Tactile temporal offset cues reduce visual representational momentum

The perception of dynamic objects is sometimes biased. For example, localizing a moving object after it has disappeared results in a perceptual shift in the direction of motion, a bias known as representational momentum. We investigated whether the temporal characteristics of an irrelevant, spatially uninformative vibrotactile stimulus bias the perceived location of a visual target. In two visuotactile experiments, participants judged the final location of a dynamic, visual target. Simultaneously, a continuous (starting with the onset of the visual target, Experiments 1 and 2) or brief (33-ms stimulation, Experiment 2) vibrotactile stimulus (at the palm of participant’s hands) was presented, and the offset disparity between the visual target and tactile stimulation was systematically varied. The results indicate a cross-modal influence of tactile stimulation on the perceived final location of the visual target. Closer inspection of the nature of this cross-modal influence, observed here for the first time, reveals that the vibrotactile stimulus was likely just taken as a temporal cue regarding the offset of the visual target, but no strong interaction and combined processing of the two stimuli occurred. The present results are related to similar cross-modal temporal illusions and current accounts of multisensory perception, integration, and cross-modal facilitation.

Preverbal Infants Discover Statistical Word Patterns at Similar Rates as Adults: Evidence From Neural Entrainment

The discovery of words in continuous speech is one of the first challenges faced by infants during language acquisition. This process is partially facilitated by statistical learning, the ability to discover and encode relevant patterns in the environment. Here, we used an electroencephalogram (EEG) index of neural entrainment to track 6-month-olds’ ( N = 25) segmentation of words from continuous speech. Infants’ neural entrainment to embedded words increased logarithmically over the learning period, consistent with a perceptual shift from isolated syllables to wordlike units. Moreover, infants’ neural entrainment during learning predicted postlearning behavioral measures of word discrimination ( n = 18). Finally, the logarithmic increase in entrainment to words was comparable in infants and adults, suggesting that infants and adults follow similar learning trajectories when tracking probability information among speech sounds. Statistical-learning effects in infants and adults may reflect overlapping neural mechanisms, which emerge early in life and are maintained throughout the life span.

Event, Process and Pulse: Resituating Floods in Environmental Histories of South Asia

The notion of the flood in South Asia is no longer solely characterised as the archetypal natural disaster. This perceptual shift, as this article will point out, draws from a conceptual shift within the field of environmental histories of South Asia. In the course of exploring and debating ideas about environmental change, environmental historians have drastically reconsidered the role and impacts of flooding in South Asia through three distinct narrative frameworks: (i) extreme hydraulic events; (ii) geomorphological process; and (iii) biological pulses. Environmental history as a field has thus helped to flesh out and radically revise our understanding of flooding, which has changed from previously being seen as an ahistorical calamitous event to instead providing contexts for revealing complex relationships between geomorphological processes, biological pulses and livelihood strategies. The notion of the flood in South Asia, consequently, is now acknowledged as an ecological force that is mediated by social, cultural and political interventions rather than exclusively borne out as an effect of nature.

Prelingual infants discover statistical word patterns at similar rates as adults: evidence from neural entrainment

The discovery of words in continuous speech is one of the first challenges faced by infants during language acquisition. This process is partially facilitated by statistical learning, the ability to discover and encode relevant patterns in the environment. Here, we used an EEG index of neural entrainment in 6-month-olds (n=25) to track their segmentation of words from continuous speech. Infants showed neural entrainment to embedded words that increased logarithmically over the learning period, consistent with a perceptual shift from isolated syllables to word-like units. Moreover, infants’ neural entrainment during learning predicted post-learning behavioural measures of word discrimination (n=18). Finally, the logarithmic increase in entrainment to words was comparable in infants and adults, suggesting that infants and adults follow similar learning trajectories when tracking probability information among speech sounds. Statistical learning effects in infants and adults may reflect overlapping neural mechanisms, which emerge early in life and are maintained throughout the lifespan.

"Where the Shoe Pinches”: Impediments to Successful Execution of Gender Quota Thresholds in Kenya

The promulgation of the 2010 Kenyan Constitution inspired me to carry out a research with the objective of identifying the impediments to the successful implementation of gender quotas. This study was carried out in the year 2018 after the second set of County Governments had settled in office. Specifically, I adopted a multiple case study design because I examined perspectives on the implementation of the gender quota threshold in two cases i.e. two Counties. Purposive sampling was used to arrive at the participants. Data for this research was generated using interviews, Focus Group Discussions, and document analysis and the data collected was analyzed thematically. The interviews were conducted with County Public Officers, MCAs and other stakeholders purposively selected in the two Counties and key stakeholders in Nairobi. The main findings to this study were as follows: recruitment mechanisms are riddled with male patronage and bias; there are structural barriers and exclusionary practices that deter successful implementation of gender quotas; there is limited funding for Gender Departments and Gender Committees in the Counties and there are social perceptions that hinder the effectiveness of the gender quota threshold. In conclusion, gender quotas require a perceptual shift. The following recommendations are given in this study: there is need to have incentives that will help promote gender quota thresholds, the need to have a sectoral approach to gender and a strategy for balancing between quantity and quality.

