keyword(s):  
Visual Signals ◽  
Visual Signal ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Machine Learning Approach ◽  
The Face ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Calibrated Images ◽  
Discriminant Function Analyses ◽  
Face Pattern

Careful investigation of the form of animal signals can offer novel insights into their function. Here, we deconstruct the face patterns of a tribe of primates, the guenons (Cercopithecini), and examine the information that is potentially available in the perceptual dimensions of their multicomponent displays. Using standardized colour-calibrated images of guenon faces, we measure variation in appearance both within and between species. Overall face pattern was quantified using the computer vision ‘eigenface’ technique, and eyebrow and nose-spot focal traits were described using computational image segmentation and shape analysis. Discriminant function analyses established whether these perceptual dimensions could be used to reliably classify species identity, individual identity, age and sex, and, if so, identify the dimensions that carry this information. Across the 12 species studied, we found that both overall face pattern and focal trait differences could be used to categorize species and individuals reliably, whereas correct classification of age category and sex was not possible. This pattern makes sense, as guenons often form mixed-species groups in which familiar conspecifics develop complex differentiated social relationships but where the presence of heterospecifics creates hybridization risk. Our approach should be broadly applicable to the investigation of visual signal function across the animal kingdom.

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