scholarly journals Shape familiarity modulates preference for curvature in drawings of common-use objects

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11772
Author(s):  
Erick G. Chuquichambi ◽  
Letizia Palumbo ◽  
Carlos Rey ◽  
Enric Munar

Drawing is a way to represent common-use objects. The contour of an object is a salient feature that defines its identity. Preference for a contour (curved or angular) may depend on how familiar the resulting shape looks for that given object. In this research, we examined the influence of shape familiarity on preference for curved or sharp-angled drawings of common-use objects. We also examined the possibility that some individual differences modulated this preference. Preference for curvature was assessed with a liking rating task (Experiment 1) and with a two-alternative forced-choice task simulating approach/avoidance responses (Experiment 2). Shape familiarity was assessed with a familiarity selection task where participants selected the most familiar shape between the curved and the angular version for each object, or whether both shapes were equally familiar for the object. We found a consistent preference for curvature in both experiments. This preference increased when the objects with a curved shape were selected as the most familiar ones. We also found preference for curvature when participants selected the shape of objects as equally familiar. However, there was no preference for curvature or preference for angularity when participants selected the sharp-angled shapes as the most familiar ones. In Experiment 2, holistic and affective types of intuition predicted higher preference for curvature. Conversely, participants with higher scores in the unconventionality facet showed less preference for the curved drawings. We conclude that shape familiarity and individual characteristics modulate preference for curvature.

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Dressel ◽  
Teena D. Moody ◽  
Barbara J. Knowlton

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Molano-Mazon ◽  
Guangyu Robert Yang ◽  
Ainhoa Hermoso-Mendizabal ◽  
Jaime de la Rocha

Author(s):  
Harold Stanislaw

Two hundred forty subjects working alone and in pairs performed three different versions of a task similar to industrial inspection: a rating task and spatial and temporal two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks. Performance was worse on the rating task than on the 2AFC tasks, and the spatial and temporal 2AFC tasks were performed equally well. These results could signify that performance is impaired more by demands made on long-term memory than by demands made on perception and sensory memory, or that asking subjects to compare items is fundamentally different from, and easier than, asking subjects to judge items in absolute terms. Individual differences in performance were marked, but performance was inconsistent across different versions of the inspection task. When subjects worked in pairs, performance was comparable to that obtained by requiring items to pass two inspections by individual subjects. However, a single inspection by subject pairs required less time than two inspections by individual subjects. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1054-1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica F. SCHWAB ◽  
Casey LEW-WILLIAMS ◽  
Adele E. GOLDBERG

AbstractChildren tend to regularize their productions when exposed to artificial languages, an advantageous response to unpredictable variation. But generalizations in natural languages are typically conditioned by factors that children ultimately learn. In two experiments, adult and six-year-old learners witnessed two novel classifiers, probabilistically conditioned by semantics. Whereas adults displayed high accuracy in their productions – applying the semantic criteria to familiar and novel items – children were oblivious to the semantic conditioning. Instead, children regularized their productions, over-relying on only one classifier. However, in a two-alternative forced-choice task, children's performance revealed greater respect for the system's complexity: they selected both classifiers equally, without bias toward one or the other, and displayed better accuracy on familiar items. Given that natural languages are conditioned by multiple factors that children successfully learn, we suggest that their tendency to simplify in production stems from retrieval difficulty when a complex system has not yet been fully learned.


2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1929) ◽  
pp. 20201148
Author(s):  
Roza G. Kamiloğlu ◽  
Katie E. Slocombe ◽  
Daniel B. M. Haun ◽  
Disa A. Sauter

Vocalizations linked to emotional states are partly conserved among phylogenetically related species. This continuity may allow humans to accurately infer affective information from vocalizations produced by chimpanzees. In two pre-registered experiments, we examine human listeners' ability to infer behavioural contexts (e.g. discovering food) and core affect dimensions (arousal and valence) from 155 vocalizations produced by 66 chimpanzees in 10 different positive and negative contexts at high, medium or low arousal levels. In experiment 1, listeners ( n = 310), categorized the vocalizations in a forced-choice task with 10 response options, and rated arousal and valence. In experiment 2, participants ( n = 3120) matched vocalizations to production contexts using yes/no response options. The results show that listeners were accurate at matching vocalizations of most contexts in addition to inferring arousal and valence. Judgments were more accurate for negative as compared to positive vocalizations. An acoustic analysis demonstrated that, listeners made use of brightness and duration cues, and relied on noisiness in making context judgements, and pitch to infer core affect dimensions. Overall, the results suggest that human listeners can infer affective information from chimpanzee vocalizations beyond core affect, indicating phylogenetic continuity in the mapping of vocalizations to behavioural contexts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Silvey ◽  
Ryan A. Fisher

