Historically, the body's sensory systems have been presumed to provide the brain with raw information about the external environment, which the brain must interpret to select a behavioral response. Consequently, studies of the neurobiology of learning and memory have focused on circuitry that interfaces between sensory inputs and behavioral…

The goal of this review is to critically examine contradictory findings in the study of visual search for emotionally expressive faces. Several key issues are addressed: Can emotional faces be processed preattentively and guide attention? What properties of these faces influence search efficiency? Is search moderated by the emotional state of the…

In comparative judgments of two stimuli separated by a time interval, there is often a systematic asymmetry (time-order error). From a review of the literature it is concluded that the time-order error should be classified as a perceptual phenomenon that can be predicted with adaptation-level theory and sensation weighting. (Author/CB)

The role pictures and graphics can play in making Telidon, a Canadian home information retrieval videotex service, a viable communications medium is discussed. This report concentrates on contributions of theories of perception and cognition to knowledge of how different kinds of visual images can most effectively be used on Telidon. The issues of…

A model of context effects in perception is applied to perception of letters. Perception results from excitatory and inhibitory interactions of detectors for visual features, letters, and words. The model produces facilitation for letters in pronounceable pseudowords as well as words and accounts for rule-governed performance without any rules.…

Examines techniques for using photographic evidence and photo-interviewing in evaluation and research. Reasons for using photo-interviewing are discussed, including prompting recall and acting as stimuli and verifiers of perception; and two examples are given, one involving evaluation with faculty and graduate students and one involving research…

Some of the theories which have been developed to explain how visual space is actually perceived, processed, and stored in the human brain are briefly noted, and the correspondence of contemporary systems of stereocinematography and holography to the neural processes of the brain is explored. Major concepts discussed include projective geometry,…

To determine how procedural instructions comprised of text and pictures are comprehended and executed, a research review focused on (1) differences in comprehension and performance attributable to variations in the information's organization, (2) the format of the information, (3) the metacognitive strategies employed by the readers, and (4) the…

Examines the perception of components of written and spoken codes of human communication from a broad perspective in an attempt to identify possible similarities. (GT)

There is no a priori basis for assuming that theories of social psychology are universal. For theories to be universal, the meaning of the stimulus would have to be consistent across cultures, but this cannot be taken for granted. Cross-cultural variations in social behavior may be "surface" expressions of deep structure norms that are universal.…