The other-race effect in children from a multiracial population: A cross-cultural comparison

The role of experience with other-race faces on the development of the ORE was investigated through a cross-cultural comparison between 5- to 6-year-old (n = 83) and 13- to 14-year-old (n = 66) children raised in a monoracial (British-White) and a multiracial (Malaysian-Chinese) population. British-White children showed an ORE to three other-race faces (Chinese, Malay, and African-Black) that was stable across age. Malaysian-Chinese children showed recognition deficit for less experienced faces (African-Black) but showed a recognition advantage for faces of which they have direct or indirect experience. Interestingly, younger (Malaysian-Chinese) children showed no ORE for female faces such that they can recognize all female faces regardless of race. These findings point to the importance of early race and gender experiences in re-organizing the face representation to accommodate changes in experience across development

Testing Instance Models of Face Repetition Priming.

Two experiments examining repetition priming in face recognition are reported. These employed 8 rather than the more usual 2 presentation trials allowing the prediction made by Logan's (1988) instance model of power function speed-up of RT distributions to be examined. Both experiments (the first repeating the same photograph on each trial, the second varying the pose) showed; repetition priming effects for familiar and unfamiliar faces, power function speed-up for both mean and standard deviation of RT and power function speed-up of the quantiles of the RT distributions. It is argued that the findings are consistent with the predictions made by the instance model and provide an explanatory challenge for alternative theoretical approaches

Serial Position Effects in Short-term Visual Memory: A SIMPLE Explanation?

A version of Sternberg’s (1966) short-term, visual memory recognition paradigm with pictures of unfamiliar faces as stimuli was used in three experiments to assess the applicability of the distinctiveness based SIMPLE model proposed by Brown, Neath & Chater (2002). Initial simulations indicated that the amount of recency predicted increased as the parameter measuring the psychological distinctiveness of the stimulus material (c) increased, and that the amount of primacy was dependent on the extent of proactive interference from previously presented stimuli. The data from experiment 1, which used memory lists of four and five faces varying in visual similarity confirmed the predicted, extended recency effect. However, changes in visual similarity were not found to produce changes in c. In Experiments 2 and 3, the conditions that influence the magnitude of c were explored. These revealed that both the familiarity of the stimulus class before testing, and changes in familiarity due to perceptual learning, influenced distinctiveness as indexed by the parameter c. Overall the empirical data from all three experiments were well-fit by SIMPLE

In infancy, the developmental time course of the other-race effect is dependent on face gender

Poorer recognition of other-race faces relative to own-race faces is well documented from late infancy to adulthood. Research has revealed an increase in the other race effect (ORE) during the first year of life, but there is some disagreement regarding the age at which it emerges. Using cropped faces to eliminate discrimination based on external features, visual paired comparison and spontaneous visual preference measures were used to investigate the relationship between ORE and face gender at 3-4 and 8-9 months. Caucasian-White 3- to 4-month-olds' discrimination of Chinese, Malay, and Caucasian-White faces showed an own-race advantage for female faces alone whereas at 8-9 months the own-race advantage was general across gender. This developmental effect is accompanied by a preference for female over male faces at 4 months and no gender preference at 9 months. The pattern of recognition advantage and preference suggests that there is a shift from a female-based own-race recognition advantage to a general own-race recognition advantage, in keeping with a visual and social experience-based account of ORE

A Discussion of Four Cadenzas Written for the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto Opus 58

This paper evaluates the style of four candezas written for the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto, Opus 58. Dennis W. Hay introduces the history of the cadenza before focusing on the works by the individual composers: Beethoven, Brahms, Medtner, and Casadesus

Distinct Surface and Bulk Thermal Behaviors of LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 Cathode Materials as a Function of State of Charge.

Understanding how structural and chemical transformations take place in particles under thermal conditions can inform designing thermally robust electrode materials. Such a study necessitates the use of diagnostic techniques that are capable of probing the transformations at multiple length scales and at different states of charge (SOC). In this study, the thermal behavior of LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC-622) was examined as a function of SOC, using an array of bulk and surface-sensitive techniques. In general, thermal stability decreases as lithium content is lowered and conversion in the bulk to progressively reduced metal oxides (spinels, rock salt) occurs as the temperature is raised. Hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray Raman spectroscopy (XRS) experiments, which probe the bulk, reveal that Ni and Co are eventually reduced when partially delithiated samples (regardless of the SOC) are heated, although Mn is not. Surface-sensitive synchrotron techniques, such as soft XAS and transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM), however, reveal that for 50% delithiated samples, apparent oxidation of nickel occurs at particle surfaces under some circumstances. This is partially compensated by reduction of cobalt but may also be a consequence of redistribution of lithium ions upon heating. TXM results indicate the movement of reduced nickel ions into particle interiors or oxidized nickel ions to the surface or both. These experiments illustrate the complexity of the thermal behavior of NMC cathode materials. The study also informs the importance of investigating the surface and bulk difference as a function of SOC when studying the thermal behaviors of battery materials

Do children utilize motion when recognizing faces?

Previous research indicates that unfamiliar faces may be recognised better if they are viewed in motion. This study utilised a three trial learning paradigm to investigate whether unfamiliar faces are learnt more quickly from moving clips than from static images. Children aged 6-7 years and 10-11 years were shown a series of faces as either static images or dynamic clips, followed by either by a static or dynamic recognition test. Faces were recognised more accurately when presented in motion, but there was no advantage for testing in motion. Although older children were more accurate overall, younger females performed as well as older children for faces presented in motion, suggesting that females’ face processing skills develop more quickly than those of males. Results are discussed in terms of the motion advantage arising due to additional structural information enhancing the internal representation of the face

Water Quality in Pleasant Valley, Utah

Pollution of shallow groundwater due to wastewater disposal in Pleasant Valley, Utah, was investigated from October 1979 through August 1980. Water samples were collected from 23 wells and 5 stream sampling sites. Water quality analysis revealed pollution at several sites. Groundwater pollution caused by man’s activities in the area was observed in Bolotas and Scofield Campsite subdivisions. Severe shallow groundwater pollution measured in wells which were located in south and north profiles of the town of Scofield, Utah, could have originated from the municipal waste disposal practice in the town. Natural phenomena, however, such as pyrite oxidation, could possible have been the cause of the depletion of dissolved oxygen in the groundwater near Scofield. In the town of Scofield the shallow water table, less than 1.22 m (4 ft) below ground throughout the whole study period, could limit septic tank use in the study area. The seasonally variable nitrate and phosphate concentration in the surface stream reached its maximum value in May (i.e. 1.12 mg/1 NO3-N and 3.37 mg/1 total phosphorus) when the stream flow reached a maximum flow of 9.06 m3/s (370 cfs). These increases in nitrate and phosphorus content in the stream, sresulting from spring thawing, could increase the nutrient level in the Scofield Reservoir. Natural phenomena produced a high concentration of mercury, averaging 2.55 ug/1 during the study period. It is possible that the water in Scofield Reservoir might have a similar level of mercury. The maximum contamination level of mercury accepted by the State of Utah and U.S. EPA for drinking water is 2.0 ug/1. Therefore, potential health problems may exist for the people who depend on the Scofield Reservoir for their source of drinking water. Fluoride concentration ranged from 0.06 mg/1 to 0.42 mg/1 natural processes are responsible for fluoride in the water