The Phantom Vanish Magic Trick: Investigating the Disappearance of a Non-existent Object in a Dynamic Scene

Drawing inspiration from sleight-of-hand magic tricks, we developed an experimental paradigm to investigate whether magicians’ misdirection techniques could be used to induce the misperception of “phantom” objects. While previous experiments investigating sleight-of-hand magic tricks have focused on creating false assumptions about the movement of an object in a scene, our experiment investigated creating false assumptions about the presence of an object in a scene. Participants watched a sequence of silent videos depicting a magician performing with a single object. Following each video, participants were asked to write a description of the events in the video. In the final video, participants watched the Phantom Vanish Magic Trick, a novel magic trick developed for this experiment, in which the magician pantomimed the actions of presenting an object and then making it magically disappear. No object was presented during the final video. The silent videos precluded the use of false verbal suggestions, and participants were not asked leading questions about the objects. Nevertheless, 32% of participants reported having visual impressions of non-existent objects. These findings support an inferential model of perception, wherein top-down expectations can be manipulated by the magician to generate vivid illusory experiences, even in the absence of corresponding bottom-up information

Rotating plates: Online study demonstrates the importance of orientation in the plating of food

AbstractWe report three online experiments designed to assess how the visual composition of the elements of a commercially-successful dish would be perceived by naïve assessors, in terms of their liking and willingness to pay. Experiment 1 showed that an upward orientation of the dish was preferred as compared to when the elements pointed downward/toward the observer, or else pointed to the side. Experiment 2 demonstrates that optimally orienting the plate translates into an increased willingness to pay for the food. In addition, the results also revealed that both a triangle formed by the three principal elements (onions), and the direction in which these v-shaped elements pointed, affected people’s judgments of the ideal orientation of the dish as a whole. Finally, a citizen science experiment (Experiment 3) held at London’s Science Museum provided further support for our findings. These results highlight the potential of a digital (Internet-based) testing methodology to determine the optimal visual presentation of food

The relation between symmetry in food packaging and approach and avoidance words

Research on aesthetic science has demonstrated that people generally prefer symmetrical over asymmetrical compositions. However, it remains unclear whether and how such compositions relate to the concepts of approach and avoidance motivation, especially in consumer contexts. In addition, it is not known how symmetry may influence such concepts in contexts where objects can differ in terms of their hedonic values (symmetry/product taste congruency). In the present research, we evaluated the relation between visual symmetry of the packaging of products with different hedonic value (sweet, non-sweet, non-food) and approach and avoidance words. In two experiments, we found evidence that people associate symmetrical designs with approach words more often than asymmetrical designs. Importantly, however, we did not find evidence that such an effect is influenced by the hedonic value of the products. Our results have value for scholars and practitioners interested in the effect of aesthetic features of brand elements (such as a product’s packaging) on consumer motivation

Does Glass Size and Shape Influence Judgements of the Volume of Wine?

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLOS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144536Background \ud Judgements of volume may influence the rate of consumption of alcohol and, in turn, the amount consumed. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of the size and shape of wine glasses on perceptions of wine volume. \ud \ud Methods \ud Online experiment: Participants (n = 360; recruited via Mechanical Turk) were asked to match the volume of wine in two wine glasses, specifically: 1. the Reference glass holding a fixed reference volume, and 2. the Comparison glass, for which the volume could be altered until participants perceived it matched the reference volume. One of three comparison glasses was shown in each trial: ?wider? (20% wider but same capacity); ?larger? (same width but 25% greater capacity); or ?wider-and-larger? (20% wider and 25% greater capacity). Reference volumes were 125ml, 175ml and 250ml, in a fully factorial within-subjects design: 3 (comparison glass) x 3 (reference volume). Non-zero differences between the volumes with which participants filled comparison glasses and the corresponding reference volumes were identified using sign-rank tests. \ud \ud Results \ud Participants under-filled the wider glass relative to the reference glass for larger reference volumes, and over-filled the larger glass relative to the reference glass for all reference volumes. Results for the wider-and-larger glass showed a mixed pattern across reference volume. For all comparison glasses, in trials with larger reference volumes participants tended to fill the comparison glass less, relative to trials with smaller reference volumes for the same comparison glass.\ud \ud Conclusions \ud These results are broadly consistent with people using the relative fullness of glasses to judge volume, and suggest both the shape and capacity of wine glasses may influence perceived volume. Perceptions that smaller glasses contain more than larger ones (despite containing the same volume), could slow drinking speed and overall consumption by serving standard portions in smaller glasses. This hypothesis awaits testing.The study was funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (http://prp.dh.gov.uk/) (Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health [PR-UN-0409-10109]). ASA and MRM are members of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding from British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health Research, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. None of the funders had a role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or decision to submit for publication. The research was conducted independently of the funders, and the views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funders

Emerging communities of child-healthcare practice in the management of long-term conditions such as chronic kidney disease: Qualitative study of parents' accounts