030 Management and attitudes towards persons with epilepsy in general practice: how far have we come?

IntroductionPrevious surveys of general practitioners (GP) attitudes regarding epilepsy and people with epilepsy (PWE), conducted 20–30 years ago1 2, identified the need for further education in epilepsy care for GPs. This follow up study of GPs in Sydney, Australia, was conducted to determine the degree of changes in knowledge, attitudes and management of PWE, to evaluate if there had been significant improvement during this period.MethodsA piloted questionnaire addressing epilepsy investigations, preferred care provider and attitudes towards epilepsy was developed and completed by a representative sample of Sydney GPs.ResultsA total of 52 completed responses were received. 36 out of 47 GPs (77%) chose neurologists as the most important care giver, followed by the GP (9/47; 18.7%), 25/51 respondents (49%) mentioned they never personally initiated anti-epileptic medication (AEM) and another 27% (14/51 GPs) rarely commenced AEM therapy. 6/50 GPs did not mention EEG as a routine investigation and 21/50 did not mention MRI as routine for PWE. The five most commonly prescribed AEMs, according to frequency were sodium valproate (42), carbamazepine (37), levetiracetam (31), lamotrigine (16) and phenytoin (15). Newer AEMs, available for over a decade in Australia were not mentioned. Emotional, behavioral psychosocial issues were perceived to be more common amongst PWE.ConclusionThe study indicates little perceptual shift regarding GP’s attitudes to epilepsy, and significant deficiencies in knowledge, particularly with regards to investigations and management. The findings reinforce a need for more formal training of GPs caring for PWE.ReferencesBeran RG, Read T. A survey of doctors in Sydney, Australia: perspectives and practices regarding epilepsy and those affected by it. Epilepsia. 1983;24(1):79–104.Frith JF, Harris MF, Beran RG. Management and attitudes of epilepsy by a group of Sydney general practitioners. Epilepsia. 1994;35(6):1244–7.

Affordance matching predictively shapes the perceptual representation of others’ ongoing actions.

Recent predictive processing models argue that action understanding is a predictive process, in which goal inferences are constantly tested by comparing predictions of forthcoming behaviour against the actual perceptual input. In a recent series of studies, we showed that these predictions can be visible as a subtle shift in perceptual action judgments towards these inferred goals. Here we test whether this perceptual shift occurs even when goals are not explicitly given but have to be derived implicitly from the unfolding action kinematics. In two experiments, participants watched an actor reach towards a large object and a small object forming either a whole hand power grip or a precision grip. During its course, the hand suddenly disappeared, and participants made perceptual judgments about the last seen position on a touch screen. As predicted, judgments were consistently biased towards apparent action targets, such that power grips were perceived closer to large objects and precision grips closer to small objects, even if the actual kinematics were the same. Strikingly, perceptual shifts were independent of participants’ explicit goal judgments, and were of equal size when action goals were explicitly judged in each trial (Experiment 1) or not judged (Experiment 2). Moreover, across trials and across participants, explicit goal judgments and perceptual shifts were uncorrelated. This provides evidence, for the first time, that people make on-line adjustments of predicted actions based on the match between hand grip and object goals, distorting the perceptual representation of the action. These distortions may not reflect high-level goal assumptions, but emerge from relatively low-level processing of kinematic features within the perceptual system.

Rapid recalibration of speech perception after experiencing the McGurk illusion

The human brain can quickly adapt to changes in the environment. One example is phonetic recalibration: a speech sound is interpreted differently depending on the visual speech and this interpretation persists in the absence of visual information. Here, we examined the mechanisms of phonetic recalibration. Participants categorized the auditory syllables /aba/ and /ada/, which were sometimes preceded by the so-called McGurk stimuli (in which an /aba/ sound, due to visual /aga/ input, is often perceived as ‘ada’). We found that only one trial of exposure to the McGurk illusion was sufficient to induce a recalibration effect, i.e. an auditory /aba/ stimulus was subsequently more often perceived as ‘ada’. Furthermore, phonetic recalibration took place only when auditory and visual inputs were integrated to ‘ada’ (McGurk illusion). Moreover, this recalibration depended on the sensory similarity between the preceding and current auditory stimulus. Finally, signal detection theoretical analysis showed that McGurk-induced phonetic recalibration resulted in both a criterion shift towards /ada/ and a reduced sensitivity to distinguish between /aba/ and /ada/ sounds. The current study shows that phonetic recalibration is dependent on the perceptual integration of audiovisual information and leads to a perceptual shift in phoneme categorization.

A decade of change in Australia’s DBA landscape

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in Australia through the lens of a changing higher education landscape. The paper reflects on issues raised in a previous analysis of DBA programmes undertaken a decade ago, and highlights persistent challenges and emerging opportunities for professional Doctorate programmes in the Australian context. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were undertaken with higher degree research directors, deans of graduate schools, and DBA programme directors from all 18 Australian institutions offering the DBA in 2013. Quantitative data on enrolments, accreditation requirements, course structures; and demographics are contextualised within a qualitative view of programme purposes, student and institutional motivations, rationales and concerns. Particular focus is given to perceptions of the difference between traditional research doctorates (PhDs) and professional doctorates, especially the DBA. Findings – In the decade from 2003 to 2013 DBA enrolments are down but enquiries are up, indicating unmet demand. There is a shift in the players, with some smaller, regional universities dramatically increasing their enrolments, and larger, traditional institutions exiting the space altogether. Significant changes in accreditation criteria have generated a perceptual shift: where DBAs previously suffered from “academic snobbery” regarding their legitimacy, this perception is being challenged by standards which require DBA equivalence with a PhD. This shift in standards has also created some confusion amongst supervisors and candidates. Originality/value – There is limited research into the DBA award or its candidates, and academic literature is generally silent on DBA supervision. This piece of research, one of very few that specifically examine the DBA, reflects on the past decade, analyses the present context and identifies emerging issues for the delivery of DBA programmes in Australia.