This paper presents a cognitive approach to on-line spatial perception within scenes. A theoretical framework is developed, based on the idea that experience with a scene can activate a complex representation of layout that facilitates subsequent processing of spatial relations within the scene. The representations integrate significant, relevant…

This study examines the cognitive costs of navigation aids in a hypermedia learning task. In a 2(navigable vs. non-navigable) x 2(map vs. content list) experimental design cognitive requirements were measured by users' eye movement data. Additionally, data from users' navigation operations, knowledge acquisition, and subjective evaluation of the…

When asked questions, children often avert their gaze. Furthermore, the frequency of such gaze aversion (GA) is related to the difficulty of cognitive processing, suggesting that GA is a good indicator of children's thinking and comprehension. However, little is known about how teachers detect and interpret such gaze signals. In Study 1 teaching…

Although it is acknowledged that adults integrate features into a representation of the whole face, there is still some disagreement about the onset and developmental course of holistic face processing. We tested adults and children from 4 to 6 years of age with the same paradigm measuring holistic face processing through an adaptation of the…

Background: Previous research suggested that persons with Down syndrome (DS) used a different strategy to drum than typical adults. Methods: The present study examined continuous bimanual drumming strategies in response to different instructions in 10 persons with DS, 10 mental age-matched and 10 chronological age-matched groups. The drumming task…

Prime pictures of emotional scenes appeared in parafoveal vision, followed by probe pictures either congruent or incongruent in affective valence. Participants responded whether the probe was pleasant or unpleasant (or whether it portrayed people or animals). Shorter latencies for congruent than for incongruent prime-probe pairs revealed affective…

Various aspects of iconic memory have been studied in the past. Two tachistoscopic experiments were conducted to examine how legibility of a stimulus affects a subject's ability to recall brief visual presentation. The studies used letter arrays set in four different typefaces (Helvetica, Cooper Black Outline, Electronic, Old English). In the…

Studies of selective attention suggest a system which operates across modalities and on many forms of internal representation. Complex analysis, even semantic analysis, of sensory input may occur automatically, but attention controls the locus of action. When computations carried out by the brain are effortful, in the sense that elements compete…

At some time during every fixation a decision is made to move the eyes, directing them to a new location in the stimulus array. To understand the eye movement control processes, three general hypotheses concerning the cognitive basis for deciding to move the eyes were investigated: the saccade (movement) initiation time is determined only on the…

Two independent studies were conducted to examine the expectancy behavior of unselected hypnotic, task-motivated, and control-imagination subjects on a slide task requiring response to ambiguous visual information. Results showed that hypnotic subjects consistently demonstrated expectancy behavior, whereas nonhypnotic subjects did not. (Editor/RK)

Summarizes results from a series of psychological experiments about how people process information from television and discusses the results in relation to six issues, including size of stimulus units and complexity of television stimuli. (DF)

This paper discusses the role of digital technology within the cognitive revolution of the perception of images. It analyzes the traditional values placed on images as a source of cognition. These values are discussed in terms of the ethical and social issues raised by the use of digital image manipulation in so far as the digital era is falsely…

Describes language as a vehicle of thought severely limited by auditory, kinesthetic, and visual images, restricted to linear succession, and precariously linked to meaning by standardized labels. (MB)