An eye-tracking study of letter-sound correspondence in Japanese-speaking 2- to 3-year-old toddlers

Although the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences is a critical step in reading development, how and when children develop such correspondence remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we focused on Japanese hiragana letters to examine the implicit letter-sound correspondence using an eye-tracking technique for 80 Japanese-speaking toddlers. The results showed that 32- to 48-month-olds (but not 24- to 32-month-olds) directed their gaze at the target letter. An additional experiment on a letter-reading task showed that 32- to 40-month-olds could barely read the presented hiragana letters. These findings suggest that toddlers have already begun to grasp implicit letter-sound correspondences well before actually acquiring the ability to read letters.

The missing-colour effect: The attentional beam captures reading-relevant and reading-irrelevant information

According to many models, reading is driven by an attentional beam. In two experiments, we investigated the specificity of the beam by testing its sensitivity to a reading-irrelevant feature: colour. More specifically, participants were asked to read either a black-and-white version or a multi-colour version of the text in which each letter was printed in a different colour. In addition, while reading for comprehension, participants either searched for a target letter ( t or d) or for a colour (pink or black). In Experiment 1, we used the Nelson–Denny reading test and in Experiment 2, we used an experimental text. In both the experiments, the typical missing-letter effect was observed with letters: Participants missed more letters in function than in content words. Most importantly, although the effect was smaller, this pattern of results was also observed when participants searched for a colour (e.g., pink or black letters in a multi-coloured passage). Our results suggest that the attentional beam involved in reading is sensitive to both reading-relevant and reading-irrelevant information.

Letters Lost: Capturing Appearance in Crowded Peripheral Vision Reveals a New Kind of Masking

Peripheral vision is strongly limited by crowding, the deleterious influence of flanking items on target perception. Distinguishing what is seen from what is merely inferred in crowding is difficult because task demands and prior knowledge may influence observers’ reports. Here, we used a standard identification task in which participants were susceptible to these influences, and to minimize them, we used a free-report-and-drawing paradigm. Three letters were presented in the periphery. In Experiment 1, 10 participants were asked to identify the central target letter. In Experiment 2, 25 participants freely named and drew what they saw. When three identical letters were presented, performance was almost perfect in Experiment 1, but it was very poor in Experiment 2, in which most participants reported only two letters. Our study reveals limitations of standard crowding paradigms and uncovers a hitherto unrecognized effect that we call redundancy masking.

TRANSLITERASI NASKAH MANUSKRIP JAWA: UPAYA NYATA PENYEDIAAN BAHAN PEMBELAJARAN DAN PENELITIAN KEBUDAYAAN JAWA

The aim of research is give lesson materials and research about Javanese manuscripts. The method used to explore manuscript is transliteration. Namely, transfering from source letter to target letter, and more transliteration from old Javanese language to Indonesian language.The reaearch desaign is R and D (research and development). The subject matter are students of Ekspresi Tulis Lanjut , in class G, H, and A in javanese department. The collecting of data used to observation, dokument analysis, and tasks. The object of research is Javanese manuscripts as the result of translation in the class.The results of this research are materials javanese manuscripts, namely: (1) serat Darma laksita, (2) Serat Kudhup sari, and (3) Serat Kumandaka. The third of Javanese manuscripts contens etics, relegion and aestetic that very important for lesson and research. The form of manuscripts are tembang Macapat and gerongan songs. The manuscripts letter can read clearly and easely. Finnaly, the results of research very important for students, teachers, lecturer, and all of academics people.Key words: javanese manuscript, transliteration

Effects of flanker type and position on foveal letter recognition

Our ability to identify a foveally viewed letter at resolution threshold reduces when flankers are placed at a certain distance from it, compared to when it is presented on its own. In this study, we investigated how type and position of flankers influences foveal letter recognition. We measured participants’ performance to identify unflanked Sheridan-Gardiner letters (A, H, O, U, T, V or X), using a seven-alternative-forced-choice paradigm with the method of constant stimuli to obtain 80-90% correct response. Performance was measured again to identify a target letter in the presence of different flanker types. Flankers were bars and letters (placed either to the left and right of the target, above and below the target or on four sides of the target), and a surrounding box. Separation between the target letter and flankers varied between zero (abutting) and ten stroke widths (two letter sizes). For all flanker types, separation between the target ad the flankers significantly influenced performance (all p < 0.0001). Flankers abutting the target and at separation of one stroke width caused the largest reduction in performance, regardless of flanker type. For bar flankers, the largest drop in performance (up to 50 percent) occurred with bars placed on all four sides of the target. For letter flankers, flankers placed above and below the target reduced performance as much as four surrounding flankers. At separation of one stroke width, flanking letters and bars caused a further 10% reduction in performance than a surrounding box. Our results would have significant implications on the design of crowded visual acuity charts, especially those that are available on the market, which have different crowding features between them.

Detecting distortions of peripherally-presented letter stimuli under crowded conditions

When visual features in the periphery are close together they become difficult to recognise: something is present but it is unclear what. This is called “crowding”. Here we investigated sensitivity to features in highly familiar shapes (letters) by applying spatial distortions. In Experiment 1, observers detected which of four peripherally-presented (8 deg of retinal eccentricity) target letters was distorted (spatial 4AFC). The letters were presented either isolated or surrounded by four undistorted flanking letters, and distorted with one of two types of distortion at a range of distortion frequencies and amplitudes. The bandpass noise distortion (“BPN”) technique causes spatial distortions in cartesian space, whereas radial frequency distortion (“RF”) causes shifts in polar coordinates. Detecting distortions in target letters was more difficult in the presence of flanking letters, consistent with the effect of crowding. The BPN distortion type showed evidence of tuning, with sensitivity to distortions peaking at approximately 6.5 c/deg for un-flanked letters. The presence of flanking letters causes this peak to rise to approximately 8.5 c/deg. In contrast to the tuning observed for BPN distortions, RF distortion sensitivity increased as the radial frequency of distortion increased. In a series of follow-up experiments we found that sensitivity to distortions is reduced when flanking letters were also distorted, that this held when observers were required to report which target letter was undistorted, and that this held when flanker distortions were always detectable. The perception of geometric distortions in letter stimuli is impaired by visual crowding.

