scholarly journals The contribution of shape features and demographic variables to disembedding abilities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Morgana Cappello ◽  
Giada Lettieri ◽  
Andrea P. Malizia ◽  
Sonia d'Arcangelo ◽  
Giacomo Handjaras ◽  
...  

Humans typically perceive visual patterns in a global manner, and are remarkably capable of extracting object shapes based on properties such as proximity, closure, symmetry, and good continuation. Notwithstanding people’s attitude toward perceptual grouping, the research highlighted differences in disembedding performance across individuals, summarized by the field dependence/independence dimension. Previous studies revealed that age and educational attainment explain part of this variability, whereas the role of sex is still highly debated. Also, which stimulus features primarily influence inter-individual variations in perceptual grouping has to be fully determined.Building upon these premises, we assessed the role of age, level of education and sex on performance at the Leuven-Embedded Figure Test - a proxy of disembedding abilities - in a sample of 391 cisgender individuals. We also investigated whether stimulus symmetry, closure, complexity, and continuation relate to task accuracy as a function of personal characteristics.Overall, target asymmetry and continuation with the embedding context increase task difficulty, whereas target complexity demonstrates a U-shaped relationship with disembedding performance. Further, results unveil sex differences that have not been reported so far in adults and support the association between age, educational attainment, and disembedding abilities. Male individuals also benefit more from target symmetry and closure and are better at recognizing shapes when the embedding context is challenging. Lastly, highly educated adults better recognize asymmetrical and open targets, as well as shapes embedded in complex contexts. Taken together, our findings show how shape features relate to individual characteristics in explaining field independence.

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e2862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee de-Wit ◽  
Hanne Huygelier ◽  
Ruth Van der Hallen ◽  
Rebecca Chamberlain ◽  
Johan Wagemans

BackgroundThe Embedded Figures Test (EFT, developed by Witkin and colleagues (1971)) has been used extensively in research on individual differences, particularly in the study of autism spectrum disorder. The EFT was originally conceptualized as a measure of field (in)dependence, but in recent years performance on the EFT has been interpreted as a measure of local versus global perceptual style. Although many have used the EFT to measure perceptual style, relatively few have focused on understanding the stimulus features that cause a shape to become embedded. The primary aim of this work was to investigate the relation between the strength of embedding and perceptual grouping on a group level.MethodNew embedded figure stimuli (both targets and contexts) were developed in which stimulus features that may influence perceptual grouping were explicitly manipulated. The symmetry, closure and complexity of the target shape were manipulated as well as its good continuation by varying the number of lines from the target that continued into the context. We evaluated the effect of these four stimulus features on target detection in a new embedded figures task (Leuven Embedded Figures Test, L-EFT) in a group of undergraduate psychology students. The results were then replicated in a second experiment using a slightly different version of the task.ResultsStimulus features that influence perceptual grouping, especially good continuation and symmetry, clearly affected performance (lower accuracy, slower response times) on the L-EFT. Closure did not yield results in line with our predictions.DiscussionThese results show that some stimulus features, which are known to affect perceptual grouping, also influence how effectively a stimulus becomes embedded in different contexts. Whether these results imply that the EFT measures individual differences in perceptual grouping ability must be further investigated.


2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 218-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram Gawronski ◽  
Roland Deutsch ◽  
Etienne P. LeBel ◽  
Kurt R. Peters

Over the last decade, implicit measures of mental associations (e.g., Implicit Association Test, sequential priming) have become increasingly popular in many areas of psychological research. Even though successful applications provide preliminary support for the validity of these measures, their underlying mechanisms are still controversial. The present article addresses the role of a particular mechanism that is hypothesized to mediate the influence of activated associations on task performance in many implicit measures: response interference (RI). Based on a review of relevant evidence, we argue that RI effects in implicit measures depend on participants’ attention to association-relevant stimulus features, which in turn can influence the reliability and the construct validity of these measures. Drawing on a moderated-mediation model (MMM) of task performance in RI paradigms, we provide several suggestions on how to address these problems in research using implicit measures.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104-109
Author(s):  
Chernysh O.O.