Background: Parents of children and young people with long-term conditions who need to deliver clinical care to their child at home with remote support from hospital-based professionals, often search the internet for care-giving information. However, there is little evidence that the information available online was developed and evaluated with parents or that it acknowledges the communities of practice that exist as parents and healthcare professionals share responsibility for condition management. Methods. The data reported here are part of a wider study that developed and tested a condition-specific, online parent information and support application with children and young people with chronic-kidney disease, parents and professionals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 fathers and 24 mothers who had recently tested the novel application. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis and the Communities of Practice concept. Results: Evolving communities of child-healthcare practice were identified comprising three components and several sub components: (1) Experiencing (parents making sense of clinical tasks) through Normalising care, Normalising illness, Acceptance & action, Gaining strength from the affected child and Building relationships to formalise a routine; (2) Doing (Parents executing tasks according to their individual skills) illustrated by Developing coping strategies, Importance of parents' efficacy of care and Fear of the child's health failing; and (3) Belonging/Becoming (Parents defining task and group members' worth and creating a personal identity within the community) consisting of Information sharing, Negotiation with health professionals and Achieving expertise in care. Parents also recalled factors affecting the development of their respective communities of healthcare practice; these included Service transition, Poor parent social life, Psycho-social affects, Family chronic illness, Difficulty in learning new procedures, Shielding and avoidance, and Language and cultural barriers. Health care professionals will benefit from using the communities of child-healthcare practice model when they support parents of children with chronic kidney disease. Conclusions: Understanding some of the factors that may influence the development of communities of child-healthcare practice will help professionals to tailor information and support for parents learning to manage their child's healthcare. Our results are potentially transferrable to professionals managing the care of children and young people with other long-term conditions. © 2014 Carolan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Cross-cultural color-odor associations

Colors and odors are associated; for instance, people typically match the smell of strawberries to the color pink or red. These associations are forms of crossmodal correspondences. Recently, there has been discussion about the extent to which these correspondences arise for structural reasons (i.e., an inherent mapping between color and odor), statistical reasons (i.e., covariance in experience), and/or semantically-mediated reasons (i.e., stemming from language). The present study probed this question by testing color-odor correspondences in 6 different cultural groups (Dutch, Netherlands-residing-Chinese, German, Malay, Malaysian-Chinese, and US residents), using the same set of 14 odors and asking participants to make congruent and incongruent color choices for each odor. We found consistent patterns in color choices for each odor within each culture, showing that participants were making non-random color-odor matches. We used representational dissimilarity analysis to probe for variations in the patterns of color-odor associations across cultures; we found that US and German participants had the most similar patterns of associations, followed by German and Malay participants. The largest group differences were between Malay and Netherlands-resident Chinese participants and between Dutch and Malaysian-Chinese participants. We conclude that culture plays a role in color-odor crossmodal associations, which likely arise, at least in part, through experience

Access to primary care for socio-economically disadvantaged older people in rural areas: a qualitative study

Objective: We aim to explore the barriers to accessing primary care for socio-economically disadvantaged older people in rural areas. Methods: Using a community recruitment strategy, fifteen people over 65 years, living in a rural area, and receiving financial support were recruited for semi-structured interviews. Four focus groups were held with rural health professionals. Interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to identify barriers to primary care access. Findings: Older people’s experience can be understood within the context of a patient perceived set of unwritten rules or social contract – an individual is careful not to bother the doctor in return for additional goodwill when they become unwell. However, most found it difficult to access primary care due to engaged telephone lines, availability of appointments, interactions with receptionists; breaching their perceived social contract. This left some feeling unwelcome, worthless or marginalised, especially those with high expectations of the social contract or limited resources, skills and/or desire to adapt to service changes Health professionals’ described how rising demands and expectations coupled with service constraints had necessitated service development, such as fewer home visits, more telephone consultations, triaging calls and modifying the appointment system. Conclusion: Multiple barriers to accessing primary care exist for this group. As primary care is re-organised to reduce costs, commissioners and practitioners must not lose sight of the perceived social contract and models of care that form the basis of how many older people interact with the service

Differential baseline and response profile to IFN-γ gene transduction of IL-6/IL-6 receptor-α secretion discriminate primary tumors versus bone marrow metastases of nasopharyngeal carcinomas in culture

