Engineering data compendium. Human perception and performance. User's guide

The concept underlying the Engineering Data Compendium was the product of a research and development program (Integrated Perceptual Information for Designers project) aimed at facilitating the application of basic research findings in human performance to the design and military crew systems. The principal objective was to develop a workable strategy for: (1) identifying and distilling information of potential value to system design from the existing research literature, and (2) presenting this technical information in a way that would aid its accessibility, interpretability, and applicability by systems designers. The present four volumes of the Engineering Data Compendium represent the first implementation of this strategy. This is the first volume, the User's Guide, containing a description of the program and instructions for its use

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

THE EFFECTS OF ALTERNATE-LINE SHADING ON VISUAL SEARCH IN GRID-BASED GRAPHIC DESIGNS

Objective: The goal of this research was to determine whether alternate-line shading (zebra-striping) of grid-based displays affects the strategy (i.e., “visual flow”) and efficiency of serial search. Background: Grids, matrices, and tables are commonly used to organize information. A number of design techniques and psychological principles are relevant to how viewers’ eyes can be guided through such visual works. One common technique for grids, “zebra-striping,” is intended to guide eyes through the design, or “create visual flow” by alternating shaded and unshaded rows or columns. Method: 13 participants completed a visual serial search task. The target was embedded in a grid that had 1) no shading, 2) shading of alternating rows, or 3) shading of alternating columns. Response times and error rates were analyzed to determine search strategy and efficiency. Results: Our analysis found evidence supporting a weak effect of shading on search strategy. The direction of shading had an impact on which parts of the grid were responded to most rapidly. However, a left-to-right reading bias and middle-to-outside edge effect were also found. Overall performance was reliably better when the grid had no shading. Exploratory analyses suggest individual differences may be a factor. Conclusion: Shading seems to create visual flow that is relatively weak compared to search strategies related to the edge effect or left-to-right reading biases. In general, however, the presence of any type of shading reduced search performance. Application: Designers creating a grid-based display should not automatically assume that shading will change viewers search strategies. Furthermore, although strategic shading may be useful for tasks other than that studied here, our current data indicate that shading can actually be detrimental to visual search for complex (i.e., conjunctive) targets

surface interpolation and 3d relatability

Although the role of surface-level processes has been demonstrated, visual interpolation models often emphasize contour relationships. We report two experiments on geometric constraints governing 3D interpolation between surface patches without visible edges. Observers were asked to classify pairs of planar patches specified by random dot disparities and visible through circular apertures (aligned or misaligned) in a frontoparallel occluder. On each trial, surfaces appeared in parallel or converging planes with vertical (in Experiment 1) or horizontal (in Experiment 2) tilt and variable amounts of slant. We expected the classification task to be facilitated when patches were perceived as connected. We found enhanced sensitivity and speed for 3D relatable vs. nonrelatable patches. Here 3D relatability does not involve oriented edges but rather inducing patches' orientations computed from stereoscopic information. Performance was markedly affected by slant anisotropy: both sensitivity and speed were worse for patches with horizontal tilt. We found nearly identical advantages of 3D relatability on performance, suggesting an isotropic unit formation process. Results are interpreted as evidence that inducing slant constrains surface interpolation in the absence of explicit edge information: 3D contour and surface interpolation processes share common geometric constraints as formalized by 3D relatability

Facial-Expression Affective Attributes and their Configural Correlates: Components and Categories

The present study investigates the perception of facial expressions of emotion, and explores the relation between the configural properties of expressions and their subjective attribution. Stimuli were a male and a female series of morphed facial expressions, interpolated between prototypes of seven emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust, and neutral) from Ekman and Friesen (1976). Topographical properties of the stimuli were quantified using the Facial Expression Measurement (FACEM) scheme. Perceived dissimilarities between the emotional expressions were elicited using a sorting procedure and processed with multidimensional scaling. Four dimensions were retained in the reconstructed facial-expression space, with positive and negative expressions opposed along D1, while the other three dimensions were interpreted as affective attributes distinguishing clusters of expressions categorized as “Surprise-Fear,” “Anger,” and “Disgust.” Significant relationships were found between these affective attributes and objective facial measures of the stimuli. The findings support a componential explanatory scheme for expression processing, wherein each component of a facial stimulus conveys an affective value separable from its context, rather than a categorical-gestalt scheme. The findings further suggest that configural information is closely involved in the decoding of affective attributes of facial expressions. Configural measures are also suggested as a common ground for dimensional as well as categorical perception of emotional faces.Este estudio investiga la percepción de las expresiones faciales de la emoción y explora la relación entre las propiedades configurales de las expresiones y su atribución subjetiva. Los estímulos eran una serie de expresiones faciales transformadas por ordenador, interpuestas entre los prototipos de siete emociones (felicidad, tristeza, miedo, ira, sorpresa, asco y neutral) tomados de Ekman y Friesen (1976). Las propiedades topográficas de los estímulos se cuantificaron mediante el esquema Facial Expression Measurement (FACEM). Las disimilaridades percibidas entre las expresiones emocionales se elicitaron mediante un procedimiento de clasificación y se procesaron con escalonamiento multidimensional. Se retuvieron cuatro dimensiones en el espacio facial-expresión reconstruido, con expresiones positivas y negativas contrapuestas a lo largo de D1, y las restantes tres dimensiones se interpretaron como atributos afectivos, distinguiendo clusters de expresiones clasificadas como “Sorpresa/Miedo”, “Ira”, y “Asco”. Se hallaron relaciones significativas entre estos atributos afectivos y las medidas faciales objetivas de los estímulos. Los resultados apoyan un esquema explicativo componencial para el procesamiento de las expresiones, en el que cada componente de un estímulo facial conlleva un valor afectivo separable de su contexto, más que un esquema categórico de tipo Gestalt. Además sugieren que la información configural juega un papel importante en la decodificación de los atributos afectivos de las expresiones faciales Además, sugieren que las medidas configurales constituyen en terreno común de la percepción dimensional y categórica de las caras emocionales