The urgency of the researched problem is connected with the growing role of mass media in modern conditions leads to change of values and transformation of identity of the person. The active growth of the role of the media, their influence on the formation and development of personality leads to the concept of “media socialization” and immutation in the media. The aim of the study is to outline the possibilities of the process of media socialization in the context of immutation in the media. The methods of our research are: analysis of pedagogical, psychological, literature, synthesis, comparison, generalization. The article analyzes the views of domestic and foreign scientists on the problem of immutation in the media and the transformation of the information space. In the context of the mass nature of the immutation of society, the concept of “media socialization” becomes relevant, which is the basis for reducing the negative impact of the media on the individual.The author identifies the lack of a thorough study of the concept of “media socialization” in modern scientific thought. Thus, media socialization is associated with the transformation of traditional means of socialization, and is to assimilate and reproduce the social experience of mankind with the help of new media.The article analyzes the essence of the concepts “media space”, “mass media” and “immutation”. The influence of mass media on the formation and development of the modern personality is described in detail.The study concluded that it is necessary to form a media culture of the individual, to establish safe and effective interaction of young people with the modern media system, the formation of media awareness, media literacy and media competence in accordance with age and individual characteristics for successful media socialization. The role of state bodies in solving the problem of media socialization of the individual was also determined. It is determined that the process of formation of media culture in youth should take place at the level of traditional institutions of socialization of the individual.The author sees the prospect of further research in a detailed analysis and study of the potential of educational institutions as an institution and a means of counteracting the mass nature of the immutation of society.Key words: immutation, media socialization, mass media, media space, information.


Author(s):  
Will Smiley

This chapter explores captives’ fates after their capture, all along the Ottoman land and maritime frontiers, arguing that this was largely determined by individuals’ value for ransom or sale. First this was a matter of localized customary law; then it became a matter of inter-imperial rules, the “Law of Ransom.” The chapter discusses the nature of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, emphasizing the role of elite households, and the varying prices for captives based on their individual characteristics. It shows that the Ottoman state participated in ransoming, buying, exploiting, and sometimes selling both female and male captives. The state particularly needed young men to row on its galleys, but this changed in the late eighteenth century as the fleet moved from oars to sails. The chapter then turns to ransom, showing that a captive’s ability to be ransomed, and value, depended on a variety of individualized factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7908
Author(s):  
Lucía Mejía-Dorantes ◽  
Lídia Montero ◽  
Jaume Barceló

The spatial arrangement of a metropolis is of utmost importance to carry out daily activities, which are constrained by space and time. Accessibility is not only shaped by the spatial and temporal dimension, but it is also defined by individual characteristics, such as gender, impairments, or socioeconomic characteristics of the citizens living or commuting in this area. This study analyzes mobility trends and patterns in the metropolitan area of Barcelona before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, with special emphasis on gender and equality. The study draws on multiple sources of information; however, two main datasets are analyzed: two traditional travel surveys from the transport metropolitan area of Barcelona and two coming from smartphone data. The results show that gender plays a relevant role when analyzing mobility patterns, as already highlighted in other studies, but, after the pandemic outbreak, some population groups were more likely to change their mobility patterns, for example, highly educated population groups and those with higher income. This study also highlights that e-activities may shape new mobility patterns and living conditions for some population segments, but some activities cannot be replaced by IT technologies. For all these reasons, city and transport planning should foster sustainable development policies, which will provide the maximum benefit for society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-192
Author(s):  
Pamela E. Davis-Kean ◽  
Lauren A. Tighe ◽  
Nicholas E. Waters

Socioeconomic status (SES)—indexed via parent educational attainment, parent occupation, and family income—is a powerful predictor of children’s developmental outcomes. Variations in these resources predict large academic disparities among children from different socioeconomic backgrounds that persist over the years of schooling, perpetuating educational inequalities across generations. In this article, we provide an overview of a model that has guided our approach to studying these influences, focusing particularly on parent educational attainment. Parents’ educational attainment typically drives their occupations and income and is often used interchangeably with SES in research. We posit that parent educational attainment provides a foundation that supports children’s academic success indirectly through parents’ beliefs about and expectations for their children, as well as through the cognitive stimulation that parents provide in and outside of the home environment. We then expand this model to consider the intergenerational contributions and dynamic transactions within families that are important considerations for informing potential avenues for intervention.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089826432199656
Author(s):  
Changmin Peng ◽  
Jeffrey A. Burr ◽  
Dong Yang ◽  
Nan Lu

Objectives: Framed within a life course perspective and cognitive reserve theory, this study examined the mediating role of educational attainment for the association between child–parent relationships during childhood and cognitive function among older adults in rural China. Methods: Data were obtained from three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study ( N = 9809). We employed latent growth curve modeling to test the association among early child–parent relationship quality, educational attainment, and cognitive function in later life. Results: Early child–mother relationship quality was associated with the level and change in cognitive function. Early child–father relationship quality was only related to baseline cognitive function. Educational attainment mediated the relationship between early child–parent relationship quality with mothers and fathers and cognitive function. Discussion: Parental relationship experience in childhood was one distal factor related to cognitive function among older adults. The findings supported the long-term impacts of childhood conditions for later life health consequences.


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