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Understanding of immunobiology of bone marrow metastases (designated BM-NPC) <it>versus </it>primary tumors (P-NPC) of the nasopharynx is far from complete. The aim of this study was to determine if there would be differences between cultured P-NPCs and BM-NPCs with respect to (i) constitutive IL-6 and the IL-6 receptor gp80 subunit (IL-6Rα) levels in the spent media of nontransduced cells, and (ii) IL-6 and IL-6Rα levels in the spent media of cells transduced with a retroviral vector containing the <it>IFN-γ </it>gene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A panel of NPC cell lines were transduced with the <it>IFN-γ </it>gene through a retroviral vector. Four clonal sublines were isolated <it>via </it>limiting dilution methods. Cytofluorometric analysis was performed for the detection of cell surface antigens of HLA class I, HLA class II and ICAM-1. ELISA was used to assay for IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-6Rα in the spent media of cultured cell lines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results showed that in day 3 culture supernatants, low levels of soluble IL-6 were detected in 5/5 cultured tumors derived from P-NPCs, while much higher constitutive levels of IL-6 were detected in 3/3 metastasis-derived NPC cell lines including one originated from ascites; the difference was significant (<it>p </it>= 0.025). An inverse relationship was found between IL-6Rα and IL-6 in their release levels in cultured P-NPCs and metastasis-derived NPCs. In <it>IFN-γ</it>-transduced-P-NPCs, IL-6 production increased and yet IL-6Rα decreased substantially, as compared to nontransduced counterparts. At variance with P-NPC cells, the respective ongoing IL-6 and IL-6Rα release patterns of BM-NPC cells were not impeded as much following <it>IFN-γ </it>transduction. These observations were confirmed by extended kinetic studies with representative NPC cell lines and clonal sublines. The latter observation with the clonal sublines also indicates that selection for high IL-6 or low IL-6Rα producing subpopulations did not occur as a result of <it>IFN-γ</it>-transduction process. P-NPCs, which secreted constitutively only marginal levels of IFN-γ (8.4 ~ 10.5 pg/ml), could be enhanced to produce higher levels of IFN-γ (6.8- to 10.3-fold increase) after <it>IFN-γ </it>transduction. Unlike P-NPCs, BM-NPCs spontaneously released IFN-γ at moderate levels (83.8 ~ 100.7 pg/ml), which were enhanced by 1.3- to 2.2-fold in the spent media of their <it>IFN-γ</it>-transduced counterparts.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results showed that cultured P-NPCs and BM-NPCs could be distinguished from one another on the basis of their differential baseline secretion pattern of IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-6Rα, and their differential response profiles to <it>IFN-γ </it>gene transfer of the production of these three soluble molecules. These results suggest that the IL-6 and IFN-γ pathways in a background of genetic instability be involved in the acquisition of metastatic behaviour in BM-NPCs.</p

Long-Term Secondary Care Costs of Endometrial Cancer: A Prospective Cohort Study Nested within the United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS).

BACKGROUND: There is limited evidence on the costs of Endometrial Cancer (EC) by stage of disease. We estimated the long-term secondary care costs of EC according to stage at diagnosis in an English population-based cohort. METHODS: Women participating in UKCTOCS and diagnosed with EC following enrolment (2001-2005) and prior to 31st Dec 2009 were identified to have EC through multiple sources. Survival was calculated through data linkage to death registry. Costs estimates were derived from hospital records accessed from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) with additional patient level covariates derived from case notes and patient questionnaires. Missing and censored data was imputed using Multiple Imputation. Regression analysis of cost and survival was undertaken. RESULTS: 491 of 641 women with EC were included. Five year total costs were strongly dependent on stage, ranging from £9,475 (diagnosis at stage IA/IB) to £26,080 (diagnosis at stage III). Stage, grade and BMI were the strongest predictors of costs. The majority of costs for stage I/II EC were incurred in the first six months after diagnosis while for stage III / IV considerable costs accrued after the first six months. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to survival advantages, there are significant cost savings if patients with EC are detected earlier.The analysis underpinning this study was supported with a grant from Cancer Research UK (CRUK Grant No: A16008) awarded to RL (http://www.cancerresearchuk. org/funding-for-researchers). The trial (UKCTOCS) for which the patients in this study form a subgroup was funded by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Department of Health and the Eve Appeal

Cross-cultural color-odor associations

Colors and odors are associated; for instance, people typically match the smell of strawberries to the color pink or red. These associations are forms of crossmodal correspondences. Recently, there has been discussion about the extent to which these correspondences arise for structural reasons (i.e., an inherent mapping between color and odor), statistical reasons (i.e., covariance in experience), and/or semantically-mediated reasons (i.e., stemming from language). The present study probed this question by testing color-odor correspondences in 6 different cultural groups (Dutch, Netherlands-residing-Chinese, German, Malay, Malaysian-Chinese, and US residents), using the same set of 14 odors and asking participants to make congruent and incongruent color choices for each odor. We found consistent patterns in color choices for each odor within each culture, showing that participants were making non-random color-odor matches. We used representational dissimilarity analysis to probe for variations in the patterns of color-odor associations across cultures; we found that US and German participants had the most similar patterns of associations, followed by German and Malay participants. The largest group differences were between Malay and Netherlands-resident Chinese participants and between Dutch and Malaysian-Chinese participants. We conclude that culture plays a role in color-odor crossmodal associations, which likely arise, at least in part, through experience