The purpose of this study was to examine whether one aspect of conducting technique, the conducting plane, would affect band and/or choral musicians’ perceptions of conductor and ensemble expressivity. A band and a choral conductor were each videotaped conducting 1-min excerpts from Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium while using a high, medium, and low conducting plane. These six videos then were synchronized with an appropriately corresponding identical high-quality band or choral audio excerpt. College ensemble members ( N = 120; band, n = 60; choral, n = 60) viewed all six videos and rated the expressivity of both the conductor and the ensemble. Through the use of a forced-choice task, they also provided one brief comment about either the conductor or the ensemble. Results indicated that conducting plane significantly affected ratings of both conductor and ensemble expressivity. A significant interaction was found between conducting plane (high, medium, and low) and ensemble type (band or choir audio excerpt heard) with regard to conductor expressivity ratings. Participants found the choir conductor conducting at the medium plane to be slightly more expressive than the band conductor conducting at the same plane. Conversely, participants rated the expressivity of the band conductor slightly higher than the choir conductor at both the high and low conducting planes. Participants’ written comments were directed predominantly at the conductor rather than the ensemble, and the high-conducting-plane videos elicited the most negative comments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-214
Author(s):  
Mary Abumelha

This is an experimental study on the effect of explicit and implicit classroom input on the acquisition of English generics by L1-Najdi Arabic speakers. Following a feature-based contrastive analysis, acquisition difficulties are predicted with indefinite singular and bare plural contexts. The experiment included fifty-four students divided into two experimental groups and one uninstructed control group. One experimental group received implicit input by using genre analysis of texts reinforced with generic noun phrases (NPs), and the other group received explicit grammatical ‘focus on form’ on generics. Two instruments were used: a forced choice task and a sentence repetition task conducted as pre-tests, post-tests and delayed post-tests. The results showed a significant increase in the total scores of both experimental groups, but a long-term effect was only found with the explicit group. The forced choice task showed significant improvement in the explicit group’s accuracy on generic indefinite singular and bare plural contexts and long-term improvement on the bare plural. The explicit group’s results on the repetition task show temporary improvement in the generic indefinite singular post-test. In general, the results suggest that explicit input is more effective than implicit input. Implications on acquisition difficulties and instruction are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 1778-1786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna Beck ◽  
Sahana Gnanasampanthan ◽  
Gian Domenico Iannetti ◽  
Patrick Haggard

Offset analgesia (OA) studies have found that small decreases in the intensity of a tonic noxious heat stimulus yield a disproportionately large amount of pain relief. In the classic OA paradigm, the decrease in stimulus intensity is preceded by an increase of equal size from an initial noxious level. Although the majority of researchers believe this temporal sequence of two changes is important for eliciting OA, it has also been suggested that the temporal contrast mechanism underlying OA may enhance detection of simple, isolated decreases in noxious heat. To test whether decreases in noxious heat intensity, by themselves, are perceived better than increases of comparable sizes, we used an adaptive two-interval alternative forced choice task to find perceptual thresholds for increases and decreases in radiant and contact heat. Decreases in noxious heat were more difficult to perceive than increases of comparable sizes from the same initial temperature of 45°C. In contrast, decreases and increases were perceived equally well within a common range of noxious temperatures (i.e., when increases started from 45°C and decreases started from 47°C). In another task, participants rated the pain intensity of heat stimuli that randomly and unpredictably increased, decreased, or remained constant. Ratings of unpredictable stimulus decreases also showed no evidence of perceptual enhancement. Our results demonstrate that there is no temporal contrast enhancement of simple, isolated decreases in noxious heat intensity. Combined with previous OA findings, they suggest that long-lasting noxious stimuli that follow an increase-decrease pattern may be important for eliciting the OA effect. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Previous research suggested that a small decrease in noxious heat intensity feels surprisingly large because of sensory enhancement of noxious stimulus offsets (a simplified form of “offset analgesia”). Using a two-alternative forced choice task where participants detected simple increases or decreases in noxious heat, we showed that decreases in noxious heat, by themselves, are no better perceived than increases of comparable sizes. This suggests that a decrease alone is not sufficient to elicit offset analgesia.


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