Relations Among Early Object Recognition Skills: Objects and Letters

Human visual object recognition is multifaceted and comprised of several domains of expertise. Developmental relations between young children's letter recognition and their 3-dimensional object recognition abilities are implicated on several grounds but have received little research attention. Here, we ask how preschoolers' success in recognizing letters relates to their ability to recognize 3-dimensional objects from sparse shape information alone. Seventy-three 2 1/2 to 5-year-old children completed a “Letter Recognition” task, measuring the ability to identify a named letter among 3 letters, and a “Shape Caricature Recognition” task, measuring recognition of familiar objects from sparse, abstract information about their part shapes and the spatial relations among those parts. Children also completed a control “Shape Bias” task, in which success depends on matching exact shapes but not on building an internal representation of the configuration of features characteristic of an object category or letter. Children's success in letter recognition was positively related to their shape caricature recognition scores, but not to their shape bias scores. The results suggest that letter recognition builds upon developing skills in attending to and representing the relational structure of object shape, and that these skills are common to both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional object perception

Performance measurement design within its organisational context: evidence from China

This paper presents an action research study that looks at the design of a performance measurement system in a large Chinese state-owned enterprise, focusing on how change happens. A stakeholder analytical framework is developed to bridge the gaps in western developed models when they are applied in a Chinese context. Analysis revealed the factors determining the nature of change and shaping the performance measurement system. Political constraints and the unavailability of key databases act as barriers to change, while user participation and embedding existing practice both contribute to reducing resistance and promoting continuous improvement. Reinforced by Chinese culture, these factors result in an evolutionary pattern of change. The study shows that the performance measurement system of the case company has fulfilled symbolic functions to signal strategic focus and to influence decision-making