Extracting Perceptual Structure in Dot Patterns: An Integrated Approach

Coordinated Science Laboratory was formerly known as Control Systems LaboratoryAir Force Office of Scientific Research / AFOSR 86-000

The role of phonology in visual word recognition: evidence from Chinese

Posters - Letter/Word Processing V: abstract no. 5024The hypothesis of bidirectional coupling of orthography and phonology predicts that phonology plays a role in visual word recognition, as observed in the effects of feedforward and feedback spelling to sound consistency on lexical decision. However, because orthography and phonology are closely related in alphabetic languages (homophones in alphabetic languages are usually orthographically similar), it is difficult to exclude an influence of orthography on phonological effects in visual word recognition. Chinese languages contain many written homophones that are orthographically dissimilar, allowing a test of the claim that phonological effects can be independent of orthographic similarity. We report a study of visual word recognition in Chinese based on a mega-analysis of lexical decision performance with 500 characters. The results from multiple regression analyses, after controlling for orthographic frequency, stroke number, and radical frequency, showed main effects of feedforward and feedback consistency, as well as interactions between these variables and phonological frequency and number of homophones. Implications of these results for resonance models of visual word recognition are discussed.postprin

Interactive effects of orthography and semantics in Chinese picture naming

Posters - Language Production/Writing: abstract no. 4035Picture-naming performance in English and Dutch is enhanced by presentation of a word that is similar in form to the picture name. However, it is unclear whether facilitation has an orthographic or a phonological locus. We investigated the loci of the facilitation effect in Cantonese Chinese speakers by manipulating—at three SOAs (2100, 0, and 1100 msec)—semantic, orthographic, and phonological similarity. We identified an effect of orthographic facilitation that was independent of and larger than phonological facilitation across all SOAs. Semantic interference was also found at SOAs of 2100 and 0 msec. Critically, an interaction of semantics and orthography was observed at an SOA of 1100 msec. This interaction suggests that independent effects of orthographic facilitation on picture naming are located either at the level of semantic processing or at the lemma level and are not due to the activation of picture name segments at the level of phonological retrieval.postprin

Effect of sand on landing knee valgus during single leg land and drop jump tasks: Possible implications for ACL injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Context: Despite significant emphasis on Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury prevention, injury rates continue to rise and re-injury is common. Interventions to reduce injury have included resistance, balance and jump training elements. The use of sand-based jump training has been postulated as an effective treatment. However, evidence on landing mechanics is limited. Objective: To determine potential differences in landing strategies and subsequent landing knee valgus when performing single leg landing (SLL) and drop jump (DJ) tasks onto sand and land, and compare between both male and female populations. Design: A randomised repeated measures crossover design. Setting: University Laboratory. Participants: 31 participants (20 males, 11 females) from a university population. Interventions: All participants completed DJ and SLL tasks on both sand and land surfaces. Main Outcome Measures: 2-dimensional Frontal Plane Projection Angle (FPPA) of knee valgus was measured in both the DJ and SLL tasks (right and left) for both sand and land conditions. Results: FPPA was lower (moderate to large effect) for SLL in sand compared to land in both legs (Left: 4.3⁰ ±2.8⁰; Right: 4.1⁰ ±3.8⁰) for females. However, effects were unclear (Left: -0.7⁰ ±2.2⁰) and trivial for males (Right: -1.1⁰ ±1.9⁰). FPPA differences for males and females performing DJ were unclear, thus more data is required. Differences in FPPA (land vs sand) with respect to grouping (sex) for both SLL (Left: 4.9⁰ ±3.0⁰) and (Right: 5.1⁰ ±4.0⁰) were both very likely higher small/ possibly moderate for females compared to males