Control of attention in bipolar disorder: Effects of perceptual load in processing task-irrelevant facial expressions

Bipolar disorder (BD), along with schizophrenia, is one of the most severe psychiatric conditions and is correlated with attentional deficits and emotion dysregulation. Bipolar patients appear to be highly sensitive to the presence of emotional distractors. Yet, no study has investigated whether perceptual load modulates the interference of emotionally distracting information. Our main goal was to test whether bipolar patients are more sensitive to task-irrelevant emotional stimulus, even when the task demands a high amount of attentional resources.Fourteen participants with BD I or BD II and 14 controls, age- and gender-matched, performed a target-letter discrimination task with emotional task-irrelevant stimulus (angry, happy and neutral facial expressions). Target-letters were presented among five distractor-letters, which could be the same (low perceptual load) or different (high perceptual load). Participants should discriminate the target-letter and ignore the facial expression. Response time and accuracy rate were analyzed.Resultsshowed a greater interference of facial stimuli at high load than low load, confirming the effectiveness of perceptual load manipulation. More importantly, patients tarried significantly longer at high load. This is consistent with deficits in control of attention, showing that bipolar patients are more prone to distraction by task-irrelevant stimulus only when the task is more demanding. Moreover, for bipolar patients neutral and angry faces resulted in a higher interference with the task (longer response time), compared to controls, suggesting an attentional bias for neutral and threating social cues. Nevertheless, a more detailed investigation regarding the attentional impairments in social context in BD is needed.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The Automaticity of Affordance of Dangerous Object

Objects observation automatically elicits the activation of a reach-to-grasp response specifically directed to interact with the object, which is termed affordance. Murphy, van Velzen, and de Fockert (2012) found that only when an irrelevant object receives sufficient attention, it can potentiate an action. However, it remains unclear whether the dangerous object would afford an action when it receives insufficient attention. In this study, we manipulated the perceptual load in a letter identification task. Participants were required to identify a target letter with the right or left hand while ignoring a neutral or dangerous graspable object. The target letter was presented either on its own (low perceptual load), alongside five non-target letters (high load), or alongside eight non-target letters (super high load). Under the low perceptual load, for both neutral and dangerous object, responses were faster when the action afforded by the ignored object was congruent (vs. incongruent) with the current target response (t(27) = 4.44, p < .001; t(27) = 7.99, p < .001, respectively). However, during the high perceptual load, for dangerous object, responses were slower when the action afforded by the ignored object was congruent (vs. incongruent) with the current target response (t(27) = 4.97, p < .001). There was not any effect for both neutral object and dangerous object under super high perceptual load. These results suggest the affordance of dangerous object is also sensitive to the perceptual load. An irrelevant dangerous object can’t potentiate an action if it receives insufficient attention.

PENGEMBANGAN SISTEM BASIS DATA UNTUK APLIKASI PEMBUATAN DAN MONITORING TARGET LETTER (Studi Kasus PT. ASURANSI ALLIANZ UTAMA INDONESIA)

Tujuan penelitian adalah menganalisis dan merancang sistem basis data untuk pembuatan dan monitoring target letter pada PT. Asuransi Allianz Utama Indonesia. Penerapannya untuk mempermudah karyawan dalam membuat, me-monitoring, dan melakukan perubahan target dalam membuat suatu target letter. Metodologi penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode penemuan fakta (fact finding) yang dilakukan dengan studi langsung ke lapangan (perusahaan yang bersangkutan), wawancara dengan pihak terkait, mempelajari dokumentasi perusahaan lalu dilanjutkan dengan studi kepustakaan (mempelajari buku teks yang bersangkutan), dan metode perancangan yang digunakan adalah diagram aliran data (Data flow diagram) serta menggambarkan ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram) dan juga membuat perancangan aplikasi web dengan menggunakan bahasa pemrograman PHP dan basis data Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Hasil yang dicapai yaitu tersedianya sebuah aplikasi web yang dapat membantu para karyawan PT. Asuransi Allianz Utama Indonesia untuk membuat, me-monitoring, dan melakukan perubahan target pada target letter. Simpulan yang diperoleh adalah sebuah sistem basis data yang mampu memudahkan para karyawan PT. Asuransi Allianz Utama Indonesia untuk membuat dan melakukan monitoring target letter sehingga para karyawan dan atasan menjadi lebih mudah dalam melakukan evaluasi target perusahaan .

Irrelevant Auditory and Visual Events Induce a Visual Attentional Blink

In the present study we investigated whether a task-irrelevant distractor can induce a visual attentional blink pattern. Participants were asked to detect only a visual target letter (A, B, or C) and to ignore the preceding auditory, visual, or audiovisual distractor. An attentional blink was observed regardless of the distractor modality. The magnitude of the attentional blink was greater when the target was preceded by a visual or an audiovisual distractor than when the target letter was preceded by an auditory distractor. The presence of a distractor-induced attentional blink regardless of the distractor modality suggests that the attentional blink phenomenon is at least partly due to an amodal processing limitation.