Anomalous visual experience is linked to perceptual uncertainty and visual imagery vividness

An imbalance between top-down and bottom-up processing on perception (specifically, over-reliance on top-down processing) can lead to anomalous perception, such as illusions. One factor that may be involved in anomalous perception is visual mental imagery, which is the experience of “seeing” with the mind’s eye. There are vast individual differences in self-reported imagery vividness, and more vivid imagery is linked to a more sensory-like experience. We, therefore, hypothesized that susceptibility to anomalous perception is linked to individual imagery vividness. To investigate this, we adopted a paradigm that is known to elicit the perception of faces in pure visual noise (pareidolia). In four experiments, we explored how imagery vividness contributes to this experience under different response instructions and environments. We found strong evidence that people with more vivid imagery were more likely to see faces in the noise, although removing suggestive instructions weakened this relationship. Analyses from the first two experiments led us to explore confidence as another factor in pareidolia proneness. We, therefore, modulated environment noise and added a confidence rating in a novel design. We found strong evidence that pareidolia proneness is correlated with uncertainty about real percepts. Decreasing perceptual ambiguity abolished the relationship between pareidolia proneness and both imagery vividness and confidence. The results cannot be explained by incidental face-like patterns in the noise, individual variations in response bias, perceptual sensitivity, subjective perceptual thresholds, viewing distance, testing environments, motivation, gender, or prosopagnosia. This indicates a critical role of mental imagery vividness and perceptual uncertainty in anomalous perceptual experience. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00426-020-01364-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Evaluating the Pedagogical Effectiveness of Study Preregistration in the Undergraduate Dissertation

Research shows that questionable research practices (QRPs) are present in undergraduate final-year dissertation projects. One entry-level Open Science practice proposed to mitigate QRPs is “study preregistration,” through which researchers outline their research questions, design, method, and analysis plans before data collection and/or analysis. In this study, we aimed to empirically test the effectiveness of preregistration as a pedagogic tool in undergraduate dissertations using a quasi-experimental design. A total of 89 UK psychology students were recruited, including students who preregistered their empirical quantitative dissertation ( n = 52; experimental group) and students who did not ( n = 37; control group). Attitudes toward statistics, acceptance of QRPs, and perceived understanding of Open Science were measured both before and after dissertation completion. Exploratory measures included capability, opportunity, and motivation to engage with preregistration, measured at Time 1 only. This study was conducted as a Registered Report; Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/9hjbw (date of in-principle acceptance: September 21, 2021). Study preregistration did not significantly affect attitudes toward statistics or acceptance of QRPs. However, students who preregistered reported greater perceived understanding of Open Science concepts from Time 1 to Time 2 compared with students who did not preregister. Exploratory analyses indicated that students who preregistered reported significantly greater capability, opportunity, and motivation to preregister. Qualitative responses revealed that preregistration was perceived to improve clarity and organization of the dissertation, prevent QRPs, and promote rigor. Disadvantages and barriers included time, perceived rigidity, and need for training. These results contribute to discussions surrounding embedding Open Science principles into research training

Finite-element prediction of distortion during gas metal arc welding using the shrinkage volume approach

Distortion is a potential problem with all welded fabrications. To a large extent, industrial control of weld induced distortion is achieved by reliance on past experience, simple empirical formulae or rectification procedures. Rectification can be costly, whilst in large complex structures, empirical formulae are rarely applicable. Classical approaches to the modelling of welding distortion and residual stress, whilst accurate, have not been readily useable within industry. The time and cost associated with running such models appear to be the main reasons contributing to this situation. Nevertheless, the use of computer simulative techniques has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of welded fabrications by allowing for predictions to be made long before a single weld bead is put down on the workshop floor. Therefore, computer models that are aimed at predicting welding phenomena not only need to be accurate, but must also be affordable and capable of making predictions within industrial time frames if they are to be used by fabricators. This paper presents one such strategy. The Shrinkage Volume Method is a linear elastic finite-element modelling technique that has been developed to predict post-weld distortion. By assuming that the linear thermal contraction of a nominal shrinkage volume is the main driving force for distortion, the need to determine the transient temperature field and microstructural changes is eliminated. In so doing, the model solution times are reduced significantly and the use of linear elastic finite-element methods permits large, highly complex welded structures to be modelled within a reasonable time frame. Verification of the modelled results was carried out by an experimental program that investigated the distortion of plain carbon steel plates having differing vee-butt preparations. The initial models, which had assumed the edge preparation to be representative of the overall shrinkage volume, were in reasonable agreement with the experimentally determined distortion values. Further improvements to these results were made by using a thermal model to define better the effective weld shrinkage volume.A. Bachorski, M.J. Painter, A.J. Smailes, M.A. Waha

Tracing the density impulse in rural settlement systems: A quantitative analysis of the factors underlying rural population density across south-eastern Australia, 1981-2001

Rural population density has a very significant independent influence over important socio-economic and demographic characteristics of developed world rural communities. Additionally, it is a fundamental variable in public policy and planning, both expressing and influencing the relative cost-efficiency of servicing populations. Yet density is itself produced by more fundamental qualities (e.g. environmental resources, nature and time of colonisation) which may themselves change over time. Treating rural population density as a dependent variable produced by a wide variety of factors, we build and test two causal models that attempt to explain the observed pattern of rural densities across south-eastern Australia (n = 414 communities). We distinguish between a “productivist” model—applicable for most of white Australia’s history—and a consumptionist model that takes account of recent counter-urbanisation trends. These models are applied to the entire study area and, in recognition of the study area’s internal heterogeneity, to five clusters of communities. In the drier inland and remoter zones, the productivist model exhibits the greatest explanatory power, while in the more accessible and well-watered “multifunctional” zones, an expanded model that incorporates a measure of “amenity” produces the best results. The research finds that simple environmental factors, coupled with relative location within the national space economy, act as dominant controls over rural population density in early 21st century Australia